Update on Xmas/Hanukah/Halloween cookie cutters

Christmas/Hanukah cookie cutters
Getting ready for Christmas, I just bought two copies of Essentials magazine number Xmas issue (£2.99 each copy) from a Tesco Express in order to get the metal cookie cutters.

One set consists of a Christmas tree, six pointed wiggly edge star, and bell.

The other set has a five pointed straight sided star, an angel (I thought it was a gingerbread man until I looked closer) and a J shape candy cane.

A six point star was on a mince tart at the end of the set meal at the Civil Service Club Xmas dinner.
Lots of mince tarts which are sold in supermarkets are decorated with stars. I think it's something to do with the symbolism of the three magi (wise men) following the stars to the town of Bethlehem to the stable where Jesus was said to be born. However, a six point star does very nicely for a talk or topic (impromptu speech, originally a topic taken from the table) about Hanukah at a Toastmasters Xmas/winter party. (The hanukah symbol is the 9 branch candlestick, but if you want a symbol on the food a six point star does nicely.)

The Xmas cutter will do for cutting biscuits or sandwiches. I plan to use if for icing shapes to stand up or lie flat on a fruit cake with a white icing top.

More Cutters From Morrisons
Morrisons, like Tesco, sells the Essentials Magazine with the 'free' cookie cutters, at £2.99.

However, for only £1 in Morrisons  you can get three larger cookie cutters with a seasonal theme in red plastic. The designs I saw were for three: Xmas tree, star, and another.

Nesting Stars On Ebay
A set of ten nesting stars on ebay can be stacked to make a Xmas tree.

Hanukah Cookie Cutters
I did a search for hanukah cookie cutters. This is the sort of thing which is hard to find in a hurry overseas. For example, one year I was travelling to Singapore and needed some symbols them to give a talk to Friends of The Museum on Hanukah for a multi-cultural winter workshop and holiday party. In the UK I see the work Hanukah but US sites spell it Chanukah. They sell cookie cutters in sets of three, usually including a six point star and a dreidl (spinning top).

Halloween
You can also buy sets of nesting Halloween cookie cutters.

Nesting sets of hearts are handy for wedding anniversaries, birthdays and Valentine's day. I also liked the rolling pins which roll out a line of hearts or stars, for decorating ribbons of pastry or icing for cakes.

If you want only one cutter, for £1.19 including postage, try ebay:
http://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/Christmas-Cookie-Biscuit-Pastry-Cutters-Angel-Bell-Xmas-Tree-Star-Star-Boot-/181532105254?pt=UK_Home_Baking_Accessories&var=


www.essentialsmagazine.com
www.tesco.com
www.tesco.com/direct
www.morrisons.com

Chocolates from Oban in Scotland, Christmas gifts and more

Chocolate has been called 'the food of the gods' and unaccountably the food of the devil; perhaps that should be the food of the dentist. If I ever have to confess my sins on the day of judgement, in the great dental chair in the sky, I shall have to confess to eating chocolate. I love chocolate.

Oban Chocolate Co. is on travel site GoEuro's top ten list of chocolate places. Oban, from Scottish Gaelic for The Little Bay, is a port on the west coast of Scotland and featured in a film Ring of Bright Water. The scenic horseshoe bay is also home to the ferry to Mull, and attracts lots of visitors in summer. You have to go to Oban in Scotland where you can see the chocolates being made and buy the latest novelty as they constantly make new chocolates. Their cafe has sofas, views across the bay, a toy box to amuse children. Food includes hot waffles and cold ice cream drinks and lots of chocolate confections. You can sit admiring the bay while eating the chocolate delights, and reading about Sir Walter Scott visiting Oban and writing his Lord of the Isles poem, which set Oban on the tourist trail, or about the nearby whisky distillery.

What if you are too far from Oban today but want to try the chocolates? I compared prices on their website to see how they compare with the pricey shops in London which charge £1 a chocolate. I still think that £5 for a box of Thorntons chocolate in Tesco Express is best value.
But, regarding the Oban chocolates, as their website points out, prices include postage in the UK by royal mail first class. For international orders contact them for postage prices.

