Cava - what do you know?

 First it is from Spain, the Barcelona region

.

www.cava.wine

My favourite of seven

Pink. Pretty bottle.

Where can I buy truffle crisps online

 From www.geofoods.it

Italian chocolate

 

Sparkling wine bubbles bellisima

 First wine Pignoletto, type of grape, like letto Italian for bed.

Riosto name of the company,  Champagne method.

The have a light tasting degustazione, for 25 euros.3 glasses, of different wines and bread and tagliatelle, meaning, bites of cheese, ham and salami

www.podereriosto.it 

For the letto bed they have a package, same website

www.podereriosto.it  

South Italian Campania sparkling wine at Olympia

 Slightly peachy taste. The Pizza show is open at Olympia today and tomorrow.

You must register.

The joys of a silver service lunch at the Cavalry & Guards Club - and the sculptures and paintings of horses

A few steps away from Hard Rock cafe is the cavalry & Guards club. 

Who goes to the Cavalry & Guards Club? Members of the club. Their relatives and friends in the military, Or retired. For anniversaries, weddings.

Horse Guards & Horse Lovers

But also people connected with horses. I met an American woman who ran a horse and carriage tourism business in the USA. Her other interest was a charity for retired horses. Rescuing Horses. One of her international organizations had the event in London and she flew over especially for it.

The Last Post Sculpture

Upstairs at the club is a sculpture of a rider on his horse. The horse's head is on the ground. The rider is waving his hand in the air, signalling.

 I must have passed this without noticing many times. I stood nearby, commenting on the delightful Christmas decorations, when somebody pointed out that the sculpture showed a dead horse. 

Reciprocal Clubs

You can also visit the Cavalry & Guards club if you belong to another club in a city elsewhere in the world which has the Cavalry & Guards Club holding reciprocal arrangements. For example, the Tanglin club in Singapore.

Christmas Lights

Calling The Kitchen

A movable flat buzzer for service can be placed on a side table or moved onto the dining table beside the host or organizer.

'Each to his own.'

Hyde Park & Hard Rock and the Big Bus

 Yesterday it rained and everybody was late for lunch near Hard Rock at Hyde Park Corner. We took the bus, number 75, from outside Baker Street underground railway station, opposite the Sherlock Holmes Museum where you see crowds of people waiting, rain or shine, 

Looking back towards the station and Oxford Street, on the other side of the road is a fine art deco building with a lighthouse half way up, above the doorway.

Photo by Angela Lansbury. 

Some compete for taxis in the rain. We took the bus passing Marble Arch, along Hyde Park passing the Hilton and other big hotels. 

Oxford Street lights were not yet lit at lunch time but you could see what they would look like.

The statue of the horse.

Taxis and buses in the rain.

In Hyde Park I noticed the statue of the horse and a big wheel and fairground sights ready for the holidays. 

Despite the chilly, blowy, rainy weather, the flowers were bright on the window boxes and railing boxes along the streets, including below the windows of Hard Rock Cafe showing tableaux of rock stars in the windows.

Red phone box, red flowers on railings of Hard Rock cafe.

Flowers and window of Hard Rock Cafe, Hyde Park, near Hyde Park and Green Park underground stations.

With the rain, I was not surprised that I could see nobody upstairs on the open top bus tour buses. 

How to check roads and railways Trains, snow and floods - Reminder - how to check roads and railways - trains running in bad weather in London - and flood warnings

Snow in London suburbs. November 19th 2024. Photo by Angela Lansbury. Copyright. 

You can check for updates on your station and line online on the web. 

This week snow hit London. But some little flowers were still braving the bad weather at Hatch End which wins awards for its flower displays.

