Port Attack! More Port Flowing into The Liquor Control Board of Ontario!

It seems that this cold weather in Ontario has had some effect in increasing the flow of Port into the Liquor Control Board of Ontario. It has some attraction as a cold weather drink but I say it is fallacious to say it is a cold weather drink. It is an all-season drink just as rosé has been pigeonholed as the ultimate summer wine. Well be carried away by your preconceived notion of Port as whatever works with you that’s what counts.

But back to the matter at hand with a Dow’s 2013 Late Bottled Vintage Port or “LBV” as they say. LBV’s are affordable and may I be so bold as to say they rival the Vintage Ports that are at prices so many of us simply can’t afford unless you are a CEO of a corporation where in Canada you make by noon on the first day of the year more than an employee in your corporation makes ALL YEAR.

Being forthcoming I have a dozen bottles of Vintage Port in my cellar I will not drink in my lifetime. They have been earmarked for my children and perhaps even for their grandchildren.

I am a pensioner this year so my Port budget has been slashed but with LBV’s you can certainly attain a high level of Port excellence at a modest price.

The Dow’s 2013 LBV has an extreme black cherry colour and on the nose we reach a level of Port Nirvana with dense and deep aromas of concentrated black fruit mostly blackberry, vanilla and blueberry. A heady and rich aroma followed by a huge wallop of blueberry pie with sophisticated tannins that are so deeply and seamlessly intertwined with rich black fruit. You hardly notice them. A huge Port steeped in memories for some of the grapes in this Port were from Quinta do Bomfim where I stayed overnight after an incredible walk in the vineyards and a huge dinner where I was treated like royalty as a media rep. To stay overnight at that Quinta only huge buyers and prominent media types were admitted to this sacred place of Port.

You might say as a Port Newbie at the time here I experienced my Port baptism. The spirit has been with me ever since.

(Dow’s 2013 Late Bottled Vintage Port, Symington Family Estates, Villa Nova de Gaia, Portugal, $ 24.95, Liquor Control Board of Ontario #53364, 750 mL,20%, Robert K. Stephen a little birdie told me so Rating 92/100).

“A Concerto is a Conversation”: Nominated for an Academy Award for Best Documentary Short Subject at 93rd Academy Awards

As Kris Bowers explains to his grandfather the concerto he has written (“For a Younger Self”) is a soloist performing along with an orchestra with both of them conversing with each other through their music.

Kris Bowers is a virtuoso jazz pianist and film composer. At 29 he scored the Oscar winning film “Green Book”. He has been playing the piano since a young boy.

Despite his success he feels as a black man whether he should be where he is today which emphasizes the psychological effects of racism.

In this short Kris is having a conversation with his grandfather Horace as he knows his grandfather has cancer and he wants to know more about his life.

Horace relates a story that rattles him to this day growing up in a small community in Florida he goes to a white owned grocery store where a 7-year-old asks his father, “What can I get you boy?” At that point he vowed to get out as soon as he reached the age of maturity and off he did finally making it to Los Angeles noting the segregated lunch counters in the bus station restaurant.

Horace lands a job at dry cleaners and he buys the store two years later. When he applied to the bank in person they refused him a loan but he was approved when he sent in his application by mail.

One senses a short with Kris and Horace deserves a full-length documentary. The short is a reminder of the racism of old and of new particularly in the dying days of former President Trump. That Kris Bowers has self doubts about his success shows a subtler form of racism than what his grandfather experienced.

The short was directed by Ben Proudfoot and Kris Bowers. You can see the short here https://www.nytimes.com/video/opinion/100000007461606/a-concerto-is-a-conversation.html

Susan Cain’s “Quiet”: Introverts and Extroverts

“Introverts often work more slowly and deliberately. They like to focus on one task at a time and can have mighty powers of concentration. They’re relatively immune to the lures of wealth and fame.

Extroverts are the people that will add life to your dinner party and laugh generously at your jokes. They tend to be assertive, dominant and in great need of company. Extroverts think out loud and on their feet they prefer talking to listening, rarely find themselves at a loss for words, and occasionally blurt out things they never meant to say. They’re comfortable with conflict but not solitude.

Introverts, in contrast, may have strong social skills and enjoy parties and business meetings, but after a while they wish they were at home in their pajamas. They prefer to devote their social energies to close friends, colleagues and family. They listen more than they talk, think before they speak and often feel as if they express themselves better in writing than in conversation. They tend to dislike conflict. Many have a horror of small talk but enjoy deep discussions.”

“Mutantism on the March”: Chapter 21 “Rufus Moonhead Exposed.”

One chilly fall day it was announced a special committee of the House of Representatives was being formed to study the issue of granting tax incentives to churches engaged in business activities. With amazing speed, so uncommon to the American government, it had prepared the legislation for a reading on the floor. If it passed through the Senate and was not vetoed by the American President it would be law. Garth was alarmed by the smoothness of the operation almost as if the whole legislative process was pre-planned.

In the legislative process several Moonheadies had revealed specific cases of brutality and exploitation.  Parents of these healthy middle class American children revealed concern about the flocking of their children to the Moonies. They had testified when they visited their children they appeared to be in some catatonic state. This behaviour had characterized the behaviour of the early Opposite Party members in Zorollia.

