Monthly Archives: August 2013

Up Indian Arm

Posted on August 6, 2013 | 2 comments

For August long weekend we boarded a boat in the Deep Cove harbour in North Vancouver and motored up Indian Arm fjord to a cabin reachable only by water. It’s not off-the-grid-living, exactly — there’s electricity and running water — but time slows and the kids spend their days catching small eels, turning rocks over to look for crabs and setting out the trap for large Dungeness. If they’re feeling more adventurous they can jump off the dock into the chilly Pacific, kayak, or get pulled behind the boat on a tube. It’s bliss.

Starfish like this one are common in the waters around Vancouver.

Sea stars like this one are common in the waters around Vancouver.

High: Island, err, fjord time. No schedule and no screens. Just sun, water and the call of a bald eagle flying overhead.

Low: A summer cold. This is not the place to get sick!

Just boil for 15 minutes and you've got yourself a delish snack.

Just boil for 15 minutes and you’ve got yourself a delish snack.

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Posted in Outdoor Adventure, Travel

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I heart B.C. fruit stands

Posted on August 3, 2013 | Leave a comment

After the wine, the great thing about the Okanagan Valley are the fruit stands. They’re everywhere, and this time of year they are spilling over with plump peaches, tangy nectarines, juicy apricots, sweet cherries and ripe plums. Everywhere you go in the valley, and even over the pass into the Similkameen Valley en route to Vancouver from Osoyoos, there are orchards and fruit stands. It’s hard to fathom coming from Calgary, where we’re lucky to grow tiny carrots and mint.

Not sure why we're not supposed to squeeze the peaches. Isn't that how we find out if they're ripe?

Not sure why we’re not supposed to squeeze the peaches. Isn’t that how we find out if they’re ripe?

High: Samosas. One word: Omyomyom. Yes, this is a post about fresh fruit, but the bonus at many fruits stands are these deep-fried Indian-style empanadas. Stuffed with potatoes, peas, curry and cauliflower, we plowed through 10 in no time. The obvious question is, why would fruit stands sell samosas? Evidently, many fruit farms are owned by east Indian immigrant families, which explains it.

Low: The winding road. It went on and on and on (as we invariably got stuck behind slow-moving RVs), and now we know why people complain about Highway 3 between Osoyoos and Vancouver.

Outcome: Don’t feel guilty about stopping at three (or more) different fruit stands. The haul will get eaten.

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Posted in Potpourri

Drink of the Week: Wine

Posted on August 2, 2013 | Leave a comment

You can’t really stay true to the cocktail thing if you’re in the middle of Canadian wine country. So if some place in Osoyoos — or anywhere in the Okanagan Valley, for that matter — is pouring, I’m drinking wine. Better yet, if my resort offers a Kid’z Kamp in the afternoon, I’m off to wineries for a boozy grape escape between the hours of 1 and 4 p.m.

Who says pink wine is so 80s? I proclaim it's making a comeback. Yum.

Who says pink wine is so 80s? I proclaim it’s making a comeback. Yum.

First stop: La Stella Winery, a Tuscan-themed outpost in Osoyoos featuring a gorgeous rose wine called La Stellina. We sipped it, along with an un-oaked Chardonnay, a couple of Merlots and a Moscato, while gazing down at Osoyoos Lake as wine guy Wade Martin let us in on some Okanagan wine trends such as gravity-fed crushing (part of what he calls the “honest” wine movement) and Syrah (the “it” grape).

Next stop: Le Vieux Pin Winery, a little taste of France in nearby Oliver, complete with a tasting room modelled after a French train station. We got to watch them bottling Syrah, then retired to the cool tasting room to try it. Needless to say we felt hip sipping the grape-du-jour.

I loved the Syrah at Le Vieux Pin.

I loved the Syrah at Le Vieux Pin, and the pretty garden out front.

High: Drinking wine.

Low: Abandoning the Syrah mid-pour at 3:30 p.m. to rush back for the end of Kid’z Kamp.

Outcome: Buy a bottle to go and drink it after the kids are in bed!

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Posted in Travel

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