Hah!

Well it won't go to waste, will it!


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The Woman who put Chateau Lafite Rothschild in her 'legendary' lasagna

I am told (but am unable to reveal my source so as to protect them from untold vengeance) that a woman in Leeds put a bottle of Chateau Lafite Rothschild into the sauce for her ‘legendary’ lasagne. As all my readers will know the Chateau Lafite Rothschild is one of the great wines and two bottles of the 2000 vintage are priced here at £5,700.

Now leaving aside one’s concerns about who would pay getting on for three grand on a bottle of red wine, there is no doubt that using such fine stuff in one’s lasagna is to reach the pinnacle of extravagant, conspicuous consumption. More interesting though is whether the wonders of the wine transferred to making the ‘legendary’ lasagna and culinary one-off? The wine might contain:

Tasty flavours of raspberry, blackcurrant and roasted meat. The texture of 2001 Lafite is absolutely remarkable; a perfect grip, gaining gradually up in power. 2001 Lafite Rothschild has an excellent medium to fully body and nicely balanced extraction of dark fruit. Very pure and concentrated Lafite.

But do those flavours transfer to the mince, onions and tomato making up the remainder of the sauce – or are these lost in the bigger bundle of tastes. And how will all this work with the cheese?

And anyway what was she doing putting French wine in an Italian dish? Philistine!

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Wednesday Whimsy: Jackdaws and Red Wine

I tried to take some pictures of jackdaws playing round the towers in Volterra. I say play because - despite the anthropomorphism - I can think of no better word. Swooping, diving and soaring - chasing eachother, making patterns and showing off. Sadly my little camera wasn't up to the job so you get this slightly wonky picture of red wine in a glass!

Sometimes I wish I could slow down a little - stop trying to trim five minutes off the journey home, worry less about cramming in a couple more meetings into a day and just relax. But it ain't like that - life is crazy. We run ourselves ragged with squeezing the last ounce of sweat from the day. Why do we chase around rather than watch the jackdaws playing, sit back in our chair and drink red wine (and, if you wish, smoke a fine cigar or a comforting pipe)?

Perhaps I can see the darkness at the end of our tunnel of light? Maybe changing the world palls a little with realising that it's none of my business? Whatever's going on we do need - sometimes - to step outside, see the sun, the rain and the magic of nature's glory. We need to lift our eyes from grey tarmac, shiny shopfront and showy celebrity. To look on the world and say - this is a fine place, a wonder of beauty, magnificence and splendour. The snowy mountain, the green meadow, the blue lake, the yellow corn, the red flash of a bird or butterfly.

...and watch the jackdaws. They understand the world!