BC Spot Prawns with Cracked Chili and Sherry

Spot prawns are a great sustainable crustacean for snacking. Right now you can buy them right off the boats at False Creek - they are so fresh and delicious you can cook them with anything and they would probably taste fantastic. I made mine with garlic, chili and sherry and they were very tasty - slightly sweet with a bit of bite. Paired with a sunny afternoon and a bottle of rose they are even better! Here is the recipe:

**Tip: If you live in Burnaby you can get them for about half the price of their Granville Island counterparts at Urban Seafood on Hastings.

1 Pound BC Spot Prawns
2 tbsp butter
2 tbsp olive oil
2 cloves minced garlic
1 1/2 tsp chili flakes
4 tbsp sherry

Heat the butter and oil in a saucepan over medium low heat. Add garlic and chili flakes and saute until fragrant. Add prawns and saute, covering with butter mixture. Add sherry. Cook until prawns have turned completely pink and cooked throughout - approx. 7 - 10 minutes.

Putting the FUN in Fundraiser

I have the pleasure to work with a great group of girls who put on a fantastic event every year to raise funds for the Lower Mainland Red Cross. Last Thursday we held our 3rd Annual Red Cross Red Carpet Soiree at the chic Blue Water Cafe + Raw Bar. Three-hundred guests came out to celebrate World Red Cross Day and enjoy a great party. Guests were greeted with Belvedere cocktails before grazing on original canapés and fresh seafood prepared by two of Vancouver’s top chefs – Executive Chef Frank Pabst and Raw Bar Chef Yoshihiro Tabo – and sampling a selection of wines donated by Vincor.

Even though I was officially ‘working’ at the event, I managed to squeeze in some fun with my friends who came out to support the cause ... and me. Between swilling glasses of wine, we snacked on the 20 different kinds of yummy canapés and Blue Water’s famous seafood towers. The vibe was relaxed and everyone seemed to be having a good time.

The evening featured silent auction items from some of Vancouver’s top hotels and retailers, including West Restaurant, Four Seasons Hotel, and Outdoor Adventures. The top bid was for an official Olympic torch at $1300 and the event raised a total of $15,000 for the Lower Mainland Red Cross Disaster Management Program. In the wake of earthquakes in Haiti, Chile, and China the world saw the importance of being prepared for unforeseen disasters. The funds raised will help prepare supplies and services in case of floods, forest fires, earthquakes, and storms in the Lower Mainland.

Playhouse International Wine Festival Impressions

The Playhouse International Wine Festival always holds so much promise. I love getting my catalogue in the mail and picking out a few events that I will look forward to for months. This year my sister and I bought tickets to ‘Salut Chile’ at the Stanley Park Teahouse, and ‘Rah, Rah Rose’ at the Miele show lounge. Like most years, it was a mix of hit and miss. Unsurprisingly, the Chile event featured some nice Sauvignon Blancs, and more unusually, it featured some lovely Chardonnays at a decent price point. Our favourites were Errázuriz Wild Ferment Chardonnay 2008, $21.99 and Viña Casa Tamaya Reserva Chardonnay 2009, $17.99. I found the reds to be a bit dull, but the venue was by far the worst part of this event. It was held in a small room of the Teahouse, so you were shoulder-to-shoulder with everyone in the room, people were accosting trays of food and the poor servers under them, and to avoid getting the wine glass knocked out of your hand, it was elbows-in drinking. If the Teahouse had ponied up for a little more space and food, this could have been a good event.

I love Rose so definitely wanted to attend ‘Rah, Rah Rose’, despite being a bit sceptical about it being held at an appliance show lounge. I have to commend Savvy Company who had the vision to host a tasting event there – it was perfect. It was roomy and there were over a dozen kitchen displays and unique spaces so as you moved around you felt like you were visiting the kitchens of individual wineries, complete with accompanying food. There was no shortage of wine and there were so many lovely Roses. My favourites were a dry cherry flavoured Pinot Noir, Yering Station Pinot Noir Rosé, $24.99 and Nicolas Feuillatte Champagne Brut Rosé NV, $69.99 (a little pricey, but delicious)

I have a love hate relationship with the wine festival, it never fails to delight me in some way, but I can always assume there will be some disappointment. I have found the best bets are the grazing lunches – they are cheaper than the dinners and the mass tasting convention, and you get to try a good number of wines without listening to someone drone on about the entire fermenting process or the soil the grapes were grown in while waiting for a refill.