I’ve been noodling a post in my head for some time now about how sick I am getting of the Rideau Centre. For those of you unfamiliar with Ottawa, it’s the largest shopping mall in the city, and I traverse it daily from my bus stop to my office and back again. And then, of course, the magnetic draw of the food court pulls me back in a few more times a week. In the nearly three years since the end of my last maternity leave, I must have passed through that damn mall more than 2500 times. I’m truly and fully sick of it.
But the mall must have been listening to these unfavourable thoughts percolating through my brain, because yesterday, the Rideau Centre took a pre-emptive strike. One minute I was getting off the escalator and striding purposefully past Club Monaco toward the bus stop, and the next minute my right knee and outstretched hands were slamming forcefully into the tile floor. Luckily, I had the presence of mind to lock my elbows, or else I would have ende
We bought this wine when visiting Rideau Vineyard last summer. I pulled it from the wine fridge tonight anticipating a good match with the BBQ flank steak and Santa Maria style salsa I was preparing.This wine has a dense, dark, inky purple color in the glass. Looking at the color you expect massive dark fruit and berries, and it sure delivers. Greeting you is a big punch of black pepper, dark berries and black currant. Sipping it, the ripe, dark fruit hits you again with a hint of vanilla. Big, soft tannins and black berries finishes this wine.This is a voluptuous, big, maybe even huge, naught, naught syrah. But oh so good!It worked to a certain extent with our meal. The pepper and big body was perfect, but it was a bit to ripe and fruity. Still, we had a great meal and a great wine. Perfect match or not....Robert Parker gave this wine 90 points. I bought it for $58 at the winery. Searching the web I could not find it for sale. If you do run across it, grab a bottle or two. It is worth
As the copy from the very complete and professional looking Westport website declares, the town is nestled in the heart of the Rideau Lakes. The airport however, operated by the Rideau Lakes Flying Club, is loacated in the Township of Rideau Lakes.Civic government organization aside, the strip is a worthwhile visit for the more experienced pilot, though not for a quick $100 burger. The COPA page has a fairly good plan view showing the distance from the airport entrance to the town, which front on Upper Rideau Lake just north of the airport.I was by there the other day with the video camera on board. The wind was strong and gusty, out of the west, so I did a quick low and over of runway 25. I didn't land because it is still early in the season, the grass could be soft and I hadn't called for a condition report. The video shows the approach over the lake and the trees off the end of 07. For those pilots who like to come in low over the threshold and drop it on the numbers, check out th
Rideau Vineyard Tasting RoomDuring our weekend in Santa Barbara we took a little trip up to Santa Ynez Valley to do some wine tasting. Our favorite during this tour was Rideau Vineyard which was founded in 1997 by New Orleans native, Iris Rideau (at photo to the left). The tasting room is a historical 2 story Adobe built in 1884. Through the years it has served as stagecoach stop, a famous inn, a guest ranch, and a working ranch. Iris Rideau bought it in 1995, after the property had sat abandoned for 10 years, and restored it to it's current condition.The estate grows exclusively Rhone varietals and we decided to do the Reserve tasting at a $15 cost per person.The first pour was the 2006 Estate Viognier. It has not been bottled yet so this was a futures sample. Cloudy due to coming straight from the barrel this was a nice Viognier but a little bit to fruity and sweet for my taste. After this we got to taste the 2005 Estate Viognier. A year in the bottle makes a huge difference and th
