The Neverending Pinot Noir Project

Way back in September I said I would be finishing my Pinot Noir project. Three months later, I'm still drinking Pinot Noir! It turns out I liked it more than I thought I would! However, December 31st, 2012 marked the now-official end to the project. Although I'm unsure of the total number of Pinots I sampled, I became well acquainted with PNs from Canada, the USA, France, Italy, and New Zealand. Here is what I learned:
-Pinot Noir grapes are the divas of the vineyard. They flourish best in a temperate climate; too much heat and the berries can shrivel and get sun burnt. The grapes are also very susceptible to mildew, botrytis and virus diseases. This also explains why Pinot Noirs tend to cost more than other wines.
-Although the wines do have red and black fruit on the nose and in the palate, Pinot Noirs are full-bodied wines that are mostly earthy, with more mineral and herbaceous notes than fruit. I also found a subtle note of black or white pepper on a lot of the wines I tasted.
-There is a special glass to best taste Pinot Noirs with that has a slightly flared rim. A picture of it can be found in one of my previous posts.
-I found Pinot Noirs paired best with beef and lamb dishes. As mentioned, Pinots are full-bodied and hold up against the stronger flavors of the beef and lamb. The New Zealand Pinot I tasted paired really well with a smoked Gruyere cheese. Go for stronger flavors when pairing a Pinot, but feel free to drink it on it's own, especially a wine from California's 2009 standout vintage.

The Best Vintages By Region
Canada: 2007 hands down! If you can't find a 2007, a 2010 Canadian Pinot is a good 2nd choice
California: 2009 all the way! The climate conditions were perfect for growing Pinots. My "silver medal winner" is from this vintage!
Burgundy, France: 2005, 2009
Sadly, I found Italy on a whole to be a miss with Pinot Noir. They specialize in their own grapes for a reason, and I'll be sure to sample them soon, especially with my return to WSET Advanced in the Spring.

The "Medal Winners" (If I had medals to give out, ha ha)

Gold: Chateau des Charmes Old Vines PN 2007. There was a party in my mouth when I first tried this gem! Full-bodied, spicy, a little herbaceous but a beautiful long finish that doesn't leave a harsh aftertaste in the mouth. It made me want more, and more, and more...4 bottles are now in my cellar. I paired it with meat but could drink it on it's own as well!

Silver: La Crema Monterey PN 2009. I love this wine because it has more abundant red fruit on the bouquet and in the palate than in other Pinots. I found this one to be very easy-drinking, with all the characteristics of a Pinot Noir on the palate. My favorite to drink on it's own! 

Bronze: Louis Latour PN 2009. If you want a good benchmark Pinot from it's homeland of Burgundy, you can not go wrong with this one! I tasted notes of black pepper, bell pepper, eucalyptus, with hints of coffee and meat. Another full-bodied, long finish wine. A great choice!

Best Pairing: Veuve Clicquot with Rack of Lamb Persillade. Because Pinot Noir makes up only a part of the composition in Champagne, I was surprised that it stood out against the harsh, bitter flavors of the lamb! The delicate flavors of the Champagne complemented the lamb in such a way that I couldn't take a bite of meat without savoring a sip of wine in my mouth right after! 

So that's it. Although the blogging portion of the project is now complete, I don't expect to stop drinking Pinots altogether, which is why the project will never officially end in my life. Besides, I've only scratched the surface! Cheers to the Pinot Noirs I will continue to taste in the future!

So what's next for 2013? I will be taking on 2 projects; the first is a cellar-based project thanks to my darling husband. I will be tasting 4 wines, and then cellaring the bottles to see how they age. This one will take a few years (if not longer) to complete and will lead into the 2nd project, a research-based project on the wines of Penfold's. Stay tuned for the tasting notes!

Oh, Fudge...

