A case for Mondayitis

It's hard to top a weekend like the one we've just had. We were blessed to see Senegalese superstar Youssou N'Dour in concert with an Egyptian orchestra for some lush Arabic sounds to accompany his enormous voice. Quite a different sound to the rest of his career. His latest disc, Egypt, honours Sufism, a mystic strand of Islam, so there were flutes and ouds alongside African instruments like the kora contributing to the ecstatic sound.

Last night a group of Fellows and their partners rolled up the carpets at Wallace House for a tango lesson to ready us for Buenos Aires. We spent a lot of time learning how to walk, tango-style (a bit like a glide). For the women in the circle, emancipated all, learning the knack of following your man was the trickiest part. This was followed with a wine tasting (perhaps we should have done it the other way around...). Ten of us put paper bags over the bottles we'd brought in for a blind comparison of two sauvignon blancs and four malbecs. There were wildly conflicting opinions on the sauvignon blancs - one camp preferred the New Zealand example (crisp and elegant, with asparagus and gooseberry notes) while a couple plumped for the Californian bottle (Mondavi-style, made with oak!) which tasted like a chardonnay.

The Friday night DVD sessions at Wallace House continued with Bertolucci's Besieged. And last, but not least, the discovery of good butter in the US! We've been appalled by the tasteless white stuff in the supermarkets and seen melting atop pancakes and waffles in brunch-time diners. Gerard brought home two bocatas from our neighbourhood wine store - crusty organic baguettes stuffed with Spanish jamon serrano and a thick serve of farm butter. Delicious stuff.

The weekend kicked off early on Wednesday night (hey, I'm a student this year!) with what must be America's greatest contribution to the world: $4 key lime pie martinis, at a classy Main Street bar with my new Australian girlfriend and 'big sister', Jo.