Beer review: Innis and Gunn Oak Aged Ale

Mmm...beer: Review of Innis and Gunn Oak Aged Ale
So, this is available in a few select restaurants and liquor stores (aka happy places). It seems to be quite a rare find, and oh man, it's worth it.

Apparently it's aged for a total of 77 days - 30 of those are in oak barrels used to age single malt. The balance is in a "marrying tin where these flavours infuse and fall into perfect balance." The perfect beer? Not so fast, my Homer-esque friends. This is a strong beer (6.6%) with HUGE flavour - it tastes like Caffrey's that has had an insane bartender drop a shot of Lagavulin into it. Yup, the single malt essence comes through in a big way for me - that means you can't be quaffing this all night. It's like drinking a huge fat Cab or Chardonnay - it needs a little somethin' somethin' to go with, ya know?

That said, I can see having one or two of these Scottish badasses for a little apres, in front of the fireplace. Beautiful, huge flavours (I get the single malt as well as honey) and a lovely velvety mouth feel. Not a lot of carbonation makes it slide down that much nicer...drool...

If you can find this, I recommend this - sell your kidneys if you need to, you won't regret the tradeoff.

For all you dog lovers out there, now your puppy can hold a kitchen towel for you where he needs it most! Slam introduces the Dog-end towel holder that is easy to look after, doesn't need a daily walk & wipes his own butt! Perhaps even better, it is made from recycled plastic, so if you ever get get board of looking at his balls, you can just toss him in the blue box!

Smoke-free ... it's about time!

Good news for Bow Valley residents and visitors alike! In Canmore, effective April 1, both the Rose & Crown and the Drake Inn pubs will become smoke-free!! Now, for those of you from Toronto and Vancouver, “big deal”, right? Well, these two pubs are a bit ahead of the curve in Alberta, as Calgary is only mandated to become smoke-free in 2008. While Canmore has lagged behind Banff in introducing a by-law to this effect for well over a year, it’s commendable to see business owners teaming up to make a point, as well as looking out for the health of their patrons and staff members.

If you enjoy a couple – or a bunch! – of pints and some great food, my first recommendation is definitely the Rose & Crown, at the corner of Railway Avenue and Main Street. They’ve got the best “pub grub” in town and just introduced a new menu this last Monday. I totally recommend their Banquet Burger (held over from the last menu and quite possibly the best beef burger in town), while my better half totally enjoyed the new Sirloin Quesadilla. The Rose offers both a pub atmosphere in one room and a dining room in another. And if you’ll be pubbin’ in the summer, the Rose enjoys sun on its patio longer than any other place in town (and is a little quieter, as it overlooks Policeman’s Creek). Year-round, a couple of pool tables are available for your amusement, in case the people-watching isn’t enough. The Rose & Crown offers a great selection of beer on tap and their awesome servers will be the delight of your day; in fact, in my humble opinion, the service exceeds that of any pub or restaurant in town. Can you tell it’s our favourite?

If you’re interested in live entertainment, the Drake offers live bands most Thursdays, Fridays and Saturdays, as well as a dance floor to get yo’ funk on. It can get a little crazy when some of the favourite local bands are around, so you might want to arrive early to root yourself at a table to make the most of its fun and lively atmosphere! You’ll also find pool tables downstairs. Trolling? I have to guess that this would be the place – and hey, there’s a motel attached!! The Drake also offers bi-level patio seating in the summer, but loses the sun a little earlier than others. The Drake is located across the street from the Rose (do I see a mini pub crawl in your future?).

Also of note, pub-wise, is the reopening of the Sherwood House Pub, slated for the Victoria Day weekend. The Sherwood House is a Canmore landmark and has been seriously missed for nearly two years, now. Submerged into the pits of hell by the interim Bolo House management, it sounds like the reclaimed Sherwood House will come back to make the most of its hot patio (some would say “the hottest”) for the summer, offering a streamlined, “gourmet” pub menu. Then, once sunny (etc.) summer is over, they’ll close for some significant renovations in the fall and treat us all to more of a grand opening in December. Woohoo! The Sherwood House is located at the corner of Main Street and 8th Avenue.