I liked the box of four in a music box playing We wish you a merry Christmas. Good for Xmas day, though not much use the rest of the year. 
It's on this page:

http://www.obanchocolate.co.uk/acatalog/chocolate.html


Another novelty was the six point star. My orthodox Jewish friends are so kosher it's hard to find anything which meets their requirements unless bought from a kosher deli. However the star box would do nicely for many other friends and groups around the time of Hanukah.

Their celebration cakes include those with five point stars, and my favourite novelty is the crossword cake with the message to the birthday boy or girl like words on a crossword. I suppose you could do the same with Scrabble. Other opportunities and options include a football club cake, a christening cake, a silver wedding anniversary and a golden wedding anniversary. Prices from about £70.

Read more: http://www.dailymail.co.uk/femail/food/article-2852063/Scottish-chocolate-shop-Oban-Chocolate-voted-one-10-Europe.html#ixzz3KNnLIzec
Follow us: @MailOnline on Twitter | DailyMail on Facebook

http://www.obanchocolate.co.uk/acatalog/Special_Boxed_Selections.html
http://www.obanchocolate.co.uk/acatalog/Truffle_Star.html

The shop runs a 45 minute chocolate making workshop for kids in the school holidays. Children get a certificate at the end.


If you can't get up to Scotland, there are premises in London, England, doing chocolate making courses for adults, and at least one in the city of York in Yorkshire for children. See my previous posts.

If you live in the area or are Scottish you might like to visit the website and look at the wedding cakes including one with thistles and tartan ribbon.

For more details on the area see Wiki Oban
The former Scottish tourist board is now catchily named
www.visitscotland

Oban Chocolate Company

34 Corran Esplanade, Oban PA34 5PS

Add them to my list: A hotel in London; then White Cliffs of Dover

An accolade for a hotel in Soho, London, England, containing a bowling alley.

New for spring 2015 will be a visit to the White Cliffs of Dover and group tours of the underground Second World War tunnels, Fan Bay Deep Shelter. It's a National Trust property.
www.nationaltrust.org.uk/groups 

Wine Society Xmas Gifts

The Wine Society in Stevenage sells wines you can try for free in its Enomatic machine. Leading up to Christmas there's a large range of foods to buy for parties or Xmas stocking gifts, such as cheese, chocolates, cheese flavour crackers, stollen, Italian bread, pheasant pate and pork scratchings.

Using a wooden wine case cover as a cheese board is an amusing idea. I liked the stilton. I heard others praising the cheddar. 

I was disappointed in the smoked salmon. Also in the stollen. I thought the small stollen in a tin was dry and lacked the moist marzipan centre you get in the bigger stollen on offer some years from supermarkets. 

However, I thought the Pannetone with moist fruit scattered through it was excellent. 

Enomatic machine. Pop in your card and pick a drink to taste. The wines offered are changed at regular intervals so there's always something new to try, and, if you like it, buy a bottle. 

To the right of the free Enomatic machine is another Enomatic serving a small shot of premium wines at assorted prices.

Have a taste from this magnum! One of the Xmas Xtra staff. What a great Xmas job to have. 

Not everybody gets out in front helping the customers face to face. In addition more staff are needed operating the phones taking the Xmas orders.

Service and advice from the regular staff at the Xmas wine tasting event in Stevenage. They also have events all over the UK. Here's their events page:

https://www.thewinesociety.com/shop/TastingCategory.aspx

https://www.thewinesociety.com/

Book Your Ticket, or Xmas Gift, A Ride on the Bluebell Railway or watch the video

The magic of the gleaming steam train, climb aboard. The station master in his peaked black cap blows his whistle. Puff puff, chuff chuff. Wave goodbye. Diddle-ee-dum, on the rails. Look out of the window and watch the passing scenery. Brace yourself for the steep descent. Where is it? Sussex. Southern England. The warm south. Warm but wet sometimes, which is a good thing because it makes the scenery green. Is it the bluebells in springtime which give their name to the Bluebell Railway?

Photograph from Wiki Commons.

Bluebell Railway Train Rides
The steam train service goes to and from East Grinstead in Sussex. In winter they run Santa special and reindeer journeys.
You may have seen the trains in films such as The Railway Children, The Wind in the Willows and 101 Dalmations.
The trains also appear in a book by Rev Awdry.

The Society running the line has 30 locomotives. The service is run by volunteers.

The Museum
See the museum at Sheffield Park Station.
www.bluebell-railway.co.uk
Armchair travellers can watch the train chuffing along on a YouTube video.

