Travel – Page 4 – A Bird's Eye View of Fashion, Food, Travel, Culture, Beverage and Curiosity

RKS 2025 CANADIAN Wine: A Gewurtz From East Dell

Both Ontario and British Columbia produce good quality and occasional superb Gewürztraminer. The best I have ever imbibed has been from Meyer Family Vineyards in the Okanagan Valley in British Columbia. Can Ontario rise to the challenge? Let’s see how East Dell can do! Aroma: Unmistakably Gewürztraminer! Absolutely tropical! Mango, pineapple, Orri tangerine and NiagaraContinue reading “RKS 2025 CANADIAN Wine: A Gewurtz From East Dell”

RKS 2025 Documentary Film: “The Chef and the Daruma”: The Mind of a Great Chef of Original Japanese Cuisine

In this Canadian documentary we follow the life of Vancouver chef Hidekazu Tojo from his humble and poor beginning in Kagoshima, Japan to his rise to prominence as owner chef of one of Vancouver’s premier Japanese restaurants TOJO’s frequented by the monied classes of the world. A celebrity chef followed like a rock star byContinue reading “RKS 2025 Documentary Film: “The Chef and the Daruma”: The Mind of a Great Chef of Original Japanese Cuisine”

RKS 2025 Wine: An $8.99 USD Pinot Noir in Palm Springs, California

At one end of Palm Springs at 350 South Palm Canyon Drive there lies a Grocery Outlet a discount grocery store with an interior about as warm as the minus 22 temperatures I left Toronto in. This section of Palm Springs boasts a Palm Springs Art Museum Architecture and Design Centre and an Eisenhower MedicalContinue reading “RKS 2025 Wine: An $8.99 USD Pinot Noir in Palm Springs, California”

RKS 2025 Wine: Beyond the Moon to Jupiter! An Animal Farm Red

Côtes du Rhône is known for its robust red wines occasionally exhibiting a tad too much acidity. We try a Halos de Jupiter and query will it take us beyond the moon to Jupiter? 75% Grenache, 15% Mourvèdre and 10% Syrah. Aroma: Blackberry, cassis, black plum and black Vermont licorice. Palate: Yep, noticeable acidity cutsContinue reading “RKS 2025 Wine: Beyond the Moon to Jupiter! An Animal Farm Red”

RKS Travel: The Botanical Beauty of the Desert: Sunnylands Center and Gardens in Rancho Mirage, California

Many know of Rancho Mirage’s plethora of spectacular golf courses, country clubs, glam hotels and restaurants set amid palm trees and the brown towering and sometimes snowcapped mountains of the Coachella Valley in Southern California but one should not overlook the Sunnylands Centre & Gardens located at 37977 Bob Hope Drive. Sunnylands is a 200-acreContinue reading “RKS Travel: The Botanical Beauty of the Desert: Sunnylands Center and Gardens in Rancho Mirage, California”

RKS 2025 Wine: Stoney Ridge Estate Winery 2022 Small Lot Gamay Noir

Perhaps there is some comfort looking at this bottle of 2022 Small Lot Gamay Noir from Ontario’s Stoney Ridge. Those grapes saw some summer sun and warmth “cold comfort” to Torontonians facing minus twenty temperatures tonight. I prepared a salad tonight and given the deep freeze I had very little enjoyment of it preferring theContinue reading “RKS 2025 Wine: Stoney Ridge Estate Winery 2022 Small Lot Gamay Noir”

The Penniless Pensioner: Misaligned, Maligned but Marvelous (The Final Version): Chapter 47: Surrounded by Gypsies at Three A.M. and My Eye Spies an Old Flame and a Dacian Beauty

I had two days before my little show in Bucharest introducing Romanian restaurants and liquor distributors to India’s finest whisky (in my humble opinion) “Bombay Blues”. After an early dinner at the Westin’s “Vlad the Impaler’s” bistro style restaurant I decided to take an evening stroll to Herastrau Park a huge park encircling a lagoon.Continue reading “The Penniless Pensioner: Misaligned, Maligned but Marvelous (The Final Version): Chapter 47: Surrounded by Gypsies at Three A.M. and My Eye Spies an Old Flame and a Dacian Beauty”

The Penniless Pensioner: Misaligned, Maligned But Marvellous (The Final Version) :Chapter 46: Touchdown in Romania Clouded with Poop Gas: An Angry Gun Barrell Never Sleeps

I left India via New Delhi on TAROM Airlines on the Delhi Belly flight to Bucharest aptly named as so many passengers have the trots from Indian food the airplane cabin reeks of poopy runs! Part of the “plan” had me darkening my skin with a couple of weeks in the Bombay sun to bleachContinue reading “The Penniless Pensioner: Misaligned, Maligned But Marvellous (The Final Version) :Chapter 46: Touchdown in Romania Clouded with Poop Gas: An Angry Gun Barrell Never Sleeps”

RKS 2025 Wine: Beyond Good and Reliable to Excellent Chateau Ste Michelle Indian Wells Columbia Valley Cabernet Sauvignon?

Chateau Ste. Michelle Cabernet Sauvignon rarely disappoints and pardon me beats the pants off California Cabernet Sauvignons at comparable price points. Can it elevate itself from consistently good to consistently excellent? Perhaps Chateau Ste Michelle Indian Wells Columbia Valley Cabernet Sauvignon might pave the way from consistently good to consistently excellent? Aroma: Laser beams ofContinue reading “RKS 2025 Wine: Beyond Good and Reliable to Excellent Chateau Ste Michelle Indian Wells Columbia Valley Cabernet Sauvignon?”

The Penniless Pensioner: Misaligned, Maligned but Marvellous (The Final Version):Chapter 44: Cooling My Heels in the Greek Eastern Aegean

I spent three days in Vravrona, a short distance from the Athens airport, enjoying the ocean and eating plenty of grilled octopus, fresh fish, stuffed vegetables and Greek Salads. I researched my island destination of Samos a relatively small island in the Eastern Aegean at points as close as six kilometres from the Turkish coast.Continue reading “The Penniless Pensioner: Misaligned, Maligned but Marvellous (The Final Version):Chapter 44: Cooling My Heels in the Greek Eastern Aegean”