All over England people were waking up queasy and despondent.1 Continue reading
January is the cruellest month: New Year’s Day
Food + Drink
Bittersweetness and light: New Year’s Eve cocktails
I began hating New Year somewhere in my teens and it took me years to make some sort of accommodation with it. After weeks of hoo-ha and feasting, rarely a quiet moment alone, there’s this. I enjoy the long Christmas, there’s much to be said for a spell of eating, drinking and irrational, even stupid cheerfulness, but after a while you begin to at least half-crave some temperance and a book. Continue reading
Share this:
A certain kind of Saturday in Bristol, Year of Our Lord 2014
An early glass of Christmas something
Sometimes it’s useful to have some help easing through the early parts of Christmas day. This calls for a special kind of drink, if it’s drink you want. The principles are simple enough, but they require fine balance and nice judgement. Your drink should be apt to the season, it should be mild and undemanding, and it should set you up for the rest of the day. Let’s say that you could drink it mid-morning while unwrapping presents (if you have youngish children—ha!) or jawing harmlessly with the in-laws in that dead time before the food. If it seems unhealthy to be drinking before the sun hits the yardarm, at least it’s social, healthier than everyone withdrawing into their smartphones while one person cooks. Continue reading
Share this:
A cocktail for all seasons, especially this one: the Sidecar
The Sidecar is one of my three favourite cocktails. Sometimes it’s at the top and other times it’s not, but it’s always there. I discovered it by happy accident one Christmas when my father said I could pick any cocktail from his pocket bar guide and he’d mix it for me. I’d been helping out at the guest house, I think cleaning or restocking the small bar. Being very young at the time I looked for one that had the most alcohol and the least mixer without being either impossible (exotic ingredients, such as absinthe) or disgusting (vile ingredients, such as absinthe). I chose a Sidecar and was relieved to find that I liked it; I’ve been liking it ever since. Many cocktails come and go, but not this one. Continue reading
Share this:
Beef, beans, paprika and thyme
Spanish-ish beef and bean casserole
It’s the time of year to say something about the nights drawing in and it being colder, this requiring hearty comfort food and all that. For myself, I like this casserole at any time of year and think it quite suits the summer, but it is hearty. It can be a simple, economical meal, but it’s also good enough to give to old friends with some good wine. Continue reading
Share this:
Novembeerd: matching beers to beards
Novembeerd: like so many good–bad/bad–good/bad–bad ideas, this began in a pub. Look at the beard, guess what beer its wearer drinks, suggest what beer its wearer should drink. Think of it as a tribute of sorts to the long relationship between beer and beards, from CAMRA to the craft movement. Continue reading
Share this:
Bonarda: it isn’t Malbec
Introducing Bonarda
Around fifteen years ago I wrote a feature called something like ‘red grapes of Bordeaux at home and abroad’. In it I mentioned a grape called Malbec, saying that although many readers wouldn’t be familiar with it, and although it was only a minor constituent in some red Bordeaux, in Argentina* it was the dominant grape. I added that, unlikely though it might seem, some Argentinian wine really was very good, and excellent value. Today neither the description nor the reassurance would be necessary; Malbec, especially Argentinian Malbec, is commonplace and deservedly popular. Continue reading
Paul Fishman 