phedre

Oh.. the stories. There was the boyfriend in high school with the snooty mother (she didn't think I was good enough for him til she found out I got a scholarship to law school in my 20s..oh how her tune changed THEN!). She made a pot roast that had all the flavour and texture of an old leather boot. Whilst I was gamely trying to chew down my small morsel, she remarked on how tender the roast was that night. I had to stop myself from choking. Then there was the boyfriend who absolutely CHARRED some very expensive dry aged steaks I'd picked up for a special night. He prided himself on being a barbeque expert. Oh no, he wouldn't overcook them! they'll come out medium rare! HONEST!..... they were inedible. I'm now single :D

Actually, as long as we're talking about SAQ wine, i recently picked up a bottle of Riesling Rosacker Hunawihr alsace grand cru 2000. Product code for the SAQ is 00642553 I'm loving it :)

Ok guys, this was REALLY fun. I've been looking to extend my wine selections lately. I tend to get into 'wine ruts', where I'll only buy what I know. For the past month, I've been making a concerted effort to NOT buy anything I've had in the past. I went through the last page of posts, and picked five wines that caught my eye (and was available on saq.com). So here's the rundown: Shiraz Scothmans Hill geelong Australie 2001 Moulin-à-vent Château des Jacques Louis Jadot 2001 Pinot gris Bodega Lurton mendoza Argentine 2004 Petite syrah L.A. Cetto Mexique 2002 (x2 cause it was CHEAP!) Pinot noir Coldstream Hills Yarra Valley Australie 2002 To be delivered on Wednesday morning. If they suck, I'm gonna hunt you all down ;) I'm looking forward to trying them all! And what is UP with this pinot noir craze? Seriously people! *mutter* i hate bandwagon jumpers.

Hello again! Thanks to Jackal10 for kindly sending me the starter for my bread. I got it in the post on Friday, whizzed it in the blender with some flour and water, and got bubbles so fast it was unbelievable! It's VERY active! I've done a step-by-step summary of my experiment here: http://www.claudia.ca/bread/bread.html (HEAVY graphics warning!) Although the bread turned out better than any of my previous attempts, and the flavour was VERY nice, the texture still leaves a lot to be desired. I hope you all can help me out with that one!

Holy (@*# That is incredible! I don't think i've ever seen anything quite like that in my life! Very nice!

Well, this weekend has degenerated into hectic craziness, so it looks like I won't be making it to Olympico today. Hopefully next weekend I'll have something to report!

jmcnally: i'd be willing to go point for point on how the SAQ is worse! hehe. Though between the two provinces, i'm mostly covered when it comes to what I want to drink. I find the main exceptions are the Oregon and BC wines. Now if only i could think of a reason to make regular business trips to BC and Oregon.

If no one's updated by next weekend, i'll definitely let you know about the charred smell :) And yeah, boo on the weather. It's almost summer! Give us terrace weather already!

Seems i'll be moving to within very close walking distance of Cafe Olympico. Even though I've lived on the Plateau for over five years, I've yet to venture into this well known spot, preferring to stick much closer to home. I'm definitely going to give it a try, probably this weekend. I'm especially happy that they've turned it completely non-smoking. I can't handle cig. smoke over my morning cappuccino!

hey everyone, I live in Montreal, but get to Toronto once a month or so for business. Whenever I go, I try to stock up on Australian and Canadian wines, which are in short supply at the SAQ :/ It's depressing to walk into a HUGE SAQ Selection shop, see entire ROWS devoted to a single region of france, and compare it to the pathetic three or four Canadian wines on offer in the "Divers Pays" corner. Our offices used to be at 1 Dundas, which gave me access to the LCBO across the street (sorry if I can't remember the name... i think it was the atrium on bay?). But now we're down on the lake, and I've no clue where to go! I stay at the Westin Harbour Castle. I'm usually on a tight schedule, but I'll MAKE time to get to the LCBO! If anyone has any suggestions on which LCBO to hit, and what wines to pick up, I'd REALLY appreciate it. I usually try to pick up 6 - 8 bottles (having to carry them during travel is a PAIN!) across a variety of price ranges and styles, and I'm really looking to expand my collection. I've fallen into a bit of a rut lately with my wine choices, and have made a conscious effort to buy new and untried wines. It can be hit and miss, but the hits are well worth it, i think :) Favourites include Australian shiraz, NZ sauvignon blanc, Burgundy pinot noirs, well, just about anything really :) Any suggestions are very appreciated!

Meh. My culture managed to develop mold today. MOLD! It started off healthy, nice and bubbly. Then it went kinda dead. Ok fine... so i started doing refeeds. Today i went to check it and... ew. Just ew. It had white mold growing on it, and a smell like my gymbag when I forget to wash my workout clothes for a week. Ick. Container and starter went into the trash. But I shall persevere! Now it's personal. I'll figure this out yet!

No pilot light or airing cupboard unfortunately :/ i'll try the cooler and hot water idea. Thanks!

(@*#($ Defeated again. Before i even started, this time. My fridge seems to have two settings: freeze everything, or let the ice cream melt. When I went to get my starter this morning, it had a skin of ice on top of it. This could not be good. I went ahead and poured it into my bowl, refreshed, and set it into the oven with a tealight to ferment. Normally, my culture produces bubbles very quickly, but after an hour, i had NOTHING. Not one measly bubble. Something was obviously very wrong. The temperature in the oven was holding steady at ~85f according to my thermometer, so i went about my day. I had a few errands to run. When I returned two hours later, the thermometer read 95f, and there was still no action in my sponge. I killeded it I've got a fresh batch of unbleached organic flour and spring water out to catch now. My starters usually develop very quickly, so i'll be ready to try again in a few days. In the meantime, any recommendations on how to maintain a steady 85f temperature for someone who doesn't control their own heating? I live in an old radiator heated apartment where the landlord controls the heat. While I'd be willing to turn it up to heat one room to 85f for a day, it just doesn't work that way.

Thanks for the quick reply! Well, i'm definitely trying again this weekend. i'm going to go get some bottled water to try, so i shouldn't have to worry about chlorine. I do live in the middle of the city, so that's a possibility. And i've gotten out a thermometer, so i can try and keep things at the right temp. I'll be sure and take lots of pictures to document the process. I'll get this right yet!

Hey everyone, I've been reading anything i can find on egullet about sourdough breadmaking, and it's been very informative! Now i'm hoping someone can help me with my problem. I've been attempting to make sourdough bread for months now. Everything goes well up to a certain point... the yeast is nice and active, it has a wonderful smell, the taste is phenomenal, but for one thing: the bread doesn't rise. It comes out like a brick, and it's driving me insane! I followed the instructions in the course by Jackal10 on egullet to the letter, including retardation and putting it on a pizza stone in a hot oven (i did get some good oven spring!). The texture is just far too heavy, with teeny tiny holes. I got better results from this method than the other method i was using though, which involved letting the yeast culture sit overnight before making your bread. This resulted in a gorgeous sour flavour, but of course meant the bread wasn't about to rise at all. But with this one, i just let it sit for four hours. It had a sour hint to it, but not much at all. Does anyone have any suggestions? My culture's in the fridge now, and i'm thinking of trying again this weekend. I just bought a new digital camera, so i'm going to photo-document the process this time. I've been thinking of trying the 'tablespoon of sourdough starter' method instead of the 1c i've been using. Might that help? thanks for all your help. It's been VERY educational already, even if i still get bricks instead of bread :)