Happy Sunday! I hope that those of you here in Decatur and Atlanta are able to enjoy the weather. I'm writing this on the back patio. Even better, Hubby is making lunch, the Grilled Salmon and Spinach Salad from this month's Cooking Light.
Hubby finally went through the black hole that he calls his desk and found some of the info I was missing for the Victoria and Vancouver posts.
First, in Victoria, we did visit a tasting room in the city itself. The Artisan Wine Shop has bottles from several different British Columbia wineries. We didn't find any that really stood out, but the staff was friendly, and the tasting was complimentary.
I believe I ended the Vancouver post with us in Yaletown doing some bar-hopping and eating. After we went to George, we stopped off for some B.C. wine at the Hamilton Street Grill, where we found a nice list of B.C. wine and a very friendly bartender. I had a glass of the 2006 Hillside Estates Cabernet Franc. We'd visited Hillside Estates on our Pacific Northwest wine trip in 2007 and brought back a bottle of red, which has long since been drunk, but I'm pretty sure it was an earlier vintage Cab Franc. The wine was as good as I'd hoped it would be with dark red currant and a little oak and chocolate. Hubby had the 2007 Misconduct "The Big Take," a red blend of Merlot, Cabernet, and Cab Franc. It was a bit rougher, and we both agreed we liked my Cab Franc better.
After those glasses and a taste of something the bartender thought we'd like (didn't take notes -- was in "I'm on vacation, darnit!" mode), we were ready for some food. Hubby had the idea that he wanted oysters, so we wandered into Goldfish Pacific Kitchen. We were in casual attire due to the heat, and the first hostess looked at us askance, but the other one was warmer and brought us to a nice table for two on the back patio. Hubby had Oysters on the Half Shell, and I had the Wok Beef. We split an order of the Duck Sausage & Truffle Macaroni, and we both had salads. Yeah, I think we had wine munchies by that point. Hubby liked his oysters. I really enjoyed the Wok Beef, which tasted similar to Mongolian Beef, one of my favorite Chinese dishes. The Duck Sausage & Truffle Macaroni was as good as promised, maybe a little heavy on the truffle.
After dinner, we popped into the place next door, which advertised itself as having lots of local produce, meats, and wine on the menu in search of more B.C. wines. Nope, not a one, so we wandered down the street to the Blue Water Cafe and Raw Bar. I think we had skipped that place for dinner because I wasn't in the mood for seafood, so we had to find someplace that was more balanced. We sat at the lovely bar, which had an incredible array of Scotches. The bill says that we had two glasses of the 2005 Desert Hills Mirage (Cab Sauv/Merlot/Malbec/Cab Franc/P.Verdot), but there may have been a special that night for half-price bottles. Honestly, I don't remember, but I don't think we would've split a bottle after everything else we drank. I'm sure my palate was burned out by that point, but I remember the wine being good, if a little raisin-y.
By that point, we didn't even want to try to figure out Vancouver's near-incomprehensible bus system, so we hailed a cab back to the hotel. Hubby felt vindicated to see that the pedestrians run out in front of them, too.
Showing posts with label Vancouver. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Vancouver. Show all posts
Sunday, July 19, 2009
Friday, July 3, 2009
Travelin' Oenophile: Vancouver Highlights
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Back to business...
There's nothing like going out of town for two weeks and coming back to lots of work to catch up on and, even better, blood work results from the doctor. No, don't worry, I'm not pregnant, but my alcohol consumption has been curtailed a little -- but only a little -- by the fact that I'm screwed on both sides genetically for high triglycerides. For those who don't know what that means, triglycerides are a form of fat stored in the body as well as free-floating in the blood stream, and higher levels have been shown to be linked to coronary artery disease, which I also have a family history for. The worst part? They're elevated by consumption of sugar, alcohol, and animal fats. Blah, especially since I eat already pretty healthily and exercise 3-4 times/week.
Never fear, however, I have a plan. I've cut out all sugared soda and most juice, and I'm working on being much better about desserts and sticking to the average of 1 glass of wine/night. Aside from this holiday week, fish and chicken have become our primary sources of protein. Yeah, Hubby, whose cholesterol and triglyceride levels were insultingly low in spite of him eating a worse diet, drinking more, and having a higher BMI than I do, is hoping for some secondhand weight loss.
So, going back to a time when we were blissfully unaware of my triglycerides, our Pacific Northwest trip continued from Victoria to Vancouver. That ferry wasn't quite as early, and it was even bigger than the one we'd taken from Port Angeles to Victoria. We drove on to the boat, parked the car, went up on deck, and found that several passengers had already taken their places on the sunny side of the boat (the other side was closed off for cleaning and painting), where many of had turned a lovely shade of pink by the end of the trip. No, sunscreen awareness and use did not seem to be big concerns among our neighbors to the north.
