Red meat and diabetes

Experts at the Harvard School of Public Health recently had a study published in the American Journal of Clinical Nutrition on the link between red meat consumption and type 2 diabetes. It’s the largest study of its kind. You can read the abstract here: http://www.ajcn.org/content/early/2011/08/10/ajcn.111.018978.abstract?sid=c3e3247b-e031-48e8-bbb1-8a1fd1c877c9. You can read a review of the study here: http://news.yahoo.com/red-meat-boosts-diabetes-risk-us-study-161043220.html.

The basics are as follows: Eating about 100 grams of red meat per day (the size of a deck of playing cards, approximately) increases the risk of developing type 2 diabetes by 19%. Eating about 50 grams (so half of the previous amount) of processed red meat (hot dogs, bologna, etc.) per day increased the risk of developing type 2 diabetes by 51%. Fifty-one percent! That’s like a hot dog a day. There’s good news however: you can offset these risks by just swapping out the red meat and processed meat for other high-protein foods, like nuts (I like almonds and peanut butter), dairy or whole grain proteins. The article suggests white meat as well; however, the study does not.

Should you feel compelled to shrug this scientific data off, bear in mind that there are rising incidences of type 2 diabetes worldwide that correlates to the rise in red meat consumption globally. Also bear in mind that the increased risks bear true even after factoring in other things like already being overweight or not working out enough – these statistics are the same for a healthy, athletic 20 year-old as they are for an out of shape 40 year-old.

So just cut back, ok?

Jell-o is people (kind of)

We all know that gelatin is made from animal by-products (bones and whatnot) – now they’re making gelatin out of human genes (see the link below for the story from Fast Company). It looks like, so far, it’s being used for stabilizers for vaccines and perhaps in pill capsules. Regardless, I find it off-putting.

http://www.fastcompany.com/1767744/coming-soon-human-derived-gelatin-in-your-marshmallows

Protein

A question I get frequently concerns how I can manage to eat enough protein while pregnant without eating meat. My answer is that I eat dairy (milk, eggs, cottage cheese) and tofu. This tends to leave people skeptical that I don’t understand where protein comes from – oh but I do.

And here’s an article that explains the Environmental Working Group’s top five best sources of protein and top five worst sources of protein (four of the top five worst are meat, by the way – also cheese, sadly).

http://shine.yahoo.com/channel/food/the-1-best-protein-for-your-health-and-the-worst-to-avoid-2512800/

Dangerous (well, scary) Additives

I came across an article on scary additives that I thought I’d share. The link will be at the bottom. Note that the “found in” sections are not exhaustive lists – read your labels.

Here’s the top 10 scariest additives, as according to the editors of Men’s Health.

1. Olestra (found in Lay’s Light chips and Pringles Light chips) – causes diarrhea, blocks the body’s ability to absorb beta carotene and lycopene; animal studies show that olestra causes more weight gain than real fat.
2. Caramel coloring (found in colas and other soft drinks, La Choy soy sauce, Stove Top stuffing mix) – when produced with ammonia, it puts off 2-methylimidazole and 4-methylimidazole, chemicals that have been linked to cancer in mice.
3. Saccharin (found in Sweet’n'Low and TaB cola) – linked to bladder tumors in rats; shown to cause more weight gain than real sugar.
4. Potassium Bromate (found in Johnny Rockets hoagie rolls) – causes thyroid and kidney tumors in rats; banned in most countries
5. Butylated Hydroxyanisole (BHA) and Butylated Hydroxytoluene (BHT) (found in Goya lard, Cinnamon Toast Crunch, Golden Grahams, Orbit gum) – BHA is reasonably expected to be a human carcinogen, according to the department of health and human services; BHT is less dangerous but causes cancer in lab rats.
6. Partially hydrogenated vegetable oil – aka trans fats (found in McDonalds McChicken, Long John Silvers cheese and broccoli soup) – trans fats cause about 70,000 heart attacks per year.
7. Sulfites (found in wine, Sun-Maid Mixed Fruit, Jolly Ranchers, Fig Newtons) – can trigger asthma symptoms in certain individuals.
8. Azodicarbonamide (found in Dunkin’ Donuts bagels, McDonalds burger buns) – also used in the production of industrial foam, potential cause of asthma.
9. Carrageenan (Weight Watchers Giant Chocolate Fudge Ice Cream Bars, Skinny Cow Ice Cream Sandwiches, Creamsicles) – linked to cancer, colon trouble, ulcers in animal studies.
10. Ammonium Sulfate (Nature’s Own bread, Subway rolls) – found in fertilizer and flame retardants, but NOT shown to have adverse health effects in animals.

http://health.yahoo.net/experts/eatthis/top-10-scariest-food-additives

The secret to portobello burgers

This isn’t rocket science.

