Spur of the Moment

I have a habit of doing things spur of the moment. Like this afternoon, for instance. I decided I wanted to go experience an olive oil and balsamic tasting first hand…so I did. Immediately upon thinking of it. This is how I roll.

 

A few months ago, a new tasting shop opened in St. Catharines called Della Terra Tasting Bar. As soon as I saw that it was opening my taste buds started yelling at me to treat them. There was never enough time in the day when I did think of it until today. So as soon as it crossed my mind I grabbed my purse and jumped in my car. It was quickly decided that my daughter and her friend would come along for the new experience. I would have just as happily gone solo had they not been interested.

 

 

 

Olive Oils & Balsamic

 

 

 

We were lucky that the tasting bar was having a quiet moment and had the full service of a knowledgeable guide. She walked me through the types of olive oils and handed me samples as we talked, explaining the differences. She was a wonderful wealth of information. I never thought of sipping olive oils as something I would enjoy so thoroughly. There is such a huge leap from regular store-bought olive oil that is often blended or of inferior quality to imported, cold pressed pure olive oils from different countries. I had come into this knowledge a few years ago while in California and had sampled high quality oils and balsamics and have been searching for comparable quality in this area ever since. Today, I struck pure gold! Or should I say green?

 

The rich, smooth texture of the oils was sublime. Each oil was vastly unique. I sampled mild, medium and robust olive oils and ended up purchasing a medium oil called Picual. Oh my. The robust oils hit my throat like I had just ingested liquid pepper. So not expected (even though she warned me)! It was fantastic. It was fun watching my daughter and her friend taste the oil. My daughter stuck her tongue in the sample cup then declared it wasn’t for her. They couldn’t get over the fact that I was sipping cup after cup of the stuff and watched with wide eyes. They quickly zipped over to the balsamics when given their leave.

 

After the straight up olive oils I moved on to the flavored olive oils. So many to choose from…sinfully delicious varieties. Swoon. I decided on a blood orange infused olive oil that is out of this world. It is so divine I don’t want it to even touch other flavors but go straight to my palate unadulterated.  But that would be greedy not to allow the flavor sensation to meld with other foods, wouldn’t it? It’s experiment time!

 

Next, I sidled up to the balsamic tasting bar and got busy. My first sample knocked my socks off (well, if I was wearing socks it would have) – coconut white balsamic. After having the smoothness of olive oil sliding down my throat the sharpness of vinegar took me back slightly but the coconut flavor was strong and true. It would be a great summer fruit salad accompaniment. I only had eyes for the dark balsamics though. Sinful and luxurious they beckoned me to them. I had the intention of finding figs to have with a great aged balsamic this weekend but instead found a fig balsamic that took me by aback. It came home with me. No surprise there.

 

 

I believe that we all need to indulge ourselves with experiences and things that make us feel alive. Today this is what I desired,so I treated myself.

 

“The lesson adults can learn here is that the world is filled with things for our enjoyment.” – Allen Klein