Der Geschmack der Farben.

I arrived home in one piece.  My flight from SFO to Manchester, via Zurich, was without incident - very smooth and painless.
Now that I am home, I am in a state of amazement.  I have experienced better weather here in the past four days than all of 2019 in California and I have loved every minute of it.  Thing is, England is hard to beat when the sun is shining, it is just so pretty.  And so green.  Spring has always been my favourite season in Blighty.
Family OTW and I have busied ourselves with lots of activities; shooting, archery, bingo and other games.  Every meal has been outside, breakfasts, lunches and dinners.  Of note, yet another fabulous wood-fired pizza event (my sister-in-law's Thai chicken pizza could give California Pizza Kitchen a run for their money) at which I discovered that a particularly spicy pizza paired well with a Prosecco that Thud pulled out of his wine-stash.  Fun.
The Taste of Colours, kindly reproduced with the permission of Swiss Air (well, I'm sure they would have approved it if I'd asked), is not about the neurological trait synaesthesia.  Rather, the wine-article in my seat-pocket magazine maintained that there was a correlation between the colour of a wine and the way in which a wine is produced, even a vintage's growing conditions, with the qualities therefore inherent in a wine.  Not sure I totally buy the whole premise of the article as it's a little simplistic, besides I don't read German, but it made for some light, in-flight entertainment - a bit like the colour, Blasses Weissgelb.

Eat, drink and be very merry!

Lots of bubbles (including a Prosecco), loads of cheese and charcuterie, a sherry for Vinomaker and some fancy biscuits for the Vinodogs.  Christmas eve is very merry in Vinoland!  Santa (Father Christmas) is in Nicaragua right now (according to NORAD) and he's already delivered more than five and a half billion pressies - makes me tired just thinking about that.  I'm off to bed.  Happy Christmas eve everybody!

Ristorante Allegria.

For my birthday dinner, Vinomaker decided to take me to Ristorante Allegria in downtown Napa.  We have been there many times before and have always enjoyed it: we are done with experimenting with new restaurants for the time being.  Allegria is a comfortable, unpretentious establishment.
Located in an old bank building, Allegria features California cuisine with an Italian influence: actually it is quite far removed from authentic Italian food, but the food is always of the highest quality. Vinomaker and I began the evening with a glass each of Villa Sandi Prosecco, which was a very pleasant tipple, whilst we waited to order.  For my main course I ordered the mahi mahi with garlic mashed potatoes in some sort of mango sauce.  I was too busy (thinking about chatting), to really listen to the waiter's description of this dish which was one of the evening's specials, but he had uttered those magic words garlic mashed potatoes, so I was completely sold.  My fish and potato combo was delightful fare and Vinomaker thoroughly enjoyed his Pappardelle Allo Zafferano.
Our wine selection was a bit of a disappointment, so I will abstain from besmirching the winemaking abilities of a certain Napa winery.  All in all it was a very pleasant evening.  Thanks Vinomaker.