Christmas Market & Mulled Wine

On Friday night John and I made our way down to the Distillery District to meet up with some friends to check out the popular Christmas Market. 

Having never gone before, my expectations were high from seeing pictures in years past. I was not disappointed.

When you get to the Distillery District the first thing you see is lights, lights, and more lights.

It's magical.

Unless you go during the day, then I can't promise the lights will be as magical. 

It's just beautiful. I spent the first few minutes just squealing.

We stopped first for some free scotch (John) and apple cider & rum (me, because they had temporarily run out of mulled wine) and warmed up by the fires they had going in their beer market (see the first picture).

Then we walked around to check out the tree, the carousel, and the ferris wheel. 

On our way to the wine sampling (where there's wine, we'll find it) we stopped to pose with the Gingerbread house. Then we sampled a selection of Ontario wines from Malivoire, Henry of Pelham, and a few others we've yet to visit.  

Then after a quick stop for a grilled cheese with bacon sandwich, we made our way back to the adult beverages for some mulled wine and more scotch.

My first time trying mulled wine was Friday afternoon when I made my own. 

I'm hooked. 

I used Martha Stewart's recipe and made a few changes based on what I had handy.

Follow the original Martha recipe here 

Or my slightly different version below

1. Set a pot over high heat. Pour in one bottle of red wine.
2. Add in the zest  and juice from 1 orange, 1 tbsp black peppercorns, 1 tbsp cloves, 1 cinnamon stick, and 1/2 cup brandy.
3. In a tea bag, spoon in 1/2 tbsp nutmeg and 1/2 tbsp all spice. Bring up to a boil and add teabag to the mix. Reduce heat to low and let simmer for about 30 minutes. Turn off heat and let wine cool slightly.
4. Pour wine through a strainer to remove the zest, peppercorns, cloves, cinnamon, and teabag.

Then pour contents back into the original wine bottle.

Mulled wine is best served warm so if you don't drink it right away heat it up again before serving.

And if you're feeling crafty - make a fancy new label for your bottle.

I made this one for the bottle I brought to my brother in law's birthday dinner last night.

Most of the alcohol burns off during the process so if you want you can add a dash of brandy to the finished process for more of a kick.

If not, just enjoy the wonderful taste of Christmas Sangria! 

A Christmas To-Do List in T.O.

Now that the Christmas spirit has officially taken over my mind, body & soul, expect 90% of all posts for the next month and a bit to be Christmas themed.

 

Today was the Santa Claus Parade.

This year, like every year since I was maybe 10, I missed it.

In my defence I've been working nights this weekend so I slept right through it but every year I tell myself that next year I'll go.

 

That got me thinking about all the wonderful things there are to do in this city that I tell myself I'll do next year and never seem to get around to doing.

 

If you're lucky enough to live in the Toronto area or are planning to come visit the city during the holidays, here are three things I want to do/see/recommend you also do/see this holiday season:

 

The Cavalcade of Lights

 

 

This free event includes the lighting of the city's Christmas tree (it's massive and my family and I pose for pictures with it on Christmas Eve every year), fireworks, musical performances, and skating on the rink.

The 47th Cavalcade of Lights will take place at Nathan Phillips Square on Saturday November 30th.

 

The Nutcracker

 

Every year when the ads go up on the bus shelters I tell myself that this will be the year I go to see this ballet. This year I actually plan to.

Maybe with my mom and sister... or just my mom, depending on who else is actually interested.

(I'll be expecting a message from my mom re: her RSVP to this event tomorrow)

The Nutcracker runs from December 14th to January 4th at The Four Seasons Centre for the Performing Arts.

Tickets run from $25 - $184

(sorry mom, we'll be sitting in the nosebleeds. We can spend the money we saved on tickets on wine)

 

The Toronto Christmas Market

 

I was planning a day to attend this last year when I realized I had missed it completely.

This free event in The Distillery District is a street market dedicated to the sights, sounds, and smells of Christmas. Hundreds of products are available for purchase from unique vendors or you could listen to the carolers and choirs, or just walk around and take in the sights.

The Christmas Market runs from November 29th to December 15th. Hours are Monday - Friday noon to 9 pm and Sat & Sun 10 am - 9 pm

 

 

What events, sights, or traditions are you looking forward to this holiday season?

 

Adventure Afternoon: The Warsaw Caves

If you ever find yourself in the Peterborough area of Ontario, I highly recommend checking out the Warsaw Caves Conservation Area.

(website with much more information can be found here)

 

After visiting with some friends (and an unfortunately unsuccessful hunting trip in the morning for the boys), we headed to the caves to check them out.

There are 7 in total (on the map, the boys found and explored more unmapped ones) and many of them connect so you can go down into Cave 1 and come out of Cave 3.

 

The park is beautiful, the ground covered with these giants stones out of which grow massive trees.

