Victory dinner

I popped my bottle of bubbly, my favourite bubbly, Perrier Jouet with dots on the e. I am too lazy to go into MSWord (yes, it's a PC) to write it and then paste. So there. I have been drinking Prosecco in lieu of champagne this year. It is often a Friday treat. Price and preference.

Prosecco is less austere than champagne, but it does not lack backbone. Champagne can be all backbone. Like drinking a Puritan. At least that's what Veuve Clicquot seems like to me. There's a yeasty bitterness I dislike. Moet is similar though not as heavy. Bollinger is beyond me, but yummy. Crystal is just stupid and bought for one reason alone: to show off... Of course different vintages and different non-vintages make all the difference but I don't drink enough to know.

I started buying more economical champagnes a couple of years ago - Duval Leroy, Nicholas Feuillatte, both good and in the low $20 range, and the beautifully labelled RM Coutier, never to be found again after my wine store ran out. Delicious. So the Perrier Jouet with the pretty flowers on the botttle was a celebration, and I am having another glass as I write.

Roast chicken. No more need be said.

Pan gravy. Such an American expression. Otherwise it is just gravy. Not something I have made in forever. It's been pan juices and jus for years. Reductions with a slosh of wine, no more. This had cream in it. But this November 5th required roast chicken AND pan gravy.

South Africans like yellow rice and raisins. When I was little it might be served at lunch on a Sunday, with the roast lamb or chicken. The rice is cooked with a little turmeric and raisins are added. I had barley. So did the same to it, much to its surprise. It was very good.