The non-bloggish blog

Why it is important to commit to wine

What better way to relaunch this blog than with a comprehensive analysis of the health benefits of wine (all 15 of them)

Two little known facts about every country in the world (+ goat population) #1: Albania

1) A mosaic of Michael Jackson composed of 230,000 brown and black paintbrushes by Albanian artist Saimir Strati has been recognised by the Guinness World Records as the world's largest paintbrush mosaic. Strati toured his work around Albania before taking it to the centre of Tirana. "All the time I was being guided by his music and made a silent deal with him to help me find the secrets of his great singing," Strati told Reuters.

He has also created the world's largest mosaics with nails, toothpicks and bottle corks. The cork mosaic,  'Romeo with a crown of grapes playing the guitar while dancing with the sea and the sun' is at the Sheraton Hotel in Tirana. "I love mosaics, they are a dying genre," says Strati. "I follow the same technique used 3,000 years ago."

2) Albania's "Gjergj Kastrioti Skënderbeu" Brandy won the Bronze Medal at the 1970 Plovdiv International Fair and the 1972 International Competition of wines and cognacs, both in Bulgaria.

3) Goat population in 2006: 940,000 (source: World Resources Institute)

Another cheese story

Let's hear it for Japanese cheese.