Books of 2009

One of my favourite things about the end of the year -- or in the case of this year, the end of a decade -- is the best/worst lists that inevitably pop up, detailing everything from movies and food trends to fashion faux pas and celebrity quotes. I've been reading a bunch of book lists lately, and thought it might be a good time to compile my own. So here are a few of the books I enjoyed this past year.

The Outcast by Sadie Jones

The novel takes place in post WWII London, and is a story about a young man whose life was changed by the tragic death of his mother when he was 10 and his subsequent search for forgiveness and redemption. This is the author’s first novel and it’s heartbreakingly good.

My Booky Wook by Russell Brand

A memoir of sex, drugs and stand-up from a British comedian with unruly hair and literary flair. Extremely rude in parts, but surprisingly well written.

A Spot of Bother by Mark Haddon

A hilarious novel about a 61-year-old hypochondriac and his dysfunctional family.

The Guernsey Literary and Potato Peel Pie Society by Mary Ann Shaffer and Annie Barrows

A novel written entirely in letters, it’s a charming story of a community under German occupation during the Second World War, how they survived, and the author who wants to tell their story.

When You Are Engulfed in Flames by David Sedaris

A series of droll essays on everything from dealing with pesky mice in an old Normandy home, to quitting smoking in Toyko.

A Homemade Life by Molly Wizenberg

Writing about food and recipes from the author of Orangette.

The Post-Birthday World by Lionel Shriver

Written in a two-pronged narrative, a novel about a woman’s imagined future post-infidelity and her present reality.

Here's to more reading in 2010!

Sausage and lentil supper

There's something comforting about a slow cooked, hearty meal on a winter night. I tend to cook a lot on weekends, preparing for the week ahead, and I made this a while ago, then enjoyed it for several days after.

The recipe come from Nigel Slater , a British food writer I really enjoy. His cookbooks are very well written, as is his autobiography. His new book about growing and eating vegetables is on my wishlist.

Here's how it starts. How can a pan full of crisping bacon be a bad thing?

Then come the vegetables.

And here's the finished dish! My sausages weren't as appetizing as the ones in the orginal recipe (and in fact, look dangerously like overgrown worms), but they were good.

The final dish keeps and reheats well, and will fill you up after a day in the cold.

SAUSAGE AND LENTIL SUPPER (from The Guardian and Nigel Slater)

The parsley is crucial, as is a good meaty sausage. Serves 4.

2 tbsp olive oil
120g streaky bacon, diced
1 onion
1 large carrot
a rib of celery
300g green lentils
1 litre chicken stock
2 bay leaves
8 plump pork sausages
chopped parsley

Warm the oil in a deep, heavy casserole. Put the bacon in and let it cook over a medium heat so it colours lightly. Meanwhile, peel the onion, chop it finely and add to the bacon. Cut the carrot and celery into rough dice, and stir them in, letting them soften a little. Don't let them colour. Tip in the lentils, pour in the chicken stock, then tuck in the bay leaves and sausages, cut into short lengths if you prefer, and bring to the boil. Turn down the heat so the liquid simmers gently, season, then leave it for 30 minutes, stirring from time to time. Check the seasoning (I like it peppery), and stir in a handful of chopped parsley.

Jerusalem artichoke soup

A week ago, I went to the Carp Christmas market on Friday night. It's a lovely spot in the daytime, but at night, it's a different experience altogether to walk around with snow falling softly overhead. There are few outdoor stands at this time of year, but those who brave the cold offer up a feast for the senses: piles of evergreen wreaths decorated with bows and bells, sturdy pine Christmas trees begging for ornaments, sizzling elk sausages plumping on the grill, crispy bacon piled high on squishy buns, spicy chili bubbling away in pots, and cups of sweet, cinnamony apple cider looking to warm both hands and bellies.

There were lots of Christmas crafts for sale, along with jars of jams and preserves, and some very good looking pies and other baked goods. There are also are a few farmers who come out to get rid of the last of their apples, turnips or root veggies. I came across one farmer selling Jerusalem artichokes and I decided to buy some.

If you've never had the pleasure of eating Jerusalem artichokes (sometimes called sunchokes) before, you should seek them out. They're almost a cross between water chesnuts and potatoes, and they have a slight nutty flavour. They're nice to roast, in the same manner you would with potatoes, and they're great in soups too. That's what I decided to do with mine.

