Maritime Drinker

2011 POW Wine Show - The ones I liked and why.

2011-10-01T07:33:00.000-07:00

This is a follow up amendment to my initial post about the value wines. I am including some other wines I felt were very worthy of buying, including some more expensive ones, plus some comment on the show.

The following are the wines I tasted that I thought bring excellent quality and price ratio. These are some I liked that won't break the bank, but bring some "real wine" to your table.

HENRY LAGARDE CAB SAUVIGNON*
Article Number:1013433
$18.80
ARGENTINA (real wine, Cab S with tannins, acidity to age for <$20)

FOURNIER URBAN UCO TEMPRANILLO
1010838
ARGENTINA
$14.49 (great fruit nose, rewarding smooth drinking red)

DISTANT LAND MERLOT MALBEC
1013587
Price:$23.79
NEW ZEALAND (balanced tannins, solid red)

CATALAN EAGLE ORGANIC GARNACHE VIOGNIER*
1013639
SPAIN
$16.99 (crazy good nose, nice clean white wine)

FAMILIA ZUCCARDI Q MALBEC, 2009 and CATENA MALBEC 2009
1006724 and 1004863
$24.99
ARGENTINA A great take on the Malbec made for steak wine. Perhaps a bit more edge than the Catena Malbec 2009 (also recommended, at $24.79) Buy them both, choose the one you prefer.

VEGA MORAGONA VINAS VIEJAS, 2008
1013621
$17.80
SPAIN Hard to beat on price, this wine, from just outside the Ribera del Duero region brings a lot of complexity, class, and value. It's little brother, the basic Tempranillo, at $13.99 is a great every day quaffer bistro wine (1013620).

Here are some remaining wines I tried and liked and thought were decent value, for those who spend more on wine.

PALACIO VILLACHICA 5T, 2008*
DOC: Toro
Article Number:1013623
Price:$29.99 Varietal:TEMPRANILLO
Country:SPAIN Classy use of oak, easy drinking red, will age but drinking OK now.

BLACK HILLS CHARDONNAY, 2009*
1012548
$33.99
BRITISH COLUMBIA Just enough oak, I thought. Warm climate Chardonnay but retaining acidity. Jason Priestly apparently owns part of this, and because of him, I had to put up with a TV light in my eyes on Saturday while pouring next door. He did show up to pour a few glasses for an NSLC staffer who was suitably tall and gorgeous (way taller than him, BTW) but I saw him coming and left.

BODEGAS CATENA ZAPATA, ALTA CHARDONNAY, 2008*
1009626
$41.29
ARGENTINA One of the wines that won an award (for what those are worth at this show) and this was totally deserving. New World does Burgundy, and does it well. A total value for those who are buying wine over $30 a bottle. Delicious.

PETALUMA COONAWARRA, 2008
1013603
$54.99
AUSTRALIA After wading though I don't know how many Shiraz wines that all tasted the same, with only minor variations of tannin, and sugar, I hit a real wine. Yes, it's $55, but at least it shows that when they try, they can make a wine that actually has some acidity and might pair with protein. It was tasty, layered and complex. I am betting it will age very well.

A note on Australia -> I am not in love with the bulk of the wines coming out of here, still. Some movement to cooler climate regions is encouraging, and I've recently had totally delicious, amazing things. The show, however, was more focussed on selling the popular goop that, well, sells. That is why the NSLC do the show, to sell wine. Not to educate us, and rarely to let us near something new and cutting edge.

This year, the show was focussed on Australia. Every year since they were forced to move to an earlier time slot, the NSLC have lost the interest of the northern hemisphere wine regions because their winemakers and managers are all in the middle of harvest, and our own are getting ready for it. Wine is, after all, supposed to be an agricultural product, not an industrial one.

At the show there was a huge Australian section, and it was packed with people acquiring heat stroke. It was a sauna. My ventures into the sweat zone were limited. I did try, but only found two I'd own, and I bought one of them.

It would be nice to get this show back in line with the right time of year for the wineries, and the other three big shows in Atlantic Canada, especially the New Brunswick show. Then we might see our French, German, Italian, Spanish, Portuguese and Austrian winemaker friends again.

The reality is that the best wines in the world are still being made in France. There, I said it.

Here are the French wines that were really good, and I thought provided good value.

BOUCHARD PERE ET FILS, BEAUNE MARCONNETS, 2008
1013829
$48.49
FRANCE, BURGUNDY, RED So you say you like Pinot Noir. Well, try this. This is Pinot Noir.

CLOS DE LA BARONNE, MEURSAULT, 2008*
1013780
$47.29
FRANCE, BURGUNDY, WHITE So you say you like Chardonnay. Well, try this. This is Chardonnay. A monopole, from an producer whose reputation, and wines, are on the start of an upswing. I predict in 5 years, this same label will be $75

CAMILLE CAYRAN ANTIQUE CAIRANNE*
1013809
FRANCE
$26.79 (I think you have to pay at least this much to get good red Rhone, and here you do.)

Two California wines that showed the Americans are responding to the anti-goop movement in the wine world.

SONOMA-CUTRER SONOMA COAST CHARDONNAY, 2009
1009253
CALIFORNIA
$31.99 Not all California Chardonnay tastes like fake vanilla and a carpentry shop.

GREG NORMAN SANTA BARBARA PINOT NOIR, 2008
1013542
CALIFORNIA - YES, CALIFORNIA
$30.79 Not for everyone, but it's Santa Barbara Pinot, and not a bad version. I wanted to not like it, but just like the Chardonnay that the great white shark's company had out in our market the past two years, it rang true to me.

And now for Italy. What can I say? Probably the best wines at the show, and the most great to very good wine as well. But I was struck with the similarity of so many of the plus $20 wines I tasted. Super Tuscans, Super Venetians, Modern Barolos and Barbarescos, New World Style Sicilians and Southern Italians....

What do you do when your climate allows you to make almost anything, and your competitor is getting 50 Euros for his Sangiovese if he piles some Merlot in it? Or when your most expensive wine is made from Merlot? Or when your newly hired Australian winemaker takes your new stainless steel winery and uses your Nerello Mascarese or Aglianico and turns it into a Shee-raz lookalike that wine writers of dubious foreign origin melt over?

Italy is the new Australia. And it's out of synch with the style and direction modern wine is moving in. I tasted about 20 Italian wines. I bought three. The rest? I have pretty good taste memory. They were all very good (except the corked one - ever notice how European visitors to these shows can't detect corked wine? haha) but they run into one another - a pool of common style and, dare I say it - taste. When your Barolo starts to taste like a Californian Pinot Noir, I say you have problems, and that you should not be allowed to call it Barolo any more.

It was so busy, I could not really get into the wines I wanted to, though. There were some Friulian wines, a bunch of southern stuff, and some interesting Ripasso things.

I bought three wines, all oddities of a sort. Two reds, of which one was wonderful. The other I bought to show to people that I am right with my theory. Guess which is which.

But first, a white.

KELLEREIKALTERN GEWURZTRAMINER*
Article Number:1013867
$32.99
ITALY Italian Gewurtraminer. Hell yeah. Northern Italy does not have the climate to do whatever the heck it wants. So they make what grows in their climate and has for a while. Traminer and its variants in white.

OTTOVENTI NERELLO MASCALESE*
Article Number:1013872
$43.79
ITALY Not 100% sure this is wine or a port style. I do love that the NSLC site says the grape is traditionally grown on the slopes of Mount Edna. Very "Far Side".

NINO NEGRI SFURSAT VALTELLINA DOCG*
Article Number:1013866
$45.29
ITALY My favourite wine at the medal winner pre-tasting for licensees. Barolo but not. Gattinara but not. Nebbiolo it is. But from a relatively obscure DOCG. Has all the smoke, tar and floral notes that some other Barolos at the show have forgotten how to display, or have hidden in the scent of new oak barriques.

DISCLAIMER WINES

I poured for Chateau des Charmes all four shows, on and off. They brought two of their most interesting wines to the market, and they are now available in many stores (Joe Howe, Portland Street etc.). The Chardonnay Musque (1013144) is a fun wine, from a single clone of Chardonnay that is highly aromatic, almost muscat-like. It makes you think you're going to get a sweet wine, but then it tastes clean and crisp. A lot like our best NY Muscat wines here in NS, and some Alsace wines. At $19.99 it's a treat, and a fun thing to share with friends.

Their Gamay Noir Droit (1013145) is the same price, but I think of it as a more serious wine. As a lover of Cru Beaujolais, I know that Gamay can make great wine. Niagara Gamay has always impressed me, from just about any producer, but CdC do it as well as, and often better than anyone. That may be due to this mutation of Gamay that appeared in their vineyards, and that they now "own" the clone of. The Droit, or upright clone. The wine is deeper, and darker than many other Gamays, and reminds one of Crus known for ageing, like Morgon, Cotes de Brouilly and Chenas. I have successfully aged this wine almost 10 years, but you can drink it now. I think Chateau des Charmes may have been the only winery at the show that "owned their own grape".

GEEK WINE ALERT!!!

My geek wine, the one you want to spring on people when they come visit, not a "value wine" at all, but this is the first Australian Zinfandel I've seen. Tastes about like what you'd expect. Big stewy fruit but with spicy character and alcohol. States only 14% but I think higher.

GROOM BUSH BLOCK ZINFANDEL*
1013615
AUSTRALIA
$39.79

Finally, remember, these are just what I liked. I can guarantee you that we do not share the same palate, nor will we like or dislike the same wines. I know at least one person who will agree with me on most of the wines above, but violently disagree with me on a few of them. But it's not about what I think, or like, it's about your preferences. I think you will enjoy these wines, and perhaps they might lead you into new places to explore in the wine world. But really, all I'd really like you to do is never stop trying new things. Just keep having fun with it.

* I bought this wine.

Saint John and its Lethal Parking Policy - The Tyranny of Small Decisions

2011-09-15T12:30:00.000-07:00

I was visiting Saint John this summer, as a tourist, attending a great music event on their waterfront, and staying with a good friend right in their downtown. Following is a record of email exchanges between me and various City of Saint John staff surrounding a parking ticket I received for not driving my car when I had parked it in a paid parking area, and left it overnight, as I was patronizing several of their great pubs and restaurants.

Me to the general parking email address on the city's website:

I drove to your city from Halifax yesterday. Found a pay and display parking spot downtown right by my friend's apartment. Pay and display said I had to pay until 6 pm. Street sign said no overnight parking when snow removal ban is in effect.

I paid up till 6 and went out to Market Square to the Alehouse, then to Salty Jam, happinez and then Big Tide. I spent about $200 in your economy. (I was paying for someone else too).

As you might presume, I was not driving anywhere after that.

This morning I have a ticket on my car for what is, essentially, doing what you really should be encouraging visitors to do. That is spend money, support local festivals, patronize your food and beverage industry and not drive drunk and kill your children.

If this city is to grow out of its backwardness one small initial step you can easily take is to bring your parking policies into this century.

I can't help but wonder how many people's deaths and injuries this policy is indirectly responsible for. Surely you want to do everything you can to encourage people to cab home from your nice, vibrant downtown.

The fact is, many if not most people will choose to "take a chance" on getting caught over the certainty of a $20 ticket. I know this is illogical, but they HAVE been drinking, haven't they?

I was not confronted with that choice. I saw no sign (I parked on Germaine right beside the pay and display kiosk and went into a building right there) as they were at opposite ends of the block. And besides, as a Professional Engineer who does urban design work I can't really be faulted for assuming the city is sophisticated enough not to have a policy that encourages drinking and driving (do you even want people living in the downtown?). The lovely state of the downtown certainly sends a misleading message. It implies this is not a backward little town but then this parking policy proves the reverse.

The real cost of this policy can't be measured in ticket revenue. It is measured in the damages to people's lives it most definitely contributes to. if you can't see that you are in the wrong job.

Saint John really should change this. How many deaths have you had from drinking and driving where the fatal trip initiated downtown after the bars closed? One is too many.

Their initial response:

This by-law (No parking on metered streets from 12 midnight to 7 AM) has been in place for a number of years, so that the city can plow the streets in the winter months and clean the streets in summer months or to do repairs to streets. We do advertiser that all of your lots are free after 6 PM, and are free all weekend and holidays. There is the Coast Guard lot (Water Street), Sydney Street Lot (behind Services New Brunswick), Trinity Lot (behind the Royal Bank).

After looking at the circumstance concerning ticket number AA850883, that this is a valid ticket. A sign was posted just forward of the vehicle. I will hold payment at $20.00 until July 15.
If you have any question please contact me.

xxxx
Supervisor

And me, again:

No there is no sign "just forward of the vehicle". You are wrong. There is a winter snow clearing sign. So you are willing to lie for $20?

Much further down the block there is a sign but I had to actually seek it out.

Not only was it almost a block away, it was hidden by a flag. I sent a photo the next day after I started wondering why I saw no signs. I looked.

The sign was not clearly posted and the ticket is therefore invalid. So enough with the cut and paste answers. Get those flags out of there and you are technically correct though there should still be information proximal to the pay and display kiosk.

I have more pics if you like.

There was no way for me to know that your antiquated and backwards parking policy existed (it kills your kids). This makes Saint John look like one of those Southern good ol' boy towns with the speed limit sign behind a tree, just for tourists.

If I lived there I'd presumably have seen the advertising about parking lots. But then I'd still have to drive under the influence to get to a lot. There was no visible sign saying I could not park overnight in a location I would be expected to see it.

As I said in my follow up email, please advise me when the ticket has been cancelled. You can't hide signs and collect fines.

My next emails are to the councillor and the media. I'll be blogging about your pro-drinking and driving policy anyway. Twitter is already awash in this. And I'll be emailing your local MADD chapter as well.

I'd like to save lives even if Saint John doesn't care.

And here are the photos....

A view as you walk past...

When you actually leave the sidewalk and go looking for it..... Oh, wait, what's that peeking from behind the flag?
Oh, and it wasn't me that damaged that sign, I am not surprised others have gone before me.

And the dirty culprit itself, just like the speed limit sign behind the bushes in Butt-F Mississippi....

The monolith responds.... (knowing I live in Halifax)

If you do not agree with this answer. You will be issued a summons and on the summons will be a court date that will allow you to tell your side in front of a judge and he will make the final call.

xxxxx
Supervisor

And I return fire, twice:

Now I know why I did not know there was no parking overnight. A store has flags up on the sidewalk. One of them obscures the only sign I would have had a chance to see. I walked right down this sidewalk after parking. Do you see the sign in the attached photo?

Hint. It is right behind the Union Jack.

So I never had a chance to know. Being a visitor to the city. I had no idea what the ticket was for because the no parking order was improperly posted.

As long as the flag obscures the sign none of the tickets on Germaine are legal.

Please send me confirmation that ticket AA850883 is cancelled.

Thank you.

I would advise you to have the store remove the flag.

No response... I try again.

Go to Germaine Street yourself. Park right by the Kiosk across the street from the used record store.

Pay for your parking.

Walk towards King Street. (I turned down a one way street)

Tell me if you see a sign. There is one, but unless you look for it, knowing it has to be there, you don't see it.

I was a visitor to your city. I am home in Halifax. You act like one of those sheriffs in a two cent town in Mississippi, hiding your signs behind bushes and wanting money from out of towners.

So, he actually must have had to walk by for some other reason, because he went and realized that there were flags blocking the sign.

After looking into the circumstance concerning ticket number AA850883 that this is a valid ticket.
Different stores along Germain Street will put flags out that the city will give them to display on the street. I have talk to the owners of Bustin's Furniture and they stated that they take the flags down at 17:00 every day, and on the day in question they do not have a written down, but they are sure that the flag was taken in.
If you have any question please contact me.

xxxx
Supervisor

Of course, I went by before the flags were down, this bit of logic escapes Mr. Bureaucrat.

So I try to be nicer:

I believe you that the flag may have been taken down around 5. I parked just before 5 and walked down to Market Square. The place was open when I went by.

And I try even more to be nice.... (this was probably a bad move, I think he interpreted it as his winning in some way)

I know you are just an employee doing what you are told. Saint John would probably go bankrupt without parking fines..

All I can tell you is that as a visitor to your city, I left feeling that I really was jerked around, and conned into a ticket. I felt like you did not really want me to visit.

If that is consistent with the direction you get from your superiors, well, so be it. But there was no way for me to have avoided that ticket.

The flag probably covered the sign. It was not that close to where I was parked anyway. There was a sign further back, but I was looking for the street number. I parked, paid until 6, knocked on the door, got my friend and we walked down to begin the evening. From that point on, I was either going to have to drink and drive or get a ticket. It is simply a sucker punch play unlike any other I have encountered in North America. Italy has something like it, mostly in the corrupt towns in the south, with the clocks on the windshield that they don't tell tourists how to use. But this is Canada, we expect a fair system, not one designed to fleece us.

The downtown business owners I have spoken with all hate it, partly because it discourages business, but also because it makes people more likely to drink and drive (no intelligent person disputes that), increasing their liability as the establishment that may have last served the drunk driver.

And if you really do clean the streets every night, allow me to advise you that your money would be far better spent repairing the many many potholes throughout the downtown. I certainly experienced those as well.

Maybe I was getting somewhere? Is there hope for logic in a backwards little place like this?

This ticket complaint is still under review, with the your additional commons (sic).

xxxx
Supervisor

No, it goes up the line to an even bigger bureaucrat. I mean, these people cannot grasp that they are supporting entrapment and encouraging drinking and driving. It's like the emperors are all running around naked and everyone knows they are too stupid to believe you when you tell them, so they let them run around naked and laugh at them behind their back.

The grand poobah speaks. Note, his closure time for the store is different from what the other guy told me, reinforcing my point, but he then expects me to have gone back to the street and check for no parking signs I might have missed due to flags, I guess. What a total dumbass. And this is the boss.

I have reviewed the comments outlined in your e-mail. For your information, the furniture store has permission and places the flag on the street each morning and removes the flag around 6pm each day. The sign basically states that there no parking from 12midnight to 7am and the flag does not cause a problem because it is removed long before the parking restriction comes into effect.

The parking ticket # AA850883 is a valid ticket and I will hold the fine amount at $20.00 (discounted fine amount) until July 28, 2011 and if the fine remains unpaid after that date the ticket will continue to increase. Because the discounted period has expired, the ticket cannot be paid online at the discounted amount and you must call our office at 506-xxxx or my direct line number xxx and advise my staff we are holding the ticket amount at $20.00 until July 28-11.

Please call me at xxxx if you have any questions.

Sincerely,

xxxx
General Manager
Saint john Parking Commission

By this time, I have decided it's not worth the effort. They are beyond help. This was like dealing with a lost tribe of people who are living in the 50's. But I decide to give it one more shot....

How was I supposed to know?

A visitor comes to your city. Parks. Pays as per the apparent signs. Returns to their car to find a ticket. It turns out the only chance he would have had to see a sign was when it was covered by a flag permitted by the city.

That is entrapment. A dishonest practice.

I would like to think you'd treat your guests better.

In the end, I just paid the ticket. But I had written to the councillor for the area about my experience, as well as emailed back and forth with one of the local business owners. All the business owners know how stupid the parking commission is, but they have been in Saint John so long, they also know how ineffective and plain lazy their municipal government is. They have a budding jewel of a downtown happening, but they also have a parking policy that is brutally inhospitable to the people who they expect to come spend money to keep it viable.

I wrote out this experience in clearer language to the local councillor, Mel Norton. He seems to be a bright guy who might actually grasp the connection between the parking policy and their high drunken driving rate.

I am writing out of a serious concern for the people of your city, and, indeed, the surrounding county, regarding the City of Saint John's downtown (I think you call it Uptown) parking policies.

I came to the City this weekend for Saltyfest, and to visit friends and family. I think your City is becoming one of the best places in Atlantic Canada to visit for the food, pubs, and local music and art. The small, but vital downtown "entertainment district" has grown in a very organic manner and shows other cities, such as mine (Halifax) how older buildings can be integrated into a commercially successful and active urban neighbourhood. BUt you have one major problem.

With any western european culture comes the presence of establishments that offer alcoholic beverages, some as bars, and some as part of a dining experience. Saint John is better than most at this, and really "plays above its weight" in the quality thereof. It is getting so good that people come there for it, and they spend a lot of money in those businesses.

At the same time, a downtown like that also attracts the element of the local population who enjoy the social aspects of eating and drinking out, including the local college and university populations.

In any city in the world with self knowledge and sophistication around the consumption of alcoholic beverages, there is an acceptance that in some cases, people will drink more than they should before driving. This act has become socially unacceptable in our society, (well, at least in Halifax). Here we do whatever we can to offer people an alternative to drinking and driving. The busses and ferries now run later than they used to, there is, during holidays season, Operation Rudolph, where for a charitable donation, someone will come and drive your car home, with a friend following to take them back for another trip. And, most importantly, overnight parking - leaving your car at a valid spot instead of driving home, is encouraged. The next morning, if it is a working day, you will even see the ticket patrol giving a bye to cars until 9 am so people have time to get them before work.

We know this policy makes a big difference in people's decisions as to whether or not to take the chance and drive when they are close, or even when they know they are over the legal BAC limit. Many people, working with the fuzzy logic of their obvious state, weigh the two options - the risk of a ticket on the car, vs. the risk of getting the car home while drunk.

In Halifax, that's an easy decision. No chance of a ticket, vs. a chance of getting caught. In Saint John, however, you remain in the dark ages. That same decision is: Certainty of getting a $20 ticket, vs. a good chance of not getting caught. (you see my little play with the drunken logic there?).

The odd, ill conceived policy had the minor impact of totally annoying a tourist to your city who ended up spending over $400 in your economy, by having him find a ticket on his windscreen for doing what is expected of you in most North American cities - leaving one's car in a parking space until the morning. And that has issues that matter a lot to your downtown businesses and to the reputation of your city in the region (yes, frankly, it makes you look like idiots), but it pales in comparison to the real damage it does.

I'm 53. I am a responsible drinker, probably like you. Once I have had two drinks, I stop if I am driving. The third drink is, for me, a trigger that the car stays where it is. My brother, a wine and beer writer, is pretty well the same. We don't drive when we are even close to the legal limit. But you see, we have learned how to drink by now. I'd guess that many of the younger people I saw out in Saint John that evening have not learned how to drink responsibly yet.

When faced with the decision above, I'd take the $20 fine (even though I had no idea it existed and feel exactly like a tourist caught in a good ol' boy southern town's pet speed trap with the old sign behind the tree gag). But I bet many of those other cars that were still on the street when I crashed at my friends' place on Germaine Street were not driven away by sober people.

You see, this policy encourages people to drink and drive. I enquired the next day and found, much as I expected, that you have experienced a number of accidents and even a couple fatalities resulting from trips that originated at night from your downtown.

Now I am not saying the City is totally liable for those deaths and damage, but I am saying this policy likely contributed to them. And you have to ask why you even have a policy that:

1) Discourages people from leaving their car on the street overnight when they are drinking;
2) Discourages people from staying longer at local businesses and spending more;
3) Is slanted to harm tourists and visitors to the city, compared to residents, who might better know about the policy and apparent parking lot options; and
4) Discourages anyone from wanting to live in the downtown. One thing we know about the economic success of modern cities is that getting people to live downtown is paramout to their success. Who would want to live there when you can't have someone drop in and stay over, let alone park your car or rental car on the street in front of your place overnight?

One reason staff keep faling back on to support this policy is for street cleaning and maintenance. This is unheard of - closing an entire downtown from on-street parking every night to allow for the chance that city staff will be working overnight? Everywhere else, we either have designated nights (Monday or Tuesdays usually) when this happens on different streets for cleaning; and signage and meter hoods are used for specific construction related maintenance activities. You current policy cuts off its nose to spite its face.

But the main concern here is that you are actively enforcing a parking policy that is almost certainly indirectly responsible for people's deaths. In trying to not break one law, people may choose the risk of breaking an even greater one, even if only to relocate their car to a parking lot.

My own ticket concerns are from both the perspective of feeling like I was conned, because the sign that was supposed to inform me of the policy (if I had actually believed it) is impossible to see on Germaine Street as one of three flags put out on the street by a shop down Germaine, past which I walked to the Alehouse after parking, obscures the sign, sometimes wrapping around it.

So my tourist experience of Saint John's downtown was: find my friends apartment, park in front at a pay and display (I overpaid with a toonie for time from 5 to past 6), go out of the town with her and other friends and drop $200 that night. Wake up to find a ticket on my window for a "mystery reason". Look for signs saying I could not park, not find any until I peered under a Union Jack hiding the sign, and then realize your city encourages drunk driving with this policy.

I complained to the parking email person and today got a cut and paste answer (I know it is a cut and paste answer, because my brother showed me the email he got for a very similar complaint before, which I had no idea about). I then went out and spent another $160 in your economy shopping for records, beer and wine. Then I went out to lunch at Brit's where I spent another $26. Over the day, I also put another $7 in various pay and display parking kiosks and meters in your city.

The next day I came into town and survived the rain for the songwriters circle in front of the Alehouse and had lunch there (another $25) and eventually went out to Rothesay with my brother.

And for this reasonably large personal injection into your economy I get a $20 ticket for not drinking and driving, because of a hidden sign, when I had overpaid already for my parking spot. I have to tell you, Moncton kicks your ass at this game. They want my business, not my parking fines. It really soured my visitor experience. I feel like I've been ripped off and am significantly less inclined to come back to the downtown.

But mostly, I am concerned about the drinking and driving aspects of the by-law. You really need to have it changed.

Here is his response. I sense some hope here, but really, this is a one company, blue collar town, and it may always be.

Thank you for taking time to articulate so well this concern. This is an issue I really had not heard of or considered - so thank you for making me aware of it and giving the perspective of a visitor.

I'm sorry it has taken me so long to respond.

Thank you for visiting the Uptown and enjoying what is, in my view, the only urban experience in NB! Slowly but surely investments in the heritage district is paying dividends. Thank you for spending your hard-earned dollars here! It is so appreciated.

I agree with what you have said - I think this policy should be changed. If I understand the core of your concern would it be:

Parking tickets should not be issued to vehicles left parked overnight on city streets within the Uptown business district?

Would it make sense to have the exemption only apply on certain nights of the week, e.g. Friday-Sunday?

And my last words....

In my opinion, Saint John's Uptown area has grown in a healthy, "organic" manner. As an occasional visitor to the City (since 1981 when I worked on building Market Square, right out of University), I have had the luxury of seeing this progression. I appreciate how it has not done a lot of the energy sapping "leapfrogging" that many similar places have fallen prone to, diluting the investment, and the audience. The core strength is excellent, I believe.

The level of sophistication in the businesses, in the private sector, is simply not matched by the Municipal Government policies that I was subjected to, and have heard from residents and business owners alike since my unpleasant experiences with the draconian parking policies.

To hear the Staff response to my concerns is to hear the voice of "that's just how we've always done things" - a sure and certain path to extinction. Change is good, when done right. Yes, change can be bad, but really, even bad change can be better than stagnation and death by entropy.

Here is the one main lesson I can offer you, based on 30 years of engineering and urban planning and design experience. You are not unique. There is nothing new under the sun. It has all been done before. You don't need to re-invent the wheel. You just need to climb out of the dark ages and into something approximating this decade. It's pretty easy, really. Find a similar size small city with a healthy downtown. See what they do. My guess is that they allow overnight parking until 9:00 AM every night except for one, which is posted, for street cleaning, usually during the early part of the week.

These cities will also have a healthy size residential population in the downtown. Do you have any idea how many Saint John residents are employed in the bar and restaurant business? It is a LOT. Affordable and higher end housing mixes are where it's at these days - all quality build, but in different unit sizes, so the smaller, bachelor apartments and one bedrooms can house students and the hospitality industry workers, while, in the same buildings, larger units attract urban professionals and retirees who often winter away. No ghettos, just a healthy mix.

But to encourage people to live in the downtown, there needs to be a system for those people to have access to guest parking, or even year round on street (some streets closed one night a week for cleaning and maintenance) with winter off-street options. Snow happens. We need to deal with it.

Recognizing that parking can be viewed in two ways - a short term thinker's "cash cow", or a long term thinker's "leverage", takes a degree of sophistication and intelligence that needs to exist anyway if Saint John is to not stagnate. The economic growth and subsequent tax revenue benefits from a healthy parking policy can far outweigh the restrictive, negative, and, frankly, petty means of generating funds that parking tickets to visitors and tourists represents. Vision is not some elusive rare thing - it is just common sense with an ability to imagine how things might be better.

Again, the biggest issue here is the reality of how this late night policy, when the streets are basically empty anyway, most certainly increases the number of people driving when they really shouldn't. City staff can make excuses all they want, but no reasonable person, who has ever had more than they perhaps should have to drink, can dispute the reality that people sometimes choose to drive because they will get a ticket if they don't move their car.

I would recommend that Saint John:

1. Simply not ticket vehicles between 5 pm and 9 am unless they are parked where they are in the way of a scheduled street cleaning, clearly posted, or blocking access or egress to an off street property or hydrant. (how much patrol staff time would this save?)

2. Advertise this in conjunction with an anti-drinking and driving campaign. "Leave Your Car when you Leave the Bar" (free slogan by me)

3. Initiate, for the 2011 Holiday season, Operation Rednose as done in Halifax (they did not invent it) - volunteer groups respond to a hotline - two people come out in a car, one drives your car home with you in it (puking only happens in the drunk's own car, which is good), the other follows to take the driver back to headquarters. This is done for a set fee (ask them about the fee structure) that goes to the charity they are volunteering through. It works great here. Some bars will even call them for you, let you put it on your tab, and they give the cash to the volunteers. (I HAVE SINCE LEARNED THAT THEY DO PRACTICE THIS - GOOD!!)

Ask my brother - I'm an optimist - I see the positive side of things. I am sure you can see how this can accomplish both the objectives of enhancing the business life and the entertainment quality in The Uptown, while at the same time really reducing the incidence of drunk driving in your community.

Responsible drinking is possible - as you now know, both my brother and I practice it regularly.

Every goal can be furthered by policies that make it easier to do the right thing than to do the wrong thing. Any policy that makes it easier to do the wrong thing is, by definition, a bad one. I'll just use one more cliché - you get more with sugar than you do with salt.

Regards, and good luck with this. It can really save people's lives.

Proposed changes to the Nova Scotia Environment Act - a Response

2011-07-26T06:06:00.000-07:00

The Government of Nova Scotia has recently released "A discussion paper" describing their proposed direction in the next scheduled (or behind schedule) revisions and updates to the Environment Act. They have invited public comment. The paper can be found here: http://www.gov.ns.ca/nse/dept/docs/env.act.review.2011.pdf

This will be the third time I have responded to a request for public input, and, frankly, I am not expecting much. Mainly because the previous two times there was not one response, and none of the issues I identified were fixed prior to the proclamation of the revised Act. Including some very bad typos that actually changed the intent of the legislation for the bad, and were subsequently enforced as law by the Department. We have been conditioned to think of this Department and the term "Public Consultation" as mutually exclusive. Dealing with them day to day, we know they do not respect the public's interests, and their lack of attention to any responses, such as this one of mine, is simply normal behaviour from them.

So, with that deluge of optimism, let's begin! I am only reviewing this document, and by inference, the existing Act and Regs, from a perspective I know very well, that of how it works with the current administration of the on-site sewage disposal and small scale sewage treatment world. This is an area where I have practiced for almost 30 years.

To start with, the paper immediately points out the first of the Department's failings. An inability to comply with their own Act. First passed in 1995, and mandated to be updated every 5 years, it took them 12 years to do the first two updates, although I seem to recall one of those was not really a formal update - perhaps I am incorrect on that. Later on in the document, will we find them asking to have this requirement waived or changed, giving them less public scrutiny and obligation to respond to how the world changes? I wonder.... I mean, who wants to be held accountable every 5 years!!

The current Act states it's purpose very clearly, and it has long been my opinion that the Department has been abdicating part of its responsibilities under it. Here is what the Act is supposed to be all about:

Purpose of Act

2 The purpose of this Act is to support and promote the protection, enhancement and prudent use of the environment while recognizing the following goals:

(a) maintaining environmental protection as essential to the integrity of ecosystems, human health and the socio-economic well-being of society;
(b) maintaining the principles of sustainable development, including
(i) the principle of ecological value, ensuring the maintenance and restoration of essential ecological processes and the preservation and prevention of loss of biological diversity,
(ii) the precautionary principle will be used in decision-making so that where there are threats of serious or irreversible damage, the lack of full scientific certainty shall not be used as a reason for postponing measures to prevent environmental degradation,
(iii) the principle of pollution prevention and waste reduction as the foundation for long-term environmental protection, including
(A) the conservation and efficient use of resources,
(B) the promotion of the development and use of sustainable, scientific and technological innovations and management systems, and
(C) the importance of reducing, reusing, recycling and recovering the products of our society,
(iv) the principle of shared responsibility of all Nova Scotians to sustain the environment and the economy, both locally and globally, through individual and government actions,
(v) the stewardship principle, which recognizes the responsibility of a producer for a product from the point of manufacturing to the point of final disposal,
(vi) the linkage between economic and environmental issues, recognizing that long-term economic prosperity depends upon sound environmental management and that effective environmental protection depends on a strong economy, and
(vii) the comprehensive integration of sustainable development principles in public policy making in the Province;
(c) the polluter-pay principle confirming the responsibility of anyone who creates an adverse effect on the environment that is not de minimis to take remedial action and pay for the costs of that action;
(d) taking remedial action and providing for rehabilitation to restore an adversely affected area to a beneficial use;
(e) Government having a catalyst role in the areas of environmental education, environmental management, environmental emergencies, environmental research and the development of policies, standards, objectives and guidelines and other measures to protect the environment;
(f) encouraging the development and use of environmental technologies, innovations and industries;
(g) the Province being responsible for working co-operatively and building partnerships with other provinces, the Government of Canada, other governments and other persons respecting transboundary matters and the co-ordination of legislative and regulatory initiatives;
(h) providing access to information and facilitating effective public participation in the formulation of decisions affecting the environment, including opportunities to participate in the review of legislation, regulations and policies and the provision of access to information affecting the environment;
(i) providing a responsive, effective, fair, timely and efficient administrative and regulatory system, recognizing that wherever practical, it is essential to promote the purpose of this Act primarily through non-regulatory means such as co-operation, communication, education, incentives and partnerships, instead of punitive measures. 1994-95, c. 1, s. 2; 2006, c. 30, s. 1.

