Splish

The Saturday after our return from Eire was my first cigar day in over a week.  I probably overdid it a bit in Ireland so a week on the wagon, so to speak, was badly needed.  Not only did I take a rest from cigars, but also beer and food.  Not all food obviously, but big dinner food like stuffing, roast potatoes, beef, gravy and trimmings, sausages, pudding and rashers.  It was back to the salads and fruit, lemon tea and porridge.

So after a week of healthy living, I was looking forward to Saturday, which from this day forth shall be known as Cigar Saturday or Cigaturday for short.

Call me old fashioned, or just old if you like, but a cigar before midday is not for me, so before I sat down to enjoy one, I took a trip to Borough market to get some ostrich burgers and garlic.  The burgers for eating and the garlic for planting.  Pick the biggest garlic bulbs I could find and then plant the largest cloves and grow, fingers crossed.  My advice is never bother with supermarket garlic, only buy from a garden center or do what I did, buy from a local farmers market.

I got the ostrich and garlic and also ended up with a bag of enormously long red peppers and some kangaroo burgers.  A quick skip to a nearby garden centre for some compost and I was ready to get home and start planting.

There was a major clean up of last years tomato plants to be done first.  These were actually still giving off fruit, so I pick a few off and then cleaned out all the troughs, ready for new soil and the garlic cloves.

There's nothing like a bit of gardening to build up a thirst so when all the planting was done, I got busy with some St. Peters best bitter and a Romeo y Julieta No. 2.  The Romeo is certainly not a new cigar to me and although one of my favourites, I find it a bit on the small side for my liking these days, at around 30 minutes.

A good start but I was itching for something a bit fuller and so a few hours later, I had another cigar on the go.  This time I went for one of the nice Ramon Allones from Casa del Habano in Luxembourg, but disaster soon struck.  I selected the cigar, cut it and left it on the kitchen counter while I did one or two things beforehand.  In the space of a few seconds, the cigar rolled and took a dive off the side and hit the floor with a slap.  The damage didn't look bad at first but the cigar opened up like a busted zipper once I got about a third through.  Shame but you live and learn.

With one smallish cigar and one half broken cigar gone, I felt there was still one cigar left in me, so later in the evening, I sprang for a Partagas Serie P No.2.  A fine cigar which is certainly not small and as I didn't let this one drop, it went down to the nub and I was done for the day. 

I'd have to say that the first cigar Saturday of 2012 was a moderate success but I'm sure it'll get better with practice.

It's now midweek and I'm wondering what the line up for the upcoming cigar Saturday is going to be.  It was exactly that thought that was going through my head as I settled down in to relax in the bath last night, only for the peace to be shattered by a stark naked two year old (almost) busting the door in shouting "Daddy bath! Daddy bath! Daddy bath!"  So in he jumped and we splashed and splished for the next twenty minutes, and then we spashed and splished some more.  Best fun I've had in years.


The ostrich burgers were great by the way.

The Shard by Borough Market

Cigar and last of the tomatoes (seriously)

R y J No.2

Cigars hate falling