A new fruit

I've just tasted my first Minneola. Nay, my first two. The first seemed so good I needed to double check. Apparantly a cross between a tangerine and a grapefruit, (though some say a cross between a tangerine and a pomelo) this is a tad smaller than an orange with skin that is somewhat detached from the fruit and that therefore peels very easily and a shape that is a little ovoid. And it is very very tasty. Fresh like an orange with a sweet lake of juice and a seam of keen acidity threaded straight through the middle. The fruit is brilliant, bright and the flavours crystalline in clarity. This chap has gone straight to the top five. Think i'll have another couple at lunch....

Well versed

It seems to me that perhaps wine writing needs to take a cue from creative writing in it's more conventional sense. If I can fashion words and phrases that drip flavours from the page directly through to the consciousness of the reader perhaps I might go someway to converting the two dimensional to the multi-sensational.

Saigoba, Cosecha 2007 - Summer Rioja

This is delicious. Cellar temperature, a real crowd pleaser crammed full of summer berries, stawberry and a touch of sandlewood. The extraction is so fine that at 2 years old this is drinking beautifully. Light and sprightly. It would be a splendid partner to an afternoon in the Sun chewing grilled lamb cutlets from your fingers, or even dusty evenings paella. Seriously good value.

Leftovers

Easter has arrived bringing the annual legend that is the four day weekend. What a touch! Staying in town has become a habit amongst my set. London is a dream when empty and frankly, overcrowded motorways are for losers. Do what others don't. There's a mantra to believe in. The possible benefits are mindboggling......

I undertook the odious task of cleaning my fridge yesterday and by 10.30pm was sitting contentedly in my kitchen with two friends, staring at the remains of a really delicious impromtu three courses that might otherwise have been thrown away. That morning I'd been down on my hands and knees pulling incongruously wrapped packages from the fridge and finding alternatively, old bits of cheese from as long ago as last new year, greening slabs of ancient Pate (one of the more hideous finds), and in one, a single rasher of streaky bacon - e.t.a. in fridge unknown. Out came old pots of mustard (6 types spanning at least three girlfriends), home made jams and chutneys with faded labels (4 varieties), various miscellaneous condimentii including the utterly necessary old pots of cornichons and capers whittled to within an inch of their comestible usefulness, and finally and most unpleasantly a single rod of decomposing vegetable that I will kindly call, Jellied Rhubarb.

From this mess came a supper of Purple Sprouting and Bleu d'Ecosses Soup with cream and pepper that seemed full of flavour even before I added the crumble of new years cheese. Following this was buttery mash with some five spice oxtail that had been clogging up the freezer for a couple of months, with steamed and buttered Pak Choi from the back of the lowest shelf. And to finish.... St Johns Lancashire cheese from last weekend with my own homemade sweet chilli jam and toast. We drank a 2007 Rosso di Montalcino from San Filippo that was juicy and accessible though far from compelling. It had some nice Sangiovese fruit with the duality of flavours that Sangiovese seems to typify leathery red berries and sweet roasted coffee notes, highs and lows in one, fine balance and just about enough staying power to combat the five spice.

The only niggle of the evening was a kind of phone argument with the grey area over another set of plans that she's forgotten. I'd probably had too much to drink, but still......agree to a plan and stick to it.