A long Walk for Wine

Although there seems to be a LCBO (Liquor Control Board of Ontario) store on any corner here in Toronto, I have a favoured one. The branch at Summerhill is in a restored Train station and is one of the “Flagship” stores, so given a choice I like to shop at this location. They have a excellent selection of wines and their “Vintages” section is huge. As well I have found the staff are friendly and helpful. They got a charge out of my two shopping methods when I visit the store. I like to get the latest LCBO vintages magazine and browse the new selections featured. I highlight ones I might like to try and then go and search them out in the store, so I often ask for help. Then on my next visit I shop in the regular section and only pick wines that look interesting and are on sale. Works for me!

I wonder where that bridge leads

On a lovely May day with warm temperatures and sunshine I decided to take a walk. Now one nice feature in Toronto is the lovely network of trails running through the city’s ravines. A walk through the neighbourhood and you can find a trailhead that drops down into the ravine and in minutes the high-rises disappear and you are walking trails alongside streams through woodland. 

Today I chose a route through a neighbourhood I had never explored before ended up down following Yellow Creek through the ravine. You literally can not see the city at all when enjoying these trails but I knew that the Summerhill LCBO was on a railway line; it is in an old train station, so when I found myself under the railway

No concrete to be seen

bridge I made my way back up to the city and after a nice eight kilometres walk I was shopping for wine. I did not really need wine, but there were a few empty spaces in my wine rack and I can always find some interesting bottles here. 

One other nice thing about this LCBO is that it is half a block from a subway stop so I did not have to carry my two new bottles of wine the eight km back down through the ravine,  I just hopped on the train and finished my outing in comfort with the subway carrying me home. 

Time to head back up to the city

Wineing . . .

I never liked wine . . . I was a beer person, until my son suggested one day, that the reason I didn’t like wine, was because of the 'crap' wine that Regis drank. He suggested that I should try a nice robust red wine instead of the sweet bubbly stuff Regis favoured. He was right, and once I tasted nice Shiraz, Cabs, or Malbecs, I found I did actually like wine. Now, my son and I do not agree completely on wine . . . He thinks I buy cheap wine, and I must admit, I find it hard to spend too much on a bottle of wine. Where I look for the sales or interesting labels , he goes for the slightly higher levels in vintages. On one of his trips to Dartmouth, a case of wine arrived at our door prior to his visit, so he would have “his wine” when he got there. This system works out pretty well, because with both of us purchasing bottles, the wine rack is always well stocked. And I do get to taste some of his “better” wine from time to time, but I still do not notice any real difference. 

That bottle is empty

I like coming to visit here in Toronto, because the wine in the LCBO outlets are all a couple of dollars cheaper than in Nova Scotia because of lower taxes, and I can usually find bottles unavailable back home. There is one particularly nice LCBO location in a restored train station with an amazing selection of wines from all over the world that I like to visit at least once every trip. During this visit to Toronto I bought a case of wine there with a nice variety of interesting reds, whites and bubbly (for Regis). Back at the condo, I unpacked my purchases and put them in a wine rack that Ryan was not using. 

Then at dinner a couple of evenings later I pulled out a bottle to have with our meal. I checked the label, a 2019 Cabernet Sauvignon, but as I had bought a number of bottles, I also checked with Ben if it was one of mine or his. He assured me that it was not one he bought so I opened it and tasted it - a very nice cab, and poured glasses for myself and Ben. Ben uses a wine app on his phone to record wines he has tasted so he took a photo of the label to enter this bottle into his records. As he looked at the reviews, he said “That’s odd, the app says this wine is worth $45?”. I immediately apologized for opening one of ‘their’ wines, but Ben insisted he had not bought this one, and I knew I certainly had not chosen a $45 bottle of wine. I decided to check the LCBO receipt to be sure, and there it was . . . somehow I had picked up the wrong bottle and put it in my cart. It was not actually $45 but was still $41.95. I will admit I am not very careful about checking my receipts so I had not noticed the total was higher than normal, as there were also some very inexpensive wines in the case. 

OOPS

As Ben and I were laughing at my mistake, we both refilled our glasses and when Ryan got to the table and found out we were enjoying a $42 bottle of wine, he was very willing to accept a glass as well. And, I do actually think that it was a bit better than my normal $20 bottles.  