You have to marinate them.

And you have to start with some good caps. Shriveled caps don’t work for me – they’re tough. I don’t mean fully dried ones, I mean ones that are old enough to shrivel. Skip those and go for some good, fresh, fleshy caps. The shriveled ones work better chopped up.

So get some good caps (one per burger), clean (use a damp paper towel – mushrooms absorb water so running them under the tap will make them bloat), pat dry, and put into a ziplock bag (or a container, whatever suits your fancy – just make sure it seals) with your marinade of choice. Good options include garlic/red wine vinegar, balsamic vinegar, teriaki sauce, even Worcestershire sauce. Choose something that you like. If you need a recipe try this:

1/4 cup red wine vinegar (I use marsala in a pinch)

a tablespoon or two of crushed garlic

a few tablespoons of Worcestershire sauce (to taste)

a teaspoon of crushed red pepper (to taste, more if you really want some heat)

Mix up in the bag (or bowl – whatever), and then add the caps. Let them sit for 10 minutes on a side, then remove. If they marinate for too long they will get mushy.

Toss on the grill (start with the smooth side on top) and grill on each side for about 4 minutes. Put on a bun. If you’re making cheese burgers, top the portobello with cheese after your first flip and it’ll melt nicely (try Swiss!).

Serve with the regular lettuce, tomato, etc.

Animal crackers

One day I ate a tiger, and then a tall giraffe.

And when I ate an elephant, it really made me laugh!

And then my belly looked like this:

Growing belly

My apologies for the graininess of the image. iPhone, low light, the usual excuses.

Of course, I’m just kidding. I didn’t eat any of those things in either meaty or cracker form. I have a couple of babies in there.*

*Note: I did not eat the babies. They got there in the usual tango method.

But that is my reason for such a long stretch without any kind of post – I was worried about spilling the beans.

I will now reward your patience with a delicious recipe.

Take a couple of potatoes, wash them, and shred them. It’s ok to leave the skins on. Do the same with a few carrots and some onion (I go light on the onion). Put this mixture into a fine sieve and leave for a few hours OR squeeze through a cheese cloth (I used a regular dishtowel – it worked fine). Put the starch mixture into a bowl. Add an egg. Add a few tablespoons of flour. Add some salt and pepper to taste. Mix (use your hands – it works better).

Heat up a skillet or griddle over medium-high heat with some oil. I used macadamia nut oil (my sister lives in Hawaii), but peanut oil is fine. Or even olive oil in a pinch (but I suspect that vegetable oil will work better). Fashion the potato mixture into flat little pancakes (again, use your hands) about an inch 1/2 – two inches in diameter. Place on the skillet (or griddle). Flip when the time seems right (a few minutes – you’ll know when they more or less stick together). Cook on the opposite side for another few minutes. If they’re burned you may have gone too far – flip sooner. If they’re not burned, you did it right. Maybe start with just one, and feel your way from there – they don’t take very long to make.

Serve fresh with sour cream (although I bet they’re pretty good the next day, too).

We first had these at our friends’ house, and liked them so much we made them later the same week.

