Only a few more hours until 2009 is done and we're preparing for an easy New Years Eve at home.

So with some easy small bite ideas and a couple of New York City photos, we're all ready to ring in the New Year!




Almost anything goes with cocktails - here we used guava juice (because of its pretty pink color) and mixed it with vanilla vodka and agave syrup.  Blueberries were added as garnish.

For larger parties, we also like to keep things simple by having bottles of sparkling wine available with pitchers of different fruit purees/juices.  This way the guests are easily able to serve themselves and enjoy different Bellini cocktails throughout the night.

After flying back from Toronto, we came home to a nearly empty fridge.  What to do?  What to eat?  Luckily, we had a homemade Tourtière in our freezer, given to us by the now very newly-wed (they married last week!), Sarah and Hugue.

Sarah and Hugue are a true foodie match made in heaven.  Sarah Obraitis works for Heritage USA and Hugue Dufour (Canadian readers will know him as one of The Wild Chefs on Food Network Canada) rose through the ranks of famed Montreal restaurant Au Pied de Cochon (i.e. a mecca for pork lovers).  Together they started making and selling Tourtières, a French Canadian meat pie traditionally served during the holidays but are so warm and comforting they can be eaten year-round.

Walking into the restaurant, we immediately notice Earth's sleek and modern interior - blacks and greys offset by funky light fixtures.  It's a cool space, but our favourite parts were the two rose inlays (the flower in the photo above) that were saved from the original flooring and integrated into current flooring. 

Finally, to end our meal, we enjoyed this deceptively plain-looking dessert soup.  It was warm and very flavorful with a surprisingly sharp ginger taste.

Special thanks to my brother and especially to his girlfriend who called ahead of time and organized the meal for us.  

Fantaxia is located 3555 Don Mills Road, Unit 5 in Toronto, ON, Canada. 

We wanted to wish you and your loved ones a very Merry Christmas.

Please enjoy these holiday scenes from Toronto.

It's cold outside and all we want to do is sit by the fireplace with our family and enjoy the holidays with a few good seasonal beers.

So, for the past few weeks, we have been trying a lot of Winter Warmers and Christmas beers from various breweries (for research purposes, of course!) to determine which brews we would like to share with our loved ones.

Here are some of our favorites...

Peameal Bacon is an unsmoked back bacon brined and rolled in yellow cornmeal. 

It was thick, meaty, and warmed our belly! 

A large selection of condiments, including Kozlik's mustards and very spicy horseradish, ensured our sandwich was nicely dressed.

In addition to the lovely Christmas cards in our mailbox,  our mailman has been very good to us by delivering three free cookbooks to our door. 

How did this happen?  In the spirit of sharing and giving, we would love to share with you how we got these books  and give you a chance to win one of them for yourself!


We love Jacques Pepin (as evidenced by our Pepin-inspired Ratatouille and Easy baked Salmon).  So, when we joined PaperBackSwap.com, we quickly added his cookbooks to our wish list.  PaperBackSwap is a great online site where members (joining is free!) list books they no longer want for other members to order.  The only charge you pay is when a member requests a book from you and you pay the nominal cost (media mail postage has been less than $3 for the books we have sent).  Anytime you request a book from someone else, you don't have to pay a cent!  We've given up many beach reads and gotten in return food books like this Jacques Pepin's Simply and Healthy Cooking and Anthony Bourdain's Kitchen Confidential.

In addition to getting together with friends and family, we love the holiday season as a chance to try and share our favorite wines.

Good wine also does not need to be expensive.  Not only have we chosen wines that are readily available, but we also chose bottles that are less than $20 (some as low as $6.99) that we think your guests would enjoy.


Next is our choice for red wine:  Cotes du Rhone and the Borsao wines from Spain.

We really like the '07 Rhone wines, both reds and whites, and most of the Perrin family wines are easy to find at good prices.  The Reserve is usually about $8, and the Villages at left, roughly $13-$15.  These are definitely bang for the buck wines, medium to full body with ripe, rich fruit.

Another highly rated and cheap Cotes du Rhone is the Delas 2007 St. Esprit Cotes du Rhone Red (around $9).  For a good white wine, look for the Guigal Cotes du Rhone Blanc 2007.  It is a serious and affordable alternative to Chardonnay that pairs well with rich, holiday fare.


The Tres Picos ($13-$18) from Borsao and the Borsao Red (often called the Baby Tres Picos, $7-$9) are great introductions to the magnificent value wines from Spain.  They are both juicy, Garnacha (Grenache) based wines with loads of fruit without being over the top.

Other great value wines for the holidays are the Merlot and Cabernet Sauvignon from Columbia Crest's Grand Estates line (their Merlot will make you a fan again, give it a shot) and of course Malbecs from Argentina -- we often buy Alamos Seleccion, Terrezas de los Andes Reserva and the Clos de los Siete blend.