Make-shift berry container full of the "fruits" of our labours.

Few things are more fun and tasty to me than growing something myself and devouring it. Case in point, my recent penchant for tomato and cheddar sandwiches, with tomatoes courtesy of my patio garden. Living in a city for most of my life, I’d almost forgotten that sometimes tasty things grow wild, waiting to be discovered by birds and bears.

The berries soak up the Sangria.

Imagine my enormous pleasure at discovering mother nature’s gift to us on a recent cottage weekend in eastern Manitoba. I’ve never seen so many wild blueberries and raspberries. It was a reminder of what these fruits used to look like before we engineered them. The blueberries were so tiny, they were hard to spot, and the raspberries were perfect and so delicate you needed your softest touch to capture them.

Wildberry pancakes on the vintage cottage stove.

Braving hungry mosquitos and nasty black flies, we collected many cupfuls over the weekend. I think the cottage road was picked clean before our departure. These tiny treats made for several Sangria adventures and a stack of berry pancakes that rapidly evaporated from the breakfast table.

When was the last time a walk in the woods produced a bounty for your table? I very much enjoyed my reminder that there’s nothing more “local” than sneaking berries straight from the forest floor.

2007 Gnarly Head Old Vine Zinfandel, $15. LCBO# 678698.

When is wine at its best? When shared with a dear friend, of course. My long-time best buddy Laurel and I drank some of this fantastic Zin one weekend while at her family’s cottage on Brereton Lake, Manitoba.

We went out for dinner at the only restaurant in the area, found at the Brereton Lake Resort. The wine selection consisted of two reds and a white, so when the waitress listed Gnarly Head as an option, I nearly fell off my chair, and then jumped at the chance to order it.

I saw this bottle in a January LCBO Vintages release, and was too slow to get a bottle. That’s my greatest beef with this province’s giant fascist liquor system- they get a bunch of something great, it gets snapped up, and then you have to wait til next year. No ordering it from somewhere else for you, oh no no. Meanwhile, small town Manitoba has cases of the stuff. The injustice!

I love Zin, especially when it hails from California. There’s something about the way they make it out there, the balance of fruit and oak, softness and zip, that nearly always pleases me.  And this bottle lived up to my expectations, and definitely surpassed anything I thought would be offered on a wine list in the middle of nowhere.

The wine is a wonderful dark purple, promising a deep full flavour and ripeness. The nose is a bit musty-dusty, and the taste is fruity, as one would expect, with plums and berries up front. There’s a touch of oak to add some complexity, and the finish has a bit of a spicy bite. Which makes for a perfect glass, full of ripe fruit, with a sweet-tart contrast as you swallow.

When I got back to Ontario, I made one more attempt at getting a bottle of this gem, but was unsuccessful. I did, however, find a bottle of the same winery’s Cabernet Sauvignon for $16.95. I plan to taste it soon in case it is also lovely and I need to stock up.

Overall, I give this wine 10/10 for taste and 4/5 for value.

The glasses are waiting........

I’ve just passed the 6 month mark on my adventures in the world of blogging.  At first, it was satisfying simply to check out my stats and see that I had readers who weren’t me or Kevin.  And then I enjoyed seeing where the strangers that stumbled upon my blog hailed from. It’s fun to think about how different my wine life is from readers in Mumbai, Kiev or Katowice.

Lately, though, I’ve been craving some interaction with the blogosphere. I’m a bit weary of searching out affordable wines to try on my own, and have also hit a string of duds from $10 wine lists. I need some reader faves to keep things interesting- and hopefully more foolproof when it comes to drinkability.  I have only 2 criteria for suggestions:

1. Try to stay $10 and under (although I am straying to $12 and under as my quest continues).
2. If the wine is Canadian, the grapes must have been grown in the same place it is cellared.

As well, I’ve instituted a weekly poll to make things a bit more interactive. Suggestions for poll questions are welcome.

Cheers to (hopefully) many chats to come about reader wine favourites!

Thanks to Smaku for the lovely image.

2009 Sandbanks Baco Noir, $15.05, LCBO#110049 & 2008 Dunes, $13.05, LCBO#110031.

This weekend I went into the LCBO with one thing on my mind and one thing only- to pick up some great wine. Although I continue to have fun trying out new $10 wines, the gems seem few and far between lately. Rather than purchase yet another bottle of affordable disappointment, I thought it was time to splurge on some summer favourites.

