This year was filled was some pretty awesome 86'd events. Who can forget Signe Langford's win in the "Fun" category at the Food Photography Awards with a picture of her budgie eating popcorn?
Or the Oyster Shuck-Off in February when Oyster Boy gave away 1000 oysters to anyone who showed up.
Then there were all those cheese tastings with product donated by Cole Snell, remember the smoked blue cheese filled chocolate truffles?
The first ever Kimchee & Pate Battles were both intense and delicious.
Jamie Kennedy showed up at the screening of Top Chef Canada's premiere and MTV's Paul the Intern showed up for the Muskoka Brewery Winterbeard launch. So did Eric Lindros.
In May, Rossy Earle defended her title as Salsa Queen of Canada for the 2nd year in a row, we all got smashed on Roasted Orange-infused Negronis made by Bryn Bratton Wall during an Order of Good Cheer.
Ben Gruber won the Watermelon Eating Contest, Zane Caplansky won the Extreme Eating Contest, Bernita Rebeiro won the Corn on the Cob Eating Contest and Andrew Hunter won the Hungry Man Dinner Eating Contest.
We cooked up and gave away over 100 lbs of mussels from PEI's Confederation Cove and ate them in the Secret Garden while listening to Stompin' Tom.
There was the Mott's Clamato DIY Caesar Buffet, the Boreal Gelato Sundae Bar, a Weenie Roast, Sno-Cones, Boozy Floats & a Lemon Curd Bake-Off.
The 2nd Annual Sustainable Ceviche Smackdown saw the Drake's Kevin Gilmour take the prize, then he took it again recently at Battle Offal with his Grilled Beef Heart Tacos.
Laura Calder, Hank Shaw, Kate Payne, Christine Sismondo, Pat Crocker & Jennifer McLagan all did book signings.
In October we had Scotch and Cigars on the Sky Yard, hosted the first annual Chef Meet with Chef Matt DeMille and gave away loads of caviar courtesy of Acadian Sturgeon at the 2nd Annual Caviar Tasting. 
We hosted a pop-up taco stand with La Carnita, sipped premium tequila from Tromba, did Pickleback shots with Jameson's, drank Dark & Stormys with Mount Gay rum and enjoyed Pink Squirrels courtesy of Head Bartender Gord Hannah on Valentine's Day.
Caplansky & Brockton General won the Pickle Battle pro category with their pickled tongue and pickled eggplant respectively. David Ort won in the amateur category for his wild fermented pickles.
The final battle of the year, Battle Offal, saw Jennifer McLagan award Judge's Choice award to Trevor Kitchen for their Pig's Ear Croquette with Homemade Plum Sauce. People's Choice went to Kevin with his aforementioned taco.
We ended the year with a Sagittarian Gala Ball, a birthday party of all Sagittarians, where everyone swanned around in gowns and the men wore ties, Mark Lass even showed up in a tux.

If you missed out, I'm sorry. All that stuff was free. Free oysters. Free caviar. Free pickles. Free offal. What more do you want?
2012 is going to be epic, starting with The 2nd Food Photography Awards, and battles for Prosciutto, Hot Sauce, Chicken Wings, Candy & Bread and Butter supremacy. 

See you January 2nd for Chef Anthony Rose's Hangover Menu.
Starts at 7pm.

I want to say thank you to all the regulars who show up every Monday ready to tweet, eat & party. Big thanks to all the restaurants and chefs for participating in these nights and donating prizes. Thank you to all the booze companies for lifting our spirits with spirits of your own.
Biggest thanks of all to our Drake team:
In the kitchen, Anthony Rose, Darren Glew, Kevin Gilmour, Tadashi, Andrew, Sean, Graham, Sarah and Renato. On the floor, thanks to Gord Hannah, David Good, Kiki Van Duin, Bill Simpson, Matt Brooks, Jonathan Humphrey, Chris Loane, Christine Aziz, James MacLean, Davey Danger, sushi Chris. Thanks to all of you.
Also, thanks to Jonathan LeClaire and all the staff on the front desk, thanks to Danny, John and Eric for technical support and to Adrian for putting up with all the beer deliveries from Muskoka.
It's been a wonderful year, enjoy the holidays but don't drink too heavily, save the heavy drinking for Monday nights.
xo,
Ivy