A Man for All Seasonings: February 2016

Saturday, February 13, 2016

Hi there, everyone! It's me.

I am determined to get this blog out of the slough of despair in which it currently resides!

To that end, here is a photo of tonight's dinner in the Blechta household. It's actually our Valentine's Day dinner, which we're having tonight because tomorrow (which is actually Valentine's Day), we'll be on babysitting duty with our grandson while Mommy and Daddy celebrate with a fine restaurant meal.

Vicki and I both love oysters, and our source for fine oysters at St. Lawrence Market had some primo examples of the bivalves this weekend, so I bought 2 dozen Raspberry Point oysters from PEI.

In the photo you'll see our shucked oysters (done by moi), a lovely leaf lettuce/arugula/endive salad with white balsamic dressing and a lovely multi-grain baguette we get from our local Sobey's, no less! Accompanying it all is a lovely blanc de blanc bubbly we bought last weekend from Kew Vineyards in Beamsville, and it's truly a lovely thing.

Lucky us! And Happy Valentine's Day to you all.

About Rick Blechta

Rick has been cooking ever since his mother went on holiday back in 1967, leaving him and his brother on their own with a nearly empty refrigerator. From these desperate beginnings, he developed a keen interest in all things culinary and went on to work in restaurant kitchens during university and after, learning as he went along. He and his wife, the lovely Vicki, have a well-equipped kitchen, a long list of their own recipes and a real love of experiencing all sorts of cuisines and ingredients – especially sourcing food as locally as possible, starting with their own backyard, where they have a small but vibrant vegetable and herb garden, plus two apple trees, a peach tree, and grape vines.

Rick also is a writer of crime fiction (11 novels and novellas so far) and musician of note, so he has a full dance card. Oh yes, and he’s a huge baseball fan. Visit the other two blogs in which he currently participates: typem4murder.blogspot.com and lateinnings.blogspot.com, or you can find out more about him and his interests than anyone could possibly want to know via his website: rickblechta.com.

On the first Monday of any month, you can catch Rick playing trumpet with The Advocats Big Band at Seven44 Restaurant & Lounge in Toronto. Rick also leads and plays trumpet in Toronto’s premiere classic soul band, SOULidified.

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About Frank Baldock

Award-winning journalist Frank Baldock is a wine writer and educator, wine judge and consultant, and three-time President of the Wine Writers’ Circle of Canada. At The Toronto Star, as well as being the Wine Columnist, Frank was a Senior Editor on the National Desk, the Foreign Desk, and the Business and Entertainment departments.

As Features Editor of Canadian Living, he helped launch Food, a short-lived but glorious Canadian equivalent to Bon Appetit. As Executive Editor of TV Guide, then Canada's largest magazine, Frank introduced Wine, Food and Sports to improve its 800,000 weekly circulation. As Consulting Editor, he helped launch Metro, the 180,000-circulation free daily in Toronto’s newspaper wars.

At the Ontario Ministry of Economic Development, Trade and Tourism, Frank launched its flagship business magazine Challenges. At Telemedia Publishing, Frank developed new magazines from concept to launch. His newspaper career spans the Montreal Star, Toronto Telegram, the Calgary Albertan, as crime reporter, and The Sheffield Star.

He publishes Wine Express and his website is www.winexpress.ca.

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