Moving on to eating while pregnant. It’s the same as eating not pregnant, just more so. Provided you get enough protein (peanut butter, eggs, almonds) and iron (broccoli, spinach) there’s no reason to eat meat (that goes for everyone, by the way), and my fish intake benefits my babies. Within the next few weeks they’ll be able to taste what I eat as they gulp down the amniotic fluid, and it’s generally believed that what babies eat in the womb they will have a preference for when they are born. I’ve been eating fruit every morning along with an egg and cheese sandwich on an English muffin (made at the cafeteria at work), and drinking plenty of fruit juice every morning too. Lunch usually consists of a sandwich (cheese generally – for calcium – but also tuna on occasion) and an orange. Dinners vary. I try to have several snacks a day – usually granola bars and more fruit – and ice cream (again, for calcium and deliciousness) often. Despite eating much more than usual, I have only gained 12 pounds since I got pregnant 20 weeks ago. I had hoped to gain quite a bit more (the more fat the better with twins). However, they are absolutely thriving, so I just hope to keep providing them with healthy nourishment and a safe, warm environment. My doctor was pleased with this gain (it’s partly because I wasn’t exactly skinny to start with).

Discussions are currently underway regarding whether or not our children will also be pescatarians. Our compromise may be that they can eat the meat we buy locally from the farm – I would prefer no meat, and Bob leans more towards judicious consumption of meat (nothing approaching daily intake of meat). I worry about the antibiotics in supermarket meat and nitrates in processed meat (deli meat and hotdogs), not to mention the fact that they’re now manufacturing meat in labs. That’s just disturbing. And it seems like a slippery slope.

We’re planning on making purees out of our own food, so we’ll know exactly what they’re consuming for awhile. By the time they’re ready to start solids, I’m sure we’ll have revisited this and come to a decision or at least a path we’re both comfortable with.

This week also marks my one-year mark of pescatarianism. I have no immediate plans to resume eating meat, clearly. One day I may begin to eat our local farm-raised meat again, but I don’t plan to currently. Now that I’ve seen my two, healthy babies nourished by and flourishing on my pescatarian diet, any argument for eating meat seems pretty weak.  As long as my doctor is not worried, neither am I.

 

Wine & Culinary Center (and other delights)

This past weekend, Bob and I took my parents to Canandaigua for a night. Our plan was to attend a wine and food pairing class at the New York Wine and Culinary Center on Saturday, spend the night at Belhurst Castle, and return home on Sunday. That’s more or less how the weekend went, but we also threw in a bunch of other fun stuff. Always an adventure!

We drove up from Olean around 10:30 am on Saturday (after dropping all of our darling dogs off at the kennel – or camp, as we call it). We had nice, clear weather for the drive, which was a relief, since on Friday we had gotten more than a foot of snow, and it had looked like it would snow more overnight. We got to Penn-Yann, where we thought we’d have some lunch. After we got stuck in the snowy parking lot of a closed-for-the-season (some of the local boys pushed us out; nice bearded fellows in suspenders) lake-side restaurant, we decided to just strike straight for Geneva, where the castle is. We arrived far too early to check in, so we went to lunch at Eddie O’Brien’s, which was conveniently located. I had a portobello and roasted red pepper wrap, which had marinated roasted red peppers and marinated mushrooms, so it was a tad vinegary for me, but overall it was pleasing. After lunch, we went to Billsboro Winery which Bob and I remembered as having nice reds. My parents and Bob had a tasting — I was our designated driver — and my parents bought some wine. I like Billsboro Winery, because it is not stuffy or too cutesy (you can’t get a coaster embroidered with some witty saying with “wine” sneakily added in), and they host art festivals (impressive, considering how small they are).

Then we drove to the castle. We had a lot of fun at the castle, let me tell you. My parents were on the second floor in the Butler’s Suite and Bob and I stayed in the Garrett (http://www.belhurst.com/rooms-and-rates.html#location1), located on the third floor. The castle was built sometime in the 1880′s, and it was really neat. The carved stone and hand-carved wood fixtures were exquisite, and the whole place and this grand feeling. Although we arrived too early for check-in, we were given vouchers for a free wine tasting, and our bags were ferried up to our rooms. Again, my parents and Bob enjoyed the tasting, and my mom bought out the gift shop. My dad took photos of the entire castle, top to bottom, which I will endeavor to steal and post here.

After relaxing in our rooms for an hour, we freshened up and headed over to Canandaigua for the class. The ride over took about 15 minutes, which worked out very well. We arrived in time to check in to the class and head right into the room. I’ll put the photos first, and then describe what we learned in our 45 minute class (which actually ended up taking about an hour and 15 minutes).