Cooking our way through the Pandemic

Regis and I both enjoy cooking so with very little else to do, we have been doing a lot of cooking during our “Stay the blazes home” isolation. 

 We have been making fresh pasta for many years, but we experimented with making lovely pink beet pasta, tortellini and ravioli. Then with our new pasta extruder we discovered fresh fusilli and bucatini. Of course you then have to find an interesting sauce to accompany the pasta. 

Another batch of fresh pasta

 We worked at mastering the Instant Pot, discovering it makes perfectly juicy chicken wings ready to be sauced under the broiler, and fall off the bone back ribs. We found it also makes cooking rice easy and quick, and can be adapted for many different recipes. Even wild rice comes out perfectly. As well, the 10 pounds of beets Regis brought home to help with my low potassium, were quickly and perfectly processed in this handy addition to our kitchen. We are constantly finding ways to use this appliance. 

 Regis discovered that rather than buying frozen puff pastry she could add another pastry to her “Pastry expert” resume, when she made beef wellington for my birthday and moved on to sausage rolls and then she discovered choux pastry for cream puffs and curried turkey appetizers. We made a huge batch of pirogies, one kind with aged cheddar and the other

Pierogi filling

with cheddar and added jalapeños. 

We also found a variety of ways to cook the delicious Nova Scotia pork filling our freezer from “Pig 3” (that’s another story . . .) The latest recipe we tried was a Belgium Pork Roast served with a gravy made from beer and cream. What is not to like. I discovered that Costco started carrying my favourite fish, sea bream from Greece and I have found different ways to cook this delicious seafood. 

 Video conferencing also became a part of our kitchen experience. Unable to get together to bake Christmas goodies, Regis spent an afternoon on Google Groups making cookies with our daughter living and working in Northern Ontario, and this worked so well that our son took advantage of the new kitchen skill to make crab dip with her via video conference. This has also proved handy in conferring with friends to master recipes and techniques. 

 My family cookbook which I have been building over the years has grown to 133 pages and most of the recipes only get included once they are used at least twice. 

 So being asked to stay home, we have enjoyed cooking and finding new and better ways to make delicious meals, and as a result, we are eating very well. Bon appetite!

Always keep the wine rack stocked . . .

The Cellar Door

Tasting at the Cellar Door

Australia has good wine, and with a week in the country, fitting in a day to taste some Aussie wine seemed a good activity. I enjoy a good full bodied red, and the Hunter Valley, an area a short way north west of Sydney and about an hour away from Regis’ cousin’s house, is renowned for its excellent reds; Shiraz, Merlots, and Cabernet Sauvignon. Shiraz is one of my favorites, and this is the grape this area really excels at, so this was a good spot to go do some Australian wine tasting. There are over 150 “Cellar Doors” (Australian for “tasting rooms”), so we had lots to choose from in Hunter Valley.

Having visited wine regions in Ontario, California, Spain and of course back home in Nova Scotia, we had some experience at how vineyards and wineries tend to take over an area,

All About The View

replacing other farms and crops, but the amount of wineries here is amazing. You can drive down section of road and find winery after winery side by side. Just the list on the Official Map and Tourist guide is slightly overwhelming . . . so many wines, so little time . . .

The up-side to so many wineries it that there is a great deal of competition, so the cellar doors offer mostly free tastings. After the $8.00 per taste fee in New Zealand this was a pleasant surprise. Some of the wineries do charge for “Superior” tastings, but the ordinary samples are free.

Cool Name, Good Wine

We left the choice of wineries up to “Cousin Wade”, our guide and designated driver, and he chose one he was particularly fond of, Audrey Wilkinson, but since he admitted that he liked this winery because of the spectacular views from the main building, I did not mind offering my method of choosing wineries with cool names, and requested visiting the “Cockfighter’s Ghost” cellar door I had seen on the way to his choice. As it happened, both were excellent, with Cockfighter’s Ghost having the most delicious Shiraz and Audrey Wilkinson having a delicious red blend I enjoyed enough to purchase a bottle for later.

Ready For The Steak!

Unfortunately, doing wine tasting when traveling far from home does not allow me to purchase much wine as my suitcase is stuffed already. I returned from Niagara-on-the-Lake with a trunk full of wine, but walked away from Hunter valley with only a bottle that will probably not survive this evening’s Aussie Barbecue.

