The holidays are over and we must now deal with the realities of winter: short days, cold weather and for many of us, no vacation in sight. So let’s create our own holiday by hosting small, intimate gatherings of friends and family. Let’s share laughs and forget about the weather, but let’s keep it simple: [...]

Makes 4 servings 16 – 20 ounces Dry aged beef strip Loin steaks or roast 20 stalks Asparagus (peeled, blanched & cut, 1 inch pieces) 1.5 lbs Large Yellow or White Potatoes 1 Tbsp Gelatin Powder 2 Tbsp Instant Flour 1 Tbsp Fresh or Preserved Truffles (finely diced) 1.5 Tsp Truffle Oil 1 Tbsp Butter [...]

Here’s a terrific story from the Ottawa Citizen on building and stocking your wine cellar. You can find more stories on this right here. Forget meaningless one-night stands. An increasing number of North Americans are having a hot and heavy love affair with wine — a passion that rages on, long after the red roses [...]

This is a terrific piece on pairing wine with spicy dishes written by my good friend Monica Bhide …   There is certainly a noticeable trend in the past few years toward the growth of different ethnic cuisines in the U.S., and wine consumption is also trending up. Combine these and it begs a few [...]

To prove how excited I was to be heading to this year’s Napa Valley Wine Writers Symposium, I tipped over my wine glass. To acknowledge my celebration, the restaurant owner didn’t refill it, reassuring me that I had had enough excitement for the evening. The Symposium, as the site says, draws top wine book authors [...]

A savoury spiral of succulent veal and bread stuffing makes a deeply flavourful winter meal and an elegant dinner table centerpiece.   Ingredients 2 tbsp butter 30 ml 3 stalks celery, chopped 3 1 onion, chopped 1 1 tbsp dried sage 15 ml 1/2 tsp celery seeds 2 ml 1/4 tsp each salt and pepper [...]

In a recent column for the Globe & Mail, I paired some of my favourite books with wine …   I can’t think of a better book to read on January 1 than Lucky Jim by Kingsley Amis. It has one of literature’s finest descriptions of a hangover: "Consciousness was upon him before he could [...]