I always like to point out the inclusion of the phrases "socio-economic well-being"; "sustain the environment and the economy", "linkage between economic and environmental issues", "encouraging the development and use of environmental technologies, innovations and industries", and, of course, the final clause: "providing a responsive, effective, fair, timely and efficient administrative and regulatory system, recognizing that wherever practical, it is essential to promote the purpose of this Act primarily through non-regulatory means such as co-operation, communication, education, incentives and partnerships, instead of punitive measures. "

I like to look at these, because these are the parts the Department has basically chosen to ignore over the past 10 or more years. They have completely turned their administrative backs on any care for the public's "socio-economic health". A repeated and common mantra we hear regularly from NSE officials is "the cost is not my problem". To find anyone in that Department who can grasp any issue related to linkages between economic and environmental issues is rare. Maybe they are closeted away on Terminal Road somewhere, but we never see them. The only linkage to the economy with NSE we can demonstrate is how they damage it, without a commensurate benefit to the environment.

The mandate to encourage environment technologies is, in my experience, laughable. Or sad. If anything, the opposite occurs, as it is pretty well impossible to establish a new idea here. When I, and my partners, attempted to do so years ago, this same Department funded another company to copycat our product and attempt to patent-break it!

Currently, there are three "approved" technologies using peat to filter on-site sewage disposal effluent. Department policy has resulted in each of them having their own different siting, construction and approval requirements. One of the systems is so restricted by how NSE allows it to be used, that its practical application is essentially non-existent, and probably completely non feasible for its owner.

As for a fair and timely process, well, consider this: When one engineer went on vacation last summer in Bridgewater (and again this year), just from the files of my company alone, about 50 homeowners had to wait at least one extra month for an approval to install an on-site sewage disposal system, which they needed first, to get a building permit. This effectively halted all new home construction on the South Shore for over a month.

When we made this apparent to the MLA, and to the administrators in Halifax (none of whom know anything about septic system design) the response we got was to have NSE send one of their inspectors out on what seemed to be every one of our jobs, to try to find things we might have done wrong at one time, and to audit our old files looking for retribution. They then sought to actually charge us for making paperwork typos or engineering judgements that differed from their technicians' interpretation of their rules or policies (more on policies later), but had not even come close to causing any adverse effects. This is the kind of organization that is attempting to change their own legislation. This is how they work, with a totally self insulating, vindictive and often arrogant lack of concern for their primary mandate. They need to be obligated to greater responsibility towards the people of Nova Scotia, not less.

Their own staff recognize this problem - in their own recent employee survey, staff morale has dropped off the table since 2009, with the main cause being cited as a lack of clear direction and communication from their head office with respect to personnel issues, and direction on enforcement.

Embedded in this current discussion paper, albeit in nice words, is the removal of their obligations to act in an economic and socially responsible manner. Of course they want to be relieved of this obligation - they already consider it superfluous and demonstrate their disdain for the public on a regular basis.

So, to summarize. If you see anything in this discussion paper that involves giving this Department any more power or authority, or reduces their obligation to respect the socio-economic welfare of Nova Scotians, you will see something that should not be allowed to proceed. They have simply not demonstrated the maturity and good judgement to justify affording them any more trust to do the right thing than we would a large multi-national corporation. Their own people don't trust them to make good decisions, why should we?

Goal #1: Matching resource use to the level of risk to the environment and human health

Ooops!! What happened to socio-economic well being? Gone. They want to abdicate their responsibility to care about Nova Scotians.

Now in this section there are some good words, but take care - if they are no longer required to consider the economic implications of their decisions it won't make things worse, it will simply validate their current behaviour. And that is to not care a whit about what they do to a family's, or a company's, bottom line. They don't want to have to ever worry about that silly little money thing.

Understanding environmental risk requires an understanding of the science behind most of the environment features and functions that need to be protected, or enhanced. Let's take wetlands. There are many different types of wetland, each with their own environmental sensitivities, and resiliencies. Most are less sensitive to nearby development than open watercourses. Yet current regulations under the Act assign a greater importance to any type of wetland than even the most sensitive watercourse. This does not really communicate any confidence that the Department even understand what it is mandated to protect. Indeed, the focus on wetlands in Nova Scotia is like worrying about getting enough rain. We have a lot of land in Nova Scotia that currently meets the description of a wetland. The joke is that Shelburne County is now totally undevelopable.

The design of a single family home on-site sewage disposal system (septic system) is an interesting one. This is an important, Province-wide consideration, as about one half of all Nova Scotians rely on septic systems to treat their sewage. In some cases there is real risk. A badly designed or sited septic system can contaminate someone's well and make them sick.

In 1997, NSE went to a lot of trouble and expense to allow people with no engineering or public heath background to assess land, size lots, select septic systems, and locate them on those lots. NSE effectively used their powers under this Act to discourage the public from accessing the services of a professional who would presumably have some expertise in surface water flow, biology, sewage treatment and hydrogeology. Instead, they created a pseudo-trade of people they called "Qualified Persons Level 2" who NSE themselves then "qualified" - not any school, university or even existing industry association. NSE then actually created and funded a new Industry Association for this new group of pseudo-designers. One has to wonder what kinds of logistic gymnastics someone went through to demonstrate that they were satisfying any of their mandates under the Act by doing all this. Had they left the work to Professional Engineers, they would not need to worry about protecting the public good at all - Engineers are already so obligated by another Provincial Act. The economic benefit to the public would become clear soon enough. To hire one of the QP2 people to take care of your septic system only costs $500~$800, to hire an Engineer costs $1200~$2000. But to build an engineer-designed system usually costs about $3000 to $5000 less. But, you see, NSE do not care about your money.

Goal #2 Using resources more efficiently and effectively

One of the more obvious problems the Department has demonstrated in dealing with sewage treatment is a total ignorance of what other legal and technical jurisdictions already govern some of the spheres of work they are attempting to regulate. Of particular note is the Engineering Act, where the work of Professional Engineers is already regulated and governed. Only recently has NSE actually assigned an engineer to look after the on-site program, their division with the most employees and one that regulates how more than half of Nova Scotians manage their domestic waste. In case you did not know, we have not had a Chief Public Health Engineer in Nova Scotia in about 20 years.

Words like "a mandatory standard or code of practice" always sound good to people who never do the actual work. It makes them feel safe, when the reverse is usually true. In real life, these sort of things, developed in advance of doing the actual work, only apply to the average, normal occurrences. Many times a prescribed solution is not the best, and often causes more harm than good, because the situation encountered in real life does not fit well with the mandated solution that someone ass-u-me-d would fix everything.

Instead of being concerned about the intent of the Act (is our environmental, public health, and socio-economic well being really protected?) it is the process, the regulation itself, that is being protected by staff and their policy, not our environment. This problem is further amplified when such codes or practices are created by people who are not actually practitioners - and exacerbated when they are administered by lawyers. The actual goal - to reduce or eliminate adverse effects, is lost in the haze of bureaucratic protection of self developed policy. That's how it is now in the part of the Environment Act that we have to wrestle with daily. One engineer I know said to me recently that he felt like his entire engineering skill set and imagination was becoming dedicated to finding ways around the rules just to be able to serve people in the best way possible, rather than designing better ways to do it with Engineering thought and advancement of technology. This is depressing, really.

So, in the spirit of contribution, here is how NSE can truly match resources efficiently and effectively in the on-site sewage disposal and small scale sewage treatment business. Get out of the way of Professional Engineers who are trying to practice professional engineering. We are already regulated once, by a Act of the Legislature. Don't waste your own personnel resources subjecting us to a double jeopardy in our work. If we figure out a new way to prevent an adverse effect from occurring that saves the public money, let us be Engineers and apply it to the public good. If we mess up and cause an adverse effect to occur, then yes, we have a liability under the Environment Act, and possibly under the Engineering Act. If we make a typo on some form or drawing, but no harm ever happens to anyone or to the Environment, just go away. Mistakes happen on engineering drawings all the time, but we fix them. We are responsible for our work, we already have an Act that makes us so much more responsible than any subsequent piece of poorly written legislation you can dream up, you are wasting your staff time and public resources trying to regulate an already regulated group of people, and you are stifling our ability to serve the public. Our job is to help people. Let us do our job.

There - I just saved Nova Scotians about $500,000 a year in personnel cost.

The discussion paper talks about redefining the concept of an "adverse effect" in a manner that will eliminate any care for our reasonable enjoyment of life or property. This sends a clear message: NSE don't really care about you, and they don't care to be mandated to care about you. They'd really rather have this review never happen, and do whatever they pleased, even if it means we can no longer enjoy our property in a reasonable manner. The interpretation of "reasonable" is something we allow the courts to decide in most every other walk of life. Noise bylaws, for example. NSE are now trying to remove even the oversight of common law and decency from their obligations to us.

There is discussion about "round tables", "advisory committees" and the like. That's interesting... they even seem to think they may have value. My experience from having been on three of these in the past is that, with one exception, the NSE representative on the committees never showed up for a meeting. This includes one committee that had a great representation of all the industry stakeholders, and oversaw and directed much of the technical research and support that we now all use to design on-site sewage disposal systems in Nova Scotia. They stopped listening to the ideas coming from that committee so it simply disbanded. I believe it shows in the advancement of policy since then.

The next proposal is no surprise. NSE only want to have to be subjected to this horrid, distasteful public scrutiny every 10 years instead of every 5. From a technical perspective, in the past 10 years, the field in which much of my practice exists, and it is regulated by this Department, has radically changed such that they are about 6 years behind the times now. We are able to save people money and allow a much better, sustainable means of developing land, but this out of date, behind the times "authority" has not caught up to the private sector, and we cannot properly serve the public because our industry is hamstrung by an out of date, disinterested, and in many instances, unqualified bureaucracy. If NSE can't stay current with a review every 5 years, how can 10 year intervals represent an improvement?

Timelines for approvals are in some need of repair. In the part of the Act I deal with, it's random. On one application it's 2 days, then next it's 6 months. And this is sometimes just trying to get permission to fix a malfunction that is causing an ongoing adverse effect, so the bureaucratic delay actually causes that adverse effect to continue or occur.

Here's one suggestion that will fix most of this problem in the on-site business. Change to a notification process for engineering designs for single family on-site sewage disposal systems (NOT QP2 submissions, unless you rally want adverse effects). We can investigate, design, oversee and certify a system and then register it with NSE with as-built drawings, owner, PID, design notes etc. Variances would still need to be approved, but the worst case scenario would still be a working system protecting the environmental, public health and socio-economic well being of Nova Scotians, just maybe not always in exactly the same way that NSE's own (often less experienced) staff would have done the work. But there would be no adverse effects and the work would be done in a timely manner, under the supervision of a Professional. Remember, regardless of whether there is an Environment Act or not, we Engineers are still liable and obligated to do the work such that it protects all three of those things, including caring about what it costs someone (this obligation to care puts us in conflict with an otherwise uncaring NSE on a regular basis). We tend to regard any prescriptive parts of The Environment Act or regulations thereunder as unnecessary, because, when it comes to regulating Engineering Design work, they simply are. Give us the desired results, don't tell us how we achieve them. Define the problem, not the solution. The solution part is our job.

Goal #3 Strengthening protection for the environment and human health

I just noticed - the word used in the legislation is "human" health, not "public" health. I think NSE abhor the term "public". How can you argue that socio-economic well being, or "health" is no longer something to strive for in how the act is administered? This is the same ethos we now live with that has resulted in decisions by NSE that have put seniors into government homes early, when their families would have kept them in their home; threatened to take away property from families on which taxes have been paid for generations; and has been applied to pursue a dogged interpretation of regulations in a manner as punitive to people's economic well being as possible, with no care whatsoever as to a family's financial circumstance or social structure.

Much of these proposed changes around giving Inspectors more flexibility and authority sound just fine until you have to deal with some of the inspectors we now have. Not that they are not good people, they simply are under-educated and too inexperienced to make the types of decisions they are being asked to make. Many of the decisions that are made by NSE staff can easily be described as falling under the term "engineering judgement". Engineers don't allow graduates of a 5 year science based university program to make such judgements until they have been working under another Professional Engineer, and overseen by an independent mentor, for four years after they finish University. Yet we are expected to not question and accept orders from a recent graduate of a two year community college course in water resources? All too often, they know the letter of their law, but they might as well be asking water to flow uphill, they know so little about how things work and what the rules actually mean. Again good, well meaning people, but asked to do things they are not qualified or ready to do.

Goal #4 Correcting the errors and inconsistencies in the Environment Act

To do this properly would mean writing a totally new piece of legislation. The Regulations Respecting On-site Sewage Disposal need to be re-written, as well as the parts of the Act that prescribe specific numbers for areas. clearances etc. directly in a legislative document, such that it takes a Minister's signature to authorize even the smallest change to an otherwise arbitrary minimum lot area. Many many times a year, obvious common sense solutions that would harm no one and benefit all, are refused approval by NSE because they are very slightly under some hard and fast number that is written into the legislation and which NSE staff are too weak, or not empowered, to vary, even when it makes sense to. Common sense never gets a chance.

The biggest problems in the current legislation and policy are those that remove staff's incentive to care about the well being of the public and allow them some twisted interpretation to needlessly disenfranchise people. Some of my experiences with these decisions have felt like the Department (because it was not just one person) was acting out of pure spite and hatred toward an unsuspecting citizen. I remain appalled at some of them.

The Act clearly needs to properly allow for the inclusion of "engineering judgement" in cases where the Act or regulations made thereunder are unclear. Regulations can never anticipate every circumstance (there are ALWAYS grey areas), and in which of several directions a solution to an environmental problem can procede. That is what Engineering design and judgement is for.

Part II Should We Introduce Administrative Penalties?

And now, Part II, in which Franz Kafka and Joseph Heller are hired by Nova Scotia Environment to design a new enforcement system.

This part might bear the alternative title of "Because the charges we lay are almost never about any actual adverse effects, we never win in court, so we are going to replace the justice system with our own judgement!"

I love how this includes a point of discussion: "What are the benefits and drawbacks of this approach?" but then the drawbacks are never discussed. I guess they left that for me.

In short, this Department has not demonstrated the maturity, good judgement, and overall care for the people of Nova Scotia to be entrusted with even the level of authority they now have, let alone such an enhanced Draconian proposal as this could end up being.

Consider this. In the on-site business we work in, our current governance is as much about adhering to policies, thought up on an apparently random basis, by different staff members over the past 17 years, than it is about following the actual Regulations and the Act. This collection of policies, written up to address every little thing that has happened outside of the normal course of work over that time, is thicker than the regulations. Worse, once written and accepted by management, these policies then start to be applied broadly all over the Province to other situations where they really don't apply, were never intended to apply. To add to the inanity, they are blindly enforced if their enforcement stops something from moving forward, but never mentioned if they might enable something to happen. It's never about how to do it right, or do it better, it's about coming up with new ways to say no.

These ad hoc policies are not all in one place where you can find them, and sometimes we never know they exist until we cross some unpainted line. None of them were ever proclaimed by the legislature, yet it seems they are seen to hold the same force of law as anything that was. NSE already have the authority to make the rules up as they go! And they do. Several times over the past decade we have had an Application for Approval come back rejected because of a new policy about which we had not been informed. Just as if an RCMP officer told you you were speeding because the limit wasn't the posted 100 KM/hr, it was 80 KM/hr, but they had not yet changed the signs, and by the way, they lowered it because one little old man lost control of his car and now everyone has to slow down. With these proposed "Administrative Penalties", in addition to being able to make things up as they go, they also want the authority that would be equivalent to having that RCMP officer be authorized to take your money from you right there, by force if need be, and with no recourse!

They want to be judge, jury, and executioner. They cannot be allowed to escape the recourse of law, and access to justice for the people they want to punish.

Or wait, maybe Nova Scotia is now some third world state?

The Department simply do not have the technical and moral authority to handle that kind of responsibility. Then again, no one entity does. That is why we have Professional Engineers, and why we have a justice system. And why these proposed changes should not be allowed.

The Four Red Herrings of Development

2011-07-20T12:54:00.001-07:00

I've been around development projects since I was born, literally. My dad was a construction foreman when I was a baby, and sometimes he'd just stick me in the truck when he went out on the job sites. As I entered the business of engineering and planning, I always sought to understand the issues, and not simply react emotionally to a project. Or to others' impressions of a new project.

I've watched, read, practiced and observed for 30 years since I graduated as a young engineer, one who wanted to do things better in response to what I then saw as a growing problem with our environment.

Working as a consulting engineer, I almost always have ended up of the proactive side of the development debate - I've been part of a team designing those new projects. Sometimes I am completely disgusted with ignorant, rude, and insulting comments from uneducated people who seem to assume that those of us designing a project are not thinking about how to do it right. I've had "hippie-chick" BFA grads tell me that because I became an Engineer, my opinion was no longer valid! I was "part of the system". Let me tell you - perhaps the best change, maybe the only change, comes from within a system.

I've learned that almost always, objections to new projects are based on the objector's perceived loss of PERSONAL finance (usually property value). Most often, it is coated in a thin veneer of environmental concern, aesthetic concern, safety concern, or some other concern that is usually totally wrong, and only has any force of effect because of the emotional connotations associated with it.

The other objector that always rings so false is the misled conscientious complainer. This is usually a young person who has been convinced by another, older person, who has sway over them, that something is wrong. They usually cry at microphones at public meetings. I feel bad for them. But, ignorance really is no excuse.

So, to lessen said ignorance, here are the four big falsehoods that are trotted out whenever someone wants to slow, stop or otherwise hinder a project. Don't get me wrong - most certainly, not all development is good development. But it is important to be able to understand what makes a development good, and what makes it bad. All too often, well, almost always, the public objections are over misunderstood things that are not a problem, and the real problems with development are missed completely. Sometimes we even stop a project that needs to be stopped, but for the wrong reasons completely.

1. Density

The number of people living on one acre of land is a measurement that planners can make, because most of them can count. It has absolutely no bearing on whether a development is good or bad. There are excellent, highly dense developments. There are great densely populated cities and neighbourhoods. And the reverse holds true. A high density is not, in and of itself, a bad, or a good thing.

2. Height

The height of a building has almost nothing to do with whether it is bad or good for a community. At some point, in a city, shadows already exist across a street at some time of a day. By definition. But a tall tower, set back from a street facade makes no difference in what we all experience from the street once that shadow reaches across the street. In some cities, this is encouraged, as it cools the street. Height is something we need to start allowing, but in trade for leaving more land open at ground level - get back more park space, pedestrian areas, and treed shady spots, in trade for allowing the office and residential indoors to stack on top of itself. Don't be against a project just because it is high. This is not New York, sure, but it also is not the old part of Paris either.

3. Heritage or Historic Character.

Remember, at one time that nice old building was the newest avant guard design. It sits there demonstrative of its period, an example of the Architecture of its day. Our city now has almost 20 years of no new architecture in the downtown. Some day an architectural historian might look at Halifax and wonder what happened here over that period, and surmise that perhaps a disease that attacked the local design skill IQ and rendered us all worshipers of the 4.5 story boxes littered around our outskirts like un-scooped doggie do. We need to keep the best examples of every period's architecture. No one can be the judge of which has more value, because they are all no more than what they are. We need to allow today's designs to find a place in our city beside the existing well designed, and well built, older building stock. This is not Sherbrooke Village, we are not making a museum here. Even worse is fake history. Restore, but don't mimic or save only the facade. A building is a three dimensional work. Keep the good examples, and let the others fade into history.

4. Traffic

Here lies the issue with the most common moronic public perceptions. Tell someone that the traffic on their street will rise by 100 vehicles a day and they have a fit. Stop and think about what an increase in traffic really means. Take the design capacity of a street, and find out what percentage of that already happens on a road or street. Then calculate what percentage decrease in capacity the projected increase will cause. In almost every single case, this is almost nothing. If you could take the "anti-traffic increase" person at a public meeting, and stick them on a street with the before, and the after, traffic activity of almost every single development I've seen, they could not tell you which scenario they were in. I am sick and tired of someone saying, "this will double the traffic on our street" when they only have 200 trips a day now. 400 a day is nothing.

When its all said and done, traffic engineering is little more than voodoo anyway, and as Jane Jacobs said in her final book "Dark Age Ahead", Traffic Engineers have never got anything right. I am certain they don't consider human factors enough. Cars do not flow though streets like water through pipes, or current through wire. They go where people aim them. They take U-turns to avoid congestion, and sometimes, they choose another route altogether.

Traffic modelling is so fraught with uncertainty, I don't rely on it as a positive or negative factor in assessing any development. No more than I trust ghosts or magic.

Now, of course there will be exceptions to the above. Plenty of them, maybe. But in them lie the greatest errors people make when opposing a development. And for sure, it is usually a development that they think will affect their own financial situation, or they have simply become addicted to seeing their name in the media as the standard go to "no person".

My next missive, when I get around to it, will be the things we really need to be making sure are done right that we almost never do. You can complain about anything I write by commenting below.

The Culture of Imaginary Entitlement

2011-06-16T14:46:00.000-07:00

I've been thinking a lot about this recent spate of "scandals" we seem to be having exposed for us by the local media. The "cash for concerts" scandal, the "Olympic Hockey tickets for unknown industrialists" scandal, and what looks to be perhaps an even bigger bomb on the horizon, the "what happened to our $9.5 Million?" Commonwealth Games scandal.

I'm sure there are more.

One thing these all have in common is a cultural behaviour that is simply getting to be too common these days. I call it the Culture of Imaginary Entitlement. This is when you find yourself in a position with the authority to spend someone else's money, and it goes to your head to the point where you start to believe it is your money. To make you look good. Or be famous. Or to make special friends with. Maybe even get laid!

This state of mind is not one that happens instantaneously, but it is one that slowly seeps into the psyche. Those "this should be mine, I deserve it" thoughts worm away at your self confidence, and diminish your ego. So you slowly start to live the dream - spending the money as if it was your own, and as if it is infinite. And you can't stop.

You aren't really a bigwig, heck, you've never had a real job, maybe, but now you have power, yeah, you can spend other people's money just like, well almost as if, it... was.... really.... yours.

So, what do you do? You wine and dine truly successful people, the ones who actually have money of their own to spend, and try to buy your way into their circle with your expense accounts, your grants, and your tax breaks and subsidies. Instant friends!! You are the shit !!

Heck you can hire some famous bands and get to meet the stars, maybe Mick Jagger, Paul McCartney, and even Gene Simmons and Paul Stanley (who you still secretly love from your old Kiss Army days). And of course you can jet the world, maybe even with that cute little gal from admin along as your executive assistant. You can even get to play dress-up like your heroes, paint your face, have your picture taken with them, pretend you're George Harrison walking that crosswalk at Apple Studios, and even do after-party coke lines with Keith Richards! Yes, you too can be a star.

In time, you can actually convince yourself that you really deserve this, you are the ONE destined to decide how the public money is spent, and the rest of the rabble in your city can just fuck off and try to beat you in an election. You're so cool now, it is obvious you'll be elected for life.

Of course, the reality is that just like the servants in those movies who pretend to be the master when the boss is away, it all falls apart when the owners come home from vacation and find you wearing their clothes and trying to sleep with their friends' daughters.

And that's what's happening now. The pants are down around the ankles, and the fan's spraying shit like it's going out of style.

Sometimes the Bullshits Explains Itself

2011-06-08T21:06:00.000-07:00

PRESS RELEASE:

Alexander Keith's Introduces
Three New Brews to the United States
Famed Nova Scotia Beer Brand, Alexander Keith's, Debuts in the U.S.

ST. LOUIS (June 8, 2011) – Alexander Keith's announces the U.S. launch of three new brews: Nova Scotia Style Lager, Nova Scotia Style Pale Ale and Nova Scotia Style Brown Ale. The beers are now available in 22 states across the U.S.

The three new Alexander Keith's brews are perfect for the adventure-seeking beer lover:
With a deep amber color and brewed with noble hops prized for their subtle, spicy character, the Nova Scotia Style Lager has a crisp finish with an assertive, but clean bitterness.

Brewed with traditional two-row malt for a full, malty flavor, the Nova Scotia Style Pale Ale also includes a fruity, spicy and citrusy hop nose.

The Nova Scotia Style Brown Ale is a classic full-bodied brown ale with hints of honey and caramel, balanced with a fresh hop aroma provided by the addition of cascade hops.

Though new to the United States, the heritage of Alexander Keith's traces back nearly two hundred years to its brewery in Nova Scotia, founded in 1820 by Scottish native Alexander Keith. After completing his brewer's apprenticeship and emigrating from Scotland to “New Scotland” (Nova Scotia), Keith created what is now one of the oldest beer brands in North America. The Nova Scotia brewery is still in operation today under the leadership of its brewmaster emeritus Graham Kendall.

The three new beers are brewed in Baldwinsville, N.Y., and Alexander Keith's will also continue to be brewed in Canada in Nova Scotia, British Columbia and Ontario.

“Alexander Keith's brands continue to be brewed under the guiding principles of our founder and the strong sense of adventure found in the people of Nova Scotia,” said brewmaster emeritus Graham Kendall. “The brewery and its brewmasters have been certified under our strict certification program, showing our unwavering commitment to our heritage.”

About Alexander Keith's
Alexander Keith's brands maintain the quality and heritage first introduced by Alexander Keith himself in 1820. Only the finest barley malt and select hops are used to brew these fine beers, which in the U.S. include Nova Scotia Style Lager, Nova Scotia Style Pale Ale and Nova Scotia Style Brown Ale.

The new Alexander Keith's brands will be available in the following locations: AZ, CA, CO, CT, DC, DE, FL, IN, MA, MD, ME, MN, ND, NH, NY, OR, PA, RI, VT, WA, WI and St. Louis (MO & IL).
# # #

Holy fuck, there is a "Nova Scotia Style" !?!? Good god, now where did I put my Propeller IPA.......

#Tastecamp Niagara - The Maritime Drinker Reports

2011-05-18T12:19:00.000-07:00

There used to be a time when a trip to a wine region meant a very long flight, probably across water. Now, we can get in the car and pop over to the Annapolis Valley for a day of touring wineries, tasting wine, and eating very very well. In time, people are projecting that we will one day have many more wineries, and the economic activity that comes with being a mature wine region will be a boon to our overall economy.

Last week, I got the chance to visit two very different wine regions. Both with the same name, but in different countries. Niagara - both Canada and the USA.

This adventure represented a combination of four of the things I've already written about - wine, design, waste management, and Twitter. The wine part is obvious. The wineries, and their new architecture and adaptations provided the design part, observing how they dealt with their waste the third, and as for the Twitter part - the entire thing was basically organized and documented using Twitter.

The attendees were all people who blog or otherwise opine in writing about wine. Some professionals, some hobbyists, and many somewhere in between. The audience was a fun mix of American and Canadian participants.

The format was essentially a tour of large wineries, at which groups of other wineries also had tasting tables to show off their wares. This demonstrated very clearly the collegial cooperation that exists in this industry and I very much appreciated it.

The organizers, working as volunteers, had done an amazing amount of work in scheduling, arranging participating wineries, and logistics. They got some assistance from industry support organizations, and wonderful cooperation from the participating wineries.

What was most interesting to me, though, was the chance to explore and compare the relatively fledgling wine industry on the other side of Lake Ontario in New York State, specifically the area around Lockport stretching down to the lake. It turns out they have similar degree days to Long Island and are warmer than the Finger Lakes. The idea to make wine here on a commercial scale is relatively new, and there are not very many places going full tilt; yet.

We were treated to two packed days of Niagara, Ontario wine tastings. These wines ranged from some marginal but drinkable wines; to Burgundian quality Pinot Noir and Chardonnay, and Mosel-like Rieslings; to varying qualities of Bordeaux blends and varietals, with Cabernet Franc invariably providing the most interest among those. In some wineries, the quality is extremely high, and one can only wonder how they stay in business with the highly managed vineyards and low yields that result.

In New York we tasted tree and berry fruit wine, and hybrid and vinifera based wines, all well made. The status of this area is similar to Nova Scotia, with the exception that our sparkling wines are well ahead of them. But they have a climate that could be very good at growing vinifera grapes like Merlot, Pinot Noir, and the one that surprised me most, Syrah. I do worry about their susceptibility to a late frost, as their vines were well advanced and vulnerable when we visited. One had to admire the dedication of the owners of Arrowhead, as well as their Syrah.

More to come from me on the wines, but regardless of whether I liked them, the entire trip was a great experience and the food we shared was wonderful. The organizers could do this type of event management work for a living and be very well off.

Nova Scotia: We're Poor Because We Are Stupid (but maybe there's hope)

2011-05-18T07:13:00.000-07:00

I have a story to tell.....

This scenario sounds pretty good. Start an Engineering firm outside of Halifax, in a market where there is no access to Professional Engineering, other than from people driving from Halifax. Start with 4 people, and in two years, grow it to 20, all with no help from any funding program, and almost no government work.

Once established as a member of the local economy, active in the community, with almost all your payroll going back into that economy, you decide you are ready to start asking for work from your governments. The places your taxes, and your employees' taxes go.

You've created about 8 new jobs without any help from government. No ACOA grants, no tax breaks, no subsidies. You've provided a place for local kids to work in a technical, highly trained group, without having to move away. If you were some foreign owned industry, the Province would be paying you hundreds of thousands of dollars. You really can't be blamed for expecting some sort of welcoming reception from government when you see publicly funded projects about to happen in your own community, and you'd like to be involved.

But here is where the stupidity begins.

Government purchasing seems completely disconnected with reality and with economic development of our region. The policies in place have evolved over the years to create a form of exclusion of local companies. This has happened in ignorance of the work actually being done, the economic benefits of buying local and keeping jobs in a community, and, sometimes, just to perpetuate the status quo. Remember, as a rule local companies will be smaller, and multinationals will be, well, multinationals.

Here are two real situations I've encountered in Nova Scotia since the fall. Tell me if you think the bureaucrats I have to deal with are spending your tax dollars wisely.

The first foray into government work was with the Province. We had someone who wanted to hire us, because we are one of the best firms at the specific task they needed done, and the job was close to our office. It was a job of small scale for us, routine. BUT in order to actually be hired to do this simple task, we first had to develop a safety plan (for our office, not for out on constructions sites), we had to double our insurance policy for general liability above what our insurance broker had already recommended and sold us, and we had to double, or, really, quadruple our coverage for Errors and Omissions Insurance. This cost us a fair amount of money, just to qualify to do government work.

All this had absolutely nothing to do with any real change in liability, people doing the work, the work itself, its outcome, or anything else. All it did was cost us money. The only reason we had to do this was that someone in government decided some time ago to set everything up the same way - the same liability for a multi-million dollar sewage treatment plant design as a $20,000 sewage system for a park. What is the real effect here? It means that sometimes the only firms who can afford the coverage and assorted bullshit for huge jobs get to do the small jobs (big wrench, small bolt). So we, as taxpayers, end up having our little routine jobs done by the big foreign or out of Province controlled firms, and not by the smaller firms that might be next door to the work. The smaller, more efficient local firms are shut out by our own governmental purchasing restrictions. Do you think this saves us money? If you do, you need to read a bit more economics.

If every engineering firm were the same size, this might be acceptable. But here's the reality in the consulting engineering business in Eastern Canada right now. With the exception of one firm, CBCL Limited, any company large enough for the Province to consider hiring them for a larger project is owned by out of Province interests. And to add to the problem, the Province is fixated on "Big Project = Big Firm" foolishness, despite the fact that even in a big firm, usually only 3 or 4 people do the work on a project.

A smaller, local firm is automatically thrown into the pit with these big multinationals, but it has all its advantages stripped away. Being able to move fast, charge less, and be close to home matters nothing. What matters is bulking up your overhead with useless government stipulated requirements designed for larger projects. This just costs the taxpayer more. The same thing applies for contractors building our designs. The best septic system installers usually can't get bonded enough to do government work. So we taxpayers pay more, for what may end up being a lesser quality job.

In the end, we used our profit from this job to pay for all the bullshit we had to go through to even be allowed to work for our own government. The fees and the construction all stayed in the local economy. And now we are ready for future work, if it comes along.

More recently, however, we have run into another bit of bureaucracy emanating from the Public Tenders Office. There is a fair amount of new road work planned for the part of Nova Scotia our offices are in. And we have first class expertise in road design now. So we asked the Province how we could compete for that work.

It turns out that all Provincial road design work is given out to firms already listed on a "Standing Offer". This is a list of firms who meet minimum qualifications to do certain kinds of work, from which a contracting officer (in this case someone who needs a road designed) must choose three to invite to compete, or, if the job is under $10,000 in fees, pick one. There are rates for staff associated with these standing offers, but they are not really judged in a competitive manner. It's just a list of qualified people from which the government can buy services at a set, pre-stated rate.

So here we are, the only engineering firm at all in our part of Nova Scotia, and one of the few locally owned companies even capable of designing roads, and we are told that this standing offer is closed to us until April 2012 when it will be opened again to new firms. No reason is given why this cannot simply be something you apply to be registered under. No, they just say, "no, you have to wait a year".

The apparently open it once every two years. In two years, we have gone from 4 to 20 employees. Two years is a long time in our business.

To add insult to injury, however, two local firms that were on the list were recently taken over by out of Province firms. But these new to Nova Scotia firms from away did not have to wait a year, they simply got to enjoy the rights of the firm they bought, and they are among the dominating firms on the list of suppliers. So the system allows firms from outside to get on a list because they have deep enough pockets to buy out local businesses, but discriminates against local firms wanting to work in their own neighbourhoods.

This purchasing policy encourages the shipping out of our tax dollars from our economy, and discourages the hiring of locally owned companies that are an integral part of our economy. There is preferential treatment, alright, but it's to the companies NOT owned locally. This is just plain stupidity for which there can be no excuse, and for which there has to be a remedy.

This is a basic, ill conceived policy designed and implemented by people who apparently know nothing about the industry from which they are buying services. It runs contrary to every fundamental economic development principle. As Jane Jacobs said, import substitution is the most powerful economic development tool. In Nova Scotia, we are stupid, and we do the opposite. We encourage imported services over those provided from within our already weak economy. And that is one reason why it stays weak.

