Weekly Linkage: Drunk Babies, "Monster Whopper", Wine-Smuggling and more!

With winter now upon us, it seemed appropriate to include a couple of wine related posts in this week's linkage as during the winter, drinking wine is one of my favourite hobbies.
Wait.  It's April.  You'll excuse my confusion, as I look outside Stratford appears to be in the middle of a January-like squall.  Let me start again:
With spring now upon us, it seemed appropriate to include a couple of wine related posts in this week's linkage as during the spring and summer, drinking wine is one of my favourite hobbies.  Seriously though.  Where is spring?

I need to rant a little bit, bear with me.  I know Japan has quite a few pressing issues at the moment, but this doesn't bode well for the future health of their country.  Seriously Burger King?  The "Meat Monster"?  1,160 calories, 69g of fat, 24g of saturated fat, 2,300mg of sodium and 1.5g of trans fat.  Idiots.  I mean, isn't there any sense of responsibility towards the health of your customers here?  Oh, wait, you're a corporation, I forgot.  Your only moral compass is that which individual governments impose on you.  Thank goodness Japan has less stringent regulations for you to exploit.  Jerks.

Moving on to more local, less corporate and far healthier topics: Jennifer Bylok did an awesome article profiling our Slow Food Market for Spotlight Toronto.  It's great to see a good thing get publicity.

An article discussing why you should feel good about eating Ontario farmed trout.  If that article inspired you: Lyndon Hatcheries is a local farm (New Dundee) that offers Rainbow Trout and Arctic Char.  They also have a spring-fed pond in which you can catch your own.

Heading a bit further down the road you can find Ontario's first high fat butter.  84% fat, barrel-churned goodness!

Daniel Boulud has snubbed Toronto (again), this time for Montreal.

Remember Terry David Mulligan?  Apparently he is willing to go to jail in protest of a ridiculous liquor law that forbids anyone from crossing a provincial boundary with wine, beer or spirits.  Always wonder why it's harder to get a B.C. wine than a South African?  This is part of it.  Go Terry!

Applebee's and The Olive Garden are taking steps to reduce the number of toddlers that are accidentally served alcohol in their establishments.  Bravo.

Back to Spotlight Toronto (because it's awesome), this time an article by Suresh Doss (because he's awesome), in which he goes shopping at an LCBO with sommelier Joel Wilcox.  The video embedded in the article is the first episode in a series entitled "Shop With A Sommelier".  Well worth a watch.

Last but not least, I'm sure you must have heard by now that there is some sort of election happening in Canada next month.  My intention with this blog is to talk food, not politics, but occasionally the two can mix.  Here's an absolutely awesome article that cuts through the b.s. and offers a party-by-party breakdown of food policy.  If you are reading this blog, you need to read this article.

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