Bob and my dad standing in front of an ice sculpture that says "nICE" on it. Bob is proudly sporting his Blog Sweater.

The classroom at the NYWCC

This above photo was taken after the class – when we first walked in, all those glasses were about a quarter full.

My view of the classroom, taken from table height. I could see over my wine glasses.

The classroom, taken from the hallway

There are some more photos later, but they don’t apply to this class.

Our class was called Winter Wine and Food Pairing, and it was taught by instructor Cheryl Pitti. She was bubbly and knowledgable. It was a nice combination for the class. The wine we had was Casa Larga CLV Chardonnay non-vintage (Finger Lakes), Glenora Meritage 2009 (Finger Lakes), and Standing Stone Gewurztraminer Ice (Finger Lakes). The first part of the class was learning more about New York State wine regions. There are five (as we well know). The way to become a region is to petition the government (which I didn’t know – most of what we learned I didn’t know). The oldest wine-growing region in North America is the Hudson Valley. Dutch settlers planted vines there around the 1650s. There are more grapes grown in the Lake Erie region than the entire rest of the state, including Niagara and Concord grapes (native vines), because that’s where Welsh gets the majority of their grapes. The Finger Lakes region is the largest region, and is best known for it’s rieslings, because the climate and soil is very similar to regions in Europe where rieslings are produced. The Long Island region is terrific for grapes because the soil is so sandy and grapes thrive in poor soil, particularly sand, shale and clay. A European vine is called a vinifera vine or grape, and grapes/vines native to North America are called native vines or grapes. Many vines grown here in America are hybrids between vinifera vines and native vines. Hybrids produce the grapes that taste right with the wherewithal to withstand our native pests.

We learned about each of the wines were were going to taste. A non-vintage (as the Chardonnay was) is not necessarily a bad or poor quality wine. It has several generations of grapes blended together in order to get a consistent profile year-over-year. Meritage is an American version of Bordeaux. Because American wines can not be named for French wine-growing regions (think, Champagne), by law, American farmers had to come up with their own name. They came up with Meritage (which rhymes with heritage), and it is a licensed name, so wineries who produce a true Meritage have paid a fee to the Meritage association in order to do so. They are a blend of between 2 to 5 varietals – Cabernet Sauvignon, Merlot, Cabernet Franc, Petit Verdot, and Carmenere. So any Meritage you might get would have between two and five of those grapes. Finally, the Gewurztraminer Ice. We tackled two aspects of this wine. First, Gewurztraminer produces a white wine. It is very aromatic. It can be pricey because it is difficult to grow and unpredictable when it does grow. The “Ice” portion of the name can be misleading, because to be an “ice wine” wine (bear with me) the grapes much be harvested within six hours of the first frost, at night. It’s very specific, almost cultish. An “ice” wine can be harvested any time after the first frost, say in the morning, when reasonable people are up and about. Other than that, the two are produced very similarly. Because the grapes freeze on the vine, they shrivel up, and become concentrated. Ice wine and ice wine wines are very sweet. However, a true ice wine is highly priced, whereas a regular ice is more reasonable. So there you go.

Then we did the six S’s of wine tasting.

1. sight
2. swirl
3. smell
4. sip
5. swallow (or spit)
6. savor

Cheryl taught us to hold our wine glass up (by the stem) against our white napkin, at an angle so that you could see the middle and the edge. The middle – the core, should have the darkest color, tapering up to clear on the very edge of the tide. Certain colors can tell you certain things about the wine, including age and whether it was aged in oak (in the case of a Chardonnay, for example). It can also tell you if it’s gone bad. Generally, a brown wine is a bad wine. The white colors range from pale, almost clear, to straw, to lemon (could have tinges of green), to gold, to amber (only acceptable in an aged wine), to brown (gone bad). Darker whites have been oaked, while paler whites have probably been aged in steel. Reds range from purple, to ruby, to brick, to brown. Again, brown means it could be bad. Ice wines are generally amber. White wine should be served at 54 degrees, reds at 62 degrees, and ice wines at 45 degrees. A wine that is too cold will not have any flavor, and a wine that is too warm will be overpowering.