We are waiting to hear back from the Public Tenders Office. They seemed very understanding, and are "looking into it". But they seem so caught up in their own role, and in some fear of NAFTA (like we are going to be stealing from American firms), that I will be very surprised, but happy, if they find a workaround. Remember, I'm not asking for work, just the right to compete for it fairly.

In the end, until we can allow our own entrepreneurs fair and equal access to our own governments' work, we'll remain the Upper Canada-dependent, second class Province we are now. No matter how much spin you put on this, the only spin is a money sucking vortex taking those fees all the way back to Ontario and Quebec instead of keeping them here to be of great benefit to our economy.

----> Late breaking news: After being a little bit of a pain, I have found someone who seems to understand what I am saying, and they are in a position to do something about it. So, my Civil Servant of the Year Award (so far in 2011 anyway) goes to Mr. Robert Salah, the head of Procurement. He managed to interpret a clause in the Standing Offer in a manner that was "open for business" instead of "closed to business". For this, he becomes that rare Civil Servant - one who makes a judgement call that may end up causing him more work, but more fully satisfies the reason he is there for.

----> Later breaking news: The RFP was re-released as an interim registration offering. I dropped a proposal for providing services yesterday. It was amazing how many minutiae were involved in even registering to be considered for work. If I showed you, you would not believe it. It is a lesson in how something so simple as hiring expertise to do something for you can be turned into a horribly complicated and bureaucratic process.

So now we may soon win back our right to compete. We may lose every time we try, but at least we'll have a fair shot. I hope.

The Poop on Poop - Halifax and its Harbour History

2011-01-02T09:26:00.000-08:00

Slowly the "debate" we have been having on "biosolids", mostly played out in the media (churning) has been moving from what was a scientific environmental discussion into an absurd hysteria driven emotional miasma of illogic.

Let's set a few things straight here.

1. The best place, with no doubt whatsoever, to direct treated sewage, both liquid and solids types of waste, is back on to the land from which the nutrients in the waste originally came.
2. It is not just possible, but quite easy to treat sewage sludge so that it is safe for use on agricultural lands. This happens now all over the world, and is already common in Nova Scotia.
3. There are some sewage sludges that are probably not suitable for use for agricultural purposes because the sludge is the residual from more than simple domestic sewage (poop) and includes some industrial waste streams that contain heavy metals.
4. Not all sanitary sewage contains industrial waste. Parts of Halifax only produce domestic sewage, or organic waste that can be safely treated to return to replace nutrients stripped from that land by food or forestry production.
5. We do not have very much topsoil in Nova Scotia.
6. Anyone who eats rice eats food grown directly in untreated sewage that is probably from a third world country.
7. In case you've heard otherwise, the solution to pollution IS dilution, IF you can achieve a suitable level of dilution.

Let's take a more careful look at things. The real culprit in this story is the prehistoric (OK, Roman era) gravity sewage collection systems we have been saddled with, and continue to be subjected to by the engineering community and bureaucratic status quo. We have become addicted to these systems, allowing them to grow to unreasonable size, collecting waste from huge tracts of land, to one or two focal points. I've always simply referred to this as tearing a hole in the fabric of the environment. We go to a lot of expense to move all of our small problems to one place where it then becomes one huge problem.

A gravity sewer does several things very poorly. It concentrates what are initially small amounts of heavy metals, and other undesirable elements to a level where they actually become toxic. I hate to use that word because it has been so abused by the media and even some scientists, but lets just say that too much pure water can be toxic. A large gravity sewer collection system has the unfortunate side effect of collecting all the bad things to one place, and in doing so, allowing the sewage from the places that generate most of the nasties to contaminate the sewage that is relatively benign. Can anyone argue that the sewage from Burnside Industrial Park would not be vastly different from that coming from Highfield Park, just across the 111?

The second thing large gravity sewers do is allow water that is not dirty to enter the sewage flow. This is because sooner or later, they all leak. In much of the older parts of Halifax and Dartmouth, our sewers are combined sewers, which means they also carry water that falls as rain and enters catchbasins, footing drains, roof drains and so on. During a rain storm, flow in these old pipes is mostly rainwater. Sometimes 20 or more times what is coming from toilets and sinks and dishwashers. This extra flow added to the large regional collection system causes several environmental and engineering problems. First, it means that the pipes have to be large enough to carry it. When we engineers design gravity sewers, we allow a very large portion of that pipe's capacity for future infiltration or inflow of what would otherwise be clean water. We assume that it will get in, because it does. Manholes, in particular, are a major culprit - I refer to them as water induction devices. This is probably the single largest source of water pollution in Nova Scotia - it happens constantly all day and all night - water that is clean to begin with, leaks into sanitary sewers and is immediately turned to sewage.

Second, this extra capacity is inherently wasteful because it does not always rain, so the large (more expensive) pipes can wait with only a small flow for a while, and are only fully used when it rains. There is capacity that might carry more sewage, but it is used for conveying stormwater when it has to.

When it does rain, we see yet another major problem. If we try to treat what comes out of the end of pipe, we are confronted with a wastewater that does not exhibit the ideal characteristics for biological treatment. Ideally, in a typical traditional wastewater treatment facility, the process works best when the inflow is relatively constant, the temperature is higher, and the organic strength of the sewage is concentrated. These three parameters allow the biology we cultivate in a treatment plant to live and breed at a high rate, consuming all that nutrient our more inefficient digestive processes could not. But when we allow water to enter the collection system, we get three effects that are the opposite of what we want. The flow becomes highly variable - the rain causes peak flows which decrease the time sewage can stay in a treatment facility; the extra water is almost always cold, which lowers the overall sewage temperature and slows the biology working in the sewage treatment plant; and the extra water dilutes the waste stream, making it harder for the bacteria we want to be living in the treatment plant to find food. When it rains, it's as if those good bacteria we want to work for us are being abused - they are given less time to do the job, it is cold and they are slowed down by that, and it is harder to find the food to eat.

Finally, when we try to separate out solids so that they can be composted and otherwise treated for return to the soils from which they were initially taken, all that extra water makes it a very much more difficult task to do.

Large collection systems are a mistake. But we have them because we have always had a reflex reaction to the sewage we generate. Nova Scotians are fixated on flushing all our poop to the ocean, or to some bit of natural water somewhere. We are so tunnel visioned in this regard that we continue to build new outfalls to our lakes and streams and bays and estuaries, even when a less expensive option for returning the treated effluent to the land exists (read about drip irrigation dispersal of treated sewage effluent). Our history is terrible when we look back at the sewage systems operating in Nova Scotia today, from an overall environmental view. Why is sewage that is generated out by Kearney Lake being dumped into Halifax Harbour, miles away? This when the community generating that waste stream brings in treated water to irrigate its parks, and fertilizer (some of it from human waste in Milwaukee) to keep them green?

Why do we go to all the trouble and expense to create a huge concentrated point loading on the environment in the harbour, when the initial dilution of the pollution was not nearly so bad, and, close to the place where it was generated, comparatively simple to treat to tertiary levels, as compared to the basic screening and semi-digestion now practiced by our already out of date treatment plants? Why? The answer to that, when I asked back in 1992 was "Because that's the way we've always done it." Is that good enough for you?

Back to the sludge (I dislike the term biosolids, as it is not specific enough) from treated sewage. These large collection systems guarantee that people's objections to the reliability of the quality of the sludge produced from the waste at the end of these large collection areas will be valid. Heavy metals are fine in low concentrations - they exist in nature in low concentrations. In fact some metals exist in our native soils in fairly high concentrations (copper in the soils in Halifax, for instance is usually above CCME flagging levels, naturally). But when we go to the trouble to bring all the bad stuff to one place, then filter it all out from the water, concentrating it even more, we create a new material that may have more than is safe for use on crops we plan on eating.

So why don't we treat our sewage in smaller batches, closer to where the waste is generated, "at source" so to speak, where we can identify what sub-sections of our community generate solids that are safe, and can be safely used, while making sure that other waste streams are not included in that dispersal path?

If we used some careful public health engineering (by the way, Nova Scotia has no Public Health Engineer - the position was eliminated in a government restructuring back in the 90's) we could achieve a safe and secure supply of sewage sludge that could be treated to produce a composted land amendment or fertilizer that was safe from industrial contamination. Instead, we try to rely on diluting the industrial wastes back into our domestic wastes, with no reliable way of knowing on which day there is too much industrial contamination happening.

Back when the Harbour Cleanup was being proposed, I was one of a few people advocating for a solution based on a distributed form of sewage treatment. My point was that if the Harbour had not gotten dirty all at one time, it need not be cleaned up in an instant either. We could address the sewage treatment one community, one neighbourhood at a time. Treating the sewage before the massive inflow from rainfall and the contamination for industrial sources complicated the problem to the point where we could never afford to ever do tertiary treatment. All that was needed were treatment plant solutions that a community could accept as suitable in scale and nuisance, to host in their neighbourhood. That could take the form of underground/basement Sequencing Batch Reactors, community greenhouse based Solar Aquatics™ systems, or anything else that modern technology presented us with. Once that neighbourhood was served by a tertiary treatment plant, it would no longer be a part of the problem - the STP could simply discharge into the nearest major trunk sewer, which was probably originally a brook, making it that much cleaner, and the harbour subsequently that much cleaner as a result.

This approach had other advantages over the mega project that Halifax was hurtling towards. It was predicated on the idea that it did not all have to happen at one time. So the project might be funded out of an annual capital works budget, not some mega borrowing that we will owe money on forever. And the work could be designed and built by local engineering and construction firms, not by huge multinational corporations, meaning that we could create a centre of excellence in small to medium scale urban sewage treatment here in Halifax. Perhaps the best thing was that we could go out and solve the easy problems first - cherry-pick the places where the sewage was least dilute, where a location for a STP was available, and just clean that up. But do it so that 99% of the sewage was treated, as opposed to the +/- 40% we have now. We only really need to treat half the sewage going to our harbour to tertiary levels to remove the same amount of pollution as is now being done by treating it all to 40% removal! And the tough parts? Maybe by the time we had gotten all the easy parts done, a new technology will have been developed that can handle those (and this appears to be on the horizon now, with advances in microfiltration).

At the time, the absurd criticism we got from the old engineers in HRM was that there would be too many plants to operate - they would require too many people to run. This when NSPI runs all its hydro stations all over Nova Scotia from one control centre in Ragged Lake. And when the idea of a few good paying local jobs instead of cash sent to France for mega-project gear made some economic sense.

Of course, also at the same time, our rational arguments were hijacked by some well meaning, but ill informed eco-socialites who thought it a dreamy idea that a Solar Aquatics greenhouse system for Halifax would be just peachy! In fact they were advocating that the main treatment plant for all that dilute cold sewage in Halifax be treated in one greenhouse. I worked it out one day - the greenhouse would have to cover all of the Dockyards from Pier 9 to Purdy's Wharf to even have a chance at treating all the sewage in one place. But about 35 small to medium size treatment plants could do all of the metro area. This because the smaller plants would not be treated the huge peak flows that exist at the bottom of THE BIG PIPE. And we would not need any tunnels or outfalls - we'd just let the treated effluent flow out via the existing outfalls. Sure, a few could be consolidated or extended, but there would be no need to put it all in one place like we do now. And sooner or later, we'd have it all done. One bit at a time, the same way the harbour got dirty in the first place.

If this makes some sense to you, then you understand the concept of loading. See here for more on that if you don't. But this approach might have been impossible to get regulatory approval form because the regulators cannot apply common sense, they have to apply old standards based on the concentration of flow to the Harbour. They might not be able to look the other way when three pipes are say, 95% treated, but the one beside it isn't treated at all. Despite the net removal of pollutant being the same as what wold exist if they were all treated to a 75% removal. What they have accepted is a concentration based effluent discharge permit where it is possible that nothing is actually removed from the sewage, but enough water is added to it to dilute the concentration below some theoretical level. No one really cared about whether the harbour was being cleaned up, they cared about whether the stuff leaving one or two pipes was diluted enough to pass a concentration test, no matter how many thousand kilos of waste actually got to the harbour.

And that is where we now sit. We have a brand new, tunnelled at great expense, BIG PIPE that conveys all our little problems to three places where they each instantly become BIG PROBLEMS. So big in fact that we probably will never be able to remove the solids and nutrients in the sewage to even a secondary level of treatment, when it rains. But now the Federal Government is telling us we have to be more responsible, when we built a system that cannot really do any better than it does now.

The question remains as to whether it still might be of use to examine the distributed treatment approach again, instead of spending millions and millions of dollars to try to fix our current out of date treatment plants at their sites. Maybe there is a way that by strategically locating some small and medium size treatment plants we can reduce the loading to the plants we are now saddled with such that they, one day, might be convertible to processes that can actually reduce the loading on the Harbour. Time will tell, I suppose, but perhaps the first thing we should be doing is looking at where in that huge web of a collection system there might be places where the sludge collected could be safe for use in agriculture. And that location might be where we could look at both extracting that resource, and reducing the load on the central big old style STP's so that they might actually do something beside pass dilute sewage when it rains.

The best thing we can do now, though, because it costs so little, is to start looking at our older residential areas and seeing where we can get more stormwater to soak into the ground, or be used by trees, grass and other plants. Every bit of water we keep out of the pipes means less flow to the treatment plants, and gives them more of a chance to do the meagre job they can do. Rain barrels, tree wells that connect to gutters, snow piled on grass or earth instead of asphalt, dry ponds that fill up and hold water until it soaks in or evaporates, roof drains spun off to back yards instead of into storm drains, permeable paving, and anything that allows water to soak into the ground. These will all pay back continually in terms of helping the infrastructure we do have, whether ill conceived or not, perform as best it can for us, and for our environment.

The Convention Centre - My Open Letter to Council

2010-11-09T13:17:00.000-08:00

Why are we rushing into this convention centre thing?
Is this an emergency?

I've read everything that Tim Bousquet has written on this topic (have you?), none of it was made up, and very very little of it can even be classified as opinion.

All he has ever asked is that we examine the numbers before we jump in - that's like checking to make sure the water is deep enough to dive. He has given enough examples of things that simply don't add up, or look to have been done to prove a desired outcome, rather than to inform a decision, that warrant a careful third party examination.

I think it's safe to say that most people will support a new convention centre. But that is NOT the issue. Here are some issues:

This is a P3 Project. Don't let anyone pretend it isn't. It is a private company building and owning a building and getting credit and financing based on a guarantee of an income stream from the public purse. A Public/Private/Partnership. (that's 3!). Why are people saying it isn't when it clearly is?

This project forces HRM to give special treatment to one landowner over all others in the downtown by giving them an exclusion from one of the tenets of HRM By Design. (height only) I have no comment to make on the design itself.

This project puts the convention centre in a place that is probably the worst place for tourism in downtown Halifax after dark (have you been to that part of Argyle on a Friday night?). Putting a convention centre where none of the rooms have a view of our harbour is as misguided as, say, putting an art gallery, a building where everyone is looking at what's on the walls and where light can damage the contents, on our waterfont. The centre is being sold as a tourism generator, but does not give any of the convention space a view of why we are here - our Harbour. They may see some good fights in front of the Toothy Moose, but that is not the message we want to send tourists.

But worst of all, this is all apparently being forced on us without a solid business case, twisted numbers, and classic square peg in round hole logic. "We know it doesn't fit, but if we hit it hard enough with a blunt instrument, for long enough, we can drive 'er in". That is what it looks like to me.

Let's stop, take a breath, and examine this thing with the care and attention it deserves. Surely that makes sense?

I don't think Tim Bousquet is acting like an activist here. But even if he is, there is a famous saying about activists, and that is that even if we believe they are wrong, we can't afford for them to be right. I think that applies in this case. So at least prove that the numbers, real numbers not made up by TCL to lubricate that square peg, support the project before investing in this scheme. It smells like Floridian swampland to me. Are you buying?

I have an idea... let's do the audit before the money is gone this time.

All across the Twitterverse

2010-09-26T07:31:00.000-07:00

The internet has brought us a lot of things that are new. Perhaps the most significant change is in how information is shared, and how the different tools created to share it have altered our basic means of relating to our fellow humans. How the internet is replacing traditional social interactions with new means of how we talk to, do business with, trade, insult, entertain, humour, mock, flirt, and even seduce each other.

As someone who has been using computer networks to communicate ideas and opinions since 1980, I've used many of the different platforms or formats that have come along. From early pre-internet computer games with students in other universities in Canada, to the old listserves (alt.rec.barney.purpledinosaur.die.die.die was a fave), early Compuserve User Forums where I would dial up to a 514 area code and run scripts downloading and uploading messages to other beer and scotch aficionados, to more modern email (originally my Compuserve number account) then to a IP internet account email, web based email, and then to the more modern forums, Winelover's Digest, Wine Therapy, HomeBrew Digest, and so on.

Then came real advances with social media applications hitting the stage, including dating sites begun to meet the needs of the shy and lonely, that now account for many couples finding Mr. or Ms right, at least for 30 minutes.

It was Facebook of course that really changed things. From a site based on simple high school mentality for high school kids, it has advanced to a site based on simple high school mentality for everyone. Complete with a huge repository of personal information, all apparently owned by FaceBook. Even our parents are on there (not mine, thank God). I deactivated my FaceBook account 6 months ago, and I DON'T MISS IT. Really, Picasa does a better job of sharing photos, and I am sure there is an even better photo sharing site out there.

Two years after Facebook came Twitter, which is as aptly named as, say that silly search engine thing called, what was it? Google? is what has us witnessing a new way of communicating with others. The best things in life are truly simple. Butter on fresh baked bread. A toasted marshmallow. Insert thing 1 into thing 2. All good. All easy.

With Twitter, all you need to do to play is to sign up and have at least one other friend on there already to talk to, and to steal followers from. At first, there is a lull. A big let down - what use is this? A waste of time. And being limited to only 140 characters per post is sometimes a pain, if you are into severe angst over why your latest boyfriend got caught with porn pics of you on his computer by his wife.

The secret lies in something I suspect is a very basic, built-in factor in the human psyche related to how many people are members of your follow/follower Twitterverse - your community. The Greeks had a word for the critical number of people it took to bring together to create an effective community. The called it a "Polis". Within that community there would be enough expertise to do anything, answer any question, and, yes, defend itself from other, more agressive "Poli".

Now, that word, Polis, has a lot to do with a word we use and abuse on a regular basis in our lives. Politics. Politics is a big word in our society, with a lot of different meanings. Social politics, sexual politics, heck, political politics. They all matter to us, in varying degrees of importance.

Once I had reached about 200 followers, and was following about 250, I started to see new things happening. I was being exposed to a lot of "tweets", that were "re-tweeted" by someone I was following that made me think harder about something, be amazed about what someone else in the world was doing, or simply made me laugh out loud. I started to find out about things happening in my city long before they appeared in the traditional media. It was as if I'd reached the beginnings of my own "Polis" - my Brewnoser Twitteropolis.

I now have met a fair amount of my "tweeps" in person. Unlike Facebook, which is simply a cataloguing and track-keeping tool for people you already know, or barely know, or might be related to, Twitter somehow transcends the impersonal, to encourage the personal. "Tweet-ups" are common in Halifax - real people meeting in person to continue their on-line discussion, debate, business, or friendship. Despite the lack of photo galleries, relatives, networks, and the like, it is so much more human than Facebook will ever be.

I plan on keeping my "Twitteropolis" trimmed to people who are interesting, or are local, keeping me more in touch with my community than any politician knocking on doors or cutting ribbons. My community is a big amorphous source of entertainment, information, and innuendo that is usually current, sometimes silly, and never boring. I look at some of those celebrity twitter feeds (they don't follow back, so they really are just a feed) and I think of them as a Polis gone wrong, gotten too large and out of hand, like one of those third world 20 million population cities with 40% slums, a sort of social development cancer. I'll just stick to my small town. Where I know everyone.

I am going to resist the temptation to try to monetize my Twitter account too, and only use it for things that are personal. But who knows, maybe it will become a source of work related information. It already has in some small ways, and it certainly works well that way for others. That won't necessarily be a bad thing, work is part of the human condition, after all, and Twitter better reflects the human condition than anything I've yet seen online in the 30 years I've been here.

I can be reached at @brewnoser I may not follow back, I may block you. But I will check before I do either.

The Halifax Beerfest and their CFA Preferences

2010-08-10T08:13:00.000-07:00

Here is a press release I just got:

Sipping beer on the Pier with one of Canada’s top beer experts
Media representatives are invited to attend a news conference at Halifax’s historic Seaport District on Thursday, August 12. In the lead up to the 4th annual Halifax Seaport BeerFest, one of Canada’s top beer connoisseurs, Mirella Amato, will be sharing her skills in the art of beer tasting.

Joining Mirella will be Geir Simensen, owner and executive chef of Scanway Catering, to discuss some of the delicious food offered at this year’s BeerFest. Geir, Mirella, and BeerFest co-chairs Bruce Mansour and Brian Titus will be on-hand and available for interviews.

The following individuals will be attending and speaking before the event:
-Bruce Mansour-Co-chair of the Halifax Seaport BeerFest
-Mirella Amato-Female beer connoisseur and creator of Beerology
-Geir Simensen-Owner/Executive chef of Scanway Catering

Time: 12:30 PM
Date: Thursday, August 12, 2010
Location: Halifax’s Seaport District (Marginal Road behind the Westin Hotel), at the south end of the harbor walk.

This festival is turning into a great event, if a few more local breweries would get off their asses and show up, people might think there is a vibrant brewing community here. This year, I have to tell you that Brian Titus did not make this into a Garrison event at all. His efforts this year were the most industry supporting I have seen. Yet so much great beer we know and buy here was not on display. And it should have been. There were a lot of beer curious people there. Local beers/ Garrison, Rock Bottom, and a stand with beer, but no-one pouring it, from Paddy's Pub in Kentville/Wolfville. No Propeller, no Granite, no Seaport, no Rogues Roost, no Hart and Thistle. All these places missed a great chance to add to their list of customers and patrons.

My pet peeve is how we tend to favour things from away. Well, in this case, no one from the local scene showed up to demonstrate if they were competitive with the people from away.

Of course there was a bit of the CFA boosting from the organizers. I have to wonder about how the Toronto and Montreal people invite my brother and I up there to judge contests and attend festivals, and yet in our own city we don't even get invited to attend.

Mirella Amato was there this year, doing a very cool ladies tour, going oer the histroic relationship between women and beer, and getting the ladies in early to start their sampling before the rush. She is kinda my junior, a few years over (OK, maybe 15). I've known her since she started coming to beer events in Toronto 10 years ago. She judged with me last year at the Canadian Brewing Awards. (I wonder if she was at the IPA table, I'd sure like to know what went on there....)

At least this year, they let me attend as media, after I asked, though I think Brian Titus is afraid I might mention the Hart and Thistle. INstead I showed up wearing an H&T ball cap. I did take out and switch back and forth with my Garrison hat all night.

Anyway, I think that at this point I should point out that I assume I am still the senior beer geek in Atlantic Canada. I'm a BJCP National Beer Judge, the Canadian Association of Professional Sommeliers - Atlantic Chapter Beer Instructor, and Founder of The BrewNosers, Halifax's Homebrewing and Beer Appreciation Club for the past 25 years, blah blah blah blah, blah blah... You'd think that sooner or later they might realize that someone here knows at least as much about beer than the "experts" they bring in. But in the end, it is pretty good to just be able to sit off to the side of the Quebec tent and have brewers bring you samples.

Mirella is a great choice as a guest beer geek, as we do have female beer-lovers here, but none I know of who have taken it upon themselves to learn as much about the beverage as she. And the idea of providing some focus on women and beer is a commendable one.

I hope the thing is a great success, and it really sis seem to be going well tonight. I really don't care if they ever ask me to do anything or not, it just amuses me that they are falling into that same trap that our government does, assuming that if it's come from away, it must be better. And that we can't possibly have a local who might know that much about something like beer!

Which is hogwash, of course. People from away gave us Scotia Square, the Sewage Treatment Plant, The Cogswell Street Interchange, and stole all our fish to boot. They can have as much Keith's as they want, though. I did hear an interesting story about the Keith's ads in Quebec pretending to be a micro, shown being brewed in the "demo for tourists semi fake brewery" in the old Brewery Market. As if Keiths/50 was brewed in those size batches!

In the meantime, as my beer buddy from Wisconsin says: "Now Go Have a Beer"!

Amoré del Amarone

2010-08-05T14:46:00.000-07:00

Before you read the rest of this, you have to accept one thing: a fact; a reality. My friend Chris* is not normal. He can be the biggest ass there is. He is one of those people who never went to university because, well, he didn't need to. Not in his mind. Which is a pretty well built piece of equipment. His mind, that is. It is able to generate and rely upon, and even survive under, a regime of logic that pretty well only he subscribes to.

Chris is, well, he's Chris. And Chris is pretty happy with that. Ask him.

Chris also has this certain sense of time. As in some time. As in some time we are all going to die, so let's get on with living, OK? Because he values his time as if every day was his last (and sometimes those of us who know him probably wish that day were) he lives his life at certain extremes, despite the fact that his funds to live on are certainly not at an extreme.

Chris likes a lot of the finer things in life. He likes jazz. Specifically Miles Davis, but he'll listen to anyone else who plays with "half a brain". He loves Tom Waits. He also likes almost any music made by someone who has something true to say, and a gift to share. There was a lot of Randy Newman playing last night. In those loves, he and I share some common prejudice. We also both want to be able to listen to our music in peace, and to hear as much of what was actually played as we can. We both spend a lot of money on stereo equipment no one else would want. If you stole my stereo, all you'd get would be a hernia, and maybe (hopefully?) a near lethal shock as a capacitor discharged into your near-corpse long after you unplugged it. I'd come home and find you on my floor, probably having fouled your pants, and call the cops. I might take out a 5 iron for a bit first, though... Anyway, I digress. We were talking about Chris. He would not use a 5 iron, as he does not play golf. Let's just say, they would never find the body, and leave it at that. OK?

This is all a lead in to my night of wine drinking (heck, it was not tasting - I never spit one millilitre) last night. At Chris' place.

You see, Chris also likes to drink wine. And in true Chris fashion, he does not normally waste a lot of time putting bad wine into his mouth. Usually only when I am around, and that's because I almost force him to. He is also a believer in the reality that drinking is best done with friends. Drinking a great bottle of wine by yourself is like being abducted by aliens. It may be an amazing experience, but no-one will really believe you, and they will think you are a bit off.

Chris is on vacation this week. So he stayed home and spent most of yesterday getting ready for four of us to arrive at 7:00 pm. Waiting for us was a bottle of 1998 Henriot Le Millesieme Champagne. A Blanc de Blanc, I think. This wine is totally not for fans of the straightforward, down the middle Champagnes from Pol Roger or Moet and the like. It is complex, acidic, with some bitterness and anger. A terribly complex thing that with the 12 years may only have been more angry at being woken up.

In time, we moved to the table, set with four wines, poured an hour earlier, waiting for us to come and play.

This was no guessing game, nor was it an open book. They were not in any order, so we did not know which wine was which. We were given a sheet with all four wines named, complete with reviews of each as published by The Wine Spectator, America's top selling wine publication, and all the reviews done by James Suckling; and reviews from The Wine Advisor, Robert Parker's "organ" (to abuse Frank Magazine's term). The point of this was to taste the wines ourselves, and then decide if the reviews were of value, and if one reviewer was of more value that the other.

The wines were three well respected Pauillacs - all Chateau Batailley - 96, 99 and 03, and one great Margaux, the 1995 Chateau Palmer. My quick run through them suggested that one of these was not like the other, and that would either be the Palmer, or the 03 wine. I ended up wrong in guessing the Palmer (which in my defence I have never had before). But, in respect of the goal of the exercise, I can say with as much certainty as four samples allow, that James Suckling makes notes that are a lot like mine, and Robert Parker is somewhere out on another planet, again, in comparison to my own observations.

The Palmer opened up into an amazing Bordeaux. A great wine, and one that I'll remember for some time. The 1996 Battailley was also very very good.

That was good fun. I have never been a big "Speculator" fan, but perhaps I'll pay a wee bit more attention to Suckling's opinions in the future. If I ever buy Bordeaux again after my recent trip to Burgundy, that is.

Chris, meanwhile, has started hinting that there is more. As in a LOT more to come.

And he is not kidding. I had jokingly predicted that it would be the perfect time for a Quintarelli Amarone, as I knew he owned at least one. But that is just what he brought up next. A 1995 version.

This is one of those "life wines" - maybe something I'll never get to try again, and certainly never had until last night. And as our luck would have it on this evening, the Portuguese menace was nowhere to be found. The wine was clean, clear and beautiful. Some hints of higher alcohols, as to be expected, but underneath the brooding monster of a wine, with all the nuances and depth that this is so famous for. It sells now for about $400 US. Chris supplied a "simple" tray of chocolate, blackberries and strawberries to have with this wine. Perfect: if you know the wine, you understand.

Of course thee was a small problem - the wine is so massive it needed some time to really open up and show its true form. So Chris, being Chris, popped down into his cellar and came back with something worthy of the evening, to while away our time with while waiting for the Amarone to open up. Oh, what's this? Oh, it's just a 1998 Bouchard Pere et Fils Le Corton. Having just been right there, about 200 m from the grapes used to make this wine, I decided that this was an acceptable waiting wine.

This wine was so replete with mushroom in the nose, it was hard not to order out for a mushroom pizza from Salvatores. And then all the classic Corton character kept coming out as it opened up. A powerful Pinot. I know that may be hard for some to get their head around, but this terroir is not for the faint of heart. We were left wondering which wine was indeed the better, the one we were waiting for, or the one we were drinking.

We drank the wines, ate the chocolate, listened to Randy Newman and laughed. A lot.

Somewhere, the Amarone was gone, and so was the Corton. But then, like magic, the nightcap appeared. A wine I introduced Chris to some time ago. A great wine. A thing of beauty. Worth every penny and pure heaven in a glass. If you like figs and dry fruit, anyway. One person at the table had never had it before. We almost lost him to a sugar induced coma

A great way to end the evening. Over five hours I'd had about 7, maybe 8 glasses of wine, and I was happy, but not stupid. I was up at seven this morning, answering the call of the jackhammer right outside my window.

Oh, and one final thing about Chris - he is generous to a fault. My kind of fault.

* Name made up to protect the guilty

A Bluenoser in Burgundy

2010-07-26T19:59:00.000-07:00

I just got back to Nova Scotia after what was truly a mind bending wine odyssey. Ten days in Burgundy, ancestral home of all Chardonnay and Pinot Noir. And not just hanging out at the tourist only tasting rooms - touring with a real winemaker, with real Burgundian chops, and best of all, friends!

Over the course of 10 days in Chablis, The Cotes de Nuits, Cotes de Beaune and Cotes Challonaise, delving into cellars full of millions of bottles of wines, and hundreds of thousands of oak casks I am now, as an old girlfriend would say "ruint". It will take some work to find wines I'd rather drink. If I can have a nice mineral driven Chardonnay from Chablis on a hot day, why open anything else? Yes, I am spoiled. This means, of course, that I will have to open some really good stuff from elsewhere to get some balance back in my wine-life.

After an entire morning of barrel sampling at Domaine Olivier LeFlaive, going down each village vineyard from top to bottom, sampling over 35 different wines from barrel, including Bienvenue-Batard-Montrachet and Batard-Montrachet, wines I simply cannot afford, or ever justify paying what they ask for, I was reeling from all the new knowledge. My palate was working overtime conveying newly catalogued taste memories to my brain. Marl, mineral, limestone, citrus, old oak, new oak, malolactic, incomplete malolactic, structure, perfume.... All from white wines. All from the Chardonnay Grape.

And we did this sort of thing for 10 days, including a lot of wines at Dom. Joseph Voillot where we were treated to perfect bottles of their 1974 Volnay Les Champans, 1969 Pommard Les Rugiens, and a 1961 Volnay Les Champans. Does anyone want to suggest that Pinot Noir, light and delicate as it seems, does not age? The 1969 Les Rugiens was life changing stuff. I now own a 1980. Only 11 more years...

Every day we tasted wine and ate like royalty. It was so hot, I did not gain any weight.

Plus two dinners at 1-Star Michelin Restaurants, and many excellent lunches and meals in our villa, over countless bottles of wine shared among friends.

We did several "guerilla wine expeditions" led by former wine writer, turned winemaker, turned winemaking consultant Thomas Bachelder who led the over tour. Just walking up to a winery after hours, ringing the bell and asking to taste the wines. In tiny villages, with rustic wines (and winemakers). He was fearlessly curious, and able to talk his way into any place. Like wine touring with Michael Moore.

So ask me about Chardonnay. Or Pinot Noir. I think I've got it. I know I just had a chance to learn it that is almost unmatched nowadays. Mark DeWolf and his ByTheGlass tours (based here in Halifax) did it up right.

Now, to get back to work, and start paying for it.

Oh, yeah....

From memory, Villages (and towns) south to north, starting with Mercurey... I think this is close, depending on what map you look at.

Mercurey, Rully. Santenay, Maranges, Saint Aubin, Chassagne Montrachet, Puligny Montrachet, Saint Romaine, Auxey-Duresses, Monthelie, Meursault, Volnay, Pommard, Beaune, Chorey-Les-Beaune, Savigny-Les Beaune, Pernand Vergelesse, Aloxe-Corton, Ladoix. Nuit-St. Georges, Vosne Romanee, Vougeot, Chambolle Musigny, Morey St. Denis, Gevry Chambertin, Fixin, Marsannay.

A day in the life... of a wine geek

2010-04-17T18:17:00.001-07:00

Just another Friday of wine…. All prices are estimates of what the bottle cost at purchase, not necessarily what it is worth now.

Lunch at Cut Urban Grille

1996 Henriot Vintage Champagne ($120) - Low carbonation, great tart acidity, trace of brett? A wonderful palate cleansing start to the day.

brown sugarcane & beet salad

with truffled honey goat cheese dressing

1997 Marques De Murrieta Capellania Reserva ($32) - old yellowed white wine from 100% Viura. Still good acidity, orange rind, quince, long finish. Could go much longer.

