Saturday 19 March 2016

Rarebit & Rioja - Recipes and Wine Tales from Wales

'Rarebit & Rioja' 'Bwyd a Gwin'
Recipes and Wine Tales from Wales

Lansiad o gyfieithiad 'Bwyd a Gwin', sef 'Rarebit & Rioja' sydd wedi cadw ni'n brysur yn ddiweddar. Ar ôl llwyddiant y fersiwn Gymraeg rhoddodd hwb i ni geisio llyfr Saesneg ac mae cychwyn eithaf da wedi bod. Yn ogystal â ryseitiau o'r dyddiau roedd Dylan yn rhedeg y bwyty, mae hanesion teithio i ddarganfod gwin.

The launch of the English version of our book 'Rarebit & Rioja' has been very exciting and already they are selling well. After the initial launch in Gwin Dylanwad Wine, we had a book signing in Cardiff, Abergavenny and Llandudno Waterstones. We have a busy schedule ahead of us with 'Siop Y Pethe' in Aberystwyth and Waterstones Aberystwyth in April; London Welsh on the 5th July and Penfro Book Festival on the 9th September to mention but a few!


Rydym yn ddiolchgar iawn i fy mrawd, Tom Griffiths a dynnodd y lluniau i'r llyfr. Treuliodd 'dw ni ddim sawl Dydd Sul a Llun yn ein cwmni yn trefnu bwyd roedd Dylan wedi coginio i'w gael mor ddeniadol yn y llun ac ar y plât! Sgil arbennig iawn rhaid i mi ddweud.  Cynghorodd ambell berson fod lluniau o fwyd yn anodd iawn - yup! - a doedd neb yn cymryd lluniau o fwyd go iawn ond 'triciau' gyda phaent ac yn y blaen yw ffotograffiaeth bwyd.  Wel, gallaf ddatgan nawr fod pob un llun yn y llyfr o fwyd go iawn, wedi'u goginio gan Dylan, ei ffotograffu gan Tom ac wedi'u fwyta gan Tom ar ôl y 'photoshoot' ddarfod.

We are very grateful to my brother Tom Griffiths for the lovely photographs of the recipes in the book. He spent many a Sunday and Monday arranging the food and messing around with different shots to try and get it just right. Food photography, as we quickly found out when trying to do our own pictures initially, is an extremely skilled job. Many advised us that it involved very little food but clever tricks of the trade with oils and paint etc.  Well I can tell you now, that every single recipe in this book was cooked by Dylan, photographed by Tom and subsequently eaten by Tom at the end of the photoshoot.
 
Photograph - Tom Griffiths




Noson Lansiad/Launch Night

Ar dudalen gyntaf o'r llyfr, mae llun arbennig gan fy nghefnder Andy Jones o’r tu allan o 'Gwin Dylanwad Wine'. I ddweud y gwir, mae dipyn o ffotograffwyr yn y teulu.  Mae ei frawd Alwyn Jones hefyd a'r sgil, ac yn meddwl yn ôl, roedd eu tad yn ddyn creadigol iawn ac yn deall y gêm yn dda. O beth rwy’n cofio, nid oedd John yn llawer o luniau teulu oherwydd credaf mai ef oedd yn eu tynnu!


On the inside cover of the book, my cousin Andy Jones provided this superb picture of the exterior of 'Gwin Dylanwad Wine'. We have a few photographers in the family, his brother Alwyn Jones is also skilled with a camera.  Indeed, their father John, a lovely gentle man who was always fun to be in his company, was a camera enthusiast too. Thinking about it, many of the family photographs were taken by him, as his absence from the pictures often testify.

Photograph -  Andy Jones
Mae llawer mwy yn y llyfr na ryseitiau, mae am deithio a'r egwyddorion o wneud gwin a'i bartneru gyda bwyd. Mor braf yw clywed fod pobl yn mwynhau'r straeon yn ogystal â'r coginio. Credaf hefyd fod gwerth tynnu sylw at y caligraffi hyfryd a luniodd mam Dylan. Bu farw pan oedd yn fachgen ifanc iawn ond hawdd gweld ei dylanwad ar ei mab gyda'i gariad at fwyd, coginio a'r pethau hardd ym mywyd.

The book really is more than just a recipe book.  It is a bit of a travel book and it's really nice to hear people commenting about their enjoyment of the stories, wine advice and  the chapters on the principles of making of wine.  I think it's also worth noting that there are two beautiful pieces of calligraphy illustrating recipes. These were created by Dylan's mother. Sadly, she died when he was very young but her influence lives on in Dylan's love of food, cooking and all things beautiful.