Corporate Citizenship, Wine and the Economy

I participated in a charity event on Saturday 31st January - Red and White and Hot All Over - Guelph Wine Gala in benefit of The Edward Johnson Music Foundation. This is an organization that brings music in Primary Schools under the Do Re Mi program, and provides scholarships for aspiring musicians. The reason I bring this up now, is I attended a post event meeting yesterday to assess the success of the event. I ran a series of tasting rooms - 4 in total, each session consisting of 3 wines donated bt the winery or broker. Each session was 20 minutes, with a 10 minute turnaround to re-set the room. Talk about a logistical nightmare! Luckily, being ex-military, I planned it like any good military operation, prepared everything in advance, set up all the glasses on a staging table with all the red wines pre-poured (carefully labelled fro each session!), and trained completely unfamiliar volunteers in pouring and set-up. This was not an exercise for the faint of heart, because one glitch could compromise the whole series of events.

Everything went as per plan, and a total of 120 people participated in 2 hours. I felt like the Energizer Bunny, but had a wonderful time doing what I most enjoy - sharing wine with other people who are interested. The Charity raised more money this year than the last 2, so a great success all round. I have been invited back to conduct sessions next year, with a little fine tuning. There will be a more in-depth tasting session prior to the main event, as well as smaller sessions throughout the evening. I am looking forward to it already.

On April 18th, I am participating again in Spring Magic for Women, a day of seminars in benefit of the St. Joseph's Hospital Foundation. Last year was great, lots of fun and giggles as we tasted 4 wines per seminar.

Part of the reason I mention these things is to help promote local charities to Guelph. Times are tough, but Guelph is a great city, with wonderful support for charitable events. Did you know Guelph has the highest percentage of people who volunteer in all of Canada? As a local business, and citizen, I strongly believe in giving back to the community. All it takes is your time, and perhaps it will make a difference.

On a more personal note, I like finding wines and foods that match particularly well, and love finding dishes that can be prepared easily and economically, along with a well priced wine. Weekday meals need to be quick and easy, and the wine easily obtainable and reasonably priced (think cheap - but not cheap quality, therefore great value!). I bought some boneless chicken breast on sale - not something I normally buy, because it can be very boring and tasteless for a lot of money. I had leftover creamed spinach, bacon I also bought on sale, leftover boiled fingerling potatoes, and mushrooms from the "reduced for quick sale" section. I butterflied the chicken breasts and stuffed them with the spinach and some extra old cheddar cheese, wrapped them in bacon, and roasted them on a pan with the mushrooms strewn around. The potaoes, I tossed in extra virgin olive oil, and roasted as well. A few fresh green beans, and not a bad meal at all. The wine I chose is one of my bargain favourite - Cono Sur Pinot Noir from Chile. This is the best $10.95 Pinot Noir ever made! Don't get me wrong, it's not Burgundy, but it has all the true characteristics of Pinot Noir - light, fruity, very little tannin, a touch of earthiness, and a refreshing, too east to drink quality. Total cost for a great meal for 2 - about $23 including a bottle of wine, and it took about 15 minutes to prepare, and about 40 minutes to cook. Try getting that in a restaurant.

I've got some leftover lamb chops and steak from Monday that need to be dealt with today, so I'm thinking peasant food, stew, hearty, since the weather still is horrible. Perhaps if I boil them with onions until the lamb falls off the bone, add carrots, celery, garlic, and barley and simmer it for a while, it will make a nice satisfying meal. I think this calls for something heartier to drink as well. It's still only Thursday, so weekday budget rules apply - another old standby is calling my name - Marcus James Malbec from Argentina ($9.45). At that price, a little in the stew won't go amiss either.