Wine Recap – September 2018

With my husband spending most of September also in recover phase, we dialed down on the drinking thing so all of this was in between so we went for lighter drinks. One of these was one that we had tried out a month or two ago but forgot to take a picture of so forgot to share on the Wine Recap. These things happen but coincidentally my friend bought it this time for the Battle of Ingredients so here we are.

Let’s check out what we tried this one!

Mike’s Hard Lemonade

Producer: Mike’s Hard Lemonade
Alcohol Content: 5%
Location: Ontario, Canada

I’ve heard about how good Mike’s Hard Lemonade before but never had it before. On a spontaneous trip to the grocery store, we picked this up as a fun little taste. It did live up to all the good stuff we’ve heard and it tasted really good. I like lemonade in general and the alcohol was light so it actually balanced out smoothly.

Palm Bay Strawberry Kiwi Iced Tea

Producer: Mike’s Beverage Company
Alcohol Content: 5%
Location: Canada

I’ve tried Palm Bay before on a taste testing at the Grand Prix event before. I can’t remember what flavor it was since it was a few years ago but one evening, my husband’s coworker gave him one of these to try out. Palm Bay is very much a party drink. Its really sweet. I’m not a big Strawberry Kiwi flavor fan and this is good for a group but not one that I’d pick up as much, mostly because if it was for myself, I’d prefer MadJack.

Ambrée aux Herbes (Gluten-Free)

Producer: Brasseurs du Monde
Alcohol Content: 4%
Location: Quebec

I don’t drink beer often. Its a little too much than I can handle. I believe it has to do with the hops and the gluten aspect. I’m not a big fan in general but when we went to the supermarket, we saw a variety pack for this gluten-free beer. It had 4 flavors. I only have one here since the other ones, my husband had drank with my father in law one day so that I didn’t try it. This one is a herb flavored amber beer and its actually fairly good.

Cote des Roses
Listel -Gris

Gerard Bertrand Coté des Roses
Producer: Gerard Bertrand
Alcohol Content: 12.5%
Location: Languedoc-Rousillion, France

Other than a beautiful bottle, Cote des Roses is actually a really lovely tasting wine. It feels like a long time since I’ve actually drank wine so I’m not sure how to describe it. However, it was very balanced. I love the smoothness where its not too sour or too dry and it was fruity and light. I plan on giving the white wine a go and get three or these bottles or something to turn it around and make a glass bottle rose bouquet. It’ll be such a beautiful decoration.

Listel – Gris
Producer: Listel
Alcohol Content: 12.5%
Location: Languedoc-Rousillion, France
Taste Tag: Fruity and Light

Leaning a little more on the drier side, Listel- Gris is still fairly decent. Not quite as good as the balance the Cote des Roses achieves. However, there is a depth to it. The after tones of this one works well. There is a fruity and light taste however so its not hard to drink. A nice one to have with friends, making it a great choice for our barbecue.

That’s it for this Wine Recap!
We’re slowly getting back into the wines and alcohol however, we’re being careful of health.
If it slows down a little with this, it will be in the amount we decide to recap.

What have you been drinking? Any great ones to share?

Dinner: Beer Chicken

I can feel my experimental and fun cooking/baking self coming back! The energy is just coming back in.

I’ve heard a lot about Beer Chicken or Beer Can Chicken, whichever you want to call it.  We did a pseudo version of it for Christmas dinner upon the suggestion of my best friend. And it turned out really well since just marinated the chicken in it.  Its one of the reasons I was pretty delighted to give this a go especially since we just got gifted some Labatt Blue and everyone laughed at it but no one drank it. I’m not a beer connoisseur. In fact, I don’t digest beer well so I can only have it when its used in cooking (or mixed in drinks like Jagerbomb).

However, my one fear is that the can will explode in the oven.  Which it didn’t 😉 My oven and home is very much intact. *knocks on wood* Lets not jinx myself…

Beer Chicken
Serves 6
(Recipe via Pinterest: http://www.jocooks.com/main-courses/poultry-main-courses/beer-can-chicken/)

Follow the link above for the ingredients and cooking instructions.