Here they are. You can see they look like fingerling potatoes, or giner root. They're a real pain to peel, so I just cleaned them and chopped them up.

Here they are in the pot, browning with a potato.

And here's the final result, all blended and topped with some toasted walnuts. Yum!

Jerusalem artichoke soup

1 lb. (approx.) Jerusalem artichokes, chopped into 1/4 inch pieces

1 large yellow-fleshed potato, peeled and chopped

4 large shallots, chopped (or use an onion and garlic, neither of which I happened to have)

4 c. or so of chicken stock

salt and pepper to taste

1 tbsp. olive oil (approx.)

splash of cream (optional)

1. Start by adding the oil to a large soup pot. Once it shimmers, add the shallot, artichokes and potato and cook for about five minutes until the shallots have softened and become transluscent.

2. Add enough stock to cover the veggies. Cover and simmer until everything is soft -- about 20 minutes or so.

3. Remove soup from pot and place in blender to purify, or use an immersion blender to do the same. I found some of the skins remained and didn't get blended, but I didn't mind that. They tend to lend a grayish colour to the finished soup, but don't affect the taste at all.

4. Add some cream if you like, or leave as is. Season with salt and pepper to taste. Top with nuts of your choosing.

Spiced bundt cake

'Tis the season for gingerbread! There's something about falling snow and cold nights that call for spicy sweets on the table. If rolling and pressing out cookies is too much work for you, why not try this fragrant cake instead?

This cake is heavy and dense, and very reminiscent of gingerbread, with a slight smokiness and heat from the Chinese five spice powder and the crystallized ginger. This thing has serious bite. I mean, how often do you bake a cake that calls for a hefty dose of black pepper?

So, let's get started, shall we?

First I tackled the ginger. I buy it at the Mid East Food Shop, where you can get all sorts of dried fruits and veggies -- quite inexpensively too. The recipe calls for the ginger and sugar to be blitzed in the food processor, but I opted just to chop instead. I love these wee bites that manage to be both hot and sweet at the same time.

And a note about the sugar: the recipe specifies white, but because there was molasses going in the mix, I opted for half and half of white and brown sugar. I think it worked out well.

Once the wet and dry ingredients had been blended together, I dumped everything in my new silicone bundt pan, which I had buttered and floured, just in case. It came out a breeze.


Ta da! Finished cake, sans pan and lightly dusted with icing sugar. But don't ask me why the picture is vertical instead of horizontal.

And this picture of a slice doesn't quite do it justice, but you can just make out a tiny piece of ginger tucked inside. This cake keeps quite well and I think gets better with age.

Spiced Bundt Cake (recipe Rachael Ray Magazine Nov 2009)

3 cups flour
1 tablespoon Chinese Five Spice powder
1 teaspoon baking soda
1/2 teaspoon salt
1 1/2 teaspoons vanilla extract
1/4 teaspoon pepper
1 cup granulated sugar (or half and half with brown sugar)
1/2 cup packed crystallized ginger
1 1/2 sticks unsalted butter at room temp
2 large eggs, at room temp
1 cup dark molasses diluted with 1 cup hot water
icing sugar, for dusting

1. Position rack in the lower third of the over and preheat to 350 degrees. Grease and flour a 10 cup bundt pan. In a bowl, whisk flour, five spice powder, baking soda, salt and pepper.

2. Using a food processor, mix the granulated sugar and ginger until the ginger is coarsely ground (or chop it up like I did)

3. Using an electric mixer, beat the butter, sugar-ginger mixture and vanilla at high speed until fluffy, about 5 mins. With the mixer at medium speed, add 1 egg at a time, beating after each addition. Mixing at low speed, add the flour mixture alternately with the molasses in 3 batches until combined. Transfer the batter to the prepared pan and bake until the cake begins to pull away from the side of the pan and is springy to the touch, about 1 hour. Transfer to a rack and cool for 20 mins. Invert cake onto a rack and cool completely. Dust with the icing sugar.

Enjoy with a cup of coffee!

Comfort food Sunday

This has been a long, tiring week. I had to work very late on Tuesday night, then spent all day Saturday in my wine class and then had to go back into work for most of today. It was pretty tedious too, making small talk with strangers for hours on end. Ugh. But what helped get me through it was the thought of coming home to something yummy.

