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Brew I don't consider your comments as insults we all have our likes and dislikes. Your dislikes are valid as some of mine are in the sense that the texture is unpalatable, ( snails, tripe) I do like most foods fortunately as I don't get bored with food. During the summer I've been trying to concentrate on eating veg and pulses cutting out meat altogether but now it's getting cooler chicken is making a comeback to my diet. I have quite a few things in the freezer that need eating up and we're gradually getting them down to top it up again for winter. Soups come to mind and stews and casseroles. 

About mediteraneans putting green stuff on top of steaks? I don't know what it is as I've never seen it here unless it's parsley. But then it's not necessary. Unless it's for decoration.

A typical joke running around restaurants.

A couple went to a posh restaurant. They sat down and ordered , food arrived and they started to eat. Wife, this steak is tough, husband, these veg are soggy, wife, potatoes are lumpy, husband, no gravy either. Waiter came to ask how everything was. "Oh perfect" they replied.

When you don't like something in a restaurant or something is wrong, tell them them it can be rectified. If not they go home and grumble to all their friends that the restaurant is rubbish.  Food isn't always to the satisfaction of the customers just be honest. 

This wasn't in reply to anything and I hope it wasn't interpreted to be disrespectful to anyone. We've seen it all.

1 hour ago, jonab said:

All pharmacies, hospitals and police premises in France have a mushroom identification poster on display.

 

Jonab a few years ago here in Italy we had a restaurant that catered for weddings etc. During the week we only had a few people who came at lunch time.,One day a couple from Milan came in carrying a box of mushrooms all sorts of shapes and sizes. One mushroom was very big and the wife wanted it cooking saying it was a Porcini mushroom. We weren't quite so sure so we refused to cook it advising her to let someone in authority to check them. A few days later we had a phone call thanking us for the advice . It was poisonous.

 My late brother in law would spend the weekend hunting mushrooms and they were always Porcini, but if anyone else had collected them I wouldn't have trusted them. It's too dangerous not to check or know what you're collecting.

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My wife read this topic a while ago and found it interesting, she copied content and took it to a care home where she volunteers to help with activities. Most of the ladies have dementia, but when she

This is my sons wine rack. He has over 300 different labels. this is the main cellar    

Just been talking to my son. The half bottle of wine on the shelf Brew is as you said someone has been having a nip or three and also as I said a wine tasting. When customers go to see the cellars the

On 9/11/2020 at 4:53 PM, Jill Sparrow said:

Some of the wine's not bad but, given the option, I go for Aussie, Argentinean, Chilean or South African, in that order. Red, of course.

 

Any wine if you like it , is good. It's a matter of choice and taste.

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25 minutes ago, nonnaB said:

This is his prestige cellar, all rare wines.

 

Top right, 4th bottle, someone has been having a quick nip or three...    :P

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Never noticed that , I shall have to ask about it.He often takes clients to look at the cellars so maybe that's what was left after the tasting.:)

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On 9/12/2020 at 12:23 AM, Jill Sparrow said:

Some of the wine's not bad but, given the option, I go for Aussie, Argentinean, Chilean or South African, in that order. Red, of course.

Absolutely agree Jill but forget about the last three. It's easy for us as we live twenty minutes away from the McLaren Vale wine region, home of some of Australia's best reds. Red of course, white wine is OK for sprinkling on your fish and chips. It is a waste of land that could be used for more red varieties.

13 hours ago, nonnaB said:

About mediteraneans putting green stuff on top of steaks? I don't know what it is as I've never seen it here unless it's parsley. But then it's not necessary. Unless it's for decoration.

Putting a sprig of parsley garnish on almost every pub meal is seemingly obligatory here in Australia and it is invariably the first thing that gets put to the side of the plate. Why don't they ask if you want it? If you are serving a few hundred meals over the day, the cost must add up only for most of it to end up as waste. I happen to like it after the meal as i find it quite "cleansing" and it apparently aids digestion. But am very careful not lo leave any green bits stuck in my teeth.

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1 hour ago, Oztalgian said:

Does he turn them all regularly nonnaB?

It looks like they are all natural cork closures, I wonder how many will be spoiled by cork taint? I hope not too many.

 

 

Oz I would imagine with his experience and knowledge he treats them very carefully considering what they cost to him. Thinking about the corks, in my mind we only have natural corks, but have seen plastic corks and heard the comments about them. They're not liked at all here.

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4 hours ago, nonnaB said:

in my mind we only have natural corks, but have seen plastic corks and heard the comments about them

Synthetic corks were the thing for a while here but have faded from use. Ultra premium wines still use natural cork but the use of Stelvin screw caps are slowly creeping up the cost chain and if you talk to many younger wine makers they say that the screw cap is the only way to ensure that the taste of the wine stays the way that they intended. It will however be a long while before Penfolds Grange or Henschke Hill of Grace comes with a screw cap.

