Orange - Bottle B3, 7th May 2011

Orange wine was particularly suitable tonight for two reasons. Firstly, I spent some of the evening racking the 2011 batch of Orange wine. The second, and more important, reason was that it went excellently with our evening meal: grilled seabass with a puy lentil salsa, new potatoes and spinach. It was a colourful, flavoursome meal and all of my own making. I got a little stressed in the last moments, where everything needed my attention immediately, but it all came together.

This was after a pleasant and active Saturday. I spent much of the evening, when I was not cooking, putting my 2011 batch of Rhubarb wine into its demijohns. The morning was more exciting: I busked in Leeds Market with a wind quintet as part of the 'Friends of Kirkgate Market' promotion week. We wore purple and black, and played the same 20 minute set three times over in different places. The most thrilling was on a balcony, overlooking the market. But playing where the shoppers were drew bigger crowds and lots of goodwill. The only downside is the continual repetition of 'Teddy Bears Picnic' bouncing around in my brain.