As is the theme of most of my weekends, a celebration of sorts came to pass. The latest was for none other than Ludwig van Beethoven. I keep a small bust of him in the great hall of Castle P - vexed, seriously displeased, liverish and constipated are his expressions. So, in order to cheer the old bugger up, we threw him a party. According to Mr Google, egg soup and cheesy pasta were his favourite meals. Egg soup will probably account for the egg bound look on his chops! Discarding the egg, we (the great and grand Lady C and I) created a large and luxurious macaroni cheese. I had drowned a bowl of cherries in kirsch some days early, so made a Black Forest trifle. Of course I did! Together with a bottle of champagne we toasted the good man himself whilst listening to his more upbeat greatest hits. He does air on the side of dour, so it was slim pickings. Nevertheless, a grand and glorious time was had by all. And yes, we did hit the port later on. Grahams Tawny if you insist on knowing. Which I would.