And so this was Christmas

12/30/2011

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With all the preparation, the shopping, the cleaning , the cooking, the gift giving and receiving the I think I forgot to buy something feeling, Christmas comes and goes in a flash every year. How many of you survived Christmas. I believe the overwhelming majority will say that they survived through it.

There’s a feeling of relief for many when Christmas and Christmas Eve have passed. It’s the holiday hangover. Not the typical hangover from too much alcohol but the hangover of over consumption of everything. We live in a society that values consuming so much that we have lost focus on what Christmas is really all about. Why do we celebrate Christmas on Dec 25th?? Is this really the date on which Jesus Christ was born?
 Why do we put up a Christmas tree? What does it symbolize? Where does Santa Claus fit in to
 all of this? We seem to follow all these traditions without even knowing or understanding what any of it really means and yet we do it over and over again with ritualistic fervour. 

We become slaves to these rituals without really knowing it. I find it fascinating how Christmas seems to be this mixture of Pagan rituals, Christian religious symbols and folklore. How did all of this come together to create our modern day Christmas?  Are we celebrating the Birth of Christ or the winter Solstice? Was Christmas created by the Romans to replace the pagan rituals and give the Christians their religious holiday?

Sometimes it’s better not to ask too many questions I guess. What I love about Christmas is being with family, seeing good friends and spending time together. Oh and let’s not forget all the amazing food and wine. But still it lingers in the back of my mind.

 What are we really celebrating?  Where did it all come from? The more research you do the more questions arise. Have I peeked your curiosity?

If you want to keep your candy coated version of Christmas intact don’t click on any of the links in this post ; )

It would seem that the Egyptians and Romans we’re celebrating “Christmas” long before Jesus was born. Fascinating isn’t it?

Did you know that Santa Claus was Turkish and that his name comes from his Dutch nickname Santer Klass??

Definitely food for thought!


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This week in the music finder I’ll be posting a song from a great Canadian Band called Hey Rosetta! Another great discovery thanks to Mitch Melnyk and Stephen Brunt.

 Click on The Music finder to listen to Epitaph.  Acoustic guitar fans will love this song for its simplicity and strong vocals.


As you start categorization the different wines you drink you will start noticing distinct patterns. I’ll be adding another great Portuguese wine to The cellar called Chamine. I seem to have a penchant for Portuguese Vinhos.

Send me your questions, comments or recommendations.

Thanks

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Simple meal ideas: Chicken Flatbread Pizza and what to do with your mussels

12/21/2011

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Working in IT can sometimes be such a thankless job. Last week was one of those chaotic times when I needed to do major upgrades to our online portal. I spent 7 straight hours staring at a screen....make that three screens!! Finally when everything was up and running the first email I get after three whole minutes of being back online...is....”I don’t like the new icons”???

Great!! Thanks for your support and encouragement. I guess in the IT world you know that you are doing a good job when you don’t hear from anyone. The no news is good news saying applies here.

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_On a different subject; a few weekends ago I decided to try and master the art of making a great mussels marinara dish in less than 30 minutes. So far, no luck! The two recipes I tried we’re good but not great.  It’s all about the sauce but a 10 minute sauce using canned tomatoes will taste exactly like a 10 minute sauce with canned tomatoes. I’m going to work on this one and come up with something that’s better and post it when I figure it out.

It surprises me to know that many people are intimidated by making mussels at home. It might have something to do with the fact that the mussels are “live”. You might not have known that you can’t cook dead mussels.  If they are dead you need to chuck them. I think the idea of cooking “live’ food might turn some people off. If would probably turn me off also if they weren’t so damn tasty.

Here’s the trick with mussels. If the shell is open before you cook them and it doesn’t close by tapping it on the counter, you throw it out. If you are not sure, you throw it out.  After cooking if the shell does not open. What do you do??? Yea...you got it....you chuck it. Mussels are not very expensive. You can get two pounds of PEI mussels for about 5$. So please don’t worry about throwing a few out. Its better t be safe than sorry. Trust me on that one.
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What is the Byssal thread?? The Byssal thread is what you call “the beard’ on a mussel. This is what it uses to attach itself on to rocks in the water. To remove it just use two fingers and give it a quick pull. It should come right out.


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_  This week in The Music Finder I invite you to listen to a great artist from Northampton Massachusetts. Chris Pureka’s voice reminds me a little of Melissa Etheridge with more of a folk rock feel to her music. I really recommend her driving North CD. You can pick it up on the My Music Store page.

This week’s recipe under Supper Anxiety is a Smoky Chicken Flatbread pizza. I consider myself a bit of a traditionalist so I never thought I would make any type of pizza with Chicken on it. Once I tried this at a restaurant I was hooked. Give it a try. I’m sure you won’t be disappointed.

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Simple Meal Ideas

12/19/2011

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What a busy week in the IT world last week. Time to get back to the important things in life!! Food, Music and Wine! Stay tuned for a great Flatbread pizza recipe....some comments on Chris Pureka and what to do with your Mussels Byssal Threads!!!! Exciting stuff!!
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How many of you have ever tried making mussels at home? I'll give you some tips on what to look out for and how to make it a simple and delicious meal.


Stay tuned!
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Music: What to listen to

12/08/2011

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I grew up listening to the classics. Led Zeppelin, The stones, The beetles, The Who etc... The first record I ever listened to was a 45 LP of Paul Simon singing love me like a rock. I think I was eight years old and I would play it over and over again. Imagine how annoying it was for my parents to have an eight year old walking around the house singing ‘love me like a rock now baby” over and over again.