Planning Your Trip
You can book dinner on the train as a birthday treat or Xmas gift. Reviews on Tripadvisor
You can get a discount by booking well in advance for an all day ticket.

The Gardens
You could combine a railway trip with a visit to Sheffield Park and Garden, nearby with a connecting bus. The Sheffield Park and Garden is a National Trust property which will be open all year except Xmas Day. More details from
National Trust website at www.nationaltrust.org.uk/sheffield-park-and-garden - See more at: http://www.bluebell-railway.com/national-trust-garden-sheffield-park/#sthash.rNpzZ1Cc.dpuf


Prices are quite high.
But some dates are already fully booked.
New Year's Eve is £150. That includes mulled wine and canapés on arrival as well as dinner and coffee and petits fours.
More on the Bluebell Railway and the Bluebell Vineyard in a previous post.

Waltzing Matilda Museum

Waltzing Matilda must be one of the world's most popular and familiar folk songs, as well as being Australia's unofficial national anthem. I heard it in Australia at an Australian dinner event held regularly for tourists in Sydney.

(There is no H in  m a t i l d a. The automatic spellchecker keeps reinserting the H and I keep removing it.)

I was researching quotations for one of my books and I was on April 26 Australia Day looking for a quotation. The one which sprang to mind was Waltzing Matilda. I tracked it down on on Wikipedia and found that there's a specific Waltzing Matilda day, April 6 commemorating the day the song was first performed.

And a Waltzing Matilda Museum. It is in Winton, Australia.
Winton is in Queensland, about 700 miles from Brisbane. Waltzing Matilda was first performed in a hotel. Winton is also the place where Quantas airline was founded.

Just to remind you of the song. The Swagman is an itinerant tramp or in modern terms backpacker. Waltzing is walking or meandering along. He is carrying his baggage on his back, as you might as a tourist in Australia, with a swag or Matilda or backpack containing all your belongings on your back.

The catchy tune is one of the most cheerful I know, designed to lift the spirits, really rousing in a group gathering, or even sitting alone at home by a laptop. Yet the words are initially, on first reading rather sad.

The swagman catches a sheep, (so he is a poacher - on somebody else's land? The swagman is chased, not just by one policeman, but by a posse of three policeman and the sheep's. presumably irate, owner. The defiant swagman jumps into the water to evade them, singing his song. He drowns. the listener, the singer says, can still hear the ghost singing. We finish with a rousing chorus.

Why? Can't swim Tragic accident? No. According to the Wikipedia account, he deliberately commits suicide. So, on the plus side, from his point of view, he has achieved his purpose, evaded them, evaded capture, stayed out of the jail, out of the city.

He's still dead. (From their point of view, dead thief, no loss.)

So far so bad. But it all happens so quickly that neither the characters described nor the hearers have time to feel sorry for themselves or anybody else. The end is with the ghost of the tramp singing the song.

This gives the swag man immorality, for those who believe in an afterlife, as well as immortal fame as a legendary figure.

For those of us who don't believe in ghosts, and think ghost stories are often legends, no need to feel sorry, it's just a make believe story, in which no animal was killed, no tramp died, and no policeman caught a fugitive. But the song goes on. If it has not immortalised a real tramp who supposedly jumped in a waterhole, it has immortalised the songwriter.

Another explanation of the song is on this excellent website:
http://www.hamilton.net.au/matilda.html
Among the things it explains is that a coolish tree is a eucalyptus.

http://www.matildacentre.com.au

According to the website they sell a camping hat with LED lights in the hat.
http://www.matildacentre.com.au/clothing

You can also hear the song Waltzing Matilda sung on Youtube.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CwvazMc5EfE

You can also read the story of the Waltzing Matilda film, a comedy abut a case of mistaken identity and two characters on the run with a bit of romance thrown in.

Banjo Paterson OBE (17 Feb 1864-5 Feb 1941) died age 76. He wrote the poem The Man From Snowy River. The story is how a fearless young horse rider chases a runaway colt down and up a steep gorge. A picture of Banjo Paterson and the words of his poem are on the Australian $10 banknote.

Whether you are an Australian touring the country, an Australian overseas returning home, or a visitor from overseas, it's a good place to go and feel part of the history and geography and culture and music of the country.