*****

broiled marrow au gratin

broiled marrow bone topped with black truffle cheese, brioche crisps, black mission

fig and apple-cinnamon jams

1991 Vega Sicilia Valbuena ($110) My first ever taste of a wine from this famous producer. Although the wine might go another 10 years, the cork was almost completely saturated. Great fig, aged red wine character perfectly matches the marrow/truffle cheese with fig jam. Good acidity, secondary fruit, long and deep drinking experience.

*****

Beef Short Ribs

char sui rubbed, slow braised in red wine & beet sauce, apricot puree

1987 Marques de Murrieta Castillo Yguay Gran Reserva Especial ($60) - a great delicate aged wine, some acetone at opening blows off to reveal Bordeaux-like secondary fruit character, amazing taste match with the apricot and beet character in the sauce on the tender rib meat.

*****

Artisanal cheeses

with walnut bread crisps

1964 Palacio de Arganza Senorio de Arganza ($110) - an ancient bottle of this famous, almost legendary wine from Bierzo, in the extreme northwest corner of Spain. Made from Mencia, once thought to possibly be Cab Franc. Secondary and teritiary fruit with leafy tannins still showing. Some slight oxidative volatility (VA) but not distracting. The oldest wine I have ever had.

Red wines were all from Joe Posiak’s cellar.

After dinner, a simple palate cleanser…

2008 Fourault Vaufuget Vouvray, a semi sweet Chenin Blanc, only OK, clean enough but not that exciting. Simple sweetness, some acidity, nothing bad, nothing special either. ($22)

At Hugh’s

Angoves 9 Vines Viognier ($15) Excellent example of Viognier that is not too hot, and tastes balanced and clean.

Vouvray - hand carried from Quebec A very good bottle of Chenin Blanc that I neglected to note the name of. Was clean, crisp and satisfying with an old cheddar made with single malt scotch in the sun on a lazy Friday afternoon.

Australian Sauvignon Blanc - Leeuwin Estate Art Series ($40). A very sour, long and lean over the top SB. Jalapeno, bell peppers, gooseberry/grapefruit. Seems simple and not really complex.

Bishops Cellar Burgundy Tasting

2007 Henri Prudhon Bourgogne Rouge ($25) OK, example of inexpensive red Burg. Thin and a bit mean, but some Pinot Character and an OK funky nose.

2002 Louis Remy Chambolle-Musigny 'Les Fremieres' ($64) Funky dirty nose (good) medium body, Real Burgundy. About average for the price.

2004 Louis Boillot & Fils Beaune 1er Cru 'Les Epenotes' ($42) Dark, spicey, piney clove nose. Full, alcoholic, rich and a bit hot. OK.

2006 Jean Chauvenet Nuits St. Georges 1er Cru 'Les Vaucrains' ($92) Big dark Pinot, in need of time, will be very good, not for current drinking.

2004 Maume Gevrey-Chambertin 1er Cru 'Lavaux St. Jacques' ($74) Best wine of the tasting. Totally involving nose, complex chicken coop, mushrooms, what I call a “duct tape wine”, one I just want to walk around with it stuck to my face. The taste is almost as good, with a layered fruit character, typical Burgundian Pinot Noir fruit esters, some minor VA, overall an excellent wine that I am going to buy.

2004 Drouhin-Laroze Chambertin Grand Cru 'Clos de Beze' ($105) Monster. Will be something amazing in 10 years. Spice, cloves, cinnamon, alcohol, dark cherries, impressive, but not for now.

2007 Henri Prudhon St Aubin 1er Cru 'Les Perrieres' ($42) First bottle was off (weird burnt taste), second one was an excellent example of good value white Burgundy.

2007 Antoine Jobard Mersault Genevrieres ($95) This watery, not nearly as good as the St. Aubin.

Jeff’s Place

2008 Meerlust Chenin Blanc ($15) Clean, crisp palate, slight woody note, chalky tannins, classic palare wake up, and the third Chenin Blanc of the day!

2000 Chateau Tabilk Marsanne ($24) INcredible waxy, yellowed wine with quince, pineapple, sour fruit, apple juice (in a good way). Handled a hot Biryani Curry. Craig guessed the wine exactly.

2004 Henry of Pelham Speck Family Reserve Chardonnay ($42) Could be Burgundy, classsic creamy oak aged Niagara Chardonnay. Craig pretty well nailed it.

2003 Marion Valpolicella Superiore ($50) A fantastic example of how good wine from the Veneto can be. Long intense dark cherry, earth, intense acidity balanced with good fruit. Dark core, some amber at edges.

2005 Le Clos Jordanne Village Vineyard Pinot Noir ($40), If this wine had been at Bishops, it would have been the second best. Simply great, true to style Pinot Noir. Complex, yet easy to drink. Aroma and taste perfect - makes one smile.

2010 a Beer/Wine/Work Odyssey

2010-01-05T05:49:00.000-08:00

What's that? It is 2010? Well, good thing that's over. A season of overindulgence behind me, I am looking forward to the new year, and whatever it may bring.

On the beer front, the BrewNosers Homebrewing and Beer Appreciation Club is now entering its 24th year of existence. I believe that in all that time, there may have been only one month in which no meeting was held, and that was due to a major storm. How many other associations and clubs can claim that sort of consistency? And all that with no officers, no dues, no formal structure, just a common interest and love of beer.

In wine, the number of locally trained Sommeliers keeps increasing, gradually insinuating a knowledge of wine, and a demand for better wine, into the local restaurant scene. And finally, the local restaurants seem to be realizing how good the corkage laws are here, and doing something about it. There are enough now offering fair corkage that I have resolved not to choose to eat in a place that does not offer this service, even if I am not bringing. I was asked to judge a couple of wine competitions this past year, including one the got my name in the media, something I normally have avoided (to allow my brother's professional career to proceed with less confusion, but he is famous enough now I don't need to hide). And I got in a great trip to Tuscany with Mark DeWolf's By The Glass touring company.

In business, I started a new engineering company, in the South Shore Village of Chester, right in the "downtown" close to the pub. This is going great guns, and allows me to have support for some of the work I get that I'd rather not do - a perk as one gets older and more experienced. I seem to be being called upon more and more for opinion type consulting, and I guess that, too, is a function of getting older.

Finally, in that vein, I was recently appointed to HRM By Design's Downtown Design Review Committee. But don't expect that to temper my opinions here. I still think that the Halifax Sewage Treatment Plant site selection, and subsequent "architecture" is one of the top ten government mistakes ever made in Nova Scotia. The whole thing, including the process, was a lemon from the start. In fact, creating that list of that Top Ten Government Blunders in NS may be a good blog post topic this year!

In the social media world, I have become very active on Twitter, and I find the immediacy of the information availability, and the spontaneity of the people who are active there, to be invigorating and somewhat addictive. (@brewnoser)

In the new year I'm off to Cayamo again, up to March in Montreal again, and, in July, taking a trip to Burgundy with Mark's group, which I expect will be totally incredible. Other than that, I'll be enjoying this place, this right-sized city.

So here's looking at another year of Drinking, Eating and Looking Around in Halifax.

November 2009 - Wine of the Month

2009-11-09T15:52:00.000-08:00

Tasted blind while judging a competition, the latest vintage of the Laroche Pinot Noir, from the south of France, but made by Burgundian winemakers, showed very well. Pinot Noir that tastes like Pinot Noir, from France, is hard to find. And a nice package too. At $16.99 a bit more expensive than it used to be, but isn't everything?

You can find a bit more about it here.

Canadian Brewing Awards - 2009 Winners

2009-11-09T15:42:00.001-08:00

In an earlier post, here, I promised to post the results of the competition I helped judge. And here they are! I note that there has been a bit of controversy about the IPA category not even being given a Bronze Medal, let alone the absence of some of the beer most Canadian beer geeks would tell you are the best brews in the country. Maybe more on that in the future, all I can say is: I did not judge the IPA Category. OK? A "J" after the category name means I judged a part of that category, not necessarily the part that decided the winners.

North American Style Lager - J
Gold: Alpine Lager, Moosehead Breweries (NB)
Silver: Original Draught, Sleeman Brewing (ON)
Bronze: Rocky Mountain Pilsner, Russell Brewing (BC)
Honourable Mention: Carling Lager, Molson Canada

North American Style Premium Lager
Gold: Premium Lager, Lakes of Muskoka Brewery (ON)
Silver: Premium, Great Western Brewing (SK)
Bronze Old Style Pilsner, Molson Canada

European Style Lager (Pilsner)
Gold: Stonehammer Pilsner, F & M Brewery (ON)
Silver: Pilsner, Mill Street Brewery (ON)
Bronze: Steam Whistle, Steam Whistle Brewing (ON)

North American Style Amber Lager
Gold: N/A
Silver: Buzz Beer, Cool Beer (ON)
Bronze: Red Leaf Smooth Red Lager, Great Lakes Brewery (ON)

Bock - Traditional German Style - J
Gold: Amsterdam Spring Bock, Amsterdam Brewing (ON)
Silver: N/A
Bronze: Hellesbock, Mill Street Brewery (ON)

North American Style Dark Lager
Gold: N/A
Silver: Fort Garry Rouge, Fort Garry Brewing (MB)
Bronze: Dark 266 Lager, Cameron's Brewing (ON)

Light (Calorie-Reduced)Lager
Gold: Sleeman Light, Sleeman Brewing (ON)
Silver: Premium Light, Great Western Brewing (SK)
Bronze: Alpine Light, Moosehead Breweries (NB)

Wheat Beer - Belgian Style White/Wit
Gold: Honey Thistle Wit, Bushwakker Brewing (SK)
Silver: Belgian Wit, Mill Street Brewery (ON)
Bronze: N/A

Wheat Beer - German Style Hefeweizen
Gold: Whistler Weiss Bier, Whistler Brewing (BC)
Silver: Hefeweizen, Tree Brewing Co. (BC)
Bronze: Hefe-Weissbier, Lakes of Muskoka (ON)

Wheat Beer - North American Style - J
Gold: Grasshopper Wheat Ale, Big Rock (AB)
Silver: Sungod Wheat Ale, R & B Brewing (BC)
Bronze: Dooryard Summer Ale, Northampton Brewing (NB)

Strong or Belgian Style Ale - J
Gold: La Fin Du Monde, Unibroue (QC)
Silver: Winter Warmer, Garrison Brewing (NS)
Bronze: Dominus Vobiscum Double, Microbrasserie Charlevoix (QC)

North American Style Amber/Red Ale - J
Gold: Yukon Red Amber, Yukon Brewery (NWT)
Silver: Auburn Ale, Cameron's Brewing Co. (ON)
Bronze: Devil's Pale Ale, Great Lakes Brewing (ON)
Honourable Mention: Big Wheel Deluxe Amber, Amsterdam Brewing (ON)

Cream Ale
Gold: Cream Ale, Cameron's Brewing (ON)
Silver: Cream Ale, Lakes of Muskoka (ON)
Bronze: KLB Cream Ale, Amsterdam Brewing (ON)

North American Style Blonde/Golden Ale
Gold: Gulf Island Brewing, Gulf Island Brewing (BC)
Silver: Honey Blonde Ale, Russell Brewing (BC)
Bronze: Picaroon's Blonde Ale, Northampton Brewing (NB)
Honourable Mention: Summer Ale, Granite Brewery (ON)

English Style Pale Ale (Bitter)
Gold: ESB, Mill Street Brewery (ON)
Silver: Black Oak Pale Ale, Black Oak Brewing (ON)
Bronze: Old Brewery Pale Ale, Nelson Brewing (BC)

North American Style Pale Ale (Bitter) - J
Gold: Old Yale Pale Ale, Old Yale Brewing (BC)
Silver: Chico Pale Ale, Bushwakker Brewing (BC)
Bronze: Tank House, Mill Street Brewery (ON)
Honourable Mention: Timberline Ale, Howe Sound Brewery (BC)

Barley Wine
Gold: 2008 Barley Wine, Mill Street Brewery (ON)
Silver: St. Ambroise Vintage Ale, McAuslan Brewing (QC)
Bronze: Swan's Legacy Ale, Swan's Buckerfield (BC)

India Pale Ale
Gold: Hop Head Double IPA, Tree Brewing (BC)
Silver: No. 9 IPA, Mike Duggan - Cool Beer (ON)
Bronze: N/A

Brown Ale - J
Gold: Nut Brown, Dead Frog Brewery (BC)
Silver: Rail Ale Nut Brown, Howe Sound Brewing (BC)
Bronze: True North Copper Altbier, Magnotta Brewery (ON)

Scotch Ale
Gold: N/A
Silver: Scotch Ale, Phillip's Brewery (BC)
Bronze: Iron Duke, Wellington Brewery (ON)

Stout
Gold: St. Ambroise Oatmeal Stout, McAuslan Brewing (QC)
Silver: Keepers Stout, Lighthouse Brewing (BC)
Bronze: Traditional Irish Stout, Hockley Valley Brewing (ON)
Honourable Mention: Midnight Sun Espresso Stout, Yukon Brewery (YT)

Strong Porter (Baltic)
Gold: Grand Baltic Porter, Garrison Brewing (NS)
Silver: N/A
Bronze: N/A

Imperial Stout
Gold: Russian Gun Imperial Stout, Grand River Brewing (ON)
Silver: Imperial Stout, Wellington Brewery (ON)
Bronze: N/A

Porter - J
Gold: Palliser Porter, Bushwakker Brewing (SK)
Silver: Black Toque, Phillip's Brewery (BC)
Bronze: Coffee Porter, Mill Street Brewery (ON)

Fruit & Vegetable - J
Gold: Chocolate Porter, Phillip's Brewing (BC)
Silver: Raspberry Weizen, Pump House Brewing (NB)
Bronze: Jalapeno Ale, Garrison Brewing (NS)

Special Honey/Maple Lager or Ale - J
Gold: Special Honey Maple Lager, Old Credit Brewing (ON)
Silver: Winter Ale, Great Lakes Brewing (ON)
Bronze: Honey Brown Traditional, Dead Frog Brewery (BC)

Brewery of the Year - Mill Street Brewery (3rd year in a row)
Beer of the Year - Yukon Red Amber Ale

The life and death of my favourite places

2009-11-09T15:14:00.000-08:00

Restaurants, pubs, bars, clubs, whatever you want to call them. Places where we go to eat, drink and be social. They can work their way into our lives, becoming a part of our daily routines, weekly rituals or annual pilgrimages. They become important places to us.

I have not really mourned a lot of the damage done by this recent "economic downturn" or "correction" but lately, it has been hitting a bit too close to home. Too close to the wood on which my elbow sits.

There are some new places that have replaced them, but really, if I had my choice, I'd have them all available to go to.

So here is to Seven Restaurant and Wine Bar, where I enjoyed so many evenings with friends, late evenings.... and some wonderful meals with groups of people who all seemed so much more beautiful than I, because they were. To Dio Mio Gelato, one of my ritualistic stops on weekend summer morning walks. To the Soho Kitchen, where I learned to love foods my Mom never knew of and to think about healthy food for perhaps the first time in my life. To O'Carroll's where I first saw old, young and in between happily celebrating in a pub in Canada, just like in a village in Devon. And to the original Midtown Tavern and Grill, where so many laughs, debates, questionable steaks, and beers were had.

Now I have the Hart and Thistle, filling the Harbourfront space I once frequented so often, and resurrecting the pico-brewery there, complete with its last brewer, and most of O'Carroll's staff. The Smiling Goat, ready for my quick shot of double espresso as I duck in on my way downtown. Aroma Latino, where the smell of fried corn draws me in like a cartoon character wafted in without touching the ground. And, of course, to the new Midtown, where that same smell of questionable steaks advertises lunchtime on Grafton Street, just a block away.

Maybe a new place will come along that draws me away from Tom's Little Havana for more than I spend there, but I think bigger forces will be required for that to happen. Unfortunately, they are out there, but I'll just hope they stay away for now.

Good old Nova Scotian Hypocrisy

2009-08-29T07:17:00.000-07:00

The recent glossy colour insert in the Herald from the Province, promoting their "Doers and Dreamers" Guide, has a photo of a cute kid on the front, bottom lef. She looks happy and is sitting in a pile of Nova Scotia pumpkins.

Well that cute kid, along with her sister and parents were deported last year. She is Maria Lua da Silva, the daughter of Paula and Azeitona da Silva, the Brasilian couple who were the core energy behind the capoeira dance centre and troupe in the North End.

It was the height of hypocrisy to deport these people, who were contributing immensely to the cultural wealth of our city and Province, while allowing some other very questionable people to stay. But to add to that by stealing the image of their child to promote our culture, which we denied them, borders on criminal.

I wonder how much the da Silvas are being paid for this use of their daughter's image, or, because they have been tossed out, it is being used without permission or fee? How totally Canadian would that be?

I am sure someone in the media could have some fun with this.

They also used her image on the front cover of their Festivals and Events Guide. Really really insulting, when you consider she was booted out of the country.

Just how many beers can you taste in one day?

2009-08-24T05:34:00.000-07:00

I recently was invited to judge the Canadian Brewing Awards, the ones sponsored by Taps Magazine that are held annually up in Toronto.

There were 18 of us, seated in panels of three who worked (yes, it is work) from 10:30in the morning til about 8 pm judging flights o f different style brews from all over Canada.

It was all done blind, so I have very little idea of what actual brand I was judging. One thing I can say, is that if I never have to taste another honey-brown ale again, I won't complain.

The experience was a fun one - I have judged many beer competition before, but they were mostly homebrewing competitions, including two final round sessions at the American Homebrewers Association annual competition. But only three commercial beer comps. In homebrewing, my most recent judging experiences have been best of show rounds, where I am judging beers that have already won a class. So I have been spoiled a bit - the homebrews are simply better at that stage. The judges were all BJCP Certified or better. BJCP Website

This competition was special, in that there were over 300 entries, and they came in 26 styles. I judged North American Premium Style Lager, European Style Lager, Bock, North American Style Wheat Beer, North American Style Red Ale, North American Style Pale Ale/Bitter, Strong or Belgian Style Ale, and Special Honey/Maple Lager or Ale, and the final round of the Fruit and Vegetable Beer categories. A lot of work, especially the 12 Honey Browns that all tasted pretty much the same. Many of the categories were large enough to be split up between two tables.

It was fun, in that I got to see several old friends who I used to judge with, and drink with, back in the old days. And after the judging was done, we got to tie into the remnants of the competitions to check out some beers with the labels on.

I know that the Phillips Brewing Company in BC will be on my list from now on, any of their beers would be nice to have. And it was funny to see the work that the Pumphouse went to - making labels and bottling many of their brewpub only offerings for the competition. A surprise entry was a growler of The Hart and Thistle's Simcoe SmaSh Double IPA. No idea how it did, though, as I did not judge IPA's.

I'll post the results here as soon as I know them. Here they are! One thing different this year is that the judge score sheets will be sent to the breweries as feedback. All I can hope now is that I didn't slag a beer made by a friend here too bad, or worse, slag a beer I normally like to drink. Maybe there is time to put chicken wire over my windows?

Oh, and the answer? 81. That is how many I did.

August 2009 - Wine of the Month

2009-08-23T09:58:00.000-07:00

Hans Christian Jost was sniffing a glass of wine handed to him by his winemaker David Beardsall, in the winery in Malagash. "I think this is pretty good on its own, Hans Christian..."

And so wine from a vineyard outside Middleton, far down the Annapolis Valley, became a new budget label from Jost called Valley Roads.

Priced at $9.99 it finally gets a good Nova Scotia grown wine to your table at a price anyone can afford.

The red, a Marechal Foch, is made softer, and very drinkable. It recently won a medal at the All Canadian Wine Awards.

But it is the white, made from L'Acadie Blanc, that I love, and which I recommend to you this month.

Valley Roads L'Acadie Blanc, White Wine, $9.99/750 ml bottle at regular stores, often on a display at the end of an aisle or near the cash.

Here is L'Acadie made without messing with it. And it comes out more reminiscent of Sauvignon Blanc than the Chardonnay-like thing winemakers have been trying to make it into. Could this be the future of the grape? I'll buy it.

The NSLC - The Devil we Know

2009-08-19T19:21:00.000-07:00

I know I may be confusing sometimes. It may seem as if I think the NSLC should be done away with, and replaced with a simple flat tax on alcohol. But that is not the case. There is an inherent value in the organization, and some unfulfilled opportunity that needs to accrue to the people of Nova Scotia, that, if created or exercised, would make the organization both a greater asset to the Province, and a real tool in economic generation.

So before some people think I'll be out lobbing grenades at the BLIP warehouse, here are some things I understand to be good about the NSLC (the comments options on Blogger are to correct or guide me, so don't be shy) and some things I think we need to do with it.

Reasons why we should keep the NSLC.

1. Buying power. We are not a large place in the world. Having an organization run at a Provincial scale allows some minor leverage in the world. We recently saw how puny we are when the people who make Lagavulin Single Malt Scotch decided to assign our normal allotment to China. We are but a pimple on the dragon's ass.

We already get a great service in how product is shipped from Europe now, with containers being filled with various product headed here. That is a value to people who drink foreign products.

We need to use the single representative position the NSLC gives us to partner up with other Liquor Boards, Private Stores, and large agencies, as often as possible on group orders, shipping containers, or other deals with large suppliers. Some Atlantic Canadian cooperation has occurred in the past (New Zealand wines all came over on a group shipment, I recall) but we could perhaps do more. Quebec and Ontario are less than 24 hours away, after all, and it is not out of the question to try to piggy back on their shipments too. And maybe we already do - if so - good on ya!

2. Ease of Access. Let's face it. Nova Scotians would drink about the same amount of alcohol if we only had one store in the entire Province. Do you think everyone was sober during prohibition? But the problem arises when you consider how most people get to a liquor store. How many kilometers do we want people to have to drive to get home after buying their "Captain and Coke" and Keith's? The NSLC puts stores, many fully stocked with lots of products that don't sell that well, in places no sane private sector retailer would put that size store. This reduces the annual drunk driver distance total enough to make it worthwhile. To go further, the NSLC has started opening "Agency Stores" in small communities, but ones that are a centre of a local economy (like Whycocomagh, Middle Musquodobit, or Iona). These stores don't offer much variety, but they do provide legal means of access to booze for the Keiths and Captain crowds. And they can order in special for you if you live there. This is a service to the people that is one a government can, and perhaps should provide, and that a private business would be unlikely to provide, for a fair price, anyway.

We need to allow more private stores to open, or at least allow the existing ones to open more outlets. This won't reduce the need for the NSLC to operate the agency stores, but it may allow them to shift their emphasis to places where the goal of reducing trip length is desired. The private stores will always go to the better retail locations, that is how business works, but allowing them to do so, and providing fair access to product will mean more outlets overall, and potential reduction in size or even number of some of the NSLC medium and full size stores. It is illogical to have the private stores limited to one outlet when the NSLC is running around spending money on new retail space and fit-up that private industry would do instead, if it only were allowed to.

3. Good Union Jobs. This needs to be said right off the bat - I am not a big union person. If this were 1932 I would be, but it ain't. The NSLC provides a lot of pretty good paying jobs with descriptions of work that might not be as highly paid if the same work were done at Sobey's. Paying employees well with money that would otherwise go into government coffers is not all that bad - we get it back in taxes and economic energy. Of course the problem is that as with any organization that starts to think it has some power, the union will try to control things, and that is not their job. And then there will be another strike, and we'll have no one to buy booze from, except the private stores who have their own warehousing. And NB Liquor, of course.

Well, the union is about to grow in numbers, as they apparently just let all the casuals in... (I wonder why? Number of voters in the union maybe?). Some NSLC staff take the time to improve themselves, and they are worth it, but someone sitting behind a cash register all day really should be paid the same as they pay at the Superstore. That said, the NSLC needs to train their staff in the specialty business they are in. Then, with the training, the extra wage is justified, and, as with any other industry, the service and profitability should improve with worker knowledge.

This shows already in the private sector, where more trained and knowledgeable staff exist in the four licensed private stores than in all the NSLC and Liquor Licensing Board combined.

My point is this: Raise the bar for the jobs. Then the wages make sense, and the jobs become specialized where qualified people have a better chance at being hired, and the service and product information is better.

4. Buy Local. The strongest form of economic growth is import substitution (Jane Jacobs, Cities and the Wealth of Nations, 1985). Many Nova Scotia stores sell Nova Scotia Products. There are a lot of NS products that are sold in the NSLC, and many would not be there if the system was based on sales only. For every bottle of wine consumed in Nova Scotia that was made or even bottled here, we enrich our economy more than any other way we can via the NSLC.

On a buy local and on principle theme, this could be the best reason to keep the NSLC. If they were willing to commit to the plan. Any micro-brew fan will tell you that the NSLC sticks the local, fresh beer products from Propeller and Garrison (the award winning breweries we have and should be proud of) on the bottom shelves, and never in the fridge. This when they are almost the only brewery products whose quality actually benefits from refrigeration. Because of the Farm Winery regulations, the wineries are happier to sell wine at their winery outlets, because they almost lose money selling through the NSLC and their markups. We have to start thinking of the NSLC as more of an economic arm of government - one that has a role in promoting NS product, not just tolerating it.

5. The NSLC has staff who could potentially advise people on purchases. This means people can learn about the liquor they drink, and drink wiser, drink local, and enjoy their food more. As a Province wide organization, the NSLC could be a leader in the education of the public and the food and beverage industry.

The reality is that there are only a very few people in the organization who know more than the average Joe about the product they sell. And they are mostly clustered in Head Office and the single Port of Wines outlet in Halifax (I said mostly). The NSLC do have a wine course (called "The Gallo Course" because it is part of a marketing ploy from a huge California conglomerate) for staff, but don't recognize the local section of the world wide Association de la Sommelerie Internationale and their local graduates' training and certification. Local people who worked very hard to learn a lot about wine, beer and liquor, who work within the NSLC and know a lot about wine, are not recognized within the organization. Few if any people who have finished the very difficult Sommelier training have yet to be hired by the NSLC in any technical capacity (one former employee, one current employee, and two in process, I think). This is simply lost opportunity.

Instead of seeing the Professional Sommelier association (around 100 full Sommeliers in Atlantic Canada) as a resource to draw from, and to use for staff training, or to attract to the organization for their expertise and interest, the apparently insular and insecure management at the NSLC tends to shun these people, many of whom were or still are their best customers (not a wise move - see Bishops Cellar sales). There needs to be a better dialogue between the NSLC and the Canadian Association of Professional Sommeliers (aka CAPS - the local ASI sanctioned group) such that both groups benefit. There are certainly a few people in the NSLC with the knowledge and expertise to step right into the CAPS organization as active members. Their participation in the profession outside the NSLC, would only make things better for all parties. Recent months have apparently seen a bit of a realization on the part of the NSLC that there are many CAPS graduates in positions of influence in the wine and food and beverage industries in Nova Scotia. So much so, that for the NSLC to continue as a viable purveyor to the food and beverage industry, cooperation needs to improve. I am told that this renaissance (or is it thawing?) is being led by Peter Rockwell, perhaps the best known wine-knowledgeable person in the Corporation. If this is true, it can only bode well for the future of the food and beverage industry in Nova Scotia.

6. Finally, we don't want a privatized NSLC. There is a recent privatization model in Nova Scotia that the NSLC looks very much to be following. And if I were a mucky muck with the NSLC, I might want to follow it too. I knew Chris Huskilson when he was the electrical engineer who had just taken over as Manager of the Western Zone of NSPC (note the "C") at the end. Now Chris makes over a million dollars a year as CEO of NSPI - the now privatized arm of the Province that purveys a commodity to the people on Nova Scotia as a monopoly, or near monopoly.

Just like NSPI, the NSLC used to be a Commission of Government, adherent to all the rules and hiring practices and accountability that pertain to the Civil Service. The NS Power Commission reformed to a Crown Corporation, suddenly immune from such trivial government interference such as oversight of hiring practices, wage scales and so on, with a politically appointed Board. And the NSLC is now a Corporation, not a Commission. Do you see the pattern? If I were in a position of senior management at NSLC I certainly would. That $1,000,000 plus salary would clear my lenses, for sure.

NS Power then, slowly, went through internal changes, with the effects of some outside potential competition, and got to the point where they argued for a sell off to the Private Sector, with a gradual morphing into a stand alone company. One you buy shares in on the TSE. But it is fair to say that their attention to customers has come under scrutiny.

Do we want that to happen to our liquor business, with all the potential benefits that a government run organization could achieve, including those discussed above? How much motivation would one huge conglomerate have to sell NS products on a preferential basis? Would it have any need to provide basic service to remote areas for the same price for a 40 ouncer of the Captain? And how long would those Union jobs last? Would they inherit the control over supply that they now have, and yield it in a manner such that they bankrupt the private stores? The current version of the NSLC has not been able to do this, and some say they have tried, but a privately run business (say it was purchased by Sobey's, or the Irving Blue Canoe stores, or Loblaws) would be much more efficient at eliminating competition.

We know that big corporations focus on volume and not variety. Just look at the range of music in a Walmart compared to the CD's and vinyl at Taz Records. Taz slays Walmart in choice. A big corporation has no incentive to provide specialty products, and can only really do well at schlepping the "Captain Morgan and Keiths" to an unsuspecting public. With as few people working as possible. Variety is lost, sameness triumphs.

And for me, as for many, variety is the spice of life.

So, what am I saying here? I think we need to reassess the NSLC as an arm of government that is mandated to not just turn cash over at year's end. But as more of a marketing board arrangement, buying and distributing liquor products to retail outlets throughout Nova Scotia, but moving out of the pure retail game, and leaving that part, over time, to the private sector. But not all at once. Service to Nova Scotians has to include access, variety, and price competitiveness on the retail side. On the buying side, we need to leverage our position to support the local industries making liquor regulated products, from rum distilleries, to the high end wineries, to nano-breweries and brewpubs, to branches of large mega brewers. At the same time, we can take advantage of the mandate the NSLC enjoys to leverage buying power of imports as much as possible, and to do so in a cooperative manner with other similar buyers.

This should include efforts to have those containers go back to Europe with some NS product in them. Hey, maybe seal skins and meat!

Mediocrity and its Discontent

2009-08-02T06:14:00.000-07:00

It was interesting watching how well Sidney Crosby was feted recently in his hometown and home Province. Somehow, the losers have not caught him in their claws and started to drag him down. Not yet, anyway. I wonder when it will happen to the extent that we notice it. It was fun to see Don Cherry blow his mouth off about Sid the Kid a few years ago, and promptly watch all his Atlantic Canada Grapevine restaurants go tubing. That really put him on the warpath, resulting in a measurable increase in the use of MUTE buttons during intermission on HNIC in Atlantic Canada.

But you see, Don Cherry has a few things right. He venerates the success of "our own boys". We here in Nova Scotia seem to do the opposite. When someone actually succeeds, we drag them back down to our level. And we do it on both personal and institutional levels.

We simply have too many government and regulatory agencies where the main required skill set, the most important use of imagination, is to come up with ways to stifle the innovation and industry of others. And to make sure that no one else has any fun, because those who have inherited the responsibility of regulating things that really don't need to be regulated any more, don't know how, or are afraid to have fun. Or their god tells them we should all be unhappy. It is as if there is an assumption that they are as worthy of success as anyone else, despite the differing effort, and therefore no one else has the right to do better than them, and must be brought down to their level.

How else can we explain the total bullshit that Damien Byrne is going through with the Split Crow? How else can we explain the Kafkaesque world that homebrew retailers are being pushed into, where not just alcohol, but everything that yeast can digest is now under the jurisdiction of the NSLC and Liquor Licensing Board? Why is that law still there?

How can we explain the continued existence of the NSLC retail monopoly - an organization that would be out of business so fast all you would hear would be the loud sucking sound of the vacuum created by the absence of the multitude of bureaucratic layers being flushed, if real market competition to it existed. Or, should I say, were allowed to exist. In the short time available, tiny Bishops Cellar has put a noticeable dent in the NSLC's urban restaurant business. This from only one outlet. It would be interesting if they were allowed to be a real business and expand to serve their market in a free world.

Other examples of government inefficiency exist, of course (NS Environment in particular), and it may seem that I am picking on the NSLC, but, well, the name of this blog implies discussion of matters of drink.

I do find it hilarious how the NSLC applies, or self nominates, for retail awards. They are just like African dictators winning elections with 100% majorities. They don't get it. How can you be a successful retailer, and win awards, when you have no real competition, because you, or your owner, controls things such that you have no real competition? I'd win the Olympic sprint medal if no one else ran. Well, maybe. I think you do have to finish.

The point is, there are people in this, and other government, or pseudo-government organizations who view their job descriptions as saying no to new ideas and new products, and who are married to the status quo. They are the "not fail" crowd. If you don't try, you can't fail. There are people who use their position of "authority" to exercise personal opinion and vendetta (or even power!!) instead of allowing others to simply do business. This, when the reality is that to best serve the public interest, which is what they are supposed to be there for, often the very opposite behaviour is required. There ARE things in the NSLC that work, and reasons why I think we need them (more in a later blog) but the NSLC, the UARB, the CRTC, the HDBC and many other "control the people" boards or organizations are simply no longer needed in their current form.

The question we have to ask ourselves is whether we want the status quo, the do nothing scenario, to triumph. Because if they do, we are left, by definition, on the sidelines, catcalling and holding back our own economy, denigrating our winners, and slowing morphing into nothing more than spectators, continuing this practice of social entropy by dragging everything down to one level.

This may well be the "Nova Scotia way". A content mediocrity, going nowhere, and not fast. Sidney, best stay in Pittsburgh.

Revenge of the Turds

2009-08-01T18:50:00.000-07:00

I don't know what I can say, but "I told you so". The Harbour Gets Loaded

Big is stupid.

Design-build projects for the public sector cede the value of the designers' knowledge and work from the owner to the contractor, and mean that we get the bare minimum we ask for, and often not what we wanted or we needed.

No one puts their delicate, water-sensitive electrical parts below a hydraulic grade line when they have to live with what is built. Someone cheaped out on something. And someone probably made a very bad decision over whether or not to have a last ditch gravity overflow, maybe even one running down the street, rather than flood the place out and take it down for a year. Who those someones are is not yet known to we ignorant people who are paying for this.