The point of all this is that I grew up on rock and roll and blues and I always thought that my musical tastes would remain within the realm of rock, blues and all the similar derivatives.

Change often occurs without you being aware of it. Kind of like the way that couples in long term relationships slowly start dressing the same.

That slow change began for me when I first saw the Movie Oh Brother, where Art thou! You know, the one with George Clooney....everyone seems to remember George Clooney. In this movie, there was a song called “man of constant sorrow” from the fictitious Soggy Bottom Boys. Every time I heard that song I couldn’t help but smile. Something about the way they harmonize, the call and response type lyrics. It’s just a great song.  In terms of style it’s considered “old Timey music” not really Americana as I mentioned in my previous posting but I guess Americana style music can be considered a derivative of old timey and vice versa. 



That song along with the “duelling banjos” from the movie Deliverance somehow planted a seed that has expanded my musical inclinations and introduced me to artists such as Jolie Holland, The Be Good Tanya’s and Frazei Ford. They take the Old timey style and put a modern twist on it.

Don’t worry; I’m still a rock and roll blues guy at heart. I just happen to own a Gold Tone banjo now. Someone has to make the banjo cool.  ; )

I have read that it’s ok to ask people to “like” or “twit” a post if they enjoyed it.  So if you enjoyed reading this and then bought a banjo, started making moonshine and formed an Old-Timey band, then please click the” like” or share on twitter.

For you superstitious people please click on the “like” button and something good will happen to you. For all you negatively superstitious people, if you don’t click on the “like” button something bad will happen to you. 

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Simple Meal ideas

12/05/2011

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Spicy Thai Scallops
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For Christmas eve I'm having the in-laws over and with them being of Italian decent the menu will consist of nothing but seafood and fish!!. No meat.....which means no turkey no stuffing and no cranberry sauce. Not to worry though
 because I will have that the next day with my family.
Thank god!

I'm actually quite excited at having them over and I have been slowly but surely preparing the menu. This latest recipe was essentially a trial run to see if it was worthy for inclusion on Christmas eve. You'll notice on the picture that there seems to be two different kinds of scallops. One of them made the cut and the other one.......just not good enough. The hands down winner was the Spicy Thai scallops. This recipe will have people ranting and raving. It's that good. The beauty of it is that it takes about 20 minutes to do.

So the appetizer is done and I picked out two main courses and another spectacular appetizer.
 I have learned that you can never have enough food when doing things Italian style.
If you are curious maybe I'll post the rest of the menu.

On another note I wanted to thank a Twitter follower for clearing up the distinction between Cilantro and Coriander. Now I understand ; )   http://whatscookingamerica.net/cilantro.htm

Check out the the spicy Thai scallops under Supper anxiety.

Next up......... Oh Brother, where art thou!!
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Simple meal ideas!

12/04/2011

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Check in this week to find out how to make Spicy Thai Scallops. This recipe is ridiculously simple.

 I will also be talking about my new found love of americana music that somehow started with Oh Brother, where art thou!!

Stay tuned!
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Music: What to listen to?

12/02/2011

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There is often a story behind the discovery of a new artist, musician or song. With Lucinda Williams, the story begins with Mitch Melnyk. 

  If you are not from Montreal then you have probably never heard this name before. Mitch  Melnyk is a radio broadcaster on TSN the team990 and he hosts a show called Melnyk in the  afternoon.  Mitch is great at what  he does because he simply loves his work. You'll always know what his position is and he’s not afraid to speak his mind on any subject.

 Above and beyond everything else, he is a music fan. Probably the biggest music fan I  know of. He usually starts off the first segment of his show with a few songs of his choosing and this has always been a good source for me to discover new music.

 This is where I heard my first Lucinda Williams song. The best way for me to describe Lucinda Williams is that she is like Cheryl Crows sexy aunt. I’m not sure why but that’s the first thing to come to my mind when I hear her music.
 
 Her music is in the Americana style which is pretty much a merge of folk, country,  blues and rock. Her song writing is some of the sexiest I have ever heard. Provocative, sexy and edgy! 

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It’s interesting that even though I have never met Mitch, he seems to know people who have passed through my life at some point. Andie the hairdresser, Rod the manager at Hurleys downtown etc..

 Mitch Melnyk is my Kevin Bacon!!

Now go listen to Lucinda on the Music Finder!!


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Which wine to drink?

12/01/2011

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Do you remember that wine we had a few weeks ago?? 
“Um..no not really”. You know the red wine we liked so much...I think it was French or maybe Italian?? “Oh yea! that one, with the blueberries on the label”.  I don’t think it was blueberries. 
It must have been grapes since it’s a wine?

So anyways what was the name of it??? ” I have no idea but it was amazing”.

 Does this sound familiar to you? 

 I know for myself it was a regular occurrence. It seems so hard just to keep track  of the little things in life like wines that we like. I used to walk through the SAQ (wine store) mindlessly not knowing what to buy and trying to figure out  which wines I’ve tried before. It’s so frustrating.

For a while I tried removing the labels from the bottle and pasting them in a book. That lasted about two weeks and after many ripped  labels and a lot of swearing I had an epiphany! Why not just post the wines I have tried and love to a website.  

And so the Cellar was born!!!

The wines I post fall into the category of “affordable”meaning  that you will very rarely find anything here over 18$. I am of course looking for collaboration so if you try one of the wines from The Cellar please leave a comment and let me know your thoughts. You can also click the Facebook “like”button.

 If you have a wine to recommend, send it to me and I will try it out and who knows, it might even make it into The Cellar.  ; )

 Cheers

 (PS: I will try as much as possible to match the recipes to wines  in the Cellar)

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