Hi Patricio,
Lynnie was very reluctant to accept any more hospitality than one night, but
she`s conceded that if we`re going to use the sheets it might as well be for
2 nights. Thanks again for the offer if that will work out for you, Corine
and Chloe. So you will need to procure chocolades for Saturday and Sunday
nights. You seem to be doing a fine job as the desk and reservation clerk
at the Island Inn. Any idea what the cook has in mind for Saturday evening
so we can find the right Okanagan wines to match? We`ll also bring some
fresh Okanagan cherries.
Today is a tough day for me, being Wednesday. I played Senior Men`s golf at
the PGCC this morning at 7:30 AM, up $18 for scoring a deuce on one hole.
This evening is bridge at the Penticton Duplicate Bridge Club. I`m playing
with Hal Whyte, formerly of education bookselling fame and a friend of
librarians everywhere. Otherwise I`m still hacking at the tangled vines
after all the June rains. Perhaps an afternoon nap will be in order.
Cheers until Saturday, ETA still to be confirmed. Good luck with the pedal
clips. Cheers, Jugos Don Pedro
Dear Chocolades People!
The Staff and Management of the Island Inn are delighted to have the pleasure of serving you both for another night! With respect to the Saturday meal, Mme Coriandre has decided upon beef ribs with a warm mushroom salad. Those are the only "advance" menu details that a mere scullion, such as I, am privy to. I had to wheedle and fawn for hour upon hour at her Haughtiness's knee to obtain what little I have conveyed to your august personages.
Your fresh Okanagan cherries should pair rather nicely with the fresh Richmond strawberries, Birak Berry Farm, #6 Road, picked in the hot sun, on hands and knees, by Robo Man and myself, after we cycled there. I collected 10 lbs, ($1.50/lb, (Not quite sure why measurement is not in kilos!), while Raymundo managed about 12. I don't think he ate as many as I did!
After we had weighed in and paid, we transferred our haul into Tupperare containers we'd brought along in our panniers. Ray had used a larger pail than the ice-cream buckets I'd found at the end of one of the rows so I put a few of the containers that I didn't need on the bonnet of an older car parked beside the fruit stand. He poured the berries into the containers and I kept the fruit from bouncing every which way. We'd almost finished when a man with two large pails of his own strawberries came up to us and asked if the car belonged to us. We said no and he immediately started swearing at us, quite vehemently so. We apologized immediately, removed the offending containers but he kept on and on. His language was vile in the extreme. I know we probably should not have "presumed" to use the hood, (Thought never would have crossed our minds had LL's new Lexus been car in question!), but in all fairness our containers were clean and smooth and had not done a speck of damage to his paint job, such as it was.
This went on for sometime and finally, Ray, who is one of the most polite people you could ever meet, had had enough. I actually thought that he was going to punch the guy, (I learned later that he was thinking of socking the chap but remembered the finger he'd injured from a slight fall last week, when he'd stumbled coming down the basement stairs. Tough as nails, a Newcastle lad, slow to anger but watch out if he reaches a certain point. Many years ago, when his wife, Sylvia, was about to give birth to one of their children, forget which one, he asked to play first match in a squash league fixture at Evergreen. John Hungerford, ('Orrible Hungie was my nickname for him as he really was a bully. That is another story but must, unfortunately, Dear Reader, wait for now.), by virtue of his position in the line-up was supposed to go first and insisted that this be the case, in spite of Ray's reasonable request. Ray never liked John, for a variety of reasons, not the least of which was a question of class. Hungerford, (You may know the name.), was from one of the monied, certainly in Ray's mind, self-imagined elite, blue blood Vancouver families, Lawn Tennis membership, Shaughnessy Golf Course, etc., while Ray was working class mining/factory stock. As soon as he said he didn't care about the impending birth Ray was on him like a pit-bull, throwing the first punch and although Hungerford was much larger and taller, if some of the other team players had not grabbed Ray, not sure if "Orrible would have had any front teeth left! Needless to say, Ray played first and Hungerford gave Ray a wide berth from then on in. In fact, he didn't renew his VRC membership and went back to VLTBC the following season, his mangy tail between his legs to lick his wounds and spread nasty rumours about Mad Dog Banks!
This by way of background as I could see Robo Man's slow burn moving toward flash point. I insinuated myself between them and apologized once more. The cantankeroid refused to let up so I had had enough, by then myself, especially when he accused us of putting the large pail on the hood and scratching the paint. We had done nothing of the sort and I told him, in no uncertain terms, that yes we had erred with the small plastic containers, for which we were very sorry but since he could not accept our sincere apology that we should simply drop the matter and that he should get on with his crabbed, miserable life. This, of course, didn't help the situation but I felt better. Still muttering to himself he inspected the hood one last time and then loaded his berries. We both kept an eye on him as he backed his car out of space as it didn't escape us, his reaction having been so extreme, that he might try to hit our bikes which were near-bye. In fact, he left without further incident. Our guess was that he was more worried that he might actually scratch his car than exacting revenge. Strawberry Rage: a new syndrome!
