Jewel of Ontario: Stratford, home of the Shakespeare Festival and Justin Bieber

August 13, 2011

Stratford, Ontario

We had the great pleasure to spend a couple of days in Stratford, Ontario. Apart from visiting our friends Dominik and Kymm, we also had the opportunity to explore this picturesque and very pleasant town.

Founded in 1832 at a railway junction, Stratford is a city of about 32.000 people at the Avon River in Perth County, about 2-3 hours West of Toronto. Many of its first settlers came from England so it is little wonder that it was named after Stratford-upon-Avon in England.

The town is famous for its Shakespeare Festival. The city has four theaters and from May to November the city is buzzing with tourist, theater aficionados, music lovers, festival goers, musicians, actors, singers, directors and all kind of “technical people” and support staff.

The Shakespeare festival 2011

Unfortunately, we could not manage to attend a performance. Instead we participated in an extremely interesting theater tour and were introduced to almost 60 years of festival history, the plays, the stage, and the facilities of the main house.

A landmark: the Perth County Courthouse in Stratford

But Stratford is also the place where Justin Bieber, the now famous young musician, was raised. One of the city’s ice cream parlors, named Scoopers, was one of his favourite places.

Needless to say that my two teenage daughters needed to check out this almost sacred space. Also the ice cream was very enjoyable. If you happen to visit Ontario, go and spend some time in Stratford. It is definitely worth it.

Scoopers ice cream parlor in Stratford

Enjoying ice cream in Justin Bieber’s home town

PS: Stratford has some very good eateries and restaurants where wines from Ontario are readily available. But more about the wines from Ontario at another time.

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Home again celebration – 2008 Redmont, Markowitsch, Austria

August 12, 2011

Bangkok August 2011: rainy season but with splendid mornings

How nice to be back home again. This time “home” means our flat in Bangkok.

After about four weeks on the road which brought us, among others, to my home town Trier in Germany and Ontario in Canada, we are finally back in Thailand and our “normal life” can resume.

Needless to say, we had a great time. Not only visited we family and friends but we also had gone on often spontaneous short trips for instance to Metz the capital of Lorraine, France, and Echternach in Luxembourg where we explored local culture, food and wine (Auxerrois wines in Lorraine and Elbling in Luxembourg).

Our visit to Ontario, Canada was mainly aiming at seeing friends of old student times. Two of my best friends, Dominik Franken and Gerd Eilers, had migrated to Canada after they finished their masters degrees in agricultural economics. After more than 20 years, it was time to renew our friendship and catch up with each other. That’s what we did.

We also used the opportunity to learn more about the “wineland Canada” as well, especially two regions were in our focus: the Niagara Peninsula and Prince Edward County, a marvel of a new and coming, cool climate wine region just south of Kingston, Ontario.

I have collected many stories, pictures, tasting notes, leaflets and brochures of wineries and other places we visited which will keep me busy blogging.

This abundance of material will also nurture my curiosity to learn more about the wines we tasted and the wineries we visited and embark on more research.

Due to the erratic availability of internet connectivity I have neglected my blog. The good news is that the Man from Mosel River is back. Now I just need some free time and opportunity to bring my notes into shape and share with my esteemed readers our recent wine experience.

Postscript
Question: What did we do after we arrived after a 10 hours flight from Fankfurt?

Answer: Well, we had a pasta, “bucatini alla amatriciana”, and a wine from Carnuntum, Austria which I had picked up while in transit on Vienna Airport.

The ‘2008 Redmont’ by Markowitsch, a blend of Zweigelt (50%), Blaufraenkisch (15%), Cabernet (15%), Merlot (10%) and Syrah (10%), was an inexpensive wine which I had grabbed without much thought, turned out to have a mighty nose and great aromas, which caught me by surprise.

The wine is well balanced and full bodied. I really enjoyed it. The only thing I did not like was the slight bitter after-taste one could feel on the palate. But I plan to buy another one of Markowitsch’s wines when I am in Vienna next time.

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Where men are men

July 30, 2011

We had breakfast at the Moose Cafe in Dwight, near the Algonquin Park in Ontario, Canada. And what did we find on the table?

“Mansauce”, it was called, the “manliest condiment”. That’s quite a promise. Unfortunately, we are coming from Asia and used to hot stuff.

Sweet chili sauce comes to mind after I tasted the “manliest of the condiments”. Bring on the hot stuff Canada. But of cause we are having a great time up here in northern Ontario.

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Cry from the wilderness – the wines of Canada

July 28, 2011

Bruce peninsula

This is just a teaser, a reminder that the Man from the Mosel River is still alive and kicking.