.TRAINS

https://tfl.gov.uk/overground/stop/910GHTCHEND/hatch-end-rail-station?lineId=london-overground

FLOOD

Flood warnings in the UK for London

https://check-for-flooding.service.gov.uk/river-and-sea-levels. I copied this

Sign-up to receive free flood alerts and if you have signed-up already, make sure your details and preferences in how you would like to receive alerts are up to date www.gov.uk/sign-up-for-flood-warnings

ROADS

https://harrowonline.org/2024/11/21/full-list-of-gritted-roads-in-harrow-amid-severe-cold-snap/

NEXT DOOR

You can also put questions and comments in daily newsletters from Next Door. And create or join whatsapp groups for your street or area.

Italian Restaurant With Home Made Pasta

 Vasco & Piero's Pavilion Italian Restaurant has been our family's favourite in Central London for a long time. It's always a delightful surprise because the menu changes twice daily.

The restaurant is clean, white bright and fresh with white linen table cloths.

We went there again in November 2024. You can sit at small square tables for two, oblong tables for four, large round tables, bar stools, or in a private room behind glass walls at the back. My companions chose a glass of red chianti to match the colour and intensity of their red meat dishes. I opted for Prosecco, sparkling white as a starter and to go with my white meat main course, chicken. Good enough. My husband, who is a wine educator, approved of the label credentials, the region and grape variety, and the taste.

The restaurant has Umbrian items. 

A member of our family from overseas wanted soup, which was not on the menu. They immediately offered to make one specially for her, a 'simple' mixed vegetable soup. She was very happy.

Portions were sufficiently ample for us to save a little to take home. It was wrapped up quickly with no fuss. No carrier bag but I had my own.

Prosecco

Ladies toilet washbasin, with two cubicles.

Calm and restful. Not the noisy sort of Italian with filed floors and echo.

The pigeon ravioli starter was a change and ok but the starter which impressed me was the spinach souffle which had both texture and taste.

My main course was chicken Milanese, scallopini, which was in breadcrumbs, surprisingly good as I don't normally go for breadcrumbs. I would have liked potato which went with one of the meat choices, next time I shall ask for potato as I now know they cook to order and are happy to adapt the menu to suit you..

Desserts included seasonal panettone. Like bread and butter pudding. Perfect texture.

Everyone was very satisfied.

Getting There

It is a short walk from Oxford Circus station. About 7-10 minutes, depending on which of the parallel turnings you take, passing Liberty's department store and famous Carnaby street.

 If you want to know the origin of Vasco and Piero, who started the restaurant, and the Pavilion, their first individually decorated restaurant, you can buy a book, or read the whole story online on their website. 

The man we have known for years Paul in English, or Paulo in Italian, has only one restaurant. So he can give it his full attention.

Top Tips For Tourists

There's a set price Sunday lunch.

tel 02074378774

Snow Starts in London

I don't know why this picture is sideways. Blogger won't let me rotate it.

Out in the suburbs of London snow fell on the paths and grass - and car bonnets. Too late to put a windscreen cover on.

I declined to go into London, fearing the weather would get worse later, and it might be icy underfoot.

This was on Tuesday Nov 19 2024. However my family had appointments and were more intrepid. By mid morning it had stopped snowing and the streets in central London were clear.

Trains, Platforms, Grit

On Wednesday, I ventured out. The overground outdoor station platform at Hatch End had salt and grit on the platforms to stop passengers from slipping. 

The metal benches were too cold to sit on, unless you wore very padded clothing or carried a cushion.

Cold Weather Clothes

The weather was chilly. But my nose was exposed and we all get cold. Of course, in snowy places like ski resorts you wear heavy padded clothes head to foot and balaclavas.

Warm Indoors

In the front garden we still have roses.

Indoors I watch the temperature on our radio controlled kitchen clock. We adjust the number of hours the heating is on. 

Memories of the 1950s

When I was a child, in the 1950s and 60s, we had snowy winters. We wore Wellington boots outdoors. We carried slipper to take off the boots at homes, or parties, so as not to make the floor wet. At home we had a coal fire, and made toasted food using extending toasting forks.

You can still buy the on Amazon from a company called Arya health, about 5 pounds 99 pence, plus postage. 

