Ian and Marion returned with another of their gang of Keble School parents. This time they also brought the finest collection of Grand Cru wines I've ever seen assembled. Now I don't normally drink AT ALL in the kitchen but I have a real weakness for good Burgundy so when they offered me a slurp, I accepted. I've found that even a glass of wine can affect my timings. Invariably there are eight things happening at once during service and a wine mind only allows me to deal with seven of them.
Even more unusually, as the party left around midnight, Rohin asked me to join them for drinks at his place. What a gent. Of course I accepted.
Shocking head the next morning.
I should explain that the TV screen in the corner of this (and many other) pictures is linked to my music system, it shows the track playing - and allows selection of others. It's not Homes Under the Hammer left on by mistake (putting that on at all would be a mistake!).
That's my slow braised lamb shanks in a white port and rosemary gravy with Jerusalem artichoke puree, Yorkshires, kale and creamed leeks, which I made. And a bottle of 2007 Pontet Canet, which I didn't. Parker gave that wine 91-94 points.
But the evening was not without its problems. See below.
The starter was an issue. A new idea of mine: smoked mackerel salad with bitter leaf, grapefruit and home-made sweet pickles. The flavour was excellent but LOOK AT IT! Has someone run over a green hedgehog? And those pickles on the rim? What was I thinking? That wasn't how I pictured it. I'm really not keen on over-fussing; preferring simple but pretty. But how do you make a fish salad pretty?
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