When it comes to wine, folks who appreciate the grape have never had so many options and opportunities to learn more about it than ever before.
As an aficionado, I’m actually shocked about the amount of information available about a bottle of vino.
Within a few minutes of searching online, you can most likely find the origin of the grapes used to make it, the fermenting process, the story behind it, winemakers notes and pairing advice.
I think that’s pretty cool.
But reading about wine isn’t the same as tasting wine and that’s really the only way to find a bottle of the stuff that you’ll really enjoy.
Sure, background about the aging process or what it was aged in does help you navigate through the throngs on bottles on store shelves, but until you crack the cork and taste it yourself, you’ll never know for sure.
In Manitoba, we get the opportunity to try hundreds and hundreds of wines at the Winnipeg Wine Festival in May.
But, if you’re in BC, you get to do the same thing this week.
From now until March 4, the 2012 Vancouver Playhouse International Wine Festival throws open its doors and invites you to come down and explore the wide world of wine with them.
From winery dinners to seminars and vertical tastings, there are a ton of options to explore, not to mention the Festival Tastings on Thursday, Friday and Saturday.
While the smaller events cater to a specific theme, the public tastings offers more than 790 wines to sample from 180 wineries originating from 15 different countries.
That should let you sample some of the wines you’d really like to try but haven’t yet as well as many others that may just become your new favourite.
As always, if you plan on attending one or more of these events, make sure you’ve plotted out a safe ride home because small samples of a lot of wine can add up quite quickly.
If you’d like more information, check out http://playhousewinefest.com/
Cheers!

I love cheese.
The kind that is edible mind you, and not the kind you see in bad movies.
I find delight in all kinds of cheese–blue, soft, hard, creamy, old, new–you name it and I bet I’d love it to.
As a fromage aficionado, aside from setting up an amazing cheese board, I have a certain weakness for cheese dips and in particular, ones that are warm and involve beer too.
I mean, how can anyone possibly resist the allure of a pot of simmering gooey melted cheese?
I know I can’t.
To wit, a chef recently sent me a recipe for one such cheese dip that would be perfect for an upcoming St. Patricks day party.
It’s fairly simple, and after making it (and sampling of course), I give this recipe five stars.
It comes from Chef Niels Kjeldsen, Executive Chef of Prime Pubs, a family of authentic Irish pubs.
Give this one a go and let me know if you think it’s worth five stars too!

Cashel & Kilkenny Cheese Dip

Makes 4 portions

Ingredients
Butter 1/2 cup or 125 ml
All purpose flour 1/4 cup or 60 ml
2% Milk 2 cups or 500 ml
Cashel blue cheese, crumbled 3/4 cup or 180 ml
Aged white cheddar, grated 3/4 cup or 180 ml
Mashed potato 3/4 cup or 180 ml
Cream cheese, softened 1 cup or 250ml
Kilkenny beer 1 1/4 cup or 310 ml
Dijon mustard 1/2 tbsp or 7 ml
Panko, breadcrumbs 6 tbsp or 90 ml
Worcestershire sauce 1 tsp or 5 ml
Tabasco 1/4 tsp or 1 ml
Salt and pepper 1/2 tsp or 2 ml

Garnish
Baguette cut into coin shape 48 pcs
Olive oil 1/2 cup or 125 ml
Bacon, cooked, chopped 1/2 cup or 125 ml
Red peppers, diced 1/4 cup or 60 ml
Cashel blue cheese, crumbled 1/4 cup or 60 ml
Green onions, chopped 1/4 cup or 60 ml

DIRECTIONS:
Place butter in pot and melt (medium heat).
Add flour and mix well. Cook for 2 min.
Add all the milk at once and bring to a simmer, whisking continuously for 5 min.
Remove from stove and transfer to stainless steel bowl.
Add remaining ingredients, mix well.
Portion into 4 oven proof dishes and reserve.

Toss baguette coins with olive oil. Olace on hot grill for 15 seconds per side.
Top cheese dip with bacon, red peppers and Cashel cheese.
Place under broiler until melted. Garnish with green onions.
Arrange baguette coins around dish and enjoy!

