Table Talk
Two glasses and your head will start swimming A Chinese entrepreneur is about to turn the phrase "drink like a fish" on its head by producing a wine made from fish. Sun Keman has developed a method of fermenting fish into wine at the Dalian Fisherman's Yuge Maritime Biological Brewery. But will anyone fancy drinking it? Apparently Keman has already received orders from as far away as Japan and Russia. Experts have described the drink as nutritious and low in alcohol. As it happens, British scientists recently named fish and wine as two of the magic ingredients to substantially reduce the risk of heart disease. So why not put them together and drink to good health?
A bird in the bath is worth two in the shower Like most country-dwelling Northerners, Craig Bancroft, co-owner of Langho's Northcote Manor, enjoys a Bird in the Bath. But, as he hastened to explain recently, the phrase is not a reference to the delights of sharing your tub with a buxom blonde - it's a bit of shooting lingo. Apparently you go out, shoot the perfect pheasant, return home knackered, strip off, slump into a steamy bath with a glass of Gevrey-Chambertin by your side, and reflect on your cracking shot. Geddit? Plain as black pudding.
Well, at least it's got a couple of good points And while we're on the subjects of buxom, blondes and wine, a guest attending the night that Austrian chef Dieter Koshina was cooking at Northcote was overheard describing a Quinta do Bom-Retiro 20-year-old tawny port in these evocative terms. "It's like drinking Jordan. You enjoy looking at it. It's big and in-yer-face. But take it away and you're tempted to say ‘can I have something a bit less, please?'"
Dome man's attempt at humour is snow joke
Guests at last week's Arena lecture at London's Savoy hotel were treated to a high-octane speech from PY Gerbeau, erstwhile Millennium Dome head honcho and current chief executive of X-Leisure. Pointing to the illustrious nature of the gathered throng, Gerbeau announced that he had decided to prepare a few lines in advance. "Now that I've snorted them I feel much better", he quipped.
