Wine, wife and chant

At this years Okanagan WineFestival we hosted 4 dinners with different Winemakers from the Valley. We tried to use a lot of local grown products, that pair well with the wines and their flavours. Among the various creations were a barrel smoked squash soup with a hazelnut ravioli or false frog legs with crunchy beans and a garlic vinaigrette or the home-made duck prosciutto, caramelised pecans and blue cheese dressing. Another favourite was the duck confit with ratatouille and balsamic glaze. For dessert we did a vanilla-poached pear, exotic crème anglaise served with a churro.

location, location, location!

I finally managed to drive up the other side of the hill and get both lakes on the picture on this beautyful fall-day. From November 1st we will have to drive all the way up to the red arrow, but it is worth it!

loghouse for rent

While Nicole was browsing through the newspapers last week, she stept on following ad:
2BDRM LOGHOUSE, rural upper Carmi. Must own 4x4 vehicle for winter...
so we called and could visit the same day. The view is just breathtaking. The whole Valley lying beneath us while standing in the middle of nature. We could not believe our eyes. This is the house! And while I was updating this blog, the new landlord called and said that if we still wanted the place, we can have it. Do we still want it? Hell yeah!

boxes everywhere

Our current situation in the bedroom, until we sorted out the most needed stuff. It is getting colder now and we might need the winter stuff pretty soon. So, pack away the shorts and t-shirts and put the hoodies on the shelf.

Ironman Canada 2008

Last sunday, Peach-city held the 26th Ironman Canada, with thousands of volunteers. It was an incredible event!
The start was at 7am at Okanagan lake with a 3.5km swim, followed by a 180km bike run to Oliver over two mountain passes and back to Penticton. After the bike track, the athletes went on the marathon running course 42.2km to Okanagan Falls and back to Penticton. Some of the runners got wet a second time, due to heavy rainfalls in the evening. The event lasted until midnight. All the remaining runners where then collected by the "Bäsewage".

Small boxes in a big truck

After a waiting period of 6 months (thank's to the SWISS MOVING SERVICE LTD) our stuff finally made it to Penticton. All it needed was a few stamps from customs at Kelowna Airport the night before and the following morning was delivery time.
The thing now is... we don't really have the space for all the stuff, so there are boxes all over the place. And of course some stuff doesn't work here due to different standards, such as the BBQ gas-hose or the X-Box. It all goes into little projects now and challenges to be solved.

The channel floaters

The whole summer long, thousands of people float down the channel between Okanagan- and Skaha Lake. Floating devices filled with ice and beer and the party starts right there!