Maggie's Journal

Tags: Food and Wine and Entertainment
A couple of nights ago we participated in a SOLD OUT! wine tasting dinner at Bras d'Or Lakes Inn in St. Peter's. (A couple didn't show, didn't call. A shame as there were people turned away.) It was a bold and courageous menu and they pulled it off. DUMPLING, MISO SOUP, SAVORY CUP CUSTARD, FIVE COLOUR SALAD w/WHITE DRESSING, PLUM WINE GRANITA, BRAISED PORK BELLY, JAPANESE GREEN TEA INFUSED CHEESE CAKE & BLACK SESAME-MAPLE ICECREAM & SAKE MACERATED RASPBERRIES WITH MINT. The surprise round of warm sake was a pleasant surprise.

I'm not a big meat eater and I have no appetite for fatty food so some of it was not appealing to me but I'm sure it pleased others. The wines were hit-or-miss. I'm an abc person - anything but chardonnay, I dislike oaked whites. Unfortunately, the wines I disliked were Canadian, the wines I liked best were California. Oh well. I'm trying to be loyal but my palate is very independent.

In a couple of months the restaurant will be offering an Italian wine dinner menu and I WILL be at that one! If you decide to join in the wine dinners, be advised that the pours were generous and you might want to consider booking a room for the night, just to be safe.

Posted by Maggie Davis At 8:33 AM Location St. Peter's, Nova Scotia | Permalink | Comments (0)

Tags: Food and Wine and Entertainment
Another great meal was had by all.

There was an empty table for 4 that never showed up nor called to cancel. That's horrible. What has happened to people's sense of decency? Dawn should take people's credit card info and charge them for every no-show.

Posted by Maggie Davis At 9:31 AM Location NSCC Culinary School | Permalink | Comments (0)

Tags: Food and Wine and Entertainment
On this week's menu, the vegetarian dish is Spaghetti Siracusani. Here is the recipe, so you know what the dish is about. The recipe I found calls for anchovies. I wonder if there will be anchovies in the dish offered at the NSCC dining room. Anchovies are NOT vegetarian. The dish looks like it will be good! Italian cuisine does a good job of preparing eggplant.

Pasta Siracusani

1 lb fusilli

1 eggplant

olive oil

3 cloves garlic

4 anchovy fillets

14 oz can tomatoes

12 oz jar roasted red or yellow peppers

2 Tbsp capers

12 pitted black olives

a bit of minced basil, or dried basil

1/2 cup parmesan cheese

Cube the eggplant, and fry until soft in the olive oil. Mince garlic and anchovies, chop tomatoes, and add them to the sauce. Cook for about ten minutes. Slice peppers into strips add peppers, capers, olives, and basil, and cook for another ten or fifteen minutes. Meanwhile, cook pasta; mix pasta, sauce, and cheese.

This is where I found it. http://malvasiabianca.org/archives/2006/04/pasta-siracusani/

Here is the entire menu:

Soup $4: Chicken Vegetable with Pistou; Tomato Pancotto

Appetizer $6: Tea-Smoked Duck Breast With Pears and Blueberry Jus; Crab Cake & Herb Salad

Flesh Entrée $16: Grilled Striploin Steak with Cabernet Sauvignon Green Peppercorn Sauce or Pan Fried Sole with a Chardonnay White Grape Sauce

Vegetarian Entree $10: Spaghetti Siracusani

Dessert $5: Banana Cake with Homemade Strawberry Ice Cream; Chocolate Bavarois

Contact Dawn for a reservation, seats are going fast.

There is room at our table so join us if you like.

Posted by Maggie Davis At 7:24 AM Location Port Hastings | Permalink | Comments (0)

Tags: Food and Wine and Entertainment Life on Marble Mountain Local Business
Home Party of the Scentsy product line, specifically the 'Scentsy Warmer', a unique wickless candle concept that gently melts fragrance wax bars. This is not just for the ladies, as there is something for everyone!

There are several scent categories including:

- Favourites (e.g. Home Sweet Home)

- Fall & Winter (e.g. Snowberry)

- Bakery (e.g. Baked Apple Pie)

- Scentsy Man (e.g. African Mahogany)

- Romance (e.g. Satin Sheets)

- Spa (e.g. Olive Wood & Cypress)

- Scentsy Café (e.g. Mochadoodle)

- Tropical (e.g. Coconut Palm)

There will be 80 different scent samples introduced for you to see which ones appeal to you, or for those you think will appeal to others. Several warmer models will be on display as well, including a plug-in model which can also serve as a night light, and several full-size warmers including a Design It Yourself (DIY).

