Orofino's 1.6 Mile Dinner - when 100 Miles is just too far!

With all the talk of the 100 mile diet, Orofino winery owners John and Virginia Webber decided to take it to a whole other level last year with their first 1.6 Mile Dinner held at their vineyard in the picturesque Similkameen Valley. The event was such a huge success that for the past two nights they have offered the same experience again with Chef Darin Paterson who is the chef/owner of the iconic Bogner’s (previously Granny Bogner’s) in Penticton.

With guests from Vancouver, the Okanagan as well as many neighbors from the surrounding farms of the Similkameen Valley, Chef Paterson put on an outstanding meal with only ingredients (sans salt and pepper) found in a 1.6 mile radius of the winery.

The menu included delectable dishes such as:

Double Hung Jersey Milk Farm Fresh Cheese - Rhubarb Confit with Plucked Greens, Honeycomb and Fresh Shucked Peas
Orofino 2004 Chardonnay

Chicken Leg Confit & Butter Poached Breast - Shaved “Cull” Slaw, Sun Dried Cherries
Orofino Pinot Noir 2006

Spit Roasted Rosemary Merlot Cab Lamb - Warm Siegle Potato Salad, Ugly Sous-Vide Swiss Chard, 02 Foot Stomped Riesling Zabaglione
Orofino Merlot Cabernet 2005

Grilled Peaches - Apricot Sorbetto & Roasted Cracked Almonds
Orofino Late Harvest Muscat 2007

Some of the highlights in the ingredients included homemade butter made using the Jersey milk to poach the chicken, the dressing for the potatoes was made using the chicken fat and the roasted almonds came from the trees on the Orofino property (some of the only almond trees in the province). Chef Paterson was also very passionate and shared the stories of each dish included why he chose to use “cull” vegetables, and where he sourced all the ingredients for each dish.

The weather was threatening last night so the dinner was held in Orofino’s famous straw bale winery building which was very cozy and full of dozens of very happy people.

For pictures of the event visit: OROFINO 1.6 MILE DINNER

Fire in the Okanagan

The pieces are coming together

Day by day, we work hard to finish all the projects. Today we put up the new fridge / freezer. It was boiling hot and the metallic surfaces heated up pretty good. It reminded me of Magda from the movie "something about Mary" getting the right sunteint with the tinfoil around her face. The new tent also made it thanks to DHL, so we are getting ready to shake up the weekly farmers market with home-made pasta, icecream, vegetables from the Bogner's farm and other delicious products from the restaurant.

Chicken Little in Penticton

The little Chickens arrived and are doing well. It is probably the heat of the lamp, that makes them behave so weird...

Congratulations to the Bucher Family

March 26th 2009, shortly after 2p.m. at the Beaulieu hospital in Geneva, little Pierre could not wait to see the light of the world. And here he is, 49cm (19,29in) tall and 3,28kg (7,23lb) strong.

All the best to Gilles, Siata and Lyna, who now has a little baby brother.

I wett I wär en Teddybär

Last night we had an unexpected visitor. He was going for the tinfoil where we wrapped our shrimp and salmon to barbeque last week. We don't keep our regular garbage outside, just the clean plastic and aluminum. A big mistake, as we found out. The bear took off with one of the bags (of course, the one with the tinfoil in it). In the meantime we collected all the waste he left behind and took it inside. A couple of minutes later, he came back for dessert. But no luck this time. He sneaked around the house and finally gave up the hunt and dissapeared into the darkness. With all the excitement happening, we had a hard time to go to bed and calm down this night.

Digg'n and smok'n

Last week we prepared Darin's property to plant 90kg of potatoes. Getting the rows in a line, putt'n compost on top an till the whole mix into the ground. Then digg'n the wholes and throw in the potatoes with a cup of organic fertilizer and more compost. Finally closing the wholes and worry about irrigation... Darin had to rent a machine to dig the trenches, where we put in the pipes. Michael, my co-worker and sommelier was building the smoke-house, which we placed out in the field where we will be smok'n our meats and vegetables in the near future. At the restaurant we started our planting beds with the so called square foot gardening. This is a method out of the States, where a different plant grows in every square foot. It is much more compact and efficient then conventional row-gardening, easy to maintain and uses less water. All this hard work makes hungry and ends in our traditional sandwich-lunches.