After looking at the wine and figuring out the color (our Chardonnay was dark yellow/lemon; our Meritage was purple with ruby highlights; our Gewurztraminer was amber), we swirled the glasses vigorously to release the lovely smells. Then we all dutifully stuck our noses in our glasses. We completed the six steps for each wine in total before beginning at step one with the next wine, by the way. The swirling did a lot to enhance the smell of the wine – it was much more clear that it had been. As Cheryl explained to us, our tongues can taste five flavors (or four, if you’re of  certain generation): sweet, salty, sour, bitter, and umami (described to us as “delicious”). Everything else that we “taste” we are actually smelling. So, if you bite into a strawberry, you’re tasting sweet, and smelling strawberry, which is how we interpret the strawberry flavor. Then she told us that one of our nostrils is always the dominant nostril, and they switch sides frequently. She had us plug one nostril and smell the wine, then the other. Throughout the course, whenever I tried this, I found it to be true, and they had switched sides before the end of the course.

Then we sipped. Before we could, she told us that we should hold the wine in our mouth and “chew” it for 5 – 10 seconds to get the wine to every part of our mouths. If we were so daring we could also open our mouths (carefully) and inhale over the wine, then exhale. This helps to get all the flavors of the wine up to the olfactory gland. Since I had actually managed to get wine on my nose during the smell portion, I wasn’t feeling this daring. I did find, however, that the chewing process made the wine open up in amazing ways. The Chardonnay that was a little tart tasting to me mellowed after a few seconds and tasted full bodied and warm. After we swallowed, we were asked to savor the taste for a few seconds, and think about how it had changed or enhanced since the first smell.

Some interesting wine facts. 90% of the wine produced (anywhere) is meant to be consumed within 5 years. It’s simply not made to hold up to long aging. 8% is made to age between 6-12 years. 2% (of all the wines in the world) can be cellared long-term. And even then, there is no guarantee of greatness. Any wine could be afflicted by cork taint. It only happens to natural cork bottles. A chemical reaction between the cork and the wine occurs (they’re not sure why, exactly), and the opened wine tastes like dank and moldy cork (which is what happens). Oxidation can also occur. These flaws occur in about 6-8% of bottles. The wine will turn brown with oxidation (you can easily see it), and apparently you just do not want to drink it. When a waiter pours you a small sip of wine, this is what you’re supposed to look for – a quick glance will tell you if it’s gone brown, and a small sip will tell you if it’s “off”. You can send back a bottle for either reason. You can also take a bottle back to a liquor store and exchange it for these reasons. If you’re at a dinner party or restaurant, you can warm up your wine, if it’s served too cold, in your hands (cupped around the glass, don’t pour it out) or your mouth (sip by sip); if it’s too warm, you can request an ice bucket to chill it for 5 or 10 minutes. You might be seen as dopey if you do, but if you’re paying for the wine, who cares?

After we had examined each wine to the best of our abilities, we were served small portions to try each wine with. We had a New York cheddar and spinach quiche, roast beef (which I obviously didn’t try), and spiced pumpkin pie. Although it’s easy to guess the traditional pairings, the goal of the class was to learn which flavor combinations tasted best to us, and try to figure out why. The goal was to make sure the wine didn’t overpower the food, but instead enhanced it. To test this, we were to take a small bite, chew, take a small sip, continue chewing, then finally swallow. Savor. Repeat with next wine. Cheryl suggested that even once you know just which wines you like best with what flavors of food, to include alternatives at dinner parties, since a poll of the class revealed that at least a couple people preferred each combination (say, Gewurztraminer Ice and roast beef).

I was happy to hear that they offer longer pairing classes (and I saw in a brochure classes where each participant has a dizzying array of glasses in front of him or her). After the class, we wandered around the building to show it off to my parents. Much to my consternation, they had replaced the agriculture display area (which explained all about agriculture in New York State) with a gift shop. They were turning the gift shop into a tasting room, and they were turning the tasting room into banquet facility. We explored the gift shop, peeked like creeps at the people taking the cooking class, and went to the tasting room, where Bob and my dad had a flight of dry reds and whites – and practiced their new-found tasting skills. After that we walked upstairs to the restaurant so my parents could see it (and saw several more ice sculptures out on the upper deck), and then headed for the exit. A few more photos:

The Viking Range kitchen - look at them all in there. Cooking.

