shewhomust | I often wonder what the vintner buys...

Not for the first time, I have been out-drunk by

desperance - he knows about all these strange cocktails. And may I say that if Everclear is what I think it is, I'm shocked that this quiz regards it as a beverage.

In the absence of

desperance, who spent his Saturday night dying on stage, in Stockton, we partied on puddings.

samarcand doesn't like alcohol at all, and Candy can take it or leave it, so they decreed that their party was a "bring a pudding" event. This provoked a flurry of baking: there were home-baked oatcakes, with cheese (a cheat, but a welcome one), there was parkin (made to Dan Lepard's hundred year old recipe), there was apple crumble and there was chocolate chestnut cake (that was me)*. Also a bowl of fruit fluff.

And because it was a select gathering, I got to try them all, and to talk to everyone, and had a very good time, and didn't feel over-puddinged afterwards.

*Recipe on the back of the chestnut flour packet, with some uncertainty about how much a "cuillère à soupe" is - checks dictionary: yes, it really is a tablespoon. The result was good, but dryer than I found ideal (I prefer my cakes to err on the side of squidginess).