February Is Food Truck Fest at Vancouver Farmers Markets

This month Vancouver Farmers Markets hosts its first annual February Food Truck Fest. All month long, the Winter Farmers Markets will feature double the usual number of food trucks during the Saturday markets at Nat Bailey Stadium.

The Food Truck Fest will be a sort of audition. Visitors are invited to vote on their favorite food trucks and those will be invited to join the roster as regulars at the busy summer markets.

  

Food Truck Fest “New Recruits”

 

Blue Smoke BBQ: Blue Smoke's tag line is "Low and Slow on the Go" because their pork is smoked for almost 16 hours.

Chilitank: "The best mobile chili tank in town!" Try chili served hot from a ca. 1943 military soup kitchen!

Crêperie La Bohème: Sweet and savoury buckwheat crepes served on-site from a charming gypsy caravan.

Slavic Rolls: Slavic Rolls offers a great tasting pastry, made fresh in front of customers.

Eli's Serious Sausage: Eli serves up premium sausages handmade with BC pork and all natural ingredients. No filler, no additives, no preservatives.

Feastro - The Rolling Bistro: Feastro is the famous purple truck with the fabulous & award winning seafood tacos, fish & chips, salads, chowders and daily specials.

Vij's Railway Express: Celebrity chef Vikram Vij's latest venture brings his creative Indian cuisine to the streets.

JJ's Trucketeria: The brightest yellow food truck you've seen yet, serving seasonal creations made from scratch with a unique cultural mix of flavours.

Le Tigre: Chinese street food with a West Coast concept.

Old Country Pierogi: Old Country Pierogi brings to market homemade pierogies (regular and gluten-free!) with sweet and savoury fillings.

Pig on the Street: Pig On The Street strives to bring taste, sustainability, simplicity & creativity together to the bustling street food scene in Vancouver.

Taser Grilled Cheese: Serving gourmet and classic takes on an old favorite.

The Kaboom Box: The Kaboom Box is dedicated to promoting and highlighting local and sustainable food. They specialize in salmon and oysters and also make a mean poutine!

Transylvania Fresh: Delicious homemade pork-stuffed and vegetarian cabbage rolls made with homemade sour cabbage.

Ze Bite: Ze bite is Vancouver's premier French cuisine food truck featuring delicious stews and speciality sandwiches made from scratch with locally sourced ingredients.

(Photo courtesy Yum.Goodeat.ca)

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♥Chérie Du Vin

Posted via email from Vancouver Food And Wine

Pol Roger And Winston Churchill

by Paige Donner

The - new - Pol Roger Champagne Cellars took nearly 10 years to finish their complete refurbishment. Work began in 2000 and the beautiful, gleaming expansive caverns and stainless steel vats housing 10s of thousands of liters of the finest champagne the world has ever known were revealed in 2010 at the house's historic address 34, Avenue de Champagne.

The entire interior was demolished and re-done at these cellars which were first established by Pol Roger's offspring in 1933. But it wasn't the first time Pol Roger cellars were rebuilt. A history of the house reveals that their first cellars in Épernay collapsed in February 1900, were replaced, and then re-opened in January 1903.

Champagne cellars tend to be some of the cleanest you'll ever see in the wine world, reflective of the vinification process of the wine itself. But these sparkle. The complete renovations cost the venerable company 10 million Euro. There are about 71/2 km of Pol Roger cellar "caves" underneath the Avenue de Champagne which house about 8.3 million bottles of champagne.

SlideShow HERE >>> Click HERE for SlideShow

A few particulars about the great Champagne House's - Sir Winston Churchill's personal favorite - practices stand out:

They hand-riddle ALL their cuvées. When I questioned this to clarify that this was just for the prestige cuvées and certainly couldn't be for the Brut NVs too? I was corrected - ALL the cuvées, including the Brut NVs, are hand-riddled.

"We're the last of the Mohicans," explained Mr. Patrice Noyelle, Chairman of the Board of Pol Roger Champagne.

They have 4 career riddlers who turn approximately 50,000 - 60,000 bottles per day. The whole process lasts about 5 weeks at a spell.

Unlike the majority of the great champagne Merchant-Houses, but like Roederer, Pol Roger owns about 60% of their own ha. of champagne vineyards. Only the must is received at their cellars where vinification takes place of their annual approximate 1.8 million bottle production of champagne. Altogether there are about 50 pressoirs in their vineyards, with three in Chouilly alone. Once the must arrives, they chill it to about 5°C - 6°C to clarify it. Sometimes they chaptalize it, based on the year, - a year like 2012, there was no need to. "This year will be a vintage year," proclaimed Noyelle.

