issue 13 // volume 43

Holiday wine pairings

> Pairing common holiday foods with great wines

Rebecca Peterson
Humour Editor

 

T? get the cliché out of the way: It’s
that time of year again. December

is a month of dinner parties and family
gatherings, with food and drink provided
in (hopefully) feast-sized quantities. It’s
never polite to show up empty-handed,
and a nice bottle of wine doesn't have

to be crazy expensive to be the perfect
gift for a co-worker or family member
(though you might want to check to
make sure they actually like wine, first).
Listed below are common holiday foods
for Christmas, Hanukkah, and Kwanzaa,
as well as some fantastic wine choices to
pair with them.

Christmas
Christmas, to me, is a time for three
different meats: Turkey, ham, and roast
beef. The dinners are big and hearty,
and leave you full to bursting. The wine
should complement the flavours of the
meal without overpowering it.

Turkey is versatile. Personally,
I would pair it with a white, like
a Sauvignon Blanc—it’s crisp and
refreshing, without the oakiness of a
Chardonnay. However, many swear by
red and “white” Zinfandels (the white
Zinfandel being more of a rosé, both
in colour and taste). Unlike other reds,
the red Zinfandel is light enough to
match with the turkey without being
overpowering it with its fruity or
peppery flavours. Zinfandels also pair
well with ham, and as the two meats
are often served together in traditional

Christmas dinners, a Zinfandel might
be a good choice if you aren’t sure of the
fare.

Roast beef is another matter
altogether. Cabernet Sauvignon is always
a safe choice for beef, though if you want
to upscale to something a little more
robust you could bring in a Bordeaux.

Suggestions: Sawmill Creek - White
Zinfandel ($7.49), Sandhill - Sauvignon
Blanc Hidden Terrace 2014 ($15.99),
Moon Curser - Border Vines 2013

  

Illustration by Ed Appleby

($21.69), Inniskillin - Okanagan Series
Zinfandel 2014 ($22.99)

Hanukkah

There are many traditional foods that get
tied into the Hanukkah season: Latkes,
Sufganiyah, Kugel, and beef brisket, for
example. A lot of these foods are fried

in oil, so you want to keep your wine
choices light to match. Latkes, which

are delicious pan-fried potato pancakes,
are said to pair well with sparkling

Mobile photo editing apps

> Making your on-the-go look kawaii as hell

Brittney MacDonald
Life & Style Editor

 

Fevers wants that perfect selfie,
especially now that the cold weather
is encouraging everyone to bundle up in
their trendiest knitwear. However, only
the most basic smart phone users would
ever post a picture to their Instagram
pre-filter. So how do you make your
snapshots stand out in a sea of Mayfair
and Valencia? The trick is to know your
apps! There are plenty of photo editing
apps available for free on both iOS and
Android—the trick is that quite a few of
them aren't really in English. Here are

a couple that aren't too complicated.

Deco Album by Prime Again

This app has some English instructions,
so it’s relatively easy to get the hang of.
Its strength is in the collage. It allows you
to add multiple photos to a back drop
of your choice, as well as decorate them
with a pretty large selection of digital
stickers. You can also resize the images
and add text. It does not allow you to
add frames, however, and its filters tend
to reduce the quality of the photo.

Beauty Camera by Meitu

This app is perfect if you like a simple
aesthetic, but want a lot of varying filters.
It has some digital stickers, but not a

lot. Its strength is the sheer size of the
collection of filters available to you. It
will also auto brighten your skin if your
current phone camera doesn't already
do that. This app is great for the selfie
lover that suffers from acne, because
the adjustable beauty filters work great
to mask the redness and scarring that
you might want to hide. The downside
is that it has no instructions whatsoever,
not even ones in a language other than
English—so most of learning how this
app functions is a series of trial and error.

Deco Puri by Tacoty JP

Stickers are fun. Do you know what’s
better than stickers? Having so many
stickers that you could literally find

one for any occasion! Needless to say,

this app offers a huge selection of free
digital stickers, frames, and pretty much
whatever else you would need to decorate
your photo to your heart’s content. It

is wholly based on the purikura photo
booths popular in Japan, Korea, and
China, so in that vein, it grants you

access to a large library of elements that
will keep you busy for weeks. It also

has a couple pre-selected sets based off
of popular selections or events. So if
you're in a rush, but you really need to
add something to your photo, because
otherwise it would look boring next to the
rest of your feed, this app has you covered!

 

life & style // no. 17

wines like Prosecco, or light whites such
as Chenin Blanc or Viognier. The beef
brisket can be paired with a Zinfandel
or a Merlot to tie in some of the other
flavours from the meal. The main
challenge, of course, is finding wine
that is kosher. Luckily, BC Liquor Stores
account for the need for kosher wines.
The following selections are kosher
wines that can be found in BC Liquor
Stores or online.

Suggestions: Deccolio — Prosecco
Extra Dry ($19.99), Galil Mountain
Kosher — Viognier ($16.99), Teperberg
Israeli Kosher - Merlot ($16.49)

Kwanzaa
Kwanzaa is a holiday that celebrates the
African diaspora—as such, there is no
set traditional “meal” to go along with
it. Many families celebrate with meals
that reflect their own heritage. Many
of these dishes do have an element of
spice to them, however, which helps
narrow down wine selections. The trick
is finding a wine that complements
the spice without competing with it or
overpowering it, so like many of the
suggestions on this list, you want to keep
your choices light and unchallenging.
Sweet whites can pair incredibly well
with spice, such as Rieslings and
Gewtirztraminers. Rosé wines can also
add an amazing dimension of flavour,
and if you're going with reds, you're
looking at more Zinfandels or Merlots.
Suggestions: See Ya Later Ranch
— Riesling 2015 ($16.99), Nk’mip — Rosé
2015 ($17.99), Quail’s Gate - Merlot 2014
($21.99)

 

Image by Brittney MacDonald