Last year I was invited to a football game with a couple of wine reps and our distribution partner in Manitoba to hang out and have some fun.
A nice meal and a chance to watch the Bombers play?
Sure, sign me up.
As we walked up to our seats, one of the reps and I starting talking about food and meal-making in general.
He was telling me how hard it was to come up with a different meal every night and wanted some suggestions on how to break out of a cooking rut.
I told him, at least from my perspective, it would be much easier than he might think.
In short, I told him to look at the things he makes most frequently and to change one thing.
He looked at me like I was kidding but I was being genuine.
It really is as simple as that.
He still looked at me like I was talking crazy, but I explained that one dish can change drastically in flavour but changing one thing, be it one of the ingredients, one of the steps in the recipe or even the way the meal is cooked.
For instance, I said, look at tomato sauce, a pretty easy thing to make and have on hand.
I suggested loading up his next batch with fresh basil and no oregano or vice versa. I suggested omitting onions and going with sautéed leeks instead.
Go with diced tomatoes instead of crushed or even cherry tomatoes; toss in ricotta cheese or baby spinach; give it a healthy shot of balsamic vinegar.
As I was rattling off these variations, I could see in his eyes he never thought such a small change could make such a big impact on the end result.
And that my friends, is just changing one ingredient, we haven’t even talked about what would happen if we changed the prep of one of the items.
Say, roasting the onions in the oven first to deepen their flavour; simmering garlic slowly in olive oil and then adding at the end; using a immersion blender to turn the whole shebang into a silky sauce.
It’s so easy to add variation to a staple dish.
One of the things I make most frequently is brownies and it drives my wife bananas because I just like to make them, not eat them.
But the same “change one thing” applies to baking ruts too.
Normally, I make a batch that combines chocolate (in some form), sugar, eggs, and flour that is usually gently mixed together then baked.
One variation can lead to enormous change.
This time, I beat the eggs and sugar until they filled with so much volume, they nearly doubled in size.
Then, and only then, did I add the chocolate and flour.
Man, what a difference.
While my usual recipe produced some delicious brownies, altering the method resulted in a batch that had both a light and airy top and crust, almost meringue-like, while the centre remained nicely fudgy.
Just one change made a huge difference.
So my friends, if you find yourself about to make the same chicken, the same pasta, the same rice, remember, a small change can make a huge difference.

For me, as it is with many other cooks, making food from scratch is a way to show others we care about them.
Sure, we need to eat too, but putting something together in the kitchen that my friends and family will find delicious makes me feel great.
While many TV commercials will suggest that it’s a diamond or a box of chocolates that are the real ways to show your affection, I think cooking is the sincerest way to show it.
My wife and I have been married for close to a decade and during that time, she has yet to cook a meal for herself or our children.
It’s not like she hasn’t tried though–it’s just that I’m always there in front of the stove first.
So as we approach another V-day together, I’ve asked her what she’d like to eat on the 14th.
She hasn’t told me yet but I already know the answer–I make it for her every year.
Still, leading up to the big night, I’ve been preparing dishes that cater to more of my favourite flavours with one in particular popping up–Fettucine Alfredo.
I know, I know, an artery killer for sure, but everything in moderation friends–don’t worry, I’ll eat a salad the next evening.
I find Alfredo to be simply divine and a cinch to make too.
All you need are three ingredients–butter, cream and cheese.
While the shopping list is quite small, what I’ve found to be absolutely critical to the success of this dish is the quality of ingredients used.
Organic butter, fresh cream and grated-just-before-making-the-meal Parmesan Reggiano.
To make myself feel a little less guilty about eating it, I add several huge handfuls of baby spinach that I sauté first.
I also toss in large shrimp, a few spoonfuls of roasted garlic and whole wheat fettucine too.
Simply amazing.
While decadent and sitting on the sinful side of the scale, I think it would be perfect as a dish to serve your love on V-day.
Brandon’s Fettucine Alfredo with Roasted Garlic & Baby Spinach
8 oz whole wheat fettucine
8 oz baby spinach, stemmed
1 package of 31-40 sized shelled and uncooked shrimp, thawed
1 head of roasted garlic (or more), cloves squeezed out and pureed
3/4 cup butter
3/4 cup heavy cream
3/4 cup Parmesan cheese, grated

DIRECTIONS:
Cook pasta in a pot of boiling salted water until al dente. Before draining, reserve 1/2 cup of cooking water.
Meanwhile, heat 1 tbsp of butter in a sauté pan set over medium high heat; add spinach and cook until starting to wilt.
Lower heat to a simmer and add remaining butter. When melted, add shrimp and cook until pink, stirring often.
Add roasted garlic, stirring to mix, and cream to the pan. Bring to a boil, then reduce heat. Add Parm, stirring until melted; season with salt and pepper.
Add fettucine to the pan and toss to coat. Add reserved pasta water if sauce is too thick. Serve immediately.
Serves 4

I’m not sure how it happened, but in one day, we went from a family of four (and a half) healthy people to a family with only one healthy member–me.
As if by magic, the rest of my clan transformed into a bunch of runny-nosed, coughing germ carriers and luckily, at least at this writing, I still remain immune.
I’m not sure how long that will remain the case, but at least for now, I’m still smiling.
As the primary cook, when my lovies befall such conditions, I prepare my elixir of healing, more commonly known as chicken noodle soup.
I don’t want to brag, but as soon as I make and serve it, at least to my wife, the next day there is a huge improvement in her condition.
My daughters will have it for dinner tonight so hopefully, it’ll work its charms on them too.
As I started to create my version, I was curious to see what others have done in terms of ingredients used or steps taken to make said soup.
And honestly, most of the recipes out there are down-right boring.
I mean, I wasn’t looking for the most unique concoction out there but one that at least went beyond the very basic.
So, to help others who might be looking for a soothing remedy to their ills brought on by a cold, here is the recipe I make to rid my loves of their symptoms.
Enjoy!

