I’m not going to pretend that an ill-planned day involving a rideshare vehicle arriving at the same time as an unexpectedly delayed train deserves a bottle of wine, but I’m going to go ahead and say that it does because my standards are low this week. Maybe they usually are?

Part of me wonders whether watching all three seasons of The Great British Baking Show on Netflix counts as doing something productive on my spare time – though a friend unquestionably defeated me in that domain by finishing up the first season at the gym. I’ve convinced myself that kneading dough burns calories though, or maybe I’m just doing it wrong: one particular odd spark of inspiration on a Monday involved my regular two pans of cauliflower pizza followed by seventeen empanadas and twenty-four pandesal buns. I’ve since attempted croissants and accidentally started too deep into the evening, resulting in setting multiple alarms in the middle of the night to fold chilled dough. #lamination

I don’t eat every single thing I bake, so recent retail therapy involved buying baskets and gingham print so that frolicking to work with pastries in both hands could be a thing. And it was, as I pretended not to hear people on the train whisper about wanting to go wherever I was heading.

Current coincidental obsessions with sparkling wine called for a generously yeasty and biscuity Champagne, a weekend reward for getting some amount of work done. Does Champagne drown out real pains?

Demière-Ansiot Champagne Blanc de Blancs Grand Cru Brut (Champagne, France) Jul 2017. $65 USD.
Nice burst of development on the nose, with round yeastiness and delicious aromas of buttered bread crusts and hints of sultana and brown sugar. There’s a bit of green apple that reveals itself better on the palate, and intertwined with minerality, with what I can only describe as a tangy and “bouncy” characteristic that contrasts with the yeasty weight. Super satisfying juice. I can’t find much information on the producer or the wine, but my best guess is a hint of oak but no malolactic fermentation.