Rhubarb Wine - Seventh Bottle (B3), 23rd September 2017

I have discovered that Claire thinks my onion cooking technique is poor. Apparently I don't let them fry for long enough - particularly when making Boursin Noodles. My bacon cooking technique also has room for improvement. With this in mind, and a glass of rhubarb wine to hand, I made sure the onions were meltingly soft and that there was some browning to the bacon for the evening meal. We should have been at Music Club, but an evening in the company of rhubarb wine (which is excellent this year) and an episode of Torchwood on the sofa seemed preferable.

Here is an occasional recipe for Boursin Noodles (serves 2) - which are both easy and delicious:

Ingredients

1 onion
Large clove of garlic
Olive oil
3 or 4 rashers of bacon (maybe streaky, can be smoked or unsmoked)
several mushrooms
A good dollop or two of soft cheese (I used Philadelphia - the recipe says it should be Boursin)
Parsley if you have any and can be bothered.
Some pasta or noodles

Method

1. Slice the onion thinly and fry it in your main pan in the oil for longer than you think is absolutely necessary, making sure your partner is happy with the result.
2. At some point during this frying, crush the garlic and add that
3. Cut the bacon into strips and fry that in a different pan until it goes brown enough to your partner's satisfaction.
4. Put the bacon into the pan with the onions and garlic. Let it fry a bit longer.
5. Slice the mushrooms and add them.
6. Cover the pan and let the liquid come out of the mushrooms
7. When it all looks like it might be done, stir in the one or two dollops of soft cheese and stir.
8. By now you should have been cooking the pasta or noodles.
9. When the pasta or noodles are done, add the parsley to the oniony-bacony-garlicky-mushroomy-cheesy mix.
10. Serve up the pasta and sauce.
11. Eat and enjoy.

Elderberry Wine - Fourth Bottle (B6), 28th February 2016

It has been a while since my wine has developed lumps of jelly. On the whole, solidified wine is not be be encouraged. I am hoping that they were only in this bottle because it was last out of the demijohn. And, happily, there weren't that many of them. More than none, though. Nothing a sieve wouldn't sort out.

Otherwise, the wine was good: a rich, dark elderberry, which went splendidly with a beef & mushroom pie. We spent the remainder of the evening watching the last episode of Torchwood: Children of Earth, which I enjoyed rather more than Claire.

Blackberry Wine - Sixth Bottle (A1), 31st January 2016

A Sunday night bottle to a Sunday night roast.

We had a large chicken, of which we managed about a quarter, all manner of vegetables and forced-meat balls. Then we watched an episode of Torchwood. Can Sunday nights be much better? The wine was, of course, lovely. As was the day (despite the weather). We have started doing 'House' things again - specifically hanging pictures (though there was also a quick trip to the tip). Our Geological Map of the Grand Canyon now dominates the kitchen's back wall and the 'Family Members on the Beach' group of photos is at the top of the stairs.

Christmas Tutti Fruti - Second Bottle (B6), 23rd January 2016

A televisual extravaganza and unusual pizza were the accompaniments to this bottle. Claire and I wrapped up warm, ventured into our Attic Room and watched the first episodes of Bleak House and Torchwood Series 3. I have seen both before, and both are terrific (in very different ways), but Claire has seen neither.

The pizza flavours were: spinach, baked egg & cured ham; and beetroot, pine-nut & feta. Both worked brilliantly. The wine, of course, was delicious. This is an excellent vintage of Christmas Tutti-Fruti - there is a richness and darkness to it, and in fact that describes both Bleak House and Torchwood: Children of Earth.

Quince Wine - Fifth Bottle (1), 13th September 2013

I remember the last bottle of Quince Wine being on the verge of 'horrid'. This, however, was also on a verge - but of 'rather good'. Yes, it is far too dry, but a syrup solution fettles that. And there is an exotic, perfumed taste. The clarity leaves much to be desired - my last glass had the consistency of a cloudy apple juice. But this bottle has removed the flavour from my 'Never Again' list.

