The morning was grey, wet and cold not perhaps the most ideal of conditions for a stroll or picture taking but on circling the Cathedral the sun burst through the clouds. An elderly gent in mac and wide brimmed hat was in front but I was a little slow in realising the photographic potential.

By the time I reached Angers Castle the weather had improved remarkibly...

Although maybe Jeanne will jump in again and find that these have actually made it to some long forgotten blog post or other...

First up Baked Salmon Parcels. Looks like steamed in a little paper pocket with new potatoes, peas and an awful lot of butter! Shame about the dirty fork in the background.

Next up a dish of pasta with squid. Can't even remember eating this one let alone where the recipe came from, the wine match... or where I brought the squid. (old age... just don't go there people!). Another photo of the same dish shows a slice or two of chorizo, so this must be Pasta with Squid and Chorizo...

The third photo includes a wine - De Bortoli Sero Merlot-Sangiovese from Australia's King Valley. The food looks like beef with cous cous topped with chickpeas, slices of mango with the red things being pepperdews, perhaps. An intriguing sounding dish, but I think rejected because the main mango (or maybe its peach?) slice looks a little grey and dull...

Is that coriander on the last photo? It's a steak on a celeriac mash but that little pot of stuff at the back is interesting - garlic, coriander, olives? and a dim recollection of anchovies slides into my addled brain.

Finally, (some might say) I have set up an RSS Feed for Does My Blog Look Good In This announcements. If the memory holds out each new host will be detailed here on SpittoonExtra. If you don't want to read the other rubbish that appears here or marvel at the blurred snaps I try and pass off as magazine quality photographs, then this new RSS feed is for you!

Does My Blog (DMBLGIT for short) is the monthly photo-showcase event for food and wine/drink bloggers. Full details are on the dedicated DMBLGIT page but each monthly round is hosted by a different blogger (if you would like to host during 2010 drop me an email).

The first host for 2010 is David Barzelay who has posted the announcement on his blog Eatfoo so send off your best image (that appeared on your blog during December 2009) a-sap!

The photos folder is chocker; there are loads here that have never graced the blog - photos from Alsace, at least a dozen bottles of wine and several food snaps. All destined for blog posts that will never be. Now I could TRY and utilise them properly but, in the case of these food pictures, they were to grace the recipe details here on SpittoonExtra and link to a wine note on Spittoon. With the passing of time and I dare say a fare few brain cells I have no recollection of where what when or why. Some I think are passably decent so post them here...

We have a snap labelled Food Travellers Potato Tart - obviously a plan to nick a recipe from Food Traveller and match it to a wine from Alsace, possibly... I recall the dish was rather lovely.

Did I ever use this rabbit casserole picture? It seems very familiar but not the best photo ever which might explain it languishing unused... although thinking about it I remember the dish wasn't very nice, the cooking time far too long and dried out the meat. Even a decent wine couldn't save it...

And this salad - looks like it is a mix of pasta, rocket, green beans, parmesan and something 'white'. Being labelled 'sauvignon and food' indicates some long lost plan for an all encompassing post on matching Sauvignon Blanc with various foods. The bottle is a Howard Park Sauvignon, an excellent zesty Australian rendition of the grape. Actually seeing the photo full-size, shows that it is not quite in focus and the top slice of parmesan lacks definition.

The first is the lock to the barrel cellar, the second a chair in the corner of the tasting room (which I so longed to plonk my fat arse in but was petrified of dozing off) while the third photo is an external view of the wine making hall - you can just make out the stainless steel tanks. I hesitated to include this photo, 'cause it aint that good...

Incidentally an article describing the train trip down to Lisbon has just been published on Palate Press - By Train To Portugal: The European Wine Bloggers Conference

The Lisbon apartment was just a short walk from Santa Apolonia station; up a couple of hills obviously, this being Lisbon, right in the heart of the old-town Alfama. Time pressures precluded any great exploration sadly, we didn't make it to the Bairro do Castelo or the Se Catedral but did revel in the dramatic view fromt he apartment across the rooftops to the Tejo.