gourmet food & drunks

So tired. I couldn’t even post yesterday I was so tired. Shows really take a lot out of you man, and I didn’t have to do anything to prepare. I just showed up. Anyway it was totally worth it. What a great show. I ate soo much. Notable favourites included: smoked salmon pizza, mango chicken, herbed butter chicken, buffalo risotto, tiger shrimp skewers, venison ribs and of course – the Kobe beef burger from Edo at Yonge and Eglinton. I’ve been thinking about that since last years show. As for the alcohol I liked the Apricot wheat beer but the best thing I had all weekend was a Niagara wine. Yes I know I’m biased but Niagara Wines are the best ever. My absolute favs. In this case it was the Family Reserve Cabernet Franc from Pilliterri. That’s the good stuff baby. We have this dark chocolate blended with a raspberry puree that was specially made for a winery, to be paired with a red. A square of Raspberry Rush and a glass of Piliterri’s Cabernet Franc and you are IN HEAVEN. I’m not kidding. Whenever we have our anniversary dinner (which was supposed to be in July and I have not forgotten about by the way Jeremy, putting it off only means it has to be grander) I want a bottle of that and a box of those chocs. Divine.

Anyway the booze added an element to this show that you don’t always run into – drunks. Fine upstanding career individuals get totally hammered at like 2 pm. It’s hilarious. We have a chocolate called Butterscotch Crunch and this one proved troublesome for those who’d imbibed a little too freely. Usually they gave up trying to say it and just pointed, but one guy did ask for a Butternut Squash. I had to bite the inside of my cheek to keep from laughing. Jeremy had one elderly woman who came up to him and introduced herself, then did a pirouette and said ‘tra la la la la’. She ended up over by me; she wanted to know the story of how our shop came to be because she was a storyteller. In fact her family had been storytellers since the ‘beginning of time’. I was suitably impressed.

Because Jeremy and I were there, and so wonderfully capable, my mother was able to take off and have fun for the last couple hours. My dad was up too so they got to go wander off like a real date and junk! I did make them keep running food back to me though. I think she got into the Chardonnay near the end because she was giggling away with the boys from OUT tv (they had interviewed her earlier, for the In & OUT I think). Later Nelson came up to me and introduced himself, then said he knows everything about me now – where I live, how I love elephants, etc. my goodness. Luckily he was very charming and like most straight women under the attentions of a handsome gay man, I preened and twittered and blushed. Like I said - charming.

Anyway it went well, we got to give away all the chocolate samples at the end of the show. Most of the vendors we gave them to reciprocated and we got a few bottles of wine and one very large helping of pork and buffalo risotto. Jeremy was so excited he said he might leave me for the risotto girl (who was coincidentally a very cute blonde). I raised an eyebrow, but forgave the comment because damn, that was some mighty fine risotto.