North
Last week some friends and I went to San Juan Island for six days. Well, five, actually, because we went to Vancouver Island for one night. But who (besides me) is counting?
In any event, the trip succeeded on many levels--gastronomic, economic, scenic, and, most importantly, paper-towel-dispenseric. Alas/whew (choose one), I didn’t take a camera.
Wildlife sighted:
*Bald eagles
*Sea lions
*Seals
*Deer
*Foxes
Oh my!
A partial list of good food consumed:
*Lots of variations on the pear/cheese/pecan spinach salad theme
*Homemade waffles with whipped cream and fresh berries
*Tom Kha Gai soup! Ultra-tasty!
*Nanaimo Bars
Selected tourist destinations visited:
*A lavender farm . I’m not sure what they don’t make out of lavender here. Lavender bacon, perhaps? That’s probably next on their list.
*The Shepherds Croft (no website, alas), where the owners raise Romney and Border-Leicester sheep (“They’re dumb,” said one of the owners, a retired rocket scientist) and sell yarn and other wool products to mesmerized folk such as myself.
*An Alpaca farm. I’m a sucker for most baby animals, but the young alpacas we saw shot to the upper tier of my cute-baby-animal list.
The highlight of my trip was an accidental visit to the Victoria Estate Winery (VEW). My friends wanted to spend the afternoon at The Butchart Gardents, but I passed, having experienced flora overload there in April. The horticultural types dropped me off at a deli not far from the gardens, but then I saw a sign that said “Winery/Bistro”--two of my favorite words in my vocabulary--and my afternoon’s destiny was sealed.
Let the record show that the VEW tour guide pours one of the more generous glasses of wine I’ve ever encountered at a tasting. The rest of the afternoon I spent on the bistro’s balcony trying to counteract the tasting effects with multiple cups of coffee and a few raspberry linzer cookies.
Obviously, such indulgence necessitated trips to the restroom. I give the Victoria Estate Winery two thumbs up not for their tasty grape products but for their good sense to install one of these:
Using technology to improve hygiene, enhance image, and control costs must be catching on, because the smart folks at Ciao Vito in Portland installed one in their restroom. After discovering theirs, I reported my finding with much glee to my dining buddy, who was still living in the paper towel dispenser stone age. He hastened to the restroom to check it out because he had never seen such a contraption, and returned to our table suitably astonished.
Portlanders: Ciao Vito rocks my culinary world. Much bang for the buck.
In any event, the trip succeeded on many levels--gastronomic, economic, scenic, and, most importantly, paper-towel-dispenseric. Alas/whew (choose one), I didn’t take a camera.
Wildlife sighted:
*Bald eagles
*Sea lions
*Seals
*Deer
*Foxes
Oh my!
A partial list of good food consumed:
*Lots of variations on the pear/cheese/pecan spinach salad theme
*Homemade waffles with whipped cream and fresh berries
*Tom Kha Gai soup! Ultra-tasty!
*Nanaimo Bars
Selected tourist destinations visited:
*A lavender farm . I’m not sure what they don’t make out of lavender here. Lavender bacon, perhaps? That’s probably next on their list.
*The Shepherds Croft (no website, alas), where the owners raise Romney and Border-Leicester sheep (“They’re dumb,” said one of the owners, a retired rocket scientist) and sell yarn and other wool products to mesmerized folk such as myself.
*An Alpaca farm. I’m a sucker for most baby animals, but the young alpacas we saw shot to the upper tier of my cute-baby-animal list.
The highlight of my trip was an accidental visit to the Victoria Estate Winery (VEW). My friends wanted to spend the afternoon at The Butchart Gardents, but I passed, having experienced flora overload there in April. The horticultural types dropped me off at a deli not far from the gardens, but then I saw a sign that said “Winery/Bistro”--two of my favorite words in my vocabulary--and my afternoon’s destiny was sealed.
Let the record show that the VEW tour guide pours one of the more generous glasses of wine I’ve ever encountered at a tasting. The rest of the afternoon I spent on the bistro’s balcony trying to counteract the tasting effects with multiple cups of coffee and a few raspberry linzer cookies.
Obviously, such indulgence necessitated trips to the restroom. I give the Victoria Estate Winery two thumbs up not for their tasty grape products but for their good sense to install one of these:
Using technology to improve hygiene, enhance image, and control costs must be catching on, because the smart folks at Ciao Vito in Portland installed one in their restroom. After discovering theirs, I reported my finding with much glee to my dining buddy, who was still living in the paper towel dispenser stone age. He hastened to the restroom to check it out because he had never seen such a contraption, and returned to our table suitably astonished.
Portlanders: Ciao Vito rocks my culinary world. Much bang for the buck.