Wineing on Waiheke

A fast ferry ride.

Our apartment here in Auckland is right on Princes Wharf on the waterfront. It is named Shed 19 after the freight shed that used to occupy the site. Out on the balcony we overlook the main ferry terminal for the city and there is a constant swarm of catamaran ferries coming and going until late at night. They seem to head out in all directions, and you cannot help but wonder where they all go.

A view from the top of the island

On the recommendation of my cousin who lives here, we took a ferry to one of the popular destinations, Waiheke Island. This island, 40 minutes away by ferry is about 90 square Kilometers and has approx. 8000 inhabitants. It is nick-named “The island of wine” for the 17 vineyards scattered around the island. That seemed a good reason to choose this island over the many scattered throughout the area.

We booked a return ferry ride on a “Fuller Fastcat”, a guided bus tour when we arrived and then an all-day pass on the local bus system. The ferry ride over was a comfortable, fast trip out the harbour past many of the sites we had visited with my cousin days before. There was a bus waiting for us and our German tour guide had lived on the island for 10 years and gave excellent friendly advice and information so that by the time we got to the farthest end of the tour we had a good idea of what we wanted to do. We hopped off the bus at a stop conveniently close to a good sample of the island’s wineries, and chose one that brewed

Doesn't taste like $200.00

beer as well as making wine.

The “Wild on Waiheke” winery is an ambitious enterprise, having not only wine and beer but also a restaurant. They also have laser skeet shooting and archery. I’m not so sure about the combination of lots of wine and beer with bows and sharp arrows, but the rowdy crowd there when we arrived seemed to be enjoying themselves.

Seriously, helicopters to a wine tasting?

After lunch, we wandered up to the next winery, but the least expensive wine was $90.00 so we decided this was a bit out of our normal range so we walked on. In the next one “Te Motu” we met a friendly Croatian sommelier, who led us in tasting a good variety of wines from $30 to $195. It was an experience to taste the $195.00, 16 year old vintage, but I found I preferred the $39.00 bottle. The final winery in the area was next door behind a high hedge, but the two large helicopters parked out front gave us a pretty good idea that this one was also out of our league, and the $8.00 tasting fee confirmed our initial opinion. That was $8.00 for each taste; not an $8.00 glass.

Then taking the excellent local bus, we got off at a wrong stop, got slightly lost, found a wonderful “track” along the coast, walked to the next town, caught the right bus, and arrived back at the ferry to head home.

On "Track" to get unlost.

On the Terrace

Our Lecce Terrace

Although I normally enjoy writing a blog entry about the weather to create jealousy in my friends back in the still-frozen north, this trip I cannot do so with honesty yet. Apparently southern Italy has had an especially wet cool spring this year, so although I am enjoying the 10 to 15 temperatures (that is Celsius for my US friends), the locals are still dressed in big puffy winter coats and wrapped in scarfs for warmth rather than style.

The Church down the street

The morning after we arrived we were able to sit outside for breakfast, but it has been far too cold and damp to do so again until today. I am writing this blog entry out on the terrace in the sun with a glass of local red wine. I could probably do the task easier inside where the IPad would be easier to see, but the sunshine was calling and I refuse to move inside.

Through the Big Green Doors

One of the nicest features of this apartment is this terrace. It is a huge 30' by 20' space off the main living area and overlooks the hotel courtyard. There are lounge chairs and a nice table for four. Off in one corner is an area for hanging out clothes.

The Crowd Outside

Although this apartment is in almost the exact centre of the old city of Lecce, and outside the main door of the attached hotel, hundreds of pedestrians, bicycles and vehicles make it one of the busiest streets in the city, but sitting on my terrace the loudest noise I can hear is the amorous pigeon looking for attention.

As you wander the narrow streets of Lecce, you will see large 20' high arched doors. These large doors lead through passageways to courtyards open to the sky, but remote from the street. Our terrace and apartment is at the back of the courtyard, so we are pleasantly isolated from the hustle and bustle of the city even though we are located right in it's heart.

Oops, time to go refill that wine glass while I wait for that cloud to get out of the way.