The actual Vikings

After taking this photo, I caught the guy in the back of the room (with the white shirt) glaring at me, so I strolled off.

When we left, we headed over to the Mexican restaurant we ate at last time we were in Canandaigua. It was packed, with an hour wait, so we asked for suggestions on where else to go. The hostess suggested a German restaurant just around the block. For some reason, when she called it a German restaurant, I thought it would just be a local restaurant, with some German food, but also American. In other words, not that German. Oh. My. God. I was wrong. It was awesome. Rhineblick German Restaurant was full-on German. Go to the link and scroll down. All the waitresses had on traditional German get-ups, the restaurant was very traditionally decorated; white walls, thick dark wood beams, steins everywhere. A lot of beer available. It was great. I had salmon grilled with a butter herb glaze and pan seared potatoes. The fish was my favorite part until the potatoes, then those were my favorite part. Bob had jagerschnitzel, which is pork pounded thin, breaded, and lightly cooked in oil (that’s the schnitzel part), then covered in a brown mushroom gravy over spatzel. He loved it. My mom had something none of us could identify. She thinks it was pork (but concedes it could have been beef), which was browned then slow cooked in a pot with gravy, also served with spatzel. She very much enjoyed it. My dad had a ham hock. I am not even kidding, this thing was as big as my head. It was, admittedly, mostly bone and skin (neither of which he ate), but the meat inside the ham ankle was apparently very soft and juicy. It was served with sour kraut and mashed potatoes. The men had a very dark bock beer that they both seemed to adore. Our fraulein tried to tempt us with dessert, but honestly at that point there just would have been stomach explosions and an awful mess to clean up.

We drove back to Geneva in a very light snowfall across some high, windy ground, making the night seem very adventurous indeed. When we arrived back at the castle, we found the wine spigot on the second floor. An interesting feature of this castle – there is a complementary wine spigot on the second floor that is “on” between 11 AM and 11 PM, because they have standards (I guess). My dad and Bob both sampled the wine. My dad texted me from the second floor to tell me that it was the best wine he’d had all night. Although it wasn’t yet 11, I fell asleep quickly after we arrived back. I was just exhausted.

In the morning, I woke up relatively early and read for awhile. Once Bob started to stir, I arranged for us to meet my parents at the breakfast downstairs in about an hour. The breakfast was a nice buffet (I’m not a fan of buffets, it must be noted), with an omlette station. I was rated my hunger level somewhat higher than it actually turned out to be. We walked around the ground floor of the castle, which was mostly dining areas, but also included a ballroom and some prep areas. We ate our breakfast where the open porch used to be (now enclosed) overlooking the lake. There was also a bar, a library, and a conservatory. I would go there if I ever had to participate in a real-life game of clue. I bet there’s secret passages galore.

Some photos from my dad:

Brunch at Belhurst - you can only see a fraction of my plates

American Gothic - my parents at brunch

When we checked out, we headed back over the same route we had taken to get to Canandaigua the day before, and stopped at a little antiques place we had seen the day before. There, tucked between a “#2 Sales Growth Participation” medal (strangely named) and a matching watch, necklace, bracelet set that said “PIMP” in rhinestones was this little gem:

a Seiko FS-23 am/fm radio

I didn’t know anything about it – including if it worked. A trip over to Lowes to pick up a 9-volt battery proved that it does work! In fact, I’ve been listening to it since getting home. Also, I didn’t know that Seiko, better known for watches, made radios. Apparently, they did until Motorola and Panasonic priced them out of the market. This particular radio is from the 60′s. It has a wrist-strap, so I imagine my future self jauntily walking down the street with my little radio dangling from my wrist, poking people’s eyes out with the 18″ antenna. Apparently the original would have come with headphones, so I’m eager to try a pair on them, and listen to NPR all day at work. The volume is minimal, but the sound is appropriately nostalgic. I’m delighted. It cost me $10. After getting home, I did a quick (then progressively longer as I couldn’t find ANY information on the radio) Internet search, and found a similar beauty (red instead of green and tall rather than wide) AM radio on ebay, which I snapped up for $10 (I’m sensing a theme here). I have no idea why there is so little information on them, but I’m guessing it’s just an obscure product. All in all, a fun weekend!

