Summer Food Fun and Drink 2009 Chapter 6 B.C. Transit to suspend Charter Rights for one day · 29.06.09 by colin newell
Arborbrook Pinot Noir Vintner’s Select 2006 at $67 a bottle (U.S.) is a remarkable grape.
This huge wine hits you harder than a jilted bride with bigger-than-Rita McNeil style – and flavors: fat, voluptuous with powerful fruit seasoned with ungodly quantities of exotically spicy new oak.
And if you are thinking about doing the right thing and leaving your car at home on Canada Day – I mean, doing the Legally right thing… by not drinking and driving – by taking the Bus (with this great Wine in your Man-Bag…) well think again Cowboy and Cowgirl!
Even if you have this sealed Wine double paper bagged and sealed in your ruck sack, the brown thugs at B.C. Transit will be taking it from you – after they illegally search you… violating your Charter Rights.
And sure, you can avoid the shake down by not taking the bus…
But that is not the point.
You have the right to ride the bus and you have the right not to be searched without probable cause.
So. Buy yourself a big fat bottle a grape and welcome yourself aboard!
I say we all show up for the Bus on Canada Day and express ourselves.
Click here to read it from the B.C. Transit webpage.
Summer food fun and drink - Enjoy an Okanagan Meritage Today · 25.08.08 by colin newell
Andrea asks… “When does your Summer Food Fun and Drink series end? And what are you going to call the new series?”
Good question.
Was thinking something along the lines of Autumn Leaves Feast of Fields… in celebrating harvest… something that resonates with me… having grown up on a small farm. It is calm. It is subtle.
Or we could call it Listeria Hysteria Pass me the Bacon Mildred…
Not so subtle.
Speaking of which, Sunday morning I was gazing fondly at a portion of Maple Leaf bacon in the fridge on Sunday whilst whipping up some of my not-yet-famous Non-Dairy Waffles... Kids love `em and you will too!
And what goes better with a nice linear stack of waffles than 8 slices of bacon?
Especially when the threat of illness, death and cholesterol posed by contaminated meats – rests over your head like a scimitar hanging by one hair from your grandmothers head…
Anyway – a Olympian tug-of-war ensued between Andrea and I… I won. Bacon in pan.
And apart from the bacon tasting vaguely like Kopi Luwak all was well –
Today in Wine: Enjoyed a 2005 Red Rooster Meritage with dinner. It had pretty bold oak that merged as the wine caught a breath. There were fairly focused blue-berry notes, some pluminess and sufficiently chewy to sustain the pairing…
Uhm.
Ahh.
Vegetarian nachos.
There. I said it.
Mussels Marinara... goodbye my salty friends! · 13.01.07 by colin newell
I know that my readers from CoffeeCrew.Com think I am a swarthy tough guy that catches bullets with his teeth, busts international drug cartels completely alone and roams the mean streets of Victoria at night, in an annoying scratchy man-outfit from Lululemon maintaining law and order…
But no. I am just like you. and you. and you and you.
Except for one minor detail.
This is the first time I have cooked with truely live ingredients.
Mussels. From Saltspring Island – a Gulf Island near Victoria.
Sure, I work with coffee all the time and I think of coffee as a truely living entity… but that is not the point. This is live food.
I bought them. I cleaned them (re-cleaned them actually) and prepared them for their glorious moment.
As I held each mussel in my hand, checking their integrity (liveliness I guess…) and bathing them in a soothing and cool final bath of water, I apologized and thanked each one for the briny goodness to follow…
Mussels with Marinara Sauce
A warming dish to serve on a dreary winter day.
Makes: 3 to 4 servings
1 Tbsp. olive oil
1 medium purple onion, halved and thinly sliced
3 to 4 garlic cloves, sliced
1/2 cup dry red wine
14 oz can diced tomatoes and 2 tsp. tomato paste
pinch dried oregano and sugar
pinch chili flakes
salt and pepper to taste
2 lbs fresh mussels*
chopped chinese parsley (cilantro)
Heat oil in a pot over medium heat. Add onions, and garlic. Saute for 3 to 4 minutes, or until softened. Add wine, tomatoes, oregano, sugar, salt, chili flakes and pepper. Turn heat to medium-high and simmer sauce 5 minutes. Add mussels, cover and cook until mussels open (discard any that do not). Sprinkle with fresh herbs. Serve as is with lots of warm crusty bread. Serves 3 to 4, depending on appetite.
Note: Rinse mussels in cold water before cooking, removing any beard-like material from their sides. Discard any that do not close when tapped.
This dish goes down extra-well with a very tall glass of Red Wine.
It helps ease the guilt…
Wine blog bonus posting... · 28.06.06 by colin newell
This just in from CoffeeCrew associate member Dr. David Leeming:
Looking for a surprise value in Red wines?
Check this out! Look for TerraMater Zinfandel-Shiraz (Chile) at $13.99 at the Hillside Liquor store.
It is not listed in the BCLDB product guide.
It is summer time and coffee is not exactly front and center in my mind. From time to time we are going to talk wine.
I hope that is OK with our 3 regular readers!
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For your stomaches sake... · 19.06.06 by colin newell
In 1986, a buddy of mine and I helped a gal (a UBC medical school graduate) move to Regina, Saskatchewan to do her internship.
lauren was her name. Nice gal.
Her Dad came along for the ride. The extra help was appreciated.
Seems Dad is something of a diehard Christian… at least one that believes in some odd things.
One of them pertains to alcohol… like Wine.
Apparently Jesus, and his disciples did not drink wine.
They drank grape juice. Good old welches grape juice.
Why, you ask?
Well. One drop of wine across your lips is alcoholism.
Not 2 drops. One drop.
Whokay. Grape juice. Whatever.
To make my point, I took a picture of Lauren at Expo 86 taking a big gulp from a Labatts Blue sleeve.
Here Dad. Your GP Doctor daughter is a drunk. What do you think of that?
Anyway. This weekend we bottled 90 bottles of wine in 54 minutes.
This wine will be shared between 3 families.
Our 30 bottles will easily last a year.
Am I a drunk? (apologies to those that are… it is, after all, a sickness or disease)
I have not been under the influence of drink in over 15 years.
That is, to say… Impaired in any way.
One glass is ok for me. Two glasses very rare.
My other point: Life is not always about coffee.
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