For years people in the wine trade have used style as a vehicle to help someone make a wine selection and we choose to organize our wine shops in this format. Ultimately, everyone shopping for a bottle is looking for something to suit a particular situation, be it a specific meal, general dinner invite with no idea what is being served or just sharing a bottle with friends and conversation. Choosing wine by style makes your selection easier and opens up your options of what to pick, because there are really only five styles of wine even if there are hundreds of grape types and thousands of producers. Trust me, it's a fun way to buy wine...

Cheese and Wine Pairings
Advice from food and wine expert Glenn Barlow on the perfect combinations for wine and cheese. Read More ...

Cooler Cuisine, by Barlow & James:

Oysters … Neptune’s answer to the egg.
The oyster truly is Neptune’s perfectly packaged jewel. They are at once the ocean’s toes, and, a secret note passed in class to Aphrodite. Read More ... (PDF, 591 Kb)

If I had to find my DINNER in the woods, I’d be DEAD!
FORAGING IN THE WOODS is fundamentally the same as shopping at your local grocer, just think of nature as the world’s largest factory outlet offering an enormous variety of seasonal specials. Read More ... (PDF, 323 Kb)

The Commandments of Food & Wine Pairing
Food and wine pairing is tough. It’s myst-erious and its complicated, not to mention overwhelming. As a result most people either give up and make a blind guess or, get someone else to pick. Sound familiar? Well get on your knees and say hallelujah to the Commandments of Food and Wine Pairing. Our simple no nonsense approach to making your selections. Read More ... (PDF, 58 Kb)

Apples, Beyond Pie
Nothing says winter is coming more than the multitude of apples that come to market this time of year and we wondered just how versatile they could be in the hands of a chef. Read More ... (PDF, 949 KB)

From fisherman Direct to You
These days it’s easy to get an uneasy feeling about the food we buy. We are constantly bombarded by stories of sheep with bad feet and nasty canker sores, crazy cattle that spin, stagger and die, or veg-gies created in a lab. Meanwhile, packaging and marketing constantly mislead us with terms like “All Natural,” which means nothing, or products named “100% Real Beef.” Trickery plain and sim-ple. All we really want are some guarantees, we want to know where, when, what, how and by whom. We want to be safe. We want the trust back. Read More ... (PDF, 545 KB)

Battle of the senses.Who has a better sense of smell and taste?
What if you took a man and a woman, blindfolded them both, and then had them each smell twenty-food items, then taste the items? What would happen? Who would identify the most items? According to modern science the woman would win. Well, we wanted to know for ourselves, so we decided to challenge this assumption and put our sensitive side to the test. Read More ... (PDF, 1.2 MB)

Aluminum Foil is a BBQ’s best friend, especially when you’re camping
With camping season already started we thought we would remind you about a handy little item that will let you eat like a gourmand, but without the cleanup and the hassle of multiple pots and pans. Aluminum foil, we love it, you can signal planes with it when lost, make a great hat to stave off mind control, and when it comes to food its far handier then Duct Tape. Read More ... (PDF, 73 KB)

PASTURE RAISED MEANS; Lyle’s Birds grow more grass then they eat
Did you know there is a difference between Pasture Raised and Free-Range Poultry? We didn’t, until we went to visit Lyle Young at Cowichan Bay Farms. Recently awarded 2001 Farm of the Year by the SPCA, his farm will also be the site of this year’s Vancouver Island “Feast of Fields.” Read More ... (PDF, 1.1 MB)

Half full? Half empty? — or maybe the wrong glass?
IT ALL STARTED with the little pinch grip handle on the illy brand coffee cup. Torture to some but it raised the question, form or function? Does design effect taste or is it all about the looks? We decided to put our experienced palates to the test and see if we detected a difference with three of our favourite beverages. Read More ... (PDF, 670 KB)

Picnic means savouring the scenery
Apparently the picnic has evolved. It seems that in this age of everything gourmet there is this pressure to try and recreate a Martha Stewart moment. Several hours preparing food and stressing over details, this is not relaxing. Forget that, a picnic is an escape, a chance to steal away out of doors and nibble on some simple delights and relax. Read More ... (PDF, 677 KB)

Eating fresh means shopping local and seasonal
There’s no way around it, spring is not only about the arrival of fresh local produce, but it’s also about the return of food you eat with your fingers. And nothing says summer is on the way like spot prawns and spears of asparagus. So, with the sun shining we set out to do some serious foraging for the best of spring. Read More ... (PDF, 736 KB)

Turkey Dinner — Feared or Revered!
Let’s face it cooking turkey dinner for friends and family can be the most enjoyable meal of the year, or it can stress you completely out. It shouldn’t be hard; in a way it’s just a big chicken! Well, we love turkey and social gatherings, so when Sean Brennan, chef at Brasserie “l’école”, invited us to a family style dinner, we jumped at the chance to pick up some tips, and see how a profes-sional chef did some home cookin’. Read More ... (PDF, 646 KB)

ZANATTA VINOTECA, Under the Tuscan Duncan Sun.
If you’re simply looking to get fed, then drive right past the Zanatta winery and go directly to the nearest fast food pit stop. But, if you want to dine on the freshest local fare prepared by a Chef that marches to her own remarkable beat, then you owe it to yourself and your appetite to stop at Vigneti Zanatta in the Cowichan Valley. Read More ... (PDF, 757 KB)