Category: Food / drink

Photo by Vera & Jean-Christophe, used under Creative Commons license

Skills like this

Dan Dickinson1 Comment

Yesterday on my way home I decided to pop into The Monk’s Table, since it’s close to my new office. Plus, a friend works there and I wanted to say hi. Eventually Nellie left work and joined me to celebrate our fresh new vacation.

We had a great time. I drank a La Chouffe, a Maisel’s Weisse Dunkel, and most of an Ommegang BPA before Nellie arrived. Dinner arrived — spicy mussels for Nellie, a pork-wrapped-in-bacon-and-stilton-crumbs (!) special for me — which I had with a Fuller’s Black Cab Stout, and and Affligem Blond to wrap up. The food was fantastic, and I like the Euro-focused contrast to the virtually-all-Ontario list just down the hill at the Rebel House.

I noticed something too, watching our friend work. Even though it got incredibly busy in there last night there were only three staff working — one upstairs, one downstairs, and one (our friend) behind the bar — and they handled everything. We sat at the bar and ended up observing how our friend managed the evening. A bartender who’s really on their game is fun to watch: pouring two drinks at once, taking an order yelled to her from the other end of the bar, already scanning the opposite end to predict when she’d need to get down there, greeting people who’d walked in the front…it was orchestration. You see it with really good bartenders/servers/hosts (like the mutual friend of said bartender, who’d introduced us), and it’s part of the reason we like to sit at the bar rather than a table.

I’m always impressed when people are so good at their job that the immediate movements (or words) seem automatic, but you can tell their brain is already two steps ahead.  I saw something similar the previous evening when I watched an old AV Undercover video. Andy Stack’s drumming always seems so full and heavy, not like a guy who’s also playing the keyboard and constantly flipping his stick around to the mallet end.

I heard another example not long ago, when I listed to the Comedy Bang Bang episode featuring Edgar Wright, Simon Pegg, and Nick Frost. Those guys’ brains seem to work in a different gear.

.:.

Photo by Vera & Jean-Christophe, used under Creative Commons license

Photo by slgckgc, used under Creative Commons license

I would have to drink all six bottles before I’d put that CD in

Dan Dickinson2 Comments

My life right now is being measured in bite-sized chunks, less than two weeks at a time.

Last Monday, the 7th, I let my colleagues know that I’d be leaving my job in nine days. I’d been there for twelve years (fourteen total if you include my first stint) so it surprised a lot of people. There were lots of last coffees, lots handshakes, and lots of questions. I nixed any formal farewell, but did spend a few final hours with my team at Hair Of The Dog, and had drinks with friends at Caren’s. My friends and colleagues, knowing me very well and spoiling me entirely, bought me six tremendous bottles of plonk about which I’m fairly excited:

  • Maison Roche De Bellene 2009 Clos de Vougeot Pinot Noir
  • M. Chapoutier 2007 Monier de la Sizeranne Syrah
  • Domaine Bernard Defaix 2010 Cote de Lechet Chablis
  • Louis Jadot 2010 Boucherottes Pinot Noir
  • Piper Heidsieck champagne
  • Glen Breton 10 year old whisky

Oh, and a Miley Cyrus CD, just to make me wince. So it was a 9-day sprint to wrap up all my work and admin tasks before Wednesday. At 5pm I handed in my pass and Blackberry (yay!) and left the building. I took Thursday and Friday off to give myself a four-day stretch in which to relax a bit, but mostly knock some travel- and condo-related tasks off my list.

On Monday I’ll start my new job. It’s in roughly the same domain, still in Toronto. I wasn’t looking for a new job — I had no particular desire to leave my old one — but this seems like a pretty great opportunity, and I’m excited for Monday. I’m not fussed about such a short break between jobs; like my grandfather always said: “A change is as good as a rest.”

So I’ll have two weeks at the new job, and then we’re off to Africa. We got the last of our shots earlier this week, and apart from some fresh bug spray we have pretty much everything we need. A few days in Cape Town, a few in Stellenbosch, a few in Botswana, and a few in the air, and we’re back.

In my Thanksgiving post earlier this week I didn’t relate any of the many things for which I’m thankful, but it’s safe to say that great friends and two new adventures would make the list.

