Vodka nights and old friends

I forgot, when blogging last week, and have not had time to deal with it since, to talk about the vodka-themed dinner party I had attended the previous night, maybe because I was still a bit bleary eyed. Now I love vodka sometimes - a well made Bloody Mary is one of the greatest of all drinks and the best hangover cure I've come across. And a very cold shot as an aperitif is pretty good as well.
But an entire evening of vodka drinking - well almost, there was a glass of red to accompany the (ironic) chicken Kiev, but it seemed strangely out of place - was something else. It was because my old friend Lesley (someone I've known since we were both pretending to be older than we were in the pubs in Bham) now only really drinks vodka, because her stomach is resistant wine. Which is why there is always a bottle of vodka on the table when she comes for dinner. So Lesley and her partner Skye had an evening of Russian food - caviar, blinis, borscht, smoked fish and the Kievs - accompanied by a selection of iced Russian vodkas. I wasn't making notes and the evening ended in, well, a bit of a blur, so I cant give all the details - I must post them - but they were astonishing for their variety of styles - one creamy, another sharper, another fruity and luscious, which was particularly good with the strudel for pudding. A great idea for a different evening.
And particularly good company, which included an interior designer, a food photographer, a man who runs a history website and a conceptual artist from Canada whom I quizzed about eating moose. Curiously, three of those there were people who had been to the same schools in Birmingham as I, one of whom I had been friends with at primary school, climbing trees together in the park, sometime even before both of us got to know Lesley. Did any of us think then, that by curious paths and connections, we would, one day in our, ahem, middle years, all end up drinking and eating and talking in an elegant room in West London. It only really the sharing of food and drink that can bring people together like that, I think.
And yes, I know vodka isn't supposed to give you a hangover, I just always feel bleary eyed on a Sunday morning.
So, to this week's wines for the Independent on Sunday, which are here: http://tinyurl.com/6bfjhe6. It's Valentines Day tomorrow, so there had to be some sparklers. I've also suggested a terrific Spanish red for a main course for those sensible enough to cook at home, (rather then indulge in some awful Valentines Day themed meal in a restaurant strewn with pink balloons) and because while you can drink vodka with just about anything, as I've discovered, pink champagne really doesn't do much for food after the nibbles and oysters. Although of course that doesn't mean you can't save a couple of glasses for later...