COOKING

I watched Nigella Lawson making cocktails, soups and desserts earlier this evening.
Actually, I can't remember much about the dishes as I was just watching Nigella Lawson.
She is an incredibly beautiful woman. Her beauty though is not just 'skin-deep' and of course critics would say that she is now larger than life because of her appreciation of good food and wine. No, Nigella has a wonderful hedonistic appreciation of the good things in life and doesn't give a hoot about any critic's view of this. When drizzling a Stilton and cream topping onto a rich roasted vegetable soup she said " I know that this is very 80's but who cares" (or something like that). I like that.
As I prepared dinner (spaghetti Bolognaise for me and roasted potatoes, mini-sausages and peas for my visiting sister who thinks that spaghetti is way too exotic), I opened a bottle of Stonehaven Reserve Shiraz 2001 (Padthaway). Now this is a classic Australian wine but it was showing a bit of age. Still classy but getting a bit blowsy (aren't we all). In the best Nigella tradition I opened a bottle of 2007 Tempranillo (Altovela from La Mancha) and mixed it up with the Stonehaven. The result - sensuous and sinewy older Shiraz with robust and vibrant Tempranillo. Lawson would have approved.