In any event, we can take solace in one thing. The treatment plant really does not do much anyway. When it rains, and it does that every now and then here, even after the plant is "working" most of the poop will still go to the harbour. It will just be a bit cooler and more dilute. But the lobsters will figure that out - they are filter feeders in a fashion.

Bon appetit, y'all.

PS. I hate lobster

Gastropubs, and other abused words...

2009-08-01T18:35:00.000-07:00

This will be short. Attention Halifax! The term "Gastropub" came from the development of excellent food menus at pubs that already had high standards for beer and wine and in some cases other drinks in the UK. It was started at The Eagle pub in Clerkenwell, London. Probably the most famous is the White Horse on Parson's Green in London.

I have been there four times. Minstrels, Hart and Thistle, Port Pub - you are not there yet. Port Pub (in Port Williams in the Valley where I ate just today) is perhaps closest, but oh, you need a better serving arrangement (one person covering the deck on a gorgeous day?) and more rotation on the menu. Minstrels needs better beer and wine lists in addition to a more consistent menu, and the Hart and Thistle, while having one of the best beer lists in the Maritimes, and an interesting, if small, wine selection, needs a lot of work in the kitchen. The whole idea is to provide food that is a step up, not just saying you do, thereby abusing the term gastropub.

In fact, gastropub is something others should call you, not a claim you make yourself. It is like someone running around proclaiming "I am beautiful".

Beer Buzz about Town

2009-08-01T17:42:00.000-07:00

Just when you thought it was getting a bit boring, beer has been making news all over. From Bud Light Lime to Nash's SmaSh, beer in Halifax just got a bit more interesting this past month.

I know that I am going straight to hell now that I have admitted to buying, with real money that I earned with my own tiny brain, some Bud Light Lime -or is that Bud Lite Lime?. Is "lite" now the American spelling for "light"? Probably. But I digress.

The limey thing tastes like an insipid beer made palatable for use on a hot day by the addition of some acidity and fruitiness. I am not a beer snob (I prefer geek) and I can handle this drink (is it beer?, well, I guess it qualifies) on a hot day. With my capacity and its alcohol content, it is little more than pop anyway.

But on to more serious beer things. With the upcoming Seaport Beer Festival down at the Port of Halifax (and in Garrison's side yard) some recent moves by personnel and introduction of brands have made things interesting.

The Hart and Thistle pub, recently opened on the waterfront where the Harbourside Food Court used to be, the one with John Shippey's Brewing Company (RIP) in it. I was in attendance at the launch of their first two beers made in the old Shippey's brewhouse. They were made by Greg "Quick Mash" Nash, the former brewer at Shippeys, and, as far as most people knew, the current brewer at the Pumphouse Brewery in Moncton, one of the suppliers to the Hart and Thistle.

Nash has had a hard time staying in one place these past few years. I am not sure exactly why - I can say for sure that his presence at every place he has worked has resulted in a measurable and near immediate improvement in the beers. But Nash is an iconoclast - he does things his way, and most of us like the results. But we are not the person who pays him, or pays for his ingredients. And we are not party to all that happens between an owner and a brewer. We are what we are - Maritime Drinkers. Of course, we cannot comment on the beer knowledge or business acuity of the people he has worked for either.

All I can say is that if I had the money to start a brewpub, Nash would be my brewer, and I'd have him working for points on the profit from the beer. He makes great extreme beers, but in my opinion, the best beer improvement he made in his time at Garrison was with the previously anemic Tall Ships Amber. It is real beer now. So while you all may focus on his extreme brews, I call attention to his stable brews. His versions of Garrison Red and Brown were the best they ever made, and his Stout was great. The current brewer is very good, more analytical in some ways than Nash, but the ales seem to have lost the correct minerality and salt that British beers have - perhaps he stopped adjusting the water the way Nash did?

Anyway, it will be interesting to see what happens at the beer festival. No Nash (unless somehow the H&T gets in late) No Lorne Romano (a juvenile fallout between him and Garrison owner Brian Titus last year nixed that). Without Greg and Lorne, two of the best brewers, and their great beers will be missed. Almost as much as the fun they would have brought to the event.

Propeller will be there, though. After three years, have Propeller and Garrison finally buried the hatchet enough to play well with others? Time will tell. Maybe we'll witness a beer squirting battle on Saturday?

Back to the Hart and Thistle. Co-owner Bruce Keith put on a low key, but still classy introduction of the new brewer, new brewpub operations, and two new beers. The beers were both thrown together in a manner that we homebrewers sometimes do, and not what one would call "planned". But because Nash knows what he is doing, and the fact that Bruce had no problem being a hop-monkey for a while, they ended up with a couple of very interesting, very good, and, yes, extreme brews to sell.

Talking with Bruce, I believe the place will fly. The former operation always seemed to have problems with crusty landlord, Ben MacRae. But Bruce and Heather also own and run O'Carroll's and have the same landlord. They have some mutual respect - Bruce speaks highly of Mr. MacRae - and there is something worked out here, and we beer lovers will benefit from that.

In other beer news, Kevin Keefe and sons Brian and Joe have the brewery running again on Stairs Street, just barely south of Massachusetts Avenue in the North End (you Google Map it, I am too lazy). They are selling growlers of counter pressure filled versions of all their old favourites. For you non geeks, counter pressure filling means they will last longer before opening. The ones I have tried (Barley Wine, Ringwood, IPA, Best Bitter) have all been yummy. My brother recently waxed eloquent over how good the Best Bitter Special was from growler. So I think we now have a good reason to go north.

A recent trip to Rogues Roost found the beers, as usual, in excellent shape. The IPA was outstanding, with an almost perfect balance between fruit, malt, hops and alcohol. Lorne may be somewhat hyper (now there is an understatement) but he makes great beer, consistently.

The Rock Bottom, a FOP (ferment on premise) is making some drinkable beers, but is sadly uninteresting. They need to get some more stuff into one or two of their beers for me to bother dropping in more. And their wine list, still an "all Bishops, all the time" list illustrates a lack of knowledge and effort in providing interesting and varied wine to clients.

Propeller is still selling the weizen, a great hot day brew. I am not sure if there is any Pilsener left, but it is on tap in a few places around town, and much better now after some time to age. I last had it at Minstrels, where the Thirsty Duck used to be. Another blog post is coming on the term "gastropub", so I won't abuse it here too. Their growler sales, averaging about 100 per day, amaze me. A total sea change in how beer is sold in town, and it has slipped by the media, the NSLC, and the Keith's and Molson's sales reps - the ones who REALLY control the beer industry in town.

The Friday Firkin at Maxwell's Plum continues to attract beer geeks, and entertain random tourist drop-ins. Except last week, when no cask appeared. We made do with the recent release of Blanche de Chambly on draft there. A perfect hot day beer, its lemony crisp and complex flavours were really exciting and thirst quenching to boot. Yum. The Stigl draft on tap there is a funny story. It arrived by accident. Now the NSLC are trying to flog it as something special. If you have been to the brewery in Salzburg, you probably ended up missing one of the best beer halls in the world, almost across the street at Augustinerbrau, where monks still make real beer - a Maerzen that is like mother's milk. Stigl is another good euro-lager. Period.

The Henry House had Granite Brewery beers in fine shape the other night. But I have to admit, it all soured when a friend of the birthday girl we were all there to celebrate with brought in a small homemade cake for people to share, and sing "Happy Birthday" over. The sever bolted from behind the bar to demand $10 for bringing in a cake. Huh? What about the 18 people the birthday group brought into the bar? I now have to ask myself - why go there? I can get the beers from the brewery anyway, and that place is the farthest walk from my house of all the places in town. And anyone who comes up with a policy like that is an ASS and does not deserve my business. Nine of those people had never been to the place before, were liking it a lot, and now will NEVER go back. Nice business development strategy.

There are some good recent additions to the imported beer list, but they do not come close to replacing what has been delisted in the past two years. Please, someday maybe the NSLC will have someone who knows something about beer in charge of the category? They have gotten a bit better since the early 90's, but still are that strangest of entities, a monopoly over products about which they know nothing.

Drinking in expensive places.... The MD tours Tuscany

2009-07-14T19:31:00.000-07:00

A planned work trip to China got put on hold, and there suddenly appeared two blank weeks on my calendar. What to do? I know, instead of earning good money for two weeks, let's spend good money for a bit less time than that!

A well timed email to Mark DeWolfe of Bytheglass fame found me being offered a pretty good deal to tour Tuscany with him, his sidekick Geppetto, and several other friends for a bit more than a week in Italy's most famous wine region.

I am not into travelogues. But here are some truisms I came to understand.

1. Gelato is simply better there.
2. Pizza Margherita is simply better there.
3. Italian redheads are goddesses.
4. Sangiovese is a pretty rockin' grape.
5. There is a LOT of money in wine.
6. Don't use garlic more than a very little bit in your food.
7. When you cook, do it with PASSION!!
8. Italian white wines are so under-appreciated.
9. Stay in a Villa in a vineyard at least once in your life.
10. When on a wine tour, have a driver.

I spent a lot of money, and came back with almost nothing but the knowledge that I could go back again. Quite the week.

An Apology.... again... and with a Wine of the Month

2009-07-14T19:19:00.001-07:00

Yes, I am sorry I stopped blogging. I don't know what it was. Maybe a lack of energy, or a problem with the space/time continuum, but here I am, back again.

So, here is my latest wine of the month....

Peelee Island Reserve Pinot Noir, 2007.

Can't believe it is that good, but it is.

Cruisin' 09

2009-03-02T07:42:00.000-08:00

This is a “living blog” an account of our Caribbean music cruise, Cayamo. You can check out what I said last year, which will probably provide a clue as to why I came back. That is on this Blog somewhere back in the Spring of 2008.

Day One

For some reason, I’ve had a long string of bad luck on flight connections, departures and overall reliability of the air travel industry. The sole exception being my travel agent, DD.

The trip from Halifax to Washington, to Miami was totally uneventful, other than there being a fair amount of wind at both landings. Made the jet feel like a Piper Cub on the way in.

After some cell phone confusion, we were met by the parents of a buddy of mine at Miami International, and whisked away back to our hotel to clean up, and relax.

Later we were picked up by Ron, and taken out to dinner at Versailles, a Cuban restaurant where a lot of Cubans eat. L had Oxtail, I had chicken, and we had some croquettes as appetizers that were not unlike those enjoyed in Holland beside the windmill not all that long ago.

After that, we were taken on an evening of cruising Miami, including South Meach in Miami Beach, up the A1A. Quite the nightlife - a lot like Liverpool on a Friday night, what with all the hot rods and everyone drinking.

We were safely deposited back at our hotel, and slept like the tired little puppies we were.

Day Two

George and Margaret were up and ready to eat early, and we followed in their wake out to the Bayside Market for a breakfast buffet along the harbourfront there. A bit of a shopping/ambling around downtown Miami, with lunch and beers (a Dogfish Head 90 Minute for $5 !!), a date with a snake for Margaret, and we were off to our date with the Norwegian Dawn. Embarkation was amazingly fast - the best you could imagine it ever being. And then the tunes began. Beth Wood in the Atrium, and on into the night.

Our first show of note was our “Twice as Nice” show - the one we picked as the main artist on board we wanted to see twice. Lyle Lovett! His show was great, and his band amazing. The same group as last year.

We are still working out the best dining strategies, but there is no doubt that the food here is as good as any ship. The buffets seem to offer facsimiles of what we are used to. The burgers don’t taste quite the same, the pizza is a bit homemade, and the sauces all semi industrial, with low spice factor. That is, unless they have some food that is native to the cooks - Indonesian, Philippino, Bangladeshi..... Then you can eat very well.

Beer selection on the Norwegian Dawn is good, but lacking in the hops department. I have been living off of Sam Adams Lager. The wine list is excellent, with a few oddly low prices on top end wines ($110 for a bottle of Cos?!?).

Day Three - Getting into the swing

The third day is a Sunday. Up early (for me on a Sunday) and to breakfast at the buffet - thanks to a time change we missed the sit down breakfast opening hours. I had forgotten we were actually heading east, and are now in the same time zone as home.

We did our picture session with Lyle Lovett (yeah, I know, a bit too fan-like for me, but I want it for my Facebook profile - HAH!). Spent most of the afternoon on the pool deck, caught Web Wilder (rockin’ and rollin’), Over the Rhine, and The Indigo Girls with Brandi Carlile. A pretty good afternoon of tunes in the sun, with the occasional bikini ambling by.

Our evening show in the big theatre (it seats over 1000) on board was Indigo Girls. This turned into a huge fest on stage, with Shawn Mullins, Brandi Carlile and her band, Mindy Smith, and one other person whose name I could not make out who co-wrote a song with one of the gurlz all making appearances. This was a great show, made great by the total fun people were having on stage. It spread into the crowd.

Following that it was a formal dinner in the Italian restaurant on board, with a bottle of Barbera and some pretty good pasta and veal scallopine.

Then an evening in the listening lounge, with one hour sets from Darrel Scott (amazing), Joe Ely (great, cool, historic in many ways), and Mindy Smith (um, was she drinking?). Yes, I slept well after all that. In bed by 1:30.

Death of an Institution

2009-02-23T20:01:00.000-08:00

No, I am not eulogizing the Midtown. Not yet anyway. Heck, I just ate supper at the Midtown tonight with a buddy from my old university days. It has changed a bit, though - they now have chicken wings!

I am talking about the bastion of real beer on the East Coast of Canada, Ginger's Tavern, home of the Granite Brewery.

I could go on and on about the place, starting from 1983 when I used to go there and play pool with longshoremen waiting for a call from the Union Hall down the street to go load stuff. Back then Kenny, Dan and a couple other characters poured pints of the only real beer in Eastern Canada. When Kevin Keefe was a firey angry Irish brewer who nearly had to burn down government buildings to get a license to make beer.

And the music they had there back then, in the mid to late 80's. Bands from Preston and Musquodobit jamming together on stage, everyone groovin' to the music. The only place I knew in Halifax where the local black community was truly welcome. Kevin didn't care - long as you paid your bill and didn't give the musicians too hard a time.

The the sad move from the old place to the Henry House - a fine dining type place that we all feared would cover the edges of Gingers with too much polish, making the beer thing trendy and suave. But the place survived, in the downstairs part anyway. It became more family, more upscale, and the food showed the rest of town what pub food could be.

And always, there was the Best Bitter. My pint, a beer that when fresh, a beer I could not have just one of. And that was the thing - the beer was real. It was real ale, brewed like Kevin learned to make it in England. Made with British equipment. It tasted like the beer we all had on our "find yourself" jaunts to Europe, when we wandered into a country pub in the South of England and asked for a beer.

Then there was the next move, up to a building Kevin owned on Barrington, where he could have the brewpub become a brewery, and keg the beer in casks for sale back to the new owners of the Henry House, and the Lions Head and the Spitfire Arms...

The new place on Barrington took so long to open. When it did I suggested to Kevin that he should change the name to "The Opening Soon" as that sign had stood for over a year in the window. But the Best Bitter was there, and therefore so was I.

The new smoking rules came in, and Kevin spent a lot of money re-workiing the space to meet the percentage area for a smoking bar downstairs and the non-smoking upstairs. He was told he had three years to operate that way.

The music venue upstairs was great, with wonderful acoustics when it was full. I saw a lot of good stuff there. The best was Tom Russell and Andrew Hardin, playing to a packed house, and drinking too much while trying to pick up the girls in "The Johnson Sisters".

Then the smoking ban came, two years early, brought in by liars and thieves. All the work on air handling, renovations and fit up to meet the former rules, work that was amortized over the promised three years was lost. Instead of allowing people a place to smoke in peace, we drove them out on the street, and out of the clubs where they provided the major part of the income. Gingers' downstairs was the best smoking bar in town, next to Tom's. (I don't smoke) Then it was all gone. And unlike Tom's, it never recovered that business.

Joe the bartender ruled the place, and it became a St. John's pub when he was on duty. A boozer, a place to sit at the bar and shoot the breeze. And drink Best Bitter, and, for some, Peculiar. A new crowd of young people found it, and made it their own.

Now the bar is closed. The music silent, and the brewery moving to an industrial site on the north end.

Maybe Mill Island, Kevin's planned brewery, hotel, retail, and condo development in Windsor will happen, eventually. It is the current version of the "opening soon", now, I guess.

Until then, all I can hope is that the Henry House learns to clean their lines. Real beer needs care, and they don't make it there.

There were several days when I had lunch at the Granite in Toronto and made it back to Halifax in time to compare the Best Bitter and Dry Hop at both places within hours. And the time I happened upon a Keefe family reunion in the Toronto Granite, and was invited in to sit down and drink with the brothers. And the time my little niece, coached carefully by the "Mel-star" took a wild throw at her first ever dartboard, and hit the red bulls-eye from 10 feet. And the time... Well, like I said, I could go on for a while.

I have had 25 years worth of dropping in for a pint of Best. I sure hope I can do that for another 25.

Bottoms up!

Brooklyn Warehouse - on the Plateau

2009-02-23T19:35:00.000-08:00

A raging snowstorm could not keep me from meeting up with my buddy J-rod last week for lunch at the Brooklyn Warehouse. I have been talking about going there for some time, but every plan always fell through.

Not this time. The space I liked before, when it was the ill fated Vivo, remains, somewhat altered but improved by the winter wind vestibule. I was pleased to see a variety of different beers on tap, including one prepared custom for them by Propeller from their Porter and Honey Wheat, blended to make "Brooklyn Dark". I ordered one and sat down to wait for my lunch companion, as I was early in my eagerness.

The wine list is short, but well balanced and not replete with the "NSLC employee fave of the decade" wines often seen out of the downtown. I was getting a good vibe, seeing my idea of referring to the flat part of Halifax where I live as "The Plateau" starting to make sense again. As in Montreal, where all my favourite places to eat are up on "the plateau".

J-rod arrived and ordered some healthy tea thing, I had my Brooklyn Dark going. I ordered some of the ham chowder, and a Brooklyn Burger (might as well test the place with a standard unit of measurement). J-rod orders the vegan soup, and a Quinoa/Roasted Beet/Diced Pear/Pumpkin Seed Salad with Umeboshi Plum Vinagrette.

Yep, we're compatible. Me and my burger and J-rod with the umeboshi stuff.

It was all good. The sever was attentive, non-intrusive, and the bill was easy.

I am coming back. Finally, a foil to jane's on the common up on the Plateau.

Halifax's neighbourhood to eat, dontcha know?

More More Morris East

2009-02-23T19:28:00.000-08:00

A quick drop in to Morris East with my sis in law and a semi-famous local winemaker, after the Icewine Festival launch at Bear ended up in yet another evening of great food at my favourite pizza place.

The last time I was there, we managed to get some of that wonderful rabbit/apricot terrine Chef Joel makes. And I had more this time, as well as the Bresaola.

We ate well, although there was one of the pizzas that seemed more like a dessert version than a real meal. Something with pears on it...

The most entertaining part of the evening was watching to see whether the semi-famous winemaker would end up getting the semi-famous (and cute) restaurant owner out to help him in his winery some weekend... (OMG does that make me a gossip?)

The Bish Certificate of World Cuisine

2009-02-04T16:57:00.000-08:00

A long time ago, at the wedding of two friends of mine, I managed to drink an entire bottle of Veuve Cliquot Grand Dame, totally by accident. This was a vintage version of the wine too. Worth over $200 at the store.

Anyway, 7 years later, to the day, I was crafty enough to arrange to have that couple arrive at their anniversary dinner, at Bish, to find a chilled bottle of the same bubbly waiting for them. At last, I had made good on my original accidental gluttony!

But then about 4 months later, an envelope was found in my porch, and inside was a $200 gift certificate to that same Bishy place.

The thing went unused for almost 2 years, but last Saturday, we finally got out and spent the sucker.

Bish has a reputation about town of being pretty expensive, and it lived up to that. I also learned that it is actually called "Bish World Cuisine"! Our server was great, and managed to match our celebratory tone with a very non-intrusive manner, while still being still friendly and open.

We had invited along R&R, because they had taken us out one evening last winter, and we owed them. After a pre-dinner bit of Cremant de Limoux bubbly from Premier Wine and Spirits (very very nice - if you don't want to pop for champagne, this may be the best fallback position in town), we headed downtown. Right down to the water's edge.

Snagging the corner table, and a bottle of Kim Crawford Pinot Gris, we set out to select our meal as the snow started to really collect outside.

I ordered the smoked salmon carpaccio, the red ravioli with fromage blanc, and the veal chop, with truffled wild mushroom sauce, butter roasted potato and asparagus. A meal was on the way.

Other things that came to the table included mussels Normandie et frites; Roasted leek and ginger soup; Ginger marinated scallops on pea shoot salad with peanut vinaigrette; Sea bass, bitter orange, wilted greens and almond raisin couscous; Sesame seared tuna served RARE, "risi e bisi" and pea shoots; Baked halibut with pancetta and marsala, sautéed spinach and butter roasted potatoes..... you get the picture. We pigged out.

A bottle of Babich Pinot Noir arrived somewhere in there too. A night for New Zealand wine, I guess. Though I have to admit I was somewhat surprised at how small the wine list was, and how few choices there were from wines made to go with food. There seems to be a lot of Australian wine, which I tend to regard mostly as a drink on its own, as most lacks any acidity worthy of accompanying $35 entrees.

My meal was excellent, with the exception of the ravioli. I don't know, perhaps that is the original way that the dish is supposed to be, but the filling tasted just like one of those herbed cream cheese appetizers you thaw out for guests you don't like. It tasted very "canned". The salmon was great, served with creme fraiche, the way I like it, and some green sauce dribbled in a pattern to match the creme. My veal chop was done just right, and was tasty. The potatos were perfect, and the truffled jus aromatic and deep dark full of shroomy goodness.

So then we still found room for dessert. I had the Pound cake, espresso ice cream, warm dulce de leche sandwich with crushed chocolate espresso beans. It was huge, but I ate it in 3 seconds. OK, 30.... Well, I did not take my time.

The other desserts tried were the chocolate cake, creme brulée and the chocolate almond torte. No one complained.

Now the hard part was the bill. I think it ended up, with tip to be well over $500. Darn good thing I was pre-certified with my $200 discount! And we almost walked out having only tipped on the residual amount of the bill minus the certificate. Ooops! Great service and we would have stiffed him for almost half what we meant to tip. Cash, as usual, solves pretty well anything.

Then it was off in the storm to the Henry House to watch Irish people drink. At least I got to chat to a red headed wine loving fiddle player who I know, for a bit. But full bellies and a morning hockey game dictated an escape. After our $500 meal, taking the bus home seemed so very appropriate.

East is East

2009-02-01T17:31:00.000-08:00

After attending a fun filled charity wine tasting at Bear, I managed to drag two younger women (than me, anyway) around the corner and into Morris East for a light supper. At least that was the idea. We were soon joined by one of the ladies' husbands.

Jenny Dobbs has done a great job here, and the place has matured since opening into, dare I say it... more than just a pizza joint since I blogged about it when it opened. She has also hired Joel Rousell to be chef. Joel is my favourite chef in town - he seems to almost cook for my palate. In the past my favourite meal one year was at his own place, Ketch Harbour House, and last year my favourite dish in Halifax was his gnocchi, made when he was chef at Saege. I am not kidding - I had to avoid walking down that part of Spring Garden Road, because I could not get past Saege without going in and ordering that dish.

This trip the menu has really expanded in the appetizers section. Wow! Rabbit and Apricot Terrine with toasted brioche; Joel's own Ketch Harbour Bresaola with an herb salad, In-house hot smoked salmon.... And the pizzas are better than before, with the crust now perfected.

The place is still patterned after jane's on the common, and the wine list takes a similar form. In fact, as we were eating jane of jane's came in to eat, as did Tesla-gal! Were were able to get a bottle of Cono Sur Riesling, a bottle waiting to get on to the list to enjoy with out meal. Try the Soppressata Salami, field mushrooms, and black truffle oil pizza, or the latest, the short rib pizza.

Morris East is worth a visit, for sure.

Bear with me on this one....

2009-01-18T11:33:00.000-08:00

So I have this friend. He likes to go out to dinner, he likes to pay, and he does not really care what it costs.

Every now and then I get invited along for dinner, sometimes I think it is just because I know the wines, but we do have fun. And I don't really argue. Every now and then I am able to provide some reciprocal value.

Bear, the eponymous new place owned, ostensibly (more on that later) by Ray Bear, he of the Prince George and then Gio fame, was about to open before Christmas, and I managed to find out the first night they would be offering the full menu to paying patrons. So we booked a table and went - 6 people.

We ordered everything on the menu, pretty well, as a sampling of what the place was all about. The food started coming, and we asked the Sommelier to just bring what he thought was appropriate, after all, he did spend a couple of months thinking about it.

Although there were a number of things I could not eat, what with the old shellfish thing I have, I can state that the food was excellent across the board. The decor was criticized by some of my table mates, but I liked it. You come into the middle of the place, on Barrington just next to Talay Thai, and to your right is the holding bar, very nice, with lots of comfy chairs. Dining is to the left, and there are a number of high stools that allow you to sit, eat, and look right into the kitchen. That looked like fun, but we were over in the corner booth. Big round booths are my friend's natural habitat.

Staff at Bear have come from some of the best places in Nova Scotia, inspired to work there by the chance to serve Ray Bear's food, and to work for Wade Dhooge, who took Saege Bistro from startup to one of the best places to eat in town, especially if you enjoy fine wine, in Halifax. Wade is not an uptight guy, and apparently very easy to work with. He also has a knack for creating wine lists that make the restaurant money, offer lots of variety, and are unique to his restaurant, something that is not easy in our wine variety limited city. The reason is he works hard at it. More than anyone in town.

The wine list that opening night was, in my opinion, the best in the city, for value, quality, variety and how it matched the dishes on offer. Yes there are good lists elsewhere - Seven has the largest, and in that measure, the best; Cafe Chianti has a very cool list; Five Fishermen's list is great; but Wade manages to make lists for people who love wine and are "wine-curious" without upsetting the people who only know about Yellow Tail.

So we had an amazing evening of food and wine. Our bill was somewhere around $900. My friend tipped $500, so I heard later.

I recommend the duck. Bear does duck best.

If you want more food coverage of the place, someone else was there the same night, blogging away. She seemed to have fun too. Check this out - she had a camera.

with bite

And now for the postscript. I wrote the above back in early December and did not publish it here. Ray's partner, the money guy, is someone from the states who apparently must not have approved of Wade and his laissez-faire style. So now Wade is gone (as well as another manager since, I hear), and the wine list mark up is noticeably higher - enough that I will probably give the place a pass, or end up drinking wine well below the quality of the food. Plus, the wine list is rife with misspellings, a pet peeve of mine (but not one I care about on this shabby blog, of course, so don't bother to look, I don't care).

My point - this city is already full of good places to eat with patrons drinking wine in them that is better suited to match with burgers at Wendy's. If Ray Bear, or any good chef, wants people to enjoy their dinner to the fullest, then why rip them off by charging $150 for a $60 bottle of wine? It takes no more time, effort or storage for that $60 bottle to reach your table than it does for a $20 bottle. Pick a markup rate and use it. Maybe it's $40. Fine. Charge $60 for the $20 bottle, and $90 for the $50 bottle. They all cost the same to get to the restaurant, store, schlep to the table and serve. And you make $40 (OK a bit less) every time anyone buys a bottle of wine!

Now some places (Seven, Cut) have wines that they have sourced on their own, and wines that they have aged in their cellars for some time. Those wines are expected to be marked up. I'm talking about wines I can go out and buy tomorrow myself.

We had a bottle of Felton Road Pinot Noir that night (I have some in my cellar). It costs about $60 at Vin•Art, a private wine shop in Clayton Park. It is one of the best Pinot Noirs in New Zealand (some say the best) and it was great with all the duck parts I was eating. I think we paid $110 for it when we ate there. Now it costs $150. So IF they sell another bottle, they will make $40 more, but in the meantime, they might have sold three more bottles of this fine wine, and showcased the food that much better. Instead they have sold wine, but lesser wine, lessening the overall dining experience. Without affecting profit, they could have provided their patrons with a better dining experience; and isn't that what people in this business tell us they want to do?

People who pay percentage markups on fine wine in restaurants are either ignorant of the actual cost of the wine they are buying; or don't care how much things cost (like my friend). How many people in those two groups will be going out to dinner in the next year in Halifax? Any bottle of wine sold for more than $50 over what it cost to buy is a rip off, unless it has been aged for a long time by the restaurant, or is a special order, only available there. The sad part is that charging more money to open and serve an expensive bottle than a cheaper one actually hurts a restaurant that wants to be the best.

Combine this ancient practice with the restaurant industry's "head in the sand" approach to the BYO rules which I discussed earlier, and one simply knows that many of the local places won't survive this year. Do you think that people will still be looking to eat out, but will want to do so more frugally? I do. We do need to eat.

Come let us eat. And drink. And pay fairly when we do.

Wine of the Month, January 2009

2009-01-17T21:04:00.000-08:00

It is the season of bubbly. Try this one: Valdevisio Method Champagnoise, NV from Chile.

It comes in a cloudy bottle. Pretty convincing stuff for $15.

Chairs!

Whither to blow money on White Burgundy....?

2009-01-17T21:01:00.000-08:00

White Burgundy Tasting, January 14

This was the first of what I hope will be a long series of tastings, with the theme of splitting the cost of some new arrivals in town, to try to identify what might be worth acquiring, and possibly limiting future disappointment.

All wines tasted blind, notes made, then uncovered and discussed over a couple more hours. All the white wines were opened in advance, poured in full size Burgundy stems, cool, but not cold.

The intro wine served while waiting for everyone to arrive (there were only 5 of us). It was an Henriot NV Champagne Blanc de Blanc, probably from 2004. It showed good Chardonnay character with a very bready, yeasty, and drying nose. It was tasty stuff, with again, more Chardonnay character when tasted. Nice aged fruit, leesy, dry finish. All were quite happy with it. Hand carried from New Brunswick, I did not get the price.

The first wine was a 2005 Domaine Fontaine-Gagnard Chassange-Montrachet, 1ere Cru La Romanée. It smelled of piney wood, nettles, mineral, with obvious alcohol. It had good acidity, but with an odd finish, burning the upper back corners of my throat. Spicey, peppery. I was not crazy about this one. $103/btl (Canadian dollars)

Next was a 2005 Daniel Rion Nuits-St. George, Les Terres Hautes. This was the wine I’d been wondering about when I heard there was a non-Chardonnay white in the flight. 100% Pinot Blanc, according to their product sheet. It has an interesting, even beguiling nose, perfumey oak and vanilla, with some red berry fruit. As time passed, the wine opened up even more to berry fruit reminiscent of Bakeapples, or white raspberries. It was clean, balanced with very subdued oak. Initially I called the fruit a white peach, and with time it changed to more of the aforementioned white raspberry or Bakeapple berry fruit. It was long. Obviously, I liked this a lot. We had been asked to pick out the Pinot Blanc, and I did. About $85 here.

The third wine was brought by one of the participants, a 2003 William Fevre Chablis Grand Cru Vaudesir. One hears all the traffic on this vintage, and it really is true. This did not remind me of any Chablis I’ve ever had. It was closed at first, but opened up to minerally fruit (good) and then went on to smell like pineapple juice for most of the evening, morphing to other tropical fruit smells as it warmed. It tasted of pineapple juice, and was waxy, honeyed, showed oak, vanilla and a tropical fruit I called breadfruit. Oddly, I liked the wine, but was a bit surprised at where it was from. About $80 here.

Number four was a 2004 Bouchard Pere et Fils Meursault Geneveres. This smelled piney, oakey, woody, with a sharp nose of malolactic at the start. It showed a major mineral character on the palate, grape tannin, OK acidity, and a full body with restrained fruit. Some vanilla. It settled down with time, and although identifiable as Burgundy, was the least balanced of the lot. About $85 here.

The final white Burg was a 2005 Domaine Fontaine-Gagnard Batard-Montrachet, Grand Cru. It smelled like a middle of the road white Burgundy at the start. Then, as it opened there was some burlap, wood/oak, red fruit, cinnamon, and vanilla. The palate was balanced, young, and the mouthfeel almost watery at the start. With time it filled in, with increasing intensity. Still disjointed, I think we were all guilty of some crime, somewhere, for opening this so early in its life. It is $208/btl here. We had been asked to pick out this wine and I did not come close.

After the whites were mostly gone (some of us still had some of the Pinot Blanc and Batard left in those glasses) the host opened a red for us to have a guess at. It was bricked at the rim, and into the glass at least a centimetre, showed a med red core and was slightly cloudy. It smelled of mushrooms, nettles, pine, and barnyard. It still had good tannins despite the age showing. With dry cherry, earth, and all that good Pinot stuff. It was drinking very well, and I was enjoying it when I had one of those “aha” moments. The first ever OK red Burgundy I had was the 1999 Bouchard Pere et Files Beaune de Chateau, which I paid $34 for back in 2002. Could this be that same wine, now 10 years old?

It was.

Wine of the Month, September 2008

2008-09-01T20:47:00.000-07:00

I regret not having spread the word about this wine earlier. I guess I was being selfish. Sorry. I drank more of this wine this summer than anything else. It is yummy. I was always afraid it would be gone when I went to buy more.

And it is a bit of a surprise, I suppose.

Blomidon Estates Rosé. Wow! Clean crisp strawberry fruit and good acidity in this drink made the bad weather almost tolerable all the wet long summer.

I am hoping that September is nicer, and rewards us all with sunshine.

Celebrate that sun on your deck, porch, roof, or out your sunroof at 120 km/hr with this wine.

At $12.99 you can't go wrong.

This it the two thumbs up with a cherry on top wine of the summer.

Our New Nova Scotia Wine Culture

2008-08-31T17:20:00.000-07:00

It had to happen - sooner or later something good was going to come out of this global warming thing. It seems as if there has been enough of a barely perceptible increase in the degree days that the Annapolis Valley gets to start having people look seriously at growing vinifera grapes (the ones most countries use to make wine from) such as Chardonnay, Pinot Noir, Cabernet Franc, and even a wee bit of Sangiovese.