Clearly, the Molson Canadian trademark slogan rings true (at least in Canmore): “There are two seasons in Canada; winter … and patio”. This week’s warm weather and sunshine in the Bow Valley have obviously had an effect on my psyche and thus a young woman’s fancy turns to thoughts of havin’ a pint in the great outdoors (while viewing beautiful mountains, feeling that cool alpine breeze and so on…)!! Meanwhile, plan to enjoy the improved, smoke-free facilities at your disposal! Bravo to the respective management of the Rose & Crown and the Drake!!

~ One of Seven

Quick n easy pizza

This is the easiest pizza ever, and best of all, the kids love it. Forget about the mess of using frozen or fresh pizza dough, let alone making your own. Just take a package of soft tortillas, add a bit of sauce and some toppings and voila....home made thin crust pizza! We put the sauce on for the kids & then lay out the toppings on the table for the kids to make their own creations. Our kids may not be normal, but they like bacon, tomatos & red/orange/yellow peppers along with the usual cheese & pepperoni. For Mom & Dad, mix it up with some spicy Thai dressing, onions, bean sprouts and chopped bbq chicken! This is a quick easy treat the whole family loves.

Recipe: Potatoes mashed with caramelized onions

Each month, we look forward to the arrival of the LCBO's Food & Drink Magazine. It's always filled with great ideas for feeding the ever present crowd that invades our house every weekend. The first thing we decided to try was the mashed potatoes with caramelized onions. They are easy to make & can be put together in the morning & then finished off in the over while you are prepping the rest of dinner. The end result was outstanding. The potatoes are nice and creamy, thanks to the buttermilk and the onions are sweet, with a bit of tang from the sherry vinegar.

Onions:
1 tbsp olive oil
2 tbsp butter
6 cups of sweet onions (like vidalia)
salt to taste
1 tbsp sherry vinegar
1 tbsp granulated sugar
1/2 cup chicken or beef stock
freshly ground pepper

Potatoes:
3 lbs Yukon Gold potatoes, peeled & cut into even sized chunks (note: you may want to make more taters, we didn't have enough for the dish & had to make more)
3/4 cup of buttermilk
1/4 cup of melted butter
salt & freshly ground pepper
1/2 cup of grated asiago cheese. I think we used a whole brick, you can never have too much cheese!

1. Heat oil and butter in a large skillet over medium heat until butter sizzles. Add onions & salt & saute for 3 minutes or until onions start to soften. Sprinkle with sugar, turn heat to medium low and continue to cook, stirring occasionally, until onions turn golden brown, about 20 minutes. Stir in vinegar and stock. Raise heat to high and reduce until stock almost completely disappears. Remove from heat, season with salt & pepper and reserve.

2. While onions are cooking, place potatoes in cold salted water to cover and bring to a boil. Boil for 10 minutes or until taters are tender. Drain well and return to turned off burner for a few minutes to dry off.

3. Mash potatoes with a potato masher and beat in buttermilk and butter. Season well with salt and pepper.

4. Preheat oven to 375f

5. Butter a large gratin dish. Layer one third of potatoes and then half of the onions. Repeat layering, finishing with a layer of potato. Sprinkle with the grated asiago cheese and bake for 20-25 minutes or until top is browned and potatoes are hot.

Cha Cha wine rack

Thanks to Jaime over at Random for pointing us towards the funky Cha Cha wine rack. The colourful plastic pieces can be put together in different shapes. They come in blue, clear, green & orange and are available from Wrapables for $21.95 per section.

New Blog Launch

Blair Valley Media is happy to announce the launch of our new toy blog, The Jumping Bunny. This is our first blog that is outside the realm of blogger, so it has been an exciting learning experience.The Jumping Bunny is a essentially a toy review blog, but at times we may talk about all sorts of kid stuff. We hope you will come and visit soon.