I decided that after such an arduous week that a little meatloaf was in order. I don't really follow a recipe for this, but this is how it started today. A pound of lean ground beef, a chopped shallot, a handful of oatmeal, an egg, seven or eight chopped (in the food processor) mushrooms, a couple dashes of worchestershire sauce and some salt and pepper.

I mixed all that together, and added my secret ingredient.

Yep,that's right. Blue cheese. Stinky, smelly blue cheese -- or to be specific, gorgonzola. I crumbled up the whole lot and added it in, then formed the mess into two loaves. No real reason for the pair, other than they're easier to handle.

Here's what they look like after an hour or so in the oven. I'll they probably won't win any beauty contests, but they're tasty little things. And let me just say the combination of blue cheese and meat sounds odd, but trust me when I say you will want to climb into the oven as this bakes, because it smells so unbelievably good!

Here it is served up on my plate with some mashed potatoes (sweet and yellow) and beans. Again, it tastes better than the grey blobs indicate.

Oh yeah, I was pretty industrious this afternoon. While my meatloaf was baking away, I cooked this stock using a chicken I cooked last weekend. Here it is ready to go on the heat. Imagine all the soups I'll get from this pot!

Make yourself a meatloaf this week. You'll be happy you did!

Chickpea soup with Israeli couscous

I think I've reference my recent obsession with dried chickpeas here before. Well, now I'm keen to try them out in just about any kind of recipe, so when I stumbled across this one, I knew I wanted to give it a try.

I managed to track down Israeli couscous at a local Middle Eastern market, where the package was actually labelled "Jerusalem" couscous. The grains, if you can call them that, are about the size of peas, so they cook up like little doughy balls in the soup. If I were to make the recipe again, I'd skip the method suggested, and just boil them up in the broth until tender, before adding to the soup.

I also found I needed to add more liquid to the soup than called for, and I found the overall flavour a little bland. I think I will bump up the garlic and spice quotient next time. And I didn't have any fresh oregano to add (or dried for that matter), but I don't think that was the missing link.

Flavour aside, this recipe makes a ton of soup, so I have lots of leftovers in my freezer. It's an incredibly hearty meal on its own, what with the chickpeas, veggies and pasta-y couscous floating around. That being said, a bowl is made infinitely better with a generous mound of parmesan, which will slowly melt into the welcoming goodness, and will add a nice salty kick at the same time.


Chickpea soup with Israeli couscous

2 tablespoons olive oil
1/2 cup chopped onion
1 cup chopped carrots
1 cup chopped zucchini
2 cloves minced garlic
2 cans chickpeas, well rinsed and drained, or about three cups of chickpeas, cooked from dry
1 14 oz. can Italian tomatoes, chopped
1 tablespoon lemon juice
1/4 to 1/2 teaspoon chili powder (depending on how spicy you like your soup)
1/2 teaspoon freshly ground black pepper
1 tablespoon fresh thyme leaves
1 tablespoon chopped fresh oregano
6 cups vegetable broth
1/4 cup chopped flat leaf parsley
1 teaspoon red pepper flakes
1 teaspoon cumin
sea salt to taste

Couscous:

3 1/2 cups vegetable broth
2 cups Israeli couscous
1 tablespoon butter
1 tablespoon chopped fresh mint

1. In a large soup pot over medium-high heat, heat olive oil. Add onions, carrots, and dry spices and saute until onions are a bit caramelized, about 10 minutes. Add zucchini, tomatoes (with juice), lemon juice, garlic and fresh herbs and continue to cook for about five minutes longer. Cut the tomatoes in half with a wooden spoon while the soup continues to cook.

2. Add vegetable broth and chickpeas, bring to a boil then reduce heat and simmer for 30 minutes.

3. While the soup is cooking, make couscous. In a medium sauce pan with a lid, melt 1 tablespoon butter over medium heat, add couscous and lightly brown (about 5 minutes). Add 3 1/2 cups vegetable broth and bring to a boil. Reduce heat to simmer, cover and cook for approximately 20 minutes or until most of the stock has been absorbed. Fluff cous cous up with a fork and add chopped mint right before serving. Serve soup with a scoop of cous cous, garnish with additional herbs if desired.

Prague in pictures

I've been negligent in posting pictures from my trip, so here are a few from pretty, pretty Prague.

