Categories

Wine

  • How to beat Inflation Shrinkflation this Christmas
    La Vieille Ferme is exactly the kind of wine I buy a case of when I hit the holiday season. It is an excellent, drink with everything, drink every day, kind of wine. I’ve been drinking it from bottles for decades. Voila! They are now selling it in boxes. This is great news, for moderate… Continue reading How to beat Inflation Shrinkflation this Christmas
  • How Wine Tastings Have Gone Astray
    http://svbwine.blogspot.com/2020/02/the-email-you-dont-want-to-get.html I’ve thought for a long time that most wineries have become tourist traps. The wine matters less and less, the destination experience for the casual consumer is what pays the bills. Consumers who are serious about wine, are left in the lurch, because the winery – despite all the training, all the staff –… Continue reading How Wine Tastings Have Gone Astray
  • Sparkling or Soda?
    I answered a question on Quora, mostly from memory the other day, and it led me to double check the differences between Club Sodas and Sparkling Waters. My contention is that sparkling water is generally a bottled mineral spring water, and therefore contains various trace minerals, but most usually sodium (Na) and calcium (Ca.) The… Continue reading Sparkling or Soda?

Spirits


Cocktails

  • Ho Ho Ho! A drink to seasons past and seasons future
    No Christmas Eve would be complete without a glass of real egg nog, not that horrid stuff you buy by the carton.
  • No. 99 Canadian Whisky
    Gretzky has just launched a whisky. And I’m here to say, it’s a pretty good one. But it is also deeply interesting from a technical point of view.
  • CTV Noon and Eggnog
    The key ingredients to a good eggnog are

Recipes

  • Spaghetti With Orange and Bacon Recipe
    I found the original of this recipe in the WSJ. I immediately modified it to suit me. It scales easily from one to 8 persons. It took me, including prep time less than half an hour. If you did it for just one, less again. This is modified recipe from Betsy Andrews. The original was… Continue reading Spaghetti With Orange and Bacon Recipe
  • Spanish Rice Casserole
    I was at a potluck with a few members of the Saskatchewan Indigenous Writers Circle the other night and I brought a casserole I’m quite fond of. A couple of members wanted the recipe so here is a) the easy version, b) the notes, and c) the version as served. The basic version is dead… Continue reading Spanish Rice Casserole
  • The John Gormley Eggnog Recipe
    As I said on the air today, I make this for myself using half the sugar, and skim milk. Dial in the variables to suit yourself. Also shaved dark chocolate on top is a nice touch. As is Fee Bros. Mint Bitters. The original recipe A couple of great suggestions from callers The “Low Cal”… Continue reading The John Gormley Eggnog Recipe

Food

  • Sous-vide for Beginners
    This was an experiment in sous vide cooking, which assumed I didn’t want to spend more money and space on new cooking equipment like a home sous-vide unit. Sous-vide for those of you new to the concept is cooking very low and very slow. The issue of slowness will vary from item to item. Ideally… Continue reading Sous-vide for Beginners
  • How to have breakfast c.1759
    “The breakfast was served at one [PM] exactly… The table was seated for twenty-four, though I had only asked eighteen people, every place was occupied… By the time the oysters were done, 20 bottles of champagne were emptied, so when breakfast commenced everybody began to talk at once. The meal might easily have passed for… Continue reading How to have breakfast c.1759
  • Spinach and Ricotta Stuffed Chicken Breasts
    @JehanCanCook on Twitter posted a shot of a stuffed chicken breast and it inspired me to try. You can stuff breasts with any number of things. For example most people have had chicken cordon bleu, a regular in the winter around here. There are a couple of tricks. – You need to flatten the breast… Continue reading Spinach and Ricotta Stuffed Chicken Breasts

Musings

  • Terroir
    When you meet a vintner or a salesperson these days they will immediately start to effuse about their “terroir.” If you have yet to figure this out, the French came to the conclusion around 1800 that the best wines were made in very particular vineyards for reasons they did not quite understand. They therefore awarded… Continue reading Terroir
  • The Wine Condom – a perfect solution
    Today I found the perfect solution to several problems simultaneously. Best of all, unlike my usual perfect solutions, this one is affordable. Meet the Wine Condom. Cheekily named after its inspiration, it comes in a box of 10 with suitable instructions, for those of us unfamiliar with condom usage. It is as you’d imagine a… Continue reading The Wine Condom – a perfect solution
  • How to earn a “Classic” score from the Wine Spectator
    Pictured on the right are four acuvin test strips for residual sugar.   The top strip is Coudoulet de Beaucastel 2010, a wine of some repute. (15.5 by Jancis Robinson)  This particular version is low on Syrah, only 20%, which probably accounts for the slightly lowish score.  Robinson gave the ’11 a 16. Ogier Heritages [corrected… Continue reading How to earn a “Classic” score from the Wine Spectator

Wineries

  • Oyster Bay Merlot
    I have a thing for Hawkes Bay wines from New Zealand. This one isn’t the best of the bunch but it is available – THANK YOU OYSTER BAY! If you can find any wines from the area jump on them. The syrah from there is a real eye opener – lean, elegant, aromatic. Most of… Continue reading Oyster Bay Merlot
  • Stellar’s Jay & Aging Bubbly
    We had a solstice party last night, and as is our wont opened a bottle of bubbly. I’ve had this bottle of Stellar’s Jay the Pinot Blanc sparkling wine from Sumac Ridge for a few years now. I’m pretty sure I picked it up around ’09 from the winery. Anyway, it’s a 2007 vintage. For… Continue reading Stellar’s Jay & Aging Bubbly
  • Henry of Pelham Wine Club
    I’ve long been a fan of Henry of Pelham’s wines. They offer excellent value for the money and some of the better bottles are downright fantastic. If you think you might enjoy their wines, the winery offers a new wine club, including a prestige membership where any visit to the winery gets you a glass… Continue reading Henry of Pelham Wine Club