For this Wine Wednesday I am sharing my two best Ontario wines- which coincidentally come from the same winery and are 100% Ontario grown. When it comes to home grown wines, I really only feel right buying VQA. There’s just something so silly to me about labels that say “cellared in Ontario,” as if you won’t notice the conspicuous absense of the VQA seal.  If you didn’t grow the grape here, where it got cellared does not mean much to me. Hence my beef with most of the wine WalMart and the Wine Rack carries. By these standards, retirees can start putting “cellared in Ontario” on the crappy home made wine they make in their basements. Maybe WalMart will start carrying that?

I discovered Sandbanks Estate Winery on a Prince Edward County wine tour in May 2009. Our tour had the good fortune to bump into the winery’s lovely winemaker, Catherine Langlois, and I can see how her sunny disposition leads to great wine.  In my opinion, her wine is the best that Prince Edward County has to offer, and I’ve sampled most of the region’s vineyards. I love that I get to buy local and get great wine, and I can only imagine how much better things will get as the vines mature.

Their Baco Noir is one of my go to red wines. It’s exactly what I want in a wine; bold and fruit-forward with a touch of oak. I guess it’s just my luck that baco noir is often grown in more difficult climates like Ontario because it is definitely my kind of grape. That said, I have tried some other Ontario baco noirs and they are nowhere near as good as this one. So I must give some credit to the winery for growing a lovely grape and making a fabulous bottle.

Their other great bottle is Dunes, which is a Vidal Riesling blend. Again, it is a fruity and fresh wine. Not too sweet, with some crisp citrus notes that make it very refreshing. This has been one of Kevin’s favourite whites ever since I introduced it to him last year.

We’re having a small dinner party this week, and I think the Dunes will be a good opener with olives and cheese, while the Baco should partner well with some juicy steaks off the BBQ.  Cheers to great summer sippers!

2008 Spinelli Montepulciano D'Abruzzo, $7.40. LCBO# 454629.

I’m long overdue for a review of a new $10 wine, and have had this one waiting to be sipped and judged for a while. I paired this Italian red with our pizza masterpiece, as it only seemed fitting. Unfortunately, it was far less spectacular than the pizza.

While this bottle comes in at the same price point as one of my Italian favourites (Farnese Sangiovese Daunia, $7.40), it doesn’t have nearly the same body and soul. I know I’m comparing apples to oranges as far as grape varietal, but I’m really comparing value for money and drinkability in the cheap Italy aisle at the LCBO.

Part of this wine’s weakness may be the alcohol content- it sits at 12%, which gives an almost watery quality. While it does go down easy with nothing much to complain about taste-wise, it’s also missing something to make it interesting.

It started out promising, a nice ruby red colour and slightly earthy nose. But the taste is a bit indistinguishable; the LCBO references dark berries, leather and herbs. My palate picked up “mediocre but very affordable red wine.” It also says this is medium bodied, where I would call it light.

I think this is a case of what you’re looking for in a red. When I pick up an Italian table wine, I’d like it to be full and robust, and bring something to the meal. Hence my love of Farnese. However, if you are not a full bodied red kind of person, this wine might be your style. It’s light, easy to drink, and doesn’t overpower the food. It might also be good to drink on its own- not so much flavour that it overwhelms your taste buds.

Overall, I give this wine 7/10 for taste and 3.5/5 for value.

The masterpiece.

We are dedicated pizza lovers, with a penchant for last minute trips to Woodenheads. Inevitably, the place is packed and we end up sitting at the bar- which is more fun than a table anyways. Their cheerful bar staff makes great mojitos, and the informality makes the pizza even tastier.

Kevin’s pizza of choice (I don’t think I’ve ever seen him deviate in 2 years) is the Sicilia. It is a classic- just tomato sauce, spicy salami, mozzarella and some fresh basil. I tend to mix it up, but always end up stealing a bite or two of this work of art.

