It’s been a week of highs and lows. Highs include making cocktails on live radio and watching a football game at Anfield – the atmosphere! – whilst enjoying a glass of red, obviously. And I love that it’s now cold enough for proper jumpers. Preferably roll necks, not least because they hide a multitude of …
Ten years ago to the day I decided to write a wine blog. I remember hitting publish on that first post, just a few sentences on how I planned to recommend a couple of wines each week in the hope it might help anyone looking for a little wine inspiration. With three kids under five …
Apparently, there’s a new series on Netflix about tidying up with expert de-clutterer Marie Kondo. Now, I haven’t seen it (too busy watching the entire series of Fleabag back to back, way more fun than folding clothes). But I do know Marie’s mantra is ‘does this spark joy?’ In other words if you own something …
Last night our book club met at the beach. It was a glorious evening – calm sea, colourful sunset, cold rosé. We swam before tucking into a picnic and a discussion about the book, once we’d remembered what the book was called in the first place (Stay With Me. Ironic, really). Anyway, running into the …
On Monday, the Husband and I celebrated 30 years since we first started going out. We were fifteen, the year was 1988. So in an effort to recreate that late ’80s feeling I booked two tickets to see Chess The Musical at the London Colosseum. Stay with me. We met at Kettner’s beforehand in their …
I was away working in London all last week and after two rain-sodden weeks of school holidays, it felt like something of a mini-break. Admittedly quite a weird one; I spent much of it spitting out wine. Not because they were horrible but because I was judging at a wine competition. One night I sat at …
Spring is officially here. Not that you’d know it: I spent the day wearing two jumpers and a cardigan. But today the sky was blue and the chill in the air not quite as beastly as before. Now, I have no intentions of cleaning the house from top to bottom (three kids and three dogs …
Last week, one lovely reader asked about gin. She’d walked into a bar, ordered a gin & tonic, was asked which gin and panicked. So, her question: is there really that much of a difference apart from the price tag? Answer: the basic recipe is the same i.e. neutral base spirit with added botanicals. But it’s …
This time last week I was sitting in an alpine restaurant with a plate of macaroni covered in melted swiss cheese and a glass of crisp white swiss wine in front of me. We were in Lenzerheide for half term, a gorgeous ski resort the Husband had been to years ago, and it was heavenly. …
I’ve been reading a brilliant book called The Sober Diaries by Clare Pooley. Like me, she’s a mother of three in her forties. Unlike me, she doesn’t drink alcohol. What made her stop was a slow decline from having a glass or two in the evening once the kids were in bed to drinking at …
Thank you for all my lovely birthday messages, especially the one that reminded me I’m now old enough to know what really matters. On that note, I’m off to Menorca with a couple of BFFs for a long weekend. I’ve made a lasagne and left it in the freezer at home (for some reason I …
Last week was mostly fuelled by codeine following knee surgery so I didn’t get to post. Instead I shared something on the KMWC Facebook page I’d prepared earlier: me flying on a trapeze. Filmed months before I did my knee in, obviously. Anyway more on that here next week but for now, given that it’s been …
I’m being forced to put my feet up. Or at least one of them because I’m having that knee operation tomorrow. So, this morning I went for one last walk on the forest with five friends and nine dogs and it was gorgeous. And funny: one friend turned up with a burst blood vessel in her …
I went to a brilliant party earlier this week (out! On a school night!), the book launch for my friend and fellow wine writer Victoria Moore’s new book The Wine Dine Dictionary. Now, I love a dictionary but this one is like my dream dictionary. Because you can look up any wine (by grape) and it gives …
So here we are, the kids still on holiday (mine go back next Tuesday. NEXT TUESDAY) and I’m still on crutches. It’s been a mad week work-wise too (although I do realise that tasting and writing about booze for a living means that I can’t really complain about anything, ever). Anyway, I think it’s best …
I realise it’s a bit like complaining that my diamond shoes are too tight but I got hit by a crazy skier last week whilst on the slopes in Austria and now I’m on crutches with a ruptured cruise ship (I’m told it’s cruciate but I prefer cruise ship) ligament. Which, given that I’ve got …
I’m often late to the party. I don’t mean an actual party. Just, you know, the “party”. Take parkas: only just ordered one and they’ve been around since, like, forever. Or box sets. By the time we sit down to watch something I’ve usually heard or read so much about it I feel like I’ve already seen it. Then there’s spiralising, although …
That whole bake with your kids thing? Lovely in theory, carnage in practice in my experience. Last week we spent an evening making cupcakes for a friend’s charity cake sale at school. Once the cakes were made, Middle Boy and Youngest Girl set about decorating them with everything they could find in the the cupboard. Silver …
Last Saturday night, we had our biennial School Ball. It might be a tiny village school but when it comes to parties, it goes large. We’re talking black tie, dinner, dancing. For the last ten years I’ve had a go-to dress for such occasions: jade green, very Studio 54 (in my head). Minus the horse, obviously. Problem …
A new range of French wines, including some from Bordeaux, are set to hit Lidl’s shelves on Thursday this week. Hardly headline news but in fact it’s done just that, kicking up a little wine storm. Because some of the wines come from lesser-known vineyards neighbouring top estates, the latter charging much higher prices even though …
Remember when I did a dry January? I do, all too clearly. Anyway, the thing I found tough was not the not drinking so much as finding something non-alcoholic and interesting to drink in the evenings. Given that we’re spoilt for choice when it comes to choosing a glass of wine, it’s surprisingly difficult to …
Maybe it’s the back to school feeling in the air. More likely it’s the fact that I’ve got deadlines. Whatever: I can’t stop clearing out cupboards. It all started with the coat cupboard, where I found not one but two old puffa jackets I’d forgotten about. A boon because apparently they’re the only thing we …
You know how kids get a sticker if they’re brave/don’t cry when they visit the dentist? I think parents should get one of those for surviving the school shoe shop. Honestly, the seventh circle of hell is a more pleasant place to hang out than the John Lewis children’s shoe department in the last week of the …
Well, here we are. Six weeks of summer holidays. Six. Whole. Weeks. I mean, there’s lots to love. No school runs, no last minute hunts for clean school uniform and no reading book guilt. This is all good. Not so good: the permanent canteen/washing/taxi service needed to keep things ticking over. But I have a plan …
I’ve got exciting news. But I can’t share it until next week so, given that I’m terrible at keeping secrets, I’m going to have to change the subject until then. Earlier this week I helped with a fundraising event called Barre to the Bar. It involved an introduction to barre pilates for 50 people led by my friend, the …
Lots of you have been kind enough to tell me that you find the new wine search function on the website useful (‘THIS WILL CHANGE MY LIFE’, said one, brilliantly). Then, this morning, a friend showed me how she’s downloaded the Search Wine bit to her phone home screen, taking her straight to the wine reviews when she’s …
So, I’ve had a nightmare this half term. The washing machine broke. Honestly, it was terrifying. Piles of washing everywhere. On top of that, there’s Saturday’s Trickle Treat (as Youngest Girl calls it) outing to think about. Our kids usually bring home enough sweets to open a shop, thanks to us being one of only …
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