Chutneylicious!!
Ahh....it feels good to be home.  Got back from my super-speedy trip to NYC yesterday evening and enjoyed a nice chilled out evening at home, catching up on The Glee Project (tragic, I know) and de-furring my couch.  And who says single life is dull??

Chutney heaven

Today's adventure was a chutney and whisky tasting at The Whisky Shop in SF, near Chinatown, and hosted by my brilliant Scottish friend, Alison, whose company makes the chutneys.  It wasn't until the afternoon, so - for once - i didn't set the alarm on the Blackberry and planned to have a bit of a lie-in instead.  Right.  That was the plan.  Obviously Izzie didn't get the memo because, come 6am, the little furry bugger was yowling his head off. As much as i love my Siamese boys, sometimes they can be incredibly annoying - especially first thing in the morning, as you're trying to sleep!  I lobbed a couple of cushions at the little sod, but it didn't work (and he'd also woken Dylan up who was now proceeding to trample all over my head), so in the end i just gave up and got up.  I took the opportunity of being up far early than anticipated to read a bit more of the Fifty Shades trilogy.  Yes - i cracked and bought it, just to see what all the fuss is about.  Now - for reasons i can't quite fathom - i'm completely hooked.  The juicy bits aren't even all that juicy but I'm just very curious as to how it will all end.  Probably Not Well, I think.

Why, hello there...  Do you like my sword?

Anyway, 1.30pm rolls around and its time to hop on the MUNI to Montgomery Street and head over to the Whisky Shop to catch up with Alison, scarf down some very tasty chutney and pretend to like whisky (is it with an "e" or without an "e"?, btw?).  I only got mildly side-tracked by a charity fashion shop on the way, where i managed to pick up a bargain - a brand new, cream Michael Kors top, reduced from $89 to $29.  Sweet.

Stand on the box, Alison!!

Then on to the tasting.  The store was absolutely hopping and my wee Scottish mate was right in the middle of all the fun!  I met Alison completely randomly one night, as i was out and about in town one evening, treating myself to a tasting flight of Champagne at The Barrel Room after a bad coffee date.  We've kept in touch through Facebook since and have met up a few times, usually for Champagne at inappropriately early times in the morning at the Ferry Building.  My kinda mate.

Anyway, there were 4 whiskeys to taste, paired with 4 of Alison's chutneys.  I'm really not a whisky fan at all, but i gave them all a try, in the spirit (no pun intended) of discovery.  I actually didn't mind the first one too much (can't remember what it was called, but it came in a very pretty black box with a gold embossed stag on the front) but the other three i really didn't care for all that much.  The chutneys, however, were uniformly delicious - the fig and apple chutney tasted like Christmas!  The habenero one was delicious and the mandarin and apricot was bright, citrusy and clean.

http://www.mcquadechutneys.com/

What was also very tasty was the cheeky chappy in the kilt and sporran who served us - a rather handsome man called Aaron.  He was all twinkly and smiley and not one bit Scottish.  And no - i didn't ask what he was wearing under his kilt!

Note the slightly worried expression on Aaron's face

After all the chutney was scoffed and the whisky tasted, Alison, her friend Lynne (a hilarious Brit from Newcastle) and I all headed off to a nearby bar to catch up over a glass or two of wine.  We ended up in this French restaurant (owned by a Chinese guy and staffed by Americans) and today just happened to be Bastille day, so it was all decked out in red, white and blue balloons in celebration.  All the staff were wearing black berets, perched at a jaunty angle and i couldnt tell if it was standard uniform or in deference to the occasion.  What was hilariously more heinous and spectacular to behold was the meeting of the San Francisco Hat Society that was happening on a big table just behind us.  I sh*t thee not.   There were about 15 or so folk (none younger than mid-60s, i reckon) all in variations of pseudo French garb, and all wearing hats of some type or another.  My personal favorite was the lady dressed in a stripey navy shirt, black skirt and white tights with a black seam up the back - all topped with this explosion of red netting and pom poms on her head.  It was really quite a statement.  Princesses Beatrice and Eugenie would have been proud.

After all that excitement (and a glass or two of white wine interacting in a very weird way with the whisky), there was only one thing that could be done - go to the cinema and watch a bunch of A-list Hollywood actors playing strippers.  Yep, I confess that I actually paid to go and see Magic Mike.   And - yes - it was as bad as you could imagine although, i gotta admit, Channing Tatum is one hell of a dancer!!  As that is the closest i will ever come to going to one of those revues (I absolutely loathe strippers and, if i ever do have a hen night, all my friends are under strict instructions to Not Even Go There), it was mildly interesting, even though the leading lady (who i believe is the daughter of the guy who runs the movie studio) seemed like she was on heavy duty tranquilizers the whole film.  Either that or she's already had so much Botox that she's been rendered incapable of either any facial movement and expression or the ability to convey any emotion whatsoever.  Dreadful.

And with that, it was time to hop back on the MUNI, head home and snuggle up for the rest of the evening with Fifty again.  All in all, a very fun Saturday!