August 5, 2007
Summer barbecues with Sven and Marie-Hélène
My friends Sven and Marie-Hélène live between Balham and Tooting Beck in a wonderful Edwardian house with a large garden. For the past few years (Sven and I trained to be conference interpreters in 1998), I've enjoyed their hospitality on many occasions, which is great as they are both excellent cooks. Summers are especially nice as they love to make the most of their garden by organising barbecues at the weekend.
This summer, of course, has largely been a wash-out in London, but that hasn't stopped the fun.
A couple of weeks ago, I went round on the Sunday, only for the rain to come down in buckets as soon as the barbecue had heated up, resulting in one of my favourite photos so far this year.
In between showers, Sven managed to cook up a feast, however. On the grill here, there is an array of spiced chicken kebabs, pork ribs and merguez from their local Algerian butcher.
and we ate inside their conservatory, pretty much polishing everything off to a soundtrack of raindrops on a glass roof.
It was also the occasion to finish off my last couple of bottles of Château Musar, which incidentally, I noticed was for sale in Sainsbury's near Tottenham Court Road. Same year: 1999
The more observant of my three avid readers will notice the price: £15.39, which at today's interbank rate translates as SEK211.45 - factor in bank charges and you're not far off the price of a bottle of Musar in Sweden. Just goes to show what great value buying wine from Majestic Wine Warehouse, even if their sales staff don't know how to sell the stuff properly...
Anyway, I'm going over to Sven and Marie-Hélène's place again today and this time I'm taking the wine that Richard has sent me from San Sebastian! I'll let you know how I get on (bate yer breath!)
Posted by dompannell at August 5, 2007 9:17 AM