 

 

 

Some of the openings are so tight you wonder how a person could possibly squeeze through.

But after sending in our guinea pig (John) we followed him into the dark and squeezed our way through the cold rocks into every single cave.

 

At times we could walk, but more often than not we found ourselves crawling on our hands and knees or flat on our stomachs to wiggle through very narrow openings.

 

For someone who isn't crazy about the dark, nor small spaces where an exit isn't always readily visible, the experience was amazing.

 

I had so much fun, I'd recommend it to anyone.

 

Plus I didn't see a single bat or animal and only saw 2 somewhat large spiders (who minded their own business and didn't try to attack me as I feared they would).

 

After exploring the dark caves we walked down to the water and took in the scenery. The boys attempted to find new caves (I was content to stick to the ones that were on the map) and climbed up onto some of the larger rocks.

 

Highly recommended.

The park is open for camping, canoeing, hiking, picnics, fishing and swimming as well so I may be back next summer to check out the other activities.

 

First Anniversary: Day Two

After a nice sleep in our honeymoon suite we woke up and headed over to 5 Lakes Spa for our couple's massage.

I would gladly pay someone to massage me first thing in the morning every day.

I'd be so happy.

 

Then we got back on the road and made our way to a few more wineries.

First up:

 

 

The view was spectacular (as is the case with so many wineries in Niagara. Really, you need to see them all) and the wines were good (especially the rose!). We got a quick tutorial about red versus black soil and we attempted to taste the difference between cab francs grown in each. We didn't notice too much of a difference but once suggested you kind of catch it in the acidity.

 

We left with a bottle of the 2012 Cabernet Franc Rose and the 2011 Pinot Gris.

Then it was back on the road to finally visit a place I'd been dying to check out:

 

I had looked at this as a possible wedding venue but it's pricey... but so beautiful, inside and out.

If I win the lottery I'm throwing another big party so we can get married again here.

Not that I didn't love our venue, don't get me wrong. I wouldn't change a thing about our wedding.

I just want another one!

We tried more wines, John took a tasting "flight" with 4 pre-selected wines and I opted to pick my own.

We left with a bottle of the 2012 Aligote, the 2010 Gamay Noir 'Droit', and a 2008 Late Harvest Reisling.

 

Then, after some more fun pictures in front of the fountain, we packed up to hit another winery.

Our next stop brought us to one we'd visited in January:

 

I love the covered bridge and in January when we first visited there was a wedding party taking photos here. This would also be a beautiful spot to host a wedding.

Third wedding will be here.

We left with 6 bottles of the 2011 Vidal (it's $6.95, you pretty much have to get either a dozen or a half dozen). a 2009 Reisling, and a jar of red pepper ice jelly.

 

Then we decided to try another place we hadn't already visited:

 

The people here were especially lovely and chatty. I was surprised to find out this winery is responsible for the Sibling Rivalry wines! I suppose if I had bothered to read the label...

But we left here with a 2011 Baco Noir Reserve and a 2011 Estate Reisling.

There was one called 'Family Tree' with an amazing label but the wine we found too dry and we decided to go with the sweeter reisling.

This was obviously a reisling heavy trip.

 

Our last stop was reserved for the winery we had gone to on our actual anniversary but there was another wedding going on and we didn't want to crash.

 

They recognized us when we came in, saying, "the bride and groom are here!" which was so welcoming. We were given a glass of sparkling wine to celebrate, then we sampled a few and grabbed a glass each to take on our walk down memory lane.

We stopped for a few fun pictures along the way.

 

We sat on the secluded beach and just enjoyed our last day as newlyweds.

 

That first year went by entirely too fast but we had some wonderful adventures.

Now we're busy working on year 2 and the even more wonderful things our future has in store for us.

 

Including drinking the 21 bottles of wine we bought for ourselves.

 

And to cap off a perfect anniversary trip?

QPC-BLTs.

Barf.

 

First Anniversary: Day 1

After minimal sleep on Saturday morning we hit the road for our first anniversary weekend.

I was tired but I was more excited to spend the weekend with John and to visit more of the wineries in the Nigara region.

 

Our first stop was at Thirty Bench, where we were signed up for the Oysters & Reisling tasting.

 

 

The oysters (and much more after the event) were provided by Tide & Vine.

 

We were given a glass of the winemaker's reisling to start (we bought two bottles) and then they filled up our glasses with 3 more reislings and a pinot gris.

From left to right:

a 2009 Reisling that had a "wet stones'' quality to it.

2011 Reisling which was a little less acididc

2010 reisling with more fleshy fruit flavours

The pinot gris - any information I forgot to note, I was already pretty tipsy at this point. 

 

 

Let me start by saying this: oysters are gross.

I only signed us up for this event because I know how big a fan John is.

I tried them once long ago with my aunt and uncle who advised me to just swallow a little peice. It was like swallowing a booger.

