Wine Recap – April 2019

Welcome to the April 2019 Wine Recap!

April is always a little slower in terms of drinking anything alcohol-based due to work (yes, I know..again…). However, its sometimes about quality and not quantity and that’s what we are going to do because we had some decent new tries.

Let’s check it out!

Dublin’s Pub Apple Cider

Producer: A. Lassonde Inc.
Alcohol Content: 5%
Location: Rougemont, Quebec, Canada
Taste Tag: Fruity and Sweet

First up to kick off the month is a supermarket find, Dublin Pub Apple Cider. They actually do sell a glass bottle version in the SAQ outlets as well. A few things unexpected here was that I didn’t know that this was produced in Canada despite its Irish-style cider. I’m not sure what Irish-style is so I can only compare it to other ciders I’ve had before. On that note, I can’t say that in terms of personal preference that its one that I particularly like or dislike. Its not as sweet as some other ciders but also not quite as acidic as others either. It falls somewhere in the middle but yet feels rather light but not so fruity. If you are into something a little more well-rounded on that front, I’d say this one could be one to try out. I personally prefer my ciders with a little more distinct flavors.

Fat Bastard Chardonnay

Producer: GMDF
Alcohol Content: 13%
Location: France
Taste Tag: Aromatic and Mellow

If I were to place Fat Bastard, I’d say that its in the same league as wines like Rodney Strong (look at in a previous wine recap HERE). We’ve found luck in both full-bodied or aromatic and mellow taste tags especially in terms of white wines. With that said, Fat Bastard has that semi-dry palette in the first taste but also has a smooth finish so is a nice one. Its not quite as enjoyable as some other ones but this one definitely has a distinct taste and layers to it that works pretty well.

Palm Bay Vodka Soda – Blueberry Acai

Producer: Mike’s Beverage Company
Alcohol Content: 6%
Location: Ontario, Canada
Taste Tag: Crisp & Berry

Spirit coolers are a fun little territory to explore sometimes and we do every once in a while to break away from the more heavy wines especially during busy times. On our run to the SAQ to check out wines and ended up picking up the previous one, we also found this one. I’m not a particularly huge fan of superfruits stuff but thought why not. Palm Bay has always been pretty good with their flavors and this is no different. Being a fan of vodka based drinks, this one is right up my alley. Its fruity but not too sweet. I actually mixed it further with Canada Dry and it tastes even better.

That’s it for this Wine Recap!
All satisfying choices overall!

What have you been drinking? Share it in the comments below!

Restaurant: Brasserie Elements (Brossard, Canada)

Next up in the food adventures is a long-awaited Friday date night at a restaurant that we’ve been thinking of checking out for a while which has been only opened in the last few years called Brasserie Elements.

Brasserie Elements is for 18 and over as it is focused on its beers and cocktails while it has quite a limited but interesting menu also. You need to be aware of which days the kitchen closes at what time.

I apologize that the menu is only in French but just to show you the limited choices. You can find the menu on their website. Either way, its to get an idea.

Let’s check out what we got!

Drinks

Elements Blonde Beer

Avril Sour

When you go to a brasserie, it wouldn’t be right to not order some kind of drink. The husband likes beers to went ahead to try their house brew blonde beer. I had a sip (because I’m not a huge beer fan) and thought it was pretty decent. Its smooth and pretty good. I had a few items on the cocktail list that I was interested in but essentially got sold on the Avril Sour which is like an Amaretto Sour except it uses a Quebec-made almond-nut liqueur. its small and delicate and tastes really good. With any sours, its always good to keep them well-portioned mostly because its pretty acidic and sometimes the different liqueurs can be too much when the quantity is too much, which is why I’m pretty happy with their flavors, the balance and the size of the drink.

