A Mid-Summer Jazz Dinner

We still have some places left for our Jazz Dinner featuring our very own Jeffrey Benson on tenor sax accompanied by Charles Alexander on acoustic guitar.We will start this informal and relaxed evening at the slightly later time of 7.30pm with the first jazz set during which you will be served wine or soft drinks if you prefer. The tempo of the jazz will be lively and upbeat. We will then break for dinner at around 8.20 – 8.30pm and resume with the second jazz set at 9.45pm. After dinner when we are in a relaxed mood and the lights are low, the jazz will be slower and mellower in tempo.

Friday
2^nd July 10

£50.00

£52.00

Red Wine Challenge

In the previous Red Wine Challenge in November , Chile (Bernard Lamb) narrowly beat Bordeaux (Sheila Ellis) and Burgundy (Keith Ellis). This time, Chile (Bernard Lamb) is being challenged by Austria (Beverley St. John-Aubin) and Loire (Ed Gretton), which should make an interesting evening with excellent wines.
The rules are as normal:
• Four wines will be served for each region, giving a tasting of 12 wines in the evening;
• Each contestant may spend up to a total of £60.00 on their 4 bottles, but within this total as much or as little as they like on each wine;
• All wines must have been bought in the UK within 8 weeks of the event and the sources and prices noted;
• Prices to be single bottle retail or part of a mixed case, excluding delivery charge or collection.

Wednesday
7^th July 10

£29.00

£31.00

Food & Wine from the Pays Basque

Joe and Nina Coten would like to welcome you to their home for an evening of food and wine from the Pays Basque in South West France. The evening will start with an aperitif and tapas. The entrée, garlic and lemon prawns served with a red pepper mousse will be followed by Poulet à la Basquaise, chicken in a spicy tomato and garlic sauce with lardoons. Mountain cheeses will be followed by Nina’s Gâteau Basque. To accompany the dishes, wines from the Pays Basque and the Béarn will be served. A sweet Pacherenc de Vic-Bilh will accompany the dessert. The meal will be rounded off with coffee and a glass of vintage Armagnac.

Saturday
10^th & 24^th July 10

£36.00

members only

Drink Pink!

In the South of France, they drink rosé by the tanker-load. And, by and large, they are more fashionable, chic and 'foodie' than most of us in middle England. Wander past the bistros in trendy Cannes, St Tropez or Cassis, and you'll see what they drink with their Bouillabaisse: probably not white, not red, but pink. Whether it’s well chilled on a summer's day (or even on a warm evening), roses make a surprisingly good food match. They are not wines to dwell over too long, but are best glugged joyfully. And they look so good in the glass, too: after all, aesthetics is an important but often underestimated part of the dining experience.

Thursday
15^th July 10

£21.00

£23.00

The organiser has therefore put together a tasty cold buffet menu for either dining “à deux” or eating with a group of friends al fresco and which would mean minimal effort as all dishes apart from two can be bought in shops or supermarkets ready cooked and the packets or jars just opened and put onto a dish or plate. Now that’s what fuss free effortless food is all about! One item needs to be cooked in the microwave which shouldn’t take more than about 5 or 6 minutes, left to cool and then served, whilst the other takes approximately 25 minutes to put together and that includes cooking time in the microwave as well!!!

Tuesday
27^th July 10

£39.50

£42.50

Left-Over Liqueurs – A Sticky Business!

Like family skeletons, many of us have them lurking in our cupboards – usually in the darkest recesses! Bought in a moment of madness, perhaps after an exotic holiday, used once and then forgotten or for an after-Christmas Dinner drink that never got drunk. But what can you do with these left-over bottles or part bottles – apart from throwing them away or exacting Montezuma’s Revenge on your enemies by mixing them all together in a deadly cocktail? A sticky problem indeed!

Friday
6^th Aug 10

£38.00

£40.00

Caribbean in Camden

In one of the smartest venues in Camden Town, we can explore French-influenced Caribbean food. Perhaps you should get there early and work your way through the dozens of cocktails from around the world at the new bar before joining us for a special rum based cocktail to start the evening off properly. Starters include grilled tiger prawn skewer with ciabatta bread, or perhaps marinated ebony wings in chilli, pepper and garlic. For the main course maybe the creole snapper fillet with mango and green peppercorn sauce or perhaps the char-grilled breast of chicken with a curry-coconut or jerk sauce. But what the restaurant is really known for is Camden's famous curry goat. It comes with scallions, glazed carrots, potatoes and Caribbean spices. There is also a tempting variety of desserts including Jamaican rum flambéed bananas with cinnamon ice cream & maple syrup but I have also been advised not to miss the mango and banana brulee.

Wednesday
18^th Aug 10

£43.00

£43.00

Food and Wine from Savoie

After kicking off with a glass of Brut de Savoie, they will be offering a variety of local dishes, along with several wines from the area to try with each course. This is tasty mountain food rather than haute cuisine, but an opportunity to try some interesting and unusual fare, along with a selection of wines that are not often found in this country. The fare and wines will be finalised following Alan and Stephanie’s visit there shortly beforehand where they will select the best wines available and construct their menu around some of the fare that they will be able to bring back as well as obviously cooking some of the courses themselves.

Saturday
11^th Sep 10

£30.00

£32.00

White Wine from Northern Italy

Northern Italy, and more especially from the region called Alto Adige, is an area often over looked by the British tasting public - preferring the wines to be known from areas like the Loire or New Zealand. Back many years ago when people were drinking Liebfraumilch or Piesporter, I discovered this area offered a different taste from what I believe was a more boring Germanic wine.
Alto Adige produces wines which are produced mostly by small family-owned and managed wineries that sell their product locally with limited exports mainly to Germany and Austria. These wines from Northern Italy have found their niche, both in Italy and abroad, among wine drinkers who look for reasonably good and affordable wines for daily enjoyment.

Wednesday
15^th Sep 10

£33.00

£35.00

An Exceptional Wine Dinner at The Milestone Hotel

Overlooking Kensington Palace & Gardens, The Milestone Hotel is one of the Top 100 Leading Small Hotels in the World and is a pure luxury hotel in the heart of Kensington. Voted No. 1 in Travel and Leisure's 500 World’s Best Hotels List, The Milestone also topped the 2009 Condé Nast Travellers’ Gold List of The World’s Best Hotels.
As last year’s wine-tasting dinner was so popular and superb (it was sold out) by popular request we have asked for another of their extra-special wine-tasting dinners at a reduced price.

Friday
1^st Oct 10

£80.00

£85.00

Grand Banquet at the Magnificent Mansion House

Mansion House is a rare surviving Georgian town palace in London. With its magnificent interiors and elegant furniture, it provides the Lord Mayor of the City of London with living, working and entertainment space. Built in the age of Hogarth, the Mansion House remains a symbol of the City of London as the world’s leading international financial and trading centre.
Members of the IWFS will be guests of London Branch Chairman, Judy Tayler-Smith and the Worshipful Company of Upholders (archaic name for an upholsterer). This is the Chairman’s ‘mother’ livery company, which was founded in 1360 and where she holds the position of Honorary Archivist.

Thursday
14^th Oct 10

£122.50

£122.50