.:.

Photo by slgckgc, used under Creative Commons license

Photo by Doug Kerr, used under Creative Commons license

“Not since Hall and Oates has there been such a team.”

Dan Dickinson1 Comment

I thought about doing a whole long sappy blog post about how thankful I am for this and that, but figured the whole fact that I can write a blog post while the place smells like turkey pretty much denotes how good my life is. So I’ll just point out the highlights of our weekend so far:

First of all, it’s always a good weekend when your colleague starts it off with a gift of some 1er Cru burgundy:

We took it easy Friday night, sneaking a spot at Richmond Station’s bar for some excellent food. Nellie had oysters and flank steak; I had beet salad and crispy duck. A bottle of Norm Hardie Cab Franc went perfectly with it all. We then just watched The Sessions (imdb | rotten tomatoes) at home, which was excellent. Lots of ex-Deadwood representation too.

Saturday morning we got up early and gathered all we needed from St. Lawrence Market for Thanksgiving dinner, traded in some old speakers for a pair of outdoor Sonance speakers that look like fake rocks, picked up some interesting beer, then walked to Volo where we enjoyed some pumpkin beer and ploughman’s lunch and quite possibly the last hot, sunny patio day of the year.

After that we picked up our Thanksgiving turkey (who we named Carl, in honor of The Walking Dead re-starting tonight) at Cumbrae’s, then watched The Place Beyond The Pines (imdb | rotten tomatoes) which I’m still having a bit of trouble sorting out and a hockey game (mostly me).

Sunday was a day-long exercise in relaxing and cooking, then eating, Carl.

We also slammed through half the first season of Orange Is The New Black, which is pretty good. We’ll likely finish it today, along with the rest of Carl.

It was a perfect, relaxing weekend — just what I needed with the week I have coming up.

.:.

Photo by Doug Kerr, used under Creative Commons license

Photo by Doug Wheller, used under Creative Commons license

What exactly is a nel-drip anyway?

Dan Dickinson1 Comment

Earlier this week I was in San Francisco to speak at a conference. I don’t write about work on this blog, but I certainly write about what I eat and drink, especially while traveling, so here are the highlights:

After the first day’s meetings the conference organizer hosted a few of us at the Press Club, a bar / event space which was happily quite close to my hotel.  Their wine list is enormous (and the full draft list is very interesting) but there was a limited set of each on offer. Still, the 2010 Donatiello Chardonnay (Russian River Valley) was good, the 2009 Bethel Heights Pinot Noir (Willamette Valley) was very good, and the 2011 Textbook Cabernet Sauvignon (Napa Valley) was okay. Cool space too.

A few times I found myself needing decent coffee, so I visited the Blue Bottle at Mint Plaza. I wasn’t blown away with the coffee itself — just not a fan of that particular bean’s flavour profile, I think. It’s clear they take their coffee pretty seriously though; it looked like a chemistry lab in there. But it was a nice little cafe at which to sit and sip a cappuccino. Oh, and the olive oil shortbread was delicious.

Finally, after the main day’s conference, the organizers again generously took a few of the speakers out for dinner at Trace. I had an excellent pumpkin soup with bacon relish (!) and some slow-roasted berkshire pork loin. I had no hand in the wine selection, but the Fumé Blanc and Pinot Noir our hosts selected worked perfectly. I had no room for dessert, regrettably.

With less than 48 hours between my flights, the vast majority of which was spent in conference rooms, it wasn’t a very adventurous San Fran visit. Tasty, though.

.:.

Photo by Doug Wheller, used under Creative Commons license

The essence of the devil and the nectar of the gods and the music of the monsters

Dan Dickinson2 Comments

This past weekend we drove around Lake Ontario (through a Gardiner Expressway closure, no less) to visit Matt & Kaylea — they of the recent epic wedding — to visit some wineries, have some laughs, and eat some of Matt’s cooking. We arrived earlier than planned but later than hoped, checked out their sweet new place, and zipped into Beamsville for some wine tasting.