Appetizer

Smoked BBQ Chicken Wings with peanuts and green onions

There were two things that caught my eye in the menu right from the get-go and one of those were this Smoked BBQ chicken wings with peanuts and green onions. They tasted really good. On top of that, I like the concept that they really promote the whole finger food thing so yeah, its casual and fun because there is no elegant way to eat wings without wasting a ton of meat. At least I’m not skilled that way.

Main Meal

Burger Elements

The husband had the Burger Elements which has roasted shishitos, crispy shallots, cheese sauce infused with beer (not sure how to translate that). He really enjoyed it a lot but there was something in it that we couldn’t quite pinpoint.

Pulled Pork Sandwich

I’m a huge fan of pulled pork sandwiches so chances are if they have that as an option, I’m going to choose it. This one had a lot of stuff in it or just very leaky coleslaw along with a good amount of pulled pork and with smoked BBQ sauce. It tasted absolutely fantastic even if it was a completely messy experience. I do say that the coleslaw was a bit too generous which made me not be able to finish up the also very generous portion of fries which was comparable to a mountain.

Overall

Brasserie Elements is a pretty nice place. Its laid back and casual which works very well with the menu it gives and all the kinds of beers that you can try. There’s a good selection of beers from all over and very unique ones that you probably won’t find everywhere. Other than that, the food menu is also pretty good with appetizers, main meals as well as desserts. For a brasserie, they had pretty decent service as the waitress is very attentive to make sure that we were satisfied with our food and drinks and anything else that we needed. However, with a brasserie experience comes a bit more of a noisier atmosphere. The music however was really good, at least to our tastes and the place was split a little bit more in half so the more drinking side definitely felt like they had more speakers than say the more restaurant side. Maybe it wasn’t deliberate but it definitely worked for the better for our preferences.

Wine Recap – February 2019

With colds plaguing me yet again this month, I took it a little easier on the whole drinking front so that it was mostly for relaxation when I needed it and not coughing my lungs out or sniffling away. However, let me just say in advance that the three choices here were all quite decent wins.

Let’s check it out!

Bulles de Nuit Mimosa

Producer: Bulles de Nuit
Alcohol Content: 6.9%
Location: Montreal, Canada

After trying the other three varieties: Original, Rose and Pinot Grigio, Mimosa was the last one to try out. I don’t usually drink a lot of mimosas. Perhaps only one or two times before. Its a nice light drink and its usually fruity in my memory. The mimosa for Bulles de Nuit tasted a bit like spiked Crush. Its not a bad thing but I still think the other three products are much more to my taste.

Chateau Ste Michelle Riesling 2017

Producer: Ste Michelle Wine Estates
Alcohol Content: 12%
Location: Columbia Valley, Washington, USA
Taste Tag: Fruity and Sweet

A huge thanks to John Rieber for recommending this wine to me in the last wine recap.

Chateau Ste Michelle Riesling is quite accurate in their category. Being a big fan of riesling usually, this wine is fruity and sweet. There’s a lot to love about it from the way it tastes to the undertones. Its very smooth. There’s a bit of acidity but its balanced really well. I’d say the last riesling I had that had a similar texture and taste would be Kung Fu Girl. I’m not sure if I’ve ever talked about that one in any of the recaps.

Peter Lehmann Layers

Producer: Peter Lehmann Wines
Alcohol Content: 11.5%
Location: Australia
Taste Tag: Delicate and Light

I found this wine while browsing the sales on the SAQ site. Its unique because it has 4 varieties in one wine and three of them, I like quite a lot and one I haven’t tried any before so have no opinion on it. Its hard to find moscato in general but the few that I’ve really loved have been from Australia. With that said, this one gave me quite a bit of hope and I’m glad to say that this is one of those spontaneous purposes that turned out to be a pleasant experience. This one worked on many levels. Its a nice blend and a unique experience. If you haven’t tried it before, its worth giving it a chance.

That’s it for this wine recap!
I have to say that the two white wines are pretty good.

What have you been drinking?

