Quench By Tidings | The Food And Drink Social Network

Sweet Retreat
Re-imagine your yard as an outdoor oasis. Perfect for parties, or an intimate evening for two. A weekend trip to Buffalo, New York changed the way I view my humble backyard. Last summer I toured 30 private gardens, part of the National Garden Festival, the largest free garden walk in the United States. The festival, [READ MORE]
The Chicken Factor
“It tastes just like chicken!” If I had a dime for every time I’ve heard that line, I’d be a millionaire by now. Let me tell you, I’ve tried frog legs, eel, alligator, rabbit and kangaroo. And despite assurances to the contrary, none of it tasted even remotely like chicken. In fact, frog legs happen [READ MORE]
Grape X
It’s not always the wine that excites me, it’s the journey it takes to get in my glass — from vine, to bud, to flower, to grape, to harvest, to crusher, to fermentation, to barrel, to bottle and finally to my mouth. We take the journey lightly, letting Mother Nature, viticulturists and winemakers do all [READ MORE]
Own It: A Sane Person’s Guide To Insanity
Rows of vines rule your yard, easing out family and friends. Your mini-fermenter sprang a leak and oozed booze on the new Nissan. Pickled beets and canned corn occupy your wine cellar. You want a piece of the wine business, but don’t know how to branch out. Seasoned vineyard owners in BC, Ontario and Quebec [READ MORE]

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From The Pages Of Tidings Magazine

Bold New Horizons
As a wine country, South Africa today defies easy explanation. The convenient Old or New World tags really don’t fit here. The wine culture of the Cape goes back at least 300 years. Although the original Dutch settlers were not wine growers, they were soon joined by Huguenots, French Protestants with a similar religious outlook, [READ MORE]
Montreal’s Best Food and Drink
The lure of a journey through Montreal’s sea of restaurants was an experience that I was not willing to forego. It’s been almost 30 years and I have always held a fondness for its European feel and sincere food culture. So when Tidings editor Aldo Parise asked if I would be interested in writing a [READ MORE]
21 Wines Under $21
I taste a lot of sock squeezings disguised as wine that sell for way too much dosh but I don’t write them up. Nor do other critics. We tend to focus on what’s good instead. How badly do you really want to read about a $50 bottle of wine that tastes like under-ripe raspberries crushed [READ MORE]

Blackula
Pour Blavod Vodka in hurricane glass with ice. Pour in Bloody Mary mix. Add jalepeno pickle for spicy taste
Monk's Butt
Pour Frangelico, Butterscotch Schnapps, and Creme de Cacao over ice. Add milk (or cream) if desired, and stir.

Easy Summer Eats
I am not a big fan of frozen chicken fingers, so I make my own, which isn’t as complicated as it sounds. Lately, I’ve found that combining panko (Japanese) bread crumbs with store-bought bread crumbs results in a crust that is crunchy but not too crunchy. This is a fast mid-week dish that is heavenly [READ MORE]
Celebrate
Celebrations don’t always have to be grandiose affairs. One of the nicest holiday dinners I ever had consisted of a simple beef stew with salad and a loaf of homemade bread. The food was delicious, but what made the evening special was the great conversation and laughter shared among good friends. To me “simple” means [READ MORE]
A Love Story
On a sunny spring day many years ago when I was just 14 years old, I walked up the street to the library and checked out a book about dreams. On my way home, with the book in my arms, I met a boy named Ron. He was lean and lanky and by the look [READ MORE]
Lessons I Learned From Scarlett O’Hara
When I am in Italy, my relatives have a word they use every time I reach for more food, which is usually about every 3 minutes. The word is domani. I have to admit the way my Italian relatives say domani scares me. They put the emphasis on the second syllable, which to my untrained [READ MORE]