Useful Websites

https://tfl.gov.uk/tube-dlr-overground/status/

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Trying to buy a winter white hat and scarf -My complaint about apparent switch selling on Ebay

I have been buying on ebay for years, and love it. I used to bid a lot for second hand one off items. Now I tend to buy the buy it now items from businesses which have a range of products for instant delivery.

I wanted to buy a warm white hat and scarf combined. But when I chose the cheapest supplier I wasted lots of time looking. 

The sellers show a hat with an attached scarf in six colours at a price of under four pounds. Click on five out of six colours and the price doubles to over eight pounds. 

Only in another colour black, and style of a more basic beanie hat is a hat available at the price advertised. 

This wastes my time. Instead of buying this, or anything else,  I leave the ebay site for a day or a week. 

The original site does not even list the higher price. eg 4-27-8.99, but only the lowest price not matching the item shown (in pink). 

I did buy in the end. But I am not satisfied with the system. I believe the technical term is switch selling.

This occurs in lots of places. Eg Curtains, when you see what looks like a cheap curtain. But when you click on the link, and choose the curtain,  but the curtain shown is several pounds. Clicking through all the alternatives you find  a sample square of fabric is sold for one pound or free,

How to complain on ebay?

I cannot find on their website FAQ - information about how to complain about misleading advertising. 

I cannot find anywhere else to complain so I am complaining here. 

About misleading items on searches and ads. 

I think the picture should show the lowest price item, or the advertised price item. 

Do you agree? What can I do?

Meanwhile, I wait for my hat and scarf to arrive.

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Nicaraguan straw hat challenge

 

My Nicaraguan straw hat. After plaiting it.

From Nicaragua in Central Amerca. 

The biggest of the Central American countries. 

I have not been there but got this hat from the central America stand at the world Travel Market in Excel exhibition centre in London England.

I live in Hatch End. I look more like thatch end.

This is how the hat started out. With all the straws sticking out, in my eyes, obscuring vision, obscuring my face. What could I do with it.

My first thought was cut off the endstraw ends. I would still have to edge the straggly brim with ribbon to stop it unravelling.

I watched a video of my grand daughter with plaits. I could plait the longest pieces.

8

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The Lights In London to brighten winter nights

 

Lights across the street, near Farringdon station. Photo by Angela Lansbury. Copyright.

White lights.

Triangular tree created from lights near Farringdon stations, London. Photo by Angela Lansbury.

Creamy white lights. Down to the ground. Up to a five point star.

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Lavender farms and festivals and lavender products worldwide for your enjoyment

 I have been a fan of lavender products since my long period of living and travelling overseas, not just as a travel writer taking at least one long and several short trips overseas at my own expense, and on business with my husband, also supplemented by the occasional press trip to overseas destination. The revelation about lavender came at the start of my thirty year sojourn in Singapore where I spent most winters in Singapore, Asia and Australasia while returning to the UK and Europe for the summer and back, via the USA or Australia in one or both directions. Lavender and lemon infused products were cheaper in England than in Singapore, so I stocked up in England with Yardley products from my local chemist (which I learned Americans would call a drug store). The cheapest lavender item was a small roll on around or under five pounds sterling. that was small enough to go in my handbag when my suitcase was already overweight or on the border of overweight for air travel regulations. More expensive items or sets could be a fall-back when I was asked at the last moment what I wanted for birthdays, Christmas presents or wedding anniversary gifts.

Lavender's Reputation For Repelling Mosquitos

Why lavender? Singapore is safe in many ways, except for mosquitos, which were fought with fogging by anti-mosquito spray-mists on Fridays. I discovered that my perfumes designed to attract humans especially men, such as my husband, also attracted insects, such as mosquitos. I learned that lemon and lavender repelled insects, most importantly mosquitos, which carried malaria and dengue fever. But, I presumed, also flies, fleas and wasps.