First, the not so pretty snipers guarding the Pope's motorcade. Yes, our trip coincided with a visit from His Holiness. No one in Prague was very excited to see him, and frankly, neither we were. But we happened to stumble upon the street where he was staying, so we waited around for a bit to see him leave. About 25 cars and several more motorcyles preceeded him.

We think the Pope was in this car. Good view, no?

View from Charles Bridge at night. All the lamps were gas, giving off a yellowish glow.

Gold building in Prague.

The astronomical clock in Old Town Square.

Jazz musicians jamming on Charles Bridge.

View of Prague rooftops.

Another view from Charles Bridge. Thanks for pointing in my shot, buddy!

Stained glass at Prague Castle.

Changing of the guard at the castle.

Typical streetscape in Old Town Square.

Sunday pancakes

I'm not really a pancake fan -- I'm more of a French toast kinda gal. But I read this recipe recently and thought I should give it a try. Result? These are the best pancakces I've ever had! The addition of the oats and whole wheat make them really hearty, and because they use so much baking powder, they plump up to some tasty little cakes. This will be my go-to recipe from now on.

(I'm not sure about the nutritional claim advertised in the original recipe, especially given the syrup and butter I added after this picture was taken. In a mild attempt to up the healthful content, I served them with a sliced apple, which I sauteed for a minute in the same pan.)

Whole Grain Pancakes (from Michael Smith, originally printed in the Globe and Mail)

1 cup unbleached all-purpose flour
1 cup whole wheat, grain or almond flour
1 cup oatmeal flakes
2 tablespoons baking powder
1 teaspoon ground nutmeg or cinnamon
1/2 teaspoon salt
2 cups milk or water
1/4 cup vegetable oil or melted butter
2 tablespoons honey
2 eggs, or 4 for added richness
1 teaspoon or more of pure vanilla extract

While you mix the batter, preheat a heavy skillet over medium to medium-high heat.

Whisk together the dry ingredients in one bowl. Whisk together the wet ingredients in a separate bowl, and then pour them into the bowl of dry ingredients. Stir the batter until it is smooth, but don't overmix.

Cook until bubbles form, then flip. Keep the cakes warm in a low oven until ready to serve.

Serves 4. I quartered the recipe just for me.

Squash and chickpea moroccon stew

I bought a butternut squash a while ago that was threatening to get up and walk right out of my fridge if it didn't get used. So I did a bit of searching and came up with this recipe that looked like a tasty combination of veggies and spices to keep you warm on a cold autumn night. It also appealed because of the addition of chickpeas, one of my favourite ingredients (quick sidenote: my workplace, until recently, had a ban against nuts in the office. On that list were chickpeas. Because they're nuts? What? Thankfully the ban has been lifted, so it's hummus time again).

I actually bought dried chickpeas for this recipe and decided to try them out. They're a bit more labour intensive than opening a can, but not too taxing. All you have to do is soak the beans overnight, then boil the next day for about 40 minutes. Not really a weeknight dinner option, but if you make this stew on a weekend, as I did, it's very doable.

I find both the flavour and texture of these dried babies to be better than canned beans. Plus, if you're like me and routinely lug heavy groceries up flights of stairs, in elevators and down halls, a bag of dried peas is much lighter than a can to carry -- and easier on your wallet too.

So here's how it started. Peeling and chopping one butternut squash. Not the easiest job, especially if you're me and are allergic to squash flesh. It's true! The skin on my hands starts to peel when I handle squash or pumpkin, so I could never carve the jack o' lantern as a kid (insert sympathetic 'awww' here).

Chopping the potatoes, crushing the cumin seeds and getting the cinnamon stick ready. Do you think I have enough? By the way, my mortar and pestle is from Atelier Orange -- it's beautiful to look at and to use.


Here's everything simmering away on the stove. I let this cook a bit too long and the squash lost its shape and became a bit mushy.

Finishe product, garnished with plain yoghurt, a dash of hot sauce and some almonds. I served it over couscous, but I'm sure it would also be good over some brown rice. Next time I'd bump up the spices a bit, as this was a little more bland than I would have liked. It is, however, an incredibly filling meal, and a good veggie alternative to a traditional meat stew.

