There was some seriously hot competition at Vancouver's Rogers Arena this week. And it wasn’t on the ice. CAPS BC (more lengthily known as the Canadian Association of Professional Sommeliers, BC Chapter) held its annual competition to determine the best sommelier in the province. Vying for top honours were Sean Nelson of Vij’s Restaurant (Vancouver), Shane [...]
Joseph Mellot Sancerre—the perfect match We’re seriously back on our oyster kick, after the long drought that saw oyster sales banned due to the risk of Vibrio Vulnificus. That’s the disease that oysters carry which can cause serious food poisoning, which in some cases can be fatal. While I’m not crazy about Vancouver [...]
Nettles, freshly cut. Put them in the crisper and they'll keep for at least a couple of weeks. Or dry them. My love affair with Stinging Nettles is a relatively recent occurrence. When I was growing up, in England, it seemed they were everywhere, including at the bottom of our garden. It was [...]
Forbidden Fruit's remarkable Cerise d'Eve, from the Similkameen Valley I’ve never been all that crazy about wine with chocolate, well, not entirely. In fact most of the time there’s little that appeals to me about matching a Cab with a piece of even good dark chocolate, whatever anyone says. OK, Port can be [...]
Yew's Oceans cocktails, such as this 'Glacial Snout" , are some of the most innovative we've seen I’ll confess: I haven't always been a huge fan of cocktail and food pairings. However, there was a time a short while back when it was all the rage. And for some it still is. Not [...]
Sun Peaks - great skiing plus plenty more ... Sun Peaks—Canada's second largest ski resort—yields a wealth of fun and activities in a pristine alpine setting. However, there's a lot more here than you might imagine once you get off the slopes and trails. 1. Sun Peaks Winter Okanagan Wine Festival The [...]
ChocolaTas: Looking as good as they taste UPDATED, Sept 9th, 2015 CHOCOLATAS OWNER WIM TAS NAMED TOP ARTISANAL CHOCOLATIER There is plenty of gold for ChocolaTas THE NEWS Master Chocolatier Wim Tas, with his wife and business partner Veve, are positively beaming GOLD. Named Top Artisanal Chocolatier and Most Gifted Chocolatierat the recent International [...]
Spierhead: an emerging, consistent contender ©Tim Pawsey Looking to to buy for the BC wine lover in your life? Here’s a clutch of more interesting but not that hard to find wines, which individually and collectively show just how much the bar has been raised in the last few years. These bottles, beyond [...]
Cactus Club exec chef Rob Feenie and sommelier-service director Sebastien Le Goff Scratch the surface of a Cactus Club wine list and you’ll often find what constitutes an unlikely line-up of wines—for what we now refer to as “Casual Fine Dining” restaurants. Much of the reason for more interesting than usual selections (especially [...]
Casual tasting and wines by the glass at the market wine shop Travel, they say, broadens the mind. It also sharpens your perspective at home. A recent tasting in France found me thinking, once again, despite some progress, just how outdated BC’s liquor laws really still are, outdated—and ridiculous. We were in the Victor Hugo [...]
