A new dining phenomenon has started up in Vancouver;  it isn’t a new idea in Europe though, and it is something that we have all probably done in some variation of our own.  Annika Reinhardt, of Social Bites, organizes dinner excursions where guests experience two meals made by two hobby chefs in two different locations.  Each attendee has a ballot to fill out for each hobby chef to evaluate the presentation, food, and hospitality for a prize.  This time it was a Zip Car prize package including a rental of a Mini Cooper.  Following the meals, they meet up at a hot spot where they collectively enjoy and learn about an imbible dessert treat.   The intention of these events is not only to sample great new dishes, but also to meet new people and get to know a new neighbourhood/district.

The second Social Bites dinner field-trip was in Yaletown and if this gives you an idea of how popular it has become: all tickets were sold within days of announcing the event!  I loved the first event, so bought my tickets quickly because I wasn’t about to miss this one.  Besides, Karen Hamilton of Tiny Bites was cooking up an asian sampler and her cooking is not to be missed, and the hot spot round-up promised dessert wines and chocolates (need I say more?).

Brent and I hopped over to Yaletown with time to spare so we picked up a screw cap wine to enjoy with our meals at Viti.  Tough call.  One bottle, two different meals.  What to do?  I decided to pair my wine with the Asian Sampler because I wan’t sure what kind of tex-mex to expect later, so I chose Spy Valley Sauvignon Blanc for its lemon grassiness and fresh palate cleansing super powers.

Rice Paper Shrimp Rolls, Corned Beef Sinigang, Braised Pork Spare Ribs with Apricot Sauce.

Hobby chef, Karen busied around the kitchen with her sous-chef Bruce making finishing touches to her dishes as we chatted it up with the other two guests.  When the final product was brought out, we were astounded by the beautiful presentation of the sampler inspired by her recent trip to Asia.  You know it’s good when the chatter at the table dies and it is replaced with “mmmm”s and sighs.  As a bonus, I was pleased that my wine choice was a stellar compliment to the food! It was hard to pick a favourite from the trio: the shrimp rice paper rolls stood out with each flavour standing on its own and complimenting each other, the corned beef sinigang was tender and packed with flavour, and the apricot sauce for the spare ribs had just the right amount of sweetness.

Chili Con Carne with Corn Bread

We almost lost track of time, and hurried to the next hobby chef’s place.  (Note to self: wear better shoes when running around downtown)  I love that Annika arranges the locations close enough together so that we can walk to each place without worrying about parking or over imbibing.  I just made poor a poor choice of footwear (but it matched my dress).  The next meal was a Tex-Mex Chili Con Carne made by Marc from Amuse Consulting with his BFF Jackie.  His chili was to die for.  Literally.  Not only was the meat tender and tasty, but the heat from the chipotles was, well, hot.  I am not one to shy away from spicy foods so I devoured every tasty bite of this down home southern concoction and being a sucker for corn bread, I had two pieces.  Pinot Gris doesn’t really go with chili, but it helped cool off my mouth.

From left to right. Blackberry Port - Salt Spring, BC Seeling Schwarzriesling (Pinot Meunier) - Naumburg, Saale Unstrut, Germany Vespaiolo Sparkling Wine - Bregenz, Italy Rotkäppchen Riesling Sparkling Wine - Freyburg, Saale Unstrut, Germany

The hot spot was at Yaletown Gallery where we all met up, filled out and submitted our hobby chef evaluations, and sampled some lovely dessert-type wines presented by Kate, The Wine Mistress.  She brought us wines from Vino Allegro Wine Imports Inc., and Annika shared some German wines which we sampled along with some chocolates from the oldest chocolate factory in Germany.  We enjoyed persuing the gallery with our treats and admiring the beautiful skilled work of local artists.  My wine notes are a little hazy, and I am working on finding a better way to remember my thoughts on what I tatse because by the time I share my thoughts, my mind is often on what I currently have in my glass.  Bear with me.  The Rotkäppchen Riesling Sparkling Wine (Freyburg, Saale Unstrut, Germany) was an off dry riesling that was delightfully refreshing with sour/tart apples and lemons (find out why it is referred to as Lieutenant Lemonade here), and the Seeling Schwarzriesling (Pinot Meunier) (Naumburg, Saale Unstrut, Germany) was a rose that reminded me of chocolate and strawberries.  The Vespaiolo Sparkling Wine (Bregenz, Italy) was my favourite of the evening boasting its toastyness, tiny bubbles, and peach flavours.  Obviously, I did not leave empty handed.  The ballots were tallied, and the hobby chef winners were announced and the last wine was poured.  It was a Blackberry Port (Salt Spring, BC) made with organic Saltspring fruit.  It was a lovely finish to the evening and went down smoothly in all its sweetness.

Social Bites has its next event on May 23 in Fairview / South Granville where yours truly will be cooking up a storm to benefit the Canadian Cancer Society Relay for Life.  Check out the Social Bites Website for more information on how you can participate in either cooking or eating for this great cause.

A huge thank you to Annika, Yaletown Gallery, the Wine Mistress, Vino Allegro, and all of the hobby chefs.  It was a fantastic evening, and you can expect to see me at many more Social Bites events.  You have made a fan out me.

This morning, the Playhouse Wine Festival Executives held a press conference on next year’s event and yours truly nearly met Anthony Gismondi.  Okay, almost that may not be the most newsworthy news, but I was so close!  Actually, I wanted to share with you what you can expect next year so that we can all prepare.

The planning committee didn’t wish to hold the wine festival so close to the Olympics, and I think that we can all agree that we will need a drink once they’re over.  Traditionally the festival is at the end of March, so be sure to mark off your calendars for April 19th to 25th.

I am very excited about the global focus: Rosé .  Rosé is left on the skins for only a couple of days which gives it its pinkish colour.  The most common varietals are Pinot Noir and Gamay, but there are other varietals out there such as Cabernet Franc and Shiraz.  It will be really interesting to compare different varietals and styles of Rose around the world.  I love a good pairing, and the one thing that gets me wound up in a ball of excitement about this style of wine is it’s flexibility with food pairings.  No doubt there will be some events that showcase and challenge this wine’s repertoire.

The next big news is the TWO theme regions: Argentina and New Zealand.  The consolates shared their excitement over the similarities and differences between them and our region and between each other.  Wine is part of Argentina’s every day life and they produce oodles of it and only export a relatively small percentage of their wines.  The festival gives them an opportune chance to show off what they do so well.  New Zealand is often overshadowed by it’s neighbour, Australia, but it puts out some great Sauvignon Blancs that are fresh and lively.

After watching their cultural performances, I am very sure that we can expect a lot of passion, pride, and sexiness.  As we draw nearer, I will cover more about these regions and the global focus. I must be off to the final night of consumer tasting, after which I will fill you all in on the wines that blew my mind, confused me, and made me spit (no, not really…I am just learning to spit like a good wine drinking lady).  Oh yes, and maybe I WILL run into Gismondi….