Eisch Breathable Wine Glasses!

Recently purchased some of these great lead-free crystal wine glasses, and can now report without hesitation that they really do work! They eliminate the need for long breathing periods after pouring your red wine into carafes. Just pour into your glass and wait a few minutes, and the wine tastes like it has been "opening up" in a carafe for an hour or so! It has made our $10 "house wine" (Cawarrah Shiraz/Cabernet blend) taste much more interesting, and we can detect lots more interesting fruity notes, etc. when giving it the little pre-drinking sniff... They happen to be on sale at 20% off at Epicure 1900 Mississauga Road and Dundas St. West in Mississauga. They're not cheap, but they really seem to make a difference.

http://www.eisch.de/eng/website/news/breathable_glass/index.php

http://www.theglobeandmail.com/servlet/story/RTGAM.20070905.wldecanter05/EmailBNStory/lifeFoodWine/home

L'unita Restaurant

Last night we went to this new (to me) restaurant called L'unita at Avenue Road and Davenport in Toronto. We had made a reservation for our party of eight a few weeks ago, and arrived on time for the 8:15 scheduled time. We had to wait just-a-bit-too-long at the bar for our table to be vacated and re-set for us. However, after that wobbly start (which one of the very pleasant young women staffers apologized nicely for, but didn't offer any other more tangible compensation, like some complementary apppetizers or desserts, etc.) our dining experience was absolutely excellent! The room itself is a wonderfully comfortable space with exposed brick walls, large hanging mirrors and colourful posters. The noise level was just right - loud enough to feel like lots of fun was being had, but not overbearingly deafening, and not so loud as to stop our own lively conversations. We had lots of very tasty Italian red wine, soft and delicious bread with olive oil and breadsticks and olives as well as some not-too-garlicy romaine salads to start. The entrees were outstanding. Mine was short ribs...exceptionally tender and perfectly flavoured. I also sampled some nicely-cooked fries, some al dente asparagus, as well as some tasty fingerling potatoes to go along with my ribs. The portions here are very generous, unlike some other "better" restaurants where you really do enjoy the food, but are left hungry for more due to the tiny servings, often too-artfully displayed on the plate. Other choices at our table were a nice-looking cornish hen (I think!), a great striploin steak, some wonderful lamb dishes and a "really good" lobster risotto. The service was just right as well - not stuffy or snobby at all. just friendly and knowledgeable and attentive without being "in-your-face"...always a tricky balance, but done well at this place. Desserts were almost unnecessary, but I managed to slide in some cool and tasty gelattos with an excellent cappuccino to cap off a great meal. Some of our dinner companions were already asking when we could come back to this place, as there's so much more on the menu we'd like to discover - sounds to me like a pretty good recommendation for this place right there! Co-owner David asked us on the way out how we liked it, and seemed quite pleased that we were happy - seems like a very nice guy. (I had told him when confirming our reservation that I often e-mail my friends with restaurant, wine and music recommendations). We'll certainly return to L'unita sometime soon... Try it, and you won't be disappointed. Another opinion:http://www.dine.to/establishment_review_page.php?RecordID=414

the "GOATFATHER" wine

My new favourite wine is now available in the Vintages section of the LCBO:

THE GOATFATHER 2005 VINTAGES 11072 750 mL bottle Price: $ 15.95

Wine, Still Table Wine, Red Still Table Wine14.5% Alcohol/Vol.Sugar Content : XDMade in: South Africa, South AfricaBy: The Goats do Roam Wine Company/FairviewRelease Date: Feb 2, 2008
Tasting Note(an idiosyncratic amalgam of shiraz, cabernet, merlot, barbera and primitivo) Bright, dark red. Smoky, liqueur-like berries, bitter cherry and gunflint on the nose. Supple and sweet but not at all sloppy owing to its firm acid spine. Spicy red fruit and pepper flavors finish with firmness. Score - 88.
(Stephen Tanzer, International Wine Cellar, March/April 2007)

New (to me) Music

1. Peter Green (and the Splinter Group) This is the guy who co-founded Fleetwood Mac when they were still cool and bluesy, and who wrote "Black Magic Woman" which Santana made into a huge hit. Green was as good as, or maybe even better than Eric Clapton, Jeff Beck and Jimmy Page and Jimi Hendrix! Sweet-sounding guitar, and great, gravelly, world-weary vocals. Where has this guy been all my life? Somehow I kinda missed him...
2. Keith Jarrett "Live at Montreux". Incredible jazz piano
3. Sharon Jones and the Dap kings - "100 Days & 100 nights" New, but old-sounding soul music.
4. Josh Groban - "Noel" (yes, that very popular Christmas cd...well, it's good! Not very cool, I guess, but good)
5. Jill Scott - "The Real Thing" She still sings great poems... R&B? Soul? Rap? Jazz? Blues?
6. Angie Stone - "The Art of Love & War" Sweet, sultry R&B
7. KT Tunstall - "Drastic Fantastic" Nice pop/folk/rock chick from Scotland, I think. (Sang her big hit "Suddenly I See" at the Live Earth Concert last summer...that was also a good cd/dvd combo that I got at Costco! Two dvd's and a cd - lots of good stuff on there)
8. "Radio 1 - Established 1967" - A compilation disc from BBC One Radio, featuring newer artists covering songs from 1967 to now...very cool stuff including a cover of "It Must be Love" by Paolo Nutini, and a great version of "Cupid" by Amy Winehouse (Amy, of course, is my personal choice for all of: artist; cd; and, sadly, "train-wreck" of the year)
9. Robert Plant and Alison Kraus - "Raising Sand" (pretty sure I've already mentioned this one here somewhere recently) Happy New Year!

Have an "Elfing-Good" Christmas!!

This is my Christmas Card to all of you: http://www.elfyourself.com/?id=1422709350

Christmas Favourites

These are a few of my favourite things...

Porky Pig: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=SPgq_fxaW7U&feature=related

Best Christmas song ever? The Drifters: http://badaboo.free.fr/merryxmas.swf This song was also in the movie "Home Alone" (briefly) .

I'll come back here and update this entry as we move along in the season.


Merry Christmas & Happy New Year!

Robert Plant & Alison Kraus - new CD is Great!

You just "gotta" check out this collaboration between Led Zep's lead singer Robert Plant, and American bluegrass multi-award-winner Alison Kraus with (very well-respected but not-so-well-known-in-the-mainstream) producer/writer/arranger/singer T-Bone Burnett (he worked on the "O Brother Where Art Thou" album of the year for 2002, as well as on the fantastic "Black and White Night" concert cd and dvd with Roy Orbison and friends - Bruce Springsteen, Elvis Costello, Tom Waits, Jackson Browne, k.d. lang, Jennifer Warnes, Bonnie Raitt J.D. Souther- a real classic itself, so go get that while you're out at the shops)! Anyway... Plant and Kraus rocks, it rolls, it's bluegrass, it's country, it's Everly's, it's...almost indescribable. "Fortune Teller" cut is just a beauty as is the opening track. Different, yet utterly familiar and comfortable all the way through.

www.robertplantalisonkrauss.com Click on "Listen to CD" top left area of the page. My favourite song so far is track#9: "Fortune Teller"

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=g5KF4dKq-6I&feature=related

http://www.calendarlive.com/tv/radio/cl-ca-plant11nov11,0,6282113.story