Squash and Chickpea Moroccan Stew (From smittenkitchen.com)

Serves 6 to 8

1 tablespoon unsalted butter
1 tablespoon olive oil
1 medium yellow onion, small dice
4 medium cloves garlic, thinly sliced
2 teaspoons ground cumin
1 (3-inch) cinnamon stick
Salt and freshly ground black pepper
1 pound butternut squash, large dice
3/4 pound red potatoes, large dice
2 cups low-sodium chicken or vegetable broth
2 cups cooked chickpeas, drained (*I used dry beans. I cup dry makes about two cups cooked)
1 (14-ounce) can diced tomatoes, with juices
Pinch saffron threads (optional) (*I used saffron stolen from Budapest!)
1/2 preserved lemon, finely chopped (*I substituted lemon zest)
1 cup brined green olives
Steamed couscous, for serving
Fresh cilantro leaves, roughly chopped, for garnish (*I used parsley instead)
Toasted slivered almonds, for garnish
Plain yogurt, for garnish
Hot sauce of your choice (for serving)

Heat butter and olive oil in a 3- to 4-quart Dutch oven or heavy-bottomed saucepan with a tight fitting lid over medium heat. When oil shimmers, add onion, garlic, cumin, and cinnamon, and season with salt and freshly ground black pepper. Cook, stirring occasionally, until spices are aromatic and onions are soft and translucent, about five minutes.

Add squash and potatoes, season with salt and freshly ground black pepper, stir to coat, and cook until just tender, about three minutes. Add broth, chickpeas, tomatoes and their juices, and saffron, if using. Bring mixture to a boil then reduce heat to low. Cover and simmer until squash is fork tender, about 10 minutes.

Remove from heat and stir in preserved lemon and olives. Serve over couscous garnished with cilantro, almonds, and yoghurt.

Happy Halloween!

To celebrate the holiday, I thought I'd post a pumpkin recipe. I've actually made this twice in the past little while, both times with great results. It's a moist bread, not too sweet, that just smacks of fall flavours. I significantly boosted the spice quotient the second time around, as I'm a sucker for cinnamon, nutmeg and cloves in baked goods.

It's pretty easy to make, and doesn't require dirtying beaters. Make sure you buy pure pumpkin puree, and not pumpkin pie filing, which is already pre-spiced. Also, don't try to buy pumpkin puree on the Saturday before Thanksgiving, because no grocery store will have any available (at least that was the case in Ottawa).

In addition to boosting the spices, I took some liberties with the cider as well. The first time I made this, I reduced the cider down, but did it too quickly, so it resulted in a syrupy blob, that I then attempted to re-liquify with some more cider. The second time I made the recipe, I bypassed the reduction step altogether and just added 1/4 c. of cider directly to the bowl. I couldn't taste much of a difference between the two.

Grating the apple. Recipe calls for a Northern Spy, but I used an Empire. I also grated the whole apple and it didn't seem to affect the final product at all.

Dry ingredients getting ready. I probably added a whole teaspoon of cinnamon, and almost as much nutmeg (my substitution for mace). I put in a 1/4 tsp of cloves too, instead of a dash. Next time I'll throw in a bit of powdered ginger too.

Pumpkin Cider Bread (originally published in the Ottawa Citizen)

1 ½ c. apple cider (*see note about reduction above)
1 c. pumpkin puree
2 eggs
¼ c. canola oil
½ firmly packed brown sugar
½ c. grated Northern Spy apple (*I used Empire)
2 c. all-purpose flour
2 tsp. baking soda
2 tsp. baking powder
½ tsp. salt
¼ tsp. ground mace
¼ tsp. ground cinnamon
dash of ground cloves

1. In a saucepan, boil the cider until it is reduced to about ¼ c. Remove from heat and let cool.

2. In a bowl, whisk together the pumpkin puree, eggs, oil, brown sugar, grated apple and the reduced cider.

3.In another bowl, whisk together flour, baking soda, baking powder, salt, and spices.

4. Add the flour mixture to the pumpkin mixture and stir until just combined.

5. Transfer batter to a well-greased 8x4” loaf pan and bake in preheated 350F oven for one hour, or until a tester comes out clean.

6. Remove from oven and let cool.

Cream cheese icing

3 oz. cream cheese at room temperature
1 tbsp. butter, room temperature
2 tsp. pure vanilla extract
2 tbsp. heavy cream
¼ c. icing sugar

1. Combine cream cheese, butter, vanilla, cream and icing sugar in a bowl. Beat with electric mixer until smooth.
2. Drizzle onto cooled bread.

