WELL… THEY TRIED

My BB Guy and I went to Harrison Hot Springs for dinner tonight. Since we moved we are only about 10 minutes away from this world class destination lake.

The streets are filled with tourists. Some from nearby but many more from faraway places. The town has really been stepping up their game and trying to build up their reputation.

This place is home to a huge sand castle competition every year. They have camping, hotels, restaurants, water rentals that look like slides and other fun stuff.

The last time we went for dinner we ended up at an Italian place that was really terrible. We noticed on our way home tonight that the restaurant in now gone, a new one in its place.

We went to the Black Forest restaurant tonight. Your basic schnitzel house. We were in the mood for something basic. Something we didn’t have to think about.

Since it was still quite warm out and we were enjoying the patio on the main strip we decided on a white wine. A pinot grigio from BC.

One of the staff offered to take our drink order. A litre of pinot grigio. Then our server came by and asked for our drink order. We said someone already took it. She left to go get the wine.

She comes back with a carafe of red wine…. most definitely not a white pinot…back she goes to the bar.

She comes back with a very small half litre carafe of a white wine…. sorry… we ordered a full litre…winos that we are…

Back she goes for a second time. She came back with a generous amount of the correct wine in the correct size. It was tasty and cool and most enjoyable on the restaurant patio.

After dinner we walked down the strip and went to the gelato stand for a lovely espresso gelato in a waffle cone.

We went for a walk along the beach boardwalk and sat at a bench to finish off our gelatos and to pet the nearest black lab fresh out of the lake and looking for some gelato. We have such a warm spot in our hearts for those black labs. This is the view from the bench.

The drive home, at just past 8:00 was a little surprising as the sun has gone down and it is actually dark out. This is after months of me going to bed when it is still light out. Fall is most definitely coming.

I guess what I am thinking here is you can see the humour in a situation or you can make a big deal out of a series of silly little mistakes and let it ruin your evening and their reputation. By the time we left we had other staff assuring us that next time they will make sure we get our wine… just like we ordered it.

I AM A TOTAL HEALTH NUT…WHO KNEW?

There are so many news reports about  things that are good for you and bad for you. I take them all with a grain of salt (not completely bad for you…iodine is in salt)

The other day there were 2 stories in a row on our news extolling the virtues of two of my favorite things….red wine and coffee.

Red wine has always been considered good for us. Moderation….hmmm I might need a definition of that word.

Red wine has antioxidants, flavonoids, resveratrol all of which are good for your heart. They find that resveratrol might help protect us from obesity and diabetes but this has not been tested in humans. This miracle resveratrol  may also help to prevent damage to blood vessels, reducing bad cholesterol and preventing blood clots. (My hand is up to volunteer for testing, pick me, pick me)

To get the same dose used in testing a person would have to drink over 60 liters of red wine every day….okay even I can’t drink that much.

In the mean time I will continue self medicating with my favorite wines. They should start re-naming some varieties to better promote their health benefits. How about these:

Medicinal Malbec, Choleserol Cutting Chianti, Salubrious Shiraz, Positive Pinot Noir. Cheers, to your health.

WINE WISDOM

 Repost: I first posted this 2 years ago. Some things stand the test of time. Enjoy.

My sister sent me the following information on wine:

1. Open the bottle of wine ahead of time to allow it to breathe.
2. If wine does not look like it is breathing then give it mouth to mouth.

I should have a medal for all the wine I have saved. I know, I know but I am just giving in that way. Oh look there seems to be a lot of them down right now. I had better get busy.

TYPICAL B.C. INGENUITY - ROUND 2

Once again British Columbia is coming to the forefront with some fairly unique thinking. We are well known around the world as a great wine producing region. Our B.C. wines win awards in some very prestigious competitions.
In the Okanagan region some creative thinkers have started feeding the winery waste and byproducts to their cattle. They say this makes the meat very finely marbled and the fat is sweeter. Now I don't like my wine sweet and I really don't think I need my fat (not that I eat the fat) sweet either. 

 http://www.flickr.com/photos/bingisser/2328813643/

Janice Ravndahl, started by by putting out a pail of the stuff and they just started eating it. They are given a litre of red wine blend daily and they seem to prefer the sweeter blends.
She says it makes the cattle much more "chatty" but I think they are slurring their moos.
"I really luv ya Bossy"
"I luv ya too Elsie, yur ma besztest friend"
"Buurrrrpppp"

http://www.freefoto.com/preview/806-11-7732?ffid=806-11-7732

She says the wine mash makes the steers more docile and therefore the meat is more tender.  A university cattle researcher says it doesn't seem to harm the cattle at all. Ya like we believe a university researcher about booze consumption....toga...toga....toga. I am sensing a remake of the movie Animal House. 

Copyright sarah white and licensed for reuse under this Creative Commons Licence

Can someone please pass the aspirin bottle and an ice pack.
Now if they start feeding this to milk cows I may start having cereal for breakfast. 

