Sweet Treats

It was Mat's Mom's birthday a few weeks ago so I made some sweet based presents. Below are the marshmallow cupcakes, you bake the marshmallows in the batter and the topping is melted marshmallows, cream and white chocolate.

And here are the lime and ginger kisses, they are sandwiches of small round gingerbread biscuits with a lime butter as the filling - really refreshing and addictive!

Well Educated Drunks

Jade 'Jilly Goolden' Sheppard and Emily 'Oz Clarke' Shaw took on a Birthday treat of wine tasting at Vinopolis.

Armed with knowledge from the short wine tasting lecture, tasting notebook, glass, and vouchers we we embarked on our wine extravaganza. Here are our tasting notes:

Wine One

 Name: Tinto Roriz Aliance Vista

Type: Red

Grape(s): Tinta Roriz

Region: Portugal, Beiras

Vintage: 2008

Cost: £7

Alcohol: 13.5%

Appearance: Dark red with a wide rim and a few legs.

Aroma: 'The seaside' and peppery plums.

Taste: Low on flavour, a harsh wine with no lasting aftertaste.

Occasion/Meal: Steak (Jade) Lobster (Emily).

Would we buy it: No

Rating: 3/5

Wine Two

Name: Kim Crawford Pinot Gris

Type: White

Grape(s): Pinot Gris

Region: New Zealand

Vintage: 2007

Cost: £10.49

Alcohol: 13.5%

Appearance: Golden with a very large white rim.

Aroma: Gooseberries followed by peaches and cream.

Taste: A sweet, flavourful wine. Peaches, Mango and Pineapple.

Occasion/Meal: Chicken Stew & Mango Sorbet (Jade) Greek Salad (Emily).

Would we buy it: Yes

Rating: 4/5

Wine Three

Name: Falernia Carmenere Syrah

Type: Red

Grape(s): Carmenere & Syrah

Region: Chile, Elqui Valley

Vintage: 2006

Cost: £8.99

Alcohol: 14.5%

Appearance: Dark with a thin rim.

Aroma: Cherry, rosemary and chocolate.

Taste: Dry, spicy wine with strong chilli and oaky tones.

Occasion/Meal: Mexican (Jade) Spicy meats - chorizo (Emily).

Would we buy it: Yes

Rating: 4/5

Wine Four

Name: Les Rochettes Pouilly Fumé

Type: White

Grape(s): Sauvignon Blanc

Region: France

Vintage: 2005

Cost: £12.99

Alcohol: 12.5%

Appearance: Light colour with a very light rim.

Aroma: Elderflower, peach, apple and honeysuckle.

Taste: Crisp, long lasting tastes of lemon, lime and fudge.

Occasion/Meal: Scallops (Jade) Pasta with creamy sauce (Emily).

Would we buy it: Yes

Rating: 3/5

Wine Five

Name: Lomond

Type: Red

Grape(s): Merlot

Region: South African

Vintage: 2006

Cost: £8.99

Alcohol: ---

Appearance: Light colour with a narrow rim.

Aroma: Earthy, smokey aromas reminiscent of root veg.

Taste: Dry, harsh wine that's low on flavour. Lot's of peppery tannins.

Occasion/Meal: Wouldn't want to ruin the meal!

Would we buy it: No

Rating: 1/5

Wine Six

Name: Bonterra Viognier

Type: White

Grape(s): Viognier

Region: USA, Mendocino County

Vintage: 2008

Cost: £11.99

Alcohol: 14%

Appearance: Very light colour with a narrow rim.

Aroma: Cantaloupe melon, pineapple and butter.

Taste: Pineapple and yoghurt.

Occasion/Meal: Chicken with a creamy/butter sauce (Jade) Mash Potato (Emily).

Would we buy it: Yes

Rating: 3.5/5

Wine Seven

Name: Torres De Casta Rosada

Type: Rosé

Grape(s): Granacha & Carinena

Region: Penedes, Spain

Vintage: 2009

Cost: £7.99

Alcohol:13.5%

Appearance: Light with a shallow rim.

Aroma: Strawberries, Strawberry leaves and vanilla.

Taste: Dry, harsh tasting wine with sour, strawberry flavours.

Occasion/Meal: Can't ever imagine drinking it again.

Would we buy it: No

Rating: 1/5

Wine Eight

Name: Greco di Tufo Vesuvium

Type: White

Grape(s): Greco di Tufo

Region: Italian

Vintage: 2008

Cost: £15.99

Alcohol: 13%

Appearance: Dark with a wide rim.

Aroma: Apricots and cream.

Taste: Sweet and smooth with pears and butterscotch flavours.

Occasion/Meal: Asparagus with Parma Ham (Jade) Belly pork (Emily).

Would we buy it: Yes

Rating: 4/5

Gin Cocktail

It's gin, 'nuff said, we were happy. There was a cool little display where you could 'experience' the many ingredients of Bombay Sapphire Gin

Rum Bar

Foolishy I thought they would come with coke :-S

Lager

By this point I just needed something to wash the neat rum down with.

What an ace day, we were total geeks and took the whole thing very seriously filling in our wine tasting notebook. We did a self guided tour which was perfect for us as we could go at our own pace, think we spent about 4 hours there. Luckily we also found some extra vouchers which allowed us to get some more wine to taste and then you also have an option to 'top-up' your visit by paying for extra tasting of Champagne, rum, whisky and lager as well as the wines including the premium ones.

The whisky cellar was also very cool, most expensive bottle was nearly £8k! We didn't try that :-)

Best Wine of the Day Award goes to....

Kim Crawford Pinot Gris.

Most Accurate Predicated of the Day Award goes to.....

Jade for correctly guessing the exacte food match of 'Asparagus with Parma Ham' for the last wine we tasted. 

Most Embarrassing Moment of the Day Award goes to....

Me, for falling off a bench at the tube station (yes it was post wine tasting).

Best Decision of the Day Award goes to...

Deciding to swerve the Absinthe Bar.

Confessions of a Culinary Chav

Today I went out for dinner with my whole family to celebrate my Birthday. It's without shame that I will admit to gleefully ordering the Chicken Kiev. It was like the restaurant knew it was a special occasion and put it on the menu just for me.

It was though a posh Chicken Kiev (yes it's possible!) made from proper chicken, not chicken coloured mush.

Anyway, there I've said it.

Original image from www.zazzle.co.uk

Birthday Lunch

My Mum and Dad treated me to lunch at Aston Marina on my Birthday. It has to be said that the chef seemed a little more excited about it than I did, and I was pretty excited, he'd obviously been waiting to show-off his skills in writing with chocolate sauce. I'd give him 9/10, next time make the letters thicker.