THERE ARE TWO WAYS TO ATTEND MY HOME PARTY:

1. By coming to my home on February 20th at 1 p.m.

2. If you cannot make it, in person, but would like participate in my home party, by purchasing any of the Scentsy products online, please do so, at any time up to February 20th at 3 p.m. through the following website: www.macbenn.scentsy.ca and click the Buy from Party listed by my name under Open Parties.

Both these options are considered 'ATTENDING' so please click Attending if you plan to do either.

Thank you.

Maggie

P.s. You can order Scentsy online through my party in both Canada and the U.S. and have it sent directly to your home. https://macbenn.scentsy.ca/Buy?partyId=1885675 Or go to www.macbenn.scentsy.ca and click the ‘Buy from Party‘ listed by my name under ‘Open Parties’.

Orders can be placed at any time up to February 20th at 3 p.m.

Posted by Maggie Davis At 7:14 AM Location My House | Permalink | Comments (0)

Tags: Food and Wine and Entertainment
A group of us has reserved a table for 8 at the culinary schol tomorrow evening. I don't think the table is more than half full so call or email Dawn if you'd like to join us. Or just show up, there are always empty seats.

THE FIRST YEAR NSCC CULINARY STUDENTS ARE OFFERING LUNCH ON TUESDAY, WEDNESDAY, AND THURSDAY.

DINNER Wednesday & Thursday One Seating @ 6:00p.m.

LUNCH Tuesday, Wednesday, Thursday 11:30 – 1:00 p.m.

Friday 11:30 – 12:30 Dinner menu offered

To make a reservation, contact Dawn Coady 902-625-4296 dawn.coady@nscc.ca

Bon Appétit!!

SUPPER

SOUP

Seafood Chowder en Croute/ $8

Fresh Tomato Puree with Basil and Thyme/ $5

APPETIZER

Caesar Nouveau Salad/ $6

Smoked Salmon Puffed Pastry Tart with Mesclun/$8

ENTRÉE

Oven Roasted Prime Rib with Yorkshire Pudding/$17

Safron Poached Seafood Medley with a Mushroom Risotto/ $17

Vegetarian

Black Bean and Corn Stuffed Pepper/ $10

DESSERT

Chocolate Pecan Bar, Vanilla Cardomon Ice Cream, with Whiskey Sauce and Ginger Foam/ $6.

Chocolate Raspberry Panna Cotta Layer, Orange Basil Sorbet, with a Grand Marnier Shot/$8

WINE LIST

RED

Caves du Papes Heritage, Grenache, France

Cotes du Rhone, medium- bodied wine

with ripe cherry fruit spice and leather aromas $7/glass $30/bottle

Woodbridge Merlot, U.S.A.

Medium bodied with herbal notes $6/glass $25/bottle

Wolf Blass Yellow Label, Cabernet .Sauvignon, Australia

Deep red color with aromas of plum and berry, subtle mint and licorice $8/glass $32/bottle

McWilliams Shiraz, Australia

A well balanced wine that will wake up your senses with its cherry mocha scents $7/glass $30/bottle

Jost ,Trilogy, Nova Scotia

Smokey black cherry and anise flavours $6/glass $25/bottle

WHITE

Louis Latour, Chardonnay, France

Light – bodied with green apple fruit flavours $10/glass $35/bottle

Lindeman’s, Bin 65 Chardonnay, Australia

Fresh yet soft, full flavoured wine $5/glass $20/bottle

Montevina Pinot Grigio, U.S.A

Full – bodied, ripe pear with citrus and fruit flavours $6/glass $25/bottle

Woodbridge, Sauvignon Blanc, U.S.A.

Bright, fruity, aromas and crisp, dry flavours $6/glass $25/bottle

Jost, Eagle Tree Muscat, Nova Scotia

Full-bodied, intense spicy passion fruit and melons $6/glass $25/bottle

E&J Gallo, White Zinfandel

Pretty in pink, a pleasant sweetness with some citrusy acidity. $4/glass

LUNCH

START

Daily Soup Creation 3

Sweet Potato Frites with Curry Mayonnaise 3

Romaine Hearts with Caesar Vinaigrette, Reggianno Chards and Buttered Croutons 4 Panko Crusted Onions with Grilled Striploin Steak, Champs and Scallion Caper Green Sauce 7 Homemade Fettuccine with Spicy Butterflied Shrimp, Tomato White Wine Cream Sauce, Basil and Feta 6 Beer Battered Haddock Loins, Frites, Classic Tarter Sauce and Slaw 7 Roast Turkey Panini with Sweet Peppers, Grainy Mustard Aioli, Caramelized Onions, Provolone and Frites 6 Smoked Ham Panini with Tomato, Spinach, Mozzarella, Basil and Frites 6 FINISH

Butterscotch Meringue Tart 4

Chocolate Sticky Toffee Pudding 5

Posted by Maggie Davis At 6:19 PM Location Port Hastings | Permalink | Comments (0)

Tags: Food and Wine and Entertainment
The next gathering at the Culinary School for dinner will be on December 3. Please get in touch with Dawn to get your reservation.

