Month end .. Finally

Been working like crazy these days .. Juggling school work, wine events, home stuff, business stuff, and work.

Glad that it's month end but next month will be just as crazy.  

I'm not complaining .. I know that it was my choice to live here and handle things by myself.  If I didn't do it, I'd never learn how to be truly independent.  But the important thing is, I am learning and if it was easy, it wouldn't be fun. :)

So if I don't call or don't answer email or text on time, there are more pressing issues that need to be dealt with first. 

Oh and there will be a post on the Food & Wine show soon .. As well as a blurb on my final weeks of Advanced Sommelier.  Yes, I can see the finish line.

Still striving for excellence and not perfection. 

Take care,

Pudgy

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Taste Ontario 2013

i attended Taste Ontario for the first time this year.  i was lucky enough to have won a few tickets to the event so i invited mandy and susan to come along with me.  the event was coordinated by wine country of ontario and the lcbo.  it  was advertised as a taste and buy event and showcased many ontario wineries.  of all wineries present, i was mainly interested in two producers - Bachelder wines and Charles Baker wines.

Bachelder wines is owned by Thomas Bachelder, who was the former winemaker at Le Clos Jordanne in Niagara.  Thomas Bachelder also owns vineyards in Oregon and France and his wines are often highly rated.  The wines are also a bit on the pricey side (ie. around the $40 mark).  I really wanted to try his chardonnay and to see what all the hype was about.

Charles Baker wines was another Niagara producer that have caught my attention in recent days.  The wines are sold through stratus winery and are popping up on a lot of restaurant wine lists.  They were offering two versions of their riesling at the show .. and i love rieslings. :)

So what did i taste?

first up .. some bubbly from Henry of Pelham.  they had the cuvee catherine brut.  it was a great way to start off.  tiny bubbles releasing aromatic notes of toast, citrus, and minerality.  it was dry and a great palate refresher.

my favorite vineyard, Vineland Estates was there with their Expressions in D collection.  I have the entire set of rieslings so it wasn't something I was interested in trying.  besides, when i was at the winery this summer, I got to try all four rieslings and they were fantastic.  my friends tried it and was impressed with the medium sweet rieslings.

susan was on the hunt for some fabulous pinot noir, so i steered her towards one of the best producers in Prince Edward county - norman hardie.  Norm was behind the table pouring and he remembered me from the harvest event the week before.  susan was impressed with the county pinot noir but it was the first one so it set the bar high.

we also tried the pinot noir from Le Clos Jordanne.  they had the village reserve and the claystone reserve pinot noirs.  behind the table pouring was winemaker Sebastien Jacquey, with whom i've had the pleasure of meeting during the summer.  his pinot noir was very nice.  the claystone was the better of the two.  the difference is the lot in which the grapes were picked from.  susan also liked their pinot but norm's still had the edge.

while at the tawse booth, i sampled their cabernet/merlot blend.  it was one of the best red blends i've had - bursting with fruit.  well done, tawse.

at the cave spring table, they had their chardonnay musque.  i didn't visit the winery but i heard that they had one of the better chardonnay musques in the niagara region.  and indeed, it's one of the better ones.  it was definitely more aromatic than the one by chateau des charmes that i tried a few months back.  it was a fan favourite and it's not an easy one to find at the LCBO.  i highly recommend you try this if you're looking for something different.

unfortunately thomas bachelder wasn't at the bachelder wines table but Mrs. thomas bachelder was there.  She was so lovely!  i tried the wismer vineyard chardonnay and it was buttery goodness.  is it worth $40?  well, i'm not a big fan of chardonnay to begin with so if i had $40, i would probably spend it on something else.  but if you're a chardonnay fan .. go for it.

thomas bachelder may have been MIA but charles baker was not.  he was actually pouring the wines!  i introduced myself and sampled the ivan vineyard riesling.  classic niagara riesling and oh so good.  clean, crisp, minerality, citrus .. loved the wine.  then i compared it to the picone vineyard riesling.  the picone vineyard riesling had some petrol notes on top of the usual riesling characteristics.  it's a gorgeous riesling and available for purchase at the Stratus winery or through Vintages online.

other less impressive wines that i got to try included Good Karma, a chardonnay by Flat Rock cellars, a 2008 fume blanc by peninsula ridge (this was awful, imo), jackson triggs entourage grand reserve method classique brut (this was pretty good), and pillitteri's vidal icewine (my sample had a piece of wax in it. eww).