Niagara-on-the-Lake

For New Year’s, Bob and I went to Niagara-on-the-Lake in Ontario for 5 days. “But Zandy, why on earth would you go somewhere colder on vacation?” Glad you asked.

Niagara-on-the-Lake is between Buffalo and Toronto

Because of the surrounding geography, there is a small area that has a very temperate climate. Due to the surrounding lakes and prevailing winds, the town doesn’t get much snow (not as much as Buffalo, certainly). The Niagara Escarpment, a ridge that runs from New York through Ontario and on westward, blocks god knows what, but it helps make the area favorable to grape growing. On the Google Map above, the escarpment runs south of Niagara-on-the-Lake (NOTL). Sandwiched between this big bench and the water, the area is nicely sheltered. You can find out more about Niagara wines here: http://winesofontario.org/. An interesting thing about NOTL is that within a relatively small area, there are 4 terroirs (find out more here: http://www.wineriesofniagaraonthelake.com/terroir.php).

So we went up to this lush grape-jungle for a bit of mild weather and to visit some of the wineries. We stayed at Maria’s Bed and Breakfast http://www.mariasbb.ca/. It was our Christmas gift to each other, and it was definitely worth it. We relaxed, slept in, wandered the town, and of course visited wineries.

Our first day, we drove up in the afternoon (we only live approximately 2 1/2 hours away), checked into the BnB early, and decided to go to some wineries. The first one we went to was just up the road, Jackson-Triggs.

Interior of Jackson-Triggs, with Bob for scale

The fireplace at Jackson-Triggs

The table is much lighter than it appears in the first photo. All the wine we tried in the region was lovely.

The exterior of the Jackson-Triggs winery

Labeled vines

After visiting this winery, we went to the shore of Lake Ontario.

Bob, looking out at the lake

The white is frozen lake – it’s a bit frothy, and froze over the beach pebbles in a really cool way.

frozen pebbles

After the lake, we went back to the BnB to get ready for dinner. We went to a bar/grill in town called Corks for dinner (two nights, actually), and really enjoyed it. The first time we went, I had a broccoli, cheese, and egg pie (aka, quiche) that was very good, but tasted a bit salty. Bob had chili, and said it was very good. The second time we went we split a couple tapas plates including fried raviolis, mezza, and shrimp and scallop dip. We also had local beer, which was quite nice.

The Bed and Breakfast had fantastic breakfasts. Every breakfast started with yogurt, fruit, and granola. We had stuffed french toast, quiche, blueberry pancakes, and eggs benedict. I can’t stress enough how amazing these breakfasts were. Bob had let them know that I don’t eat meat, so while the other guests enjoyed ham or sausage with their meals, I had either mushroom patties (which were just ok) or vegetarian nuggets which were shockingly tasty. I highly recommend this place, btw.

Another day, we visited Hillebrand Winery which we quite liked.

Outside facility

Same winery, longer shot

These facilities were really shocking in scope. I hadn’t expected so many to be so large.  Konzelmann in particular was a castle. Nice whites there. Pillitteri had an interesting interior, with what might have been cork and bamboo walls. One of our absolute favorites was Joseph’s. It had the best merlot of all the wineries we visited. And it was one of the smaller places. Very unpretentious. Another surprise was Sunnybrook. All fruit wines. Normally although I like to taste fruit wine, I don’t really like to sit down and have a glass. This, however, is not like other fruit wine that I’d had. It didn’t have a white wine base, so it was not sweet. It was surprising and delightful.

On our last day, our friends Drew and Joe came to visit us, and we had lunch at The Olde Angel Inn. We had actually also had our new year’s dinner there, as well. It’s a fun, English pub, and the rooms above are supposedly haunted. For the dinner I had Fisherman’s Pie, which is basically shepherd’s pie, but with fish, scallops, and crab. Lovely. For lunch I had appetizers: seafood-stuffed mushrooms and garlic bread. Probably not very healthy, but it was vacation! While we walked around town with Drew and Joe, we went in a few shops, and I got my mom some Canadian tea. Very British-style town.

