Sparkling wine too sweet? Here's the answer...

• Add a drop or two of Angostura Bitters to take the cloying sweetness from some sparkling wines/prosecco. There are also less expensive bitters on the market.

• A splash of cheap vodka also does the trick.

"Plebs" Season 5 Review

Episode 1 was a huge disappointment. The thing with the 3 lads in previous series was that they were naughty but still likeable. In "The Vineyard" they were odious and quite cruel. Not a laugh in 22 minutes.
Episode 2, set around a Roman secondary school, raised a few laughs, mainly from Grumio's pugilistic exploits.
Episode 3 "The Banquet" was a further improvement, a nifty whodunit.
Episode 4 "The Grumbrella" - anything with Phil Davis and Maureen Lipman (returning from the last season) is always worth watching.
Episode 5 A one-joke affair about (football) hooligans.
Episode 6 "The Dig" has Tony Robinson (Baldrick/Time Team) playing (appropriately) an archaeologist.
Episode 7 about real estate hucksters is one of the worse, unless you like seeing Jonathan Pointing's (Jason) bare bum.
Episode 8 "The Wedding" colourful sets, colourless dialogue. Final.

Joel Fry (Stylax) is sorely missed, though.

"The Institute" by Stephen King - mini review

Stephen King's new thriller is a mixed bag - part "The Manchurian Candidate", "Firestarter", "The Adventures of  Huckleberry Finn", "The Body"/"Stand by Me", "It" and even some parts of the King/Straub novel "The Talisman".
The narrative is compelling and the political themes intriguing. Once again Stephen King returns to familiar ground - exceptional 12 year olds in danger. But noone does it better.
Netflix's "Stranger Things" clearly gives the nod to these King novels.