Category: Food / drink

Old Fashioned

Dan DickinsonLeave a comment

I’ve never been much of a cocktail guy. I don’t mind the odd one, but I usually can’t be arsed to order one, and certainly not to make one. However, if getting older / more poncey / the lockdown has led me anywhere, it’s to wanting to make a cocktail now and then. That said, I’m still too lazy to make anything fancy, and all my spare kitchen/bar space is taken up with wine and beer paraphernalia, so I have to keep it simple.

To wit: maybe the simplest cocktail of all. The Old Fashioned.

I love bourbon. I like sugar. I got my hands on some angostura bitters. Orange peels: no problem. So I gave it a go.

A note on sugar: rather than use a traditional sugar cube, I put a Dickinson twist on it and used maple sugar. It seems a nice touch, but it’s subtle, so I need to use more (and find a way to muddle it more effectively).

I’ve tried making a couple and they weren’t bad. I can tell I don’t have it nailed just yet, but I was reluctant to practice too much until I had more bourbon in the house. Until today all I had was a lovely bottle of Angel’s Envy my brother sent up from Nova Scotia, and delicious cocktail or not, I’m not wasting it. I grabbed a bottle Knob Creek today, so…let the tuning & tweaking commence!

Jules Bistro

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At least once each weekend we try to set aside an evening as date night — fancy delivery, dinner table, proper place settings, music, etc. — and our go-to dinner spot lately has been classic French: Jules Bistro. Twice we’ve ordered the Cote de Boeuf for two, and last night we got the Magret de Canard. It’s hard to find places that can deliver high-quality food in a car in the winter (see also: Terroni) so, as long as the pandemic continues, they’ll probably be a mainstay for us. Because let me tell you: damn, the food is good.

Also: these dinners provide an excuse to pull a pretty exciting wine out of the fridge. So far it’s been a 2012 Le Vieux Pin Equinoxe Cabernet Franc (steak), a 2013 El Enemigo Gran Enemigo Gualtallary Single Vineyard Cabernet Franc (steak), and a 2011 Bodegas Raul Perez Bierzo Ultreia Valtuille (duck).

.:.

Cover photo from the Jules Bistro site

Cover photo by Farzad Nazifi on Unsplash

Fun with screens

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While normally we find it exhausting to look at screens, yesterday they were the underpinnings of a pretty good day.

Somehow yesterday I became aware that Bar Volo, and its College Street sibling Birreria Volo carry Gueuze Tilquin, one of my all-time favourite beers but heretofore extremely hard to find in Ontario. I jumped on the laptop, ordered a bunch from Volo (including the new-to-me wild blueberry Tilquin, and a bottle of the Rullquin stout, and a bottle of Cantillon for good measure), followed by an order from the Birreria of 6 (!) bottles of their standard gueuze and 2 bottles of the cassis. Turns out they can’t deliver it without food, so we grabbed some sausage, manchego, and a baguette too.

After that was all put away, and as I cleaned up the kitchen, we watched two episodes (one from last week, the other live) of Think You Know Wine, the virtual blind tasting by four of the WineAlign wine critics. It was Lindsay’s first time watching, and she could barely stand the humbling the critics took these last few episodes, but I loved it. Made me feel better about my own tasting endeavours. We finished them up as we sat down to dinner.

Not long after said dinner we jumped on a Jitsi call with some friends, and ended up chatting the night away for four hours. I kept the TV on in the background, and watched the Habs blast the Canucks for the second straight night. We finished some wine and tackled some of the excellent new beer. Kramer saw some raccoons walking through the backyard and freaked out. By the time we went to bed we’d been drinking and eating for about 8 hours, so we woke up this morning feeling a little overindulged, but nothing a lie-in, some coffee, and some greasy breakfast couldn’t fix.

.:.

Cover photo by Farzad Nazifi on Unsplash

The switch to repose

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Now, a week after I posted about starting vacation, it feels like we’re probably able to relax. On Sunday of this week we drove out to Oshawa to pick up my niece, as she can’t fly home to NS. The early part of the week was filled with errands and Christmas prep (and a bit of work) but also some games, like Pandemic and crib and Snakes & Ladders / Climb to Emotional Maturity.

On Christmas Eve we made sugar cookies from XO Bisous, then roasted a duck & sides that came in a kit from Avling Brewing. I didn’t get the duck quite right, but the Bouchard Père & Fils 2011 Premier Cru Pinot Noir almost made up for it.

On Christmas Day (a white Christmas, for the first time in recent memory) we baked scones, opened gifts, chatted with our families, played Mario Kart on the niece’s new Nintendo Switch, and roasted up a pretty damn good chicken.

Today we did…nothing. Pretty much, anyway.

Finally.

Blind birthday beers

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Last night, for a friend’s birthday, we took part in a fun thing: a blind beer tasting (on Zoom, naturally) between people over five households. Each person bought five beers, wrapped them to obscure what they were, and safe-dropped them with the coordinator who then distributed them to each of the households.