Goodfood Smoothie Recap

Goodfood launched their smoothies add-ons for the boxes a few weeks ago (maybe a month or so). For their current clients, they gave a little discount to have the incentive to give it a go. Of course, being the wanna-be health nuts that we are, we wanted to give a go out of curiosity mostly. I’m not sure the smoothie lifestyle is for me but it sure helps in getting in the fruits and veggies count as well as the hydration and milk count although we do use almond milk.

With that said, they launched with 6 flavors. It comes with the 12 smoothies pack so we decided to grab 2 of each flavor so that my husband and I could each try it out.

Let’s take a look at it.

I know I’m missing one but I took this afterwards and the Mean Greens cups both were broken in the process of transport so we had to make those quickly. With that said, it should have more organization and whatnot to keep the containers in an upright position or just a way that it doesn’t break so easily since it is put into an insulated box with dry ice. Other than that, the packaging with the cups and lids makes it very convenient and saves my own cups from having to wash and whatnot and it should all be recyclable or if you please, reused since its fairly sturdy.

For each of the smoothies though, I decided to just take the images from Goodfoods site since smoothies aren’t exactly the most appealing thing to look at. This is in the order that we tasted it. I have put aside that our blender is not at par to make smoothies but we will be hopefully hunting for some boxing day deals to get a ninja blender or something along those lines because we do want to start having more smoothies and such.

Let’s see what we thought.

Mean Green

Nothing like drinking a salad, right? That is pretty much what I thought about this one. It felt like I was drinking a salad. I prefer to eat my salads so this worked for its purpose and tasted exactly as I’d expected. Actually, I take that back because it smelled pretty acidic but when I drank it, it actually didn’t taste acidic, just very green, if you know what I mean. Which is a good thing. It was a pleasant surprise in a way. The husband however, wasn’t a big fan of this one.

Mango Goji

I’m a huge fan of mango and goji. This sounds like something really healthy and perfect. Somehow though, this one didn’t work too well for me and I blame it on papaya because I’ve always found it really heavy and sweet that it just doesn’t appeal to my taste buds. However, its not such a bad flavor just in shorter doses for myself. However, my husband did approve with this one.

Cocoa Mint Boost

I’m a big fan of mint chocolate flavored anything and think of this as something a lot more natural but with a similar taste profile to that. It works really well. I’m not such a big fan of the addition of the kale but everything else here works really well together.

Acai Bellini

Acai Bellini is definitely our favorite in the Goodfood smoothie selection. It has to do with the normalcy of it if we look at the ingredients but it tasted so delicious. It had such a great balance with fruity and fun. It is how I pictures smoothies would taste and it was absolutely fantastic. Both my husband and I are fans of this one.

Carrot Ginger

Carrot Ginger is really good also. We called this kind of like a carrot cake and gingerbread cookie all mixed together. Plus, it had these little details that taste so great. We are a big fan of this one. Probably our second favorite.

Pina Colada

And the unanimous choice of what didn’t work for us is this one. I think its the fact that wheatgrass and our blender didn’t go too well and it felt like I was eating grass. It was also the idea that it smelled like this beautiful rich coconut smell but the taste was kind of acidic and coconut which was this weird effect on my taste buds. The husband and I didn’t really like this one a lot. I’m sure for experienced smoothies, this might work but its just not for us.

That’s it for this Goodfood Smoothies recap!
This is a special recap segment.

Wine Recap – November 2018

Welcome to the November 2018 edition of Wine Recap!

This past month, we’ve been slightly on a break due to various reasons. One is due to decrease of alcohol due to some health stuff my husband is dealing with. We wanted to lower the alcohol consumption to lighter varieties and we’re having this feeling that perhaps he has grown an intolerance to white wine so we’ll see how this segment shifts from here on out. The second is that the SAQ, which is the entity that governs our alcohol distribution in Quebec, is having union negotiations and strikes and such and for personal reasons, its been making us going less so I’ve picked up only two things from the grocery store this past month.

With the holidays coming up, I promise that December will make up for this month. I’d say I’m about 80% positive that it will.