Singapore - How to Buy a Bargain

The marked price for lavender soap in Singapore seemed very high. I tried to bargain but was told, fixed price. However, after a whisper to my Singaporean Chinese friend, who works in the building, she spoke to the seller, who spoke Mandarin as well as English, and was offered a lower price, supposedly because she worked in the building, was less well paid than a presumed tourist (although I had said I was Permanent Resident, which is a government status for foreigners who live in Singapore long-term) - and maybe either because she spoke Mandarin or because she would be a regular customer.  The moral is, if you have a local friend in Asia, ask them to bargain for you in the local language.

Meanwhile, back in London, I bought lavender made in England, more cheaply. 

I checked online the UK factory farm visits and was amazed how many there were. I had expected to see just one, Norfolk Lavender, or two if you add the one my family went to in 2024.

The largest one in the world is supposed to be the large one in Tasmania, Australia. 

Europe

You find more in Europe.

France

I bought lavender soap cheaply in a wine shop in the south of France. The village of Fitou, Frontenac region. The soap aroma was not strong. English lavender is stronger.

European Festivals

You will find festivals in mid-summer, in June, for example in Bulgaria, which has at least two (see my earlier post).

UK Lavender

I bought a lavender spray from Marks & Spencer in London. The spray bottle says it is for rooms, clothes and body. What more could you want. I just sprayed it all around and the aroma is strong.

UK Lavender Farm Visits

The name I had associated with lavender from my childhood was Norfolk Lavender.

More recently, my family went on a trip to a lavender farm in the UK, near enough for a day trip from London..

My family complained that, 'Not really anything for children to do. They were charging us just to see the farm which just offered views. A lot of money just to take a photo.' 

'The cafe was closed by the time we got back there, so that saved us more money.' 

I was disappointed that they did not tell me they were going and did not bring me back a gift of lavender bags to put in my bedroom drawers in the hope of repelling moths. Still, I can buy easily on line and visit there myself next year. 

Buying & Planting Lavender Plants

I have lavender in my own garden in London, bought from a local garden centre. The garden centres sell two types of lavender, English and French. Try the aromas and see which you like most, or which is strongest aroma, or has the best colour plant.

All of the UK is in planting zones 6-9 which means the temperature and humidity which the outdoor garden plant must cope with. (A greenhouse or indoor part of your home, even an indoor windowsill, will be different.)

Trips To Lavender Farms From London

To Mayfield - about an hour and a half from Harrow going anti clockwise on the M25.

UK Lavender Farm Visits

The farm is closed until June but the gift shop and cafe are open every day of the week, 10 to 4 on Sundays, from 9 to 5 other days. The cafe may close for last orders earlier than the closing time so plan accordingly.

Lavender Anti Moth bags

You can buy lavender anti moth bags on ebay from thetownhousegarden

Sets of 20 from ebay.

https://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/143436121031?\

https://www.ebay.co.uk/sch/i.html?item=235826295642&rt=nc&_trksid=p4429486.m3561.l161211&_ssn=thetownhousegarden

Useful Websites

UK

https://www.mayfieldlavender.com/

Bulgaria

https://www.viator.com/en-GB/tours/Nessebar/Aroma-sampling-of-5-Bulgarian-Lavender-varieties-at-DiVes-Winery/d50387-149310P2

Bulgaria Holiday Tours

https://www.visitbulgariaon.com/tour/skip-the-line-tickets-to-karlovo-lavender-festival-on-21-06-2025

Australia

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bridestowe_Lavender_Estate

https://www.yorkshirelavender.com/

https://londonist.com/london/beyond-london/lavender-farms-fields-near-london

https://www.lavenderworld.co.uk/lavender-plants

https://simple.wikipedia.org/wiki/Lavender

Products to buy

From Tesco.

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International Lavender Festival in Bulgaria

 

Wine festival tag. Photo by Angela Lansbury.

This tag is a render of the Wine festival in Chirpan, Bulgaria. The tag is lavender colour and smells of lavender.

You could add it to your suitcase handle for identifying your luggage. Or to a bag or Backpack or purse.or keep it between your clothes in a suitcase or bedroom drawer.

The festival features food and drink, and dancing on stages bedecked with lavender.

Chirpal has a museum honouring a poet.

Useful Websites.