We attempted a Malivoire visit but the parking lot was so busy we didn’t even stop…we just 180’d in their driveway and left, then 180’d again when we realized we were heading away from stop #2: Tawse. Eventually we got there, bypassing the busy tasting room for the member’s cellar. We tasted through what would become a common occurrence: a cloud of fruit flies. Guess it’s that time of year. Anyway, we got to try several things we, and more importantly M&K, hadn’t tried before. We ended up taking away a case of six special one-off Chardonnays, around which we’re likely going to construct a big tasting or dinner party. Our wine club membership came in handy, as the power went out just as we attempted to make our purchases and the POS system wouldn’t reboot. “Bill me,” I shouted as I strolled out, “I’m a member!” OK, that didn’t happen, but we did get some cut-eye as we walked out past a dozen people waiting impatiently to pay.

We had an equally productive (expensive?) stop at Hidden Bench, where among the half dozen we purchased were two bottles of 2010 La Brunante, their flagship Bordeaux blend which they’ve only made twice before. The tasting room was so busy we didn’t even bother tasting…we knew what we wanted. We swung by Fielding after that for a few quick samples and some Kaylea snark, and left with a paltry three bottles. Matt & Kaylea didn’t do too badly either, picking up eight on the day:

After Fielding we’d had quite enough of sample pours, and returned to M&K’s. Matt began prepping dinner as we sampled a few Beer Academy beers we’d brought with us  (German mild ale = good; peach wheat = gross) and before long we were attacking a charcuterie board (which included some of the best Buffalo mozzarella I’ve ever had) and a bottle of really nice Italian sparkling whose name escapes me but which almost certainly contributed to the fuzziness of this picture:

Before we knew it we were into the soup course, an unreal homemade butternut squash number, paired with a special treat indeed: a 2000 Thirty Bench Chardonnay. It had the same few suspect early sniffs as the 1999 Closson Chase Chardonnay we shared last year, but turned into creamy, rich goodness which got along so well with the soup they might as well have just eloped.

Here we took a brief intermezzo to let some food settle, wash a few dishes, drink a bottle of Tawse Lauritzen Pinot Noir, and watch Matt and Nellie nearly die from eating a fresh habanero pepper. Matt’s solution to this was as follows:

That didn’t work, obviously. Finally I convinced him to drink some cream, and things righted themselves enough to move on to the main course: beef bourguignon. This we paired with another outstanding choice from their visit to Thirty Bench: a 2007 Cabernet Franc, perhaps my favourite red. We listened to a bizarre rotation of music, but finally settled on Of Monsters And Men long enough to get us through all the beef and mushrooms. Then came dessert, a beautiful roasted Italian plum ice cream with cinnamon and my dad’s maple syrup. A Fielding Rock Pile Pinot Gris purchased earlier in the day went nicely with dessert. Note that there are no decent pictures of either of these, as I annihilated them before I thought to snap a pic.

Matt and I were very definitely done for the evening, and after a few more hours of talking and finishing off the beer, started to crash. The music took a turn for the worse (Culture Club? the hell?) and the ladies began dancing and then unwisely drank an entire bottle of Rosewood Merlot, leaving us with a respectable lineup of fallen soldiers on the day:

None of us were terribly quick to jump out of bed the next morning, obviously, but neither were we poorly. Whatever shakiness we might have felt was quickly erased with some delicious Fahrenheit coffee and a stellar Matt breakfast of eggs, pork chop-sized hunks of peameal bacon, and English muffins. Good thing too: we had more tastings to do! Once we’d all showered and poured Nellie into the car we set off toward the bench.

Malivoire was considerably less busy than it had looked the day before. After a misbegotten stop out front for cheese and some dodgy-looking white, we got into the reds inside. We left with a very good Pinot and a standout Cab Sauv and a mouthful of fruit flies. Next up was Megalomaniac, about which I’ve always been ambivalent, and so remain. Next was a completely new stop for all of us: Vieni. I’d never heard of it but Kaylea, being the plugged-in type that she is, guided us there. It’s a very large property, but very new, and a little scattershot with the wine lineup, but that should improve with age. Nellie picked up yet another bottle of sparkling, and I was happy to pick up an Aglianico, which they claim is the only one made in Canada. It’s certainly the only one I’d ever seen. I am, in fact, drinking it right now as I write this blog post.