Beach Day Every Day

Producer: Beach Club
Alcohol Content: 6.5%
Location: Quebec

A light refreshing alcoholic drink is really what Beach Day Every Day is. Its a drink great to have on a hot summer’s day. Very fitting for its name. It actually tastes a lot like Crush with hints of alcohol, making it a rather relaxing one to have. I bought this one at the grocery store (maybe an IGA, if I remember correctly).

Henry’s Hard Soda

Producer: Blitz-Weinhard Brewing Co.
Alcohol Content: 4.2%
Location: USA

Surprisingly, it seems that I’ve been choosing a lot of citrus flavors. This one is an orange flavor which actually didn’t taste of alcohol at all but almost felt like I was drinking something identical to Crush or any other orange soda. You can’t say that its not true to be fair. Its pretty tasty and the orange flavor is full, plus it also wasn’t too sweet. I don’t mind drinking this one again, although I am curious what the other flavor tastes like. It should be coming up in next month’s since we bought one can of each flavor from the grocery story (Metro in this case).

Revisit: Madjack Iced Tea

Just to keep it real (and because there wasn’t anything else here), I did end up buying a pack of Madjack Iced Tea flavored drinks this month. It spanned over the month to drink so that is also why we didn’t buy much of anything else. It is always our fun light drink to have. For my initial thoughts, check out April 2018 recap HERE.

That’s it for this “wine” recap.
Not any wine at all but its the alcoholic content that matters in this segment. Its alcoholic drinks in general (for anyone new here).

Sherbrooke Public Market Haul!

I’m getting something a little quicker to put together out first today. No worries. I have a Halloween post in the works and will be released a little later today tomorrow.

Following up with the Eastern Townships this weekend, this is just a quick little haul post so you can see. We’ve already tried some of the stuff so I’ll also talk about that quickly. We made a few stops but the most noteworthy in terms of shopping was at the Sherbrooke public market, Marché de la Gare de Sherbrooke. The one thing to be careful for is the parking here. They have some odd regulations on where has a limited time free parking and which rows are paying spaces. If you do go there, double check first. Second, its surrounded by a lovely little surrounding including some beautiful wall art in the vicinities to check out.

Without further ado, let’s see what we found!

We are big fans of Kombucha. The feeling that we get from it is fantastic. It makes us feel great and thats why we drink it a few times a week if we have stocked it up. At the market, we found two brands that we’ve never seen before including very original flavors as well.

Sencha Kombucha (original Sencha flavor)

I’m a pretty big fan of Sencha in general so when I saw this kombucha flavor, let me tell you that it was an exciting moment. What works even better is that it tastes really good. Plus, its a really nice portion for the bottle so good for a nice dose of kombucha to just detox a little. The husband liked it also but not quite as much as I did.

Kombucha Fous de L’Ile (Vivace-Perennial)

The husband was a huge fan of this one. The ingredients showed lemongrass and chlorophyll which is pretty good. It had a rather floral and grassy taste and was a little more concentrated than what I’m used. However, its still not a bad one. However, if you take a look at the other flavors on their website, there’s a few that I’d love to try out eventually.

I can’t remember what the boulangerie there is called but this is the bread that my husband wanted to get. Its some risen bread or something. I’m not a bread connoisseur so I honestly don’t know what to say about it. However, the bread was fresh and delicious.

Cep d’Argent: Fleur de Lys
Cidrerie Milton: Cidre de Feu
Millebois Original
Millebois Ambré

Since I have the wine recap segment, I will be covering these ones there instead of here. So far, we’ve tried out 2 of these. However, the Fleur de Lys is one that we’ve already had before. My husband had tried this before and likes it a lot. Our taking a chance moment here is for Millebois which is a maple syrup base drink.