Iceland is green

 

Iceland is green and Greenland is icy. Is that true? I'll tell you later, when I've been there. But I have looked at videos and it seems true. Marketing ploy? Wishful thinking?

Having watched three version of Titanic, and shivered all over Europe and Northern USA in the ski season, I am happy to hear the most of Iceland is not icy.

However, it does have arctic foxes, puffins and whales.

More Information from

How to entertain Children in restaurants and cars

When you need to keep children quiet
You are driving

In a restaurant

At a wedding or funeral

In a church or temple service

 You can keep children busy with an activity, such as a video.

I Spy Clothes and Jeans

Or play, I-spy, looking out of opposite windows, one child to the left, the other to the right. Spot somebody wearing jeans.

 Spot somebody wearing a hat.

 I spy a shop window with clothes.

Or washable colouring pencils and a book. 

Colour Your Own Pyjamas

Or colour your own pyjamas, from the company Not on the high street.

Baby Clothes Quiet books

You can make a baby clothes quiet book. Find stained clothes which are not good enough to give away or sell. attach them firmly to the pages of a book you make from card. Use lots of clothes with snaps and buttons and velcro. Make them like an advent calendar with items hidden in the pockets. 

Useful Websites

Not On The High Street

You can keep children busy with an activity, such as a video.

I Spy Jean

Or play, I-spy, looking out of opposite windows, one child to the left, the other to the right. Spot somebody wearing jeans. Spot somebody wearing a hat. I spy a shop window with clothes.

Or washable colouring pencils and a book. 

Colour Your Own Pyjamas

Or colour your own pyjamas, from the company 

Baby Clothes Quiet books

You can make a baby clothes quiet book. Find stained clothes which are not good enough to give away or sell. attach them firmly to the pages of a book you make from card. Use lots of clothes with snaps and buttons and velcro. Make them like an advent calendar with items hidden in the pockets. 

Useful websites

Not on the high street Pyjamas.

https://www.notonthehighstreet.com/selfieclothingco/product/unicorn-colour-in-pyjamas-with-fabric-pens

Quiet Books

http://www.piecesbypolly.com/2012/12/fast-easy-quiet-book-made-from-baby.html

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Marilyn Monroe Exhibition in London

 

My Marilyn Monroe Clock. Picture by Angela Lansbury.

I am a Marilyn Monroe fan. I bought this clock in America when we were living there.

Now, in November 2024 there is a Marilyn Monroe exhibition in London which contains many objects acquired by a private collector, as you learn from the exhibition's website which has several pictures of the exhibits. 

Marilyn is so popular, this exhibition is a must for many enthusiasts. However, the cost is well over twenty pounds which is more than some people want to pay. If the cost or distance prevents you from attending you will find a lot on the web including invaluable first stop wikipedia whose end notes send you in all directions including museums, statues, film locations, hotels where she stayed and other places where you can travel.

We watched all the Marilyn film or excerpts on YouTube supplementing by ordering all the Marilyn films, sometimes in better quality, or worse quality, which we watched during and after Covid. We found 22 films, both the commercial film and short 'student' films. The first one is just a few seconds of her saying Hi outdoors. The last one which I recall is the misfits, released in 1961, the year she died. 

Books About Marilyn

I read two books about Marilyn. I first stood in Waterstones in Singapore and read the last page of all their books on Marilyn. I wanted to see what they said about Marilyn and whether she committed suicide or was killed. If so who was the suspect?

Was the book well-researched, interesting, well-written? I was doing this research before deciding which book to buy. I recall that despite intending and budgeting to buy one book I ended up by buying two books.

The UK exhibition is conveniently just 2 minutes from London Bridge Station.

Euston Station's Statue of the man, the map and the cat

 

Photo by Angela Lansbury.

Valpolicalla Italian red wines including sparkling

 Sparkling red wine was the joyful surprise at the Italian Valpolicella wine tasting promotion in London.

Sparkling red wine from Domini Veneti.

 Winemakers.