Last week I was treated to a vineyard visit after having spent the previous day judging wines and beer for the National Amateur Winemakers Association. This was not just any vineyard, though, but that of Dr. Allan McIntyre. Located just east of Blomidon Estates winery in Habitant, Kings County this is one of the most highly regarded suppliers of good fruit to Nova Scotia's wineries. Right now, Gaspereau Vineyards and Jost Winery seem to be buying the bulk of the grapes grown here. The picture above and to the right shows Gina Haverstock, winemaker at Gaspereau Vineyards, walking the land with Flavio, Allan McIntyre's son-in-law, in the middle of the Cabernet Franc, with newly planted Pinot Noir in the background.

I was able to visit on a day when Allan was in the vineyard, toiling away. And my co-visitors were none other than Allan's daughter, Star Chick Sommelier* Alanna McIntyre, her mano Flavio, and Sommelier turned winemaker Gina Haverstock. Allan took the time from his labours to show us how he works some of his magic - the secret? Hard work.

The most interesting thing was the amount of Pinot Noir and Cabernet Franc that exists in this vineyard. I had been fortunate enough to taste both the 05 and 06 Cab Francs made with these grapes while at Jost Winery in July. At the time, I was very impressed with the 06 (a very good vintage in Nova Scotia) as it exhibited very little unripe flavour characteristics and was reminiscent of a very good Niagara Cab Franc. I also got to try the 06 Pinot Noir as well, and was happy to find it tasting like Pinot Noir!

The vines in the photo below are mostly Cab Franc, Pinot Noir and some Leon Millot. You can tell the more vigorous Leon Millot, on the right, by the amount of growth on the top of the vines.

This news is not new to those within the industry. They know what is coming. With Benjamin Bridge about to release their second wine, after the successful launch of Nova 7, a semi sparkling (perlant) aromatic wine with a dry finish, they are about to release a dessert wine.

But what really lurks over the horizon there is the upcoming (in maybe as long as two year's time) release of their signature sparkling wines, made in the Methode Champagnoise style, with Pinot Noir, Chardonnay, and even some Pinot Meunier all grown organically in the Gaspereau Valley. I have not been lucky enough to taste any yet, but those who have, have been effusive in their praise. Of course, it is not like we'll all be swilling it down like Keiths, as it is rumoured to be planned to be released in the $60 to $80 a bottle range.

So, why the "new" in my title? Well, up until these latest sightings, most of the good wine in Nova Scotia has been made from hybrids, or crosses of grapes that are chosen because of how well they survive our winters, and how they produce in our short growing season. But these latest wines defy that logic.

Two nights before this vineyard tour, I was again in the company of Gina, and we were joined by the new winemaker at Benjamin Bridge, Jean-Benoit Deslauriers at a house party prior to the wine judging the next day. The host, John Starr, opened a bottle of 1986 Cuvée d'Amur from Grand Pré, made by Roger Dial 22 years ago. This wine, made from Michurunetz grapes (a vitis vinifera cross on vitis amurensis rootstalk) was still very much alive, showing an amazingly complex, Burgundian nose, and still packing a solid lump of acidity with fruit remnants. An amazing drink, made moreso by being able to share it with Gina and Jean-Benoit. They are the ones (along with with Jurg Stutz, Hans Christian Jost, and David Beardsall I should add), who are picking up the torch that Roger lit a long time ago. They are working with better grapes every year.

And it is still warming up, so they say....

* sorry Mr. Coad, every place should have one, not just NYC

The Harbour Gets Loaded

2008-08-29T16:56:00.000-07:00

Halifax Harbour cannot be made clean by Primary Sewage Treatment Plants and combined sewers.

It can be made cleaner, but not clean.

In the vain hope that Peter Kelly would go swimming for the cameras the day after a severe thunderstorm, I kept a bit quiet for a while on this issue. Now that it looks like he won't get some cool tropical disease, I might as well spill the news. The truth is, we spent millions of dollars on work to change where we put our poop into the environment, and to take some of the easy to remove things out, and that's all we did. The work on the Halifax Harbour Cleanup shut off many of the existing outfalls along our now well used and appreciated waterfront, and consolidated all those little problems into three big ones. It is doing what the engineers intended it to do.

From the rudimentary treatment plants we built, we put special, long outfall pipes out into our harbour so that the pollution is injected into the harbour at a place where it can be more easily flushed out to sea by the tides and currents in the harbour. That makes it all seem better because it is "all gone away".

What no one bothered to explain to the media (which didn't seem to try to understand the project anyway) was just how tough it is to clean up sewage flow when the sewers are combined sewers - they carry both flushed things from homes and businesses, as well as any rain that falls on our streets and roofs. So if it rains in Halifax (I have it on good advice that it does so on occasion) then an immediate, and very high volume (compared to the sewage) flow of runoff whooshes down the pipe, diluting the sewage, sometimes making it over 100 times the flow, and also making it colder than it was.

A huge, cold, dilute organic waste is very very difficult to treat. And to remove a high percentage of the pollutants, especially the organic ones (poop) is almost impossible. Organic waste is treated by biological processes that need some time, which at a high flow means massive tank storage to give the bugs time to eat the poop. Those bugs operate at a speed that is pretty much regulated by temperature - the colder they are, the slower they work, like me. When it rains, the system we now have really does not remove very much of the organic pollution because it would simply be too expensive to build such a massive treatment plant where the sewage has been collected.

But, there are two things that the media has yet to identify and understand, and that therefore mostly remain a mystery to the residents of HRM. First, when it rains, not only can we not treat the huge flow of dilute sewage, our pipes are not big enough to even take it to the new, better discharge sites we put a lot of the investment into creating. At some point, the pipe backs up (hello again, finless brown!) and is dumped directly into the harbour, usually via the old outfall pipe we thought was no longer in service.

The second thing is the real kicker, though. What do our environmental regulators do about this problem? When it rains, the harbour cleanup project allows most of the pollution to run out to the ocean the same as it always did. The total amount of material that causes environmental problems is not really reduced by any normal sewage treatment removal percentage. If, say 100,000 kilograms of poop went to the harbour before we spent all out money on the project, on a rainy day, maybe 75,000 (a wild guess just for demonstration purposes) kilograms of the poop goes to the harbour.

How is this possible given that they had to have a permit from Nova Scotia Environment, with the tacit approval, and funding from Environment Canada (plus DFO has to OK it) to continue to discharge this deleterious substance? Well, have you not heard the old axiom, "The solution to pollution is dilution." ?? That's how. The permit would authorize HRM to discharge as much sewage as they want up to a certain concentration of poop (I heard it was 50-60 ppm when every other Municipality in NS has to meet maximum 30 ppm for an ocean discharge). As long as there is enough rainwater diluting the poop, the regulators can look the other way, and the politicians can pretend they did something.

The sewage coming from a house before dilution has about 250 to 300 ppm of BOD. Stormwater dilution of sewage in a combined sewer is often up to ten times. Discharging more than 50 ppm when diluted 10 times would then be impossible, because it would be at 30 ppm, on average, with no treatment at all! You'd have to add poop (staff toilets in the treatment plants are not that big) to not meet the Approval. So the overflows meet permit with no treatment, because the permit is a bit, well, soft.

Sweet, eh?

Of course, the ecosystem in the harbour does not see it quite the same way. Most of that part of the equation is simply looking for food (poop to us), to live from, and they then strip oxygen from the water to support themselves, to the detriment of other things we might prefer to have live in the harbour.

Most countries regulate discharge of sewage in terms of the amount, or load in kilograms, of BOD per day that a receiving water body is subjected to, no matter how high, or low, the concentration of the discharge. We have ignored the logic of this, and regulate in mg/L or parts per million of BOD (by the way, for the purposes of this discussion, BOD (Biochemical Oxygen Demand) can be considered a laboratory based scientific way of saying "poop".) A two year old having a pee pee off a wharf might not meet the permit because the ammonia discharge in the effluent stream would be too high, but all of peninsular Halifax's sewage running untreated after a storm is just peachy.

This concentration versus loading concept can be explained in terms most Haligonians would understand. If we were out drinking, and I had ten shots of scotch, and you had ten beers, you'd have consumed a lot more liquid than me, but we'd both still be loaded. We all know that it is the alcohol loading that causes us to be loaded, not the water in the drink.

Yes, the harbour is still getting loaded every time it rains.

Cheers!

Another religious experience

2008-08-07T07:35:00.000-07:00

After last fall's Mary Gauthier and Ron Hynes concert in a church, I thought that was about as much as you could do with getting former drug addicts to gather in a place of worship to play music. But Tuesday night's Steve Earle concert at St. Matthews managed to match and exceed that show. Let's face it. Mr. Earle has known his share of self inflicted trouble. He has spent a fair amount of time behind bars for drug infractions, ranging from being a Heroin addict caught with his stash, to being so stupid as to go back to Texas with a bag of weed in his possession.

Of course it seems that this time, he has cleaned up his act, and is on the path to maybe making it past the age of 60. A good part of that success may be due to the infusion of beauty (and talent) into his life via the beautiful Allison Moorer, seen below.

Alison came on first, after an extremely orderly and well organized seating for the sell out crowd (at over $50 a seat). She played about 8 songs, most from her recent release of covers, appropriately called Mockingbird. A highlight was her version of Joni Mitchell's Both Sides Now. Any Joni song is difficult to manage and she does so in an effortless manner. She did not sing Gillian Welch's Revelator, which is on the album.... I may need to find the disk now.

Steve came out shortly after her set, (long enough for people to take a short stretch) and played solid for about two and a half hours. It was truly a marathon, with the heat in the building. I was exhausted after the show, and Steve seemed pretty well OK with it. Maybe he really has cleaned up.

Here is a picture of what he looks like now. Quite the beard.

This was a great show, with some very cool turntable and electro-percussive work from a crew member that allowed some of the more urban sounds on his last couple of albums to be conveyed.

It was a show that will be difficult to match this year, one I don't think old Elton will come close to. Here we have a master of his form at the top of his game. To see him in a small acoustically great venue was wonderful. I can't see tired old Elton in the trashy Metro Centre coming close as a musical experience. Maybe as a spectacle, and we do know he has lots of those, right?

This musical couple continues their traveling road show in Ontario before heading south to their home and native land in the American Northeast. Of note, I'd recommend the 4 night stand at the Judson Memorial Church in New York from September 22 to 26.

Steve Earle in church? You betcha.

Commercial Free TV!

2008-08-04T11:24:00.000-07:00

I broke down this past month and joined the big screen TV generation. I even did the painful work of getting it all set up so the sound could run through my stereo. So now I have a miniature movie theatre in the house.

We have not bothered with television for some time. No cable in 12 years, and that will stay. But the DVD rentals have usually been mostly L's doing, feeding her interest in the movie genre.

Meanwhile I have managed to remain almost gleefully ignorant of anything related to reality TV (nope, never seen more than a glimpse of Survivor, Dancing with the Stars, American or Canadian or Turkish Idol.)

But I have occasionally heard about television series that are a cut above the average. With real writers, and not the WWF level of entertainment offered by the "reality" series.

The first one that came into my sphere of awareness was Six Feet Under. OK, I liked that. Odd premise, but once you got invested in the characters, it worked as entertainment, and as a reason to sit down and get lost in for an hour or so an evening.

But now, with my newly pimped up AV delivery system, I can be even more rewarded when I indulge in this genre.

So, on a whim (after having had a few drinks) I bought the first season of Dexter. The show about the serial killer who has a code instilled in him by his adopted father (the Batman theme regurgitated, I know, but it still works). I watched Dexter knock off other killers who apparently deserved it more than he did for a week, and the season was over.

Now it is Veronica Mars, traded to me for Dexter. (I wonder how long I can continue trading series like this?) Again, not bad, if a bit cute, and sometimes (but not always) predictable. This show gives its rewards via the age old tenet of revenge. We all like it when bad people get what they deserve, even if it is at the hands of a smart ass little blonde who, in the real world, would have been put into hospital about 12 times by now, and I'm only half way through the season. (late edit - I was happy to see that finally someone did kick her biddy lil smart ass a bit).

Music concert videos are cool when it is loud, sounds good, and looks great! Not the same as being there, but there is no dope smoke, no puke on the stairs, and the beers only cost $2, plus they are real beers, not Lite anything, and the seats are comfy.

But the best part - no commercials. The only commercials I see any more are when the Cannes Awards clips come through town. And then there are so many, I forget 3/4 of them anyway.

Well, it is about time for another episode of Veronica. I am secretly hoping she is knocked off in the show - they do say these new series do things like that. But somehow, I doubt it will happen - her contract probably went past this season.

Now, if I could only buy a TV show as a pay per view every now and then (like The Masters) I'd be all set!

Wine of the Month - August, Jacob's Creek NV Chardonnay-Pinot Noir Brut Sparkling

2008-08-04T11:17:00.000-07:00

This wine is hard to believe - it is so good for the money. The first time I had it, I was drinking a sparking wine and someone came up to me with a bottle of it and offered me some. I said, no, I'd stick with the stuff in my glass. Only to be told that that was what was IN my glass. Ooops. One geek stumped!

This is not really for the wine geek super snob, but you may make a fool of some of them if you serve it blind. And anyone who won't drink a cold glass of this on a hot day has issues.

$15.96 gets you some bready yeasty character, and some "real near-champagne-like" taste.

This is the one to have in the fridge for some zip to start a party, add to drinks for champagne martinis, add to fresh fruit, make Mimosas from, or to try to play stump the geek.

This year's version (it is a non-vintage (NV) offering, I believe) is very nice, but remember, next year may be a different thing.

So have your fun now.

Think Globally, Drink Locally

2008-08-04T10:48:00.000-07:00

I have a tee shirt that says this on the back. I got it at the Bow and Arrow pub in Toronto. The beauty of it, of course, is that the message works pretty well everywhere you go.

Here in Halifax we have two very good micro-breweries and a couple of good brew pubs. There are now many different types of beer available fresh, in keg in our city. Any bar that has pretensions of sophistication must have a tap from one of these places. Period. There is no argument to parry this statement that holds water... or, er, beer.

Witness the Argyle Street scene. In comes the Carleton, with a lot of investment in fit-up, but they appear to have sold their "tap soul" to a major brewery. Not one decent beer on tap. Yet, at the same time, a more unexpected place to find a good beer on tap, perhaps, Seven Wine Bar, offers Propeller Bitter. Fizz, a new drinks place between the Subway and the Bitter End has not one decent beer available. And by decent I mean non-factory made beer. Yet next door at the Bitter End there is Garrison, at least one type, on tap.

The large factory brewers have one motivation - make a product that can be sold to as many people as possible and sell as much (in volume) as possible by whatever means. They regularly manage to provide bar owners with "incentives" to keep their beers on tap, and others' off the bar. This is Halifax's dirty little secret in the bar scene, a practice that is never regulated by the Province.

But when owners care about the quality of their wares, they choose differently. The best pub in town, Tom's Little Havana, has a suite of Garrison products. The Economy Shoe Shop and all its various affiliated licenses offer both Propeller and Garrison. Most places worth eating in the city have at least one of the local micros to drink.

There is no reason for a responsible Haligonian who wants to have a night out, need go to any place that does not support the local (as in true local, owned by Nova Scotians) beer business.

This analogy extends to wines. Again, many places are ignorant, so much so that if they have a Nova Scotian wine available, it is actually not made in Nova Scotia, or at least the grapes are not grown here. We now have so many decent quaffable wines at prices that can translate to affordable by the glass offerings in bars and restaurants, that there is no excuse for any place not to offer good Nova Scotia wine. Again, The Carleton falls flat on it face. But Fizz looks great, with the yummy strawberry accented Blomidon Rosé available by the glass. A perfect wine to sip while watching the street go by from their patio.

Most places with a trained Sommelier (not just someone who calls themself that) offer a number of different Nova Scotia wines. In fact, that may very well be the best way to identify a wine list that is professionally prepared in Nova Scotia. The losers have all the standard Australian best sellers at the NSLC with the big marketing budgets. Any place that you see, for example, Gaspereau Seyval Blanc on the list probably has a real Sommelier choosing the wines. Demonstrating an understanding of the local wines is one way for a restaurant to illustrate that it has an understanding of local food. Wine is food.

So, if you want to reinforce real local business with your spending, drink locally. When you are in Toronto, drink their beers and Niagara or Prince Edward County wines. In Montreal, drink their beers, and try Quebec wine (it can be good). And use the beer taps on the counter as a gauge of what to expect elsewhere in the place.

I vote with my palate. No reason you can't too.

Wine of the Month - June

2008-06-01T16:50:00.000-07:00

Well, I already recommended the Gapereau Rosé, so let's pick something else you may never have tried before.

Try the Trapiche Broquel Bonarda, from Argentina - now in the POW and some POW sections at the NSLC.

Full bodied, juicy and interesting. This wine will match a lot of BBQ.

And you'll be drinking something cool and different - your guests will marvel at your sophistication, and courage at not just getting another bottle of a grape you know.

Bonarda is what the Argentinians drink. Lots of it.

I would walk 500 miles....

2008-04-13T19:28:00.000-07:00

Ever been at a show where you find yourself singing along at the top of your lungs and you're not even drunk?

That was me at The Proclaimers show last Friday, along with pretty well everyone else in there, including some of the staff.

Sure the lads are not the skinny rosy cheeked neo-folk/punk/blue eyed soul/pub rockers that used to nearly die of exhaustion on stage anymore, but they have their act down pat, with a very tight band, and true to the recordings arrangements. They mixed up the new and the old, singing favourites like Letter from America, 500 Miles, Cap In Hand and the like, but also throwing in some fine contemporary work.

Of course it was the audience that struck me when I finally got in the door. The security on the outside was like frickin' Heathrow, which was made so laughable once you got in and saw who was there. I wonder how many people had their knitting needles confiscated at the door? I don't think The Who were talking about this generation, not anymore, anyhow.

Yep, I was pretty well totally immersed in my own demographic.

The sound was very reminiscent of The Committments - white boy, blue eyed soul. The newer material definitely leans that way. But the social conscience that was most obvious in Cap in Hand ("and I don't understand why we let someone else rule our, land, cap in hand...") is still there in songs like New Religion, with a lyric like this:

"Evidence of a new religion
Meeting a human need
fertiliser for the brain
Feeding the weakest seeds."

Attacking the crap we get from the modern media and entertainment business. This was a pretty cool song.

They take a wicked shot at the rockers who are now lining up for knighthood in the UK, I mean, how can't Mick Jagger and Paul McCartney respond to this:

In Recognition of your 100 million album sales
In Recognition of your popularity
You take your gaudy prize from people you said you despise
You wear your self-respect upon your bended knees.

In spite of all your claims
It looks like you’re just the same
As every other clown, who likes put the crown
Before or after their names.

Even the title song from their new album, called "Life with You", has an edge to it that keeps it from being sappy. The words are, but the song isn't.

Mojo magazine described the brothers' stage presence as having the "tenacity of two Jack Russels on rabbit duty". I can see that.

I'll finish with the best snippet of lyric from their new album, from the song "The Long Haul"

"I miss the days
When the threat to our position
Didn't come from some religion
But from godless Communism"

Hard to argue with that one.

Wine of the Month - Gaspereau Vineyards Rosé

2008-04-09T18:06:00.000-07:00

It is time to start thinking of spring. Yes, it was 14 degrees in my yard today.

And spring demands Rosé.

In Nova Scotia we make great rosé. And my favourite for a day in day out quaffer is Gaspereau's 2006 version.

Try it. The price varies depending on where you get it.

Drink it outside on a deck in the sun, to watch the light gleam through it.

jane's great next door adventure

2008-04-09T17:59:00.001-07:00

I just finished eating my first dinner carried home and cooked by me, from jane's next door. Jane Wright (jane's on the common) has taken advantage of the storefront in the space she rents next door to the restaurant. This is a place for people who don't feel like really cooking, but are not into eating out either.

My tortiere is currently digesting happily in my tummy.

The sandwiches looked awesome, real roast beef, and the Propeller Sodas are a great local accompaniment.

There are jane's famous soups to heat up at home, chicken pot pie, a curry, and yes, you can by an entire hazelnut torte...

And for a lot of us, it is right on the way home!

UPDATE, June 1: I am now an addict. Just had the Cassoulet for the second time, and it is great. The lamb shepherd's pie rocks, and the soups are to die for.

Takin' the "Eh" Train

2008-04-09T17:43:00.000-07:00

I'd planned on taking a trip back to Halifax from Montreal sometime this year, and the half price sale Via put on was the edge I needed.

One of the best things you can do in Canada is take this train trip. There is a choreography to the journey that lends itself to major relaxation, and achieving a kind of rhythm that really allows you to rest.

If you like to sleep in a moving bed, that is. I do.

You board the train in time for the 6:30 departure from Montreal, and book a seat for dinner at 6:45. You then have the best seat for dinner in the eastern part of Canada (if there is a similar experience in the Rockies, I'll bow to that). The sun is setting behind Mount Royal as you glide (in fits and starts) down the Saint Lawrence River Valley, the villages and towns and their cathedrals passing by as the light fades.

The meal is okay, in winter. I hear it gets better in summer, when ridership increases. I had a roast pork, cranberry sauce, mashed potato and green bean dinner ($18)that would have been much better if it had been served with some jus, but, with a glass of Jost Trilogy was not bad. All the wines were Nova Scotian, and they were obviously selected by someone who knew wine.

Sleep came later, somewhere around Riviere du Loups, and I awoke outside Bathurst, with metres of snow outside the window. We were slowed by a young teenager moose on the track, trotting along in front of the train, hemmed in by the 3m snow banks on each side. Eventually the moose took a left at a crossing, and headed into town, and we hit the tracks for Moncton.

Home in Halifax, I arrive rested, and ready to start work after a fun short vacation.

Another Chapter in my Life

2008-03-08T20:00:00.000-08:00

I found a great beer bar. About 70 taps, all the ones I tried were fresh, the most you pay is $4.50 for a 16 oz pint in a sleeve. The bartenders know the beers. They can recommend a beer from all the taps they have at hand with an uncanny expertise (or is that experience?) based on what a newbie asks them for.

There is a pool table. Free popcorn. A slate of regulars who look like they were just taken from some movie set - a B movie.

There is one TV - it sits above the bar, and the 'tenders let the regulars who sit there have the remote.

The bartender will help you order-in take-out from every place in town, including one pizza place that is awesome. One of those thick pizzas where you think you can eat more than one piece, but you really can't.

People talk to you.

And, they have 10 IPA's on tap! Real IPA's, not pretend "kiss your cousin" beers like Keith's. Lagunitas, Stone, Magic Hat, Middle Ages, Victory Hop Devil, Smutty Nose, Ithaca Brewing Company Hop Flower and Double IPA, Southern Tier IPA, and IBC Cascazilla Red, which is a super hoppy red ale, that really is an IPA.

There is one small problem, though.

The pub is in Ithaca NY. Home of Cornell University.

This bar was 8 minutes walk from, and 20 minutes walk to (after) where we crashed on our recent Finger Lakes winery tour. And the 20 minutes does not include a stop at the Hot Truck. I had the Shaggy - Hot and Heavy: This delight is a quarter loaf of french bread with meatball, sausage, cheese, onion, garlic, red hot pepper and grease and garden. I know I ate it all because there was nothing left the next day.

I had a pretty good vacation. I think.

Oh, and we toured some wineries, too.....

Schwartz's Revisited - Smokin' Meat

2008-03-08T19:47:00.000-08:00

Some time ago, I had some fun with Montreal smoked meat sandwiches and Tiger Woods. This during the President's Cup last year.

Well, this week, I got stranded in Montreal with the Riesling Princess on our way back from drinking far too much all over northern NY and southern ON.

So I did what I had to do. I took her out to Schwartz's. She has never been there.

Okay. So I was wrong. The Main is good, but Schwartz's is better. Are you happy now? Our server was even polite, sort of. I mean he didn't swear at us, he turned to face us when he farted. All positive things.

We were there in the middle of a snowstorm that was trapping us in Montreal (there are few better places to be trapped) and the place was still about 80% full at 10 pm on a Tuesday night.

And the meat was fine. Very fine.

And Benelux (corner of Sherbrooke and Jeanne Mance) after was at least as good. Great hefeweizen, and very good West Coast Style Pale/IPA.

Thai One On

2008-03-08T19:21:00.000-08:00

The regular Friday pub.

The regular Friday beers.

But something different is happening this week. No-one orders food from the pub menu.

Six semi-sober adults are still hungry at 7 pm.

Chabaa Thai has been sitting right up the street from the pub for a while now (since September, for chrissakes!!) and I have yet to eat there. Let's not forget that I met owner, and chef Wen Prathumma at a stag party... a very Canadian stag party that he seemed to be somewhat unsure of his correct mode of behaviour at, back in early August. Let's not forget that I helped Wade D. with the wine and beer list for the place. No, let's just say I've been an idiot and taken this long to show up and eat.

So, we walk the 50 metres up Queen Street and sit down to eat.

Well, the joke is on me. The food was amazing. And I warn you. There is one thing on the menu that will completely confound you, send you running home to fire up the BBQ and then waste a large amount of pork ribs to try to re-create this dish. The BBQ Pork Ribs were not of this world. I don't know how he does it (but I am going to try to find out) but these things are puffy. Like airy, like soft, melt in the mouth, spicy, sweet, cherry goodness. We had a certain "celebrity chef" with us at dinner (oh, how he hates top be called that...! {correction -it seems he does not mind at all!}) and he was unsure just how this delicacy was created. And trust me, that says a lot, because he really knows ribs.

That is not to say the rest of the food was not excellent, but these ribs were something else altogether. Next time, I am getting three orders and sucking them all back by myself. And next time may be as soon as I can get there.

The Massaman Curry Pork, Ginger Beef with Mushrooms, Spicy Chicken Noodles, Fresh Spring Rolls (with mint leaves), and everything else I tried, were all really good.

The wine we chose, a Fetzer (California) Gewurztraminer worked very well with almost everything, only losing itself a bit on one red curry dish. Some of the party had Hoegaarden Witbier (which has coriander in it), which is usually amazing with Thai food, and others slurped back Pilsner Urquell without complaining.

Wen apparently was the original chef at start-up for both Baan Thai and Talay Thai. The first as an almost indentured servant at Baan Thai, to where he came after finishing third in some big national cooking competition in Thailand, and then starting up Talay Thai with a brother (at least that's the rumour I heard). Now he is on his own, but not really, as his fiancé, Kim Dao, rumoured to be the daughter of a local restaurateur, is a partner not only in life, but in business.

I have eaten at every place in town that does Thai food now, I believe. None compares to this.

Now that the smoke has cleared - Tom's a year later

2008-02-23T20:10:00.000-08:00

Back a year ago, I wrote about the last day of smoking in bars in Nova Scotia.

Smoked Out at Tom's

Now we are a year later, and my concerns about the future of one of my favourite watering holes have been diminished somewhat. The same people are back, though they smoke outside now. The staff are still the best. And the beer and the food are even better. The tap of Garrison IPA is one of the freshest in the city, with a large volume of sales of this, my new favourite beer. And the kitchen has been revamped, and now the food is even better.

In fact, Tom's might be the best place to eat in town that you have not eaten at yet.

I recommend the Havana Roll, or the Green Curry Chicken, or the pizza of the day.

Just don't take my seat. Cause the place is probably standing room only. And smoke free at that!

Oh Gee! Gio!

2008-02-23T19:15:00.000-08:00

After having been to this "Not a Hotel Restaurant" I think four times, none with L, I finally got off my butt and took her out to dinner there this past week.

Gio is the restaurant in the Prince George Hotel in downtown Halifax. The Prince George has a chef whose name is getting too big for the hotel - Ray Bear, and this place was the management's strategy to get him to stay. Or that's how I heard it, anyway. The place was created under the very careful, and detailed eye of Craig Norton, Manager, and Sommelier. Craig has a great sense of design, and detail, and it shows in the place, from the choice of tea bags, to the towels in the washroom. I had emailed him to let him know I'd be at dinner, in case he was around. But he had apparently been dragged off to something in Toronto that day.

I arrived after L, and she was waiting with her tea, reading the menu. The tea was in a little pyramid mesh container with a string coming from the top with a "leaf" on the end. A beautiful product. Detail. The cutlery and china are pretty unique, although familiar from our times at Saege, where the chef is friends with Ray Bear, and shares the same supplier.

I order a glass of 30 Bench Riesling, and we set to the menu in earnest, as the breads arrive (three types, with the butter soft enough to spread - detail). And an amuse bouche consisitng of one tiny quail's leg. (peep peep)

Our appetizers arrive in good time, my ravioli stuffed with kobe beef short rib with oyster mushroom and red wine jus is an ample portion (one past criticism of Gio had been small portions) and L's pork belly with smoked pomegranate molasses, parsnip, potato chip and apple confit set the stage for what will be quite the evening of eating. Both dishes are excellent.

I had discussed my appetizer choice with the server, as I had been torn between the raviloi and the carpaccio. On clearing our plates, two small versions of the carpaccio arrive, out of the blue. Perhaps Craig is around. This was so thinly sliced, I had to almost cut it off the plate. In my mouth with the brioche and a bit of the Lohr Valdiguié red wine I now had in front of me, some magic happened. That wine was a curiosity I wanted to fulfill, but my server wisely suggested that if I was going to order the venison, it would not do the trick. He was right. A glass of Mazzei Poggio alla Badiolo was soon sitting there for that, but he brought me some Valdiguié anyway. It was very Gamay-like, with carbonic maceration evident. With the fluffy brioche and carpaccio it was light and almost serious. On its own, similar to an ordinary Beaujolais Villages.

After a more substantial wait, and regular attention to L's and my water glasses (hers with some infused water - detail) the main courses arrived. As usual, at Gio, the presentation is of high quality, and almost too beautiful to distrub in order to eat. But eat we do.

My venison is simply amazing. I am not a game eater, normally, but this was like great filet mignon with complexity. The server said that it came from a ranch in Alberta. The veggies seemed scarce, but that may have been due to the size of the plate. Green beans slit down the seam with the sectioned seeds inside created a simple but beautiful effect. L's rack of lamb was huge, with a lot of perfectly done meat, and so flavourful I almost, but not quite, swapped plates by force.

Let me be clear. I loved this venison. It was rare. I was having visions of hunting with spears in the deep dark woods.

We took our time, more tea for L, and ordered desserts, L having a "wanna.gotta.havea", a flourless orange almond cake with orange curd, pistachio ice cream, blood orange sauce and frozen nougat. I ordered the assorted cheese plate, and this was a revalation. Five type of cheese, each with a little fruit choice to match, and some of that crispy thin fruit and nut bread/cracker. One cheese, called Rolling Thunder, a hard parmesan like cheese form Thunder Bay (of all places) was amazing with a fig chutney and hazlenuts. Borgonzola bathing in blackberry sauce with one large blackberry to eat with it, some braised brie sat on top of a bit of melon.... you get the idea. I ate every little crumb of everything.

We had had a MEAL. One of the best ever in Halifax. A truly enjoyable evening, with one of the best servers I have experienced in years. All in, including tip (two glasses of wine, though they comped me one) was about $190. But who cares when the food is durn near perfect?

The Lebanese Invasion

2008-02-19T08:51:00.000-08:00

Spring Garden Road is about to be home to the second Khababji, opening in the City Centre Atlantic Building up in behind Pete's Frootique, and next to Premier Wine and Spirits (who suddenly have Lebanese wine on their shelves!). The first Khababji is in Burnside, on Thomas Raddall Drive on the way to the Ramada Burnside (back to back with Pets Unlimited).

They join the second outlet of Tarek's Cafe (also on Robie and Russell in the mini mall) in bringing very tasty Lebanese themed food to SGR.

I am currently full from Tarek's first place, again having chosen the Beef Taco Pita with extra hot sauce. Last night was Thai Chabba, the night before the Hungry Chili.... The night before that was dinner with my parents, so that was tame, but the night before that was Green Curry Chicken at Tom's. I guess I am compensating for winter with the heat in my mouth!

Hot times in the old town....

2008-02-19T05:17:00.000-08:00

Went to a beer drinking contest at Garrison Brewery the other night. Okay, it was a bunch of people sharing about a thousand different beers, most of which were extremely hoppy IPA's shipped in from all over who knows where.

The guru of the grains/headmaster of the hops, Greg Nash oversees these little get-togethers every now and then, masked as quality control sessions. The purpose of this one was, ostensibly, to test out the new beer he is about to release, a dunkelweizenbock, a dark strong wheat beer. (those Germans have a different name for everything!)

The beer was great, bordering on Aventinus for you geeks, but not quite the malt levels of that "standard" from Munich.

This gathering allowed my my first (finally) opportunity to try the food form The Hungry Chili, a little hole in the wall Szechuan place on Blowers Street. This street is so short, I won't bother looking up the address - find the street, you'll find the place.

We ordered in a mess of stuff from there. All of it was great - perhaps because all of it had some heat, but the flavours were real. I had crispy fish with their sauce, cashew chicken, spicy pork, and ginger beef. I want to know where they buy their ginger, because it was simply beautiful. I ate the ginger itself, not just the beef.

The only quibble was the rice - by the time we got it, it was mushy and overcooked.

I NEED to go and eat there in person now.

Crusin'

2008-02-13T17:23:00.000-08:00

So I talked L into going on a cruise with me again. But not just any cruise, this was the first Cayamo - a music cruise. Basically it works like this, as far as I can tell. They then start booking musical acts to play on the ship, which has some very good spaces for live music. A cruise that normally costs $599 a person is sold for $799 a person (cheap room). But that $200 buys you an amazing experience.

On this ship we had, sailing along with us, and playing every day, a cast of famous, semi famous, and soon to be famous singer songwriter musicians and in some cases, their bands.

Lyle Lovett, Emmylou Harris, Shawn Colvin, John Hiatt, Patty Griffin, Brandi Carlile and Buddy Miller were headliners. Shawn Mullins, Beth Wood, The Duhks, Edwin McCain, Holly Williams and Ari Hest were there. And a bunch of young up and comers as well, including my fave, Chris Janson.

I am currently in musical recovery. For an idea of what we got to see, go to YouTube and type in Cayamo. You can then start to understand.

Carnival Cruise line has pretty good beer - I survived on Sam Adams lager, and Pilsner Urquel. Their wine list was very good, and the by the glass selection was something like 15 wines. The food, as on most cruise ships these days, was very good, and omnipresent.

