Dan Ryan

Shafted one way or shafted the other. And I thought they might be able to break even on the £95 for the menu.

Sounds like a piss poor performance for the money, Scott. Better luck with next year's birthday. Don't suppose Raymond would consider a BYOB option?

English gooseberries, bloody marvellous. Combine with elderflower (cordial, fresh, teabags, whatever) for maximum synergy. I made a gooseberry and elderflower jelly that was clean as a whistle last year. Fools also good. Mackerel and gooseberries also very good.

Pricing info?

My 2p worth, as someone who has done just the WSET Level 2 and knows nothing of the IS course: The course is probably old world oriented as this gives a greater range of styles and traditions to study. Comparing and contrasing Chilean syrah with Australian shiraz is not quite the same as doing that for port and Austrian st laurent. The "fine wine" idea will also have momentum for a while yet. Prejudice, but takes time to overcome. But it's nonsense to suggest that new world wines aren't a force in the UK. They're extremely popular, with New Zealand, Chile, Argentina and South Africa all rising, and Australia having even overtaken France in terms of sales value at one point. At any rate the French and Aussies are neck and neck.

I think many of the European countries had their favourite spices in the Middle Ages. In the UK saffron was immensely popular (and was even grown there), as was ginger (think of all the cakes and biscuits), while France favoured the clove, and Italy (Venice) nutmeg and cinnamon.

How about freezing the egg yolk first? Or at least having it very cold.

And how much is a fried egg, hen's, at the Ivy these days?

The residual sugar level will affect the perceived acidity though. For example a wine with little or no residual sugar will taste much sharper and more notably acidic than a wine with the same low pH but more sugar, even though the acidity level is the same. Most great sweet wines have very high acidity levels.

What have you got against buying oyster mushrooms tarka?

Is it not a bit sweet?

Of course, you could just go to Artisan du Chocolat in person. It's at 89 Lower Sloane Street, near GR's. They got some good stuff...

Creme in this sense means "essence", so essence of blackcurrant, essence of chocolate, etc.

The Russian Spring Punch is one that uses champagne as a final fizz. Here are two of my sparkling jobs. Melbellini glass: flute 1 shot fresh white peach purée 1 spoon fresh raspberry purée 1 spoon creme de framboise top up with prosecco Add first three ingredients to glass and stir, then top up with prosecco. Bellinis are great, and so is peach melba. How hard could it be to reach this combination? Be ready to adjust for sweetness/acidity according to how ripe your fruit is. Solano glass: flute 1 spoon creme de cassis 1½ shots grapefruit juice top up with prosecco / sparkling wine Add first two ingredients to glass and stir, then top up with prosecco. Another blackcurrant and grapefruit combo, this makes a great aperitif.

Can't help you with stockists I'm afraid, although anywhere that stocks De Cecco and other premium brands is likely to have something. Pizzoccheri and other buckwheat pasta are popular in Friuli, but they're very much winter fare. Ditto buckwheat polenta. If you're after a grain fix, wholemeal couscous can do the trick. It's excellent in tiny quantities in tabbouleh, and is great soaked in tomato consomme as the basis for a salad. What's wrong with red meat anyway? And it's about time to explore the wonderful world of pulses I would suggest.

There are some brands of wholemeal pasta that are okay: Barilla Integrale I think is one to try. The spaghetti works well with cheese or cream based sauces, something where the slightly nutty or earthy wholemeal flavour complements the sauce. I urge you to try. Most, however, tastes like MDF, and may well have a useful role in decorating.

Tried wholemeal pasta yet, Moby?

Having applied to the university I'm a bit ashamed I couldn't get there last week, but work intervened, sadly. Any highlights? Did you try the Friulian cuisine on the 4th? I know Devetak quite well.

Replace the orange juice in the blood and sand with grapefruit juice (equal parts scotch, cherry brandy, juice, red vermouth). It's superb.

Never knew about the violette. Might try parfait amour in my next aviation if that's not too sacrilegious (cf Jupiter Cocktail). Cool tip Splificator. Hvala ljepa!

Maraska also do a straw-covered smaller bottle, but I buy the larger strawless. I know this was originally a gin thread, but now we're on the subject of maraschino, what about a mention for the Florida Daquiri and Hemingway Special (basically daquiris with added grapefruit juice and maraschino)? Great drinks, well worth a try.

I think Maraska is probably the Croatian brand you're thinking of. Aviation good. Aviation very good.

The original Alexander used gin and chocloate, didn't it? All I can give you is one of my creations. Maybe the mixture of liqueurs might seem a bit unlikely to some: The Boadicea 2 shots bourbon 1 shot amaretto 1 shot campari 1 shot creme de bananes 2 dashes angostura bitters 2 dashes peychaud's bitters Six ingredients, all booze. Enjoy. Hopefully.

You make your grappa. You infuse it with flavourings. Simple. They're very popular in Slovenia and Friuli, where there is a great home-distilling tradition. Among the most popular flavourings are rue, a bitter herb whose culinary use has been declining for centuries (pesto is thought to be derived from a Roman paste made with rue), other herbs such as sage, rosemary, lovage (another herb under-used in culinary circles, it has a strong celery-like flavour), basil and verbena, spices such as aniseed, and fruits like rose hip. People often use vast mixes of wild herbs and berries. Rue is probably my favourite. It has a flavour somewhere between mint and rosemary, and is not as bitter when infused. An excellent digestif. If you ever come across some rue, I recommend making some rutica by sticking it in a bottle of plain grappa (not en expensive one) and leaving it for a while. I'm sure you'd enjoy it. Another popular digestif is pelinkovec, made with wormwood, and that really is bitter. An aquired taste for sure. You can also make liqueurs using grappa as the base spirit, but these are very different drinks. Not bad, though.

A nice alternative I use for courgette flowers is to make a batter from chickpea flour or gram flour (channa dal). Add a touch of chilli powder. This is a slightly heavier batter, but tastes great (if you've ever eaten pakoras you'll know what it's like). And of course oil temperature is the critical factor in deep frying.