We drank much of the bottle watching an sfdebris.com review of Torchwood Miracle Day, which is fair in its criticisms, though which I would like to be more scathing. The rest of the bottle was spent eating cauliflower cheese and apple snow.

Prune & Parsnip - Bottle 6, 18th-19th September 2011

Walking long distances was a feature of this bottle. On Sunday we walked 10-and-a-half miles up Pen-y-Ghent, and on Monday it was 12 miles to the Norber Boulders and back. Both walks started from the cottage we were hiring in Horton in Ribblesdale, and both had their own pleasures. Sunday's walk was in rather better weather with good views - but had considerably more 'up' and wetter feet. The final stretch was along a river path, but it was not clear where the river bank ended. Monday's feature was over-riding drizzle but was peppered with limestone pavement and lush green lanes.

The bottle was our last of rather too many on Sunday night (12 miles feeling delicate is not great) so we brought the remainder home and each had a glass to the final episode of a massively silly season of Torchwood.

Elderberry - Bottle B2, 25th-26th August 2011

It is a Friday night and I am pleasantly wibbly. Whilst I write I am eating a mixed fruit cobbler (only a little burnt because we failed to hear the pinger during Torchwood) and slurping a mug of bush tea.

I opened this bottle after coming home from Ian's Dreadful Octet - except this time Mary and Patrick were missing, so we played sextets badly instead. But with six of us, rather than eight, there were fewer versions of the tuning note. I left half an hour earlier than usual on the excuse (which was true) that I had barely seen Claire this week. Therefore, our first glass was drunk, lying in bed reacquainting ourselves.

The remainder was drunk tonight on a lazy, pleasant Friday evening where nothing much has happened in a thoroughly satisfying way.

Crab Apple - Bottle C4, 19th August 2011

Perhaps it was not the best idea to drink an entire bottle of Crab Apple wine tonight - particularly as we also finished half a bottle of Blackberry. Currently my head is somewhat swimming and the words on this page are not entirely stable.

It has been a lovely evening, though. Much of it was spent in the best way a Friday evening can be spent; preparing food and chatting through the week with my wife. The meal (when it eventually appeared - shortly before 9) was delicious, with much of it from the garden. And then we watched Torchwood.

The mug of bush tea has helped a little in sobering me up. But only a little.

Gooseberry - Bottle A4, 6th August 2011

I had not been planning on drinking tonight. It was our first day back from Rydal, and Rydal is always seven days of excess. Except Claire had enjoyed a relatively sober week - sticking to two pints of dark ale every night, and she felt a bottle of wine was in order. So we drank it to a Thai curry, using some of our green bean glut (which may not be an authentic Thai ingredient) and then to an episode of Torchwood, which is getting better if more gruesome. The wine was delicious, though - the best bottle from this batch of Gooseberry so far.

Blackberry - Bottle A3, 22nd & 24th July 2011

We drank half of this bottle mostly watching Torchwood, which continues to be entertaining. The second half was drunk after possibly the most joyous concert I have ever played. WYSO performed Handel's Water Music on a platfrom in the middle of a swimming pool in Bramley. We had an audience swimming around the stage, as well as one being more conventional and peering down from the balcony. At the end the swimmers formed a circle around the stage, preventing us from leaving until we played another Hornpipe.

The stage (without an orchestra)

You can read more details on my other blog, and there is a photo on the Yorkshire Evening Post website.

Rhubarb - Bottle A1, 15th July 2011

Hurrah. Torchwood is back. I have spent either all week or two years looking forward to its return. The last series was so perfect and had such a dark ending that part of me thinks they should have stopped there. But the rest of me is greedy for more and I am delighted to see it back on our screens. Tonight's episode was, admittedly, silly - but the set up that no-one can die is promising and I will definitely stick with it. None of which, of course, has anything to do with Rhubarb Wine - which I finished whilst watching Torchwood, and started whilst lying, bedraggled, in bed. In between, we had a 'Bring Round' curry and I'm pleased to report that feeling vaguely ill has not killed my appetite for food. Or wine.