Wine of the Month - Queen of Hearts Pinot Noir

2008-02-13T17:16:00.001-08:00

Pick a card. Any card.

I'll take the Queen of Hearts. The Pinot Noir.

I already did. For the first time in 20 years, I bought a full case of wine form the NSLC.

This wine tastes like a $30 California Pinot Noir from Santa Barbara. It is Lucas and Llewelyn's second label "fun wine". Note the signature strawberry fruit ester, a hallmark of Santa Barbara. Yep, terroir from California for $16!!!

At $15.99, as far as this pinot-phile is concerned, it is a total steal.

Those who think otherwise, thank you. You leave more for me.

Back in the Saddle

2008-02-13T17:06:00.000-08:00

OK, my apologies to anyone who was actually checking in to read my musings. The reason I started this was not to rant and rave, but to keep up my writing chops and maybe exorcise the odd demon along the way.

So, what have I been up to? Well I got too busy. I work for myself, and like any other round heeled slut, (wait, I'm not a round heeled slut...) I just could not say no.

So here I am, working on the design of 21 seniors homes. And I keep reminding those people also working on them that we are not designing them for the people in them now - we are designing them for OURSELVES!

I have done a bit of partying, seen some great bands, and even taken a cruise around the Caribbean with Lyle Lovett, Emmylou Harris, John Hiatt, Shawn Colvin and Patty Griffin.

And I have been to one opera, almost live, direct from the Metropolitan Opera House, or as we opera-ites say "The Met" (can you tell I am quite the insider already?)

I have consumed a LOT of good booze since I last posted. Why? Because it is there, Thanks God, or Bacchus, or Saint Arnould.

The best meal since I last posted was probably at Saege, the new menu.... Yeah, that gnocchi is calling me.

I'm back. With vigour and rigour. (no mortis)

Out to Bedford, for another wine of the month!

2007-10-14T13:58:00.000-07:00

Cristall and Luckett Wine Merchants - the private store in Bedford, has a great little organic red wine that seems to have snuck under the radar of most wine geeks so far. It is called Domaine de la Chappelle and is less than $15. A great BYO wine as it will go with just about any food that can handle red wine.

This is what Rhone wines are all about (the inexpensive ones, anyway). Good Grenache fruitiness, some bubblegum even, but with the dark, brooding peppery Syrah finishing the taste, and providing enough weight and substance to make this wine compete well above its price range. Yummy.

While you are there, if you like Pinot Noir, for less than $15, again, there is an Italian Pinot Nero (that is Italian for Pinot Noir - I am almost trilingual, am I) that also shocked me at how good it was for the price. There is only one inexpensive Pinot Nero in the store, you can find it.

Why Angel Cabrera's Drives go farther than mine

2007-10-14T13:40:00.000-07:00

A minimum of words is required here.

Did you hear the ball say "ouch" ??

The smoked meat debate - Tiger weighs in.

2007-10-14T13:28:00.000-07:00

Montreal is famous for smoked meat - but it is not really smoked meat, more a spiced beef that they serve in the famous places. Places like Schwartz's on Saint Laurent.

I like the place, I really do, but I am tired of seeing it lined up all the time, when right across the street, The Main, where the smoked meat is exactly the same, has lots of seats.

So this last trip to Montreal (watching Tiger Woods et al strut their stuff) I went to the Main twice. Schwartz's was lined up outside both days.

Here is a picture of Tiger telling Charles Howell III exactly the same thing.

Don't worry about that lineup, man, just pop across to The Main. I hear it is even the same owner!

Standing in line in the studio

2007-10-14T06:03:00.000-07:00

L and I are both big fans of Ron Sexsmith, so when we heard he would be playing a one minute walk from our home, naturally, we figured it would be sold out. But thinking out loud, we decided that nothing good would ever come of this if we didn't try, on a whim, at least to get tickets.

It turns out the good people at the Halifax Pop Explosion, in conjunction with the local recording studio in the Musicstop building around the corner, run a series of live in-studio sessions during the Pop-Ex. This one, advertised on radio, prompted a very polite email from L to them wondering about tickets. Late at night, almost too late, the day before, we were rewarded with a positive response.

Needing to pick them up at the door, we went over early. The cluster of people in front of the door were quite representative of the music cognoscenti of the burg. Waiting there, I realized something about my shopping patterns. I shop at Frenchy's for things that look like I paid a lot more for them elsewhere, whereas a lot of people shop at Frenchy's to buy things that look like they bought them at Frenchy's. I know there is still time for me to learn to dress that way, but every passing day, the chances of it diminish.

Just about on time (if they didn't arrive at different times, they would not be artists, right?) we were led up the stairs with about 48 others to a small room, a bit stuffy, but cosy, that apparently is a recording studio done up like a set for a high school play from the 1970's. Whatever it takes to make the artists a bit more creative, them and their imaginary friends.

No seats, just walls to lean on and a floor for those who can sit in the lotus position. I got a wall. There were cameras, microphones and lighting that was blinding if you in the wrong spot, but I was not about to lose my place.

Ron came on right away, and did five songs, all new ones, without naming them. I thought that two of them were really good, and someway, somehow, would become standards for him all in good time.

In my secret heart, and I know it well, happiness was in the room, but then I'm just an average joe, I tell you.

Okay, enough with the fun and games.....

Ron's performance was good, but it was marred by his acoustically miked guitar feeding back through the monitors. I sincerely hope they can edit that out for when it goes on the radio. He still looks like he is about 20 years younger than he is.

Al Tuck was the second part of the bill. Now lots of local people in the biz support him, play his songs (Joel Plaskett included) and some almost revere him. I have seen him now about 5 times, and every time I am left wondering what all the fuss is about. If this guy was ever going to make it beyond Gus' Pub, then he is going to have to work a little harder at his live act. He came in all shot to hell, looking like something the proverbial cat might drag in. He was not prepared, even admitting that the cute little guitar ending to one song was the only thing they had rehearsed. Off tune (wrong tuning, which is different, I know) with the guitar, forgetting where he was in songs, and generally acting as if this was his first time in front of an audience while overacting as "cool", he simply did not impress. Again. I remain prepared to enjoy his music, and work, but he has to be prepared too.

One of his songs seemed to have some lingering hate in it... or advanced dislike. Does the guy have a child with someone who he is no longer with? I seem to recall he does (is it Catherine MacLellan?) Anyway, if he does, she won't particularly like this tune. Yikes!

If Al Tuck is headed for that legendary status of singer songwriter that everyone covers, he looks as if he is planning on doing the fame part posthumously.

In the end, for a $6 ticket, and a 1 minute walk, this was a lot of fun, and an expedition I may try to repeat, depending on who's playing.

Getting Churched with Hynes and Gauthier

2007-09-15T08:32:00.000-07:00

Sitting around the living room, drinking, and getting ready for the upcoming concert featuring Ron Hynes and Mary Gauthier, I remarked on whether our activity was totally appropriate given that both performers have quite a history with abuse of what we were currently intaking. Then I poured myself another glass of wine.

On arriving at the venue, St. John's United Church, some things became a bit more clear. This congregation is apparently soon to be an "affirming" one. I guess this means they will soon announce that their version of their imaginary god-friend does not hate people who happen to have the incorrectly fitting body parts to reproduce with the people they love. I don't know about you, but my imaginary friend drinks a lot, and laughs at people who pay too much attention to their imaginary friends. (Hey, do you think we are made in the image of our imaginary friends, or vice versa?) Sorry, I digress. This church is probably a fairly liberal congregation, and that would make it an agreeable host to the folkie crowd in town.

I've seen them both before (Hynes several times) and have most of their music. Hynes may have had some religious moments during some points in his life, but really, he has a lot of the "divil" in him. He certainly has a fair number of songs about transgressions and penance, the latter mostly self inflicted. Mary Gauthier probably was a regular as a child, but would likely not have been allowed in church after she clearly expressed her interest in women over men. Suffice it to say that the location felt a bit incongruous at the start.

But then there we were, all gazing up at the soaring ceiling of St. John's United Church on Windsor Street, watching Ron Hynes gazing up at the same ceiling, communing with his old buddy Gene MacLellan, singing "Godspeed" as convincingly as I think he can. Ron's show was perhaps the best I have ever seen him, and it was not in the Ship Inn, and I did not have a beer in my hand! He is a master craftsman at the art of songwriting, and the depth and quality of his material shone through on this evening. Heck, even Sonny's Dream, which he seems to have let back into his life now, was not that bad. I've only heard it about 10,000 times, mostly sung by drunken people who forget the words (this includes Ron, but not on this occasion).

Mary Gauthier came on and immediately cast a friendly spell over the place. I am not sure if it was the cool little tinted John Lennon glasses, or her relaxed "aw shucks" stage presence, but I knew we were in for a great set. Having seen her four years ago at StanFest, and buying all her music I could find, I knew the songs, but not the force with which she can now deliver them, all on her own. And, as usual, I am a sucker for in between song palaver, even though I know they say the same things every night, night after night.

She gave a great show, mixing in some requests, some older songs, and some new ones (her latest album is apparently coming out the end of September). "Wheel Inside the Wheel" was her most powerful offering, with an intertwining guitar riff that seemed as if there was some electronic toy involved, but at the same time, you knew there wasn't. Camelot Motel was preceded by a great intro on how the song came about, followed by a rendition that was both touching and humorous.

This was billed as part of, or a fundraiser for (depending on whether it made money), the "In the Dead of Winter" festival, which I so enjoyed last winter. The 350 odd people there with me enjoyed themselves - I hope they all come out in January for the festival.

A Burger Worth Crossing the Street For

2007-09-15T08:20:00.000-07:00

A quick post, but if you want to have the quintessential North American fried burger, Lisa's in Windsor offers the Fredburger. Two patties of real beef made up there from hamburger, on a toasted bun, with a lot of things you can have on it. And you can choose fries, baked or mashed potatoes. Maybe even a salad.....

It is big. I ate it all.

I know it may be hard for some of you to go into this place, as it is right across the street from the Spitfire Arms, but sometimes, even I don't drink.

Bring Your Own Wine - NS Enters the 20th Century

2007-09-15T07:28:00.000-07:00

Well, it finally happened. We are now allowed to bring a bottle of our own, legally purchased, wine to a restaurant, provided they offer the service. This is good. (legally purchased means no home made wine!)

It is good for the restaurateur, who can choose how, when and whether or not to allow BYO in their establishment, and how much to charge for the service of providing glassware, linen, opening, re-closing, and so on. They should also be recognizing the potential lost profit they woud have made had you purchased from their list in their corkage fee.

The owner can reduce their inventory of wine, and can now, conceivably, cut back to a bare minimum of house wines (I'd recommend two reds, two whites for bare bones). As long as people know they support BYO. In this manner an owner can avoid carrying too much inventory (it is rumoured that Seven Restaurant carries $300,000 worth of wine - that is a lot of investment to carry on your books), save on space - tables can go where wine was stored, and the removal of the curse of curses for many restaurants - corked or otherwise spoiled wine. Not their problem any more.

You see, it is a little talked about thing outside the restaurant world, but there are many idiots (assholes) who always send the first bottle back as "corked" solely to impress their table mates. Some people send wine back as corked simply if they don't like it. I saw one person order a wine at a local restaurant that they thought was red, and when it arrived a white wine, they waited until the server left, and debated with their partner on whether to keep it, deciding to declare it "off" and ask for another bottle. "Red wine this time, please, it seems the whites are off." I could suggest where the cork belongs (good thing I am not a server, eh?), but to stick to the topic of this post, let's just say that won't happen any more. The server will just have to be polite and sympathetic... "oh, it's bad? I'm so sorry sir, would you like to look at our wine list?"

The customer can benefit too (though not always). That special bottle from Irougeley you have been saving to have with a cassoulet? Find a place that goes to the trouble to make cassoulet and take it there. Want to try different wines with each and every course with friends? Everyone choose a course to match with a bottle to bring. Want to drink great wine with dinner, but not pay a 2.5 to 3 times markup? Now's your chance.

The downside for customers is this. Not everyone knows a lot about wine, and wine-food pairing. A sommelier making up a wine list for a restaurant uses the food as a guide to select which wines appear on the list, so if you go to a place that has a sommelier designed list, you should have a chance to find wines that match your meal. And you may discover something different. Trust me - Yellow Tail Shiraz is not a food wine. But what may end up happening is that people will go out and buy the same old thing they "like" because someone they know likes it, and drink wine that makes their meal worse. Places like Saege Bistro, and jane's on the common (where I help with the list), offer wines you might not normally buy, but upon trying there, offer the chance to discover a new thing to impress your friends with at dinner parties. Wine that is not manufactured in a 20,000,000 gallon vat.

So, how can a customer get the most out of this new policy? Call first to make sure they do BYO. I recommend looking at the menu of the restaurant (most have it on-line - for a list of links to Atlantic Canada restaurants who use sommeliers to help with their wine lists check here) - and thinking about what you and your friends might order. Then consult a book (Hugh Johnson's Pocket Guide has a nice little section in it), a knowledgeable friend, or on-line about what styles of wine might best suit the food (and ethnicity of the foods) you will be ordering. Then bring those wines with you. If you are concerned about corked wine, bring a backup, or resolve to just order from the wine list.

On arriving at the restaurant, let your server know as soon as possible that you have wine. This allows them to set your table correctly, and if they provide full service, to have an ice bucket available for white or sparkling wines. Confirm the corkage fee in advance. Allow the server to open the wines - the service still takes place under their liquor license and they are still responsible for making sure no one is overserved. If you want, ask the server to allow you to pour. And tip on the corkage fee! If you get service equal to what you normally expect from a bottle purchased off the list, then tip well - remember, had you paid $80 for that $30 bottle, you would have been tipping on the $80, not on a $15 corkage fee.

My special suggestions? Do things you would not otherwise do! Bring a sparkling wine to start - not many people buy sparkling wine in restaurants here, for some reason. Soon we will be able to buy great ones made locally, so we should get into that habit now. Try a dessert wine with your dessert - we already make great sweet wines here in NS and they really should be consumed here more often. Challenge wine conventions - try a racy Riesling with food you might otherwise think of as better served by red wine. Chefs regularly use seasonings and spices we don't at home, so look at that information when choosing wine, instead of the protein source.

I'm probably out this weekend to dinner and will be "bringing". How about you?

P.S.

If only the government bureaucrats were not so discriminatory about beer, I'd be bringing a couple excellent lagers to start. As it is, the government know-nothings are apparently still living in their past lives of puking in Legion parking lots, assuming that the only relation beer has with food is that it causes them to see it again soon.

But that's another post......

Imperialist Garrison Pale Ale!

2007-09-06T05:46:00.000-07:00

OK, it is Imperial Pale Ale. Owner Brian Titus was not sure he wanted to be thought of as copying Propeller (heaven forbid two breweries can use the proper style descriptor - we are not counting Keith's whose use of IPA borders on criminal, or criminally insane, or just plain silly, like calling ordinary green peppers habaneros) and did not want to use the term IPA. Brewer Greg Nash knows that it is an India Pale Ale, but seeing as his would be a quite extreme version, the ImPA thing was conceived.

The beer in its first iteration, is now all gone, and batch 2 is available. The first bottling was pretty darn good stuff. Malt hop balance with some straw dry hopping, and quite bitter hopping in the mid palate. The finish was a bit rough, but time rounded it off. Heck, given the Canadian IPA wilderness, I'd say it belongs in that category.

The second batch is bigger, more hops, more malt, more alcohol. And it is unfiltered - Greg hints that the filtering system at the brewery is quite efficient at stripping away some things he wanted in the beer. Note the label to the right. At 6.9% abv it is probably big enough in that regard. The hopping here, combined with the residual flavours from fresh fermenting yeast, tends to create a "young beer" character that may be a bit harsh right now, but after a couple of weeks in the bottle, should be sublime.

Greg advises that some tweaks are still in the mill for the next batch, can it get better? Maybe, perhaps for my palate with more malt to balance the hops, and some berry fruit esters, but right now it is the most extreme beer ever bottled commercially in modern times in Nova Scotia. Something to try for any beer lover.

Go East Young Person!

2007-09-06T05:30:00.000-07:00

Morris East, a new eatery in the downtown, was recommended to me by Jane of jane's on the common. "Have you been to Jennie's place yet?" she asked, "it has great pizza and a smart wine list, like ours." Jennie is Jennie Dobbs, a former server at jane's, now new restaurateur.

Needing no more encouragement, if that much, we soon found ourselves sitting in this Pizzeria just above Barrington on the south side of Morris. A lime green sign tastefully shows the way.

L had the pineapple bacon version and I went with the spicey sausage, with cured meat made at Ketch Harbour House (see earlier entry!).

I chose a glass of the Torrontes, from Sommelier Jamey Urquhart's "smart list". It held up very well to the spice, with the residual sweetness and body allowing the spice from the pepperoni to show but not burn.

The place is well situated in a growing eating area in the city. Lots of students, and what I felt to be the right balance of cool and comfort in the decor.... Oh, yes, the decor.

What can I say? Imitation is the greatest form of flattery? The room felt a bit strange to me - sort of like it was done by the same designer who did jane's on the common, but with too many of the same features and principles being applied to attribute to a reputable designer - too much recycling and repetition to be the work of Breakhouse Design. So it felt like a good copy of someone else's work to me.

Turns out it is. John Dobbs, father of the owner/partner, is a noted local architect. I can pretty well guarantee that he looked at jane's a few times while designing this place.

But it works, and let's face it, not many patrons are as design obsessed as me.

The food was really very good, with the pizza immediately gaining status in my books as the equal of Salvatore's and Tomasino's. My one beef was that there was flour on the crust bottom - too much flour, and not enough olive oil. But that will solve itself I suspect.

And the wine list IS smart. Without the quotes.

Getting the Cure - Ketch Harbour House

2007-09-06T05:23:00.000-07:00

The Sommeliers were graduating and I was invited. Mark DeWolf, one of the instructors of the CAPS program (www.atlanticsommeliers.ca) had aranged for dinner at Ketch Harbour House, an "at home restaurant" outside of town.

Piled into the Valley Wine Tours van, we headed out for dinner and festivities.

This place is so worth your patronage. The food, served to our party of about 18, was wonderful. Meats slow cooked, cured and thrice cooked. Salamis and pepperonis curing behind a glass window, prosciutto and ultra thin cured beef.

So many great tastes.....

Here is the menu:

CAPS Graduation Dinner
A selection of Ketch Harbour House charcuterie

~

Steam-smoked Atlantic salmon with poached asparagus,
tesa lardons and saffron orange butter

~

72 hour sous-vide beef shortribs with corn and poblano ragout
and crispy tobacco onions

~

Raisin apple French toast with grilled Ontario peach,
crème anglaise and Sugar Moon maple syrup

Those short ribs haunt me.....

Being tracked by Aliens.... the exit interview

2007-08-15T19:32:00.000-07:00

I am becoming very sure that my GPS track for two days will be used as an inspirational aid to all those depressed people, dependent on cars, who are forced to live in automobile confinement in the burbs.

During my days of being tracked by the SMU aliens, I was in and out of so many pubs, restaurants, fun shops, and walked all over town. If they use me as a model citizen, no one will need a car, and there will be lots of parking for me downtown, so I won't have to walk!

The exit interview was hilarious. I was supposed to have written down every move I made, but I had not really anticipated that they wanted almost as much detail as noting bowel movements.

Here is a sample of my interview.

Alien: Uh huh, so where did you go next....?
Me: Um, I went to the Wired Monk with my friends.
Alien: You went up Argyle Street?
Me: Yes, then down Blowers, over to Salter and we walked down Hollis to the coffee shop.
Alien: And you didn't stop along the way? On Argyle...?
Me: Oh, yeah... how did you know that? Yeah, that's right, Costa and Stephanie were sitting outside Mosaic, and Gina and I stopped and talked with him for a bit.
Alien: And you went inside?
Me: No, wait, oh, yeah, we took a quick little look see through the place so they could check out the decor.
Alien: And then you walked to the Wired Monk?
Me: I dunno, did I?

You get the picture. I don't know why they asked me - they knew already. I think they may have actually been doing a survey on how well people keep records of their movements when asked.

Just don't be surprised when the new HRM transit policy incorporates pub visits into every commuter's daily regime!

Lazing on a sunny afternoon while being tracked by aliens

2007-08-15T19:25:00.001-07:00

A morning of very BORING work had me looking forward very much to meeting up with the Riesling Princess and her mate for lunch. Gina H was coming to town to meet her guy at the airport, and instead of rushing home to bed, they were going to lunch with me (bad choice if you ask me, but I wasn't arguing).

We ate at the monkey, the Wooden Monkey that is, after a brief rain shower, the skies were bright and the heat was starting in. My pizza was really good, and they tried a few things, including my fave, and always recommended Seitan Sandwich. I had a Propeller IPA (on tap here!) and we split a bottle of Gaspereau Vineyards Muscat. I think lunch may have taken two hours, but if I need to know, I guess I can call SMU and ask. You see I was wearing a GPS tracking device for two days.

I was a part of this Halifax Peninsula transit study or something, where they were looking at travel patterns of people living on the Peninsula. So, just in case you were one of those people, no I was not weaving that widely down Argyle Street, I was going in to all the bars.

I am sure they are still trying to process my data.

Anyway, we headed down the the Wired Monk after the lazing in the sun lunch, and I got a double espresso wake up call. They ran off to drive home. For me, it was up to Pete's Frootique to shop for supper. Yes, sometimes I cook.

Dragonfly Café; Yellow Cello; Red Bird

2007-08-01T19:41:00.000-07:00

Yes, that IS a very colourful and interesting series of eateries named in the title. And it describes my day. Breakfast (muffin and coffee) at the Dragonfly Cafe, just past Antigonish (used to be Uncle Ron's)on my way to Baddeck. Lunch at the Yellow Cello where a great taco salad bit the dust and helped me deal with the heat. Dinner at the Red Bird Wine and Scotch bar in Truro on the way home, a simple sandwich that hit the spot, washed down with a Heineken Lager.

Ed, traveling with me, is now learning to avoid chain food, like chain smoking.

Long days are shorter when you eat well.

A Mosaic of Flavours

2007-07-27T06:04:00.000-07:00

I managed to drag L, kicking and screaming, into a wine bar. Not just any wine bar, either, but the one I happened to be customer numero uno - the first person to walk in the door back on December 15 - Mosaic, on Argyle Street in downtown Halifax.

This place does not have a full menu, relying instead on letting their talented chef play with food, and you to snack on it until you suddenly realize you are full, and have spent probably more than you would on a meal.

OK, I loved the little burger thingies, the french fries, and just about anything we tried, and so did L.

That evening was a total success. They even let me wear my ball cap into the place, though I did take it off at the table.

The wines by the glass are numerous, and well chosen.

A couple of weeks later, I returned, this time with four of my friends, who were a lot more critical than L and I were. The liked some things, dissed others, and generally felt they paid more than they should have for the enjoyment. Thankfully, they liked the bottle of wine I chose for them (Ksara Couvent).

I dunno - order food you like and enjoy it. Eat with your fingers. Laugh out loud. Sit outside and watch the beautiful people go by (I saw Oliver Bone out celebrating his recent qualification for the Beijing Olympics...)

And wear your ball cap.

You CAN judge a book by its cover!

2007-07-26T11:59:00.000-07:00

Inside, it's full of shit.

I can't resist it, I know I already went on about this building, but my predictions are coming true.

My good friend and mentor PK always says:

"Bad design costs no more!"

That ugly stupid treatment plant they built to welcome visitors to our downtown core needs to be torn down and rebuilt. It is not as if it'll treat very much anyway!

Here is what they say on their web site:

The look...

The exterior design of the Halifax wastewater treatment plant(WTP) has been a major focus of the Halifax Community Liaison Committee(CLC), the group elected by area residents to help integrate the WTP into the community. Earlier this summer, 2005, the Halifax CLC, working closely with architects from contractor D&D WaterSolutions Inc. and HRM staff, emerged with a design for the exterior facade of the plant. This design is an integral component of the overall Harbour Solutions Project that will see this new facility successfully integrate into the community and HRM.

Never hire architects from a wastewater contractor and never let municipal staff design anything! There is a reason these people are working where they are.

On the good side, I have to admit I like the great series of single family style homes recently built along the east side of Gladstone Street to front on the new Gladstone Properties development. A fine mix of modern materials, old, successful Hali-typical designs, and some non repetitive mix of details, even the odd duplex thrown in with care.

What's behind it looks like Mississauga, and we all know what I think about THAT place.

Francey That!

2007-06-24T11:41:00.000-07:00

The girls were gone, so my buddy George and I had a man-date to see David Francey. First I went to his place with some nice things to drink. He made supper and we watched TV. (Flight of the Conchords - hilarious).

Then we walked down to the concert at Alderney landing together. But we did not hold hands.

OK, enough with the fluff. The concert was excellent. Francey played many of this old faves, and served up several of the excellent songs from his new album. The show, at the theatre style Alderney Gate was promoted by the Keltic Corner Pub, across the street on Alderney Drive (and one of the best pubs in Nova Scotia right now - Propeller Porter on tap). The say, or at least co-owner Geoff MacLatchey said, that they plan on doing more larger venue shows when the performer warrants it. Good on them. Maybe some day someone will actually move to downtown Dartmouth! OK, sorry George, someone important.... I mean someone of ... OK, more people, then.

Francey's in-between-songs patter was great, as usual, and made the songs more personal and meaningful. His fascination with Great Lakes lakers was interesting, and how he managed to achieve a "dream" of touring on one was fun to hear. Then hearing the songs he got from the trip became a workshop in song writing.

Afterwards, we ventured over to the Keltic Corner pub, and found it rocking away to some Irish Band, full of an all ages crowd just getting in on! A few people from the show did come over, and Francey sold some CD's (one to me, in fact) and signed various parts of people's bodies etc.

David Francey remains one of the most transparently likable singer/songwriters in folk music. He really enjoys what he is doing, and hearing how a crowd receives his work. If you don't know his music, and you love songs that seem to have fallen together in perfect rhythm while still evoking real emotion, give him a listen.

Here is my favourite Francey line, about that first crush in high school:

When you hear a sound like broken glass
That's my heart every time that girl walks past
When you hear a sound like the rush of wind
It's just me catching my breath again.

Evens not Odd

2007-06-21T11:30:00.000-07:00

Clank said go. L said sure. I end up at the North Street Church to watch a dry concert show with an ex hardcore punk rocker from the states and his current gal pal play a two person acoustic punk show.

Ian MacKaye, former lead singer of Minor Threat now performs as one half of The Evens. This is the guy who coined the phrase "straight edge" in punk lingo. That means pure anarchy - no booze, no drugs, almost a Wiccan adherence to the "do no harm" thing, but with maybe some property violence permissible.

From that Wiki thing...

Straight edge (also known as sXe, and xXx) refers to a lifestyle (deemed both counter culture and subculture) closely associated with hardcore punk music. There is considerable debate over what constitutes the practice of the straight edge lifestyle. The most widely associated perception involves practicing at least some degree of abstinence from alcohol, tobacco, and other drugs. Some views may also include abstinence from caffeine, following a vegetarian or vegan diet, and abstinence from various levels and forms of sexual activity.

The show was pretty good.

I could have used something to drink, though.

Fred-Head Not Dead

2007-06-15T11:10:00.000-07:00

Fred Eaglesmith may be the most honest guy in music, or the best actor. I'm not sure which. What I am sure about is that he has the ability to write songs that stay with you. Songs that no one else could ever right, but still are able to convey a feeling we all have had, or wish we could have.

He writes sad songs about his good dog, knowing that one day he'll have to put him down (Bill Morrissey has handled the day it happens, too well for most people's tear ducts). He writes uplifting songs about white trash just getting on with life, romantic songs about cars and trains, poignant, almost poetic songs about old gas stations and girl friends, as if they were one and the same. And he performs them in a gritty, tight, manner with what is sometimes an incredibly eclectic group of musicians, normally anchored in their musicianship by Willie P. Bennett, who can play anything with strings.

Fred seems to enjoy making a point with his choices of venue as well. He is more at home in a fire station hall than Carnegie Hall, and his recent choice of the Parkside Pub, in Highfield Park, our city's "new tough place to live" is emblematic of that approach. He is loved there. And he loves it back.

I've seen Fred play 4 times previous to this gig, but had not seen him in a while. L and I got there fairly early, and I managed to scrounge a seat for two along the wall. The service was not just good, it was incredible. Our server was friendly, efficient, fun, prompt, polite, and gorgeous. We ate the specialty, Chicken wings and beer.

Fred started on time, and they stopped serving food so as not to interrupt the show, but I think it was because the staff just wanted to watch too.

The first news was that Willie P. had had a heart attack on stage two weeks prior. It happened near the start of the show, Fred said, but he played through it and then went to the hospital. Not sure how true this was, because Fred was in Fred mode. He has become a show since I saw him last, with more than simply patter between songs. His stage talk runs somewhere between a southern preacher railing against all the evil in the world, to a frustrated honky who hates hummus and everything it stands (or slumps) for.

The show was full throttle for 90 minutes. He played almost all the faves, seemingly not risking new tunes without Willie P. up there with him. With his merch-sales gal drummer keeping time, and backed up solidly on bass and guitar, the music rocked, swayed, sobbed, and rolled.

After the third, and "as announced" final encore, he sat off to the side, signing merchandise and swapping stories with about 75 lined up fans. I wanted one of the "I Shot Your Dog" T-shirts, but they were sold out. What a perfect thing to wear out for a stroll on the Common!

My only complaint was that my favourite song of his, Lucille, was not on the program.

So I played it at home, before I went to sleep to dream about perfect chicken wings, drag racin'on the back roads, and snow plow drivers out in the middle of the plain hoping they are still on the blacktop.

Happy Anniversay, Happy Anniversary, Happy Anniversay, Happy Anniversary, Happy Anniversay, Happy Anniversary, Happy Anniversay, Happy Anniversary

2007-06-09T17:42:00.000-07:00

Some time long ago and far way L and I started living together. It was, like, almost by default. Anyway, apparently that was "20 years ago today" (Sgt Pepper) on June 3.
But June 3 was full of all kinds of other stuff, so we deferred the eating part til this weekend.

Morning was mixed, eggs a la Jeff with some toast cheese etc.

Brunch was at Saege, served by the gorgeous Karin, brunch consisted of Eggs Benedict and Ham, with ROESTI POTATOES (I like ROESTI POTATOES so I shout them all the time.)

ROESTI POTATOES! ROESTI POTATOES! See?

L also had ROESTI POTATOES! with her eggs and sausages, but she was much quiter than me about it.

I had a Mimosa (knowing it is made correct there - see earlier post) made me much more comfortable with the drink, really.

The best thing was the strawberries in the water pitcher, especially when one fell into my glass and I got to eat it.

A stroll through the Public Gardens, and then back home.

Later that day, it was dinner out at Fiasco. This place gets rave reviews on Chowhound, from people who seem to know what they are eating, and who eat elsewhere and are not related to some of the restaurant owners (unlike some "critics" in the Province). There seems to be some buzz about "the sauces", which I now think was created by an old Stephen Maher review (he of the "good, very good" reviews). Yes the sauces were good, yes they were very good, maybe even great. Sure, yes, great sauces.

Anyway, back to the dinner. We wanted to take the menu's advice and have an appetizer sampler. It said three apps made for two plates. Cool - that'll be the two pastas and a spinach salad! Um, no, the menu may say or imply, that we should be able to do that, but no, it is chef's choice. In determining the choice of food, for me - THAT MEANS HE CAN POISON YOU IF HE IS IN A SHITTY MOOD!! How many happy chefs do you know? They are all serious until they get drunk, then they throw knives and assorted pastries at anything that moves! They may laugh then, but it is only at the way you bleed. At best, it means they use this as a way to discard the apps no one else likes.

Anyway, I politely accepted this denial of my request to eat what I wanted and morphed it into a Spinach salad (warm with smoked bacon, balsamic and garlic) and the Tortellini with a browned butter, cream and prosciutto sauce (note - SAUCE!). I thought I said we'd do it as a split, but they came plated separately. (also cost $5 more than the special we thought the menu offered). The pasta sauce rocked. The salad? Um, not really.

The wine list was not bad. They are close to the POW but I note that some Private store selections have snuck in. I had the Flagstone Sauvignon Blanc (the server called it something else) and L had her usual H2O. I asked for water, which I never did see until I lay on the carpet choking for something... OK, no, but it went forgotten and I had to ask again. (did I mention we were the only customers in the place?)

The wines open by the glass were not on any list, and seemed to be improvised (which I think is cool). There were three whites and three reds open. The red I chose for my second course of Beef Medallion(s) was the Don David Malbec. Not on the list, but open for service by the glass. It was too alcoholic to provide a fair match to the food, maybe palatable with raw meat and no sauce, or lysol in the ditch behind the church on Brunswick Street - but I chose it, so it was clearly my fault. I ordered the beef rare. I said "rare" I am sure. I got meat that was decidedly medium. Does anyone know what "rare" means in this city? Even at Seven with their wonderful PEI filet and wood grill, I asked for rare and got medium rare. At janes I asked for rare and got medium. If I ask for "blue" I expect they'll just paint my frickken nose. I am considering bringing in a good cut of steak and just eating it at my table uncooked. Maybe then someone will get the message. Hopefully the BYO rules will have passed and I'll be able to afford a proper wine to drink with it too!

L had a seafood medley type of thing. Scallops, halibut, mussels, clams, and even a "hidden shrimp". This pleased her - they hid the singleton shrimp, so her disappointment at there being no shrimp or lobster was temporarily forgotten by the pleasant suprise of finding the solo shrimp under some cheaper white fish (Halibut?) meat. Accident, or design? Didn't fool me.

She says it was great, but I ask, was it just the company, really?

To our server's shock, we decline dessert, as patrons are starting to arrive, and it looks to be a real puke fest at a big table - they have already covered the seats with sheets in anticipation of their needing to be preserved (Bill Spurr said that's why they do that, and he should know, he writes a food column for a "major newspaper"!). I guess the sheets can be washed later, and it's hard to get that puke smell out of the furniture.

