The holiday roundup

As ever with this time of year, my ratio of bloggable activities to spare time to write about them skews wildly out of balance.  The waistline grows, the liver weakens, sleep deprivation booms and work stresses grow as everyone pushes to complete year-end deadlines. The compensation? A long parade of evenings and lunches catching up with people I like, often taking place at special events concocted to make the season special.  Here's a roundup.

Berry's Champagne & Sparkling Wine Tasting
A bargain at £25 a ticket, Berry Brothers' Warehouse Shop laid on three Champagne houses, three English sparkling producers and a range of gourmet food producers for a bit of palate cleansing. Given that every winery was offering their whole range for tasting, anyone not driving easily drank more than the value of their admission fee. Of the French houses: Michel Roux may love Gosset but we were lukewarm; Pol Roger was instantly the most classic and familiar of tastes; Bollinger was our favourite but the £85 per bottle price on our favoured 2005 Grand Annee Rose is a bit rich for our tastes. Even if it is £15 off list price at the Warehouse Shop!

Of the English producers, Hattingley Valley was interesting for being remarkably local, but tasted more like a mid-price Prosecco than a fine sparkling wine. Gusbourne had an interesting marketing approach, making all their wines reflect single years rather than taking the blending approach most sparkling producers use. Our favourite in taste and price was Hambledon, a small and relatively new Hampshire producer that's gathering in the awards. They have workshops at their winery where you get to bottle your own wine, dictating how much "dosage" you want to put in to take your creation along the dry to sweet scale. I suspect a visit will be in our future.

Also on  the workshop list for 2016 is Parsonage Farm, showing off their Hampshire-made charcuterie on the night. These lovely farmers have not only diversified into charcuterie to get more profit out of their pigs, they'll welcome you onto their farm to learn how to do it yourself.  (Pictured above.) Artisan Dairy impressed with local cheeses, and Kokoh Chocolates (a regular favourite of ours) showed off exciting flavours like Himalayan sea salt and wattleseed and coffee.

Coq d'Argent
I was shocked to realise I've never mentioned this restaurant in my blog; a clear case of familiarity breeding contempt. Or, at least, a genial disregard. The Coq sits atop a modern office building above Bank tube station, the building's triangular front pointing towards the Royal Exchange and the Bank of England like the prow of some fantastical striped ship.  Denizens of the offices nearby (and I was one for 12 years) know the Coq's rooftop gardens as one of the best places in The City for al fresco drinks in the summer time. The restaurant has outdoor dining areas on each side of an elegant, modern dining room serving updated French classics.  It's a dependable place for business lunches: upscale but not profligate, tasty but not trying too hard. I've hosted major events here and have found myself dining here two or three times a year, though always in a work-related context. So it was this holiday season, when it served as the venue for a team Christmas lunch.

They do a magnificent job decorating for the season; all the outdoor areas decked out with fur throws, fake snow, frost-covered branches and alpine backdrops to give the place the feel of an Alpine ski lodge. Indoors, every table was booked for the set holiday menu, where £45 got you classics like foie gras, duck breast in a rich sauce and a delicate take on a bouche de Noel. I'm still not sure I'd choose it for a purely social date; the crowd is so assertively professional it can be a little hard to relax. But as a business venue that's been delivering without disappointment for more than a decade, it's a safe bet.

Winchester Cathedral Christmas Market and Concert
In this fifth year of attending this market, familiarity is breeding a bit of dissatisfaction. The vendors Annecy. Sadly, that's not happening. The result? Winchester paled in comparison to the other markets I attended this season. I won't bother next year unless we return for the Cathedral Carol Concert, which was the highlight of this outing. The cathedral choir, plus a cappella group Blake, spiced with seasonal readings from a local BBC presenter ... all in a spectacular setting.
don't change much, and the action is still confined to the picturesque but cramped confines of the cathedral close. With the crowds this event now regularly attracts, I want it to grow, with new and interesting vendors setting up shop in booths throughout the town centre. As in

Beach Blanket Babylon
It's official: I'm old. Used to be that communications industry parties were always dependably in the West End. Now, all the hipsters want to be in Shoreditch. This was the second time in a month I had to schlepp across town to that inconvenient, unattractive, once-dangerous-now-edgy nether corner of London. I hate the whole graceless, soulless, cement-drenched area with a passion, and this venue did nothing to restore my faith. Given the name, I was hoping for some ironic take on '60s spring break films or Tiki bars. I saw nothing in the characterless warehouse to explain the name. Just multiple stories of featureless venue packed with braying, heavily-drinking 30-somethings having a fabulous time.  Presenters at our afternoon meetings had to compete with the cacophony floating up from the ground floor; once we shifted to pure socialising the service was slow and piped music was a
t a level that made conversation challenging. Canapés at cocktail hour featured one savoury and three sweets. Dinner was pots of comfort food like shepherd's pie, macaroni and cheese or chicken curry, all lacking in anything resembling flavour or seasoning.  Service had been so bad that, by the time the food finally came from the kitchen, a crowd had gathered around the service door eager to grab anything that appeared. Two other "mature" colleagues joined me in slipping away as soon as we felt we could.

All that said ... it's been many years since I've worked for a company that funded a proper departmental Christmas party. The simple delight of being there trumped the venue choice. It was organised by the youngsters, of whom there are many. They are delightful, clever and inspiring. And they were having a fabulous time. So if you're a 27-year-old planning an office bash, ignore my contempt for Beach Blanket Babylon and check it out. If you're over 40, trust me. Avoid at all costs.

The Force Awakens
I couldn't resist: we saw it on its opening day. No spoilers ... I'll just say that for me, for the first time since the original film, this captured the magic, awe and delight I felt watching the original as an 11-year-old. There's humour, action, tears, drama and completely believable special effects. I could have happily watched it a second time with only a small break. A return viewing is definitely on the cards for the holiday break.

Light Up Sherfield Park
Seeing how my housing estate embraced Halloween, I thought I'd propose another venerable American tradition: the holiday lights competition. Co-sponsored by the parish council and our community association, we managed to pull together an impressive list of prizes for those who decorated, and for those who voted. While the official number of entrants was lower than hoped, the neighbourhood looked good and I'd guess that about 15% of houses decorated for the holidays. Considering that almost nobody lit up their homes when I first moved to the UK, this is progress. I have high hopes for the future.