"Only I didn't say "Fudge." I said THE word, the big one, the queen-mother of dirty words, the "F-dash-dash-dash" word!" Adult Ralphie, A Christmas Story

Thankfully, no curse words were uttered during the making of my Mint Chocolate Fudge! 2012 marks the first year I participated in the trendy and some-people-dread-it bake swap. The plan was to make 4 dozen gluten free and nut free goodies, 1/2 dozen per attending mama. At first, I had no idea what to make. I asked around and got some good ideas from some friends. And just like that, the recipe came to me in the first Christmas card I received in the mail, from the Realtor that sold our townhouse in June. The recipe was for foolproof chocolate fudge. I knew as soon as I read the recipe that I had to try it, because this recipe doesn't require the use of a candy thermometer and careful watching. And what better audience than a bunch of my mom friends (with my husband as "Quality Inspector")? I am happy to say that the fudge turned out divine! My mom friends were wowed by them, and my husband loved the fudge so much he took the last 1/2 dozen to work to share it with his coworkers. And not only did the fudge disappear, but there were rave reviews about how great it was too! So here is the recipe I made, with a few tweaks I made from the original recipe. Enjoy!

Foolproof Mint Chocolate Fudge

Makes: 2 dozen squares in a 9 x 13" glass pan

Vegetable oil cooking spray

2 cups white sugar

1 tsp salt

6 tbsp unsalted butter, at room temperature

1 cup 35% cream

3 1/2 cups mini marshmallows

3 cups semi-sweet chocolate chips

1 tsp pure vanilla extract

1/2 tsp peppermint extract

1/2 cup crushed candy canes

1. Line a 9 x 13" baking pan with 2 sheets of waxed or parchment paper-one lengthwise, and one horizontally so that the ends hang over all sides of the pan. Coat evenly with cooking spray.

2. In a heavy bottomed saucepan over medium heat cook sugar, salt, butter, cream and marshmallows, stirring often, until marshmallows are almost melted, about 5-6 minutes.

3. Bring mixture to a boil; cook, stirring occasionally, about 5 minutes. Remove from heat. Add chocolate chips, vanilla and peppermint extracts and stir until chips are melted. Pour mix into lined pan. Let sit for 2-3 hours.

4. Sprinkle crushed candy canes on top of the fudge to firm up overnight. This is what mine looked like before it's sleep in the fridge:

5. Remove from fridge and let sit at room temperature for 15-20 minutes, to soften up the fudge for cutting into squares.
6. Trim off the edges and cut into 24 squares. Feed the trimmed edges to your "Quality Inspector" (ha ha). My squares looked like this:

7. Package up for swapping or serve and enjoy!

A few helpful hints that I found made all the difference with these batches of fudge:

-Use good quality chocolate, or the best chocolate you have on hand. I used Hershey's semi-sweet chips, but in the future I might try Ghirardelli or Bernard Callebaut to add richness.

-I found that making the fudge the night before and letting it rest overnight in the fridge was an important step. The original recipe stated that the fudge would be set at room temperature after 3 hours; it was not even close to being set at that time. Lots of things are better when they have time to "chill out", this fudge is no exception!

-In case your fudge isn't set when you go to cut it, make sure that you have a cup or mug of warm water on hand to rinse off your knife for smoother, easy cuts. 

If you love the pairing of chocolate and mint and want to indulge in a treat this holiday season, I highly recommend this easy, hassle-free recipe. You will be amazed at the results! If I don't get the chance to blog before Christmas, I hope you and yours have a fabulous holiday season surrounded by family and friends, good food and good times. To you and yours, from me and mine!

Eating My Way Through the YYC Food Trucks

Food Trucks are the new food trend. The Food Network has been overtaken by shows about entrepreneurs wanting to win their own mobile restaurant. One of their shows, Eat St., has become a hit (especially in our home!), featuring food trucks and their fantastic fare from across North America. They've even made it to Hollywood, with fictitious trucks created in movies such as What to Expect When You're Expecting and The Five Year Engagement (mmm...Jason Segel!). Calgary has it's share of trucks; they can be seen out and about at various locations throughout the day, and hungry foodies can track their locations via Facebook, Twitter, and an iPhone app. There have been a few recent events here in YYC that have featured multiple food trucks, and my husband and I have found ourselves at these events, salivating over the scrumptious scents, waiting to try as many different foods as we can. Here is a rundown of what we've tried, what we liked, and what we didn't like as much:

Labour Day Weekend: Student Move-In Day at the University

A good buddy of ours works at the U of C and he emailed us a few days before the long weekend to let us know a few of the food trucks would be at the University for Student Move-In Day. The featured trucks on-site were the Mighty Skillet, The Noodle Bus, and Fiasco Gelato. Our first stop was the Mighty Skillet. Advertised as Calgary's original brunch truck, I was excited to see what breakfast fare they were offering up. And they certainly didn't disappoint with the Bangover Burger, which features a fried egg and bacon on a burger with their own spicy secret sauce. This burger was well worth the wait! It was hot, greasy, spicy, savoury, and satisfying-and if I had been hung over I bet the Bangover would have cured it! The burger came with wedge fries and a very spicy ketchup-style dipping sauce. The sauce was too spicy for me but my husband loved it! Unfortunately, I did not really care for the wedge fries. They were a little under-seasoned for my liking. A little more salt would have made them so much better, I thought!

I headed over to the Noodle Bus for dessert, and my husband chose Fiasco Gelato to satisfy his sweet tooth. I chose the Banana Fritters, which is basically 2 deep-fried spring rolls filled with banana and served with vanilla ice cream. It seemed to take a long time compared to other food orders that were placed after mine; I was hoping my extra-long wait would be worth it. Unfortunately, I was disappointed. Although the "fritters" satisfied my sweet tooth, I was left wanting more. I think maybe a Vietnamese version of a spicy ginger peanut sauce to top the fritters would have really knocked the dessert out of the park. Lucky for me, my husband was willing to share his Fiasco Gelato with me!

He ordered a large serving of gelato, and you get your choice of up to three flavours in the bowl. He chose Mumbai Mango, Raspberry Lime, and Chocolate Flake. Three hefty scoops of gelato in one bowl for $6. I think this is great value! The Mumbai Mango was good and the Chocolate Flake was delectably better, but my personal favourite was the Raspberry Lime. So light, refreshing, with a wonderful hint of lime, and it left me wanting more and more! It was the perfect ending to a great day of food truck sampling!

September 7: Sundown Chowdown

This event was put on by the Calgary Farmer's Market, and featured 12 food trucks on-site! This was advertised so well via radio and Facebook that hundreds of Calgarians came down to sample the trucks! When we got there at 7pm, we were surprised to find that some of the trucks had already closed up shop because they ran out of food. After getting in the lineup for Fries & Dolls and not moving for about 30 minutes, I decided to try the Red Wagon Diner-and boy am I glad I did! I ended up with the Smoked Meat Hash, which is basically breakfast for dinner: a couple of eggs over hash browns, onions, mushrooms and smoked meat, served with rye toast. The smokiness of the meat rounds out a savoury, peppery, flavourful dish that filled me up. My husband ordered The Traditional, which is 6oz of Montreal Smoked Meat on a rye bread sandwich with a mustard blend, lettuce, tomato and a pickle on the side. Although the mustard is pretty strong, it holds it's own against the meat and is a robust, tasty sandwich. Hubs loved it!

I also happened to notice the lineup was short at Fiasco Gelato. I wondered if they had anymore of that spectacular Raspberry Lime on the truck that night so I had to find out! Although they didn't, I made sure to order a large cup with the Chocolate Flake again, and tried out two new flavours: Blueberry Basil and Bourbon Vanilla Bean. Although I enjoyed all three, the Blueberry Basil gelato blew my mind! The basil and blueberry flavours married well together but both stood out on their own too. This is one I will get over and over!

All in all, there isn't much on the food trucks that won't satisfy your appetite. But there are some trucks that just do it right on all counts. If you ever see a truck while on your lunch break or at an event, try it out! Great food can come from a truck! This is one trend I'm happy to partake in!