Our final stop of the weekend was Thirty Bench, where I’d hoped to fill a hole in our vertical collection of Cab Francs. Turns out they didn’t make the vintage we’re missing…so I suppose we’re not really missing it. We also picked up a Pinot without tasting it, it having been recommended to us to do so by miss Kaylea.

We left there and, realizing it was late afternoon, decided to grab lunch at Syndicate, a nearby gastropub. Unfortunately we didn’t do the math on just how late it was until we’d already ordered — we didn’t have much time to return the car given that the Gardiner was still closed. The rest of the meal turned into a bit of a frenzy, after which we dropped Matt & Kaylea back at their house and sped away, making excellent time all the way around the lake to the west end of Toronto before getting jammed up. We took alternate routes and side streets and a few ill-fated turns and in the end got the car back only six minutes late, which was pretty damn good.

Later that evening while Nellie watched the Emmys I took stock of everything we’d bought:

  1. Tawse 2011 David’s Block Chardonnay
  2. Tawse 2011 Muhl Vineyard Chardonnay
  3. Tawse 2011 Eastman Vineyard Chardonnay
  4. Tawse 2011 Lenko Vineyard Chardonnay
  5. Tawse 2011 Hillside Vineyard Chardonnay
  6. Tawse 2011 Celebration Chardonnay
  7. Hidden Bench 2009 Terroir Cache Meritage
  8. Hidden Bench 2009 Terroir Cache Meritage
  9. Hidden Bench 2009 Felseck Chardonnay
  10. Hidden Bench 2010 La Brunante
  11. Hidden Bench 2010 La Brunante
  12. Hidden Bench 2011 Nuit Blanche
  13. Fielding 2007 Chosen Few Red
  14. Fielding 2011 Viognier
  15. Fielding 2012 Lot No. 17 Riesling
  16. Malivoire 2010 Mottiar Pinot Noir
  17. Malivoire 2010 Stouck Cabernet Sauvignon
  18. Megalomaniac 2011 Bubblehead Sparkling Rose
  19. Vieni 2010 Aglianico
  20. Vieni 2012 Sparkling Rose Brut
  21. Thirty Bench 2010 Pinot Noir
  22. Thirty Bench 2011 Chardonnay

Rounding out the haul was a gift from Matt & Kaylea: a 2002 Thirty Bench Benchmark Red. Zoinks! We’ll build a meal around that soon.

It was fun, but it may prove dangerous having these particular friends less than an hour (Gardiner hell permitting) from our home.

Photo by Eli Christman, used under Creative Commons license

Carisma [sic]

Dan Dickinson2 Comments

Somehow, despite the fact that it’s around the corner from our place, we’d never tried Carisma. The name doesn’t immediately suggest “Italian restaurant”, nor does the store front, so we’ve walked past it dozens of times and just never gone in. Friday night, unsure where to go, we just took a flyer and decided to give it a shot. And a good shot it was.

However it looks outside, it certainly feels like an Italian restaurant inside…rich decor, friendly staff, regulars speaking Italian — only Italian — with the manager. As is often the case for us we avoided the menu and ordered all specials: I had the burrata with a glass of Falanghina, while Nellie had a small plate of fettuccine in white truffle and olive oil sauce paired with a glass of Gavi. For her main Nellie had the black angus steak, while I had a Mediterranean sea bass — unusual for me, but I wasn’t feeling hungry enough to get into any of the big secondis on the menu. We both asked for wine pairings; Nellie was given an Aglianico with her steak, which seemed a bit weird and didn’t go terribly well, while I was given a Malivoire Pinot Noir, which went extremely well with the grilled fish. I was also excited that he went local with my recommendation…I didn’t expect that.

For dessert we split a lemon & lavender crème brûlée. Nellie had a glass of Oban with hers, while I had an espresso — no doubt the reason I managed to stay awake for more of our Midnight Madness screening a few hours later than she did.

Anyway, a good find, a happy find in our own neighbourhood. We’ll definitely be back, possibly in greater numbers to occupy that huge corner banquette.

.:.

Photo by Eli Christman, used under Creative Commons license

Photo by Ricardo Diaz, used under Creative Commons license

“And so nevermore shall we see you again.”