This weekend, we wanted to put the basil in our herb garden to work, and make some pizza of our own. And so, with the help of Pasta Genova, we created our own masterpiece. That lovely little Italian deli sells their own fresh pizza dough for a steal, and also has everything else you need- the salami, mozzarella and sauce.  I love one stop shopping and jostling with the other Pasta G lovers for a space at their tiny counter.

Our pizza ended up a bit oval shaped, with a lack of a real rolling pin and the dough’s elastic nature, fighting to make it match our baking sheet’s shape seemed futile. I understand why pizzas are round! The dough from Pasta G was perfect, very elastic, not sticky and fairly easy to flatten out.

Shaping the dough.	Slathering of pizza sauce.
Deli perfection a la Pasta Genova.	Mozzarella coverage.
Into a 350F oven.	Basil chiffonade in progress.

We baked the pizza for 30 minutes at 350F, as suggested by the Pasta G staff. The result was wonderful- crispy crust, piping hot toppings and melty cheese.

Kevin & I agree that this gave Woodenheads’ Sicilia a run for its money. I think this is one my proudest creations. So simple, quick and easy, with a seriously intense pay off in deliciousness.  Perhaps pizza is about to become my go-to dinner.

And so, while it probably won’t replace the fun of a visit to Woodenheads for a true Sicilia, I’m proud of what we recreated. Paired with a bottle of $10 Italian red, my wallet thanks me for creating a date night on the cheap.

Finished deliciousness waiting to be inhaled.

Week 3 CSA Share

Kevin & I joined a community shared agriculture (CSA) program this year and were very happily surprised to get our first share at the beginning of June. My post about our lack of a garden and which farm we chose can be found here.

It is week 3 of the 22 week season, and I must say our fridge is overflowing with greens!  We have bok choy, leaf lettuce, spinach and mixed mustard greens vying for attention in the crisper as I write.  It’s hard to decide who to devote your attention to, especially as not all the greens have a terribly long fridge life.

Gigantic salads seem to be the order of the week. I think we’ll see how far we can take this before we can’t stand to look at another leaf. Luckily the greens were accompanied by radishes, small turnips, kohlrabi and green onions to make a salad a bit more interesting. I never would have thought a turnip would be tasty in a salad, but these are crisp and sweet, nothing like the bitter mash that is inevitably served at holiday dinners.

It sounds like the share will evolve over time, and not always be so “green.”  I’m looking forward to the appearance of carrots, beets, and peas.  We’re also growing some treats on our back patio: tomatoes, red peppers, spinach and every herb you can imagine.  So far the basil and mint have gone wild.  My next post should be about pizza and mojitos! Going local on those will be no problem.

Cheers to many tasty summertime salads to come!

Our 8 economical bottles, ordered from highest score to lowest.

I am very happy to report that last night, a good time was had by all.  We hosted our very first $10 wine tasting, which I hope is only the first of many variations on that theme.

The rules were: you must bring 2 bottles of your favourite $10 wine (red or white), one for tasting and one for the prize basket. The bottles for tasting were wrapped in brown paper bags and were sampled “blind,” ordered from white to red and randomly numbered.  The bottles were scored out of 20 (5 for nose, 5 for taste, 5 for finish and 5 for overall impression). We picked the basics: how does it smell, do you like the taste, how does it leave your mouth, and what do you think of it overall? Here is a copy of the $10 wine tasting score sheet for those who want to host a similar event. The score sheet is certainly not designed for wine snobs and sommeliers, but for ordinary folk who might not be thinking of uppity terms like balance, complexity and bouquet.

Last night we had 13 attendees and 8 bottles (5 white and 3 red). The winner was Beringer California Collection Cabernet Sauvignon 2008, $9.95. Sadly it was not my entry, but a wine I’ve reviewed in the past and been very pleased with regarding quality at its price point. Good choice, Eve & Tomek. Congrats on winning 8 bottles of wine, and thanks for sharing a few with your hosts!

Kevin and I entered our latest favourite white, Sogrape Gazela Vinho Verde 2009, $8.95. Unfortunately it was not a fan favourite, and we came in 6th. I think our crowd enjoyed off-dry whites the most, and weren’t into its crisp dry spritzy quality.  But I still love it!

Here is a list of the 8 wines and where they fell in the ranks:

1. 2008 Beringer California Collection Cabernet Sauvignon, $9.95. LCBO# 113001. (California)

-Soft vanilla and oak flavours, very smooth finish and medium-full body.

