I love a bargain, I really do. But if we’re talking wine there are a few things worth bearing in mind. For a start, whatever you pay for your bottle, £2.23 goes on tax. And that’s before VAT. Factor in the cost of making it, packaging it, shipping it and selling it and we’re talking …
Yup, still January. But there have been highlights: I got to hold a copy of my new (old) book, the updated Knackered Mother’s Wine Guide, in my hands for the first time. (There’s a cracking competition coming up to celebrate the book launching on the 6th February, more on that soon). And I did Saturday …
I spent pretty much all of Saturday in the kitchen. But unlike my own (messy, overrun with dogs/kids) this one was full of talented chefs and a celebrity guest. It was the Saturday Kitchen studio and I ate ridiculously good food for breakfast and talked wine with chefs Ollie Dabbous and Ellis Barrie, along with presenter …
After spending last week in London tasting around 100 wines a day (I was judging at the International Wine Challenge, not just really thirsty), I’m back and trying to get on top of things. It’s not going that well. The house is a tip, the laundry basket needs a room of its own, work has …
That whole bake with your kids thing? Lovely in theory, carnage in practice in my experience. Last week we spent an evening making cupcakes for a friend’s charity cake sale at school. Once the cakes were made, Middle Boy and Youngest Girl set about decorating them with everything they could find in the the cupboard. Silver …
Maybe it’s the back to school feeling in the air. More likely it’s the fact that I’ve got deadlines. Whatever: I can’t stop clearing out cupboards. It all started with the coat cupboard, where I found not one but two old puffa jackets I’d forgotten about. A boon because apparently they’re the only thing we …
For my sister’s birthday, I ordered her the most fantastic sweatshirt from Selfish Mother’s (uh-mazing) website. It’s this one, grey with the word SISTA emblazoned across the front. Anyway, I sent it on to her, all wrapped up. But after about a week, she still hadn’t received it. Turns out, I’d sent it to her …
Yesterday was One Of Those Days. Came back from the school run to find the puppies had escaped from the kitchen, tearing through the bins on their way out before moving on to Youngest Girl’s cuddly toy stash. Opened the front door to utter carnage, like a horror version of The Teddy Bears’ Picnic. Stuffing everywhere. …
I’m sure there’ll be a year when all the presents are wrapped and the food prepped ahead of time. Just not this one. But before we part company for a bit, here are some of the wines featured in a list I put together for The Pool, a brilliant website stuffed with great articles and the …
So, I’ve had a nightmare this half term. The washing machine broke. Honestly, it was terrifying. Piles of washing everywhere. On top of that, there’s Saturday’s Trickle Treat (as Youngest Girl calls it) outing to think about. Our kids usually bring home enough sweets to open a shop, thanks to us being one of only …
This is me, at the Knackered Mother’s Wine Club tasting at Camp Bestival last Saturday. We had a brilliant crowd, including a gorgeous lady who’d got married that day at Camp Bestival’s inflatable church (not making this up) and another on her hen night. There was a performance by the brilliant Scummy Mummies, Ellie & …
‘Where’s your wee wine gone?’ asked Eldest Boy earlier today. He was referring to the wine I’ve just made. As a wine buyer I spent much of my time in cold cellars tasting wine samples from tanks but until now, I’d never made my own wine from start to finish. Granted, the grapes came in …
L-R: Hugh, Michel Roux Jr (chair) & Jancis Last night, a friend and I went to a brilliant event in London that brought together two of the world’s best wine writers, Jancis Robinson and Hugh Johnson. If you only ever buy one wine book in your life (once you’ve bought mine, of course *best smile*), make …
Last Friday, I went to the Bath Literary Festival and my session was at 7.30pm. Turned out so was Kazuo Ishiguro’s, in the room next door. He might have won the Booker Prize but I had free wine (very kindly donated by wine merchant Averys of Bristol – thank you, Mimi). And afterwards, as I …
You can’t buy happiness but you can buy wine and that’s kind of the same thing, or so the saying goes. But I’m not drinking wine this week: combination of a late night on Saturday (old friend’s wedding, too many cocktails) and the fact that I’ve now got a cold. Normally, I’d go with the …
The last time we picked a winner on the blog, my mother wasn’t available to do the honours. She was on her way to the cinema ‘2 c When I wake up’. Not only does she text like a teen, she has a brilliant way of slightly re-wording things (she was actually seeing Before I …
Well, that was fun. My Camp Bestival highlights included the wine tasting I did for 50 fellow knackered mothers on Saturday evening; seeing the children race around the Kids’ Garden in their circus outfits (one elephant, two human cannonballs and a clown); and sitting outside our tent in the evening sun sipping bag in box …
I planned to do a KMWC wine surgery film tonight but, after Vegas, my eyes are like piss holes in the snow (to coin one of my mother’s favourite sayings). So we’ll leave that for next week. Instead, I have a rather excellent giveaway. As you know (unless you’re new here, in which case, welcome …
Sequins, check. I’m off to Vegas. For work. For four days. I know, I’m extremely lucky. I’ll have time to sit by a pool, do a spot of shopping, have grown up dinners and see a show (not Britney though, I checked). But the thing I am most looking forward to? A lie-in. After last week’s …
Last weekend, Youngest Girl was 5 years old. She had a little party at home with her friends from school, involving a game of Pass the Parcel, Musical Statues and an early Easter Egg Hunt in the garden. I decorated the house with bunting and the cake with a tub of Betty Crocker chocolate fudge …
The following exhaustive (and exhausting) list of wines appeared in Saturday’s Daily Mail, here’s a link if you want pictures of the bottles too. There’s 10 whites, 10 reds, 10 sparkling and 10 pudding/after dinner drinks. And this gorgeous picture was taken by the very lovely Juliette Neel. Sadly, it wasn’t used in the piece but …
Last week saw my first appearance as the new wine expert on The Alan Titchmarsh Show. And honestly? I loved it. It was possibly one of the most surreal days of my life, and I must learn to not always say what I’m thinking out loud. Telling Kerry Katona that my friends and I used to …
So, we had a little party last night for friends who couldn’t make it to London for the official KMWC book launch a few weeks ago. And as you can see, my mum made herself useful. Yes, she is actually signing my book. And what’s more, no-one seemed to mind. In other news (back to …
I love a good acronym as much as the next person, particularly when they can be used as mnemonic devices (my music teacher taught me Every Good Boy Deserves Fun. Aware that sounds bad). Anyway, my new favourite? Person Over Thirty Acting Twenty One. Yes, the P.O.T.A.T.O. Actually I’m nearly forty but P.N.F.A.T.O. doesn’t work …
I think it was Elizabeth Taylor who once said that she and her at-the-time beloved Richard Burton used to see so little of each other when they were both appearing in different plays that most of their time together was spent as they crossed in the hallway of their home, ‘like hips that pass in …
If you fancy doing the same – combining cake and wine that is, not behaving badly in a tearoom – then here’s your chance! Enter English Mum’s Baked With Love Bakeoff and the winner gets pink fizz. I’ve heard that the judge is open to bribes and that my her favourite cake is coffee & …
Subscribe to Blog Updates
Get my weekly blog posts direct to your inbox.
You have Successfully Subscribed!