The final loaf! I didn't make the cream cheese recipe called for in the recipe, but mixed together a bit of icing sugar with some melted butter (about 1 tbsp.), some cinnamon and milk. It worked!

Wining and dining

It was a whirlwind trip to the county (PEC) this weekend. We visited a number of wineries, most of which I didn't see last time around. Given that I'm now a wine scholar (har har), I'm going to provide a quick review of each of our stops.

First up was County Cider Company. This was my second trip to this pretty stone barn, overlooking Lake Ontario. They make a variety of alcoholic and non-alcoholic ciders, from many locally-grown apples. They also produce a few wines as well. I didn't buy anything this time around, but the Waupoos Cider, available at the LCBO, is well worth the buy. And although I didn't spot any for sale this time, their Ice Cider is phenomenal -- like apple pie on crack!

Tasting experience: free samples of flights of cider, ending in their limited-edition sparkling version, drinks poured in order of sweetness

Tasting environment: drinks served bar style, showroom inside old stone barn, washrooms on-site, faint smell of fermented apples, large windows/doors overlooking vineyards

Customer service: friendly staff, eager to pour, provided description of produce

Overall experience (out of 10): 8

Next up, and just down the road, was Waupoos. This is probably one of the prettiest wineries in the county, and would make a great location for a wedding or other special occasion. I visited Waupoos last trip, and was impressed by some of their German-based varieties that aren't too common in Canada. But then I bought two bottles and both were corked. So let's just say my impression was a bit tarnished after that.

Tasting experience: samples $1

Tasting environment: drinks served circular bar style, wine store doubles as a gift shop with some tacky wine-related accessories for sale

Customer service: staff seemed uninterested in serving us, provided information about the wines only when asked, gave some questionable information about German varieties!

Overall experience: 5

Last stop of the day on Saturday was Long Dog Winery, whose covered vines are pictured above. Interestingly enough, this is one of the only wineries in the county who make all their wine with grapes grown on their property. Many other ship in juice or fruit from Niagara to supplement production.

Long Dog was on my list this time around as it was closed for my last trip. I'd also had one of their Chardonnays in my wine class last fall and was suitably impressed. Their operation isn't huge, but is housed in pretty stone house and rustic old barn along an old country road. The owners are an Imax film producer and a former Bay Street lawyer, who recently ditched his legal work to pursue wine making full-time. And how do I know this? Because it was this former lawyer who poured our wines and spent 20 minutes talking passionately to us about the winery's history and production. Bonus marks for great customer service here! Plus we got really good restaurant recommendations from him.

Long Dog only makes Chardonnay, and Pinot Gris and Noir. The wines are on the pricey side, but I bought a bottle of Pinot Gris (pressed with skins on) anyway. The wine didn't exactly blow me away, but I bought it because I enjoyed talking to the winemaker so much, and wanted to support him. See how important customer service is?

Tasting experience: free samples (but I believe we would have had to pay had we not bought), nice minerally mouthfeel to all the whites, which I particularly like

Tasting environment: drinks served bar style in old barn with all sorts of daschund chotzkes on display; best stemware of entire trip

Customer service: excellent! knowledgeable, intelligent and friendly

Overall experience: 9


Next day it was Huff, also where we stayed. In the picture, you can see the bag, so I clearly purchased (Also, I was attempting to "smize" here, but failed miserably, as you can tell. Instead I look drunk -- which I was not!)

Anyway, Huff has some very nice wines on offer, and their facilities (winery and inn) are very stylish. I tasted a very nice unoaked Chardonnay and their rose, both of which I bought. Their merlot is yummy as well, but needs to sit for a bit. I have a bottle from my last trip three years ago that should be quite good in another couple of years.

This was the only place we took a tour of the rather small production operation Our tour guide was terrible, both in knowlegeability and in presentation skills. This makes a very poor impression on potential buyers!

Tasting experience: free samples with our coupon received at check in (we had three), then we could have seemingly had as many more as we wanted after the tour

Tasting environment: drinks served bar style, wine shop nicely displayed

Customer service: woman pouring samples wasn't very helpful about varieties, no water offered between samples! see above for notes on tour guide

Overall experience: 6

Then it was on to Norman Hardie, a little winery that has been generating a fair amount of press lately. I was eager to try it out, and the first impression of the funky-looking sign was a good start.

But it was downhill from there!