Dan Dickinson1 Comment

Our pattern on each of the first two nights of this final long weekend of summer has been dinner and a movie. Or, rather: a movie and then dinner.

Friday we took advantage of our TIFF memberships and went to the Lightbox to see Jaws (imdb | rotten tomatoes) on the big screen. Seeing the remastered edition of the film on that big screen was like discovering a whole new layer. The clarity was beautiful, especially in the darker shots (Chrissie getting eaten, Quint in the crow’s nest), and the sound mix was sufficiently improved that I heard the same mispronunciation of “Brisbane” my brother heard when he first saw the remaster. Neither of us had heard it before then in all the many times we’ve watched that movie. Anyway, it was well worth the $6 ticket to see it all bright and shiny, with a bunch of people in the audience who’d never seen it. Nellie had forgotten how funny the movie was, and I’m reminded every single time I watch it that Quint’s Indianapolis speech is one of my favourite scenes in movie history.

After dinner we zipped across the street to Paese for some wine and pizza (roasted chicken, hazelnut pesto, green apple, and goat’s cheese for me; genoa salami, green olives, pecorino, chili and tomato sauce for Nellie), and then hit Bar Hop for a dessert beer — Oast House Bucolic Bastard for Nellie, Dieu du Ciel Aphrodisiaque for me. It was a fine evening right up until Nellie’s shoe blew up on the way home.

Yesterday, after tackling a bunch of condo- and travel-related tasks, we decided to keep the 70s blockbuster theme going and watched Lovelace (imdb | rotten tomatoes). It was just okay. All the actors in it were good, it just didn’t blow me away  come together for me  resonate.

After watching that we walked down the street to the recently-opened Woods, where Colborne Lane used to be, and ate an excellent meal. Nellie had wild digby scallops with parsnip purée, roasted heirloom garlic, green alder, corned beef cheek, followed by Lake Huron pickerel with cauliflower purée, sea asparagus, roasted cauliflower, chanterelles and jus. I had a cold smoked tomato soup with duck confit and goat cheese, followed by the roasted Muscovy duck breast with tatsoi, shallot, sourdough, crispy confit, dried cherries, duck egg béarnaise. The mains were great, but the accompaniments were just outstanding. We paired those mains with a 2011 La Crema Pinot Noir, which fit the bill nicely. We left room for dessert, which came in the form of cinnamon sugar donuts with warm chocolate sauce. It was altogether excellent. Pricey, but I’d happily go back and be a bit more restrained.

We came home, sat on our balcony, admired the view that never gets old, and drank a bottle of 2005 Undercliff Chambourcin, a birthday gift from my brother.

.:.

Photo by Ricardo Diaz, used under Creative Commons license

Photo by Kurman Communications Inc., used under Creative Commons license

Chicago for a Little Sumpin’ Sumpin’

Dan Dickinson1 Comment

Earlier this week I spent a day and a bit in Chicago for work. Happily, whilst there, I was able to eat and drink like a gourmet idiot.

After-work drinks started at South Branch where I had an Allagash White and a Lagunitas Little Sumpin Sumpin. After that we moved on to Haymarket, which was highly regarded on ratebeer, though I figured later it must be for the guest tap and bottle list rather than the beer they make on-site. My Bad MF’er Black Rye I.P.A. wasn’t great, and no one else in our party loved theirs either. I also regret not buying the Geuze Tilquin they had on tap. I haven’t been able to find it since Brussels.

Things picked back up for dinner across the street at Little Goat, though. I loved the diner style, and my food — the “Bull’s Eye” french toast w/ over-easy eggs carved into the middle of the bread, covered in crispy chicken, with sweet onion brioche, and doused in bbq maple syrup — was incredible…even if I couldn’t come close to finishing it. But put together with the Great Lakes Edmund Fitzgerald porter and Revolution A Little Crazy Belgian pale it was a goddamn memorable meal.

I wasn’t even hungry for breakfast the next morning, but grabbed a fantastic cappuccino from an Intelligentsia near my hotel. After a few more hours in the office I went to the airport where Porter canceled my flight…and let me tell you, Midway is not a great airport at which to kill a lot of time. But I made it out alive, with a plan to return some day when both wallet and waistline are for up for it.