Valpolicella - named after the Valley, hence the syllable val in the name. Valpolicella (double l like the musical instrument, the cello).

You may know the wines and region from the map of Italy, showing two towns starting with V, the same initial as Valpolicella. Venice, romantic Venice, and Verona associated with Romeo and Juliet, opera, and Shakespeare's play Two Gentlemen of Verona.

My favourite of six sweet wines.

Another stunner sweet wine, my second favourite, was from Valentina Cubi.

Villa Canestrari supplied another delicious sweet wine. 

A fourth came from Colle Cere. Colle means Hill in Italian. 

The last sweet wine I tried was from the memorably named Cantini de Verona.

Useful Websites

www.dominiveneti.it

consorziovalpolicella.it

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Find my phone, my car, friends, my baby in my car!

 Always check your car before leaving it. A jacket on the back seat might cause somebody to break in. What if there's nothing in the jacket. They don't know that. Finding nothing, disappointed, they might smash all your windows - leaving the car undrivable. That happened to us in Spain.

If everybody always looked around the inside of their car before leaving it, they could not leave a baby in it.

How about attaching find my phone to a child. Then both parents can check on the child.

You can install on your phone a device for fining your phone, your friends, your pet, your location.

Useful Websites

https://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-14063525/One-year-old-boy-dead-hot-car-left-father.html

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Find_My#Background

Guatemala - gorgeous birds, bird brooches and bracelets

The flag of Guatemala features a blue sky to the let and right and in the middle a bird. The name of the country means place of trees.

The two big bird countries for colourful birds are Costa Rica and Guatemala. Guatemala is in central America. The capital is Guatemala City.

At the World Travel market in London November 2024 the Americas and Central America region featured gifts from Guatemala 

Bird Brooches

Angela Lansbury wearing Guatemala bird safety pin brooches. Photo by Angela Lansbury. Copyright.

Tiny painted models of birds on small gold colour safety pins were laid out for you to pick and choose your favourite colour.

Woven Bracelets

Bracelets made of coloured thread came on a card with instructions. Handy for those learning Spanish because the instructions were in English and Spanish. Tie the threads at one end through the loop. Two wishes for you. The third is what the Guatemalan tourist board wishes you - a trip to Guatemala! I found them online listed as woven cotton friendship bracelets, Fairtrade. 

Good Luck

In a tiny colourful bag  were thumbnail length little dolls like painted bits of toothpicks. Each bag contains four.

You are supposed to tell the dolls your troubles at bedtime, then put the dolls under your pillow. When you wake in the morning, your troubles will have gone away. An amusing mixture of ancient myth and modern self-hypnosis or auto-suggestion.

Three good things from Guatemala.

Go to Guatemala, or if you are in the travel business, to the Guatemala stand at the World Travel Market in London next year, or look online for woven bracelets from ebay, etsy and Temu.

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Chilean Pisco - and Peruvian Pisco

 

Chilean Pizco from the Chile stand at the World Travel Market at ExCel in London.

This is Pizco, which comes from Chile (and Peru). I tried it at the World Travel Market on a stand in Excel in London, which was held in November 2024.

The next World Travel Market will be November 4-6 2025.

Spanish is a language which will take you far.

In South America all the countries speak Spanish as the main official or common language, often with a few other languages, except for big Brazil which speaks similar sounding Portuguese.

Pizco is Spanish for a little bit, or a pinch, We use the word pinch in English when recipes say a pinch of salt.

Chile imports

I loved the Pizco, which I had with large slice of sweet grapefruit. Having read up about it, i realises why I like it. Several versions feature the sweet muscat grape.

But you can get sweet or sour tipples. Pizco is served in several cocktails such as Pizco Sour which is made with bitters. Wikipedia has a list of the cocktails, as well as the origin of the name. 

It appears that both Chile and Peru claim Pizco as the national drink. The many varieties of the cocktail are listed in Wikipedia, as well as the amounts of produce and the countries buying it. Chile makes Pisco but the drink is so popular that they also import a lot from Peru.