We are traveling through Canada. In fact we are visiting our friends Dominik and Kym Franken in Stratford on the Avon river in Perth County, Ontario. Stratford is the Shakespeare and music town of North America. It is most famous for its annual Stratford Shakespeare Festival.

Dominik and I, we go back many years, in fact decades. We shared a flat during our university years in Bonn. He also loves wine and good food, a passion we share.

But before I can write something about Canadian wines, I will have to visit a Canadian winery, which has not happened yet because we are exploring some of Ontario’s nature and wildlife parks right now.

But, as always, there is light at the “wilderness tunnel”. In a couple of days from now, we will visit Prince Edward County, one of the three wine regions of Ontario. The other two are the Niagara Peninsula, Canada’s largest wine growing region and Pelee Island at Lake Erie, Canada;s most southerly wine region.

I will write more about Canada and its wines later. Stay tuned.

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Summer break – The Mosel Man is gone!

July 14, 2011

Hi folks. This is my last post for some time to come. We are leaving tonight and will travel for a couple of weeks in Europe and Canada. I will see my beloved Mosel and my home town Trier. I will collect stories and drink a lot of good wine, mostly Riesling.

In Canada I will visit my old friend Dominik Franken who lives in Ontario. The last time we met was in 1989! It will be a joyous reunion. I am very excited about this.

Before leaving Bangkok we opened a bottle of bubbly. Cheers my friends and fellow bloggers and wine lovers.

..and what was it?

Woolshed Brut from Victoria. I have no idea what it is. I will find out later. Now it is holidays and nothing else. Cheers folks. Seeya later.

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Gurame and Gruener Veltliner

July 4, 2011

After extensive travel to Vietnam, Thailand, the Philippines, and then to Germany I am finally back home in Bangkok. For too long I had no time for my blog. As a consequence my stats have come down. The prospects for the next two months are not any better. That’s somehow frustrating because I worked so hard to get all these people to look at my stories about food and wine.

But such is life.

Today was a family day (as you all know it is also celebrated in the USA as the day of the declaration of independence). We had family lunch and later family dinner. I would like to share with you what we had for lunch (we had a delicious pasta for dinner by the way with a blend of Primitivo and Merlot from Southern Italy).

Back to our lunch.

We had “gurame”, a fresh water fish from Indonesia. The fish is marinated in “Bumbu”, a paste freshly made of root spices and herbs with pestle and mortar.

The Gurame in the pan

..and on the plate with rice and asparagus in coconut sauce

The recipe for the “bumbu” you can find in Sri Owen’s cookery book of 2008 titled “Indonesian Food”. The “bumbu” (paste) is made as follows:

– 6 candle nuts (we used makademia nuts), chopped
– 5 shallots, chopped
– 4 garlic gloves, chopped
– 4 red chillies, deseeded and chopped
– 2 tsp chopped fresh root ginger
– 1 tsp chopped galangal
– 1 tsp ground tumeric
– 4 tbsp tamarind water
– 4 tbsp coconut milk
– 1 tsp salt

And here you go with the mortar and “pestle” away.

How about the wine for this meal?

During my stop-over at Vienna Airport I was looking around for some Austrian wine. I bought a bottle of Gruener Veltliner which seemed to be just right for this feats.

I bought a ‘2010 Gruener Veltliner Edition Chremisa’ by Winzer Krems@Sandgrube 13, Lower Austria. The wine has 13.5% alcohol and feels almost like a sparkling wine with all the bubbles it releases after being poured into the glass.

This wine won a gold medal at MUNDUSvini 2010 and was declared ‘best dry white wine of Europe’, not bad I think. I had to pay 6.50 EURO only for this treasure. The high acidity (7.1 g/l) complemented the food in an ideal way.

Edition Chremisa 2010 Gruener Veltliner by Winzer Krems

Back label

The wine in the glass is full of bubbles

As dessert we had a piece of home made orange cake. That prompted me to open another one of my wine treasures. Some time ago my friend Felix had given me a bottle of ‘2007 Kracher Auslese Muscat Ottonel’ by Weinlaubenhof Kracher, Burgenland, Austria.

The orange cake

This dessert wine is just wonderful. The grape variety produces a stunning sweetness in the wine, a full aroma of honey and peach. I could not imagine a better way to end this family meal.

2007 Kracher Muscat Ottonel

Try this wine if you can, it’s worth it.

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Restaurant review: Rogacki in Berlin Charlottenburg

June 30, 2011

A place I love to get lost in is “Rogacki” in Berlin-Charlottenburg. Rogacki is a kind of gourmet super market cum wine shop and eatery where you can order all kinds of delicacies, all freshly made for you. The only drawback: you have to devour it standing up.