wow .. one of the best wine events i've attended so far.  i loved the selection of wines offered but unfortunately, the organizers fell short on the "buy" part of this taste and buy event.  there were no order forms whatsoever and susan wanted to buy!  that's a fail, LCBO.

anyway, next up is the Tasting Alley event at the ottawa food and wine show.  i'm attending the Saturday night event and it's sold out!  i usually get dressed up for events like this so my black chiffon mini dress will have to come out of the closet.  ;)  

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lacking motivation?

i'm behind in my blogging again. :(

still haven't posted my update on the Taste Ontario event that i attended a few weeks back.  but don't worry, it's in the queue.

this is one of my less upbeat posts and i'm calling on my fellow readers to give me a boost.

as you know, it's my last course in the sommelier program.  this course is mainly about the role of the wine director or sommelier in the restaurant business.  for our final project, we have to create a wine list for a local restaurant and provide justification for our choices.  choosing the wine is fun but pricing the wine is the part that i'm not crazy about.

i think it depresses me to know how much a customer has to pay for wine at a restaurant.  and when i price the wine for the wine list, i think to myself .. i would never pay this much for this wine.  if i wouldn't pay for it, i wouldn't expect others to as well.  not only that but there's a part of me that feels that i'm gouging the customer.  and i am struggling with that.

for me, if i want to make wine more available to customers .. i don't think i would charge restaurant patrons 2.5 times what it would cost if you simply bought it at the LCBO.  for example, cave spring CSV riesling .. it costs around $23 at the LCBO.  great riesling for $23.  but on a wine list at a restaurant, you're looking at $50 for the same bottle.  $50!!  who would pay $50 for a bottle of riesling that costs $23 at the LCBO?  not me.

maybe that's why i rarely eat out.  and if i do, i never order wine.  i've perused the LCBO enough to know how much things cost without even having to look it up.

so i feel torn .. i understand that a restaurant has to make money to stay in business.  i understand that wine sales is a big part of a restaurant's bottom line.  but how do you balance that without feeling like you're gouging the customer?  the paper is due in a few weeks and i haven't been able to think of ways to promote wine that i feel good about, that benefits the restaurant, as well as the customer.  when i believe in what i'm doing, that's when i churn out my best work.  and so far, i haven't had that feeling .. and it concerns me.

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harvest 2013 @ Norman Hardie Winery & Vineyard

it's that time of the year again .. harvest time!  this year, i went to norman hardie winery to participate in their public harvest event.  i met norm last summer and he was kind and generous enough to do a 1-on-1 tasting with me of his county pinot noir and chardonnay.  so my loyalty to norm is quite obvious.  i do believe he makes some of the best pinot noir and chardonnay (if not the best) in Prince Edward County.

anyway, i got up at 5 am on a saturday morning to make the three hour drive to wellington county.  i don't get up at 5 am for anybody or any job.  but a volunteer grape picker?!  hell yeah.  :)  i picked chardonnay for 4 hours and not once did the "city" girl side of me come out.  i was in full "farm" girl mode.  normally, i get all squeally when it comes to bugs but while i was picking, none of that entered into my mind.  yeah, the occasional lady bug landed on me.  i was surrounded by the sound of crickets.  there were bees, wasps, and dragon flies swirling.  spiders, bugs .. you name it, it was there. but it didn't bother me.  when you do what you love, nothing matters.

by the time i was done, we headed back to the winery for a fantastic lunch.  i wasn't able to stay since it was getting late.  when i said good bye to norm, he said he remembered me .. it took him a while but then he connected the name to the face, the light bulb went on.  :)

harvest is only one of many wine related events that i will partake in over the next few weeks.  i have a taste ontario event in october - i'm excited to try the riesling by charles baker and the chardonnay by bachelder wines.  bachelder wines are usually quite pricey and i'm never certain whether the wine is worth the price tag.

in november, it's the annual ottawa food and wine festival.  my ticket for the tasting alley has been purchased and i'm excited to go.  i missed the show last year because i chose to attend toronto event instead.  i was pretty disappointed in the toronto show so i'm glad to attend the ottawa show this year.

time to get some rest.  until next time ..

