We had a pretty nice Christmas Gathering with my buddies over the holidays.

Our friends made some nice dishes like ...
Ham and Potatoe soup
Mediterranean pizza with olives, feta cheese, spanish onion and spinach. 
Pasteis de Bacalhau
Lasagna
Beer Mussels
Taiwanese style chicken 三杯雞

It was also nice to have some veggie platter, fruit platter and dessert for people to munch on to begin and end the meal

My and I also made several dishes. It was our first time cooking for 20 people crowd.
Sweet Potatoe Casserole
Garlic Roast Beef
Green Bean Casserole with French Fried Onion
Honey Garlic Chicken Wings
Chicken Cannelloni
Shepard's Pie

It was a lot of work but well worth it to have everyone enjoying the food and company so much.

I discovered some of my friends really like karaoke singing. It was great to see that everyone was enjoying themselves.

I really enjoyed the Cloudy with a Chance of Meatballs.

UP is a really good movie but I think this one is even better.

There is a lot of imagination and creativity in the small details of the movie.

My favourite scene is when Flint made a jello place for Sam. It was fun and romantic!

Highly recommend this movie!

 

Thanks for making yakisoba and the movie!

Thanks to pirates_ahoy and her SO, we all get to go to NOTL to participate in the Taste of Season for the weekend.

Originally, we aimed to go to about 15 wineries but we made very good progress of going to 12 on the first day.  After the whole weekend, we ended up tasting all the wines listed in the 21 participating wineries.

The main categories of wine featured in the tasting were Chardonnay/Gewürztraminer/Riesling, Merlot/Cabernet Franc/Cabernet Sauvignon and Ice Wine.

I realized that Merlot is my least favourite red wine because of its dryness / sourness. Also, its body is very light. I tend to enjoy the Cabernet Sauvignon or Shiraz full bodiness more.

I got a pretty full bodied Chardonnay at Chateau de Charmes which I liked almost immediately after the tasting. I was happy I was able to get it as a gift for the holiday season.

I think it was nice to have the food pairing with the wine to make it easier on the stomach It seems that most of the food pairings did not really enhanced the flavour of the wine. If the wine is good on its own, it would be as good after the food and same goes for the not-so-good wines.

My favourite food pairing was the Black Currant, Pepper and Venison Medley. The venison meat was very tender and yummy.

I am still a beginner in knowledge of wine but I learned a lot more after this weekend

My favourite though is still the sweet dessert Ice wine and iced fruit wines.



My and I both enjoyed the vidal ice wine, iced cherry pair with chocolate brownie, and blueberry wine.

New vocab: "select harvest", "late harvest", "cabernet franc ice wine"

- the name of the wine is named after the grape in Niagara region
- the name of the wine is named after the region in France (e.g. Bordeaux, Champagne, Alsace)
- champagne made in Niagara region cannot be called champagne because it is France's trademark for the wines made in Champagne. The equivalence is "traditional French method" for making the champagne.


http://www.sunnybrookfarmwinery.com/page/wines

Iced Cherry
A sweet dessert wine made from 100% Niagara cherries. The ripe fruit is picked in July and frozen. The frozen fruit is then gently pressed. The resulting juice is sweet and bursting with cherry flavour.
Serve with desserts such as Black Forest cake, fruitcake, cheesecake, chocolate mousse, fruit, or Marscapone cheese. Or serve Iced Cherry alone as dessert.
Serve slightly chilled. (375ml bottle)
This is a Limited Edition bottling, featuring 3 cherries in each bottle.

Iced Apple
A sweet dessert wine made from 100% Niagara Apples. The ripe fruit is picked in October, frozen, and then gently pressed. The resulting juice is sweet and bursting with the flavour of many different varieties of apples. The wine has a heady aroma of apples and a hint of vanilla and caramel.
Serve with desserts such as fruit tarts, angel food cake, or pastries. Serve with cheese such as a sharp Cheddar, Brick or Swiss.
Serve slightly chilled. (375ml bottle)

http://www.southbrook.com/main.html#wines

Blueberry
Courageous. On the wild side, with a hint of northern herbs.