Food

The Best Time to Drink Beer in B.C.  “There has never been a better time to drink beer in British Columbia.” – Gary Lohin, brewmaster, at the Central City Brewing tap takeover at the Moon Under Water brewpub on May 9, 2013. I couldn’t agree more. The Canadian Brewing Awards were held in Victoria earlier this month. It was the first time the event has taken place west of Toronto in its 11-year history—perfect timing with the boom of new breweries we are enjoying here in British Columbia: seven new microbreweries opened in 2012, and a dozen or more are expected to open in the next year—six in metro Vancouver alone. Overall, B.C. breweries did very well at the Awards, winning 35/116 awards handed out. Central City Brewing won three golds and a silver; Parallel 49 Brewing won one gold and three silvers in its first year of competition; and Howe Sound Brewing won four medals as well—two golds, one silver and one bronze. But Vancouver’s Powell Street Craft Brewery stole the show by winning Beer of the Year for its Old Jalopy Pale Ale, which also won gold in the North American Style Pale Ale (Bitter) category. It was a stunning accomplishment for this tiny nanobrewery that just opened last December—making it B.C.’s youngest brewery. Here’s owner/brewer David Bowkett, still buzzing off his big win back on May 11. Powell Street Craft won’t be the new kid on the block for long—a string of new breweries is set to open over the next few months. I will profile each of these new operations in this column as they open. Four Winds Brewing Delta, BC Website | Facebook | Twitter Opening: June 2013 First out of the gates with beer flowing will be Four Winds Brewing, a family-run operation led by brewer Brent Mills, who previously learned his craft as part of the team at Vancouver’s R&B Brewing. Brent’s two brothers, Adam and Sean, are involved on the sales and marketing side, and their dad, Greg, is handling the administration. Four Winds will release four core beers to start with—a saison, IPA, American pale ale, and a Czech pilsner—all packaged in four-packs of 330-mL bottles that will be priced at $8.99. The idea is to appeal to consumers who usually just buy single 650-mL bomber bottles, spurning six-packs because of the lack of variety. I tasted the saison and IPA early in May when I visited the brewery, and both were excellent, and I have no doubt they will be well-received in the craft beer community. The brewery will also put out limited releases in bombers or 750-mL corked bottles, depending on the style. Mills plans on brewing a saison aged with Brettanomyces yeast right off the bat—talk about trying to hit it out of the park on the first pitch. He wants to put out a mix of old-world (unfiltered, bottle-conditioned) and newer craft beer styles from everywhere—hence the brewery’s name. Four Winds Brewing will be holding an open house on Saturday, June 1, and will be participating in some Vancouver Craft Beer Week events. Look for their products on the market later in June. Next month, I will profile North Vancouver’s Deep Cove Brewers and Distillers, which is opening right across the street from Bridge Brewing, which itself just opened last summer, and 33 Acres Brewing, the first of a trio of new breweries set to open in Vancouver’s historic Brewery Creek neighbourhood. Quench your thirst at www.thirstywriter.com. Follow along on twitter @thirstywriter and @craftbeerrevolu.

Once again, today was equal parts relaxation and activity. Having a nice mix of the of two definitely makes me feel healthy and balanced. I guess Canyon Ranch is doing its job! Breakfast I woke up bright-eyed and bushy-tailed, ready to start the day, this morning. (I swear the beds at Canyon Ranch are magical. I’ve been sleeping so well.) My stomach started to grumble within minutes of waking up, so I got dressed in workout gear and then headed straight to breakfast in the main dining room. I started with fresh fruit topped with ground flax from the breakfast bar. I also drank part of a decaf iced coffee with almond milk. Then, I ordered some yogurt with Canyon Ranch Granola. As you can see, the portion sizes are pretty small, which has been great for trying lots of different dishes. I also ordered the open-face egg sandwich with fruit on the side. It was served on gluten-free bread with cheese, onions, and turkey sausage. It was delicious and very satisfying. After breakfast, I headed to Café Tasse to get some work done. While there, I ordered a decaf iced almond milk latte (love these). Workout Awhile later, I went to take a class called “TRX & Flex,”and, holy goodness, it was hard. The class was split between kettlebells and the TRX suspension system, so we went back and forth between the two. There were only two people in the class (myself and another gal) and we were both pretty fit, so the instructors had some fun with us. They had us doing all of these crazy-awesome, super challenging moves. At one point, we were doing one-legged squats into one-legged plyo jumps while holding a kettlebell. It was tough, and I loved it. I definitely got a great workout in this class! After class, I headed back to my room, took a quick shower, and then went to lunch. A few of you guys asked if I was dining alone at Canyon Ranch, so I figured I should tell you about the Captain’s Table. The Captain’s Table is basically a big table at breakfast, lunch, and dinner where you can meet and get to know various staff members and guests over a meal. Each Captain’s Table is hosted by a different staff member, and they chat about the various services and activities at Canyon Ranch, answer questions, and help you make the most of your time here. It’s also a great opportunity to make some friends, especially if you’re traveling alone. FYI: There are a ton of lone wolves at Canyon Ranch—a lot more than I expected—so it hasn’t been all that awkward or lonely to stay here solo. Plus, everyone is really friendly—both staff and guests. I’ve joined the Captain’s Table a couple of different times now and have really enjoyed meeting some new people.   Lunch Today’s lunch started with a trip to the salad bar. Then, I ordered some Anazazi Bean Soup, which didn’t have all that many beans in it, but it still tasted really good.  I also ordered the fish tacos, which were made with tilapia, lime cabbage slaw, and mango salsa and jicama slaw. I enjoyed them, but I guess I’m not a tilapia fan. I always thought I liked it, but it was just too fishy for me. I still ate most of it (for the protein + omega-3s). I also received a few questions from you guys about the numbers under the various foods on the salad bar. Those numbers are actually on all of the menus too, and they’re the nutrient analysis for each dish/food item. The first bolded number is the calorie count. The next number is carb grams, then protein grams, and so on. Here’s more info and some sample menus. I finished off lunch with homemade coffee ice cream (everyone at the Captain’s Table was raving about it, so, of course, I needed to try it) and a gluten-free chocolate cookie, which I can’t seem to get enough of. Workout After lunch, I took a class called “Chi Energy,” which was “a moving meditation based on martial arts, designed to harmonize the natural flow of life energy.” The instructor told us it was a mix of Qigong and Tai Chi. The weather was beautiful, so the ins

