I Love Fall

One thing I know for certain, Atlantic Canada is a stunningly beautiful place in the Fall. Between the gorgeous colors and the cooler crisp temperatures, it is my all time favorite time of the year. I currently live in Halifax, Nova Scotia, but I am originally from a beautiful area of Atlantic Canada, Corner Brook, Newfoundland. The West Coast of Newfoundland is home to the amazing Gros Morne National Park, Marble Mountain Ski Hill and this is where I grew up.

This next picture doesn’t do the view justice, as I was grilling last night, as the sun was going down, I tried to capture the gorgeous sky and the pretty Fall colors. Yes, I keep clear lights on my balcony all year round. Now that it is getting darker much earlier, I like them on when I’m out using my barbecue.

It’s also a great time for comfort food and great wine. I have a great maple curry chicken pasta dish I made this past week. I’ll share the recipe shortly, yes, that is homemade cheese toast and a robust red to compliment.

Speaking of robust reds, my friend Angie bought this Trapiche Reserve Malbec and shared with me. I don’t buy a lot of Malbec, but I enjoyed this very much, and it’s as wonderful on the wallet as it is on the palate, coming in under $15. Plum and spice notes, with a hint of vanilla. We were playing our weekly game of Rummikub but it would also go nicely with food.

I know I’ve written about this wine in the past, but I bought it again last Friday night. I was do some meal prep for my nephew, and was sipping along. This is so smooth and so flavorful, it’s one of my favorite PInot Noir wines and it’s only $22 a bottle. And that really is a great price for a great Pinot.

I don’t know why, but I don’t eat a lot of pasta in the Summer. So last weekend, I made one of my favorites, a maple curry chicken pasta. I cut chicken breast up in bite size pieces and cooked that in olive oil and some curry powder. I used bowtie pasta, but you can use penne. This is so quick and easy. Saute onions and bell peppers, add the cooked pasta & cooked chicken, and pour in maple syrup. Let that simmer. Then I normally add cream and curry paste, but I was out of curry paste, so I used curry powder, heavy cream and some of the pasta water to make the sauce and let that simmer. Oh, and I added bacon. I mean, pasta is so much better with bacon.

You could enjoy this with a hearty white wine, like this one

Or you could try this new red, which I enjoyed last night for the first time

It’s very seldom I see a red wine in a clear bottle. A rule of thumb, any wine, whether red or white, that comes in a clear bottle should be consumed within 3 years. Which is why most whites are in clear bottles, the majority of them should be consumed within 3 years. So I was a little concerned when I got this home and realized it was a 2016. It was on clearance, regular priced at around $17, on for $13.50. Honestly, I feel our liquor store was a little late putting this on clearance.

It was the Bree Merlot from France, and I love Merlot from France, normally. Most of the French Merlot wines I’ve had have been in Bordeaux blends, but I love the Left Bank of Bordeaux where Merlot dominates. And although it was good, I could tell it was starting to show its age. There was a little bit of a bitterness, but otherwise it was tasty. I wish I had found it earlier. But the fruit still shone through and the empty bottle this morning will tell you it went down more than OK.