Wine Tasting

Waiting to ripen

The area around Niagara-on-the-Lake is rapidly being taken over by vineyards. Where they used to grow peaches and other fruit, the wine industry is encouraging the planting of grapes. The last peach canning plant closed years ago, and many farmers have cut down the peach trees and planted grapes. Everywhere you look there are neat rows of tidy grape vines, and all these grapes are being processed into wine by the many wineries in the area. Spending three days in the area tasting wine, we found at least two new wineries that had only opened in the past few years. The production of wine and the popular tourist wine tasting tours is becoming a major industry in the area.

Sit with a glass

Visiting some of the wineries in the area and tasting the wine has been very entertaining, and I have learned a lot about wine and wine tasting. One thing I have learned is that the person guiding the tasting makes a huge difference. On Saturday the wineries were very busy, and although we did taste many glasses of wine and bought some good bottles, it wasn’t until Sunday when we actually found some good hosts and did some real wine tasting.

The difference is subtle but important. All the wineries have someone behind a bar who will pour wine into a glass and let you taste it; the good ones have a person who pours you wine, talks to you about it, decides what you like and dislike and guides your tasting based on what he and you learn. Some have a list of wines you can taste and start at the top and work their way through allowing you to decide what you like, and hopefully want to buy. The good guides (I actually have no idea what these folk are called), start by asking you what your preferences are in wine. Then instead of just working through the list, they tailor the wine you taste to your preferences. They also ask you about the wine and based on what you liked or disliked suggest different options. I found that servers who expressed their own preferences and opinions ended up being very helpful. “Oh, I really like that one too, and I really like this other bottle, would you like to try that?”

Hmmmmmm. . . .

I enjoyed the knowledgeable servers who instead of just pouring a little wine in your glass, and stand back waiting for you reaction, add comments such as telling you what grapes are in the wine, and even food pairings for the wine. The very best servers had stories about the wine and how it was developed or how the wine maker developed the wine.

On Saturday I had wine poured for me, but on Sunday I had at least three servers who actively engaged me in the tasting and from these people I learned something about the wine and about how to taste wine. I discovered that I actually have pretty subtle and distinctive taste for certain wine, and those servers who worked with that were able to sell me some very nice wine.

Back To PEI

Restored Tractor

P.E.I. and I do not have the best of relationships. I know the "Island" is a popular tourist destination, but every time I try to play tourist there, I get rain, fog or man-eating mosquitoes. One year we planned a week long family "Island" vacation in a rental cottage. It rained for the first three days, and when the sun finally came out on the forth , we sent the children out to play only to have them forced back in by giant mosquitoes. Then it rained for three more days. PEI retained the "Worst Vacation Ever" honor for years.

Now we did give The Island chances to redeem itself. after all it’s always sunny on any of the "Anne Of Green Gables" TV shows, but even on three subsequent trips over we were assaulted with wet weather and mosquitoes. As a result, I wrote Prince Edward Island off as a place to avoid unless absolutely necessary.

Amongst the stack of mail waiting us upon our return from the RV trip was a letter from a delightful lady we had met in Japan. She was our daughter’s Japanese teacher in Japan, and after meeting her there, we maintained contact through letter writing - remember those; envelopes, stamps, and words on thin crinkly “air mail” paper? She said she was coming to Canada on a “study tour” of P.E.I.and she would love to see Alisha and us if we were available.

Alisha was unable to come down from Ottawa, but we decided to make a trip of it, find a nice place to stay, and perhaps look for some interesting things to do on the Island. Our Japanese friend had only a short window when she could meet us, so that left us plenty of time to explore.

Saturday did not bode well, with rain and so much fog that we drove across the bridge without even being able to see the water under us, but at least the fog lifted a bit, and we managed to meet up with Alisha’s teacher, and spent a pleasant afternoon with her, her husband and three other Japanese tourists here “studying” Anne of Green Gables and Prince Edward Island.

Sunday we were on our own to enjoy Prince Edward Island, and it actually dawned with blue sky and sunshine - we thought we were back in Nova Scotia.

The Dawson House

We were staying in a wonderful B & B within walking distance of downtown Charlottetown called The Dawson House. Wonderful old house, very friendly hosts, comfortable room, and delicious breakfast. We will definitely stay here again when in P.E.I.