Reseudo had completed his own investigation and concluded that Moonhead was not to be trusted with the youth and apple pie of America. Garth discovered that Moonhead had no formal religious training. Moonhead had been a member of the Romanian Workers Party and had been suspended for hawking bootleg vodka. Garth relayed the information to Arf Needer and his army of eager volunteer law students expanded the investigation which resulted in the exposure and humiliation of Moonhead. Moonhead owned several Cayman Island and Jersey bank accounts and safety deposit boxes. It would be logical to conclude there was a huge financial bilking of the members of the Moonhead Church of International Love.

How disturbing it was perceived when Moonhead’s secret contracts with the Bulgarian and Polish governments revealed they had hired Moonhead to raise capital for the construction of dachas on the Bulgarian Black Sea coast which were going to be used as summer retreats for prominent government officials and high ranking communist party officials. The money raised was easy money as to become a member of the Church you had to “donate” all your worldly goods and then work in Moonhead’s business enterprises for free. As a result Moonhead was literally swimming in capital to be used to build the dachas and funnel some proceeds to Warsaw and Sofia. Moonhead would receive “incentive payments” for the construction of the dachas.

As if this news wasn’t damaging enough many of the “donated goods” were being smuggled out of the United Staters and were being sold in the Iron Curtain countries via the black market. Most disturbing was the fact that several American senators had received “political donations” from the shipping companies moving the soon to be black market goods out of the United States. There were possible acts of bribery of American customs officials. The American public was outraged and the Senate in shambles and Rufus Moonhead slipped out of the United States and his Cayman Island and Jersey accounts and safety deposit boxes were frozen.

Reseudo’s popularity soared. Even the American evangelist preacher Billy Grahamcracker praised Garth. Garth received many death threats from disgruntled Church members and those that were benefitting from his corrupt schemes. After being tipped off by the FBI that there were several contracts out on his life he slipped through the Canadian border from Vermont and ended up in Quebec.

COVID Poetry Corner: “A Dog’s Insight Into COVID”

A Dog’s Insight Into Covid-19

Owners in and rarely out
no place to go
except for the excitement of grocery shopping
meaning there is a ritual hour long walk
with us and our dear Westie
trundling along all around the hood
talking with strangers and their mutts
while the furry ones smell each other butts
here and there it is getting very familiar
as hundreds of pet owners are caught in this similar
but little pooch is enjoying the daily trek
with his owners
not understanding the COVID virus curse
paces with a smile on his face
crashing out exhausted due to the long pace
not realizing his big treat
is but a side effect of a nasty virus that never seems in a retreat

Robert K. Stephen

Quinta Do Crasto Finest Reserve Port

Again my favourite phrase in my travels in and about Porto was from a French PR executive who gave a presentation in Porto on International Port Day on Port being an undervalued luxury product. I have no difficulty with that as for consumers that is good news.

So we try a Quinta Do Crasto Finest Reserve Port. On the nose we are welcomed with that rich nose that Port so often gives us.  This nose has a big blast of blueberry, black cherry and milk chocolate. On the palate a strong presence of blueberry and black fruit. Big blast of blueberry pie with a very long finish. However expansive and potent this liquid is it is restrained and compact. Luxury at a discount price indeed.

I’ll mention this yet again but in Porto I was taken out by the Sogrape group to the Bolsa restaurant which is the old stock exchange. We had a huge cut of Portuguese beef with Port and it was a magical combination above and beyond the blue cheese and cigar matching of Porto perhaps overdone in British men’s clubs. Port is not a stodgy drink my friends but a rich exploration into what “red wine” can be transformed into by many years of Portuguese excellence.

While I say beef is a great accompaniment to Port you may scratch your head and say this is a dessert wine! Considering many red wines are up at 14.5% in alcohol is that much different than a Port at 20%?

As for food beef/ox may be a perfect match for Port. Sinatra of the 60’s is a perfect music match.

So many of you may be put off by Port as the drink of the eccentrics I can only hope to persuade you to bring it in the mainstream.

And in the 8 years I have be sampling Port I have yet to have a bad bottle and that included an 1867 Port.

(Quinta do Crasto Finest Reserve Port, Quinta do Crasto, Sabrosa, Portugal, $17.95, LCBO # 18284, 20%, 750 mL, Robert K. Stephen A Little Birdie Told Me So Rating 92 /100).

10 Steps We Can Take to Never Have a Year Like 2020: # 1 Reinforce Public Health

Again the Quebec magazine L’actualitê has an interesting feature article in its April edition dealing with COVID-19 and translated it means what are the steps we can take to ensure we don’t have a year like 2020?

The first step is to reinforce public health.

In 2015 Quebec cut the health budget by 30%. And it even reached 40% in certain regions.

Jean Rochon, a former Quebec Minister of Health formed an Association For Quebec Public Health (ASPQ) which had a plan for an enhanced public health system in Quebec. It is Rochon’s current position not to point or direct guilt but to try and improve the public health system. Public health is larger than simply protecting the health by use of sanitary measures. It should have the goal of improving the population’s well-being such as for example anti-tobacco or anti-pollution campaigns.

