I am a self confessed dark chocolate addict. I have been savouring it daily since my University days and always try to carry around a small supply with me. Like to search out special regions and growers particularly in my travels and admire Valrhona, Michel Cluizel and Scharffen Berger and many others. Bought for decades Trader Joe’s PoundPlus 72% but preferred it before when it was made in France rather than now from Belgium. However my go to value brand continues to be the intense Lindt Excellence Ecuador 75% Cacao. When I started this habit I did it because I loved the taste sensation and never dreamed this would turn out be one of the best potent antioxidants. What an added windfall! Surprisingly I also consume lots of red wine, green tea and blueberries so I maybe I am getting a daily antioxidant overload.
The more I enjoy dark chocolate of at least 65% cacao and preferably 70% the more I find I detest white chocolate or even milk chocolate – too sweet for me! What about you?
Lots of top chocolatiers in Vancouver including Thomas Haas, Thierry Rosset, and Greg Hook. Invited last week to the preview of the later’s 20th anniversary celebrations in his shop and kitchen. Wonderful chocolate high as he was preparing his special treats for Valentines’s Day. Who are the top chocolatiers in your city? What do you treat yourself or your significant other to on Valentine’s Day?
Though I love both wine & dark chocolate I haven’t found any matching I actually prefer together rather than enjoying them separately! Closest successful pairing experiences have been a special Banyuls or an older Malmsey Madeira.  Any drier white or red table red with dark chocolate doesn’t work at all for me! What about you?

Attended this week in Vancouver a tasting by Gambero Rosso of “tre bicchieri” (3 glass awards) from their new 2013 Guide on Italian Wines. This was a very impressive promotion for this publication as well as their Wine Travel Food magazine by showing off some 77 Italian wine producers with over 100 top rated wines this year!

Raised the immediate question for me about the current marketing of wine advice which seems to be so rapidly changing! In the good old days you could depend on Decanter, Wine Spectator, The Wine Advocate (Robert M Parker), International Wine Cellar (Stephen Tanzer) and a few others to help you make your decisions on which were the best wines to purchase.  Now there are so many sites online and for specific wine regions that the landscape has really changed and continues to do so.

In Canada www.gismondionwine.com, www.johnschreiner.blogspot.com, www.vinesmag.com and www.winealign.com among others are all important reference points.

James Suckling ex Wine Spectator has www.jamessuckling.com and now Antonio Galloni ex The Wine Advocate has just launched his own site at www.vinousmedia.com.

So many other blogs out there offering wine advice often based on limited wine experiences in this increasingly wider and wider world of wine choices.

Maybe the time has come to rely on your own opinion on what you like rather than some one else’s 90 point hype!

Please comment on who you believe you can rely on for your wine advice these days!

I like the continuing debate on what is the perfect closure for wine bottles. It certainly brings out strong advocates for the traditional cork as well as those for the screw cap. We all agree on eliminating that terrible corky TrichloroAcetic Acid (TCA) element that so easily spoils the enjoyment of your wine. Now there is another issue being debated over oxidation vs. reduction.

I refer you to the brilliant article posted July 1, 2013 by Andrew Jefford (in fact all his weekly wine blogs each Monday on Decanter.com are superb) called “A Bit of A Stink” – www.decanter.com/news/blogs

Please share your opinion on whether or not you are experiencing more reductive wines these days and if so are you decanting them.

Also chime in on whether or not you prefer cork or screw cap closures generally. If you prefer cork would you nonetheless favour screw cap at least for young fresh aromatic whites.

As a keen aficionado I am encouraged by the continuing number of articles promoting the cardiovascular benefits and the lowering of stroke risk from regular green tea drinking. Recent studies all show that the catechins in green tea are antioxidants (just like in red wine & dark chocolate) that help keep blood clots from forming. Perhaps the taste is too grassy and bitter for some palates but as a long time imbiber I have grown used to it and now really enjoy the delicacy. Brewing with a higher quality tea and at a lower temperature helps develop the best flavours. Some of the micro-lot teas from Japan and China are really amazing!

Matcha is green tea that usually has been shade-grown, deveined, destemmed and stone ground into a powder. You consume the whole leaf so get more of everything and it is best consumed as close to the grind date as possible. You may need a chawan (bowl) and chasen (bamboo whisk) for the best results. It can be a wonderful energizer and help increase your level of concentration. I am a big fan of a local company based in Victoria, BC, Canada at www.JagaSilk.com who will ship your tea order world wide for free.

You can now blend your very own personal tea at the www.myteablendingroom.com website. I have mine called Subtle Sunlight (actually on sale to the public at 80 grams for $18. at www.myteablendingroom.com/shop/subtle_sunlight.) It is a loose leaf green tea blend with mango and orange peel. My description reads ” A healthy anti-oxidant green tea but also subtle and complex like a fine wine showing well the defined mango variety character with the balancing zesty lift of the orange. Enjoy!” Have some fun and make your own unique exciting blend!

When you are not drinking wine what is your preferred beverage of choice? Let us know!

We are eating more seafood than ever before with global consumption per person growing from 22 pounds in 1960 to 41 pounds in 2011. Our Chefs’ Table Society of BC launched a Spot Prawn Festival which now in the 7th successful year is very enthisiastically supported. Wonderful sustainable seafood available fresh for about 2 months (May & June) showing those distinctive sweet delicate flavours with a firm texture. Spot prawns are caught fresh daily and sold off the boats to the public at the docks every afternoon during this season.

We work closely with the Vancouver Aquarium and their Ocean Wise Program. Interesting to check out their extensive listing of seafood that is recommended, not recommended or under review on the website www.oceanwise.ca/seafood.

Ocean Wise makes recommendations based on 4 main criteria:

a.  Abundant & Resilient

b.  Well-Managed

c.  Limited By-Catch

d. Limited Habitat Damage

You will note that so many prawns and shrimps are not recommended as well as Atlantic Cod, Atlantic farmed salmon, Blue Crab, and lots of tuna including Yellowfin Ahi. In the Vancouver marketplace Wild Pacific Salmon, Halibut, Farmed Oysters and Sablefish (black cod or butterfish) – no more Chilean sea bass – are all very popular and well supported. Ocean Wise now has more than 450 Canada-wide partners. Quite a few restaurants in Vancouver have gone to using only 100% Ocean Wise recommended products. To find sustainable seafood near where you live, download the Ocean Wise app. This is certainly something important to be aware of when making your own seafood choices. A top 12 in random order of presently recommended sustainable seafood by Ocean Wise:

1. ARCTIC CHAR : Closed-system farmed

2. HADDOCK: North West Atlantic – Handline caught

3. HALIBUT: Pacific – Bottom longline or handline caught

4. SHELLFISH: Clams, Mussels, Oysters, Scallops – Beach or Suspension Farmed

5. SPOT PRAWNS: BC – Trap caught

6. ALBACORE TUNA: BC – Pole or Troll caught

7. COD: Pacific – Bottom longline or trap caught

8. SABLEFISH: Alaska & BC – Bottom longline or trap caught

9. MACKEREL: Atlantic, Pacific, King, & Spanish – Purse seine caught

10. LAKE WHITEFISH: Lake Huron, Superior, & Michigan – Gill net or trap net caught

11. RAINBOW TROUT: Closed-system farmed

12. SALMON: Chinook, Chum, Coho, Pink, & Sockeye – BC & Alaska – Seine net, gill or troll caught

Please let us know your thoughts on seafood sustainablility and more specifically what seafoods are the most popular in your region.