06 June 12

Art deco building façade at Granville & Robson, on my way to Granville Island to meet Iain and his dad and Dale for beers & theatre sports.

05 June 12

yep.

04 June 12

Let's see if I can list them all...
top row: Orofino syrah, Orofino moscato frizzante, Forbidden Fruit Pearsuasion, Stoneboat Duet (red blend), Seven Stones merlot, Young & Wyse merlot, Stoneboat pinotage, Burrowing Owl chardonnay, Church & State cabernet franc, Church & State cuvée blanc, Forbidden Fruit Bliss (peach dessert wine), Moon Curser Afraid of the Dark (white blend).
middle row: White Slate (white blend), Silver Sage pinot noir, Therapy Alterego (red blend), Stag's Hollow syrah rose, Blasted Church sauvignon blanc, Therapy Freud's Ego (red blend), La Frenz tawny port, La Frenz liquer muscat, Therapy pinot noir, Nk'Mip chardonnay, Burrowing Owl pinot noir, Red Roof apple cider.
bottom row: Therapy pinot noir (again), Silver Sage pinot blanc, Stoneboat Faux Pas rose, St Laszlo pinot auxerrois, Herder pinot noir, Desert Hills Ambassador port, Forbidden Fruit Crushed Innocence (Rainier cherry dessert wine), Nk'Mip chardonnay (a different one though), Church & State pinot noir, Moon Curser tempranillo.

03 June 12

Day three of the wine tour: Okanagan Falls/Naramata. We visited a few new wineries as well as a couple of favourites from last year to replenish stock. I particularly enjoyed Blasted Church and Nichol, of the new places. We didn't have time to make it to any Summerland wineries, unfortunately, but we did have a moderately delicious late lunch at what seemed to be the only pub in Penticton open on Sunday.
Somewhere along Highway 1 between Chilliwack and Abbotsford, I managed to snap a photo out the car window of the sun shining through the clouds. We arrived home not too terribly late, with three cases of wine between the two of us.

02 June 12

Day two of the wine tour: Oliver/Osoyoos. We began our day at Nk'Mip, followed by Moon Curser and Young & Wyse. Then we headed out of Osoyoos and into Oliver to visit a bunch of old favourites and a couple of new places. While we were at Church & State, there was a short but powerful rainstorm... Sarah and Steph both went out in it. The rest of us were happy to sit inside with our wine.
We ended up getting back kind of late after going for ice cream in Okanagan Falls and hanging out in the hot tub, so we were hard pressed to find a place to eat that was open. We managed to get into the restaurant at the hotel down on the lake, though, just before their kitchen closed. We sat inside, but the patio doors were still open so we enjoyed the fresh night air while eating mushroom paté and cornish game hen.
There are a few more photos from this day here.

01 June 12

Day one of the wine tour: Similkameen. We made pretty good time along the Crowsnest Highway and once we met up with the other three cars in our caravan, we all had AMAZING Thai food for lunch in Keremeos. Hit up a couple of wineries there — St. Lazslo and Herder (the latter is in the photo above) — and then headed into Cawston to visit Orofino, Seven Stone, and Forbidden Fruit. Afterwards we headed into Osoyoos to check into our hotel, and then we had dinner at a pub on the lake.
A few more photos from this day here.

31 May 12

Iain was in town and he and his girlfriend Dale came over to drink drinks and eat pizza and play Cards Against Humanity. I wish he didn't live in Kingston.
Also I apparently failed to take a picture on the 30th.

29 May 12

28 May 12

My entry for the appetizer & drink cookoff: tempeh & asian pear salad with peas & chives in a mustard & homemade mayo dressing, served on a bed of pea shoots. The drink is a sake bomb with Sir Perry cider.
As always, check out the blog to see all eight delicious entries (including flaming rum) and the winner.

27 March 12

uncomfortable underwear.

26 May 12

Hayley and I went with Maddie to June's, where she got her first tattoo as a memorial for Alex. She told me that shortly after Alex died, she had a dream about getting an eagle feather tattoo. According to his grandmother, Alex's spirit guide was the eagle, which represents the messenger between the spirit world and the living world. She had never thought about getting a tattoo before, but she said, "It just seemed too important to ignore."
You can see a few more photos from the session here.

25 May 12

When you get into bed diagonally so you don't disturb the cat with your feet.

24 May 12

Chris and Kristina came for dinner. We had cedar plank-grilled salmon in maple-mustard glaze, mushroom-cheese polenta with truffle oil & fresh herbs from the garden, roasted pepper salad, and apple-rhubarb crumble with bourbon ice cream for dessert. We also polished off a few bottles of wine in order to make room in our wine rack for purchases acquired on the upcoming Okanagan trip.

23 May 12

The rain stopped for a short time.

22 May 12

It was Jeff's birthday but since he was at work, I bought chocolates for him at Purdy's and brought them over, and hung out and had a beer. Then I waited for the bus home in the rain across from this weird moving sculpture thing.

21 May 12

Jeff, finishing up his first-ever read of a Harry Potter book. Finally.

20 May 12

forgotten tomato paste.

19 May 12

Jeff and I drove down to Ferndale for his cousin Justin's 40th birthday barbecue. We were halfway to the border when Jeff realised he'd forgotten his passport, which NEVER happens, so we didn't make it there until almost three. But the beer was still cold and there was still plenty of food. We sat outside enjoying the weather until it started to cool down, and then Justin made a fire in the wood stove on the deck and we tasted some of his various whiskies.
There are a few more photos from this day here.

18 May 12

Steph and I were supposed to go see The Avengers, but I didn't feel like it so I convinced her we should just drink beer all evening instead. We had food first at the Irish Heather and moved on to the Alibi Room for more beers and good chats. Then we came home and watched Dazed and Confused.

17 May 12

We had another barbecue: tandoori grilled chicken, salad with spicy lemon-mango dressing, jasmine rice, honey-chili glazed green beans, naan bread, and (not pictured) mango curry compote.

16 May 12

15 May 12

I really like egg salad, and I sometimes wonder why I don't make it more often. And then I remember it's because it's a huge pain in the fucking ass to peel boiled eggs.

14 May 12

13 May 12

I gardened for a bit, and then Steph and I pretty much just sat drinking beer and eating snacks in the yard until it was Game of Thrones time.