It was “Farm Day” in Charlottetown, and the main street was turned into a pedestrian only street for Sunday, and filled with farm market booths. At one end there was a really interesting display of restored stationary engines and farm machinery. The men who had restored these old engines showed so much pride in their work as they fired up the old workhorses and demonstrated them for us.

Another nice local beer

I was pleased to find that I could continue my quest for sampling good local beer in P.E.I. We discovered a really great local brew pub called Gahan Brewery, right off the main street in Charlottetown. They not only served their own beer; brewed on site - I had one called “Island Red”, that was great - but the food was also excellent. I had a delicious pulled pork sandwich served with barbecue sauce made with their own beer, and some of the best French fries I’ve had.

On the way home we decided to take the ferry to Pictou, because there was a 70 mile yard sale throughout the area, and a P.E.I. Winery we could visit.

We had a good time in our neighboring province, and it managed to go a long way in restoring it’s damaged reputation as a “vacation location”. We look forward to crossing the famous bridge again.

Lunch in a Barn

With a day to wait for new springs to get the trailer bouncing back down the road, we decided to take a trip up the coast through the Sonoma Valley, across and back down the Napa Valley. We decided to try to find a couple of wineries to visit for tasting, and find someplace to have a nice lunch.

The first thing we discovered was that the biggest problem in finding a winery to visit was not in finding one it was in choosing which one to visit. There are literally hundreds of wineries along the way. They are one after the other all along the route, and they all seem to have tasting rooms. Purely by chance, we picked two to stop at. They ended up being a good contrast, and gave us a good taste of the region.

Kendall Jackson Winery

The first was the Kendall Jackson Winery. This is a brand I know from home, and I can buy their wine in Canada. It is a very high end winery, and was situated on a huge estate with an amazing garden. There was a “Garden” tour starting just as we arrived, so I bought a glass of one of their reds, and went out into a beautiful “Not a cloud in the sky” California summer day to casually tour their gardens with a guide. It was very pleasant to stroll through the beautiful estate from garden to garden with the guide explaining about the various plants and garden designs while sipping on a glass of delicious Californian wine. It certainly made me forget all about having to fix the trailer tomorrow.

Our next stop was a smaller winery called Foppiano Vineyards. It was considerable smaller, and much more casual. In fact as I was tasting and purchasing a bottle of wine we discovered that the owner was there in the room and quite impressed that these folk from Nova Scotia were all the way out here tasting his wine. Again, the wine was excellent. I liked all the samples, but chose a “Petit Sarrah” which I discovered was a good choice since it is their speciality.

You know, this wine tasting is a fun activity – it might be worth another visit to California . . .

BarnDiva for Lunch

Then came the real treat of the day. Everyone was getting a bit hungry, so we stopped at a little town called Healdsburg, where we were told we would find a good choice of eating places. We drove into town and parked in a nice 3 hour limit (Free) parking spot right on the town square – gives you an indication of the size of the town. Sure enough, there were a number of interesting places to have lunch. I scouted on ahead to look around , and after seeing all that the streets on the square had to offer, I headed down a side street where I saw an interesting looking little pub. After rejecting the “Pub”, I noticed a large red building with umbrellas in front, and an old funky truck parked out front. It was called “Barndiva”, and proved to be a real “find”.

There was a menu posted out front, and I immediately liked the look of it. I thought this was a place Ryan (Our Son) would approve of. It boasted a “Sustainable” menu of local food, and the items on the menu all seemed very interesting. Well, they did to me . . . . dad grumbled about not seeing anything he would want. Sharon & Regis agreed, so poor dad was once again outvoted (We got him through Death Valley on a “majority” vote as well), and we went in.

This really was a top class restaurant. The food was amazing, the service was exemplary, and the atmosphere was very nice. In fact it was so good, you sort of forgot that it was a ethical eating establishment.

Two examples of the service were; our water glasses were refilled the entire time we were there, including after we finished and were waiting to leave; and when Regis got up to go to the washroom, the waitress came over and refolded her napkin – I've never seen that before. All the wait staff were attendant, but never pushy.

A delicious menu!

