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wattacetti

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Posts posted by wattacetti

  1. Greetings,

    My indirect shopping continues as (non-drinking) friends will be off to New Zealand next month for holidays. So, I have an opportunity to take advantage of their goodwill, 1.5 L per person exemption, and long ropy arms to acquire a few bottles of New Zealand's up-and-coming Pinot Noirs.

    Apart from a recent WS article saying "Central Otago", information and Canadian supply are both somewhat slim . I currently have or have access to the following Pinot production:

    Ata Rangi

    Felton Road

    Highfield

    Isabelle Estate

    Kim Crawford

    Koura Bay

    Pegasus Bay

    Peregrine

    So, I invite your suggestions on other interesting Pinot Noir producers that I should ask them to watch out for. Thank you in advance.

  2. Greetings Vancouverites,

    I will be in Vancouver next week and will be spending an evening cooking for friends. I have knives in tow and will be concentrating on the Granville Island Market for ingredients since there's very little time after the day's meetings to spend hunting ingredients.

    I've already got the following shops to visit:

    Oyama - charcuterie and cheese (+ sausages to take home)

    Longliner - seafood

    Stock Market - fond

    The key question for me is: What are the other "in season and must have" ingredients (land mammals, vegetables, crustaceans etc) currently available in Vancouver that I'm obviously not aware of given that I live in Quebec.

    I'd also like to know if the following are available since I'd be looking to these as fallbacks:

    - onglet

    - moulard duck magrets

    - yucca

    - wild mushrooms

    - pea shoots

    - are fresh favas (gourganes) available?

    I don't have a set menu in mind since I want to use the best of what's available at the market. So far, I'm leaning towards two appetizers, main and cheese (since I suck at desserts, I'd probably roast and flambé a pineapple or just buy something).

    Your assistance, observations and suggestions would be greatly appreciated. I'll post on what I eventually find and what I wind up poisoning them with. :biggrin:

  3. I haven't been yet, and I hope that their current service is an improvement over the experiences that some of you have had in the last couple of years. I'm cautiously optimistic that things will have improved with the adding of Fairmont to their name.

    It's always been a Fairmont since Fairmont was spun out of CP by Tellier several years back.

    Have been to the Voyageur several times over the last year for hypothetical discussions; apart from individuals smoking poor-quality cigars, it was acceptable for a hotel bar with a reasonable selection of wine and spirits. Can't tell you anything useful about the Beaver Club since it's been over a decade since I've had a meal there. Your Fairmont connection however may be useful in ensuring that it does become a (positive) memorable experience.

  4. Greetings,

    I have an opportunity to take advantage of the goodwill of a couple of co-workers who will be attending a meeting in San Francisco later this month.

    My question is, are there SFO retail outlets carrying Jim Clendenen's Au Bon Climat Pinot Noirs? Knox Alexander and Isabelle Morgan are the preferences, but any ABC would be okay. Thanks in advance.

  5. It kind of depends on what you like.

    I liked and have purchased Artesa's Chardonnays and Gewurtztraminer (late harvest), and have a couple of Cabs (reserve and non-reserve) kicking around. Had an "oh well" moment when I tasted their Pinot Noirs.

  6. Luckily there were friends who filled up my glass of wine and took me out on the balcony for a smoke and a drink so I couldn't watch him destroy the clean kitchen we spend forever cleaning up.

    In retrospect, if they were really *good* friends, they would have used "allergic to eggs" woman to beat him senseless. That or give him one hell of a wedgie to make him stop.

  7. Which reminds me of the second nightmarish part of the whole thing. I was wearing a rather short skirt that day. During the CPR I looked up and noticed that the eyes of the onlookers were not exactly directed at the fellow's face.

    Never wore a miniskirt to work again. . .

    Apart from this being a prime example of why our mothers keep telling us to wear nice underpants, I'm quite sure the observers appreciated your smile. :laugh:

    Let's see…

    I hosted one dinner where a physician invitee and the auditor split about 3 bottles between them and wound up imitating octopi with my female guests, so my evening became an exercise in reassigning seating, with a healthy dose of creative groveling the day afterwards to the latter group.

    For ex-Canadian venues, there was the fun time in Brussels where a study nurse tells me she's a vegan and allergic to fish and shellfish after we arrive at a seafood place (I still have the letter of complaint sent to the department). Or the dinner in London where a physician and the US Project Team Lead got into a fistfight over what was considered an appropriate physical exam and medical follow-up.

    There was also the (mandatory) Christmas luncheon when I was working contract. I was an invitee (with my mandatory antlers) but there was a small cluster of us at the table devising ways to exit unobtrusively as the agency owner, his wife and his mistress did body shots with taramosalata and other pikilia tidbits.

  8. Wattaceti I need more info on cornish pasties??

    Someone is going to come after me with a pitchfork for writing this, but you can think of a Cornish Pasty as a kind of calzone originating in Cornwall (UK).

    Paella over an open fire sounds good; I saw something on a guy in Spain who does this (and with a fistful of saffron to boot).

  9. And if you don't want to use a Web-based solution, there's stuff like Cellar!, which is based on Access but without the need to have to program the database yourself. Supports barcodes, tracks auction stuff and does have online tasting notes with other Cellar! users.

  10. My list sounds like everyone else's:

    Common stuff includes Brunswick sardines, Clover Leaf (Wild Pacific) Sockeye, bamboo shoots, palm hearts, baby corn, and Campbell Chunky for all-nighters. Canned tomatoes also make it into the pantry in winter.

    I also have tins of eel (Japan and Taiwan) and lamprey (Bordeaux).

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