I am joining in the Barnyard Bash over at Happier Than a Pig in Mud. Come see, come see.

SUNDAY FAVORITES - WINERY

If this is Sunday it must
be time for Sunday Favorites
with Chari at Happy to Design. 
Make sure you stop in to visit and
her and all the other participants. 




I first posted this last March. It is such a nice little place to visit I look forward to going there again soon.


On a beautiful sunny Sunday morning my BB and I found ourselves at a winery about 30 miles from our house. Domaine De Chaberton Winery, wine shop and bistro.

The red wine grapes are grown in the Okanagan Valley of British Columbia. This is about 220 miles away from here in the only official pocket desert in Canada. The white wine grapes are grown here on a south slope in a micro climate that is perfect for "cool climate" grapes.

The wine shop has the most beautiful gift baskets and wine accessories. We found a wedding gift here for someone but we can't say what it is for obvious reasons.

I suggested my BB should buy this for me but alas it is not in the budget. It had 8 bottles of wine and various other items in it.

The winery has won many medals throughout the years and had gold medals in Michigan in 2008 and California in 2007.

We tried several wines and bought the 2004 VQA Canoe Cove Shiraz and a 2007 VQA Pinot Gris to try at home.

The red was served with a steak dinner. It held up well to the grilled meat. It was a mix of spice and deep red fruits. Cherry, smokey, beautiful long legs. The white will be served on a sunny day with a light spread of cheeses, breads and maybe some olives. Buttery tastes. Many thanks to the lovely staff who declined to be photographed. The tasting was very enjoyable.

WRITER'S CHALLENGE #4 - WHERE WOULD YOU LIKE TO GO TO VISIT?

Another Writer's Challenge is upon us. This is number four. First let me thank all of your who participate and comment and visit our posts for the challenge. Secondly let me invite you to join in. This is just for fun and no expertise is needed. Even if you don't have a blog you can join in. You can email me your post and I will put it up on my blog.

The challenge for the fourth event is: WHERE WOULD YOU LIKE TO GO FOR A VISIT? I didn't even have to stop for a nanosecond to come up with my answer.

 I have wanted to go to Italy for years now. It is number one on my list. I even know what week I want to get there for.Of course one week is not enough but I know where I want to start.
When the movie Under The Tuscan Sun came out it just reinforced my resolve to go there one day but my wish started before I ever saw the movie. There truly is something about the Tuscan sun. The color of the sky is different than anywhere else I am sure. When I see a photo of the area I quite literaly lose my breath.

Montalcino

Bellagio, Como

Verona 

To be on a hillside overlooking the valleys filled with grapes. To stay at a farm that grows what it eats. One that makes their own wine and cheese and perhaps even proscuitto. One that has goats and hens.

Piazza Amifeatro

flickr.com/ruth bruin

To walk into the piazza for fresh food right from the farms. To sit in at a table outside of the coffee house with a cappuccino. To sip a wonderful chianti watching the world go by and the sun go down with a plate full of antipasta. Maybe artichokes, tomatoes and slices of cured salumi with a crusty bread and salty olives. The enjoyment of good food and wine here is so obvious. When you see how they shop and cook and eat you just want to absorb it all like a sponge. They do it with gusto.

flickr photo Matt Hamm

Urbino

 Greve, Italy

Sangiovese Grapes for Chianti

I plan on going to a little town called Greve. My trip will take place in the first week of September when they celebrate with a Chianti festival. The evenings cool down a bit by then after the hot summer nights and the children are back in school.

Positano, Amalfi Coast

We also plan on seeing the coast. My BB guy loves seafood and he will certainly get his fill by the ocean. I don't eat shellfish or anything exotic like squid or eel so I will have to be satisfied with the other offerings in the area. I know there will be no shortage of foods to enjoy.

Some time ago I had a friend do a guest post on here about her trip to Italy. She imports a lovely wine by the case that they had tasted at a small vineyard and was kind enough to share a bottle with me one evening. You can read the story here.

 

 Apoteosi Wine photos by Linda

I am so looking forward to the day when we finally go to Italy. It may be a while yet but I am determined. The grapes will be ripe and juicy. The sky will be that special shade of blue, the food will be sublime. Truly the dolce vita.

freefoto.com

You should take a look at Lola's two blogs to appreciate what I am talking about. Aglio, Olio & Peperoncino and Roma Every Day will open your eyes to the beauty of Italy and when I go I hope she can meet me for dinner and wine. Until then I will just look at her photos and read her descriptions and just sigh.



If you need any help with Mr. Linky let me know. Please leave a comment before you head out to visit the rest of the participants. If you link up and you don't have a Writer's Challenge post I will delete your link. Use your link for that direct post and not you whole site or else when you post again this entry will get moved and the people looking for it may not find it. Thanks for joining in.