Puff Balls

Gary’s dad and his girlfriend came to visit last September from BC. They were driving around Canada and the U.S pulling their new trailer and we had dinner with them one night at the trailer park. Gary was catching up on family history (mostly cars!) and the kids were getting restless so we decided to go for a walk in the woods. We found the usual sticks and rocks and an old dump full of bike parts and garbage but nothing too exciting. As it was starting to get dark and everyone was getting hungry, we decided to head back to the trailer and were stopped in the woods by an older gentleman who’s trailer (home) was situated beside the path to the woods. As usual, I can never get past an older person without them talking to me and this time was no exception. This little, round man walks up to me and says “Do you like puff balls?” “Excuse me?” I reply, not fully understanding what he is asking and somewhat concerned that he is propositioning me in front of my children. “Puff balls,” he repeats. At this point, I am thinking that perhaps he is just a lonely old man looking for someone to talk to and I ask him what he is talking about. He tells me that in the woods there are these white balls, about the size of a beach ball and they are a delicacy to eat. (His wife was apparently in the trailer, frying some in butter for dinner). He points us back in the direction of the woods and the kids and I go searching for these puff balls. It doesn’t take long before Duncan is running through the woods yelling that he has found them and sure enough, a little off the beaten path are these white balls on the ground, bigger than our heads. Duncan grabs one (the biggest he can find) and we head back to the trailer to show daddy, grandpa and grandma. Apparently, these Giant Puff Balls are from the mushroom family. They grow in the late summer to mid-fall and can be as small as a baseball and as big as a basketball. They are mostly edible and are often fried in butter or cooked in soups. Duncan, being the Fear Factor freak, takes the first bite, raw!!! Once we are sure he is not going to keel over and die (the good parents that we are) we all decide to take a bite. They are earthy-tasting and a little spongy, almost like styrofoam, but we are told they are much better fried in butter. The puff balls made it home with us but we never got a chance to cook them up. The kids are looking forward to next fall when we can hunt for them again. Perhaps by then, we will be able to find a recipe and really check them out.

10W30 Dark Ale Review

Visit The Garage for a full review of Neustadt Springs 10W30 Dark Ale.

They're Grrrreat!

The boys wanted Corn Flakes after hockey this morning and I suppose I wasn't really surprised when I found the box empty! I thought we had another box down in the pantry, so I sent the boys on a mission and they came back with a new box of Frosted Flakes. I'm not sure where they came from, but I must have bought them on sale one day. I hadn't had Frosted Flakes in years. Crispy & sweet, but not too sweet. I had forgotten how good they are. Definately a guilty pleasure!

Blog Review

I've just come across a fun B5 Media blog called Cooking Gadgets, by Arieanna Foley. Like most of B5's blogs, this one looks great and has lots of cool kitchen toys. I'm liking the perfect pint robot, but I think the kids would go crazy for the motorized ice cream cones!

Restaurant review : The Real jerk

As close as I can remember, it's been at least 13 years since I've visited this place. The Real Jerk has been a landmark in the Toronto island food scene for many years. The outside of the building is brightly painted in red, yellow and green, the colours of Jamaica and the theme is followed through inside. Yellow tinted windows cast a sunny glow over the place, complementing the make believe beach hut that dominates the center of the place.
Normally I'd be ordering a roti or curry of some sort, but I just wanted a light lunch so I opted for the Jerk Chicken sandwich. I enjoyed the nice soft cocoa bread and the chicken was juicy & tender, but where was the heat? Maybe it's 'cause I'm a fat white guy, but really people...give me some heat! The chicken was whiter than me!

Other than the chicken having no spice, I thoroughly enjoyed lunch at The Real Jerk. Now that I'm working close by, I'll be visiting again soon. It's like taking a little mid week vacation!