Last night's meal was truly excellent. The French onion soup was maybe the best any of us have ever had. The butternut squash and apple bisque was also lovely. The food was expertly prepared and presented and the portions were generous. We consider ourselves quite fortunate to have such a professional and pleasant restaurant so close to home. You can't beat those prices, either.

Posted by Maggie Davis At 8:02 AM Location NSCC | Permalink | Comments (0)

Tags: Food and Wine and Entertainment
Scheduling the wine tasting party to take advantage of a full moon, would you prefer to have the 2010 wine bash on Saturday, September 25, 2010, or Saturday, October 23, 2010?

The later date will be a Hunter's Moon and bug-free but the earlier date will be warmer and bugs will still be with us.

Posted by Maggie Davis At 5:13 PM Location TBD | Permalink | Comments (1)

Tags: Food and Wine And Entertainment
Wow! The wine bash was an absolutely phenomenal success. Big thanks go to Sandra and Warren Johnston for their input, guidance, materials and enthusiastic participation. Thanks go Jean, Sandra and Warren for all their time, effort and work in judging all the submissions. The three of them dedicated a good part of the evening toward the wine tasting, sipping, swirling, viewing and evaluating. They began the process before 7:00 p.m. and finally finished some time around 9:00 p.m. That's real dedication. Johnston's Brewing Room provided good prizes for the winners and educational material for all the attendees.

A generous thank you also goes out to all the people who submitted their home-made wines for judging. In all, there were 16 wines submitted and all of them were consumed once the judging was completed. There were plently of good dishes that helped fill our tummies with more than just fruit of the vine, thankfully. I tend to worry that people will end up in in the ditch or something like that without enough solid food in their tummies. Thank you to all of you who provided all the excellent foods for the event.

Another big thanks goes out to all our wonderful new friends, Det and Gudi, who will from now on be on our invitation list, if I get a copy of their email addresses, who came to the wine shindig and helped make it a tremendously fun party. A huge thank you goes out to our new friend, Rob, for his wonderful wine song. Rob, how can we get a copy of that? Thanks go out to Warren for his banjoing. Thanks, also, to our old(ish) friends and repeat wine fest revelers.

You want details, you say? I should spill the dirt on enthusiastic partyers? Who am I to argue. Well, here goes .... Fasten your seatbelts!

The tasting was done in the house by our superb tasters while the rest of us gathered on the patio and in the screen room. While the pros got down to business, the rest of us were busy getting up to speed in the spirit of the spirits, drinking the bottles that were not being evaulated and munching on all the enticing goodies.

Eventually the tasting came around to the part where Popular Choice judging required that willing partyers did their part to choose what wine that they liked best. By then the revelers were feeling their juice and were tossing the extra vino over their shoulders into the bay tree. The tree looks perky and the leaves are shiny today! (Jutta and Betty Jean, the bay tree says thanks for the wine and would you please serve it a white burgundy or pino noir next time? Those go better with bay leaves.)

A little later, Rob took out his guitar and his squeezy thing and played and sang for us. We are beyond thrilled to have such a tremendous talent among us. His house should be completed soon and he and his wife are in the process of getting landed immigrant status so they can be here full time. We are looking forward to that day. Were their house not already being built on Ross Point, we would try to persuade them to move to 'da mountain.

As usual, Tom and Kit commandeered the music and played House Of The Rising Sun until we all got our fill and then some. From there, they moved on to rock & roll and Tom and I were moved to dance. Then Tom and Irene were moved to dance. Then Tom and Jean were moved to dance. Then Tom wasn't able to move at all. This might have had something to do with the knee surgery he had a week and a half ago but it might have had more to do with wine, just saying.

Warren was moved to make music and sing and the rest of us were moved to sing along with him. For the record, there was no dancing on the table. Everyone went home by 1:30 a.m. Wendy, Linda and Iris - we need you to come dance at the parties! A party just isn't the same without you.

Posted by Maggie Davis At 9:42 AM Location Marble Mountain East | Permalink | Comments (2)

Tags: Food and Wine and Entertainment
Fall Wine and Food Pairing in Bras d'Or Lakes Inn

Host: Rhoda Gillet

Date: Saturday, September 26, 2009

Time: 7:00pm - 10:00pm

Location: Bras d'Or Lakes Inn

Chef: Jean Pierre Gillet

Posted by Maggie Davis At 11:10 AM Location St. Peter's | Permalink | Comments (0)