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Just been talking to my son. The half bottle of wine on the shelf Brew is as you said someone has been having a nip or three and also as I said a wine tasting. When customers go to see the cellars they invariably taste a sample. Now to open an expensive bottle of wine to just maybe try one glass can be very expensive. James has a special piece of equipment basically a syringe that is used to penetrate the cork and extract the wine. Then it is squirted ( not the correct word but you know what I mean) into the wine glass.  That way the wine stays exactly as it should with no air entering the bottle. 

Turning the bottles. Those he has do not need turning as they have already had their full treatment before being sold. Champagne is regularly turned by 1/8 to mix in the yeast and left slightly tilted. When the champagne has had this treatment they are ready to be sold with no more treatment.

Plastic corks are usually placed in cheaper wines at least here he didn't know about anywhere else.

Besides selling wines with meals the restaurant is also an enoteca so tourists from other parts of Europe take delight when tasting a wine they like they are able to have the wine sent or take cases with them. 

Im glad I asked James about the wines as I don't know much but I've have learned quite a bit more today.

Oz most of the wineries around here have gone on for generations but there are a few new younger ones around , one in particular who have introduced some new wines which are popular. The wine festival here is the place to be for trying all the different wines from this area. Unfortunately this year covid spoilt it. Hopefully next year will be a bumper year who knows.

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Thanks nonnaB, I learned a new word as a result of your post enoteca, literal meaning "wine depository"

They are more commonly called cellar doors here but some actually use the term enoteca. Many like yours offer a wine and food experience with the opportunity to purchase any wines you particularly enjoy.

We have a syringe sort of thing that we use when the corks in older wines look a bit suspect. Like yours we carefully push the "needle" through the cork and then pump air into the bottle which gently removes the cork. 

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Have not seen or heard from my son and daughter-in-law for a couple of months, just odd text asking if master and myself ok.

 

About 3 weeks ago i phoned son's mobie !! voice mail left message  then phoned daughter in law's mobie same message, so phoned house phone. My grandson answerd are your mum and dad there "i ask"  oh! no grandma they are in Wales, where? said I .  Wales  my grandson said. Well a week later gave son a call  they had a good time. Still not hearing from them 2 weeks later (thought we had done something wrong) phoned again no reply from house phone or from son's mobile. So phoned daughter in law's phone.  First question where are you    SCOTLAND!!!!! where iI asked again BEEN TO THE LAKES now just hitting Scotlands border.  They had hired a camper van to avoid contact if they had been  staying in a hotel

Maybe it's me but we only come this way once "GOOD LUCK"  to them 

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7 hours ago, Oztalgian said:

Thanks nonnaB, I learned a new word as a result of your post enoteca, literal meaning "wine depository"

They are more commonly called cellar doors here but some actually use the term enoteca. Many like yours offer a wine and food experience with the opportunity to purchase any wines you particularly enjoy.

We have a syringe sort of thing that we use when the corks in older wines look a bit suspect. Like yours we carefully push the "needle" through the cork and then pump air into the bottle which gently removes the cork. 

 

Oz the syringe that my son uses only extracts the wine not the cork and doesn't allow air into the wine. 

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Nonna, I would have thought that the syringe for extracting wine would create a vacuum, which I would assume could pull the cork in even further, albeit a fraction. But I know bugger all about wines so ignore me.

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2 hours ago, nonnaB said:

Oz the syringe that my son uses only extracts the wine not the cork and doesn't allow air into the wine. 

Yes I understood that Nonna I was highlighting there was another way to use a syringe when it comes to wine

 

57 minutes ago, Beekay said:

Nonna, I would have thought that the syringe for extracting wine would create a vacuum, which I would assume could pull the cork in even further, albeit a fraction.

The syringe would have to go below the surface of the wine to draw any wine up and would not create a vacuum however assuming no air gets in when the syringe is taken out there would be a slight reduction in wine volume in the bottle and therefore a small reduction of pressure in the air space above the wine. I don't know how much wine would have to be taken out for the outside air pressure to overcome the resistance of the cork and "push it in"

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Sorry Oz I thought I'd explained it wrongly. I remember when my son bought this new piece of equipment I got the idea it was a new thing. I had heard of a syringe that helped to pull the cork, very handy if it was damaged.

 

BK I will have to get some more info as I'm not sure how this works. All I know is that he uses it when someone wants only a glass of an expensive wine. 

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That's the one Oz. I was trying to post a photo of it but as usual my iPad won't post correctly and I'm waiting for the photo to appear on my laptop. Glad it gives you a video on how it's used, because although I've drunk the wine from this method I've never seen it done. We are or I am learning all the while.

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