That’s it for the haul!
The Marché de la Gare de Sherbrooke is pretty cool. I do feel like its kind of off season. 
However, just to say that if I had cash on me, I would have bought some fresh produce as they looked really nice.
Something to remember for the next visit!
I see that they have a Christmas market or something so maybe we’ll take a trip there later this year.

Toronto Haul – August 2018

I go to Toronto more than I actually should. Actually this year was the exception to the equation. I usually just go about once a year or something unless something else comes up and well, something else came up. This past weekend was my best friend’s wedding. Her husband is from Toronto so they ended up holding their wedding there. I honestly think I’ve been to more wedding outside of Montreal than in Montreal. Its a weird thought and shows how many of my friends have moved away, I guess.

Either way, it was a really fun weekend. We ate some awesome food, tried out some new places: two of which I’ll do a restaurant overview for during this week. I’ll show more of the wedding stuff in the next Weekly Adventures, mostly because well, it seems we may have skipped the last one. I know I did and it was deliberate.

Before I jump off onto another tangent, let’s check out some stuff I got in Toronto.

Things I Bought Because I Was Forgetful..
Scarborough Town Centre – Yves Rocher & Walmart

First stop on Friday in Toronto was the hunt for everything we remembered that we forgot during packing for the wedding stuff. For myself, it was not exactly all forgot but I don’t use make-up a lot so a lot of mine had expired and I needed to get some new stuff. Nothing heavy since I don’t do eye make-up because it causes eye infections for myself so just some simple concealer to do the job and seeing Fantasia and work destroyed my sleeping schedule, I’m currently rocking some puffy panda eyes and I had forgotten my eye cream. A trip to Yves Rocher was in the stars and the closest we could find on the way to the hotel was at Scarborough Town Centre. I’ll share the eventful moment there in the Weekly Adventures but one of the great things was the great service at Yves Rocher but a lovely lady who gave me some really fantastic suggestions and actually suggested that I changed to the other skincare line as my skin had changed and its why I was having all the blemishes I’ve been having lately. I didn’t get the skincare line seeing as I was away and didn’t really want to spend so much just yet but I loved the service of just sharing the knowledge of it all. So I got some body lotion and the eye care gel at Yves Rocher.

At Walmart, I got a concealer and some nail polish. I actually ended up not painting my nails for the event but I did also pick up this interesting product called a blur stick which I’m still exploring whether its something I could use or not as it felt really oily. I’m not sure the texture works well for my skin type, so I passed on using it and am still researching. If you all know what it is and have any suggestions or dos and don’ts, please do share with me.

T&T Supermarket (2 Trips)

Most of the snacks and such were bought on the first stop. We didn’t think that we would go back but we did end up going again on Sunday. Friday was to pick up a late lunch of dimsum, which I didn’t take pictures of. We stocked up on drinks which I also didn’t take pictures so and they are all consumed. I can tell you that I was on a semi caffeine detox since March where I cut tea out of my life completely. I don’t drink coffee so its a given, I suppose. Either way, this weekend, I drank all the tea that I didn’t drink in the last few months or at least it felt that way. However, the Vita brand which usually is known for its lemon tea and such actually has this Green Tea and Japanese Green Tea which both tastes fantastic and its unsweetened so its the legit ones. Going back to the picture, look at these flavors, its like a world tour of Lay’s flavors.

During the first trip, we saw these pokemon Ocean Bomb sparkling water. Actually when we went back in the second trip, we saw one new one and lost two so I guess I shouldn’t procrastinate so much in buying stuff. Either way, that was a spontaneous purchase although I’m still fairly unsure about trying the Pikachu Cucumber flavor. We also saw this KIM brand drink for bird’s nest drink. I’m not sure how many people know about bird nest’s drinks. Regardless, the happiest purchase here is the black sesame stuff because I love black sesame paste. Its my favorite dessert. I’ve never tried this brand so hopefully it’ll be good. I ended up sharing the bag with my mom.