Glossary
coolibah - eucalyptus or gum tree
swag - sleeping bag or rolled up sleeping blanket or base wrapped around belongings
tucker bag - tuck box or bag
matilda - swag
waltzing - walking

Angela Lansbury B A Hons, travel writer, author, speaker, comic poet.
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Coffee and Activities at St Andrew's Church in Fulham, London

St Andrew's Church has a cafe serving coffee, cake and light lunches, as well as community activities. Everything from children's parties to shelter for the homeless. If you are nearby or read about an activity you would like to attend, do go along and see the stained glass. You can buy second hand books for 50p. 

This stained glass window is not St Andrew, patron saint of Scotland as well as Romania and a few other countries, but a rather handsome young St George, patron saint of England.

This is a church of England church. But Wednesday evenings it is used by the Korean church. 

www.standrewsfulham.com

St Andrew’s church, Greyhound Road, London W149SA Tel: 07989 264977

Winter Wine Tasting At St Andrew's Church, Fulham

I'd been to a wine tasting at St Andrew's Church previously, in the gallery room overlooking the church. What I had not expected was for the entire church to be turned into a wine tasting venue. Why not? Using the body of the church for an event including sales stands, food and drink seems increasingly popular all over London. It bring local people and people from further away into the church and uses the building at time when it would otherwise be empty to raise funds for the church or a charity it supports.

The only disadvantage of this church as a wine-tasting venue was the low level of lighting. Apparently on a sunny day the place can be quite bright from natural light through the windows. But on an overcast day we were all in shadow, despite a few overhead lights. This was not good for wine tasting. The previous day I had been on the WSET level one course where one of the first things you learn is that before you sniff or taste the wine you check its colour. That tells you the age of the wine, if the wine is off, the probable strength of flavour, as well as whether you like the colour, anticipating that the wine is, for example, too white and insipid, young and sharp, or a rich red suggesting more flavour but more tannins to dry the mouth.

We had a festive welcome from Jimmy Smith, master organiser, in a Santa hat.  Beth, checking those opting for the two tastings, wore a reindeer hat.

The event entry cost £25 each. I had wondered why I was paying for people to try to sell me wine.
However, it was enormous fun, crowded and convivial.

Lots of wines to taste and free crackers.

On one stand I was offered olives which I tried. Small black or dark green. Try both. The green ones had pepper stuffing, they told me - too late. As I coughed and my eyes ran, they told me a useful tip. Eating a breadstick helps alleviate the symptoms.

Upstairs in the gallery we paid £5 each for a tutored wine tasting, then for a second session. The money went towards a charity supported by the church who offer food to the homeless, if I understand right from the Church website, once a week, all day on Saturday.

The most surprisingly funky wine bottle label is the one with Sex, Drugs, & Rock and Roll on the label. When you stop to read it, you realise the words are crossed out and underneath it says, just Riesling for me, thanks!

If you want to attend a wine course, Jimmy Smith organises several at other venues, plus some wine tastings here at the church.

Dessert Delights & Free Cookie Cutters For Your Xmas Tree Cake Top

Delicious desserts at the ADELPHI HOTEL - a tiny paragraph in the Daily Telegraph newspaper alerted me to this hotel in Melbourne, a city I visited some time ago. I remember it's long restaurant street with lots of Italian style restaurants and touts outside every door tempting you with offers of a free drink, free dessert, two for the price of one, ten per cent off. Now something even more tempting. A dessert bar.

In a hotel with a dessert theme. Bar stools like liquorice. Candy patterns on the carpet. Toffee apples on check-in.

Popcorn in bedrooms. A macaroon at turn-down time.

The hotel is a local landmark with a glass bottom swimming pool jutting out over the street.

I tracked down the hotel website on Tripadvisor and saw the photos by visitors. Finding the hotel's own website was surprisingly challenging, as I kept trawling down websites which wanted to book me a table.

Finally I found the hotel:

adelphi.com.aus

Then I found the restaurant with the menu and pictures of the desserts.
http://omnom.kitchen

One of the offerings is a variation on the French religieuse, or nun. A kind of snowman, or rather snow woman, made of profiteroles with a ruff of cream, which I had seen at a restaurant show in London. (Mentioned in an earlier post by me.)

Unfortunately I am unlikely to get to Melbourne in the near future, not for Xmas. But what can one do at home?

