Hello John!
Monday July 22 1996 05:36, John Prather wrote to IAN HOARE:
 JP> Hi! Ian.   No, I didn't curl up and die.  I've been busy with summer
 JP> and kids and such.
I must admit, I had begun to wonder. When I first discovered Intercook 
whenever there were something like 50-75 messages a day to read, and now 
one's lucky to find half a dozen. I had thoght that many people had found 
that their BBs had stopped taking the feed or some such.
 JP>  Also been learning the Internet and Usenet with what on line time I
 JP> have to waste.
And that's another cause, I suspect. Although, from what I have been reading, 
I suspect that in the long term, frustration with Internet may well lead 
people to (re)discover Fido etc. I have to say that when I was in the UK, I 
surfed on my brother's account, and found the download time for useless 
pretty pictures unspeakably frustrating. Maybe that will get better when 
digital access is general, but probably not, because images will become true 
colour (24 bit) which will hike their size even more.
 JP> describe the crabs but I know I have never had soft shell clams.
:-)))
 JP> it is not a weakness I can often pursue.
As I get older, John, I find an increasing number of weaknesses that I cannot 
often pursue. Ahem, I think it's time for a return to sobriety as befitting 
gentlemen of our advanced years.
You'll be jealous to hear that we had a VERY nice Meursault-Charmes 1989 by 
Pierre Millot-Battault the other day. We had (Dave S. and Michael L. can stop 
reading now, cos they've seen it before) some B&B guests who were keen on 
wine and who live not far from Tain (of Hermitage fame) so when I proposed a 
bottle of decent wine for a supplement, they jumped at it. I decided to do 
two courses to go with the wine before changing to a red Bordeaux for the 
cheese, and so we had Langoustines (not quite soft shell crabs, which I've 
never eaten, by the way) cooked in a court bouillon and served cold with home 
made (obviously) mayonnaise, for the entree (after the soup) and then an 
escalope of veal sauced with cream and mushrooms a la parisienne.
  The interesting thing for me, is that for each course, the wine tasted as 
if it was the only possible accompaniment for the dish, yet showed completely 
differently. I was pleased, honestly, as normally I don't do that with white 
wines. I often serve a red wine to span more than one course, and even make 
courses span wines too. It is very interesting sometimes to see how each 
shows against the other.
  I am reminded of that wine tasting series that (was it you?) was posted 
here, describing how minor chages in soups made an accompanying wine taste 
very different. No, thinking about it, I think it may have been Kaz or 
Carolyn who posted it.
  Good to see you writing here again.
All the Best
Ian
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