I got linked to this infographic from Information is Beautiful. It highlights the fact that many organic food companies are owned by the large packaged goods companies.

Bloor Street Market is the new Loblaws store that arised from the ashes of the Valu-Mart that was below the Manulife building at Bay and Bloor. The new store design does not really change the layout, but the store has gotten a fresh fascade with some stone facing, and new cabinets and counters. The butcher and fishmonger areas are much more approachable and there’s a large focus on convience foods (pre-cooked foods at the deli, salad bar, prepackaged ready-to-heat meals.

There’s quite a concentration of grocery stores on Bloor. With the new Market by Longo’s , a larger Rabba’s, the exclusive Pusateri’s and Whole Foods all a block away from this location. At least I have a lot of choices. What I like is that these are grocery stores, not supermarkets. There is no pharmacist, there is no 1 hour photo lab, no consumer hard goods – pure grocery. If they can concentrate on good, fresh product, they may get a lot of loyal customers who prefer to walk than drive to get groceries.

(pictures to be added shortly)

A unique fundraising event is happening at the Carlu this November. Called the Chef’s Challenge, it features Gorden Ramsey and local Toronto chefs leading teams against each other in a cook off.  You can get on the team by being one of the five top fundraisers. The selected Toronto chefs are Massimo Capra, Lynn Crawford, Jamie Kennedy, Mark McEwan and David Rocco – household names to anyone that watches the Food Network.

The top 25 fundraisers also get a VIP Brunch in a private home the local chefs and Gordon Ramsay.

The Globe and Mail has been showing videos of some basic cooking skills. This week is a video on basic knife skills.

Last week I received my All-Clad 4qt. Simmer/Saute pan. I love it! I have been looking for the perfect pan for my induction cooktop and this is the one.

My previous “go-to” pan was All-Clad’s 14″ Chef’s pan, which was really a small wok with a flat bottom. However, the flat bottom was only 7″ wide, and not useful with the larger 11″ and 10″ induciton elements on my new cooktop. My large saute pan fit the 11″ element, but the sides were not very deep for large stir fry’s. The sides of the pan are also not very shallow, making scooping up dishes difficult and moving food to a cooler part of the pan.

This 4qt. pan is 3.5″ deep, twice the depth of the normal All-Clad saute pans. And the pan has shallow ridges which make it good for a wok-like effect. It comes with a nice lid. Highly Recommended. Best place to purchase it is in the US, since it’s only $150 there vs. $225 here in Canada.

Every two weeks, the LCBO makes available some limited quantities of wine available by online purchase only. When the email comes out, you have to act fast because they tend to sell out within a few hours.

I tried it last month, by ordering a nice Chateau Cesseras Rouge 2006 online. It arrived at my closest LCBO in 10 days and was available for pickup. The wine turned out quite OK, although not one of the best $20 wines I’ve had.

Today, they feature the following wines.

LAURENZ V. CHARMING GRÜNER VELTLINER 2007

DR. HERMANN RIESLING AUSLESE 2007

CHÂTEAU MOULIN HAUT-LAROQUE 2004

PODERE IL CASTAGNO SYRAH 2007

QUINTA DO VALLADO TOURIGA NACIONAL 2007

If the links do not work, they have sold out of that wine. It’s a poor user experience, but I’ve learned that is what it means. As of the time of this posting, all the links were working and most had 60-100 bottles remaining.

Toronto Life wrote an article listing some environmentally friendly wines:

WHITE

Domaine Barmes Buecher 2007 Rosenberg Gewurztraminer
$28.95 | Alsace, France | 94 points

Cono Sur 2009 Viognier
$9.95 | Colchagua, Chile | 90 points

Domaine Weinbach 2007 Riesling Cuvée Sainte Catherine
$73.50 | Alsace, France | 97 points

Meinklang 2008 Grüner Veltliner
$16.95 | Burgenland, Austria | 91 points

Tawse 2007 Robyn’s Block Chardonnay
$42 | Twenty Mile Bench, Niagara | 92 points

PINK

Southbrook 2009 Cabernet Rosé
$18.95 | Niagara-on-the-Lake | 88 points

RED

Bonterra 2006 Syrah
$19.95 | Mendocino County, california | 89 points

The Sadie Family 2007 Columella
$99 | Swartland, South Africa | 92 points

Seña 2006
$79.95 | Aconcagua Valley, Chile | 95 points

Western Range 2007
Julimar Organic Shiraz
$24.95 | Western Australia | 90 points

I found an odd subsite of CNN today. Eatocracy is a food site offered by CNN. It’s a collection of a lot of foodie information provided by various CNN sources. It’s pretty obvious that it’s more of a pet project rather than a full-on attempt to become #1 food portal, but the content is pretty good.

These two wines were highlighted by the LCBO:

RODNEY STRONG MERLOT 2006
Sonoma County, California
497933 (D) 750 mL $19.95

ARDAL CRIANZA 2005
DDO Ribera del Duero, Spain (Bodegas Alitus/Balbás)
167601 (XD) 750 mL $17.95