Brandon’s Cold-Destroying Chicken Noodle Soup
3, 900 mL tetra-packs of chicken stock
1 tbsp butter
2 shallots, minced
3 carrots, cut in half (if thick), then sliced or in rounds (if the carrot is thin)
3 celery ribs, sliced
1 large tomato, diced
4 chicken breasts
2 stalks of lemongrass, white part only, cut in half and slightly smashed with a mallet
1 tbsp fresh grated ginger
Juice from 1 Meyer lemon
2 bay leaves
1/4 cup Italian parsley, minced

DIRECTIONS:
Melt butter in a large stockpot set over medium-low heat. Add shallots and cook for 2 minutes, stirring often. Add carrots and celery to pot and increase heat to medium-high. Cook vegetables, stirring often, until starting to lightly brown. Add all remaining ingredients to the pot and bring to a boil. Cover and reduce heat to a simmer and cook for 15 minutes. Remove chicken breasts from soup, let cool slightly, then dice and return to soup. Simmer soup for 45 minutes to 1 hour. While soup simmers, bring a separate pot filled with water to a boil. Season with salt and cook desired pasta until al dente. Since I have little girls, I usually go with alphabet shapes or miniature star pasta, but whatever floats your boat will do. When soup is done simmering, remove bay leaves and season with salt and pepper to taste. Then fill a bowl with a serving of prepared pasta and spoon in several scoops of hot soup. I tend to serve this with either wholegrain baguette that has been smeared with butter and broiled until brown, or topped with aged cheese and broiled as well.
Let me know if this soup works on your cold or simply tastes like it could

Apparently, there’s some kind of game happening this weekend that has a few folks pretty darn excited.
Truth be told, if the event wasn’t splattered all over every newspaper, I honestly wouldn’t have had the faintest idea it was happening.
I even had to Google “Superbowl” to find out when it was going to be played.
As you can see, I’m not much of a sports fan.
Most of the competitions I watch usually involve cupcakes or are held in the kitchen stadium.
That said, I am a huge fan of the type of food served at the various parties being held in homes to watch said game.
See–while I will watch a show called cupcake wars, I redeem my manliness but taking part in all manners of guy food.
It’s very hard to choose just one type of guy food to consume when there are just so many worthy options for noshing on while in the midst of men.
Wings are awesome and so are nachos.
Sliders are pretty darn tasty too.
But what I really like are tacos.
And if you think I’m talking about those dinner kits that come crammed in those yellow cardboard boxes, think again.
When I do tacos, I do them up proper.
My two favourite proteins to go inside are chicken and beef (strip-loin to be precise).
I take a whole roasting chicken and spread a silly amount of compound butter under it’s skin (a combination of green onions, diced chipotles, lime zest, ground coriander and fresh oregano) and roast the sucker in the oven until golden brown.
The butter under the skin infuses the chicken with oodles of flavour while keeping the white meat nice and moist.
I add a few quartered onions and a handful or two, yes handfuls, of whole garlic cloves and some chicken stock to the roasting pan as well.
In under two hours, I have a beautiful brown-skinned bird that bursts with flavour.
I let it cool and then shred the meat that then is added to crispy shells and other ingredients.
My other favourite is grilled steak tacos.
If you’re looking to feed a fairly big crowd, tacos are also an excellent way to stretch out your protein as well.
Since most shells can only hold a few pieces plus toppings, a single steak can sever up to eight people.
Yeah, eight.
I’ll be giving you my best steak recipe for tacos in just a second, but before that, let’s talk about what should go on top of it (or under, depending on your stacking preference).
I go with 8 year old shredded white cheddar for starters. Then baby romaine lettuce leaves. They can be found pre-washed and ready to go plus the tiny leaves are perfect to pack a taco with without needing cut up (and browning after a while).
They come in two colours as well adding a nice visual touch too.
Then slices of avocado.
A few shots of Tabasco and then lime juice and lime-spiked sour cream.
I like to finish with a salsa verde but fresh chopped tomatoes or cherry tomatoes sliced in rounds works great too.
And that’s it folks–pack that all in with the steak and you’ve just scored a culinary touchdown.
Now, without further ado, the steak marinade:
Chipotle, Lime & Garlic Marinated Steak
1, 1″ thick (or thicker) 8 oz strip-loin steak
6 peeled garlic cloves
2 chipotle peppers in adobo sauce
3 tbsp canola oil
Juice from 1 lime
Sea salt

DIRECTIONS:
In a food processor, combine garlic and chipotle peppers. Process until finely chopped, add oil and juice and process until emulsified. Season with sea salt. Pour marinade into a glass dish. Place steak on top of marinade and then flip over to completely coat the steak in the marinade. Cover with plastic wrap and let sit for 45 minutes in the fridge. Remove from fridge; flip steak and marinade another 45 minutes at room temperature.
Preheat a gas grill over high heat. Reduce heat to medium; rub cooking grates with canola oil. Place steak on the grill and cook for 2 minutes. Turn the steak a 1/4 turn and continue cooking for 2 minutes. Flip steak and repeat. Remove from heat and tent with foil for 5 minutes. Cut into thin strips and serve immediately.
Touchdown!