WINE & DINE WITH ANGELA LANSBURY

The travel with Angela Lansbury blog pre-dates my wine and dine blog. I started the wine and dine blog to group together my restaurant and food and wine reviews, without the distraction of posts on trains, statues, museums, and learning languages. The wine and dine blog is shorter and more focused.  Duplicate posts Are any of the posts duplicates? Yes. I sometimes start a post on the travel blog and then think, this is a candidate for the wine and dine blog. I do , however, often change the posts as I continue editing them. On the travel blog I will add details about travel. I might add more about food on the wine and dien blog. A post on learning Spanish on the travel blog will include words about trains and planes. On the wine and dine blog I will remove some of the travel words and add more menu words. When I started the wine and dine blog I duplicated a few restaurant posts here. I was surprised and disappointed that my food and drink posts got far fewer readers on the wine and...

 Hatch End was called the restaurant capital of north west London by a local newspaper.  Hatch End has no shortage of Italian style coffee bars and Italian and Indian restaurants.  Caffe Pascucci Scheduled to open early May, 8-10, they told me, is the Italian Caf fè , by the same people as the caff è Pascucci   a few doors along towards the Hatch End station. The new branch in on the corner, where the old post office was for years. I have lived in Hatch End many years and often pass the caffe and find the name hard to remember. I finally got around to looking up the origin of the name. It comes from the Italian word for Easter, so it was a name given to children born around Easter time. Or the offspring of a parent who was given that name. If your first language is English, how do you remember it?  The Italian sounds similar to the French for Easter, Paques. Also the Hebrew Pesach. There you have it, the meaning, and the way to remember the name of the coff...

  After the Real Italian Wine & Food  Experience at Excel, I have been looking back at their website and catalogue and what I discovered and enjoyed at this new style trade show.  Why Sunday and Monday? Firstly, the date of the show was a Sunday and a Monday. The day of the week chosen was not an accident, nor simply due to the availability or price of the exhibition hall. The organizers, wineexperience.com, chose a Sunday and Monday because that is when many restaurants and food and wine businesses are closed or have fewer customers, consumers, and can afford the time to go to an exhibition for business to business meetings. They even had a children's area. So families could come along. But children were kept out of the way, whilst adults were tasting wine.  Looking Back At What I Learned and Missed I missed out on the blind tasting area. I like an attractive bottle and label. If I had more time, next time I would do the taste test without the distraction of the...

  Lady oenologist, in charge of production in France. She came to  London for a day of three tastings. All at  In the basement. Very elegant. Rose wine is the popular choice for Inian weddings. For weddings you might choose two Chsmpagnes, one white and one rose. 100% pinot noir, black grape.

 At the Welwyn Wine Society Thursday evening Feb 26th, members and guests met the ambassador to the UK for Inter Rhône  wines from south east France. Trevor Sharot, Linda Field, Angela Lansbury. Photo by Angela Lansbury. Linda was born and brought up in Britain, so she speaks English, but has lived in the  Rhô ne area for many years. She gave a clear slide show about  Rhône   wines, with maps and charts.  As a child I was taught the song Sur Le Pont d'Avignon. For years as a child and adult in England I had no idea where was Avignon. Now I know it in the Rhone region, South east France. Of course one of the landmarks is the bridge. Most wine lovers and French speakers as well as researchers will know that Château is a Château, or castle. Neuf is new. And du Pape is of the Pope. So the Pope's new Château or new castle. It was built way back in the 1300s. It is usually described as his home. Others say it was his summer home. Some say he was lured in from Ita...

 Spanish is one of the easiest languages, as well as requiring the least number of hours to learn. But you find more Italian restaurants and food. Pizza, Prosecco, spagetti, Ferrero Rocher. I learned Italian for a year on Duolingo. Then I switched to Spanish. But I had started to forget the Italian. Should I go back to learning Italian? Duolingo offered me Italian for Spanish speakers and Spanish for Italian speakers. Since I am learning Spanish now, I chose Italian for Spanish speakers. Here are some handy words in both languages. Spanish - Italian - English adios - arrivederci - goodbye amigos - amici - friends buenas noches - buonasera - good evening de nada - prego - you're welcome  donde esta el bano - dove il bagno - where is the toilet gracias - grazie - thank you uno does tres - uno due tre - one two three Perfecto -  perfetto - perfect por favor - per favore - please Yo soy de - io sono di - I am from English - Spanish - Italian friends - amigos - amici goodbye -...