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we are not invincible

i recently took an mma class at a local martial arts gym.  i've been wanting to take a self-defence class in a while so i figure this would be an excellent opportunity to do that and change up my regular work out routine.  i know i have a pretty active lifestyle as we speak - badminton, tennis, running, strength training, and now brazilian ju jitsu and muay thai boxing?

on tuesday, i had my first class on brazilian ju jitsu. i wasn't just the only newbie in class but i was also the only female.  the instructor partnered up with me and spent the class trying to help me get up to speed with the rest of the class on the basic moves.  i learned how to get out of certain holds, and also to get someone off me if they were sitting on top of me.  much of the sport has to do with using your opponent's body weight and momentum to your advantage.  it isn't really about your own strength so even a small individual like me, can do this.  the instructor gave good pointers on how to defend yourself when you're on the ground.  Kick and push your opponent's head away and then get up and run.  run?!  don't you stay and pummel your attacker a few more times?  he said no, not the goal.  violence is never the answer.

by the end of the class, it felt like i didn't do much but the day after, my back was sore.  i did not fall hard on the mat, i did not twist anything.  but the fact that you have to use your own body weight as well as your opponents body weight to flip your opponent over, you end up using every muscle in your back.  i may have flipped my opponent over, but it also took my own body weight to balance myself.

on thursday, i was invited to take part in the muay thai advanced class.  i've boxed before so punching is not new to me.  the instructor gave me pointers on how muay thai boxing works.  the stance, the punches, the kicks, using the knees, etc.  i got the punching down .. but without doing a test on how hard the bag was, i did a full kick and it felt like i kicked a cement post.  my foot was instantly bruised.  i'm not going to sugar coat it .. it hurt.

the others in the class - all male .. were instructed to do their warm up and then spar.  i worked the punching bag.  i kept my guard up .. and i hit while the rest of the class did warm up.  at one point, one of the guys stopped to watch me punch.  he said my punching technique was very good and to mix it up, i should throw in some foot work and move around the bag.  so i worked on that.  i tried to move on to kicks but after a few tries i noticed that i developed a bruise on my shin and it was beginning to swell.  ugh .. 

i decided to work on knees - ie. knee your opponent in the groin kind of thing.  i learned my lesson from the kicks so i didn't go all out on the knees.

after an hour of hitting, kneeing, kicking .. i called it a day.  it was good.  until i got home.  massive bruise on my knee turned purplish blue, the bruise on my shin was throbbing, my foot had small bruises, and my knuckle had a bruise on it too.  i spent the rest of the night, icing the spots with a bag of frozen peas.

the lesson with this?  doesn't matter how in shape we are.  we aren't invincible.  age does catch up with you and you simply don't heal the way you did when you were 25.  i'm in pretty good shape but in reality, the body doesn't heal that fast due to the existing wear and tear - even if we don't feel it.

my parents would think i was insane for doing what i did.  but at some point, you gotta know what your limit is.  i think i found mine. i'll be spending the weekend nursing my wounds.

badminton starts on monday.  :)

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when in British Columbia

My first visit to Vancouver came courtesy of my friends Clement and Gigi.  I was invited to their wedding ceremony and reception in the beautiful city of Vancouver.

I was excited to see the city because I've heard great things about it.  During my last visit to BC, I wasn't able to make it out to Vancouver.  This time, I booked five days to be a full-on tourist as well as attend the wedding.

On day 1, a few friends and I went to Stanley Park.  We walked about 1/3 of the park before finding our way out for some lunch.  The park is enormous .. With the weather so hot and sunny, there was no way we were going to walk the entire park in a day.

For lunch, we went to the most recommended ramen restaurant in town - Hokkaido Ramen Santouka. Was it as good as they say?  I thought it was ok.  I wasn't blown away. The broth was a tad salty and greasy despite me asking for less salt and less lard.  Anyway, it was my first ramen experience so bucket list item? Check.

Later that night we attended the wedding rehearsal at St. Augustine church. The church had a plain exterior but inside .. Wow.  It was beautiful.  With the sunlight shining through the stained glass windows .. I sat in the pews and took it all in. The photographer in me kept looking for the perfect spot to take photos.

I woke up early Friday morning to meet up with Shirley and Briant to head out to Whistler.  Our plan was to do zip lining and the Peak 2 Peak hike.  I had never been zip lining before but a coworker had highly recommend that I do it.  So I did. :). The zip lining package included 5 zip lines. The first was 2500 ft, followed by a 400 ft, 300 ft, 2200 ft, and a 500 ft.  I screamed and held on so tightly on my first zip that my hands hurt.  As we completed each zip, it got more fun.  By the end of the adventure, we were zip lining upside down!  