Peruvian

• Puro (Pure), made from a single variety of grape, mostly Quebranta, although Mollar or Common Black can be used; however, no blending between varieties is accepted ("pure" pisco should contain only one variety of grape).
• Aromáticas (Aromatic), made from Muscat or Muscat-derived grape varieties, and also from Albilla, Italia and Torontel grape varieties; once again, the pisco should only contain one variety of grape in any production lot.
• Mosto Verde (Green Must), distilled from partially fermented must, this must be distilled before the fermentation process has completely transformed sugars into alcohol.
• Acholado (Multivarietal), blended from the must of several varieties of grape.

Some other specific restrictions of note are:^{[citation needed]}

• Aging: Pisco must be aged for a minimum of three months in vessels of "glass, stainless steel or any other material which does not alter its physical, chemical or organic properties".
• Additives: No additives of any kind may be added to the pisco that could alter its flavor, odor, appearance or alcoholic proof.
• 
  
• Chilean Pisco

• Pisco Corriente o Tradicional, 30% to 35% (60 to 70 proof)
• Pisco Especial, 35% to 40% (70 to 80 proof)
• Pisco Reservado, 40% (80 proof)
• Gran Pisco, 43% or more (86 or more proof)
• 
  
• Cocktails
• Chilcano de Pisco, a Peruvian cocktail made with Pisco, lemon juice, ice, bitters, and ginger ale.
• Piscola, also called "national cocktail" in Chile (Spanish: Combinado nacional or combinado) a cocktail prepared mixing Coca-Cola and pisco. Other combinations of Pisco and cola include the Perú Libre differentiating the same drink made with different origin piscos.
• Pisco Sorpresa, a cocktail originated in East London, inspired by the Latin American classic. Involves shaking gin, Cointreau, triple sec, Bacardi and pisco, adding raspberry juice, pouring into a cocktail glass and finishing off with a dash of soda, grenadine and a squeeze of lemon.
• Don Alfredo, a Peruvian cocktail made with mosto verde Pisco, St Germain, lime juice, ice and soda water.

What have I learned? That I will have a good time visiting Chile and Peru, Chilean and Peruvian restaurants in London or worldwide, or ordering Pisco online, eg from Tesco, and going to next year's World Travel Market.

Chilean restaurants in London listed on Yelp include El Vergel which means Orchard, Southwark area, an SE1 postcode.

Useful Websites

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pisco

https://www.yelp.com/search?find_desc=Chilean+Food&find_loc=London

https://www.drinkfinder.co.uk/c/210/pisco

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Paddington bear of Peru

 

Peru, for Incas at Machu Picchu, and alpacas

 On the desk for Peru Jamuy Travel I saw

 This retablo box with double doors is often displaying a nativity scene, all year, or a local scene such as weaving. You buy alpaca clothes, very luxurious, soft, expensive.

Your tour operator will take you to an outdoor market.

For budget conscious travelling look for gloves, or small toys.

A Peruvian favourite food is ceviche, from fish marinated in lime. Add ginger, garlic, salt,Coriander.

For local drinks, a short visit to a factory making Pisco, from, Peru, brandy, strong.

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Malaysian Costumes ar the World Travel Maket in London

 

 

Georgian restaurant Kartuli in Dulwich

The Georgian lady serving is wearing a hygienic glove to serve. Excellent. The food was great. Lots of walnuts.

At the World Travel Market in ExCel in London I stopped at the Taste of Georgia sign to try Georgian food. They served several savourites, including aubergine, and breadmade with cheese. All very tasty. 

Their restaurant serves Georgian food and wine.

The restaurant is called Kartuli, which is the Georgian name for their country.

Kartuli Georgian Restaurant & Wine Shop

65 Lordship Lane, East Dulwich, SE22 8EP

Tel 0208 299 4989

Useful websites

www.kartuli.co.uk

 

Georgia birthplace of wine

 

At the World Travel Market in London.

Visit Malta where Gladiator 2 was filmed

 

The film industry in Visit Malta.