However, the standing at tables and the counter is a very sociable undertaking. Almost immediately one gets into contact with the neigbhours and before you can count to three one is immersed in a discussion with a complete stranger.

That’s just wonderful because otherwise it is not so easy to get into a conversation with a stranger in Germany.

Rogacki offers all kinds of foods: fresh vegetables, processes meats, meats, cheese, bread, wine and all kind of complementary goods. I could spend days just studying their wares.

I ordered the above dish. The Germans call is “Crevetten Spiess”, it’s grilled prawns with some veggies. When I asked for a glass of wine, guess what wine was on offer, a Riesling from my beloved Mosel.

The ‘2010 “Gutsriesling” Reichsgraf von Kesselstatt’ is simple but solid wine for easy drinking. Rogacki serves it exactly for that purpose and I was happy to reconect to my home at the Moel river here in Berlin only about 70-80 kilometers from the Polish border.

How I miss my native Mosel valley.

PS: When I visited Rogacki last year, I was asked by the staff not to take photos. It was forbidden. Therefore I decided not to write about Rogacki and its most delicious food. This time no such rule was imposed on me.

The place is a “must see” if you are in Berlin and want to experience the flair of the city and “real food”.

Address:
Rogacki
Wilmersdorfer Straße 145
10585 Berlin-Charlottenburg, Germany
Tel.: +49-30 343825-0
Open Mon-Sat 9am-6pm
Subway: Bismarckstraße
www.rogacki.de

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Warung Daun in Jakarta

June 19, 2011

Warung Daun in Menteng

When in Jakarta I love to eat Sundanese cuisine. A place to enjoy this type of foof is “Warung Daun”. There are several outlets, one in Menteng and one in Kebayoran Baru. The food is just beautiful, absolute delicious.

The entrance of Warung Daun in Menteng

The menu

The interior

According to tripadvisor Warung Daun in Kebayoran Baru is rated 81 and the one in Cikini (Menteng) 172 of the 518 restaurants in Jakarta.

The food I

The food II

Nothing better than good friends

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My favourite single malt – Laphroaig

June 13, 2011

Today we take a break from fermented grape juice. It’s single malt time. My favourite single malt whisky comes from Islay, it’s Laphroaig!

I would never have thought that I could be converted to whisky. My friend Rainer Heufers did the trick. He also gave me the Michael Jackson “Malt Whisky Companion”, and from there on I was on my own to explore the wondderful world of single malt whisky. It’s worth it. The rich flavour come from the islands peat, and, of cause, it’s pure water. I just love the earthiness, the barley and peat aromas. Beats many other drinks for sure.

A loud cheers on Pentecostal Monday. And thanks again Rainer.

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Barbecue at Ekkamai 10 – soft opening

June 11, 2011

Some of you might wonder when I would put the first pictures of our new place up. Well, here they are. In fact they are pictures of our first trial barbecue on our terrace for some trusted friends. The trial run was quite successful and calls for a repeat. Here are some pictures of the event.

First came the prawns

But I also did beef

I also roasted a big piece of pork but it went so fast that I had no chance to take a picture of it.

The chefs

I always drink a ot of beer while behind the grill. Charlotte does not drink (yet).

The little carnivores need to be fed first

Then came the adults

A very modest portion

The vegetables I prepared in a wok which I put on top of my Weber.

The girls had baked a cake: Frankfurter Kranz

As usual, nobody wanted to go home

Beautiful message to us by Giuseppe and Lucjia

As always when I do barbecues I have no time to take care of the pictures. I fact I did not take any of the many side dishes, the salads, the vegetables and the carbohydrates. But we had a jolly good time, that’s confirmed.

I could also not keep track of the wines consumed during the event. Everybody brought some bottles. I restrict myself to one white and one red (I found the empty bottles after everybody had left).

The ‘2009 Taylor’s Sauvignon Blanc’ from the Adelaide Hills in South Australia is a beautiful refreshing wine at a hot summers day. Since we have always “hot summers days” in the tropics it can be enjoyed year round in Bangkok. Hurrah.

The ‘2009 Rosso Conero’ by Fazi Battaglia is an inexpensive mass-produced red from Marche, Italy. It is a blend of Montepulciano (85%) and Sangiovese (15%) for easy drinking.

The wine company is already more than 60 years old and has about 280 ha under vines in the Marche wine region of Italy. In the meantime Fazi Battaglia has bought up smaller vineyards and wineries in Toscana, one is Fassati with 80 ha and the other Greto delle Fate with 11 ha under vines.

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