Saturday Chez Sheena

Gather round folks and get your caloric intake calculators warmed up. Saturday was Sheena's Welcome Back To GrownupLandVille dinner.

Shopping: Another hour well spent at the Cheese Boutique ... started with a Bouq Emissaire which is now on Sheena's official staples list along with the Ace Bakery Baguette (the most perfect bread under $3). Timed it right and got a fresh loaf still hot and steaming...

Cheese Boutique also has a Wine Shoppe in-house (retail arm of Andres/Peller selling the Peller, Hillebrand, Trius products). Picked up a Trius Brut for $24 - cold even. One of my fave Canadian sparklies and always reminds of the first time I toured their cellars and saw walls and walls and walls of the aging bottles, wondering how fast I'd die if an earthquake hit and the carbon dioxide all released at once.


Time to sample new stuff too: Bought a hunk of their house pate - chicken liver. Very nice and smooth, not overly liverish. Some peppercorn zing and crunch on top. Also picked up a small piece of caribou/pork/fig country style pate. Really yummy and the dried fruit added a nice sweetness that went well with the nutty crackers Sheena adores.

New cheese of the day: Quebec's Petit Sorcier. Just out of the Cheese Boutiques aging cellar. $9 for a half a wheel. Still undecided on this one. On the way home, I wondered if maybe some wet camping gear had been forgotten from that one weekend in August. Or if maybe my driving companion let one go. Nope. It's the cheese. Even this morning after opening the fridge, the first thought was "Jesus, that cat box needs a cleanup". But it was the Petit Sorcier. Cursing my kitchen.

Picked up a couple of strip loin steaks at the meat counter. First time buying from the meats section. Pricey, but they looked lovely.

Liquid Notes:
With Cheese and Pate Appetizers: Trius Brut - lovely as always.

While Cooking: Sir Perry - Pear Cider bought last week. Perfect companion to chopping and fussing activities. A little more subtle than apple ciders and funny name.

With Dinner - perhaps a lesser wine than the lovely steaks deserved, but was curious to open this bottle that had been sitting around for a while. The 20 Bees Cabernet-Merlot. This is Canada's answer to the cartoon-animal-label screwtop phenomenon. For $13 bucks, could do worse, and at least it is VQA meaning that your money is supporting local growers and bottlers. Wine maker Sue Ann Staff did some half decent stuff over at Pilliterri's over last few years. Worth a shot.

Other Wine Notes from Last Week:
Tried the Vogo Pinot Grigio. About $14. An OK white wine. But the bottle is the classiest fucking thing I've seen in ages. Feel like you're drinking expensive cologne or something.