:: The Zen Gourmand ::

This past weekend we ended up in Wellington, Ontario, by way of a ride with our motorcycles to a destination spa nearby. We arrived at the spa to find out that they totally screwed up our bookings for treatments and couldn’t come up with a satisfactory solution that wouldn’t compromise our other plans and commitments. The place also looked more like an addiction rehab center than a spa. We were completely ticked off, refused to stay and after making sure we would get our deposits refunded, high-tailed it out of there.

We visited a winery (see separate post), had a glass of wine and towards the end of the afternoon went looking for alternate accommodations. Julie had noticed the “Devonshire Inn” on a previous trip and had also checked it out on-line a while back so we decided to descend on them and see if they had a suite available.

They didn’t.

However, they were very helpful and phoned a couple of B&B’s for us to check availability. We ended up deciding to stay at the “Suites-on-the-Lake”, an older, well maintained Victorian mansion situated in town on a gorgous property on the lake.

It’s at the higher end of B&B’s as far as pricing is concerned but we liked what we saw and the hosts Joanna & Stewart McFarland were great. Friendly, regular people with a good sense of hospitality.

They just had one suit available – the “Butternut Suite”, a spacious bedroom with a large en-suite bathroom, a four-poster bed framed by an archway and a bay window with beautiful wood trim. The gardens and the lake could be seen through the various window.

Joanna offered us a glass of wine along with some nachos and salsa which we enjoyed sitting in a couple of Muskoka chairs by the lake. We relaxed this way for an hour or so, then headed back to the suite to freshen up for dinner. We mentioned to Joanna that we were planning on having dinner at the “Devonshire” (see separate post) and she immediately volunteered to make reservations for us. Back in the suite it didn’t take long for Julie to hop in the Jacuzzi and enjoy a hot bath while I had a shower.

Breakfast next morning was thoroughly enjoyable as Steward served fruit salad, orange juice, croissants, muffins and a vegetable omelet with Gruyere. The coffee was also excellent and we had a pleasant chat with the other guests.

We completely enjoyed our stay at the “Suites-on-the-Lake” and can highly recommend that you look them up if you are planning a trip to the “Price Edward County” area.

Here’s how to in touch with them:

Joanna & Stewart McFarland
Suites-on-the-Lake
229 Main Street
P.O. Box 40
Wellington, Ontario
K0K 3L0
Phone: (613)399-1717
Email: Suites-on-the-Lake
WWW: www.suites-on-the-lake.com

Last weekend I opened a bottle of Jacob’s Creek Reserve Shiraz – 2004 to accompany a few racks of barbecued ribs.
I found this Shiraz to be quite a suitable match.

The official notes on this wine (as per Jacob’s Creek) are:

Bouquet:
“The wine shows concentrated juicy cherry and blackberry fruit, with fragrant spice and black pepper notes, slight mint, complimented by subtle mocha / coffee oak and toasty cedar
oak notes.”

Palate: “The wine displays intense blackberry and cherry with lively black pepper notes. It is full bodied with strong palate presence. It demonstrates soft silkiness and firm tannin backbone. Expressive Smokey cedar oak characters
compliments a wine with great length of flavour, with complex notes of blackberry and spice. The 2004 Jacob’s
Creek Reserve Shiraz owes its complexity to the integration of
moderate to warm climate ripe blackberry lusciousness with stylish cool climate black pepper and spice
characters. The enticing nature of the generous yet approachable fruit flavours ensure that the wine can be
enjoyed by those who choose to drink it now; however it has sufficient depth of flavour and density of structure to evolve further over the next 10 years if cellared carefully. ”

Well said.

On my own, I additionally found dark plums on the nose rather than juicy cherry and on the palate I found it be of medium acidity with medium rather than firm tannins. This Shiraz is full bodied and very smooth.
Overall I gave it a 4 (out of 5). It would likely improve with a bit of cellaring.

Unfortunately the LCBO appears to have delisted it at this time.
If you reside south of the border you can order it from www.Wines.com

Julie and I used to live near Bathust & Lawrence. We spent many an evening at the Safari on Avenue Rd., occasionally going upstairs and playing a few rounds.
We’ve noticed “The Safari Bar And Grill” in Ajax a couple of times coming back from outings on our motor bikes and reminiscing about the good times we had at the Avenue Rd. Safari.
The other night we were coming back on Kingston Rd. from some other outing and since we had an occasion to celebrate (my successfully passing the exam of the initial course on the way to becoming an accredited Sommelier), we decided to drop by the Safari and have dinner on the patio.
First of all, let me congratulate Kevin Harper of the Ajax Safari and extend a warm “Welcome to the Durham Region”.
We really liked the interior decor and just loved the patio!
The staff was courteous, attentive and competent. The minor complaint we had (some dubious bits floating in the glasses of wine we ordered) were immediately remedied to our satisfaction.
We started with an appetizer of “Calamari fritti” which was, even shared, nearly a meal in itself. Quite nicely done, perfectly cooked. I do an “accordion calamari” which has a similar theme, i.e.. it’s the whole thing and only partially sliced, sautéed in a tomato and herb sauce.
For the main course, Julie ordered the Phylo Wrapped Salmon while I ordered the Steak Neptune.
We trusted the establishments choice of wine pairing and decided to stick with the menu suggestions of the Pelham Pinot and a Ravenswood Zin. While I agreed with the Pinot as a suitable pairing for the salmon, I had some reservations about the Zin simply because of the crab, the asparagus, the hollandaise and the polenta components of my Steak Neptune. But the actual meal would tell and it turned out to be a good choice since that is one tough dish to pair to everybody’s satisfaction.
We left happy to know we had another great place to frequent nearby.

Safari
60 Randall Dr.
Historic Pickering Village
Ajax, ON
L1S 6L3

905-619-2636

www.safaribarandgrill.com