If you want inspiration for making your own desserts, sandwiches or a child's lunchbox, check out Grace Hall's creations.

http://www.dailymail.co.uk/femail/food/article-2610244/Packed-lunches-look-good-eat-Creative-mother-turns-picky-sons-lunchboxes-works-art.html

For special occasion birthdays, I like the cakes in Jan Asher's book.

Christmas/Hanukah cookie cutters
Getting ready for Christmas, I just bought two copies of Essentials magazine number Xmas issue from a Tesco Express in order to get the metal cookie cutters.
One set consists of a Christmas tree, six pointed wiggly edge star, and bell. The other set has a five pointed straight sided star, an angel (I thought it was a gingerbread man until I looked closer) and a J shape candy cane.

A six point star was on a mince tart at the end of the set meal at the Civil Service Club Xmas dinner.

The Xmas cutter will do for cutting biscuits or sandwiches. I plan to use if for icing shapes to stand up or lie flat on a fruit cake with a white icing top.

More Cutters From Morrisons
For only £1 in Morrisons you can get three large cookie cutters with a seasonal them in red plastic. The designs I was for three: Xmas tree, star, and another.


Chocolate Moulds
If you want to make something more elaborate, you can buy chocolate moulds for hearts and other shapes from China online from Ebay or in the UK from Lakeland (online and various branches including one in Watford. Lakeland has sets of mould for making your own chocolates and a larger mould for a train.

Back to where we started: The desert restaurant in the dessert hotel:

Adelphi Hotel

187 Flinders Lane 

Melbourne 

Victoria 

VIC 3000

Australia
Ph: (+61) 3 8080 8827
omnom@adelphi.com.au

Lakeland has 68 stores in the UK with a kinds of gifts and gadgets for the kitchen and home.

www.lakeland.co.uk/StoreLocator‎

Bluebell railway steam train to ride and Bluebell wines to taste and buy

The bluebell wine company is near the bluebell railway. A great afternoon out for any group, such as a women's institute. Visit the winery. Have a vineyard tour and tasting. Maybe buy a souvenir bottle -or case. Then take the bluebell railway.

Watch out for expansion of the opportunities at the Bluebell Vineyard. I met Lucy. She says they are planning to expand the facilities, building a cafe. Maybe a few souvenirs such as aprons. Yes, she has been to the biggest winery tourist attraction I've seen in Britain, Denbies, and the company she works for plans to follow the great example set by Denbies.

The great place to visit down the road from the Bluebell winery is a cafe in an antique furniture emporium with an elephant outside.

This is Lucy from the winery. You can see the big B for Bluebell on the wine bottle label. On their stand at a wine fair, she and another member of staff showed me and allowed me to taste three types of sparkling wine which they make. Apparently most people like the classic sparkling wine which is a blend of chardonnay and pinot noir. 

To my surprise I liked both versions of the one grape variety. I liked the 'biscuity' sparkling wine made from white Chardonnay grapes. But I also liked the other version. I like wines with a distinctive aroma and flavour.

If you want to book a vineyard tour or tasting for a group, here are their details:

Address Bluebell Vineyard Estates Glenmore Farm Sliders Lane Furners Green East Sussex TN22 3RU England Email: wineinfo@bluebellvineyard.co.uk http://www.bluebellvineyard.co.uk/ The Bluebell Railway is a steam train service. They run Santa specials. www.bluebell-railway.co.uk More on the railway in a later post.

Telephone 01825 791 561 Mobile 07785 333 417

Travelling with a smartphone - selfie with your children

New things to do with a smartphone. On London's underground railway (the 'tube') I watched a father keep his small son entranced, and close with a hug, taking two-person selfies. What a great idea. You can do this on any form of transport. Or any place with two adjacent seats. Stop your children racing off around a plane, a train, a restaurant, a theatre.

Take the photo. Take several. Show the child al the photos you have taken. Let them choose which ones to keep and which ones to delete. Take another.


Keep them busy. Keep them happy. Stop them jumping up and down in a moving vehicle. Prevent them annoying other passengers. Or getting lost.

Imperial Wharf walk and see the City Swimming Pool Exhibition At Gallery and Riverside Walk

Imperial Wharf station is surrounded by ultra-modern buildings. 