The food was the real treat. Everything was amazing! I ordered a salad of Heirloom beets, Apple, Endive, Avocado, Watercress, Walnut, and Warm Chevre. I asked the waitress if I could substitute Goat cheese for the Chevre cheese, explaining my difficulty with cows milk. She said she thought that it was a goats cheese anyway , but would check with the kitchen. She did however suggest that it was a “Light” meal and wondered if I'd like an appetizer. I said “No, I thought I'd be fine.” but she then mentioned the “Goat Cheese Croquettes with House-made Tomato jam and Lavender Honey” OMG how did she know that was my second choice? I ordered it to share with everyone.

The goat cheese croquettes were delicious little deep fried balls of goat cheese mixed with Tomato jam and lightly coated in a crumb crust sitting in lavender honey. I'm sorry Linda Saunders, but I have to steal your expression – it was “To Die For!”.

My main course was an amazing mixture of roasted red and white beets mixed with apple, walnuts, avocado, and orange, with just enough “greens” to call it a salad. I do not know what the dressing was, and I don't care, because what ever it was it worked to perfection. I was pleased to note that the chef decided not to chance the possibility of cows milk in the cheese, and instead gave me two more of the Goat cheese croquettes – yum!

Oops, forgot the picture . . . .

Everyone's meal was equally delicious. Regis and Sharon had the Crab Club sandwiches, and Dad had the Quiche. By the time he started his meal, even he was raving about the taste. I have included a photo of the menu so you can see the other amazing choices. Sorry Alisha, the food was so good all I got for a photo was empty plates!

We even decided to have dessert, since there was a fabulous sounding strawberry shortcake, and the waitress had the cook make me a special “milk free” sorbet to go with the French Press coffee.

This really was an amazing find and a wonderful addition to an interesting day in California. In fact we took so long enjoying the delicious lunch, we had very little time to tour the rest of the Napa valley.

Spring Wine (Or Spring Break)

Lovely Scenery - Terrible Roads!

 

For those who are not RVers, the trailers and Rvs I am writing about are basically houses built on a steel truck frame. Some of the real classic trailers like the Airstream are built with an aluminium, frame, and some like the Boler we had are a nice fibreglass shell mounted on a steel frame. The Boler was an amazing trailer, light, strong and well designed, but it looked like two fibreglass bathtubs pop riveted together with some windows and a door cut into the sides. Modern RVer, insist on oak cupboards, flat screen TVs, arm chairs, and microwaves. In other words they want a “Home away from Home”, and they want it to look and feel like home. The result is a big square wooden structure like a house attached to a truck frame. But of course to tow it behind even a big truck it has to be light, the result is a compromise, and it results in shifting, bending, and breaking. Nothing ever broke on the Boler in years of service, but so far , we've bent a wheel, the back venetian blind has fallen down twice, one light fixture fell off, and two cupboard door handles have fallen off. Oh, yea, two of the springs that keep all this “homeyness” rolling down the road have broken.

Looking back, I suspect that the loud bang we heard as Regis was coming down the twisty narrow mountain roads in Yosemite National Park was one of the springs finally giving up and snapping, but I didn't notice it then. The trailer was making a lot of noise, but it does on bumpy roads anyway, so we didn't worry about it. However in the morning as I was checking everything over prior to leaving San Francisco to drive up the coast, I noticed that one spring was broken in half, with just one end holding the axle in place. We were not going far with that. We had a spare, but dad must have cleaned that out when getting ready for the trip. We went to the local RV shop, but although he could get the part, he could not do the work today. I elected to pick up the part and do it myself.

I got everything apart, and in the process discovered that a spring on the other side was also broken but not so bad. Fortunately I had bought two springs just in case. When I went to put the nice shiny new spring into place, it would not fit. A measurement revealed I was sold 26” springs and needed 23” ones. A phone call informed me that 23” ones were not in stock and would have to be ordered – a two day wait. We reregistered at the campground, put things back together (as good as the stripped threads, and bent brackets would allow), and went back to the site.

So with two more days in San Francisco, we have decided to take the rest of the day to just relax here. I worked on a walking stick, Regis tried to keep up on her reading for all her book clubs back home, dad took a nap, and Sharon found some temporary “Grandkids” Next door to make a fuss over (Sorry Jasmine, Nicki, Alex and Drew). Tomorrow we will leave the trailer here and go up the coast in the truck and visit some of the California Napa valley wineries. Life is tough!

