Monthly Archives: November 2023

Dreaming of a Wine Christmas

Aren’t we all? Hey, it’s a hectic time of the year. There’s so much going on. Last evening my sister and my Mom arrived from Newfoundland and my sister is going shopping! Plus, we had a Q104 40th birthday Alumni party last night, getting to see some of the colleagues I have worked with over the years.

You can’t blame a girl for wanting to chill at the end of the night with a glass of vino. I can also help take the guess work out of when you want to bring a bottle of wine to any Christmas get together.

I tried a new white wine last Saturday night.

My friend Elaine bought this to our game night last Saturday night and I hadn’t had it before. I’ve had several of the 19 Crime wines over the years, but never the Chardonnay from Australia. There’s also a Chardonnay that features Martha Stewart’s face, but that one hails from California.

19 Crimes wines can come from the United States or Australia, and this one hails from Australia. It’s priced just under $22 a bottle and packs a punch with a 14% alcohol content. However, I found it really really good, crisp with some stone fruit and honey flavors, and a bit of oak. I know some people find Australia Chardonnay wines a little oaky, and although you can notice the oak, it wasn’t overbearing.

I did a presentation Monday past for the owner of a hot sauce company here in Halifax. Picked up a bottle too.

You just know it’s going to have some kick with the work Hellfire in the title. It was SPICY! I toned it down a bit with some honey and a bit of BBQ sauce and the wings were just perfect. If you find the hot sauce you bought a little too spicy, add something sweet, as it tones down the heat. What did I have with my wings?

A great value, considering this is such an expensive time of year. Walked into the NSLC close to work and they were featuring this Tempranillo and Merlot blend from Spain. Not only was it yummy, it was priced at $12.75 a bottle. Everyone knows I love finding an exceptional value in wine. Medium bodied, juicy, and very food friendly.

There won’t be a wine blog next weekend, as I will be in Antigonish as my nephew Riley gets his St FX ring.

Till then, Cheers

Darlene

It’s Starting to Feel Like….

Although sitting here writing this blog, outside the wind is picking up and we are expecting a big rain storm, and it’s +14-degrees outside. Still, it is starting to feel like Christmas. I’m extremely late this year starting my Christmas shopping, but I have started it. And this coming Friday my Mom and my sister Jackie arrive in Halifax, and my sister Jackie is going into full shopping mode. Me and Mom have to try to keep up. She is a Ninja when it comes to shopping, this girl never gets tired.

Jackie at Mic Mac Mall

This picture was taken in 2021 at the Mic Mac Mall with Woody. She normally goes on a trip in the Fall, and has some of her shopping done. Not this year, she is doing it all here. Oh my, wish me luck.

Want a yummy recipe for potatoes? Two of my favorite sides are rice and potatoes. So, I’m always looking for new recipes for the grand old potato. I made these last night.

And they are so yummy, I just had them as part of my brunch. Oh, and I added cheese and bacon to them after I took this picture. Remember the spices from last week?

I added #2 to a honey mustard recipe for the potatoes. Here it is. Honey, grainy mustard, Olive oil, chicken broth (it will absorb) garlic powder, onion powder and any other spices you would like to add. Here’s the recipe from Eating Well.

Ok… Let’s talk some wine.

This wine has become a staple in my wine rack very quickly. More well known by its alter ego, Zinfandel, Primitivo is a big juicy grape from Italy. This wine is from Puglia, in the heel of Italy’s boot.

It’s fairly new to the NSLC, but packs a punch of flavor and a great price point, just $16.99 a bottle. I love this quote from their website

“Wine raises the soul and the mind, and all worries leave the human heart”.

There’s also a Pinot Grigio at the same price point for my white wine loving friends. I haven’t tried it yet, but I definitely will.

There’s also a Chianti at our NSLC, after doing some research on this wine this week. I’ll be tracking that down. It’s a blend of Sangiovese and Merlot, and has the same price point.

Have a great weekend. My Nova Scotia friends, stay safe in the weather bomb they are predicting.

Darlene

In Honor of All Veterans

Today is Remembrance Day and I’m always at a loss of words on this day. To those that served, to those that sacrificed. Thank you doesn’t seem enough, does it? There is a song done by Billy Ray Cyrus called Some Gave All, and there’s a lyric that I always think of on this day, “All Gave Some, Some Gave All”

Every single person that serves gives so much of themselves, and to those present, past and future, I am truly grateful.

I am truly blessed to have some wonderful friends in my life. And some of them are real foodies, like myself.