SlideShow HERE >>> Click HERE for SlideShow

I'm sure by now you're wondering where the Churchill - Pol Roger connection comes in? It's the name the Champagne House gave their Prestige Cuvée once Sir Winston passed away after spending a lifetime joyfully sipping Pol Roger vintage champagnes - when he wasn't saving the Western World. Legend has it, too, that he had a fairly longstanding friendship with Odette Pol-Roger, one of the great beauties of her day. Pol Roger Champagne is known as "The Gentleman's Champagne" and is a favorite of the British Royal family to this day.

I recommend reading the book, Pol Roger & Co., an historical account of the house from its founding in 1849, at about the time when train transport between Paris and Épernay began, through to the Paris Universal Exposition of 1900 and on during the hard years of both World Wars, where accounts of harvests taking place while bomber planes swooped abovehead keep the pages turning.

The company is currently headed by Hubert de Billy, a direct family descendant of the founder, Pol Roger, and Laurent d'Harcourt.

Recommend: Pol Roger Pure, Pol Roger 2002, Pol Roger Sir Winston Churchill. 

Pol Roger Champagne, Épernay 

♥Chérie Du Vin - You will LOVE my wine picks! 

Vinexpo Bordeaux June 16 - 20 2013 and Just Released Stats IWSR Study

THE U.S. CONFIRMS ITS LEADERSHIP IN THE WORLD WINE MARKET 

In 2011, Americans consumed 4.5% more wine than in 2010, which was record growth in one year. 

Having consumed 317.87 million 9-liter cases (or 3.814 billion bottles), the market exceeded the expectations in VINEXPO's forecast, which the year before had underestimated 2011 growth at 311.31 million cases.
This outstanding performance was confirmed again in 2012, strengthening the U.S. position as the world's leading wine-consuming nation, ahead of France and Italy.
The VINEXPO study foresees that growth in American wine consumption will continue between 2012 and 2016, attaining 12.16%. The U.S. should therefore increase its consumption by 40.52 million cases (or 486.24 million bottles) over the period, equivalent to about two extra bottles for every American of drinking age.

- Source Vinexpo.com

Read My complete Article HERE - Including Interview with Vinexpo Chairman Xavier de Eizaguirre

THE WORLD STILL PREFERS RED 

Red wine accounted for 54.7% of all still, light wines drunk in 2011. 
Between 2011 and 2016, world red wine consumption is expected to grow by 9.1%, driven especially by the Chinese, while white wine consumption should only increase by 2.75% over the same period. 
The consumption of rosé wines, on the other hand, is expected to increase by 7.58% between 2011 and 2016, reaching a total share of 9.2% of all wines drunk. 

- Source Vinexpo.com

FASTER GROWTH IN SPARKLING WINES THAN STILL, LIGHT WINES 

In 2011, sparkling wines accounted for 7.7% of all wines drunk in the world. 
Between 2007 and 2011, the consumption of sparkling wines grew by 4.12%, compared to the 2.72% growth in still, light wines over the same period. Sparkling wine consumption is expected to grow by a further 8.52% between 2012 and 2016. 
This increase is primarily due to expected rises in consumption in the top four sparkling wine markets worldwide: Germany, France, Russia and the U.S. 

- Source Vinexpo.com

Read My Complete Article HERE

WORLD SALES SOAR FOR WINES PRICED HIGHER THAN US$10 PER BOTTLE  

These wines accounted for 213.56 million 9-liter cases in 2011 or 8.6% of all still, light wines consumed in the world, their consumption having grown by 12.59% since 2007, mainly in China, the U.S. and Canada. 

- Source  Vinexpo.com

♥Chérie Du Vin. You will LOVE my wine picks!

Les Meilleurs Vins du Canada by LRVF

Be sure to pick up February's issue of La Revue du Vin de France... British Columbia, Quebec and Ontario wines and wineries are featured in a multiple-page spread. 

For the Okanagan some beautiful highlights of Osoyoos Larose and also Quail's Gate, among others. Similkameen received due attention, though Naramata Bench didn't even get a mention. Well, the printed page can only hold so many words... Report prepared by Pascal Patron, a professor at Quebec's ITHQ.

Here's what the cover looks like so order your issues now!

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♥Chérie Du Vin

Posted via email from Okanagan Food And Wine

SHe in Las Vegas - by Morton's (and Eva Longoria)

Opened on NYE '13 in Vegas, Eva "Desperate Housewife" Longoria says her new restaurant is designed to cater to the ladies: small plates and a catwalk.

Female-only restaurants are trending right now with another new one set to open on London's Frith Street on Feb. 1st. 

Relax, though, girls - SHe's "behind the scenes video" below features a few delicious-looking guys too. 

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♥Chérie Du Vin

Posted via email from Local Food And Wine