2. 2009 Deinhard Green Label Riesling, $11.95. LCBO# 8094. (Germany)

-Off-dry, fruity and fresh.

3. 2009 Ruffino Orvieto Classico, $11.75. LCBO# 31062. (Italy)

-Slightly off-dry, clean and crisp with flavours of apple and pear.

4. 2009 Copper Moon Moonlight Harvest Pinot Grigio, $9.45. LCBO# 158303. (Ontario, Canada)

-Off-dry with flavours of citrus and melon.

5. 2009 Argento Chardonnay, $9.95. LCBO# 591701. (Argentina)

-Fruity with a sweet, almost maple syrup finish.

6. 2009 Sogrape Gazela Vinho Verde, $8.95. LCBO# 141432. (Portugal)

-Dry, light and effervescent. Flavours of citrus and tomato leaf.

7. 2008 Finca Flichman Misterio Malbec, $7.95. LCBO# 28803.  (Argentina)

-Oaky nose and blackberry flavours. Medium-bodied, fruity and toasty.

8. 2009 Funky Llama Shiraz, $9.90. LCBO# 614685. (Argentina)

-Black currant flavours with a hint of oak, medium-bodied.

All the bottles were enjoyed and represented great quality for price. My personal top 3 were the Beringer Cab-Sav (17.5/20), Gazela Vinho Verde (16/20) and Ruffino Orvieto Classico (16/20). Funnily enough they are all wines I have reviewed before and really enjoyed.  Even with a “blind” tasting, I still like what I like!

Spaghetti and meatballs perfection.

In light of some recent rather nasty dental work, soft foods have been on the menu. I’m not sure that the dentist meant that I should eat spaghetti and meatballs, but since “ground meat” was on my list of ok foods, why not make the leap?

I love pasta. I don’t actually eat it all that frequently, but I seem to like to write it love letters. Also, after discovering Catelli Smart, I don’t feel nearly as guilty when I eat it. This dish combines two of my great food loves: ground beef and spaghetti. I don’t know if my Alberta childhood contributed to my beef fetish, but I just love the smell of ground beef frying with onions.  Add some salt and I could probably eat the whole pan.

I have recently figured out the perfect meatball. Finely mince half an onion, add a minced garlic clove, mix all that up with some ground sirloin and an egg, some salt and pepper and a few shakes of italian breadcrumbs and you will have a tasty product.  I make the meatballs large enough to just fill my cupped hand when I squeeze it shut. Drop them into a hot pan of oil and mix them around as they fry so that all the sides get nice and brown.

For this dish, I tried a new version of spaghetti sauce. Although I find Giada De Laurentiis to be horribly annoying on tv (she even tops Rachael Ray for me), she does make fabulous Italian food. I used her Marinara Sauce, with the addition of some fresh rosemary and oregano, and the substitution of diced tomatoes (including the juice) instead of crushed. It made the sauce a little chunkier and richer.

To finish, I threw the meatballs in the sauce and tossed the cooked spaghetti in with it all. Could this get more comforting?

To go along with my recent Spring-friendly wine posts, I concocted an asparagus and roasted tomato pasta dish this weekend.  I love when asparagus starts to appear in the grocery store, it makes me feel like skirts and sandals are just around the corner.

I started by roasting 6 or 7 roma tomatoes. You just cut them in half, scoop out the seeds, toss them with olive oil and chopped garlic, and put them on a parchment paper lined baking sheet. Bake them at 350F for 30 minutes, then up the temp to 375F for about 15 minutes so they get roasty.

While those were finishing up in the oven and my penne was cooking on the stove, I fried a small amount of bacon with some chicken breast pieces (I cheated a bit by buying a rotisserie chicken and just tearing up the white meat for this dish). I think pancetta would have been tastier than bacon but I forgot to pick some up.  In another pan I sauteed chopped asparagus, diced onion and minced garlic in olive oil.

Then I just tossed it all together, added a bit more olive oil, and some salt and pepper. And there you have it! Fresh, delicious penne, with a different bit of flavour in each bite. We paired it with a bottle of white that was kicking around in the fridge. A very excellent, home made, restaurant worthy date night dinner.