A thoroughly enjoyable weekend...

... was spent in the company of our friends Martin and Lynn, who travelled all the way from Lancaster to see us. I've known them both since my days at Lancaster University - as I met them in my first year, that means our friendship is now 15 years old. Jesus, next year it'll be legally able to smoke and ignore government advice about sexually transmitted diseases...

I came good on my threat to drag them out to Mersea Island where I tried the ortega wine. It wasn't quite as good as I remember it (I suspect that might be down to the fact it's lightly oaked, which the Canadian variety wasn't), but I bought a bottle anyway. We then spent an enjoyable evening in playing Buzz and karaoke on the Playstation 2 while enjoying Strictly Come Dancing (judges aside). In the past we'd have drunk ourselves senseless - we had six bottles of wine and six bottles of beer ready for the evening, but in the end age caught up with us all and four bottles of wine remain (including the ortega). I stuck to two bottles of Island Monkey stout from Mersea (they were out of the main stout variety sadly).

I was also encouraged by my first attempt at lasagne, which was very nice (probably thanks to the jar of white sauce I bought - everything else, including the bolognase, was done by hand). I've been encouraged by Toni to be more adventurous with my cooking, and so far it's largely paid off. It's a far cry from the instant mash and tinned tuna that sustained me for my first week in university all those years ago!