Review #14 of Yelp's 30 Day Challenge 2012
Let the flavour infused oils slowly caress your tongue. The thick, smooth liquid flowing in one rich, smooth ripple. Savour the taste as it runs down the back of your throat and mingles momentarily with your saliva.
Have I got your attention? Good! Blue Door. Go now. Review done.
Ha! Just kidding. Blue Door is a lovely shop filled with (at the time of visit) 51 different flavours of olive oils and balsamic vinegars. I dare you to head in and test Bruce's knowledge of oil and vinegar pairings for any dish you're trying to prepare (or attempting to spice up!).
Things I learned during my visit:
- Quit buying shitty olive oil from the grocery store. You can generally only cash in on the health benefits of olive oil within the first 18 months from the crush date of the olive. It's an impossible date to know from mass manufactured oils. The expiry date is not a good indicator.
- You can put a combination of olive oil and balsamic vinegar on anything from strawberries or ice cream to salad to stir fries... even omelettes. And using different flavour infusions adds such a different dynamic to the taste!
- You can sample any and all types of olives oils and balsamic vinegars and combinations thereof before you purchase. When you're ready, it's all bottled in-store, right in front of your eyes.
- If you can't decide on just one set of flavours, you should try a 6 bottle sampler set... three oils, three vinegars... and only $30 (GST included!).
I came home with the following pairings:
- Dark chocolate balsamic vinegar and blood orange olive oil (great on strawberries or ice cream)
- Blackberry ginger balsamic vinegar and organic Persian lime olive oil (to try on shrimp stir fry)
- Raspberry balsamic vinegar and organic basil olive oil (perfect for salads!)
I can confirm... the dark chocolate combo does indeed go well with ice cream. Who knew that'd make such a great topping! And... its healthy olive oil, so that just means I can now eat more ice cream, right?
Basil olive oil makes a lovely base for the frying pan when you're cooking an omelette.
And the raspberry and basil combo has me eating more veggies than I can handle. But I'm having a hard time remembering why stuffing my face with vegetables is a bad thing. Oh wait... because it isn't.
I rarely eat at home. This new flavour world is changing that.
NOW will you visit Blue Door?