After lunch, we went up the mountain via gondola and then by chairlift.  It was probably the scariest chairlift ride ever.  The ride was at a 50 degree angle but felt like 90.  The chairlift would stop half way up, the chair would swing a bit. When all you see is the mountain side beneath you, it's petrifying.  When we got up to the mountain top, the air was crisp and clean.  The views were gorgeous.  We completed a few hiking trails before riding the gondola across to the other mountain top - hence the name of the hike "Peak 2 Peak".

The views of the second mountain was nice but not as beautiful as the first one.  I saw snow capped mountains, emerald colored lakes, and wildflower.  I never thought I would see the mountains again but thanks to my adventure seeking friends, I got to see it again.

On Saturday, I was up early again - are you seeing a trend?  :). I had to get ready to be at the bride's house to help photograph the wedding.  They had hired a professional team of three photographers for their big day  I was the fourth shooter.  It was my first time shooting a wedding.  I've always wanted to do this but the opportunity didn't come along until now. Clem and I used to shoot the badminton events together so he kind of knew what my photography skills were like.  My shooting style is photojournalistic - I tend to capture the natural expression of my subjects.

I liked a lot of the photos I took and I think Clem and Gigi will be pleased with them as well.

I can now check "photograph a wedding" off my to do list.

The day after the wedding, a few of us decided to hit Lynn Canyon for a hike and to walk the suspension bridge.  It was a different kind of hike and so much stair climbing!  After hiking for three hours, we decided to head back downtown.  My friends are avid cyclists.  And me?  I've never biked before.  I never had a bike as a child and so I never learned how to ride one.  We went to EzeeRiders and rented three bikes and a trailer portion.  The trailer attaches to one of the regular bikes to create a tandem bike.  I wasn't going to do it at first but Shirley encouraged me to try.  It was the perfect opportunity to learn.  So I went along.  My lead cyclist was a strong cyclist so he would be able to control the bike.  He guided me through the ride as we biked around Stanley Park.  Our ride was perfect because the sun was starting to set and the scenery was breathtaking.  It was a great first bike ride - yes, I pedaled and got the hang of it.

I had the best time in Vancouver.  I left with three bottles of wine, six bruises on my legs, and many items crossed off my to do list.

I definitely will be back :)

Cheers,

Pudgy

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inspired by nate

it's important how we feel in our homes, because feeling good makes us more gracious.  and that makes it easier to welcome others not only into our homes but into our lives.

i saw this quote this morning by nate berkus.  it almost made me cry.

for years, i put off decorating my home. that feeling of not belonging and not knowing where i would be in 5 years caused me to put off buying good furniture.  i would buy temporary pieces but the word "temporary" constantly reminded me that Ottawa wasn't my real  home.  it saddened me because i hate moving around and starting over.

when i bought my home, i figure that it would be temporary.  i would flip it and then move again.  but as i started designing the interior and choosing the fixtures and finishes, there was an attachment being created.  i used to say that "when i get my own home, i would do it my way." and sure enough, the opportunity came and i was designing it with my vision.  i continued to struggle with staying versus moving.  and over time, coming home to a place with 'temporary' pieces made it difficult to enjoy.  the only room i found joy in was my kitchen.

nate's quote is very true.  home should be like a warm sweater on a winter's day - it hugs you and gives you that sense of security, accomplishment, and comfort.  home hasn't felt like my home because i've been reluctant to commit.  what was the point in buying furniture to suit a house that i was going to sell in a year or so?  i've been told by many that my next step should be to turn my home into a real home.  a place where i feel good being in and look forward to coming home to.  over the weekend, i went furniture shopping .. and i bought a set of accent chairs that i had been looking at for months.  these are not temporary pieces and i know exactly where they would go.

i waited so long and wondered why i never felt like i belonged.  now i know.  i didn't realize how big of an impact this "temporary" vision had on me.  buying my first permanent pieces was a good thing for me.  i used to think that buying stuff also meant filling the void and i didn't want that to be the reason.  i didn't want to look at every piece and know that i bought it because i was empty.  i needed to fill the void with my own truth of who i am and what i stand for.  and i wanted to look at my furniture and know that it was a design decision - rather than an emotional one.  but coming home to an empty house and staring at empty rooms also reminded me of why i was waiting and the negativity attached to that feeling.  but most importantly, the empty rooms reminded me of what i had lost.  i would stand in the empty room and know exactly why it was empty.  i didn't want to fill the void during an emotionally turbulent time but the longer i took, the less "gracious" i was and i began shutting everyone out.  Perhaps adding a few pieces will give me the boost I need.  maybe once i am able to feel good in my home, i will be able to welcome others in.

my new accent chair

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