Big Apple & 401 Brewery

Our always must-stop location is The Big Apple. I love to grab a pie and strudel and my husband loves the brownies. It is quite amazing to see how this location as grown in size and variety of what they offer. I remember stopping there the first time and it was still known but not quite as popular as it is now. I kind of miss the quieter days but they have really diversified and made it a truly Canadian experience with what they offer also.

In the building, they have the store for 401 Brewery. We’ve never had anything from there before. Seeing as we didn’t manage to pick up anything at LCBO this time, we decided to grab some ciders. We picked the traditional apple cider and then a peach cider and a pear cider to try. We also saw a sparkling oaked cider which seems like it could be a nice smoky taste sort of experience. We are looking forward to trying it out eventually.

That wraps up this shorter Toronto haul as I get things into order!

Ottawa 2018 Haul!

Hey everyone!

Sorry for the radio silence yesterday and well…today as well, I guess! Its been a bit of taking time off every week to sort out my own stuff. Usually, this weekend is when my friend has his Ottawa half marathon and I tag along to help him out. However, this year, I opted out of this duty. Instead, my husband and I both went down to Ottawa to hang out for a little today before his first race for the 5 km. Its humid and a little rainy and well, the sun has arrived back in Montreal but not sure how its doing in Ottawa since I’m home as I’m typing this.

The trip came with a lot of stuff on the to-do list. Yes, I shop with to-do lists if not, I might end up going crazy and just buy everything or sit there and be indecisiveness. Shopping with a goal is what my husband calls it. With that said, we had an idea of what places to hit at Rideau Center and Ottawa before heading back home. This is as timely as this post can get because we just unloaded and I took pictures and here we are!

Rideau Centre 

Eddie Bauer

Marathon weekend is always sales weekend for Eddie Bauer. Normally, Eddie Bauer’s stuff is expensive and usually rightfully so because its very durable especially for the hiking lovers like me and my husband. However, the only time we buy it is during sale time or else it would just be way out of budget. This year was a 40% off on everything in store. We both wanted to get new caps and new hiking pants. I got the blue capris and the blue cap and he got the beige pants that can be changed to shorts and the lighter color cap.

Disney Store

For those who don’t know, I collect Disney plushies. I had stopped the actual normal sized plushies for a while and was trying to get all the Animator series ones which are much more reasonable in storage. Regardless of that, when I see one that I like, I always tend to pick it up. I’m actually planning on keeping track of my collection over on Avenue of Daydreams some time this year. It would be fun to have an archive of the many things I collect and that seemed like a nice place to do it. Either way, Flower from Bambi was on sale so I picked it up. At the same time, I also saw little Piglet as well. I have a Tigger which is in the same style. These two were definitely coming home with me.

Squish Candy

Last year I had gone to Squish and got the Prosecco Bears and they were super delicious. They expanded their cocktail line and this time, my husband chose the Bourbon Cubes ans Sake Sakura and I chose the Wine O’Clock. I’m hoping that these will turn out to be equally delicious. They had a few other ones with sangria and such and those definitely has peaked my interest but for another time.

LCBO

Embracing the love of trying out VQA Ontario wines, LCBO was a must-go. I found a Riesling to try out eventually and my husband’s colleague had recommended the Big House Pinot Grigio and we saw it so we ended up picking up the bottle and he wanted to also get the can version. As for myself, I also saw another Cider from Brickworks Ciderhouse. I had tried another one earlier this year and was really impressed so having some high hopes for this one also.

Second Stop: T&T Supermarket

I mean, I’m pretty much thinking about groceries all the time so T&T Supermarket is always one of my stops. I don’t usually post about it but this time, we had some interesting finds. The herbal drinks from Hung Fook Tong had a new flavor. My husband picked out the Orange Ramune soda drink. I always get some dimsum, which I did but ended up eating on the trip back so not shown here. But there is also some pot stickers and vietnamese chicken lunch box and some BBQ Pork. The main goal this time was to get some sticky rice for the Dragonboat Festival. They had fresh ones which would be preferable if I had gone 2 weeks later but for now, I got the frozen in case I don’t end up going. However, the snacks we picked (and saw) were quite unique to say the least. Lay’s had these cucumber chips (and they also had lime flavor). I wonder if its an excuse to feel like you were being healthier when making that choice. Then we saw these Potato Wish brand which had the Steak and Red Wine Flavor and well, it looks like Ringolos but they are called Roller Coaster.