Food!

During a stop in Barcelona as part of a Transatlantic cruise, we visited a market and I was amazed at the variety of fruit, vegetables, and especially the cured meat and sausages. I looked at all this delicious food knowing that I couldn't bring any onto the ship, and decided that I'd like to actually come to Spain and spend enough time to actually settle in and cook some of the local food.

Once I actually arrived, I discovered that I had a bit of a false impression of “Spanish” food based on my experience with Mexican and Latin American food. Spanish food, at least the Costa Blanca variety of Spanish food is not spicy. We went to one of the local supermarkets the day we arrived in El Campello, and I got some indication of what was available.

There was lots of delicious looking sausages and cured meat. Most of the sausages have a clear orange tint, from the spice. I have sampled many of the sausages, and discovered that they are actually very unlike our chorizo. or I should say that what we call chorizo back home is not what the actual chorizo is like. The first one I bought was flavorful, but not at all spicy. Another lesson in Spanish; “dulce” is a sweet sausage, where “picante” is a spicy one, but they are all called chorizo.

Everywhere were whole cured legs of ham or jamon serrano. Most bars and small restaurants had them sitting on a counter ready to have thin slices cut off for sandwiches. They are never refrigerated or even packed away, at most covered with a hand towel.  Every supermarket or butcher shop had them hanging at various prices. These are salt cured meat, and unlike our ham it is darker in colour. The meat is very flavourful, but salty and a bit tough. Unable to justify purchasing a whole leg, I bought a small chunk of the meat from one of the markets, and used it like bacon for breakfasts.

There were lots of red and green peppers at the markets, but I could not find any of the nice little hot red peppers I expected to see. I'm sure I recall them hanging in bunches from the market stalls in Barcelona. Finally, when I went to the weekly market here in El Campello I found a bag of them, but they were sold not by a Spanish vendor, but a very pleasant Asian lady who warned me that they were “picante – HOT”. I got a whole bag of them for one euro and they lasted me a week. She insisted on giving me a nice batch of fresh parsley to go with them. They were actually not that hot, but did add a bit more flavour to the things I cooked.

The oranges were perhaps the biggest disappointment. Here we were close to Valencia, with an orange named after the city, and everywhere we went we could see acres of trees covered in oranges, yet I have found it difficult to get good oranges. The ones left at the apartment by our hosts from their own tree were good, but many from stores and markets were very dry inside with little juice as if old. I understand that the “Valencia” orange is not known as an eating orange, and is generally used to produce juice, but I would think that the oranges would be much better. Perhaps the locals recognize me as a foreigner and slip me the “old” product.

We do not eat out very much, electing to cook our meals using the fresh local produce, but we have gone out when visiting Madrid, Valencia, Grenada and Alicante. The whole experience is different. Many restaurants use a “Daily Menu” that is a set price with a choice of two courses. The area is known for rice dishes, and we have had a couple of excellent ones usually with seafood mixed. There is little beef and lots of pork. Again, the food is generally full of flavour, but not at all hot or spicy. Of all the food I had in dining out my favorite was the tapas, or bar snacks. In Grenada, almost every bar served free tapas with every drink. One and a half Euro got you a beer and a plate of snacks. It was often on slices of bread, but could have been almost anything. We had a plate of delicious meatballs, stuffed sweet peppers, and squid in sauce. One bar brought over nice pork sandwiches with our beer. Some bars had extensive menus of different tapas, and some had glass cases with pre-made tapas on display so you could choose. For an average price of 5 euro you could get a plate of one type of tapas, so with four people you could order several and get to taste many different things.

Then there is the wine. Alicante is known as a wine producing region, and on the train from Madrid we saw kilometre after kilometre of vineyards prepared for another season of grapes. You can purchase wine in any grocery store or from speciality Bodegas. In the Bodegas you can actually pay a good deal for a bottle of wine, and I'm sure it is very good, but so far I have been quite happy with the selection from the grocery stores.  Other than one bottle that sits beside the stove relegated to cooking, even the inexpensive bottles have been excellent. In the grocery stores it is hard to pay more than 10 euros for a bottle, and I purchased one excellent bottle on sale for .99 euros. It is going to be hard to go home and have to pay $20 for a nice bottle of Spanish wine.