So I thought, what the heck, let's chew this ugly looking thing and see if it doesn't taste any better.

It doesn't.

But I ate 4 of them. The last one doused in horseradish and some other wine-based sauce.

 

We had malpeque's from the actual malpeque bay, the "french kiss" malpeque which is from New brusnwick and is less salty (but is also HUGE so I gave this one to John), the "Beach Angel" from B.C.'s Quadra Island which had a more creamy texture, and lastly the Kumimoto from Japan which was also quite creamy but also had a bit of a metallic taste.

(Note: all of these descriptions are from the guy who was telling us about them, I wasn't concentrating on flavours. I just wanted to chew, swallow, and get back to my wine).

 

 

The things I do for love.

 

 

Feel Good Friday: Dates on the Fly

Sorry I'm technically a day late. I guess the last feel good Friday was also posted on a Thursday so...clearly I don't adhere to strict deadlines.

 

Last weekend was probably the most fun I've had in a long time.

On Friday night I got together with some friends from middle school for drinks.

We had a reunion a month or so ago and since then have managed to stay in touch with has been really nice.

 

Our original plan involved a patio but my goodness it was cold.

We braved a patio for a bit, huddled close to the heating lamps, and then moved locations to another bar, also on a patio, but at least with a roof.

 

 

On Saturday morning I got a text from my good friend and talented soap-maker/cake-decorator/smartest-person-I-know asking if I had any plans.

I didn't so we came up with an impromptu date to walk around the Chinatown/Kensington area of Toronto and grab lunch somewhere.

After a nice lunch at Springrolls we enjoyed the sun and shops in the area.

This involved trying on a fancy dress of kitten fabric, trying on numerous tiny hats, and sampling a buying donuts, cheese, and pretzel bread.

 

 

 

After taking some pictures with a $90 slab of cheese, sampling some rather expensive kinds, and buying a slab of gouda to split, we found some greenspace and sat on the swings in the park.

 

It was one of those days where we had no real plans but everything lined up perfectly.

We have plans to go back and do it again - there are too many Mexican restaurants there that need to be given a fair shot.

 

Thanks again for such a wonderful day Danie!

Pulled Pork & Cornbread Crepes

I spent the long weekend in Niagara on the Lake in a rented house with a group of amazing people.

We sipped wine in between bike rides, finished a keg, played a lot of drinking games, swam and sat in the sun (somebody got a serious sunburn. Hint: it was me).

We also did most of this in costume.

It was Frisky Business vs. Cherry Poppins vs. Teenage Mutant Drinking Turtles.

At Hinterbrook we did a tour of the facility and samples a riesling, a sauvignon blanc, and a very interesting franc blanc. John and I ended up buying a bottle. It's a white that is as hearty as a red.

Then we hopped back on our bikes and headed over to Strewn where we sampled a bit more and I bought a bottle of a gewurtz/reisling for the birthday girl.

It was a bit cold but riding with the wind in our faces in beautiful wine country felt amazing.

Especially since I was on 2 (seperate) hours of sleep and needed something to wake me up.

Night shifts...

Plus we had a bike 'gang' of 11 people and the guys kept trying to do tricks like stand on the seat, lie on the seat... in the picture you can see the guy in the middle has his legs up.

My team was the Turtles.

The other teams really coordinated their outfits and we took ...a different approach.

I did paint abs and a shell on my shirt though.

And I don't know why this picture is so stretched but.... ladies and gentlemen, your warning to always wear (and reapply liberally) sunscreen:

Now to your recipe.

I love pulled pork and try to make it about once a month. It lasts a few meals and you can use it in a lot of different ways - sandwiches, salads, etc.

I was inspired by a friend who had made pulled pork for her teams brunch on the weekend. She also did a pan of roasted root vegetables.

So I bought some potatoes, sweet potatoes, parsnips, and onion and roasted them in some olive oil and maple syrup.

I also wanted to go the cornbread route but with a different spin.

I made cornbread crepes!

But I had no eggs so I kind of just didn't add eggs...

They turned out a bit thicker than I was hoping which is my error cause I didn't thin them out enough in the pan. But they were still tasty!

Cornbread Crepes

(recipe courtesy of Southern Living)

3/4 cup cornmeal

3/4 cup all-purpose flour

2 1/2 cups buttermilk

1/4 cup vegetable oil

4 large eggs
1 1/2 teaspoons salt

• Process all ingredients in a blender until smooth, stopping once to scrape down sides. Transfer to a bowl and chill 1 hour.
• Coat a 7-inch nonstick skillet with vegetable cooking spray; place over medium heat until hot. Pour 1/4 cup batter into pan; quickly tilt pan in all directions so batter covers bottom of pan. Cook 3 minutes or until top is set. Turn out onto wax paper; cool. Repeat with remaining batter.