An Italian flavoured Sunday

Lasagne was planned, so on Saturday down to town to see what Waitrose had to offer.

First stop, Grape Tree, to find that the figs from Demos (of reference 1) have gone missing and I settled for some wet figs, at about the same price on a three for two offer. Tasted OK in small quantities, but an odd aftertaste after a while. Maybe it was the preservative which had been added during the rehydration process - the very small print explaining that wet figs are made by wetting dry figs. Need to find another source for dry figs.

Second stop, Waitrose, to find that cherries only came in very small boxes at £2 a box, with the shelves for cherries not being the only ones which were a bit bare, this being late afternoon. Had three of them. Large, very dark and a little overripe to my taste - I was even moved to put them in the refrigerator overnight, not something I usually both with with fruit and vegetables. But OK, and all done by close Sunday.

To find also that the TLS has changed its format. Possibly some months ago. as I don't buy it very often these days. First impressions not good, but further report will follow in due course.

On the table

In the shed

A bottle of  2015 Barolo to go with the lasagne. From Terre del Barolo of reference 2, of Castiglione Falleto, a small place maybe 30 miles south of Turin, as much to the east of the fag end of the alps. Possibly part of some kind of cooperative, in any event a thriving operation if Street View is anything to go by, with a large new shed under construction to the right of the one shown here. I was amused to see bottom left that they do musical evenings, just like a stately home or a vineyard over here. Think Denbies of reference 3.

The lasagne went down very well, possibly finishing it in one sitting. The first sip of Barolo was a little bitter, but after that it went down very well. This may have been my restaurant wine tasting problem - which means this is a task which I delegate - or it may have been due to my having had a spot of sauvignon blanc by way of apéritif. But all's well that ends well.

I even won at Scrabble.

PS 1: the last bottle of Barolo, from Waitrose but a different brand, was taken some months ago, at the end of last September. It went down well too, on that occasional with a traditional English dish. But it did still involve mince plus carbohydrate. Noticed at reference 4.

PS 2: both the vineyards referenced below have chosen to have swathes of mist featured on their home page. Perhaps the wine marketing people know something I don't.

Reference 1: https://psmv4.blogspot.com/2020/07/warf-day.html.

Reference 2: https://terredelbarolo.com/.

Reference 3: https://www.denbies.co.uk/.

Reference 4: https://psmv4.blogspot.com/2019/09/shin.html.