Friday, May 15, 2009

Rum and Cuban Cocktails at Coupe Space Tasting Club

Leslieville's Coupe Space (998 Queen Street East, 416-469-9656) has one more spring event in their popular Tasting Club series. It's titled Rum Revival: Rum and the Lost Cuban Cocktail, and it takes place Wednesday, June 3 from 8 to 10 p.m. Mixologist Christine Sismondo, author of Mondo Cocktail, leads a session dedicated to the immortal creations of the legendary Havana bartenders. Drinks will be accompanied by Latin-style "street food". The admission is $75, which covers all drink tastings plus "substantial nibbles". Register with a credit card via email.

Photo by Biberta, Morguefile

Thursday, May 14, 2009

Canadian Family Magazine Launches National Food Awards

Starting today, you can vote in a survey of grocery-store foods by Canadian Family magazine. The results will allow the magazine to give out its first-ever national Food Awards (and, of course, to collect a lot of free demographic information).

In order to fill out the quiz, you will be asked to give your name and email address (at the end). However, the mailing address is optional. Two participants will be chosen to win prizes. The grand prize is a Frigidaire electric range, microwave, dishwasher and fridge, plus a one-year subscription to Canadian Family. The second prize is a Breville blender, toaster oven, toaster, panini grill and espresso machine plus the subscription.

The questions cover a whole range of foods that our household would never buy (like "convenience entrées", "meat replacements" and "fruit drink crystals"). There were no questions about fresh meat or produce. However, there is a choice button for "No favourite in this category" and a write-in box, as well as room for comments at the end. If a lot of people like me fill it out, what it will tell Canadian Family is that people are losing interest in processed food products.

The winning products will be published in the December issue of Canadian Family magazine and on CTV’s Canada AM.

Incidentally, at the end of the survey there's a link to Canadian Family recipes.