On a much happier note, we enjoyed a wonderful meal at The French Table on Main and 23rd, last night:
http://www.thefrenchtable.ca/
The Millionaires were in town, en route to Peterborough today, to celebrate Grogg's Mom's 92nd. Not sure if you know it, first time for F/S, Cora Lee and myself. Herve Martin used to own the Hermitage on Robson. Wonderful spot indeed. We had a truly enjoyable meal, (I ordered Sweet breads grenobloise, capers, tomatoes, onion, parsley, lemon butter, celeriac remoulade, for an appetizer and the Sauteed calf liver, chopped garlic and parsley with butter for my main. Espresso creme brule for dessert. Magnifique! Wines were simply wonderful as well: Château La Couranconne Gratitude, Pirramimma Shiraz and a Châteauneuf-du-Pape that wasn't yet on the list! Nice to have rich friends with "pull" and deep pockets. Grogg very kindly and generously footed the bill, saying it was their birthday present for Cora Lee's 65th as they will be away when she turns into a Senior!
Supposed to collect Stefano from YVR sometime today but flight number for WestJet doesn't bring anything up on their website. Perhaps you'll have extra Chocolades if he doesn't show! You'll need tham after all your hacking, both on the fairways and in the vineyard! Thought you might like this:
From the Vines of Mendoza Blog:
Winter Pruning Requires a Personal Touch
When most people see a vineyard the beauty of the endless rows of vines enthralls them. It’s rare to think about how many individual vines are in a winery, but when you ask agronomist Francisco Evangelista how many vines there are at The Vines of Mendoza, it only takes some quick math to come up with the overwhelming number of 1.56 million.
That number becomes even more surreal for the purpose of pruning. A person needs to prune each individual vine by hand. It takes a team of 30-60 people about two months to put their personal touch on the vines. They get a little assistance from an upside down U shaped machine that cuts the vines free from their supports, but the real work needs to be done with hand-held clippers that can be hard to continuously close in the freezing temperatures.
Each vine has 3 main parts. The permanent part of the vine is the trunk. Most trunks have two cordons that grow parallel to the ground. About 15-20 shoots grow upward from the cordons and produce grapes. All of the shoots need to be cut down to a length of about two inches or two buds. When shoots grow too close together the pruner will cut one down to the vine and trim the other one normally. When a cordon isn’t reaching the vine next to it pruners will connect two shoots to form a cordon. Sounds simple enough. Now trying doing it 1.56 million times!
Pruning is vital for the size, form and potential production of the vine. The pruning crew consists of skilled laborers that help determine the bounty of next year’s crop. The Vines of Mendoza does everything they can to develop loyalty and trust with the laborers for this important procedure.
Buona Fortuna with the naps! Might need your technical expertise with clips! We await, with bated breath, the news of your majesties' coach arrival time. In abject servitude, I remain, as ever and always, your liege tavern keeper and stable boy. Cheers, Trizzio!
Visit June 30th/July 1st. Reservations made, grudgingly confirmed!
Hm-m-m.... Just when I was really psyching myself up for a most pleasurable
visit with the various and assorted denizens of the Island Inn and their
various and assorted friends/guests, I get notice that our request for a
second night's accommodation is "grudingly" granted. I trust that this
gruding is our esteemed host's attempt at a little humour and that he and
the fair Coriandre are as anxious to see us as we them ...? Speaking of, we
will most likely hit the Big City mid-afternoon on Saturday. We'll try to
call enroute to let you know a more exact time. Who knows what the traffic
will be like, except that it is likely to be worse than the
Naramata-Penticton run and probably better than trying to navigate to our
apartment in Budapest on a Sunday when half the downtown streets were
blocked off for some event or other and the other half were one-way the
wrong way for us! Even the redoubtable "Maggie" (the name with which we
christened our GPS system because of her dulcet (sp?) British tones) almost
gave up the ghost with one too many "Recalculating" of our route. We finally
chanced upon a parking spot and did just that so that we could have some
refreshment, use the toilet, and regroup generally. It turned out that we
were not too far from a reasonably (and this is subject to some
interpretation, mind you) direct route to the parking garage near our abode.
I turned out (the one and only time) to get the navigating prize that day as
I had a map from our host that showed the route to the apartment and parking
garage from almost the exact spot where we had chanced to stop and park. For
once it was Lynnie the Lucky and not PTL.
Besides the wonderful fresh cherries that P has promised, we'll also bring
some vino and some cheeses from the newly-opened Upper Bench Vineyards and
Creamery. The cheesemaker there used to be the chief cheesemaker at Poplar
Grove so we know how good she is. Besides some of the same chesses that she
used to make for PG, she has a whole new range at the new place some of
which are specifically made to go with certain of the Upper Bench wines. The
wines are quite good overall. The winemaker used to be at (oops, I've
forgotten at the moment) and, so, his efforts are most worthy of our
attention and appreciation. We'll look forward to trying and enjoying them
in your good company.
Till Saturday afternoon, cheers from Lynnie (of "Little Red Lexus" infamy) & Petey (aka HDP, etc.) XOXOXO
Hi Pat & Corinne,
what a lovely report. Unhappy to hear though that you toppled over on your
bike. Don't do that again, I agree. I am looking forward to seeing you
sometime at the end of August after your many travels and hosting visitors.
I will return August 24 from Toronto, and Henning will return August 15 from
Montreal. Have a great long Canada Day weekend! Laura :)
Hi Laura!
Will look forward to catching up, towards the end of August as you mention.
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