Bravo...

What a nice weekend that was and there is no holding up this week either.

Had a rather nice day yesterday over at the Penta hotel in Reading. It's of course a shame that Reading FC didn't win their match but I'm not sure our little party would have picked up any more if they had of done such was the awful weather.

There were a few people there however including some ex Reading players and it's always a great time when I get to share the music honours with my good buddy Kevin.

I really do think there is potential at the Penta for a Saturday evening party. Nothing major perhaps 7pm until 11:30pm to cater for those who want to just come out and be able to have a drink and listen to some good quality music before getting home at a decent time. For the size of the bar area there isn't anything like it in Reading so I think they should give it a go, it'll probably take a while to get it going but if they stick at it I can easily see 100+ people in there. Would be a useful pre-party venue too for some of the clubs in town.

We finished up there at about 9pm and I really wanted a Burrito from The Mission but it shut at 9pm so I just missed out and had to settle for a KFC instead. I did think about going to sit down and eat somewhere nice but I was just too tired.

Felt a bit sicky this morning but work soon took my mind off of that and I've been fairly productive which is good because I have a half day booked off tomorrow as I've been invited to the Eat Reading opening gala lunch at the Hilton in Reading. Five of the towns top chefs and cooks are providing the food and I'm particularly looking forward to seeing what Alan Murchison comes up with. Of course with him being the towns only Michelin starred restaurateur (L'ortolan) my expectations are high.

I've also been asked if I wouldn't answering a few questions after the meal which could be quite scary given the audience but I better get used to it I suppose cause there will be plenty more of that to come at the food festival on Saturday & Sunday.

I purchased another domain name today which will be an add on to my www.benzagorski.com website. This one is for restaurant reviews and discussions. The site is www.talktables.com (thanks DW). Still to be set up but I'm hoping that I can get some tie ins and offers for the site visitors.

One restaurant I've always liked in town is Strada (Cucina Italiana) and they will be the folks I'll be introducing to the Town Hall stage for Eat Reading Live at 12:30 on Saturday. They are a big restaurant chain who operate around 90 outlets in the UK. Big chains like this often get snubbed simply because of what they are but I've always found the menu at Strada very true to the authentic Italian cuisine I remembered from my time spent living in Rome and that sets it apart from the others in my opinion.

I've not been in there for a while though and with the opening of Jamie's Italian just along the Riverside I should expect that they have had to up the game even more and I'm looking forward to seeing what they create and how they view the business competition. Standards are beginning to slip at Jamie's and I'm not hearing many positive comments of late so maybe it's Strada's chance to seize the initiative.

Winning draw......

Well what a day it was on the cricket field yesterday. Not down at Cardiff with that boring international cricket I mean over at Reading Blue Coat school where we (Sonning 3rds) took on the might of Mortimer West End. It was an overcast day which mean't that there was a lot of movement with the ball but we still managed to score an impressive 256 off our 45 overs.........my contribution......5 not out.

That has boosted my seasons average right up now to .....................erm........5

Mortimer batted through their 45 overs with just one wicket to spare. They could only score 165 because our bowling and fielding was superb so under the league rules that means we had a winning draw which gave us 15 points but we also got bonus points for restricting their total to less than 75% of ours and we got 9 wickets. So in the end we got 24 points which is very good for us. Cricket is certainly a confusing game even at the best of times.

Of course next weekend I shall be unavailable because of my commitments to Eat Reading Live and I'll pick up there with a little write up about the people I'll be introducing on the Town Hall Stage at 13:30 on Saturday 4th June.

Vintage Roots are an organic wine merchants based in Hook. They are a home delivery service and although their speciality is in wine they also sell beers, spirits and champagnes, all of which are organic. Just looking at their website I can see that they stock at least 700 wines and you can even search for vegetarian, vegan and biodynamic variations.

I'm quite a big fan of organic wines, especially organic reds because they contain very little or no sulphates and it's those sulphates that contribute greatly to the red wine headache the following day. Try it and see for yourself........by the way drink responsibly, always use a big glass with a large base so you don't spill any!

I'm really interested to see what they are going to demo but at the same time I'm a bit scared because I could be parting with a few quid too.

Plans for today are to finish this blog, catch up with Two Greedy Italians on the iPlayer, complete a few missions on Assassins Creed Brotherhood then I'll pop up to the cricket club to watch the Sunday 2nds and have a few beers.

So so so looking forward to meeting Gennaro on Saturday !! Mum if you are reading we'll try and get another signed book for you.

Tomorrow of course is a national holiday in the UK and it's also the championship play off final at Wembley between Reading and Swansea. Should Reading win then the town will be buzzing and with that in mind we're having a little party at The Penta Hotel. They'll have a big screen (and when I say big I mean mahoooooosive) showing the game itself then afterwards I'll be reuniting with the rest of the original House Party DJ team and turning up the tunes to have a good old fashioned party. All are welcome.....except if you're a k**bhead. We don't like them at our parties :-)

There will be some old Reading players coming along so if your a fan and couldn't get to Wembley then this surely has to be the next best thing.

Had an idea for a breakfast today that turned out brilliantly and once perfected I shall add some photos and a recipe but for now that's it and I bid you adieu.......toodlepip xx