Beer of the Week - Lucky Buddha Enlightened Beer

Sometimes a good name and fancy packaging can sell a product but this week's Beer of the Week, Lucky Buddha Enlightened Beer, uses religion in both as a selling point.

The beer is not only named after a religious figure but the bottom of the bottle is in the shape of Buddha hold a gold ingot over it's head.

Now I find this a little odd.

I do know that if a beer company were to make their bottle in the shape of Jesus or Muhammad, there would be howls of protest, demonstrations outside of their breweries and lawsuits demanding the beer be pulled of store shelves, but Buddhists don't seem to mind. This beer has been on the market since 2005.

Maybe the religion has a bit of a sense of humour about itself or do they just promote their beliefs through any method possible? Better than knocking on my door to sell your religion for sure!

Their website describes the beer like this:

Enlightening the senses.

Created to put a smile on your face!

 In a world a world that's full of change, it's good to know that Lucky Beer offers something consistently good natured. Although the distinctive laughing Buddha bottle is central to our brand, Lucky Beer - and the good fortune it shares - transcends all religions, cultural boundaries and beliefs. 

In its simplest form, we stand for goodwill for all humanity. 

"If you think that enlightenment is separate from the drinking of beer you have not yet understood" Ancient Taoist Saying.

Lucky Buddha is brewed by Hangzhou Qiandaohu Beer Company which is located in the town of Qiandaohu, China. The beer itself though is brewed and bottled at Thousand Island Lake, which is about three and a half hour drive south-east of Qiandaohu.

And the taste?

The beer pours a very light golden colour with a white head that dissipates quite quickly. There is a sourness in the aroma that I did not expect plus a hint of hops. As rice has been added to the malt, there are no lacings left on the glass.

This is a very light tasting beer, much lighter than expected with it's 4.8% APV. I am not a big fan of rice being added to a beer but realize that there is an abundance of rice in China and that Asian lagers feature rice. It is a taste that is appreciated in the Japan, China and Asia, but one that I don't particularly enjoy.

For me, it is a passable light tasting lager. Many would enjoy it. Me ... not so much. Still, it won't be a hardship to drink those other five beers that are left.

Beer of the Week Stats

Beers Profiled 212
Breweries 194
Countries 41

"Tommy" at the Avon Theater in Stratford

When The Who came out with the album, Tommy, in 1969, it was hailed as the first "Rock Opera." Some of the songs were great but others on the album did not stand up alone as a single. The reason was they were not supposed to, as they were just a part of larger story.

I always wondered if it would actually come to the stage. There was an awful movie made from it back in 1975.

It turns out that the very first performance of Tommy took place in April of 1993, ran for 900 shows and won five Tony Awards.Now 20 years later, Tommy is at the Stratford Festival.

Teena and I always make a couple of day trips a year to Stratford by train to see a play and I was really pumped to see this! We saw The Three Musketeers in June and I went by bus a couple of weeks later to see Waiting for Godot, and today we went to see Tommy. I really wanted to see this and knew really nothing about the plot, so I won't give it all away here.

Deprived of sight, hearing and speech by the shock of what he has witnessed as a child, young Tommy Walker seems lost to life – until he reveals an uncanny talent for the game of pinball.

The play was fabulous. It wakes you up when the first notes come blasting in from the orchestra. Really when that first loud note came crashing into the theater everyone jumped ... and it just got better from there.

Not only is it a great story but the festival did a great job with the set. It was always busy and colourful. The action on the stage was nonstop. Where some plays have ebbs and tides in its pace, Tommy just keeps on coming at you.

I really felt sorry for Tommy and all he was going through. His mother too. I found that I had become quite attached to the story.

And, of course, the music was great and fun to see and hear as it was originally meant to be. I'm glad there were two renditions of Pinball Wizard done. See Me, Feel Me is present throughout the play and I loved Acid Queen and how I'm Free was belted out. Great music!

In the end, I feel this is the best musical I have ever seen. I'll have to make a list and see what my top five musicals are but this will top it for sure.

John Cleese, "Last Time to See Me Before I Die" at the Winter Garden Theatre

Last May when I heard that John Cleese was coming to Toronto on his Last Chance to See Me Before I Die tour, I knew I would be there. Teena wanted to go too so I ordered up tickets right away.

Well, tonight was the night I had been waiting 4 months for. My chance to see live, a person who I believe is one of the great comedic minds of my time.

My worry was that he might be flat, unfunny, and maybe just a shadow of what he once was. That was all for naught. He was as brilliant as ever!

