Une occasion pour du mousseux

J'ai pris cette photo dans un restaurant, le jour de la fête de ma femme. Ils donnaient un verre de mousseux gratuit pour l'occasion. Sans doute du prosecco, peut-être du champagne (je ne sais pas faire la différence, philistin que je suis). Depuis quelques temps, j'ai comme envie de reboire du mousseux, mais j'aimerais trouver un prétexte quelconque, une occasion à célébrer. J'imagine qu'il y a la Saint-Valentin dans une semaine. Ce sera sans doute donc ça, mais je préfère en général que ce soit un évènement heureux et inattendu, ce qui n'est pas trop arrivé récemment. Bon, ce sera donc pour la Saint-Valentin, si j'en achète d'ici là.

Free Fizz

We went to a French restaurant recently, to celebrate my wife's birthday. As she subscribed to their newsletter, we received a glass of "free fizz" each. Well, except Wolfie. I cannot tell if it was champagne or prosecco, but it's a nice piece of freebie when we celebrate. Even my wife, who does not like alcohol all that much, enjoys a bit of bubbly from time to time. It was not the greatest "champagne" I drank (if indeed it was champagne), and it was not cold enough, but all the same, I do enjoy a freebie, especially when it's alcohol.

Moules et frites

C'était la fête de ma femme il y a quelques jours. Pour célébrer, nous sommes allés manger dans un restaurant français. Ce qui faisait changement des pizzerias où l'on se ramasse plus souvent qu'autrement. Pour la première fois depuis longtemps, j'ai commandé des moules et frites. Je ne sais depuis combien de temps exactement, mais je sais que ça date, lire ce billet. Les moules ne remplissent pas leur homme, mais les frites étaient à volonté, et avec de la mayonnaise, ben c'est solide comme repas. Ah oui, et nous avons eu droit à une coupe de mousseux (champagne? prosecco?) gratuit.

Fizzy Fest

 I blogged about a month ago about the Fizzy Fest, a of prosecco festival that will be held in the very English town of Marlow in mid-July And not just any prosecco festival, but "the prosecco superior festival". Sunds very posh and a bit snobby, but I'm all for it. Anyway, it has a cool promotional poster, it looks more like a gathering of educated English ladies of good families, but hey, they might let me in if I go there with my wife. And if not this year (we may have other engagements), then the next, because I suspect it will be a success.

Prosecco in Marlow

 The things you learn sometimes on the local news. SO I read yesterday that the small and very English town of Marlow (which is not very far from where we live) was going to host the first ever Prosecco Superiore festival in the UK. That's pretty cool. It's going to be called "Fizzy Fest" (not sure about the name, to be honest). I also learned in the article that the UK has the largest consumption of prosecco after Italy. It's news to me, but not surprising. I for one enjoy prosecco. I am not all that much into fizzy drinks, except beer, but prosecco is drinkable and generally much cheaper than champagne (although the one at this festival is most likely pricy, given that it is superior). So yeah, the Fizzy Fest has a website so I will check it from time to time and who knows, I might even attend. I am a Philistine when it comes to wine and bubbly wine, but I am curious and eager to learn.

Black Velvet

So it is Saint Paddy's Day very soon, so I bought some Guinness for the 17th. But in the meantime, I thought I would try something new, at least new to me, and see if I liked it. I don't know if you have ever heard of the Black Velvet. It is a cocktail made of campagne (or another fizzy wine) and Guinness. A very improbable mix, come to think of it. But I have been curious about ot since I have known of its existence, so I bought some Prosecco and yesterday mixed it with a Guinness. I am not sure if I had the right proportions, so I did a 50/50 ratio. It does taste unusual, like a sparkling Guinness, if that makes sense. But it does taste nice. That said, for Saint Paddy's, I will stick to the iconic stout.

Time for cocktails?

I had this cocktail, a Porn Star Martini, at York. I cannot remember the name of the pub, but it was a hip, trendy pub, which explains why they were serving such abomination and not proper, good, honest English beers. It goes with a shot of Champagne or Prosecco (in this occasion the latter), which I can enjoy by itself, although with this it is downright bizarre. That said, since it is summertime now, it is the season of cocktails. Seriously, I cannot imagine drinking a cocktail any other time of year. It has to be on a hot summer day. It just has the right colour and taste for the season, although when it's hot the alcohol goes straight to your head and then the taste must mess up your stomach. I have yet to find a cocktail I enjoy, if you have any suggestions, tell me.

A Martini with a twist

I had this drink in one of the pubs of York, which one exactly I cannot remember. It came free with the meal. You can maybe recognize that it is a sort of Martini, although it does not really have the colour of one. In fact, its tropical and summery colours makes it look far more sickening than a traditional Martini would. It is a Porn Star Martini and it tastes as tacky as it looks as it sounds. And it comes with a shot of... Champagne or Prosecco (there it was Prosecco), in case it was not decadent enough. When I was a younger man, I tried to discover cocktails and in the end decided it was not really my thing. When I tried this one, it just confirmed my thought. But it looks very summery, so I thought I'd upload the picture here and bring you a bit of... A bit of tropical sickening cocktail in your day?

Champagne vs Prosecco

There are so many marginally useful yet interesting things one finds on Facebook. I found this little bit of article, about the differences between Champagne and Prosecco. Basically, it all goes down to pricing, at least for the Philistine like me, who does not drink wine very often and bubbly wine even less. Good to know. Okay, so it is not quite the same, they don't go with the same food, but fizzy is fizzy. And Prosecco is less pretentious.

A missed evening with Fabian Perez?

Last week, I have received from an art gallery an official invitation, with an admission ticket to make it even more official, to go to a new exhibition by Fabian Perez. Later on, I even received a voice message on my mobile from the art gallery, asking me to confirm. I have not replied yet. Because I am afraid that I cannot be there that evening. For a very good reason: it is my wife's birthday and thus we planned something else. Of course, we could just change the plan, go there and I could buy to my wife one of his paintings as a birthday present. Except for one thing: however I love his work, I don't think I can afford any painting by Fabian Perez. And even if I could, my wife does not like his paintings nearly as much as I do, so that would be like paying myself a present, thus very selfish.

So instead I will visit the gallery at another time, when there is less pressure to buy and I won't be shamed as a cheap skate art lover in front of the maestro. I still have the internet to shamelessly download images of his paintings and shamelessly share them on my blog. This one of Champagne glasses, something I would see at the exhibition. Although the one and only time I went there, it was Prosecco that was offered.As for meeting Fabian Perez and talking to him, there will be other occasions.