To be efficient public health must have the power to influence the health of the population by looking at the environment we live in, our daily habits and the social determinants of health such as education, employment income, access to food and lodging which are directly attributable to cause chronic disease, cancers or mental health issues.

Dr. Alain Poirier a firmer national director of public health is calling for a Ministry of Public health to be created in Quebec. Presently there is only a deputy minister of public health under the Ministry of Health and Social Services. It normally has little influence on the other ministries.

Rochon has called for an interministerial secretariat on public health that would report directly to the premier of Quebec which has been the approach taken in Australia.

Many public health experts say that remodelling the public health system must take into account input from the population and by doing so the public will have more confidence in the public health system.

Jon Kabat Zinn’s “Full Catastrophe Living”: Patience

“We intentionally remind ourselves that there is no need to be impatient with ourselves because we find the mind judging ourselves because we find the mind judging all the time, or because we are tense or agitated or frightened, or because we have been practicing for some time and nothing positive seems to have happened. We give ourselves room to have these experiences, Why? Because we are having them anyway! When they come up they are our reality; they are part of life unfolding at the moment. So we treat ourselves as well as we would teat the butterfly. Why rush through some moments to get to other better ones< After all, each one is your life in that moment.”

Ontario opens on-line system and service desk for COVID vaccinations

NEWS RELEASE

Ontario Launching Provincial Booking System for COVID-19 Vaccines

Individuals 80 Years of Age and Older Will Be Able to Schedule Appointments Online or By Phone

March 14, 2021

Health

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TORONTO — The Ontario government is launching a provincial booking system and customer service desk to support COVID-19 vaccination appointment bookings. The portal will be live on Monday, March 15 at 8:00 a.m. and will be accepting appointment bookings at mass immunization clinics, starting with individuals aged 80 and older.

“We are making steady progress in the execution of our vaccine distribution plan, and the launching of the online booking system is another major milestone,” said Premier Doug Ford. “In this phase of our plan we are still offering vaccines to our most vulnerable, so I encourage everyone aged 80 and older to use the portal to book an appointment. For everyone else, please be patient, as we get more supply, the vaccine will be offered to more people.”

Beginning tomorrow, individuals who will be turning 80 or older in 2021 (born in 1941 or earlier) and wish to make an appointment — or an individual trusted to make an appointment on their behalf — can visit Ontario.ca/bookvaccine. On this page, they will be guided to make an appointment through the provincial booking system, or their local public health unit if there is a local public health unit booking system or call centre in place. When booking an appointment, individuals will be asked for information from their green Ontario health card, birth date, postal code and email address and/or phone number. At the time of booking, eligible individuals will schedule their first and second vaccination appointments.

Individuals who still have a red and white health card, or who require assistance with booking, can call the Provincial Vaccine Information Line number at 1-888-999-6488 beginning on Monday, March 15.  

“The provincial booking system will be critical in supporting the next phase of Ontario’s vaccine rollout as more vaccines become available,” said Christine Elliott, Deputy Premier and Minister of Health. “We know everyone is eager to receive the vaccine, and as we continue to build capacity, we are making it easier and more convenient for individuals to book and receive the vaccine as quickly as possible.”

At this time, vaccination appointments are only available for individuals turning 80 or older in 2021 as part of Phase One of Ontario’s vaccine distribution plan. Starting in April, the online booking tool and call centre will extend to additional age-based groups that are part of Phase Two.

The province is expecting a high volume of traffic to its online booking system. We know everyone is eager to receive the vaccine, but we are asking those not yet eligible to avoid accessing the booking system or calling the service desk to allow those that are eligible the opportunity to book an appointment.

“With the launch of the new provincial booking portal and support number we are reaching yet another milestone in our plan to vaccinate Ontarians as fast as we can and as soon as we receive the vaccines,” said Solicitor General Sylvia Jones. “Our task force continues to work to bolster and adjust our vaccine rollout plan as shipments to Ontario continue to fluctuate. The portal and customer support number will prove instrumental through Phase 2 as we open mass vaccination sites and inoculate more Ontarians.”

Phase One of Ontario’s COVID-19 vaccine rollout is nearing completion, and the Ontario government is preparing to move into Phase Two of its COVID-19 vaccine distribution plan next month, with a focus on vaccinating populations based on age and risk.

“The introduction of these booking systems puts in place the final piece in the province’s infrastructure to rollout its vaccination program,” said General (Ret’d) Rick Hillier. “There is now a fulsome range of options for the people of Ontario to book an appointment and receive their vaccine, but please only use them if and when it is your turn.”

Susan Cain’s “Quiet”; Introverts as second-class citizens?

“Introversion-along with its cousins, sensitivity, seriousness and shyness-is now a second-class personality trait, somewhere between a disappointment and a pathology. Introverts living under the Extrovert Ideal are like a woman in a man’s world, discounted because of a trait that goes to the core of who they are. Extroversion is an enormously appealing style, but we’ve turned it into an oppressive standard which most of us feel we must conform.”