Opposite the exit on one side is the Roca London Gallery. I'd managed to walk past it twice or more going to or from the station, then on my way back to the station I stopped, camera phone in hand, and thought, that's unusual. My first thought was that it was a swimming pool, my second that it was an art gallery with an exhibition about swimming pools. I had to rush on because I was meeting family at a nearby station. Later I looked up their website and discovered more about the building itself and the exhibition on city centre and water-based swimming pools. 

The Roca London Gallery Building

I discovered that the building is by an award winning architect. 

The City Swimming Pools

The online photos show swimming pools placed permanently or temporarily with adjacent to river banks or like picture frames in the middle of a river with a water top curving path giving pedestrian access. The frame presumably give clean water, keeps out debris, and passing river craft, or those who have not paid to enter, as well as offering a frame of trees, the illusion of a tropical oasis,   

Urban Plunge - ideas for swimming pools within rivers in London and other cities worldwide.

http://www.rocalondongallery.com/en/building

Opposite the gallery is a Tesco Express well stocked with sandwiches and a salad bar and a good selection or orchids in pots if you are looking for a gift. For the man or woman who has everything - a blue orchid? Anybody want to buy me a present? 

If you have more time and money to spend, next door is the upmarket H & H cafe, which an acquaintance informed me is owned by Tesco. A member of my family took exception to the air conditioning in the cafe so I haven't yet tried it. But the £1 egg sandwich in Tesco seemed very good value.

Venture down the nearby complex and you'll find fountains and waterside dining and see buildings reflected in the river.

Who is in the picture in B & K Salt Beef Bar, Hatch End?

You go to B & K for their chicken liver pate, their salt beef, their turkey, or their lokshen pudding (noodle pudding) or apple strudel, or all of the above..

'Who is in that picture?' I asked the owner, who was serving the salt beef at the deli counter.

'My grandfather, who opened the Salt Beef Bar in Selfridges in the 1960s when it was owned by Clore.'

www.bksaltbeefbar.com

More things you can do travelling with a smartphone - a torch

Today the light in the toilet wasn't working. About twelve men and women had to use a toilet without lights. One of the men recalled that his smartphone acted as a torch. He showed me how to find the icon.

You can use your smartphone as a torch to find your way back to the hotel from a car park at night. To hunt for dropped keys under your car. Or to light up a room when the lights of bulbs have failed.

If you don't have a torch built in, you can use the screen as a light.

Iphone Torch Symbol
How do you find the light? Go to the Home page with the 20 icons. Slide the icons p the screen using your fingertips. On the lower left you will see the silhouette of a torch. Click on it and the light comes on.

See previous post on adding a photo quickly to your contacts list.

Angela Lansbury BA Hons, author.

The Wellington Gourmet Pub Restaurant Near Welwyn

The Wellington is a gourmet pub serving yummy food in a historic beamed building. Easy to find in the centre of the old village of Welwyn near the later and larger area of Welwyn Garden City. 

The restaurant menu handily tells you the history of the building and the surrounding including the old church you can see from the front windows.

Upstairs they have bedrooms.

At the back is a car park.

The house next door to the car park has a circular history plaque which you see as you drive in and out. It says that the house was occupied by the sister of the famous Impressionist painter Van Gogh. She taught French at the local school. Van Gogh walked all the way here from the southern coast of England to see her.

On the restaurant walls are many amusing pictures including a wall of cartoons. In addition the wonderful surroundings, the place serves interesting food. You can find conventional food on the main menu. But I suggest you opt for the special of the day written up on a board over the fireplace. We had a vegetarian dish with a mustard sauce.

The Wellington

www.wellingtonatwelwyn.co.uk

Visit Vivat Bacchus restaurant, wine bar, cheese room, Farringdon, London

The main restaurant is huge and they also have a cheese room and wine tastings.

The main courses are served on wooden platters. I recommend the ribs.

Must try the triple dessert. We could see it being made in the kitchen behind the glass. One bowl has rhubarb, another had blueberry cheesecake, the middle one has chocolate and cointreau, and all have a sprig of mint on top. £12.50 for all three.

I wine we tried and liked. Le Cigare Volant, meaning flying cigar.  The story of the flying cigar is on the back of the bottle. A southern Rhone blend, similar to the renowned Chateuneuf du Pape. Unfiltered. 13.5% vol. Must by law be stated on the bottle. Californian wines tend to be between 14 and 15 because they have so much sunshine. 375 ml is half a bottle, three glasses small of 125.  