The Winter Garden Theater was the perfect place for this type of show. It was just Cleese up on stage telling the story of his life, showing clips of some of his work and telling stories about people he has worked with, especially the Pythons. No skits, no trying to re-enact his silly walk, just story telling.

The show started just after eight and ended just after ten with a twenty minute intermission in between...and it was all a lot of fun.

Cleese is a great story teller and the clips he shows never break the flow of the show. Most in the audience could mouth the lines of most of the clips, but Cleese showed clips from his pre-Python time and they were quiet funny.

Back in the early 70s, Monty Python Live came to Toronto and I couldn't go. It was a huge disappointment for me. At least I finally got to see my favorite Python, John Cleese, live and in action on the stage.

It was a fun, enjoyable night with a brilliant comedic mind!

Bite Bar Holiday Preview

Tonight Teena and I were invited to a private preview of Bite Bars holiday delights.

So what is Bite Bar?

Are you a Biter? 

Then Bite Bar is the place for you! Dessert-there’s no denying it. But where’s the fun in wasting half just because it’s too big to finish or too heavy on the guilt of the calories you’ll be adding. There had to be a way to have both. Delicious desserts that made you feel like you had just a bite! 

And Bite Bar was born! Launching with bite sized gourmet cupcakes, the list grew and grew to include creamy mini cheesecakes, sweet marshmallow bars and freshly dipped mini chocolate pretzels to name a few. 

But what could biters wash down all these delectable treats with? That’s when pairing became the obvious answer. The ideal ending to any night is having a delicious drink with your favourite dessert and so we launched specialty cockatils, mocktails and dessert inspired herbal teas each unique to Bite Bar. 

With our take out bar or sit down lounge there’s no reason not to bite!

It is an unusual concept, one bite deserts and cocktails, but surprisingly it works. I think the secret is in most of the deserts I had, non were overly sweet so matched well with the wine.

 

 

These are Choco Eggnog Martinis! They were good!

These chocolate cookie sandwiches were my favorites.

 

Here is Nisha Amin-Agnihotri, founder of the Bite bar on the left and her bartender ... sorry I didn't get her name.

Teena's favorite were these tiny chocolate cupcakes which accounts for the open spot on the tray. They also topped the eggnog.

The Bite bar is at Elm Street and Bay and is worth stopping in. Thanks for inviting us!

Italpasta Gluten Free Pasta Dinner at 7 Numbers

Teena was invited to a gluten free dinner, hosted by Italpasta to promote their gluten free pasta line. The event was held at a very nice Italian restaurant,  7 Numbers on the Danforth.

This event will be hosted by Italpasta and will feature enticing (and easy to replicate!) gluten free dishes that are sure to tickle your palate. Guest speaker Julie Daniluk, acclaimed nutritionist, author and TV personality will be speaking about the different types of gluten sensitivities and how accommodating those restrictions doesn`t mean sacrificing taste.

We started with drinks and then moved into the dining room for supper. I loved the wine holder on the wall.

Laura Dal Bo, Marketing Manager for Italpasta, told us the history of Italpasta, which was founded in 1989 and is located just outside of Toronto. They have many lines of dried pasta and just last year introduced the gluten free line. It is made with both rice and corn, so should have some sweetness. They just obtained their gluten free certification from the Canadian Celiac Association which will soon appear on all their gluten free products.

Laura then introduced Julie Daniluk who is a well-known nutritionist, author and speaker and has appeared on shows such as Dr Oz. She explained how gluten is found in wheat, barley, rye, durham spelt and some oats. Apparently 1 in every 133 people have a serious gluten issue, one that will actually eat away at their stomach lining. Julie knows this as she has the issue. Many other people have various degrees of gluten allergy.

The menu was all vegetarian, which is unusual for me, but it was all excellent ... not enough to turn me into a vegetarian, mind you.The first dish of the night was Eggplant Pasta Salad. Turns out it was my very favorite of the night. It was so flavorful and refreshing that I would love to make this to take to work! The recipe is not yet on the recipe section of their website, but I was promised it soon would be.

Next up was Primevra Pasta. It too was fabulous!

This was followed up with Penne Rigate with sun-dried tomatoes and roasted garlic. I liked it but admittedly picked out the sun-dried tomatoes which I don't like.

The final pasta dish was Spaghetti with Fava Bean Pesto. I am a pesto fan and enjoyed this dish. The fava bean sauce made this a very hearty dish!. If I were vegetarian, I would have this quite a bit!

I am not a great fan of vegetables but enjoyed the grilled zucchini, that I only captured blurred pictures of, and surprisingly liked the grilled asparagus, something I don't usually like.

