Winery finery!

Last weekend, we went to the Okanagan. This is an area of BC east of Vancouver containing a huge river valley. The climate is hotter and much drier than on the west coast, which makes it ideal for wine growing. Most of BC's wines are produced from grapes grown in the Okanagan. It is also a major fruit producer for the province, growing apples, peaches, plums and cherries.

We hired a car, and the drive took about 5 hours on the way there, and 6 on the way back. We stayed in a fantastic little B&B just outside Kelowna called Accounting For Taste. We'd definitely recommend this place; it was very clean and comfortable, and the breakfasts were amazing. Thanks again Rosemary! The weather was hot all weekend (31C and higher), although visibilty was not great. Forest fires are burning in Washington, south of the US border, and the smoke was causing a haze for hundreds of kilometres north into BC.

On the Saturday we went on an all-day wine tour, visiting Sumac Ridge, Hawthorne Mountain, Inniskillin, Nk'Mip and Jackson Triggs. We had free tastings at every winery, and they had some great wines. We came away with 9 bottles at the end of the day, but it was hard not to buy quite a bit more. It was a long and fairly tiring trip, but well worth it - we saw a lot more of the valley south of Kelowna than we otherwise would have, and the scenery was great.

Sunday was a day of relaxation on the beach. In the evening we went for a meal at the restaurant at Quail's Gate winery. The food was fantastic, and they served wine by the glass to accompany each dish of each course. Lovely. We were stuffed and drunk by the end, but very happy :)

Monday was our last day. We checked out a couple of local wineries in the morning - Mission Hill and Quail's Gate. We took a tour at Quail's Gate too which was really good. They taught us a lot about the basics of grape growing and winemaking which was fascinating. After that we headed back to Vancouver along the slower but more scenic route. We were so glad we did too - the scenery was beautiful and well worth an extra hour or so.

All in all, it was a great weekend and we are looking forward to going back at some point. In the meantime we have 9 great bottles of wine to enjoy, and our photos. Check them out here.

Summer photo mix!

Or "a bunch of assorted pictures that didn't really belong anywhere else". I mean to publish these photos a while back but I got busy. Get off my case already. You can find the photos here.

World Party are ace

So Steph talked me into going to see a World Party gig. I had heard of them and a few of their songs (like "Put The Message In The Box") but was a little dubious. I had a quick read of their website before the gig last night and learnt a few interesting things. World Party is all about one guy really - Karl Wallinger - who left The Waterboys years ago to start his own band. They made several albums and had some success. Then it seems the rest of his band split and went and recorded "She's The One" with Robbie Williams - a song that Wallinger originally wrote. About the same time, the poor guy had a brain aneurysm.

Anyway, he's back now with a new band and a new album, and we saw them last night at Richards On Richards, a music club just next door to where we used to live when we first arrived in Canada. And they were great! Wallinger was looking older and somewhat portly, but he was a remarkably easy-going and cheerful guy. He had a habit of talking to the audience at length between songs, and although most of what he said made little sense, it was usually pretty amusing and really helped to establish a connection between the band and the audience. His chatter was covering some technical problems too - it seemed that the bass player's guitar was on the blink all evening. But when they were belting out the songs, they rocked. The melodies and lyrics were great, and the musicianship of the whole band excellent. Great songs performed by great musicians - superb entertainment by any measure. I am now officially a World Party fan. Time to buy some of their albums I think. And thanks Steph for talking me into it :)

Restaurant review - Urban Thai Bistro

Steph and I went to this restaurant in Yaletown last night for food, so I wrote a review for it - my second restaurant review now on dinehere.ca. Woohoo! Find out what I thought here.

What is The Meatrix?

And on the subject of factory farming and how bad it is, why not take the red pill and find out? Enter The Meatrix.

Should we worry about soya in our food?

I've been consuming more soya recently, as I don't eat as much meat as I used to. That's mainly because I think that animal farming these days is a generally destructive and unwholesome practice that is doing the environment no good. I figured that soy-based food products were a perfect alternative, but a recent article published by The Guardian has some interesting things to say about soya - read it here.

E3 is dead!

This is tragic news. The Electronic Entertainment Expo is no more. No more flashing lights and heavy metal music. No more crowds of sweaty geeks. No more booth babes!


The suits have taken over the asylum. R.I.P. E3, you will be sorely missed :(

Here's the full press release from the ESA:

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE

Entertainment Software Association Announces Evolution of E3Expo for 2007

Washington, DC (July 31, 2006) – To better address the needs of today’s global computer and video game industry, the 2007 Electronic Entertainment Expo (E3Expo) is evolving into a more intimate event focused on targeted, personalized meetings and activities, the Entertainment Software Association (ESA) announced today.

“The world of interactive entertainment has changed since E3Expo was created 12 years ago. At that time we were focused on establishing the industry and securing orders for the holiday season,” said Douglas Lowenstein, President of the ESA, the trade association representing U.S. computer and video game publishers and the owner of E3Expo. “Over the years, it has become clear that we need a more intimate program, including higher quality, more personal dialogue with the worldwide media, developers, retailers and other key industry audiences.”

The new E3Expo will take shape over the next several months. As currently envisioned, it will still take place in Los Angeles, described by ESA as a “great and supportive partner helping to build E3.” It will focus on press events and small meetings with media, retail, development, and other key sectors. While there will be opportunities for game demonstrations, E3Expo 2007 will not feature the large trade show environment of previous years.

“E3Expo remains an important event for the industry and we want to keep that sense of excitement and interest, ensuring that the human and financial resources crucial to its success can be deployed productively to create an exciting new format to meet the needs of the industry. The new event ensures that there will be an effective and more efficient way for companies to get information to media, consumers, and others,” said Lowenstein.

Additionally, the evolution of the video game industry into a vibrant and expanding global market has led to the creation of major events in different regions, such as the Games Convention in Leipzig, the Tokyo Game Show, and company-specific events held by Sony, Nintendo, Microsoft, and others around the world. As a result, Lowenstein said, “It is no longer necessary or efficient to have a single industry ‘mega-show’. By refocusing on a highly-targeted event, we think we can do a better job serving our members and the industry as a whole, and our members are energized about creating this new E3.”

Additional details about the new E3Expo event will be forthcoming in the next few
months.

The ESA is the U.S. association dedicated to serving the business and public affairs needs of the companies publishing interactive games for video game consoles, handheld devices, personal computers, and the Internet. ESA members collectively account for more than 90 percent of the $7 billion in entertainment software sales in the U.S. in 2005, and billions more in export sales of entertainment software. For more information about the ESA, please visit www.theESA.com.