We can’t wait to go back, although we’ll probably skip the Shaw Festival — too many people. We really enjoyed having the town to ourselves.

I think I broke all my resolutions already

Well I definitely haven’t blogged more. It’s a shame, because I have a really good post percolating, and I want to get it out there before it dissipates.  It will be all about Christmas and New Years, and what we did and what we ate, where we went and good wine. Tantalizing, no? Yes.

So although I’ve been off being busy elsewhere, I have not forgotten, and will return soon with a nice tasty post. And then many more immediately following (I hope…).

Cooking with Penny

Our puppy Penny likes to help me cook. She’s always been a kitchen dog. When she was actually a puppy (puppy age), she would stand in the kitchen and whine at the oven if it was on and we weren’t in the room. She’s also always been a no-good scavenger. When we first brought her home she would eat literally everything. Shoes, sunglasses, drywall, wine corks…literally anything. We didn’t let her swallow this stuff, and I’ve dug more stuff out of her gob than I’d really like to think of. Over time, though, her doggy palette has become increasingly sophisticated. Now she mainly scavenges for food-based items. And she has an excellent grasp of the “drop it!” command.

I have never been comfortable with feeding dogs “people food.” I don’t think it does them any favors, and I know it leads to begging and stealing (in my experience – some pups are probably better trained, though). People can convince themselves that giving their dog the occasional human-food treat is a way to show the rascally wagger love, but it is not*. Some of the foods we regularly eat can be debilitating, or possibly fatal, to our dogs. And, just like us, dogs will get chubby if they eat too much.

Besides being hyper aware of my dogs’ weights and healthy ranges for them, I’m also vigilant about not dropping food while I cook. If I do, however, Penny will chase the morsel to the dustiest, darkest corner in order to feast. She’s a canine garbage disposal. Which leads me to another point, I also keep my garbage dog-safe, so there’s no secret snacking while we’re at work. She’s quick on the draw, so I try to be aware about what foods would do her harm, so I can be extra-careful while cooking.

Here’s my list of foods to never feed your dogs (not exhaustive, since I don’t cook with every food in existence): avocados, onions, garlic, grapes (raisins), currants, chocolate, coffee, alcohol, macadamia nuts (we get these from my sister in Hawai’i, I don’t actually cook with them), mushrooms (the one food Penny has actually ever rejected). The biggest surprises for most people are, I think, onions and grapes. Also, in general, don’t give your dogs fat of any kind. For a longer list, you can just run a search for this topic, and you’ll find a ton of information (including what some of the symptoms would be of ingestion of these food stuffs).

So moving on to portion control. If you know that you’re going to give your dog a handful of veggies, either cut back her regular food a little or take her on a longer walk that day. And if you find you can’t resist your impulse to give your dog some scraps, try to be mindful of the size of the food in relation to the dog. For example, Penny is 41 pounds. If we compare that to a grown-up who weighs 141 pounds, we can figure out that Penny and this person would eat differently size portions. But not a lot of people would think that a single slice of pizza for a dog would be like a whole pie for a grown human, even though that’s pretty accurate. If you’re really set on giving your dog people food treats, or you want to give your beloved pet the same high-quality organic produce you eat, talk to your vet to get a good idea of how much of which food groups your dog can safely ingest.

Like I said, I don’t give my dogs people food. I saw the dogs throughout my childhood reach obesity very early from extra snacking, and it really bothers me. However, I also know someone who has the warmest heart for dogs, and she feeds her dogs exclusively vegetarian diets that she cooks herself. And her dogs are shockingly healthy (considering they’re all ancient cocker spaniels). So it’s really a case of how dedicated you can be to making sure your dog is eating healthily, and for me, that means no extra snacks (although I know Bob gives them a bite now and then, and that’s ok). Sorry Penny.

*My caveat is that there is plenty of human food that is perfectly healthy for dogs, and most won’t start begging if you are consistent with feeding practices. Just be smart about what is being fed to the dog, and (as importantly) in what quantities. But tossing the dog a half a cookie or the last bite of steak without taking into account what that food contains in relationship to the dog’s digestion and metabolism, and whether they will get enough exercise to work off the extra snack, is not a responsible way to share with your dog.