It was a fabulous night and I met a lot of nice people and had a great meal. We came away with gift bags, featuring the Italpasta products which I plan to use in the future.

Thanks to Italpasta and 7 Number for a great night!

Beer of the Week - A. Le Coq Premium Lager from Estonia

I love stopping in at the patio of the Bier Markton a Friday night on the way home from work. It's exactly half way on my walk home. This night when I was looking through their extensive beer menu, I saw that they had a beer from Estonia.

Estonia?

I'm sorry but I had no idea where Estonia was until I got home and Googled it. Turns out that it sits on the Eastern shore of the Baltic Sea, has a population of almost 1.3 million and their main language is...Estonian.

A. Le Coq Premium Lager comes from the countries number two brewer A. Le Coq Brewery. I have to say that researching the companies history was quite confusing, likely due to the translation from Estonian to English, so here is a short, hopefully close version of it's history.

The company was originally founded in London in 1807 by Albert le Coq, a Belgium businessman as a beverage trading company which started brewing his own beer there in 1808.

Meanwhile over in Tartu Estonia, BJ Hesse had started a brewery around 1800 and Justus Reinhold Schramm opened his own brewery in in 1826. In 1885 Schramm's heirs renamed the company Tivoli Ltd and in 1900 merged with Tartu Brewing company the same company opened by Hesse in 1800.

In 1913 Tivoli was bought out by A le Coq and the company moved to Tartu. For the next 84 the company had to survive total destruction of it's brewery and building during both world wars, plus renaming and nationalization by the Soviet Union when Estonia was annexed Russia. Finally in 1997 the brewery was bought out and privatized by a Finnish brewing company Olvi which gave it back it's original name A. Le Coq.

And the beer?

I don't know the shelf life of this beer, but on the bottle it says it's good till Dec 13, 2013

It pours a light straw colour,  with a nice white head that leaves lacings along the inside of the glass as I sip away. I was unable to sense any aroma, but I am streetside and there is a breeze.

There is a subtle bitterness when I first sip but then the flavours fall right away. At 4.7 % APV, I expected more flavour but there is not too much to this beer. It's very much like a big brewery light beer. It was cold and unoffensive so I had no trouble finishing it.

I didn't order a second though.

Beer of the Week Stats 

Beers Profiled 211
Breweries 193
Countries 41

Book Review - Red Planet Blues

Last year I read two Science Fiction books by Toronto Writer Robert J Sawyer, Mindscan and Flashforward. I enjoyed both so picked up his newest book Red Planet Blues.

Alex Lomax is the one and only private eye working the mean streets of New Klondike, the Martian frontier town that sprang up forty years ago after Simon Weingarten and Denny O'Reilly discovered fossils on the Red Planet. Back on Earth, where anything can be synthesized, the remains of alien life are the most valuable of all collectibles, so shiploads of desperate treasure hunters stampeded to Mars in the Great Martian Fossil Rush. 

Trying to make an honest buck in a dishonest world, Lomax tracks down killers and kidnappers among the failed prospectors, corrupt cops, and a growing population of transfers-lucky stiffs who, after striking paleontological gold, upload their minds into immortal android bodies. But when he uncovers clues to solving the decades-old murders of Weingarten and O'Reilly, along with a journal that may lead to their legendary mother lode of Martian fossils, God only knows what he'll dig up...

Although I really enjoy science fiction, I am not a fan of private detective novels, so going in, I did not know what to expect. The story is interesting enough and with a good ending. If I had any complaints, I found it just a touch long and a little confusing in places but for the most part was an easy enjoyable read. It is not a great book, but a good one.

 For a person who likes sci-fi and detective novels, this book would be a home run for sure!

An Afternoon at the Toronto Ukrainian Festival

This afternoon Teena and I went to the Toronto Ukrainian Festival in Bloor West Village. Last year Teena was away and I made my first visit to the festival and had a great time. I'm glad that Teena could come along this year.

 

The thing I love most about this festival is how the local people get into it. There are so many men and women walking around in their traditional garb and I'm not talking about the people in booths trying to sell something.

He has an eye for the girls!

I love bright colours and find it everywhere in this festival

I would have loved to have had some perogies or cabbage rolls but the lines were just too long.

 

 

We bumped into our friends and and former next door neighbors, Mark and Monica. It was fun catching up with them. Here I am with Mark and Teena with Monica!

 Although I am not Ukrainian, I enjoy their music and dance.

 

 

I become a little Ukraine on this day!