That’s it for the haul!
Nothing too special but a few unique finds!

Hope you are enjoying your weekend!

Wine Recap – March 2018

If you missed the last Wine Recap, check it out HERE.

Time sure does fly when you’re having fun. Well, I can’t classify this past month as fun but hey, the wine adventures sure did help as they are our winding down times or hanging out with friends time or in this case, travelling time. Lovely little moments to say the very least.

We have a lot to get through this month so lets jump right in!

Saint Aix Rosé 2016

Producer: Domaine de la Grande Séouve
Alcohol Content: 13%
Location: France
Taste Tag: Medium-bodied & dry

Rosé wines are always a little tough to judge. We’ve had some great ones but quite often they can get quite dry. Aix Rosé is something of an acquired taste. It did feel sour and dry when we first started drinking it but as it aired a little more, it seemed to taste better. Regardless of the initial taste, I think it had to do with smooth taste when we swallowed it. Its definitely not our favorite but its still pretty decent. On top of that, for Chinese weddings, this one would be great since the bottle itself has the double happiness symbol.

Brickworks Ciderhouse Queen Street 501

Producer: Brickworks Ciderhouse
Alcohol Content: 5%
Location: Ontario, Canada
Taste Tag: Medium-sweet & Fruity

I like to take breaks from wines every once in a while and fall to drinking something a little lighter like ciders. I’ve tried other ones like Angry Orchard, Smac!, Somersby and there was another Okanagan Valley one that I had tried when I went to Kelowna but can’t remember the name. Its somewhere some of the previous posts for that trip. While I think that all of the above are quite good. I have to say that this one was one of my favorites, possibly even more than the others. Thats a definite compliment because I do like Angry Orchard a fair amount. Sad was that I only had bought one can of this and enjoyed it at the hotel after the EGLX day so none to take home. Its on my to-buy list next time we head out to Ontario.

Bulles de Nuit Rosé Mousseux

Producer: Bulles de Nuit (I think)
Alcohol Content: 10.5%
Location: Montreal, Canada
Taste Tag: n/a

This one isn’t exactly a new find since I have this every other month or so. Its this bubbly rosé sparkling wine sort of thing. I’m usually not much of a champagne or sparkling wine sort of person. Everyone once in a while, I’ll try one that I like. This one is really good. I’ve had the original and the rosé and I like this one more. It has a much more fun taste to it. What is a fun taste? I have no idea. It could be because the alcohol content is a little more here and the taste is pretty decent and it just feels so lovely to drink. It has quite a kick though so for myself, when I crack on open, I usually sip it throughout an hour or so.

Rodney Strong Sonoma Chardonnay 2016

Producer: Rodney Strong Vineyards
Alcohol Content: 13.7%
Location: California, USA
Taste tag: Full-bodied & Rich

Give it to our spontaneous purchase that peaked my husband’s curiosity and was very different the wines we usually would buy to be the surprise in this recap. Rodney Strong Chardonnay is a dry wine and yet, the dryness is somehow cut into a very pleasant smoothness that tastes really rich when we swallow it. I’m starting to understand what these full-bodied and rich terms are all about because I’m starting to taste the difference. I haven’t had a Chardonnay that I’ve liked before but this one has won me over.

