Ken Gargett

not sure how BC did it, no doubt he could advise. the theory is that for older bottles, the neck often was on an angle and not straight up/down so older corks would flare out. and likely to crumble with extreme age. it is usually done by heating what are called port tongs in a fire or wherever - they basically go around the neck and the heat cuts the neck so it comes out and you can then have the port sans any crumbly cork. i've not had any problems from ports back to the 60s but if you had concerns, this is the safe way to do it. very different to sabre'ing a champagne bottles, by the way.

good time of year for hangover cures. came across this piece on the net. love tripe - in fact, just cook up several tripe dishes - but not sure about it for hangovers. any alternatives? any work? İşkembe Çorbası In Turkey, drinkers head off hangovers with creamy tripe soup. After a long night hitting the rakı, Turkey’s party-goers know how to get ahead of a potentially uncomfortable morning. Like Ecuador’s guatita, the Turkish tripe-infused soup işkembe corbası is known for its stomach-settling properties and is a common offering wherever late-nighters are lurking. İşkembe corbası is a fairly simple soup consisting of the cleaned, boiled stomach of a lamb or calf that’s thickened with flour, egg yolk, yogurt, and lemon juice. The pale bowl of işkembe corbası is a bit reminiscent of an oil-dappled congee or chowder, but like many a mild soup, it’s all about the customizing condiments. For those unconcerned with hangover halitosis, additives such as pure garlic juice and vinegar may be used with wild abandon to brighten up the mild and creamy concoction. Otherwise, feel free to stick to the pickles or piquant red pepper known as kirmizi biber. Eaters seeking something on the heartier side can opt for tuzlama, a version of the soup featuring larger chunks of tripe. Though the odor of offal may be off-putting to tripe newcomers, in most late-night establishments the steaming vats of boiling innards are a welcome sign, and smell. Follow your nose and you too may become a corbası convert.

tragic one can remember scores and games and players from decades ago, sometimes only from reading about it, but ask me who scored what in the first test of this series????

john, completely agree about them not selecting him for the ashes. a disgrace. ditto hussey but i was gutted when they missed on walters. a few things - that was not his debut series. pretty sure he kicked off back in 1965, before he went to vietnam. i think it was v england, not sure on that, but if i recall, he scored a ton in his first test and might even have been the youngest bloke at the time. pretty sure that might even have been at the gabba but i was basically in nappies or just out of them, so that is from reading old cricket books. i can't believe a ranking of 900 (and i am a massive fan) after those tours. he did not do that well (did get some crucial wickets). from memory - i do remember listening to the south african series late into the night on radio at the time - he got a ton on the indian leg and perhaps a couple of half centuries? i think he got a couple of 70s in south africa and may be one other 50 but not much more than that. nothing near enough to get a high rating. ian chappell arrived in south africa with a bunch of runs and bill lawry announced him as the best in the world, which the south africans took grave exception to, with a bloke called graeme pollock in their side and then of course, barry richards emerged. whenever we do all time xi's, pollock is the one bloke that gets some pushback. no idea why. for me, second to bradman. pretty sure walters scored 250 in one innings against the kiwis in that last series. while on cricket books, you'd recall john arlott, the wonderful english commentator. he was also a wine writer and wrote a book on Krug. met his daughter in champagne years ago and she told me his fee was 5 cases a year! supposedly a wonderful book but i have never been able to find a copy, despite searching long and hard. chatting with a friend from melbourne on the trip to brokenwood and somehow it came up. turns out she has one so has sent it to me. very chuffed.

i don't remember his early days - too young! but some of my earliest test memories are the tour by the west indies in 1969. i remember being furious that i was told i was too young to go to the games. the windies had a brilliant side - the quicks of later years got the plaudits but wes hall, charlie griffiths and sobers? rarely bettered. and lance gibbs as the spinner!! batting - sobers, fredricks, kanhai, nurse, butcher, clive lloyd. and we were pretty strong. we did win the series pretty well - chappell (ian), lawry, stackpole, redpath, garth mckenzie, connolly, johnny gleeson. but the difference was walters. made me a lifelong fan. if i recall, lawry, chappell and walters got 1900 euns between them for the series, and walters missed the first test so only played four tests. i think his lowest score was a fifty something and he got 700 runs in the four tests in including, in the last test, 240 in the first innings and a ton in the second. i don't think even bradman ever got a double and a ton in the same game.

no idea but if he hears bruce is on it, he'll be glued 24/7.

thanks to an intro by our fellow member, freefallguy, one of my faves.

i'm just here to help. assume a good bourbon?

i'm sure that the powers that be could tell you exactly but my understanding is that there are plenty of people who order but do not involve themselves in the forum and vice versa. while i'm sure rob would prefer lots of orders, i believe that anyone interested in cigars is welcome. which is how it should be.

i have done the pilgrimage to freehold, to the stone pony and the boardwalk...

many thanks. don't have netflix but will hopefully be somewhere over chrissy to see it.

there was a godawful film - think it had patrick swazye and a number of hasbeens and wannabees - set in cuba at the time of the revolution. so there we are in the last days of batista at some new year's eve party or something, and this bloke is smoking a Limited Edition. late 50s?????? the number of times you see errors in pics with wines!!!! i think i recall val kilmer raving about some first growth bordeaux he was sharing. out of a burgundy bottle. no one, no one, checks timing for dom perignon. the number of times you see old flicks (or at least set in earlier times) with dom served, before the first vintage ever made or released. something the other night, the bloke serves a lafite. raves about it and tells the woman how special it is for her. turns out to be a 1974. seriously? did he hate her that much? not sure there has ever been a worse vintage. there is a site, probably several, where you can search any film for errors. staggering the number that come up. even the great pics not immune.

they would have made france look like a military might of the 2nd WW in comparison. they have fallen apart in every respect. but hey, we have a really good punter.

thank you!

i'd disagree and i'd suggest that you actually agree with me, from what you have said. if i smash up my computer, it is not merely damaged, it will not work and never work again. so i think we can say it is destroyed. as you say in the next line - "us destroying..." so according to that, even if it still worked, that was me 'destroying' it. but we are being really pedantic now.