Prawn Again

Easter Weekend, I think it's fair to say, saw me burn the candle at both ends and in a few other places too. In need of revitalisation I settled on a bottle grapefruity juice from Waitrose...

Figured Tosca would be just about right while the wine kicked in. Then step up to a nice Kitsune 4 once the 'edge' had been sanded.

I labour under the delusion that the right food can cancel out all excesses, it's my parents fault... not specifically, just generally. Anyway, the right food for me is always seafood. Especially hungover. When combined with a spot of eastern promise and a lot of green, it is, in my head, edible yoga.

A relatively straightforward recipe, but I couldn't help a bit of faffing.

Can't waste prawn skins. That's where most of the flavour is. Fried these with garlic then added water and simmered for 20 minutes. A few tablespoons of the resulting liquor went in my satay sauce dressing.

After eating this I felt like I could climb a hill, but settled for a spot of telly and tuned into a fascinating documentary about the family life of the Scottish artist John Bellany.

By now I'm so revived that I'm tucking into a lip smacking Loire red...

Just as the film reveals that Bellany's fondness for drinking resulted in liver failure and almost certain death... downer.

In hospital, drifting in and out of consciousness, Bellany heard the sound of an accordion. Soon after, Rolf Harris appeared at his bedside playing it. Incredibly, it wasn't an hallucination. Even more incredibly, whereas either one of these visitations would have finished me off for good, it seems they gave John the strength to carry on.

Twenty years ago he was an early recipient of a liver transplant... and is still painting. Recuperating from the operation he drew a self portrait, and still considers it his best drawing.

An engaging film, made by one of his sons, but not really one to enjoy a drink with.

Both wines came from Waitrose:

-Domaine Ventenac, Chenin Colombard 2008, a sharp reviver, but not worth £6.99.

-Saumur 2007 Les Nivieres, thirst quenching blackcurranty brilliance, worth every penny of £6.99.