Last Saturday was National Rosé Day but given the recent news on lockdown restrictions I’m thinking we just extend it. At least until the 19th July, anyway. So this week I’ve got a couple of rosé suggestions including one from Kent given that English Wine Week kicks off this Saturday. Here’s hoping the weather holds, …
No, I’m not talking about breakfast (although wine at breakfast was an entirely acceptable notion during lockdown). It’s English Wine Week and I got to taste my way through a selection of brilliant wines (with Jack Whitehall!) on last weekend’s Saturday Kitchen. Details are on the programme’s website here and I’ve added a couple of …
First things first: sending love to you and yours. Uncertain times but one thing I can do here is provide free wine advice on tap. Not as good as providing actual free wine on tap. Still, I’ve doubled up on the wine recommendations this week. All are available for home delivery and one’s from one …
Well, it’s been fun. Relative lie-ins, impromptu picnics on the beach, slightly too much pizza. Even losing half of our luggage on the flight back from our holiday didn’t dampen my spirits, not least because it halved the amount of post-holiday washing. But it hasn’t all been secs and rugs and sausage rolls (I know, …
Mother’s Day soon and to celebrate I’ve got some prizes I’m hoping might appeal to anyone who’s either knackered, a mother or both. First up, sleep. Sadly not a week’s uninterrupted sleep in a kingsize bed but I do have a box of Spacemasks (thank you, Harriet) and they’re basically the next best thing. Next, wine. …
Last week was a bit of a monster. Work (so to speak) included hosting a cocktail tasting at a local Singles Night, speaking at a literary festival lunch for book clubs and doing a wine tasting for a great/thirsty bunch in London. Play (so to speak) included a Halloween Party for 14 kids and a …
By George, wine duty is on the rise again. Delivering his latest Budget, the Chancellor froze duty on beer and spirits. But not wine, which will rise in line with inflation. We already pay £2.05 in tax on every bottle of wine we buy, and that’s before VAT. It’s enough to make you want to…well, you …
So, Half Term. I’ve loved not having to wake up to an alarm when it’s still dark outside. Eating breakfast in our pyjamas (which may or may not have been chocolate brownies one particular morning – please don’t look at me like that) has been a joy. We’ve caught up with old mates, walked the dogs, played football (actually I …
January is over. I repeat: o-vah. And man, am I glad to see the back of it. Not just because I was wasn’t drinking. Really. But I’m happy to report I’ve had my first glass of wine of the year. It was chilled, sparkling and perfect. We had it with fish & chips, with my in-laws (on the …
You already know about my granola habit. Tonight – I blame Bake Off – I decided to move on to bread. Now, I love my carbs (how can you not love carbs?) and so when I saw the recipe for protein bread in Jamie Oliver’s new cookbook Super Food (a recent birthday present), I thought …
In the last few years, I’ve been lucky enough to do wine tastings at festivals all over the place. And one of the highlights was at Camp Bestival last year, a pop-up tasting for fifty fellow knackered mothers and wine lovers. So I’m really happy to have been asked back again this year as part …
Best party trick ever. So, today a space probe landed on a comet for the first time. And Kim Kardashian balanced a champagne glass on her bum. Guess which one broke the internet? But here’s the tragic part. All I could think when I saw the photo of KK was goodness, what spillage! Still, she looks …
So, we’ve done Sports Day. Now we’ve just got the School Fete (cue calls for homemade cakes) and a School Play (cue more calls for homemade cakes) to go. As you may know, I sometimes resort to the fake bake at this stage. But one thing I can do is Teachers’ Presents. Now, some of …
I planned to do a KMWC wine surgery film tonight but, after Vegas, my eyes are like piss holes in the snow (to coin one of my mother’s favourite sayings). So we’ll leave that for next week. Instead, I have a rather excellent giveaway. As you know (unless you’re new here, in which case, welcome …
The following exhaustive (and exhausting) list of wines appeared in Saturday’s Daily Mail, here’s a link if you want pictures of the bottles too. There’s 10 whites, 10 reds, 10 sparkling and 10 pudding/after dinner drinks. And this gorgeous picture was taken by the very lovely Juliette Neel. Sadly, it wasn’t used in the piece but …
I am 40 years old, married with three children and I’m really tired. I probably should have washed my hair yesterday, I’ve just noticed there’s dried Weetabix on my t-shirt, the washing is threatening to burst out of the basket, we’ve run out of milk and I think we’ve got people coming at the weekend. …
Love her. Look at her. I mean, really. Yasmin Le Bon looks GORGEOUS. Once, my most prized possession was my Duran Duran ‘Seven & The Ragged Tiger’ t-shirt which sported her husband Simon on the front. Unsurprisingly, my days of wearing rock band t-shirts are over but I have been wearing some clothes from Winser …
S’been a busy few weeks with book signings, wine tastings, radio interviews and writing. Amazing really, I feel very lucky. But I am looking forward to Friday, when my only plan is to wear a pair of pants on my head all day, for Red Nose Day. And in the evening, I will drink a …
Make-up wise I favour the natural look, but nowadays this requires a certain degree of pre-planning. Sadly, I can’t seem to carry off the salt ‘n’ pepper look as well as Clooney so have a bit of help with my hair colour. And when out in public with real grown ups in attendance I turn to …
I do love a quiet night in. Tonight, I am mostly loving the sofa, my bowl of pasta, quite good telly (hurrah for Jo Frost! And Alan Sugar!) and a little glass of red. This is in stark contrast to last night, which saw me screaming like a banshee at a Take That concert, with …
I’ve always dismissed the Christmas round robin letter idea. Even worse, an e-Christmas card. But this evening I found myself replying via email to a group of old friends who are now placed all over the world and realised that summing up all the important news in one’s life is actually a very good exercise. Here’s mine: Eldest …
I was talking to a friend last week about how the loss of someone you love puts everything in perspective. We were driving along a forest road, the snow blanket still tucked neatly over the landscape. The silence that followed our pondering was loaded. Up until the point when she said: “a bit like that guy in Spinal Tap.” Me: huh? …
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