New on the now-for-something-completely-different shelf: Pisco Acholado from Peru. Nice aromas but a bit shy on the palate.

Today's fine food: Veal sweetbread, a creamy pan sauce with Martini Extra Dry and tarrragon, sauteed baby asparagus and "dice chips". I blame Viktualienmarkt.

A bit of postal history for a change. 1940 letter from Dublin to Munich and then forwarded to annexed Austria with Irish, British and German censorship tapes.

Today's fine improvised Chinese food: Stir fried dried tiny squid, water chestnuts and black mushrooms. This is not a classic Chinese dish but I figured the ingredients might go well together. And they did.

Today's fine charcuterie: Fine grain pork liver paté with morels and a dash of Marc de Bourgogne. Getting the hang of it...

When the cheese finally is at the perfect maturation level but there's only enough left for one slice of bread... #firstworldproblems

Today's fine food: Straightforward grilling with pork steaks with Herbes de Provence, Eggbergines with olive oil and oyster mushrooms. Not much work but still delicious.

And here it is, the moment you've been desperately waiting for: A head comparison of the current Pimm's No.1 (25% ABV) with a bottle purchased in 1973 (33% ABV). I mixed Pimm's 1:2 with quality tonic water and added ginger and lime because that's how I like my Pimm's

The difference is small but noticeable. The old expression tastes slightly more aromatic but the profile isn't really different. I think it is safe to assume that the recipe hasn't changed since then and the difference is largely due to the different ABV

Higher means either less dilution or better extraction depending on the production process. And maybe also a little bit of bottle aging.

One interesting thing can be gleaned from the labels. The 1973 bottle suggests a 1:3 or 1:4 ratio of Pimm's and lemonade while the current label states a 1:2 ratio. A rare case of the consumer agreeing with the Diageo marketing department

Frühschoppen. But BBQ canceled because of crappy charcoal.

Stinging nettle ferment coming along nicely.

Flamm o‘clock

Today's fine food: Roast spatchcocked chicken with Herbes de Provence from the Weber kettle and Sweet potato with creme fraiche and chives. I only had lump charcoal, so the temperature was on the low side, but it turned out fine.

Ollie's pro tip of the day: Popping over unannounced at 8.30 pm on a Sunday to try and pick up the Ebay purchase before the agreed time on Monday won't earn you an enthusiastic feedback from the seller.

German word of the day: Montagemontage. Mondays on which assembly work is done.

Stocking up.

Gardening underachiver harvest season kicked off with a decent size cucumber for quick pickling.

Goodbye Twitter. When its only useful feature which is Tweetdeck disappears behind the paywall, there's no point in staying anymore. You'll find me on Facebook.