Substitutions:

• Dry Tarragon was replaced with Oregano.
• Smoked Paprika and Chili Powder both omitted.
• Adding a 1 tsp (roughly) of Montreal Chicken spice

The recipe doesn’t specify it but I had to use the bottom rack of my oven to put in the chicken was its placed in upright and should come out upright as well. However, mine toppled over some time in the last half an hour. I’m sure depending on the size of your chicken, it will vary as well on time but for me, the 1 hour 15 minutes was exactly perfect.  The meat was juicy and tender.  It was absolutely a delight.  Not to mention the very delicious smell as its cooking that spreads through the house.  It is a really simple way to make a dinner.  I did it after work but if it was done earlier on  a weekend, it would be perfect.  I love making roast chickens because I just put them in the oven and then set the timer and walk off to do whatever I need to take care of.  When its all done, I’m done with my stuff also, right on time to fill up my belly with some delicious food.

Beer chicken is definitely a winner.  On a side note, its kind of a silly and weird thought to talk about a recipe where you have to stick a can up a chicken’s behind.

How do you like to make whole chickens? What spices do you prefer? Do you like to cook with beer (or other alcohol bases)?

Saguenay: La Voie Maltee (Chicoutimi, Quebec)

This past weekend, I had a 3 day getaway with my boyfriend.  Although, we didn’t splurge too much on food, we always choose one day to eat out and enjoy ourselves at a restaurant.

After some research, we came to the rather highly praised resto-bar/microbrewery called La Voie Maltee which actually has some award-winning beers to offer.  I’m personally not much of a beer drinker and well, seeing as I’m going gluten-free and going through a 30 day alcohol detox, there was none of that going into my system, but my boyfriend is not either of those things so he can.  Plus, the menu looked really awesome.  Although almost everything was malted in one way or another, which is weird because it doesn’t bother me when anything is malted, we decided to go.

La Voie Maltee has a nice little atmosphere once you enter.  It has some nice decorations and there is even a terasse near the back so that in the nice summer weather, its comfortable to enjoy a few drinks with friends.  For dinner, however, we preferred to be inside.

If you take a look at its menu, you will see some very interesting twists on various meals and its this that attracted us in the first place.

For appetizers:

Lobster Rolls VM

I started with Lobster Rolls VM. They are mini hot dogs with shredded lobster, veggies and fine herbs along with the mayon-Ale “East Coast”.  Ever since last year in Maine, I’ve been a huge fans of lobster rolls.  These were not only cute to look at but they were delicious.  I don’t know what herbs they used but mixed with their mayon-Ale, it was absolutely delicious.

Chili Cheese Sticks

As for my boyfriend, he started with Chili Cheese Sticks. These are spicy cheddar covered with crispy corn served with tzatziki sauce.

We both enjoyed these quite a bit.

Now for the main meal:

Pulled Pork Sandwich

My boyfriend had the pulled pork sandwich. The pulled pork is mixed with “BBQ sauce Libertine” (not that I know what that means). Its served with fries and coleslaw. He really like this a lot. I remember him complimenting it a lot.

Buccaneer Ribs

As expected, I’m a huge ribs lover so I took the Buccaneer Ribs. All these fancy terms that I don’t understand is what I’m thinking as I write this up.  These ribs are served with Stout BBQ sauce, fries and Caesar Salad. I must say that the taste of the ribs tastes some time to adapt to and the meat didn’t fall off the bones like I’m used to.  However, the taste does get increasingly good and the let me say, the fries are done so delicious.  I was absolutely hooked.

I wasn’t particularly fond of the waiter and the service he provided but he seemed to lighten up a little by the end of the meal.

Overall, a great meal in Chicoutimi and I think we made a very good choice in the restaurant.

What do you think of the food? Are you into drinking beer? What restaurant types do you go for when you travel?