My friends Arla & Fred, (Fred loves to cook as much as I do) gave me these 3 spices. The Holy Cow I had on a steak this past week and it was so delicious. It smells amazing. The #2, Honey Hey BBQ and #3 is Hey Grill. Hey Grill Hey is one of my favorite websites for everything grilling. I first got introduced to Suzie Bulloch when she came in second on the 1st Season of BBQ Brawl with Bobby Flay on the Food Network

Suzie Bulloch from Hey Grill Hey

“Susie Bulloch founded Hey Grill Hey in 2015 with one desire: To help people make better BBQ. To date she has created over 500 recipes that millions of people cook every month, making Hey Grill Hey a name synonymous with amazing BBQ“. She is not a professional trained chef, like me, she is self taught. She is a BBQ master, and her website has 500 recipes. You should check it out.

Roasted Potatoes with #2 Honey Hey BBQ

I was at a meeting this past week with Richard and Anita from Atlantic Tours & Travel. Anita told me when she gets the blog, she says to herself “I wonder what Darlene is eating this week”. Anita, I ate very well this week, including using the sauces I got at Christmas at the Forum last weekend.

Rudi’s BBQ sauce & Sweet Cherry Bomb hot sauce

Ok.. let’s talk about some wine.

Santa Carolina Reserva Cabernet Sauvignon

My friend Angie bought this to share, and we both enjoyed it very much. It’s a great value Cabernet Sauvignon from Chile. It was fruit forward, had some body to it, the tannins weren’t overly strong and it went down pretty easy. Some nice spicy notes with the fruit, great for any meat dishes and priced here at $16.48. A great deal considering how many times this year the price of wine has gone up.

Remember when I mentioned that I started this blog to feature good wines under $25. Well, with the price of wines increasing, here’s a new wine I tried this week.

Leese – Fitch Cabernet Sauvignon

From the heart of Sonoma, in the Napa Valley, this is a new wine to our shelves. It was so good. With Christmas coming up around the corner, here’s a gorgeous wine for that red wine drinker on your list. Priced at $24.99, it’s a very good price for a spectacular wine. Although the label says Cabernet Sauvignon, it’s actually a blend. 78% Cabernet, 12% Merlot, 6% Petite Sirah and 4% Syrah. It was so good, I bought another one yesterday to share with my friend Angie this evening because it’s my turn to bring the wine.

That’s it for this week. Take a moment of gratitude today to all who have served, and to those that currently serve.

Till next week, Cheers

Darlene

Wines to Warm Your Soul

Is it just me or is this year flying by. Halloween is over, we are into November, and the Starbucks Christmas blend is out. Temperatures have dropped here in Atlantic Canada and we had our first snowfall on Wednesday. But as I write this, it’s 9-degrees and expected to hit 13 today. I’ll take it.

It’s also Christmas Craft Fair season

I love Christmas Craft fairs, and Christmas at the Forum is on this weekend and the next 2 weekends. I just happened to do a little visit and picked myself up a little gift. Made here in Halifax, Rudi is a success story when it comes to hot sauce. His dad grew up in Bahamas and is known as the Peppermaster. Rudi added hot sauce to everything. And now he makes his own, and they are delicious.

Sweet cherry bomb is the flavor I used on these wings. WOW! So yummy. And what I like about Rudi’s, he has a wide range of sauces that go from mild to extra spicy. Pick your spice level. As you can see from the glass in the back, I was having red, but here’s a great wine to have with spicy wings.

If I were to recommend a wine, I would choose a Riesling. Riesling is a white wine that comes in a wide range of sweetness. This is the coolest bottle and the picture was painted by the winemaker, Heinz Ames. The bottle also contains a really really good wine. It’s the Moselland Ars Vitis Riesling and it’s priced at $19 a bottle. I like my Riesling with just a tinge of sweetness on the tip of your tongue. This wine has beautiful flavors of stone fruit and honey, with that tinge of sweetness.

Before I put those wings in my air fryer to make that crispy, I smoked them first on my pellet grill. Slow and low, I had them on 250-degrees for about 45 minutes and then put them in my air fryer. Smoky, spicy and crispy, they were perfect.

Here’s the wine I had last night

From Valencia Spain, Con un Par (With a Pair) is a blend of Monastrell and Petite Verdot. It’s a very earthy wine, as some Spanish wines are. I had the 2017 and again, this wine needs to be aerated or some time to breathe. It’s been in the bottle 6 years, it needs a little breathing room. I was swirling like crazy. It is on clearance now at about $18 a bottle.

I’m not sure if truer words were ever spoken.

Have a great weekend, I have to bring my nephew Riley to the airport and then get my nails done. St FX is on a week’s break and he’s pretty excited to be going to Corner Brook, his girlfriend of more than a year is going to school there.

Till next week, Cheers.

Darlene