In Search of a Good Wine App
Posted: May 7, 2013 Filed under: Food Apps | Tags: Fat Bastard, LCBO, PJ O'Rourke, Shiraz, wine, wine apps Leave a comment »So to balance out the number of food apps I have I have wanted to get a wine app and was told the LCBO app was the one to get.
In Ontario the government controls all alcohol sales (yeah, we saw how well that went in America with Prohibition). Including the official app of the LCBO (only place to buy wine and liquor). And as expected from something developed and executed by bureaucrats it takes forever to get what you need.
It does what it says it does. I can find stores, search for products by type and region, search by keyword and even scan a bar code (without a special scanner!) and get a quick overview of what the wine pairs well with.
The big issue is that it takes too long to long to get the info that most people want – does it go with chicken or fish or pasta or grilled cheese. It starts with the wine nerd info and then takes several clicks to get through to the basics.
It is a testament to the level of people working in government that they start with the nerdy stuff (P.J. O’Rourke once lamented that the best automotive people work for the DOT and not in the private sector), But when it’s 8:45 and the store closes in 15 minutes all I want to know is whether the Fat Bastard Shiraz will pair with my tuna pasta. The answer was yes, but it was just a guess on my part.
Addendum: Went to use the app last night when I needed to get some dry sake for making stir fry. According to the app there were only three kinds of Japanese sake sold and none of them matched the seven kinds I saw on the shelf.
The Wine in Spain Falls Mainly on the Cantabrian Mountains
Posted: June 27, 2011 Filed under: Travel | Tags: catabrian mountains, el expreso de la robla, spain, travel, urban daddy, wine Leave a comment »My apologies to Lerner and Loewe, but if I’m going to Spain I want to limit my rain to the kind that makes the wine grapes grow.
I just got my new passport in the mail. There are many blank pages and I am considering calling in sick for the rest of the week, heading to JFK and getting on a plane. Unfortunately I was raised with a sense of responsibility and Catholic guilt (I blame my parents) so I will be at work bright and early tomorrow morning.
On the bright side, instead of ending up in a youth hostel with backpacking college kids who don’t shower (yes, that is supposed to be judgmental) I can now plan a real vacation and have a great tip from UrbanDaddy about a train tour of Spain in the Cantabrian Mountains from El Expreso de la Robla. European train travel, nightlife at every stop, and local food and wine sounds relaxing to me. Those of you who know me well are thinking “E, you are Cinderella. Yummy food, a bottle of wine and the lull of the train, we’re betting on you being in bed by 11 every night. You won’t be seeing any nightlife.” I will if hot men with accents are available to chat with.
Of course this trip is only going to take up a page of passport at most. Would love some inspiration from for other types od trips I should take to fill my passport.