So, last night we signed on, and tasted all twelve beers one by one, each time guessing what they were. There were, as we’d guessed, a lot of sours. Lindsay picked a smoked lavender stout from Avling; I picked up a seasonal east coast IPA from Radical Road. Both were hits.

Lindsay and I tied for the most accurate guessing. All in all, it was a really fun night, and a cool way to celebrate a friend’s birthday, even if she did try to kill us all with Delirium Tremens.

We started in the Ēst

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Last night, for our first dinner out since COVID hit Canada, we sat on a makeshift patio (read: the right lane of Queen Street) outside ēst restaurant. It was weird to eat with Queen Street foot traffic wandering by, and a streetcar whizzing by my head every few minutes, but still: it felt great to be out, and enjoy a nice meal.

We had sweet & sour tofu w/ fermented red pepper aioi and scallon, and a beautiful tender pork secreto with fish sauce caramel, and glasses of Lambrusco. Then came aged black angus prime rib eye w/ shishito peppers and dusted dried smoked beef heart, and smoked potato w/ confit garlic, parmesan, and truffle oil, paired with a bottle of 2011 Chateau Chantelune Margaux.

We had no room for dessert but they brought us some housemade Amaro, which was delicious.

All in all, a pretty solid re-entry to dining out again. Maybe our only outing, since all indications are that we’re headed for a second wave.

.:.

Cover photo from the restaurant’s site

Photo by Samantha Gades on Unsplash

Unexpected sprots [sic]

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The way the NHL season was going in February I’d pretty much given up any hope of seeing my Montreal Canadiens in the playoffs. They were well out of a playoff spot.

Then, when the season was put on hold in March, I didn’t think it would come back this year. But they, along with the NBA, had a plan to resume…and said plan featured a play-in round for the 5th through 12th seeds in each Conference. That meant Montreal had a chance. A weak, outside chance given they were the 12th seed and would play the 5th-ranked Pittsburgh Penguins to get in, but…a chance.

Turns out they won the series, 3 games to 1. Maybe they shouldn’t have, since it ruins their chance to win the #1 draft pick, and now they’re up against the even stronger Philadelphia Flyers. But still…when you have Carey Price and a bit of luck, you can do some damage.

Between unexpected hockey and a (hopefully deep) Raptors run, there’s more sports on TV this summer than either Lindsay or I expected. I’ll let you guess who’s happier about that.

In other news, I had a second excursion for dinner this week, this time at Gare de L’Est for dinner with my boss, just to get caught up in person.

.:.

Photo by Samantha Gades on Unsplash

COVID-19: Part the Eighth

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In the alternate timeline where COVID-19 doesn’t exist we’d probably be getting back from Spain today, with stories and pictures and bottles of wine in tow. Instead, I sat inside for 99.99% of this week. I actually don’t I went outside other than to let some delivery guys in.

A delivery of what, you ask? Why, a Peloton bike! It arrived Tuesday and I set it up Thursday. My first ride was a leisurely pedal through the streets of Reims. I guess these are my vacations now. Anyway, we’ll see how this goes.

In other news: it took an unspeakable tragedy to make it happen, but Canada has banned “‘assault-style’ firearms”. Hallelujah. (CBC)

COVID-19: Part the Seventh

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In a non-COVID world we’d be in Spain right now. Probably Barcelona, or Valencia. Or maybe San Sebastian. Enjoying the weather (it was 21 degrees in Barcelona today). Drinking Albarino and Jerez. Eating pintxos. Maybe watching some flamenco. Then on to Madrid. Instead I opened a 2001 Rioja.

Still, could be much worse. We remain: home, healthy, gainfully employed (and/or schooled, as the case may be), and well-stocked.

We closed off another busy week with some ill-advised delivery from an Italian place, a nice little walk for me concluding in a pickup at Boxcar Social (which has become a bottle shop for the time being), some online hangout time with our friend Sarah, and a chat with my parents today.

I finished The Plot Against America (imdb | rotten tomatoes) this week. Bit of a twist vs. the book, but not a bad one. Well-handled by Simon and Burns, I thought.

Cover photo by Laura Loveday, used under Creative Commons

Le frère

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I was lucky enough to have two unexpected visits with brother #1 this week, due to some impromptu travel changes. The first visit was with the whole family, brunch at Allen’s on the Danforth, and I got to see my nephew experience a jukebox for the first time. Cutely enough, his choices had half the place dancing in their chairs.

The second visit was with the brother, plus Lindsay, at Richmond Station two days later. We had plates of ricotta and scallop crudo and some oysters to start, then duck two ways and rabbit fettucine and steak, then bread pudding and pot de creme and deconstructed pain au chocolate for dessert. Lindsay and I shared a bottle of 2018 Clos De La Roilette Gamay with all that.

.:.

Cover photo by Laura Loveday, used under Creative Commons