Burger King

You already know about my granola habit. Tonight – I blame Bake Off – I decided to move on to bread. Now, I love my carbs (how can you not love carbs?) and so when I saw the recipe for protein bread in Jamie Oliver’s new cookbook Super Food (a recent birthday present), I thought I’d knock up a batch. What a disaster. Seems I’m very good at eating bread; not so great at making it. It tried to escape from the tin, creating small mini loaves all over the oven floor. The main, very misshapen loaf, is raw on the inside. And to make matters worse, the Husband just sent me this pic from San Francisco (he’s working there this week). I know it’s not healthy. But it looks, well, super.

Current sparkling in the fridge: Wild Thing Prosecco, £9.75, Vintage Roots
This is practically a health drink. It’s organic, for a start (the online retailer that sells it stocks over 400 organic wines). It’s also suitable for vegetarians and vegans (meaning that it doesn’t use anything in the fining process that is an animal product. I know, sounds gross. But there’s no trace of fining agent in the wine once finished). But most importantly, it is delicious. Light, fresh and with lots of pear fruit flavours, it’s a really solid Prosecco. And the Wild Thing brand supports the Born Free Foundation, too. Wild Thing, I think I love you. 

Current red in the rack: Vinalba Reservado 2012, £10, Sainsbury’s
This wine is a great example of why blends can be just as good, if not better, than wine made from a single grape variety. It’s an unapologetically big, brooding red from Argentina. It takes its most famous red grape, Malbec, and adds it to two other grapes that, like Malbec, have their roots in Bordeaux. It’s a Cabernet Sauvignon (think backbone), Merlot (think plum fruits) and Malbec (think bramble fruits) mash up and together, they all get on like a house on fire. There’s a fair bit of toasty oak in there too. At 14.5%, you’re better off sitting down, preferably with a plate of something meaty in front of you, when you drink this. 

Chin chin x

Ps – I’m going to be at Love Wine at Birmingham’s Hotel du Vin on the 7th November, along with my friend Joe Wadsack (the wine guy on BBC Food & Drink) and around 250 wines for you to taste. The organisers have kindly given me a pair of tickets worth £40 to give away for the morning session. If you’d like them, simply leave a comment below or on my facebook page. Usual T&Cs apply and a winner will be announced next week.