Back to School Lunches for All You’re ready to send your wee ones back to school, but now comes the part most parents dread: packing lunches. Fret not, I found the perfect recipe to make your life just a little easier. The thing I love most about this recipe for Monterey and Egg Pita Pockets is that you can use them for your kids’ lunches and for your own lunch as well. Made with delicious Canadian Monterey Jack, children will love these bite-size pockets. Not to mention that they’re a breeze to prepare. This means you’ll have extra time to […]
Food & Wine Pairing
Three Cheese Caribbean Rice Recipe Paired with Sparkling Wine
The Caribbean is Closer Than you Think It’s definitely getting as hot as the Caribbean, so why not bring the flavour of the Carribean to your home as well? This savoury recipe for Three Cheese Caribbean Rice is the perfect main for a Caribbean-themed bash. And with savoury jalapeno-flavoured Canadian Havarti, Old Canadian Cheddar, and creamy Canadian Gouda, it will have your guests’ palettes dancing on first taste. A great wine to complement the cheesy flavour of the rice is a Hungarian wine called Hungaria Grand Cuvée Brut. While not from the Caribbean, its zesty lemony flavour will balance out […]
3 Insider Wine + Food Pairing Tips, Most Underrated Grape
Wordsmith, wine pro and lifelong highland dancer, Natalie MacLean sat down with Grape Magazine, talking whisky, winter, the world’s greatest wines and the secrets to top-shelf imbibing without breaking the bank. Your Writing Process? I’m a messy writer—if I were a painter, I’d paint a seagull in one corner, then a clump of clover in another corner. I’d splash on the page every impression I have, then edit, edit, edit. Best Wine & Food? The best pairing is between you and a wine you like. But as far as food pairings go, the fun is in experimenting, choosing whether to […]
The Great Canadian Wine Match Recipe Cards
Here’s a first peak at the final designs for The Great Canadian Wine Match neck-tags with some mouth-watering recipes to pair with the winning and nominated wines in the first people’s choice awards for Canadian wine held in June with the hashtag #GCWM. You’ll start to see these neck-tags on thousands of bottles in stores across the country this fall, and we’ll be posting these recipes on the site via the links you’ll find inside the cards. This is a sample format: Here’s one of the 6 different designs and recipes, depending on the category for which the wine was […]
Campfire Chili Recipe with Banana and Cream Cheese S’mores
Camp out in Style When most of us think of camping, visions of shoddily made wieners and messy marshmallow confections come to mind. Sure they can be tasty, but they’re hardly anything to write home about. That is, until now. Try these following two recipes for Campfire Chili and Banana and Cream Cheese S’mores; with Canadian Monterey Jack and Canadian Cream Cheese, they’ll turn your carefree camping trip into a gourmet getaway. And, of course, the only other thing that a gourmand needs with good food is good wine. Here are a couple of my camping suggestions. Cave Spring Cellars […]
Wine Chicken Pairing with Le Clos Jordanne
In the video above, we chat with two Gold Medal winners in The Great Canadian Wine Match: winemaker Sebastien Jacquey and wine lover Darlene Meyers, who rallied thousands of votes for Sebastien’s Le Clos Jordanne Grand Clos Chardonnay to be named Canada’s Best Wine with Chicken. Sebastien joins me from his winery in Niagara, Ontario and Darlene from her home in Halifax, Nova Scotia: – Darlene describes how her first taste of Le Clos Jordanne Le Grand Clos Chardonnay changed her from drinking red wines all the time – Darlene and Sebastien talk about why this wine pairs well with […]
Grilled Fruit Salad, Bocconcini, Mint Recipe and Dessert Wine
Harvest in the Flavours This Season Fresh fruit abounds this summer. So when I came across this light and refreshing recipe for Grilled Fruit Salad with Bocconcini and Mint, I knew I had to try it. Jam-packed with juicy fresh fruits and fresh Canadian Bocconcini cheese, your mouth will water just thinking about it. A fruity recipe like this calls for a fruity wine. Rossignol Estate Iced Liberty Blossom is a sweet wine from Prince Edward Island that is made with three different kinds of apples. Another great match is Clos de Caveau Fruit Sauvage, a sweet, yet […]
National Post on Wine Writers + Competitions: Critiquing the Critics
National Post drinks columnist Adam McDowell penned an excellent, thought-provoking editorial in the weekend edition of the paper on wine critics and competitions entitled “Are wine critics fooling us into buying pricier bottles?” He opens with the classic Roald Dahl short story Taste, in which a stockbroker makes a bet with his wine snob dining companion, to correctly identify a wine in a blind taste test. (Dahl is also the author of the bestselling children’s novels Charlie and the Chocolate Factory and James and the Giant Peach: clearly a man who loves food and drink, but mercifully doesn’t take it, […]
Smoky Stuffed Eggplant with Mozzarella and Feta Recipe
Summer Entertaining Made Easy The season every hostess longs for is finally here: Summer Entertaining Season. But along with the many hostess woes (What should I wear? Will the weather be good? What date works for everyone?) comes the most difficult questions of all: what should I make? Luckily, I have a recipe that will put the pickiest hostess at ease. This recipe for Smoky stuffed eggplant with Mozzarella and Feta contains the best elements of summer in one self-contained bowl. Healthy vegetables? Check. Garden-fresh herbs? Check. All-natural Canadian cheese? Check. Now that you know what to make, you can […]
Red Wine and Cupcake Pairings: Red Velvet and Chocolate Guinness Meet Their Match
In our second video, we chat about pairing red wines with cupcakes: think red velvet, chocolate chocolate and chocolate Guinness (Belgian dark chocolate dipped in Guinness beer). Even lighter and drier red wines, such as pinot noir, have a place beside cupcakes. Discover some great combinations with the owners of Ottawa’s Cupcake Lounge. You can also watch part one of our chat where we pair carrot, butterscotch bourbon and maple cinnamon cupcakes with white wines and sparkling wines. The research never ends ;) Natalie: We are back with Claudia Arizmendi and Bill McGuiness, owners of Ottawa’s Cupcake Lounge. We are […]