Hubby found that driving in Vancouver was not to his liking because the pedestrians there, even more than in the rest of the Pacific Northwest, showed a surprising amount of insolence, even to the point of darting out into oncoming traffic. So we parked the car at the hotel and left it there for two days. It was nice to walk around, and after some effort and having to pay $2 (Canadian) for a bus route map, we sort of figured out the public transit system.
I'm not going to go into all the details of what we ate where, so here are the highlights:
1. The Mill, a waterfront pub with beautiful views of the bay and the mountains across from it. Hubby was intrigued by the seaplane dock, although he was disappointed that he didn't get to see one take off. We just stopped in for drinks before going to dinner, but the menu looked like a step above ordinary pub food, and I wouldn't mind giving it another visit.
2. Floata Seafood Restaurant bills itself as "Canada's largest Chinese restaurant." We went for the Dim Sum because we had enjoyed it so much on our last trip. We arrived after the lunch rush, so the carts weren't going around anymore, and we ordered our Dim Sum on sushi-type lists. The timing could've been a little better, and they did forget one of our veggies, but overall, it was still a very good experience, and the food was excellent.
3. Yaletown: a neighborhood with a great collection of restaurants and bars. We hopped around a bit, starting at George for drinks and where we sat next to a lovely young woman who was in the process of being stood up. Then we went to the Hamilton Street Bar & Grill for some B.C. wines (not sure about web site, also lost my notes, sorry!).
I hope everyone had a great 4th weekend! That will be my next post, promise!
Back to business...
There's nothing like going out of town for two weeks and coming back to lots of work to catch up on and, even better, blood work results from the doctor. No, don't worry, I'm not pregnant, but my alcohol consumption has been curtailed a little -- but only a little -- by the fact that I'm screwed on both sides genetically for high triglycerides. For those who don't know what that means, triglycerides are a form of fat stored in the body as well as free-floating in the blood stream, and higher levels have been shown to be linked to coronary artery disease, which I also have a family history for. The worst part? They're elevated by consumption of sugar, alcohol, and animal fats. Blah, especially since I eat already pretty healthily and exercise 3-4 times/week.
Never fear, however, I have a plan. I've cut out all sugared soda and most juice, and I'm working on being much better about desserts and sticking to the average of 1 glass of wine/night. Aside from this holiday week, fish and chicken have become our primary sources of protein. Yeah, Hubby, whose cholesterol and triglyceride levels were insultingly low in spite of him eating a worse diet, drinking more, and having a higher BMI than I do, is hoping for some secondhand weight loss.
So, going back to a time when we were blissfully unaware of my triglycerides, our Pacific Northwest trip continued from Victoria to Vancouver. That ferry wasn't quite as early, and it was even bigger than the one we'd taken from Port Angeles to Victoria. We drove on to the boat, parked the car, went up on deck, and found that several passengers had already taken their places on the sunny side of the boat (the other side was closed off for cleaning and painting), where many of had turned a lovely shade of pink by the end of the trip. No, sunscreen awareness and use did not seem to be big concerns among our neighbors to the north.
Hubby found that driving in Vancouver was not to his liking because the pedestrians there, even more than in the rest of the Pacific Northwest, showed a surprising amount of insolence, even to the point of darting out into oncoming traffic. So we parked the car at the hotel and left it there for two days. It was nice to walk around, and after some effort and having to pay $2 (Canadian) for a bus route map, we sort of figured out the public transit system.
I'm not going to go into all the details of what we ate where, so here are the highlights:
1. The Mill, a waterfront pub with beautiful views of the bay and the mountains across from it. Hubby was intrigued by the seaplane dock, although he was disappointed that he didn't get to see one take off. We just stopped in for drinks before going to dinner, but the menu looked like a step above ordinary pub food, and I wouldn't mind giving it another visit.
2. Floata Seafood Restaurant bills itself as "Canada's largest Chinese restaurant." We went for the Dim Sum because we had enjoyed it so much on our last trip. We arrived after the lunch rush, so the carts weren't going around anymore, and we ordered our Dim Sum on sushi-type lists. The timing could've been a little better, and they did forget one of our veggies, but overall, it was still a very good experience, and the food was excellent.
3. Yaletown: a neighborhood with a great collection of restaurants and bars. We hopped around a bit, starting at George for drinks and where we sat next to a lovely young woman who was in the process of being stood up. Then we went to the Hamilton Street Bar & Grill for some B.C. wines (not sure about web site, also lost my notes, sorry!).
I hope everyone had a great 4th weekend! That will be my next post, promise!
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