The wine shop is housed in a modern looking barn, that I suppose was meant to look "interesting", but instead just looks ugly. The walk up to the tasting room is also ugly -- a sea of gravel with nary a flower or gourd in site. What up, Norman? Trying to ignore the fact that it's fall? The lousy first impression outside continued inside, where we were met with the mildly revolting smell of fermenting fruit and, rotten eggs? Something vomitous anyway. Didn't exactly tempt us to stay and taste, but we figured we had made the drive, so we opted to stay.

Again, this is another spot with pricey wines. Their tasting flight featured their pinots and chardonnays. The pinot was nice, with a good cherry flavour, but not worth the price in my mind.

Tasting experience: sample flight $6

Tasting environment: glasses were dirty, smell was off-putting

Customer service: surly teenager pouring our wine was about as uninterested in what she was doing as she could possibly be, we had to ask her quite firmly to explain to us what we were tasting (she complied, but without enthusiasm)

Overall experience: 3

Last stop of the day on Sunday was Closson Chase, owned by Canadian actress Sonia Smits. This is definitely one of the most picturesque wine shops -- a renovated barn painted in cool shades of purple. So you knew I was gonna like it, right?

Inside, gorgeous floral arrangements and original artwork adorn the space. There are even some chaises available to take in the atmosphere.

The tasting room is rather small and dark, but the staffer was friendly and welcoming. Their tasting flight was pre-set at $10 for three chardonnays. When we asked about the possibility of just one taste, we were told that the wine maker set up the flight in this fashion and it couldn't be altered. Huh? That's a bit rigid for something as hedonistic as wine tasting ought to be, don't you think?

We forked out a tenner anyway, and tasted some very fine chards. Again, the prices were a bit out of our league, so we didn't buy.

Tasting experience: sample flight $10

Tasting environment: intimate, only spot to offer palate-cleansing bread in between wines

Customer service: friendly and knowledgeable, but not really remarkable

Overall experience: 7

Closson Chase does get a bit of extra mention for its marketing pumpkin, seen below. Take a hint, Norman Hardie!

And lest you think the trip was without any food, let me allay your fears. While I didn't take many pictures, we did eat very well.

First up for lunch on Saturday was Buddha Dog in Picton. I've read a lot about this place, and I have to say that I left feeling pretty underwhelmed. The idea behind this small restaurant is to offer gourmet, locally-sourced all-beef hot dogs with a variety of toppings and condiments. The dogs themselves are cheap, at $2 a pop, and then you pay extra depending on what kind of toppings you want. The dogs are also incredibly small, about 4 inches maybe, so our order of two didn't leave us feeling full. We both got suckered in to ordering the dogs with the special "bacon jam" (yep. bacon jam) which was basically cooked down bacon with maple. It was tasty, but didn't exactly knock our socks off. Overall impression? Kinda gimicky and a bit pretentious.

Dinner on Saturday was better though. We ate at Harvest, and apart from the restaurant being crowded and a bit noisy, everything was great. The starter of pumpkin gnochi with sage and mushrooms was delicious and our mains of steak frites and lamb were great as well.

We were hoping for a bit of a dramatic outburst from chef Michael Potter, but sadly he was quite well behaved that evening.

Sunday found us in Wellington, and to a small place on the Main Street, called East & Main. This spot was recommended to us by our new friend at Long Dog Winery. The menu was impressive, and it actually took a while to narrow down the choices.

Here's what we had.....



Roast chicken quiche and "sassy" slaw. Verdict? Quiche was tasty and moist. Slaw needed more sass.

And roast chicken sandwich with lemon aioli and roasted parsnip and pear soup. The sandwich was yummy, but the soup was really tasty. I just wish there had been more of it. Presentation was a little lacking, and the portions could have been a wee bit bigger.

But a good food find in a pretty town none-the-less.

So that's it -- PEC in a weekend. After two fall visits, my next visit may have to be in the spring. 'Til next time!

Feels like fall!

I took a mini-road trip to Prince Edward County this weekend to visit some wineries. The weather wasn't great as we headed out on Saturday morning, but things improved and we were treated to some wonderful fall sights. Like this leaf-covered pathway and pumpkin trio outside a house in Bloomfield.

Lots of farm stands along the way selling seasonal squash.

And gourds of all shapes and sizes!

Some vines changing colour.

And lots 'o punkins!

A festive planter. They really go crazy decorating in the county!

More on my winery visits (and reviews) later.