Fresh Beginnings Moscato 2016

Producer: Diamond Estates Wines & Spirits Ltd.
Alcohol Content: 11.5%
Location: Ontario, Canada
Taste tag: Off-dry & Fruity

Well…isn’t that a problem? I forgot to take the picture of the glass before we finished the bottle. Actually, to be honest, Fresh Beginnings was a little bit on the sour taste for our palette. However, while we’ve hit a lot of really great moscato, particularly in the last recap, I’ve definitely hit some moscato white wines that have this sort of taste. This one was more on the dry territory and with the fruity flavors it didn’t work as well as we’d wanted it to. But isn’t the bottle so charming and beautiful to look at? I actually still have it just to look at since its so pretty for the counter and really rings in Spring (even if we dipped down into the below zero Celsius days the past week).

This wraps up the March 2018 Wine recap!
A nice little mixed variety this time around, right?
Some sure winners and some acquired tastes here.

Which stood out for you? Have you tried any of these?
Any wines that you’d recommend that we try?

MTL a Table 2017: Bistro Le Ste-Cath

I talked about it in the last Weekly Adventures however we ended up going to a second restaurant for MTL a Table. This time, we landed on Bistro Le Ste-Cath which is in the Hochelaga-Maisonneuve area, which is a little off of downtown. A few reasons for this choice: the menu looked good and the location was decent (since there was a hockey game that night and it would be a mess to get in and out).

Bistro Le Ste-Cath

None of us had been to Bistro Le Ste-Cath before. Its a very artsy spot and there was a live show set to begin at 8pm. During the meal, there was an artist doing a painting on their stage. It was pretty cool to look at. The seating is a little tight but its also quite casual. The area had a decent parking spots if its not too late.

Drinks

Bloody Caesar

Sangria Rose

To start, my husband got his staple of Bloody Caesar. This one was pretty strong as in the spices were all there. As for the rest of us, we shared a pitcher of Sangria Rose. Bistro Le Ste-Cath has a pretty extensive variety of sangrias. Taking into consideration allergies and preferences, we went with a simpler Sangria Rose which only had a few ingredients. It was pretty good.

First Course

Mussels of the islands with fries

East-Hereford Rainbow Trout Tartare

Bas-du-Fleuve Minestrone Soup

I chose the mussels with fries for the first course. It was pretty good. The broth they used was delicious and the fries were top-notch perfection. It had a sprinkle of pepper and the way they made it was awesome. My husband had the minestrone and judging from his reaction, I  can’t say that he liked it a ton.

Second Course

3 Cheeses Salad and Mac and Cheese with Vacherin de Mont-Laurier

Brome Lake duck vol-au-vent served with fennel, dill and orange salad

Breaded Rainbow Bobines trout served with sauteed vegatables

Next up was the main meal. I took the breaded rainbow bobines. This was really nice. The sweet potato fries being the disappointment of the dish because it didn’t really have any taste and the texture was all pretty meh. However, the fish was nice. It was breaded with corn flakes which is pretty nice because for those who don’t know, corn flakes breading is the replacement for panko for those who are lactose-intolerant. I usually just leave it and suffer a little of the consequences if I am super desperate but this one had delicious sauce and was made very well. The husband had the duck vol au vent and he said that he enjoyed it.

Third Course

Monteregie Creme Brulee

Chocolate Trio with Strawberry and Basil from Quebec

Fruit Salad

The fruit salad is obviously mine’s since I can’t eat the original two on the menu. However, this berry salad was very fresh which is always a plus.

Overall, Bistro le Ste-Cath was alright. The seating is a little tight which makes it more suitable for like shows and drinking probably. The food was good. The presentation was nice and the taste was decent. To be honest, Bistro le Ste-Cath seems like a pretty hip spot. It had a lot of cool art happening as we ate as well as along its walls. It has live shows. You can tell that this spot has a lot of frequent and repeat customers because at times, there was a lot of groups that seemed to already know each other and seemed like a reunion, which can feel quite nice to see in general. Plus, surprisingly, this little spot actually had a quick alternative for my dessert issue. Its always nice to see restaurants willing to try to accommodate to our myriad of needs from having a toddler around and allergens and offering decent service for it.