A loaf of bread, a flask of wine, a book of spam

• Thursday was Michael Jobling's pre-Christmas wine tasting at the Biscuit Factory: for a tenner a head (redeemable against purchases) you get to taste a large number of very classy wines, drifting around the upstairs of the gallery - more wines than we could get through in the time allowed, even if we hadn't been distracted by conversation. There's usually someone there we know, and on this occasion it was Ian Kennedy, of the fish stall in Durham Market.
  
  I started the evening with a Collioure blanc, which was my introduction to Michael Jobling, long ago at the Snods Edge Garlic Festival (it was crisp and characterful and perfect with the creamy garlic soup - we bought a case) and moved on to the Mas de Daumas Gassac organic white, which was just as nice and only three times the price. My outstanding wines of the evening were a Tasmanian sauvignon blanc, absolutely sauvignon in its zest and green flavours but with a candied fruit sweetness (without being cloying: as much fruit as candy) which isn't like any other sauvignon I've ever tasted. I've been bowled over by it before, and suspect it's the wine I didn't name in a previous post (because I was plotting a blind tasting); a New Zealand riesling which grabbed my attention ad wouldn't let go, lemon freshness and mineral edge, and not the slightest whiff of petrol and, down at the other end of my price scale, a Sicilian nero d'Avola, all olives on the nose and herbs on the palate, which we'll be drinking plenty more of in the coming months.



• By the time we got home from the tasting, the last of the ice had finally thawed from the fridge. I put off reassembling it until yesterday morning. It is now noticeably colder than before we defrosted it - colder than I like, though it's set at very nearly its warmest setting. Oh, well...



• I finished a stick of lip balm, and rather nervously opened the stick of Betty Crocker Chocolate Peanut Butter Chip lip balm I had bought, in a spirit of sheer incredulity, in Paso Robles. To my surprise, it's rather good: effective but not too heavy.



• Spamageddon has eased up: it's no longer a torrent, but there's still a trickle. Certain posts attract promotions for certain products, but I don't see the connection: this post about The Exploits of Moominpappa, for example, is apparently the place to find footwear enthusiasts, whether you are selling Jimmy Choo knock-offs or Ugg boots.



• The Ugg vendors are also fond of this post about my least successful loaf yet. Fortunately, the honeymoon period continues, and the current rye loaf is as light as rye bread knows how to be, and sour and delicious. Not that I'm boasting...