While it was a hope and a dream to never have to write this article, the time has arrived when being prepared can make the difference. With a hurricane approaching, remember that stocking up on shelf stable foods and clean drinking water is as essential for a trouble free recovery as is shutters on your house. Remember, if the power goes out for an extended period of time, refrigeration will be at a premium. Be prepared with alternatives. Here’s a list of things to remember so you can still have plenty of nutritious things to eat during and more importantly after the storm passes.

1.   Canned Meat and Fish

Canned meat and fish is an excellent way to get protein and since both are fully cooked when canned, they can be eaten without any heating source if you don’t have a gas stove or grill.

2. Canned Soup or Chili

Soup and chili provide excellent nutritional value and are a flavourful and economical meal replacement. Be sure to get a variety that includes a protein, vegetable and/or beans along with rice or pasta. Avoid condensed soups that require adding water or milk.

3. Canned and Jarred Fruit

Canned/jarred fruit or diced fruit cups and applesauce all add a satisfyingly sweet touch to your hurricane meals and maintain much of the nutritional value that regular fruit has.

Bordeaux is a city, a region and a wine- many wines- that have captured the attention, if not affection of wine drinkers around the world. Even as a seasoned wine aficionado, sometimes when the subject of Bordeaux arises, I glaze over with a similar confusion and impatience toddlers show when they are being told why they can’t do something they want to. There are misunderstandings of the formalities and confusion of the classifications of Bordeaux that I will try to demystify so that next time you are standing in the Bordeaux section of the liquor store, you can have a look more of understanding on your face than of intimidation.

Bordeaux is located in south-west France about 300 miles south west of Paris. It is located near the European Atlantic Ocean. The city of Bordeaux is built on a bend in the Garonne river, a river accessible by ocean freight-liners. Bordeaux is the largest source of high quality wines in the world with 22 000 vineyards producing over 66 million cases of wine annually. The grape varieties from this area are not up for discussion or experimentation. To produce wine under the Bordeaux appellation system, it must be from the following varieties: Cabernet Sauvignon, Cabernet Franc, Merlot, the lesser used Petit Verdot and Malbec for red wines and Sauvignon Blanc, Semillion, Muscadelle for white wines. The vineyards of Bordeaux always plant a variety of grapes to ensure against weather conditions: Cabernet Sauvignon, Cabernet Franc and Merlot are all grown and blended in a Bordeaux red. Whether the blend is predominantly Cabernet Sauvignon or Merlot depends on the appellation (see below).

At the city of Bordeaux, the river is divided into two parts: the right bank to the east and the left bank to the west.   The summarized version of Bordeaux is that it is a wine region that has four districts and within these districts are appellations. Within these appellations are houses (or chateaux) that produce wines that hold both their appellation and the chateau name. The four districts are: from the left bank Médoc, Graves, from the right bank Libournais and in the middle Entre-Deux-Mers (which literally means between two seas). Because of where each of these districts and appellations are situated on the river, the soil type changes and supports different grape varieties. Where an appellation is located on the river should be shed some light as to which grape variety is predominant. For simplicity sake, wines from the left bank are primarily Cabernet Sauvignon blends whereas right bank wines are primarily Merlot blends. The wine bottle labels will not tell you this, if one decides to peruse the Bordeaux aisle, it is assumed that one already knows this (the labels do need to express certain information like Chateau, appellation, vintage, volume and alcoholic content).