Day 1 of the Sweets and Snacks Expo is over, and I’m exhausted! I stayed up past my bedtime trying to get some science done, and then it was up again at 5AM to catch an early flight to Chicago, then straight from Midway to the Expo. Our first stop was the Ritter Sport importer booth, as they can always be counted on for exciting new products. They’ve got a new Cocoa Mousse with 9 squares instead of 16 (GASP!), a coconut, and a limited edition raspberry-cranberry yogurt (not pictured here, though I have a sample. Jim reviewed on Chocolate Mission). I love seeing all the different varieties of Ritter Sport in one place. I hate how it reminds me of what we don’t have access to here in the U.S. Caffeinated chocolate was a trend at this year’s expo. The Energy version of Good Day chocolate above was one of several brands who told me that X of their candy equaled X cups of coffee or X ounces of Red Bull. I’m going to be one jittery candy blogger once I get around to reviewing all those chocolates. The things I do for you, dear readers! Still, can’t be worse than that time I ate all that sugar free chocolate… Promotional licensing was rampant as usual (I saw Angry Birds, Fruit Ninja, and Star Wars gummies; Jelly Belly’s got a new deal with Disney). Wild Ophelia, Vosges‘s little sister brand, has a line of Hunger Games bars that go beyond just slapping a logo and some characters on the packaging. Instead, the flavors of the bars are supposed to line up with the different districts. The lumber district is a smoked chipotle chili bar, mining has mined salt, and transportation has runner peanuts. As a Hunger Games fan, I loved that they brought thought and wit to the tie-in. T&H Organic Hard Candy was a new company in Innovation Alley that’s already been racking up awards. This year, like last, buzzwords like organic, non-GMO, gluten-free, nut-free, etc. are popular on the show floor. I tried a T&H blood orange hard candy, which was delicious. They have a grapefruit flavor that I can’t wait to try later. Hooray grapefruit candies! Another trend this year is miniaturized versions of well-known treats. There were mini Starbursts, mini Snickers, mini Kit Kats, mini Turtles… The list goes on and on. I think it’s an easy way for brands to capitalize on name recognition when introducing a new-ish product. This is not about candy, but I just have to share: Perky Jerky is definitely the most delicious jerky. Like last year, I’m so thankful for the salty snacks of the Expo to break up my palate fatigue and provide some protein to keep me going! I can’t imagine what it was like when it was just the All Candy Expo. I also asked Nelly a question during the Mike & Ike press conference (alas, it was neither “wanna go a take a ride wit me?” nor “how hot is it in herre?”), held a gold medal and had a fun chat with the very friendly U.S. women’s water polo team at Bare Fruit, and won a Tide pen from Airheads. Can’t wait to see what tomorrow will bring! If you missed it, Emma’s been holding down the live updates on Twitter and Instagram. Check out her great camera work!

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The Pinot masters at Ponzi sent this wine to us to put up our thoughts so here goes: classic light watermelon hue with aromas of bright cinnamony cherry brimming with sweet spice notes.Palate--vibrant, zippy cherry juice with cranberry back bitters and spicy red fruit with a cherry smoke finish.Ponzi defined Oregon Pinot and if I'm not mistaken was the Wine Spectator's #1 wine of the year in the not too distant past. (Someone correct me if I'm wrong...)This is NO scheme, but the real deal; a good Pinot will run you $35 which is not cheap but if you compare this to Burgundy it's practically a steal so raise a glass!--A Review from The Wine Cask Blog. Creative Commons: Attribution - ShareAlike 2.5 applies

Jolie Gems, Warhol, Wine Auction Lure Billionaires to Hong Kong: Hong Kong is taking center stage on the globa...

NASA is funding a 3D food printer and the first food they are going to print is PIZZA! DUH! Apparently NASA is forking over $250,000 to Systems and Materials Research Corporation (SMRC) in Austin, TX for Anjan Contractor, a senior mechanical engineer there to build a prototype of a food synthesizer he has already been working on. Early tests included printed chocolate. The technology could

Kona coffee beans come from the big island of Hawaii, and are harder to find than you might think...

My Sourdough Bread...Submitted by Gingi on May 21, 2013 - 5:05pm. Hi there people,Here is a picture of my sourdough bread... made from a 100% hydration starter and some T80 flour... suggestions/feedback are welcome.Thanks,gingi