.:.

Photo by Kurman Communications Inc., used under Creative Commons license

Matthew’s Magical Mennonite sausage

Dan Dickinson1 Comment

After a delicious but cold excursion back in April, our friends Matt & Kaylea invited us back to their cottage last weekend. Things worked out much better this time, weather-wise. To wit:

That’s what greeted us as soon as we arrived. We shook off the ride up, drank a beer on the dock, and watched this happen.

After a fine feed of sausages (including the titular Mennonite sausage) and charcuterie and cheeses and baguette, as well as bottles of Le Clos Jordanne 2009 “Le Grand Clos” Chardonnay and Thirty Bench 2008 “Triangle” Riesling on the deck, we settled around a camp fire, Nellie’s one request for this trip.

The next morning we partook of some bacon and Fahrenheit coffee we’d brought with us. And spent a lot of time down here:

After a couple of swims, Matt started smoking a lamb shoulder using cherry wood, while we shared a few special bottles of Garrison Ol’ Fog Burner barleywine (and a bottle of Blanche des Honnelles). Later, as dinner approached (and following another swim) we drank bottles of Five Rows 2012 Pinot Gris and Hinterland 2012 Ancestral sparkling. All were excellent.

Finally, when the lamb was ready for us, we paired it with bottles of Tawse 2009 “Cherry Ave” Pinot Noir and Malivoire 2010 “Old Vines” Marechal Foch. We had to go for a walk after dinner so that I didn’t fall into a lamb coma.

We also put down bottles of Peninsula Ridge 2007 “Inox Reserve” Chardonnay, Kacaba 2009 Cabernet Sauvignon, and Malivoire 2012 Pinot Gris before the night was through. All tasty, naturally,

The next morning brought more bacon — peameal, this time — and more coffee, followed by one last swim. Then came the long drive back to…ugh, wherever. Not the cottage. Not here:

Alas.

For the monks

Dan Dickinson1 Comment

Clearly last weekend’s Garrison tour and last month’s Session Toronto festival didn’t provide us enough opportunities to try interesting beer, so — after an Ontario-craft-brew evening at the Rebel House with MLK — we walked over to the Steam Whistle Craft Beer Fest in Roundhouse Park. It promised to be a more laid-back festival, and the weather seemed far more tolerable than the sauna that was Session. The crowds weren’t big at all when we arrived, probably because the entry lines were very slow.

Once we got inside we could tell this was indeed a more laid-back festival.  There was room to move, there was shade (not enough, though, as it turned out), and plenty of people were sitting or lying on the grass. Some people even had their kids with them, and the kids seemed cool with it all.

We knew all fifteen breweries, and were familiar enough with most of their offerings that we skipped half. Here’s what I drank:

  • Grand River “Tabbey Abbey” ale
  • Great Lakes “Chill Winston” Grisette
  • Nickel Brook Berliner Weisse
  • Wellington “County Dark” Ale
  • Lake of Bays “River Walker” summer ale
  • Hogsback “Alohog” coconut pale ale
  • Leftfield “Maris*” pale ale
  • King Kellerbier

The Chill Winston and Alohog were fantastic light summer drinks, but the Maris* might have been my favourite on the day. I badly confused the Great Lakes employee when I insisted on ordering the “Chill Winston” in the same accent as Willie from Lock, Stock and Two Smoking Barrels.

I also put down a killer pulled pork sandwich from one of the six food trucks in attendance, Hogtown Smoke. Nellie had pulled pork tacos from the DIrty South truck. We eventually had to escape the park when we realized that we’d been sunburned into oblivion — the cool lake breeze had lured us into a trap, it seemed. Not quite done tasting, though, we decided to walk up to Bar Hop for a few samples. I had:

  • Oast House Heritage Wheat
  • a Indie Alehouse / Kensington / Bar Hop collaboration Patersbier called “Who’s Your Daddy?”…and no, I didn’t know what a Patersbier was either until I read this
  • Shacklands Pale Ale
  • Dieu Du Ciel! Aphrodesiac

All in all it was a pretty beer-happy 24 hours…so much so that Untappd, not knowing I was drinking samples, awarded me the “Take It Easy!” badge. Success!