The grilled liver is superb, with an almost sweet pungency, and the cabbage, too, caramelizes to a surprising sweetness.
But what about sweetness?
Taylor's Quinta de Vargellas 2002 vintage port £30 for 75cl from Waitrose ★★★★★ Satin smooth, with a delicate, almost floral sweetness and just a hint of sweet spice, this is a port to savour, rather than glug down merrily over Trivial Pursuit.
Almost a sweetness at the end.
There is game-tinged beefiness in there; earthy, bosky flavours; ripe cheesiness; fatty, almost floral sweetness; chemical astringency.
Pepquiños, which look like tiny watermelons and taste like cucumber, and husk cherries, tart with an almost floral sweetness, add little more than novelty to a tumble of eggplant and purple peppers.
Sometimes, in my friendship with S., I feel such an intense, almost dreamlike, sweetness, I must take a step back … Fortunately, the call of real life is so strong that I cannot resist it.
Originally a hunter's stew, it combines chunks of kielbasa, ham, smoked bacon, beef, pork and mushrooms, simmered slow and long in cabbage until it all gains an almost caramelized sweetness and intensity — very salty, too — with a woodsy seasoning of marjoram, pepper, bay leaf, and paprika.
Ehle has the spirit and the warmth; she has a smile of almost orgasmic sweetness; she contrives to look voluptuous and vulnerable in the egg-cozy maternity outfits that "authenticity" has clothed her in; and she has the eyes; but she cannot quite inhabit the surrogate intelligence.