In truth the meal was great. Seriously. I'd recommend the place to anyone in a heartbeat. My only quibble was the price - maybe I am spoiled by janes on the common, but the bill was $114 before grat. Two glasses of wine, a salad and pasta app, and two main courses, one a daily special. That is $60 at janes. Was it better? Hmm. Some of it was, marginally - the sauce on the pasta, and the steak/medallion(s) (there was only one medallion but the menu has an "s" on it, though it was good, and enough). The spinach salad at janes is better, the wine by the glass is as good, and cheaper, and the seafood can be as good or better there, depending on the special of the day. The cut of meat at Fiasco was prime, and arguably better, but it was almost $30, so it had better be good. Maybe it can even come rare sometimes.

So go, eat there, eat things with sauces, and chill out - the wine list was very good, and the markups very fair.

A stroll through the Public Gardens, and then back home.

Later, that evening we went to janes for dessert, having allowed time for our meal to digest a bit. With my cousin, right off the Mira Gut to Marion Bridge ferry. The beauty of the desert menu shone through. My coconut cream shortbread crust mini-pie was yummy without being too sweet, L's upside down rhubarb cake was worth the wait, and my cousin made his carrot cake disappear in no time.

Yep, a great day of eating.

BURP

Lightfoot Treads Lightly on the Metro Centre

2007-06-02T14:27:00.000-07:00

Let's get this clear from the start, I bought the tickets to this concert because I wanted to see Gordon Lightfoot before he died. Years of listening to him, yet never seeing him required this. I was wondering why that was until he mentioned that he hadn't been east in 17 years or so. That might be it.

There was no opening act, and Gordon and his old but talented band started up the show with Daylight Katy and kept going from there. He played a lot of the old faves, and in about a half hour, you started becoming almost in awe at the size of his body of work. He has been responsible for the creation of so many gems, classics, favourite songs, and memory evoking tunes and lyrics.

I still recall always having Carefree Highway in my car cassette player for long drives, and that stretch of the 104 where Barney's River cuts through the mountain pass outside of Antigonish always come to mind when I hear that tune.

The show had about a half hour intermission. Gordon needed the break. His voice is no longer that of a young man, and tended to the wispy character of someone who is tired, but still has something of value to say.

That said, the sound system was sorely not up to the task of moving the air in the Metro Centre. This was a show that would have been totally awesome in the Cohn, but was almost lost in the atmosphere in the hockey arena. That was alright for us, as I had bought seats as close as were available. But there were those in the end of the rink who were yelling "turn it up!" all night.

Too bad, really. Two or three nights at the Cohn would have been far better than this one in this location.

In the end, Gord gave gold, and that was why we came.

Down in the caves of Stönehäven

2007-06-02T14:06:00.000-07:00

Dinner before the Gordon Lightfoot concert, and I was thinking about trying a new place to eat. We never did get to Syn before it went out of business, so I figured maybe we'd get to this place just in case.

The advertising had me more than ready to not like the place. I mean, it has two umlauts in the name alone (as was pointed out to me by teslagirl)! Like some aged Spinal Tap type rock band from the 70's.

The evening we went, we almost did not get a table for two, it was that booked. We sat in the outer room, close to the bar, which is fine, though not as cosy as the inner little caves that La Cave made famous.

How often does a new place open, with a new name, claiming to represent the culinary heritage of two former semi famous places to eat in town? Stönehäven, located in the former La Cave, then The Cavern, then Syn location, claims to be the descendant of both Pepe's and La Cave. I am not sure how many people remember Pepe's, but it was a good spot to eat back in the late eighties, and earlier. I think Your Father's Moustache is there now.

We were served by very friendly people. No impatience, and relatively prompt, except for the dessert. I think there is some sort of a bottleneck between the kitchen and the floor that can hold up a simple order (a piece of cheesecake) behind a big table's main courses.

The food was good. Not fine dining inventive original, but hearty, as advertised, and tasty. I had Devilled Chicken which was steak au poivre with chicken breast instead of steak. I liked it - they did not scrimp on the pepper. L had some chowder, and a pasta dish, both to her liking.

The wine list was pathetic, and this is one serious weakness of the place. I ended up with only one real choice for white wine by the glass, and it was an Australian Chard from a big industrial producer.

The cheescakes we had for dessert were both excellent, although they did take longer to arrive than anything else we ordered.

Others may find this place not to their liking, but on this night, to our experience, it was fine. And the service was very good.

Of course, it is not for the claustrophobic.

Erica Wears the Pants

2007-05-09T15:13:00.000-07:00

I have heard that Kim Crawford, the famed New Zealand winemaker is a big lad. A rugby type (in NZ, anyone is, I suppose, as that is their state religion). But it is now clear to me who really wears the pants in the family. Pity Kim. Perhaps he should have been given a more manly name?

Sunday night saw me, in the accompaniment of a PYT* attend another Food and Wine Club event. This time at Spring Garden Road, and RCR Hospitality's Onyx Restaurant. The reason was to celebrate the wines of Kim Crawford Estates, formerly a "virtual winery" in New Zealand, now grown to prominence partly through the excellent winemaking of Kim (the guy) and the marketing prowess of Erica (the girl).

From what I can tell they met on a rugby field, and possibly, though it was hard to hear, consumated their relationship there, resulting in her not being able, nine months later, to take a big important job in Asia, and having to stay home and mind the family business instead. So much for the history part.

What was never mentioned was how they are owned, not just repped, by Vincor, which is, in turn, owned by Constellation Brands. This is like being a microbrewery and being owned by Labatt, which is owned by InBev. Or like going to the corner store to find out that it is a now a chain store that is owned by Walmart.

That said, the wines were very very good. So maybe Constellation is too busy trying to decide how to make "One Buck Chuck" this year that they have forgotten to step in and screw it up.

The Riesling they showed was fantastic stuff. A small parcel selection, it was elegant, with a telling nose, great fruit, and well balanced acidity. Classy.
The regular Sauvignon Blanc is starting to get so consistent, I am wondering just how manufactured it is. It seems the same to me, regardless of vintage. That said, I have always loved it, and still do. A small parcel Sauvignon Blanc showed very classy, reminding me of Nobilo Icon, and some good California SB's I have had, but was fulloer bodied, and not my style of the grape.

The Merlot-Cab Franc, my first non-pinot red from this winery, was very well balanced, full of new world style fruit, but with a nose that was reminiscent of 2003 Bordeaux. The Merlot was a bigger, somewhat clumsy thing, wandering around in the dark look for some Cab, any Cab, to mix with. A wine for those who don't like wine, really. The 2006 Pinot Noir is an excellent example of the style, with mushrooms, forest floor, pine needles in the nose, and cherry fruit with full body, but a clean acid finish. I find this much improved from their last two vintages.

Onyx, once again for me - this was my third time eating a pre-arranged menu dinner here - came though with shining colours, with a small quibble of cool plates for the main (was the warmer down for the count, or perhaps too small for a banquet style dinner?) I also took points off for spelling on the menu.

A starter of Tuna Carpaccio sliced so thin you could see through it, made from ahi tuna dry rubbed with coriander, and with a pile of lavender & crushed pepper with duo of saffron & wasabi aioli, piled in the middle of the plate, along with an assortment of table breads, began the evening's eating. I loved this with the Riesling.

Then a main course called Duck Two Ways, consiting of a Muscovy duck breast Peking style & duck leg confit, with accompanying vegetables. The confit was simply to die for. Thinking of it now makes my mouth water. This was made even better by the Pinot Noir.

Dessert consisted first of the winery's late harvest Riesling, a good, but not outstanding example of the style, followed by Baked Alaska, not flamed enough to set off the sprinklers, made with a port infused fig center, chocolate & chai ice cream dome with kumquat cranberry compote. Um. Yes. More please.

Erica the marketer came around, fielding the questions proffered by the largely "civilian" wine audience that these events attract. She was unable to answer my question about the clones the riesling was made from, despite an earlier assertion that this was her favourite wine. She did kow that one was Alsatian. And when I suggested that the 2006 Pinot Noir was far better than the previous two vintages, she was about ready to pick me up (with one arm, I wager) and toss me out the door in front of a number 80 bus.

Sorry, but the 04 was mean and thin, and the 05 not a lot better. The 06 is in the stores now, and it rocks.

In the meantime, I am going over to the Garrison Grounds to watch the women's rugby teams practice....

*Pretty Young Thing

Dry Brunch

2007-05-06T07:47:00.000-07:00

It is odd how when you are thinking about someone, they pop up in your life for real sometimes. While I was writing the entry on Gina Haverstock (The Riesling Princess) she called me. Seems she was heading into Halifax, and was wondering if we were up for lunch at janes on the common, as she had yet to eat there.

It usually takes far less to mobilize L and I for that, and despite a late breakfast of steak and eggs, we soon find ourselves with Gina at my favourite table. I note that daughter number one is back working there, having just finished her environmental engineering program at Dal.

L orders the special, a deep dish pancake with fruit piled in, Gina has the turkey burger and I go back to my lunch fave there, the grilled cheese sandwich with the tomato butter. All very good, as usual.

For beverage, it was water, coffee, and Aranciata. Brunch with a winemaker and sommelier, and no wine was consumed! There are three wines on the list from Gina's employer (she works at Gaspereau, but Jost owns that winery and she is back and forth to the larger operation up on the Northumberland coast) but we buy none. I shall have to tease her about that.

We talk each other (I am blaming L) into a dessert course that further obligates us all to a walk around and through Point Pleasant Park. Gina had not yet seen Juan's legacy of damage there, and I had some work to do in the Park, and the dessert needed to be mitigated somehow.

Then home, in time to head out to supper at Phil's Seafood, and then the Aeolian Singers/Connie Kaldor concert at the Cohn.

A pretty good day in the city.

The Riesling Princess

2007-05-05T07:56:00.000-07:00

It's all about the wine, Gina will tell you. But last week, it seemed like everyone was making it all about Gina, to her somewhat dismayed embarrassment. Gina Haverstock is the new winemaker at Gaspereau Vineyards, just over South Mountain (yes, I know it is barely a hill) from Wolfville. I can tell you, you will simply not find a nicer person on the planet. Period. No matter how nice you think you are, Gina is nicer.

Gina is the first person in Nova Scotia to become a winemaker, a professional in wine, "from scratch". She discovered wine while working at Jost Vineyards in the tasting room and gift shop one summer (her family cottage was close by) and got hooked. The biochemistry degree that had been intended to be the base for a medical career ended up being used in a much more productive manner!

The work to become a winemaker is not a short and easy road to follow. Gina first took her interest in the hospitality side of things, studying under Adam Dial to complete the full International Sommelier Guild Program in Halifax. Here she learned all about the world of wine, and how to taste wine, match it with food, and consider its faults and qualities. The Sommelier course is also a huge lesson in geography, as familiarity with terroir around the world is part of the lessons to be learned.

Gina then took the big step of enrolling at Brock University's Cool Climate Oenology and Viticultural Institute (CCOVI, pronounced cuh-vee) to become a winemaker. Years later she emerged, degree in hand, and with work experience from around the world.

She says it was on her term in Germany that her love of the Queen of Grapes, Riesling, began. She has worked in vineyards, farming and winemaking in Germany, Austria and New Zealand.

This past year, she returned to Nova Scotia to be come the winemaker at Gaspereau Vineyards, Jost's Annapolis Valley operation.

And guess what awaited her? Some Nova Scotia grown Riesling, planted high up on the hill in the vineyard behind the winery.

Last week, the winery held an Introduction to Riesling event, with invited guests and paying customers. At this event, they launched Gina's first Riesling in Nova Scotia. This wine is, in my opinion, the best white wine ever made in Nova Scotia (not counting icewines) and, if we take the stance of an outsider looking into our industry from afar, arguably the best wine ever made in Nova Scotia (again, we'd better not count Icewine, because ours is already maybe the best in the world).

The wine is bright, pale straw in colour, with a tickling of acidity on initial taste, with lemon-lime and maybe a trace of mandarin citrus. There is a some petrol in the nose, offering an initial hint of its identity. The middle is full, and almost semi sweet, but the wine, like a good Mosel style, finishes with great, lip smacking acidity and fresh fruit.

Now, you probably won't be able to buy any for a while, but look for it when it does come out.

In the meantime, Gina's first Seyval for Gaspereau is also out, and it is a stunning example of how good this grape can be. Crisp lean acidity make it an ideal food wine, and a good candidate for a house white with our local seafood inspired cuisine.

Gina has led the way in yet another manner, as one more of the local wine community is now at Brock. Alison Moyes, who having finished her Sommelier Program a few years ago, was at Seven Wine Bar as Sommelier and Manager, is currently at 13th Street Winery on her work term, about 1/3 of her way through the same program from which Gina graduated.

So remember, when you taste Gina's wines, raise a glass to the Riesling Princess, the gal who came back home and is helping to further advance the wine industry in Nova Scotia.

Wine of the Week, May 5, 2007

2007-05-05T07:49:00.000-07:00

McWilliams Hanwood Riesling, $15.99

In a screwcap! No corked wine here!

The NSLC says:

Aromas of lemon, lime and mandarin with subtle hints of orange blossom and musk. An intensely aromatic palate of fresh lime and citrus with a crisp, acidic finish. A perfect accompaniment to spicy dishes.

I say:

Yes with the lemon lime acidity, fresh clean fruit with enough semi sweet middle to please anyone who wants true Riesling character without a smarmy sickly sweet finish. I know $15.99 is a bit much for some of you, but at least you know it won't be corked.

This will work as a drink, or with food, which is rare nowadays. I'd suggest something with 5-spice, and other oriental character.

Enjoy!

Lost Heritage, Found Crap

2007-05-01T17:30:00.000-07:00

Halifax's urban skyline is old. Dated. Lost and dreary, nothing new or interesting added since the milk cartons...I mean Purdy's Wharf Towers, were built.

Twenty years of nothing. Like some people's lives I suppose, but a city can barely survive that kind of stagnancy. A city is an organism, it requires renewal, reinvestment, repair, and rebirth.

One hundred years from now, people will look at our city and wonder what the hell we were doing on our watch. All of our investment in buildings in the past 20 years has been, with some rare exceptions, to make pure crap. Tilt up concrete and metal buildings for Bayers Lake, the end-of-the-world-as-we-know-it repetitious sprawl of Clayton Park and CP-West, and, coming soon to a multiplex theatre near you, Dartmouth Crossdressing.

I suppose if I was one of those self assured, self righteous, heritage people who KNOW beyond a doubt that the architecture of 1950 is far better than what the architects of the past 20 years might have built here, I might be happier. I would like to know how they can be so sure of themselves about that, though.

I find myself wondering what might have been. What if the development community (you know, the people with money who build things) in Halifax had been allowed to spend money in the downtown, rather than running out to BLIP and now Dartmouth Crossdressing to invest in Big Box Bull Shite? I suppose the heri-terrorists are happy because really, you can't easily walk or bicycle out there to be offended, so they are the ignorant type of happy. Like, la la happy.

It may now be easier to pedal to Dartmouth Crossdressing, though, and maybe Osama Ban Pacie, her probone lawyer and the gang who know for sure what is best for the rest of us might finally be able to witness the destruction their actions have wrought, however inadvertently, on our built heritage. Imagine the terror on their faces when they see what they have created. Or better, when they realize that what they have left as a built heritage for future generations, to stand for their time here, is all single story, land hogging, car requiring, energy sucking, greed driven, multinational funded, short term tax generating, downtown suffocating crap. I have one question. Do you want fries with that shit? I am sure that this is where their souls will rest when they pass on, and this nourishes me.

Architecture in Nova Scotia now consists of little more than a school from which people graduate and then leave the Province. Modern Architecture does not matter here. Too clean, too stable, and it certainly has no chance of attracting squatting vagrants. And that means it won't fit in, in our downtown. Look on the bright side. Pretty soon you will be able to live just about wherever you want to on Barrington Street! I like the third floor of what used to be Sam the Record Man. (Maybe Sue hid some old Loudon Wainwright the Third CD's in the walls....) In about five years, the way we're going, all I'll need is my sleeping bag and a gun, and I'll be fine there.

At least the pubs sometimes work in the basements of the places that the owners can't rent but can't replace. So my habitat is secure. Until they rot and fall down, that is.

Note: Research In Motion (Crackberry people), needing Class A office space in a hurry, knew better than to trust our 23 member Hydra-council with their investment by trying to locate in our downtown. Heck, some of them are so challenged they don't understand what a downtown means to an economy of a city and the region around it. How is it that Chicago, the best run city in North America, reportedly, manages with only 7 councillors? Surely more politicians has to be better? That must make some kind of sense? Oh Christ, I need another drink....

Wait, is the Granite Brewery moving to Windsor? In the valley? Not Windsor Ontario, Windsor Nova Scotia?... My brain hurts.... More beer please...

Rogues Roost gone in September 2008 to make way for condos? Pass the scotch....

Wine of the Week, April 15, 2007

2007-04-15T17:13:00.000-07:00

It has been a while since I last posted a WOTW, but I am still in cheap white wine mode. And you simply cannot do better for the buck than this one.

2006 KWV Chenin Blanc, $9.99, NSLC

All the white wine you really need for sipping with dinner out on the deck. And it ain't a Chardonnay! Great wine, simply great for $10. And they won't run out of it for a while, either. Clean good acidity, slight smokey in the background, and some mild chalky tannin. Trace of tropical fruit. Clean, crisp and straightforward. Sure, there is not a lot of complexity, but it is $10!

Poutine on the Hops - A Montreal Pub Crawl

2007-04-15T16:20:00.000-07:00

Beer buddy Alexandre was rallying some of the troops for a Montreal pub crawl the night before the March in Montreal (MIM) Beer Event. MIM is a reason to go to Montreal, and I have been to it the past 12 years in a row. I am pretty sure that despite the claims of one Montrealer, I am the only person to have been to all of them, and I live in Halifax.

Alexandre wants to start at his local pub, a very nice little spot way up on Saint Laurent neat St. Zotique called Vice et Versa. This place's claim to fame is a complete reliance on Quebec produced products, from cheese, to bread, to meats, to drink. There are about 20 beers on tap, all micros, most of which I have never had.

I beat Alexandre there, and order a 1/2 pint of the Brasseurs et Freres IPA (5.6% - ok, thinish, nice hops) to help me contemplate a theme for the evening. Plans were to end up at Le Cheval Blanc, a long ways away, which meant that there were a lot of potential stops in between. But we had until 10 am the next day, when the conference started....

Alex arrives shortly after 5 pm. No one else will be joining us here, as they will be meeting us at Dieu de Ciel, on Laurier and Clarke, about a 15 minute walk away. I'm hungry, and know enough to know I'll need some food for the evening. I order a cheese and pate plate, and follow Alex's habit of ordering a small size glass they sell at Vice et Versa called a "Galopin". It is sort of a large sampler glass. Maybe 4 ounces. I try the Bieropholie Cascade IPA, which was excellent; the Hopfenstark, post Colonial (IPA) 6.5%, drying hop bitterness with good malt balance; and the Hopfenstark, Ostalgia Rousse, nice, hoppier than expected.

True to form, I want more than 4 ounces of a beer. When my food arrives, and to cleanse my palate of the hops, I order a pint of Trois Mousquetieres, Dartagnan Lager, which was clean, a bit grainy, but with a nice malt character and trace of sulfur on the nose. The cheeses and pates are served with great olives (Quebec olives?) and nice breads, some toasted. This makes me happy.

Shortly, we are ready to begin the trek. The success of the IPA tasting here has set my theme, and I'm off to try as many IPA's, or beers close to that, as I can.

At Dieu de Ciele, the Corne de Diable IPA is on cask, on the hand pump. It is against my religion to not have a full pint of cask conditioned beer. This one is soft in the mouth with a very complex malt profile, and long long finishing hops with some vegetal notes. It is strange being here without cigarette smoke....

We hold down the end of the bar for a while, now joined by one of Alexandre's friends, who I'd met the night before. We are subsequently joined by another local beer guy, and once he has his taste, we are off to the Sergeant Recruiteur, not far away, just down Saint Laurent. There I have a pint of Sergeant Recruiteur Hip Hop IPA, which was very yummy, Northern Brewer hops I was guessing, traditional style, and balanced.

We picked up another member of the crawl here, one of the Ontario CABA crowd in for the next day's event. He was on the other side of the bar, and looked familier form previous MIM's.

Next stop was the Reservoir on Duluth, just off Saint Laurent. I had the IPA, a pint (surprised?). This beer was the best I have ever had at this place, known more for its excellent menu (it is really a bistro, well above pub food), with a good balance and chewey hop palate.

From the Res' we head down the hill (this is the right direction to do a walking pub crawl) and decide that the walk to the next brewpub, Amere a Boire, is too far for our liking (or was that bladders?) and we pay a visit to Else's Cafe, a great little neighbourhood pub/resto that is on Le Boullion. There I have a pint of L'Alchimiste IPA (clean, crisp hopping, slightly thin malt, bitter finish), and scarf down three (count em!) samosas, with some hot hot chutney, that went great with the beer.

After the food, we head off to Amere a Boire, on Saint Denis just above Ontario, having lost one of our party to the proximity of his hotel (it is now fairly late, or early, depending on how you look at it). Once there I have a pint of Amere a Boire Pale Ale, a hoppy bitter on cask and hand pump, that is as refreshingly hoppy as most of the IPA's of the evening.

A nod to the bartender, and we are off down the street to the Cheval Blanc. The place is still packed. I get a pint of the Cheval's India Rouge, a hoppy amber ale that is good, but has some slightly hot alcohol and balance issues. Or is that the samosas?

This ought to be the place where we eschew walking and get a cab to Brutopia for their IPA, but I am the only one doing an IPA theme (I didn't mention that, did I?) so we continue on to a nearby place called Yer Mad. This is the mead and cider bar (as well as beer) that Alexandre introduced me to a couple of years ago.

Alex is still in sampler mode, so we try a bunch:

Four Meads: Benoite, Verge d'Or, Marie Clos, Cap des Tourmentes (all good)
Three Ciders: Cheval de Glace, Kerissac, Verger de Minot (I loved the Kesissac)
and a Pommier, blend of mead, cider and Calvados, from a producer whose name escaped me.

We close the bar down.

Of course, no pub crawl that closes the bars in Montreal (3 am) is complete without putting the correct cap on the contents of your abused stomach. We head back up the hill to Deluxe Fries on Saint Denis for a final shot of Poutine.

We all head back to our respective beds, me to wake up the next morning at 9, to shower, and then find my way down the street to begin the beer conference with a breakfast of beer - weizen, and doughnuts.

I am shortly heralded as the king of IPA drinkers... Well, it was not a bad evening. One must really drink full pints to get the full effect, mustn't one? And it really is all about pacing oneself and not going without food.

Athenian Brunch

2007-04-12T21:04:00.000-07:00

It is Saturday, in between Good Friday and Easter Sunday. Resurrecting myself from the near dead, I am ready for some sustenance around noon. L and I head out in the general direction of Quinpool Road, passing various lunch/brunch options until we are in front of the Athens, a place we used to haunt, but have gotten away from of late. There are plenty of seats, so, why not, for old time’s sake?

Inside we wait innocently to be seated, and oddly, the first person to notice the lineup walks right by us and asked the person behind us how many are in their party. OK, I didn’t have a morning shower, alright! But maybe she could have at least wrinkled her nose as she totally ignored me. Sheesh….

Feeling like chopped liver, we get seated by another staffer who apparently noticed what had happened, and who seated us with a grin, making some minor apology for her cow-worker’s action.

Things get better from here, though.

The service we eventually get is great, fast and attentive. My fish cakes were really good, a mix of salt cod and fresh cod, with a crispy outer and soft inner. Not too salty, either, which is hard to do. The home fries are good (though not approaching those at Johnny’s), the toast not too burnt, and I am happy. L has poached eggs and toast, with sausages that she makes disappear in short time.

The coffee is OK, and is replenished at suitable interval.

The odd thing is that, unlike my memory of this place, it is not packed. There are ample open seats (we scored one of the booths right along the window) and good service is easy to provide because of that. We have some problem getting a bill to leave, perhaps being caught in the middle of a shift change, but otherwise, a solid Halifax brunch experience.

Not to hard, not too soft

2007-04-12T16:57:00.002-07:00

Our final formal meal of the Montreal visit is planned to be with ME, F and J in the Anglais part of Montreal, NDG. I think NDG stands for Notre Dame de Grace, but because everyone there is English, they refuse to say it long hand, and say "Endeegee" instead. Damn English!

The place we go is called Al Dente. It is a cool small place below grade on the east side of Monkland, about a 10 minute walk from Villa Maria Metro. Best of all, it is a BYO with no corkage. I bring the wine. And I don't just bring any wine. Planeta Cometa - Fiano, 2005 - $35; and Rainoldi Inferno, Valtellina Superiore, Nebbiolo, 2003 - $23). Very cool wines in terms of geek factor, and they were wonderful as drinks or with the food.

We all had fairly simple pasta, pizza, or risotto dishes. All just fine, nothing to blow you away, but very good, inexpensive, and free corkage. God I wish we had this here. Can anyone with $$ buy Milano's and make it work this well?

Pupuseria La Carreta

2007-04-02T13:51:00.001-07:00

Now how's THAT for a title. I am damn near trilingual!

Never having eaten El Salvadoran anything, I am sure, I figured that this Montreal trip could continue the Chilean inspired theme of Latin American food. La Carreta (the cart) was recommended by several people and in a few online sites, so we headed off to explore Little Italy, and to find our first pupuseria.

We arrived to a pretty full, lively place, full mostly of people who very well could have been El Salvadorans (Salvadorians?). I don't know. I didn't ask (L would not let me).

The server who came to greet us, and seated us at a great window table was wonderful. How wonderful? She took the time to describe everything on the menu to us, in English, recommended two different mixed plates when we said we wanted to sample as much different stuff as possible, and even showed us the correct way to eat it. This is always good, as sometimes when I have encountered a "new to me" food, I wonder when eating it in public if the locals are snickering behind their rice bowls, or whatever they have in front of their faces.

The food is almost as wonderful as the server (did I mention she was cute too?).

It consisted of:

pupusa (masa pancake with cheese inside that you cover with a coleslaw type thing before eating like a pizza) it is these that give these places their name.
yuca (fried root veg, I think, this came out like nice like home fries)
tamale de pollo - steamed corn polenta with chicken inside
taco (beef) homemade corn taco with beed/tomato pepper filling.
enchilada di carni (crispy round thin corn with beefy meat/veg/ etc on top)
y casamiento (blue frijoles and rice) Frijoles is refried beans, I think. This means a "marriage" of beans and rice. Ahhh, romance and food. I think this brought tears to L's eyes.

And to drink we had Fresca maranon and Fresca de horchata. I believe the second one is the one that was cinnamon and cocoa like, but was reminiscent of almonds. Correct me. Go ahead!

We ate til we could hardly move. But move we did, on to the nearby Jean Talon Market and a major beer buy at the Marché des Saveurs de Quebec.

The Vegans are coming!!!

2007-04-02T13:50:00.000-07:00

Is this a scene from the Hitchhikers Guide to the Galaxy? No, wait, that's Vogons.

A visit to Montreal's Au Vivre! restaurant, on St. Laurent above Mont Royal.

We were all hungry, and I figured what we didn't eat could come with us.

We started with corn bread with vegan butter, moist, aromatic, with some sweet red pepper bits in it. I am still not exactly sure about whatever that stuff was they called vegan butter.

Lunch came with a green salad with really good dressing, creamy dill (no dairy though...) and other tastes.

Then it was pizza with vegan cheese, red pepper and sun dried tomato sauce. This had a fantastic crust. This place is a great bakery.

I had the Chana sandwich - chickpea and potato curry in homemade Indian flatbread wrap. Delicious, filling, and providing me with plenty of aerosol assisted walking speed for the rest of the day. I also had a pina colada smoothie with my Chana - a tasty combination.

For dessert I had Cafe latte with a great, homemade style chocolate brownie.

L had a veggie burger and salad, and a coffee frappe smoothie for dessert, Clank a "BLT" made with coconut bacon, and a banana chocolate soy silk pie.

A great meal, and no animals were harmed, or even asked to give up their fluids, in the making of it.

A Victual Ritual

2007-04-02T12:51:00.000-07:00

Schwartz's on St. Laurent in Montreal for lunch. I walk in at 11:51 am, and there are plenty of stools open along the lunch counter. I sit down, and in a minute or two the place is packed and lining up.

The usual. Smoked meat sandwich, regular (i.e. level of fat in the meat, you choose lean, regular or extra fat), fries, with a cherry cola from Cott Beverages. It arrives in about 2.5 minutes.

The guy sitting next to me writes for the Gazette on the Habs. He is talking to the waiter about how Huet will start against Buffalo, as he always stones them. I read the same thing in his column the next morning.

The fries are great as usual. The smoked meat is classic - almost corn beef, but not quite. The rye bread so fresh. Even the small sandwich and fries is more than enough. I wonder how I used to eat a small plate and side of fries! This stuff certainly does sit in one's stomach with intense gravity. A good base on which to drink.

On the Main

2007-04-02T12:38:00.000-07:00

An evening out for a quick meal on St. Laurent, we drop into The Main, across the street from Schwartz's, for supper. L has a delicious borscht - I think any soup here would always be great - and follows that with a strange sandwich combo - smoked chicken and liverwurst. I am not sure she knew what she was ordering.

Clank, the vegan, chows down on latkes, no cheese. He is kept mostly quiet by this. I steal some from him (he is blind, so he didn't notice) and they are yummy.

My meal is the Barbecued Rib special of the day. Now you may be old enough to remember the Flintstones original cartoon series. In the intro, while the "Meet the Flintstones" song is playing, Fred and family scoot up to a drive through and he gets a set of ribs, that when hung on the side of the car, cause it to tip over. Remember that? Well, these ribs were almost that big. Done in a honey garlic style, there was a lot of work to scour the meat off the bones, but it sure was worth it. And then you could use the bones to play hurling with.

We passed on the cake, though I think that was a major strategic error, as apparently all the desserts here are handmade at home by the owner's wife. Next time. And there will be one.

How many beers does it take to butter chicken?

2007-04-01T18:53:00.000-07:00

Mississauga. If any word ever struck fear in the heart of a Maritimer who likes good urban form, this is it. This is an entire city of Clayton Park West. The mall gone mad, the car king forever, and the pedestrian a forgotten afterthought, no more than the sputum of a parked car.

This is what is coursing through my mind as my buddy Richard manoeuveurs through rush hour traffic from one part of Miss..etc to another. He patiently waits through three cycles of a light before getting through to the privilege of yet another similar wait, to exclaim that the traffic isn't that bad!

We get to where he is going. A place called the West 50 Pourhouse and Grille - I thnk it is named after a mall. But I am sure there are children here named after malls.

We manage to find our way in, after dropping $6 on a flat rate parking scheme/ripoff across the street. Turns out we come in the back door. The front door is from the second floor of a mezzanine off an office building lobby. I like our entrance better.

The blonde, stylish bartender greets us as if we are old friends. I find myself looking behind me. (You don't mean, me, do you?)

The line of taps is impressive. And included among the many many Canadian beer-by-label brands, are a number of great brews. OK, I can stand the place.

The menu is presented (we planned to eat here) and we order. Having seen that just about every single person I saw on the street (pedestrians) was of Indo-asian descent, I cleverly order the Butter Chicken. Richard wisely orders what the bartender tells him to.

I am enjoying my beers. Nothing off, great micro selections, prices not bad.

My $12.95 "butter chicken" arrives. Now I am not sure if anyone in that place has ever seen, tasted, or heard of "butter chicken" outside of the label on a can of commercially pre-done sauce. My "butter chicken" (really, it would be criminal to call it butter chicken without the quotes) is a pre-packaged leg/thigh/side of chicken that has obviously spent a lot of time in a brine packet awaiting consumption. The flesh has turned a cured pink. A (very) slight nod to India is accomplished with a dollop, a sparse one at that, of a commercially packed "butter chicken" sauce.

I am staring at this abomination of cuisine while Richard mows down his beef sandwich and fries thingy. When I try it, it is so salty I can hardly eat it - it burns. BLOOD PRESSURE ALERT!! BLOOD PRESSURE ALERT!! BLOOD PRESSURE ALERT!!

There is not enough "butter chicken" sauce to get my rice dirty.

We sat at the bar. There were some comfy looking seats and couches that the bartender told us would soon be full with after work types.

It is a darn good thing the bartender was cute, and friendly.

If you are in Mississauga (Lord help you) and you need a good beer (as we all do from time to time) then go here, if you can find it. But don't have great expectations for food. That way, you won't be so disappointed. Or better yet, don't eat.

But oh God, how I wished we were at the Winking Judge. Bill likes me, for some reason. Maybe it was the kegs of beer I brought him from Propeller and the Pumphouse back in 2001?

Montreal - La Popesa

2007-04-01T18:43:00.000-07:00

After a drive from Moncton to Montreal, and only a chicken soup and grilled cheese sandwich at a Big Stop to fuel me, I am ready to join L, and her brother and his gal for dinner out on St. Denis. We go to an old favorite, La Popesa, near Ave des Pins on St. Denis on the east side. This place does pretty well any kind of pasta from around the world, and allows you to choose a sauce from a large amount of different suggestions.

I have a Linguini with Beef Stroganoff that is earthy, hearty and hits the spot. Washed down with a bottle of Boreal Rousse, an old standard, once a micro fighting for a chance, now a medium size brewery fighting the upstart micros for its hard won market share. My meal is about $15 all in.

Taking it easy, I call it a night, as the drive tomorrow morning to Trawna looms.

A Pyramid Scheme

2007-04-01T18:22:00.000-07:00

Post Rogues Roost, we have not eaten. The general idea was to go to jane's on the common, but when we arrive it is jammed. So we amble up Cunard to the Pyramid Cafe. Lebanese themes beckon, and we are soon chomping up some very good stuff.

My Foul Madamas(chick peas/beans in a spicey broth) is excellent, though not as good as at Tarboosh. The rest of my meal is very good. J&J are happy with their meals, but one wonders, are they ever unhappy when they are with each other?

The food is good to very good. As we were about the only people there, the service was hard to judge, and concern about their security as a business (this was Friday night, prime time) is also elevated.

I hope they keep up the good food, and perk up the service. Other reports, including one in one of the local papers have commented on the slow service when the place has some people in it.

It is so close to my house, I'll be back.