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BIRTHDAY GET-AWAY

My birthday is on October 26th. (thank you). My BB guy took me away yesterday morning or a short overnighter in the US. We left around 8:00 a.m. and headed for Washington State. We were not going far. 

 

First we had to stop for breakfast having only had coffee at home. We stopped into Bob's Burgers & Brew for a regular style breakfast of eggs, hash browns toast and bacon or sausage. We were just looking for something quick. It filled the bill. There is a giant almost wall to wall stone fireplace in there. They already had up a couple of Christmas trees. It must be great to decorate that huge fireplace. I'll bet the moose head looks darn right festive come December. That is right, giant moose head and many other trophies. Stuffed turkeys and I don't mean with my bread stuffing recipe. Pheasants, moose, deer. Oh my. Not for the faint of heart.

We carried on now full of breakfast grease down to La Conner. This town boasts some amazing galleries and interesting stores. La Conner sits on a delta at the mouth of the Skagit River.

One window had costumed geese posed all over, fun and casual. While the next one had elegant glass pumpkins.

There were some empty lots between the old buildings and the town doesn't leave them empty looking. They have created some lovely places to sit or to simply enjoy. 

 

 

Let me point out to you that my BB guy is 6 foot 3 inches tall and truly is Big and Burly. Now look at the size of that tree burl. Oh my heavens that thing was big. 

In one of the antique stores I found a wire card holder that I will use to display some of my Santa postcards. I really liked the wooden trees on their front porch. 

My BB guy had brought along some champagne glasses and we were on the lookout for some libations. We came upon a wine shop and that was open for tastings of wine and cheeses. Hellam's Vineyard is the name of the store. It was too early for us to start drinking but we had a good look around. If we could have brought some back across the border without paying huge duty and taxes we would have spent a bundle. 

 

Alas we were just buying champagne and asked the proprietor, Jeffrey Hellam, for his recommendation of an inexpensive one. We bought the Bott Geyl Cremant D'Alsace for $21. When we got to our room we put it on ice to savor later. We enjoyed it before we went down to the casino and well before our dinner. It was great value with plenty of teeny sparkling bubbles that kept on coming. It tasted so fresh and light. It was perfect for a before dinner aperitif  or would have gone lovely with a creamy brie and a crisp flatbread.

 We had lunch at a Mexican restaurant that my BB guy had been to before. It is called El Gitano and is not far from Bellingham. They have a few others around the area too.Very much what you would expect decor wise. The staff were attentive and friendly. I had two Patron margaritas that were just what I needed after walking around La Conner for a while. 

The complimentary salsa and chips tasted really fresh and there was a definite bite to the salsa. It tasted of fresh cilantro too. My meal was Chicken en mole which is a dark sauce that actually has chocolate in it. Not sweetened but real dark chocolate. 

We both really enjoyed our meals.Now off to the hotel to regroup. 

Now I will tell you that I don't gamble. I find it to be completely boring and also it kills me to see that money disappear. Oh yes it reappears sometimes but mostly you can kiss it goodbye. My BB guy on the other hand doesn't see things the same way and he will not hesitate to feed the insatiable machines while they tinkle and jingle and bing bong. Aaaargh. Obviously he was the one who booked our hotel. In a casino. With ugh!!! smokers everywhere. Our room was lovely and the window opened which is a big thing for me. 

We had two of these queen size beds and they were so comfortable. We wanted a king but they only had them in smoking rooms. No way. So I had a whole bed to myself. I liked that there was a separate makeup area in the bathroom and also the shower and toilet were in a separate area with a door.

We had booked a late dinner for 9:30 so after our champagne we went to the casino for a short while. We went to the Steak House in the hotel and it was a wonderful meal. They start off by telling you that you will have two servers for your evening, not just one. Service is paramount. 

We ordered a bottle of wine from a winery in Argentina called Gascon. Malbec is one of our favorites so of course we wanted to try this one. For the second time this day I enjoyed the flavor of chocolate but this time it was wrapped around a cherry. A fabulous wine that was decanted for a while first to allow some oxygen into it and let the flavors develop. 

 They used an aerator similar to this but it poured out the sides and hugged the sides of the carafe as it tumbled down to the pool at the bottom. Genius. 
We were serve a complimentary salmon mousse with different breads. My BB guy had the biggest prawns he has ever had in his life. Next we were served a palate cleanser of champagne with a little ball or sorbet floating in it. This was so refreshing and brought our palates back to neutral before we tasted our decanted wine. 
Our meals were cooked perfectly. The service was impeccable. I rate it highly. There was no room for dessert but as I said I had my chocolate fix twice already with out even eating candy. 
I had a great birthday get-away. We shopped on Sunday and the best part was we were sent through customs without having to go in and pay duty. We claimed everything we bought and were just under the allowable amount. 
Hey...I missed you guys.