I have not managed a blog for a couple of days.  Last night I was out wine tasting at Vinopolis with some of my colleagues from work.  It was an expensive evening and not good value for money but it was interesting and a fun thing to do with a group of people.

It costs £29 which buys you 12 tokens and a tapas plate.  You start off with a talk and video about wine tasting which some took more seriously than others :-).  This is the lovely Cherry-Ann who was visiting from the Glasgow office and always livens the place up.

Inside Vinopolis, which is huge, there is lots of information about growing grapes and making wine.  The Vinopolis staff are knowledgeable and helpful too so you can chat to them about wine.

There are information boards to read.

Wine is grouped in to types and maintained at optimum temperature.  The wines have different prices/token values, mainly between 1 and 4.  So you can choose how to “spend” your 12 tokens.  I wanted to drive home from the station so I decided to be extravagant and mainly tasted expensive wines so I drank less.  By drinking vintage champagne, my glasses of fizz cost me 4 points so I only had 3 glasses.  Each glass was only 25 ml so no worries about being over the limit.

I enjoy dessert wines and this one was particularly good.  One advantage of my blog is that I can just look it up when I want to go and buy a bottle.

Having swirled, slurped and enjoyed some interesting wines we adjourned to the tapas area.  Hi Cherry-Ann 🙂 .   The tapas was disappointing as it was really just a plate of fatty meat and some bread.  It was only enough to have been a starter in a restaurant so 10 of us headed out for a curry as we were all hungry.  So not a good eating evening but great fun.

Another reason I have not managed to blog this week is because I have a new job in a new office with new people so I have been coming home tired.  I still work for the same company but on a new project which is exciting.  I enjoy change and newness but it takes more effort so is always tiring to start with.

There is an EAT near by so I started in there today with a skinny latte and mixed berries, yogurt and granola.

One good thing about a new office is a new area to explore.  I am North of the City near the Barbican.  It is much more residential round here then I am used to.

Round the corner from the office is a market.  I was trying to not be too despondent that I was not pottering round Borough Market.

I bought lunch here at a Turkish stall.  You choose from a range of flat breads.

The one I chose was folded in half and stuffed with spinach which was then warmed on a hot plate.

It was then filled with lettuce, tomatoes, sweetcorn, saurkraut and Halloumi.  It was absolutely delicious.

This interesting looking pub is opposite the office so I hope to have a chance to sample some of their wine soon.

I got home at 8:30 pm tonight and was still full from that huge wrap at lunch time so I made a very simple smoothie of banana, mixed berries and soya milk.

It was thick and pink and delicious.  

Not as enjoyable as the wine I had last night but certainly healthier.