The owner of Vivat Bacchus, Gerrie, (I checked the spelling on their website), the pronunciation of his first name might be Afrikaans) a South African, is the tall guy on the left.

Vivat means long live. Bacchus is the god of wine.

Their address card shows a corkscrew on the front. On the back is the saying, Life's too short to drink bad wine.

We went to the Farringdon branch on this occasion.

Vivat Bacchus

Farringdon

45 Farringdon St

London EC4A 4LL

tel 020 7353 2648

London Bridge 

4 Hays Lane

London SE1 2HB

tel:

020 7234 0891

email: info@vivatbacchus.co.uk

Londonbridge&vivatbacchus.go.uk

www.vivatbacchus.co.uk

The Wine Explorer Graham Mitchell book signing at the Vintners Hall

Author Graham Mitchell book signing at the Vintners' Hall.

We started reading the book on the train on the way home. Chapters start with quotations, mostly about wine. The book is published by University of Buckingham Press. I met two of the publishers.

I tasted a Prosecco, a champagne and the sweet Beaune de Venise. We had crackers and mature cheddar from Waitrose. Graham's company sells the wines by the case. His aim is to find affordable, mostly moderately priced wines. I tried a Prosecco, a Champagne, lots of dry reds and a sweet Beaune de Venise.

The Wine Explorer provides wine courses at your office - minimum number 12. Wine tasting events. After dinner speakers. Gift list for weddings. Corporate gifts distributed throughout the UK.

email cellars@thewineexplorer.co.uk

tel:01985 840853

www.thewineexplorer.co.uk

For more about the Vintners' Hall, see my previous post.

Angela Lansbury, travel writer, author: twenty books including two on quotations for speakers: Quick Quotations. Who Said What When? See Lulu.com ; Facebook; LinkedIn; YouTube Angela Lansbury author, comic poet, restaurant etiquette.

Inside The Vintners' Hall near Mansion House Station

Near Mansion House station is the Vintners' Hall. When Geoffrey Chaucer wrote The Canterbury Tales the Vintners were here. Geoffrey's father was a witness on the original deeds to the land. The early building was burned down in The Great Fire of London. (See the Monument to the great fire, a column you can climb, for a fee, when it is open, near Monument station. For a map of London's underground go to the Transport for London website, tflgov.uk.

On the ceiling is their motto, in Latin. Vinum exhilarat animus. Translation? Wine excites the mind. Wine gladdens the soul. Wine gladdens the heart. Wine exhilarates the spirit.

For an account of a wine tasting and author book signing by a wine expert at this lovely venue see my next post.

Angela Lansbury, travel, food and wine writer and author of books of quotations. (See Lulu.com ; Facebook, LinkedIn, YouTube Angela Lansbury author.)

Vintners' Hall, London, see swans and hear a swan song

The city and bank area of London near St Paul's cathedral is full of wonderful old and new buildings, statues and surprises. Take the tube (as Londoners fondly and metaphorically describe the underground railway) to Westminster and you are in a sic fi underground world. The architecture is staggering. It resembles Dhoby Ghaut in Singapore. But why has London's Westminster this hideous unadorned grey concrete and steel? (Luckily most other stations have lovely colours, murals and historical scenes.) Admittedly it is a contrast with the old world above. Five stops east on the circle line you come to Mansion House station.

Emerge into the light, or darkness in winter after 5 pm, lit by the street lights. St Paul's dome is around the corner. Emerge from Mansion House station and you come up to a futuristic cable stay pedestrian bridge. The 'cables' look diagonal but they are bent mid-way. 

When you get to the other side of the road, here's a statue of a man in a frock coat with a swan. This harks back to the time the Vintners (wine merchants) had rights over swans on the Thames river.   

Across the road is the Vintners' hall. You can walk into the lobby and see statues with more swans. 

If you are invited to attend a wine tasting event (see their website for events) you will see the main hall. 

The website is a delight. Play the vintner's song.

http://www.vintnershall.co.uk/?page=Vintners_Song

More about the Vintners and swans on this page of their website. Keep on that page because the pictures change until you reach one showing the swan banner.

http://www.vintnershall.co.uk/?page=gassiot_swan_rooms

More about the Vintners Hall and a wine tasting in a later post.