American Express Grand Finale Consumer Tasting

During the first week of October I witnessed my first Okanagan Wine Festival. There are two big wine festivals in the Okanagan every year - the spring and the fall wine festivals. I was amazed at the number of events being held every day throughout the towns and at the wineries. Although I didn't have the time or the spare cash to attend the events (some wineries really go all out and put on some real gourmet lunches and dinners), I managed to get to the biggest event of the week long festivities - the American Express Grand Finale Consumer Tasting (what a mouthful) in Penticton. I didn't know what to expect since I had never been to such an event before. I was very lucky to go with an old high school buddy of mine who is a wine expert. Well, we had a blast and drank and ate ourselves silly!! There must have been at least 50 wineries from the Okanagan and Similkameen valleys as well as numerous food vendors and live music. My friend not only introduced me to the wine makers and vendors he knew but he also enlightened me on the true meaning of wine! Wine is inseparable from food, indeed, wine must be paired with food to truly enjoy its taste. Each wine is different and calls out for certain foods to be eaten while drinking the wine. When you have steak, then you must drink this wine; when you dig into a plate of spicy spaghetti, then this wine is served; cheese must be served with this wine; dark chocolate goes best with this wine, and so on. It was a real eye-opener and completely changed my view of wine. I cannot wait until the spring wine festival!

October 26: Koto and Tea Ceremony

I really miss traditional Japanese culture and one of my dreams is to bring more of the Japanese culture to the Okanagan. Atsuko also enjoys Japan's traditional arts and crafts, and in late October we took our first step - a koto concert performed by Atsuko and a tea ceremony courtesy of our guest Tomoko. We invited our friends to the event and it was a great success. My Canadian friend was fascinated by the koto and peppered Atsuko with one question after another about the instrument. One of our Japanese friends suggested getting together for Oshogatsu (New Year's) and also celebrating Hina Matsuri (Girls Day) next spring. I think it would be great to show Canadians the rich cultural heritage of Japan. At the moment Canadians certainly appreciate Japanese food, manga, anime, and shiatsu but I think other facets of the culture would go over big here. Any ideas? (Could lead to some big bucks!).

Koto Playing and Tea Ceremony at the Patrick Home

More Impressions of life in the Okanagan - October/November 2007

• Canadians are quiet, shy but…very violent. Life is full of contradictions. In general, Canadians are quiet and keep to themselves (I am the perfect example!). They avoid confrontation and passively accept anything you throw at them. But lace them up in a pair of skates, put a stick in the hand and shove them out on to a patch of ice and all hell breaks loose!! I took one of our guests to a hockey game last month and it was fast and furious with bone-crushing checks into the boards, high sticking and slashing, and 3 big fights. The crowd just loved it, especially when the fights broke out. You should have seen them screaming for blood! Our Japanese guest had never seen a hockey game before, and she was amazed – especially at the level of violence and the fighting. Maybe Canadians keep too much pent up anger inside and when they get the chance to lash out they do so with great relish!
• I was filling up the van the other day and I noticed one of the back tires was a little low. I thought to myself that I should get some air in it soon. That night I was driving home and it was dark, windy, and rainy. In other words, not the best time to be out driving around. I made my way through a couple of intersections and as I was going up the big hill to our home I noticed a truck was riding right on my tail. He followed me up the hill the entire way and when I turned he also turned keeping very close to me. I pulled into our driveway and he stopped right behind me blocking the driveway. I thought to myself, “uh, oh, there’s going to be trouble.” I was particularly worried because I also had Matthew with me. The first thing I thought was, “did I cut him off or something?” and the second thought was “I wonder if this is going to be one of those road rage incidents – is he going to pull out a weapon and come after me?!” As I got out of the van I looked toward him. He rolled down the window and yelled, “Hey, I noticed your back left tire is kinda low – you better get some air in it!” This was the last thing I thought he was going to say! I wandered toward the back tire in stunned disbelief and mumbled, “Yeah, thanks.” And he waved and said, “You’re welcome,” and then drove off. I went back into the house with Matthew still shaking my head - amazed at his courtesy and my paranoia!
• In Canada, people work to live but in Japan people live to work. Canadians are so concerned about leading the perfect lifestyle over working at their jobs. In Japan your job is everything and you don’t think much about your life outside of work. Our Japanese guests are amazed how short the business hours are compared to business hours in Japan. We tell them Canadians only want to work for a limited amount of time because they really value their free time when they can do what they really want to do. Work is an interruption in their life. Life is what Canadians do outside of work.
• People are at the bottom of any Canadian’s list. Everyone I meet is complaining about how the people are flooding into the Okanagan and ruining the place. I agree to a point – the new housing developments can be an eyesore compared to the pretty streets in the older neighbourhoods – but it goes way beyond that. The fact is Canadians do not like people being too close to them and more people means more to complain about. When I was a kid my dad would take us camping in the central interior of BC. There were lakes after lakes after lakes and we would love to camp beside them. Of course, if someone else showed up and parked their camper way on the other side of the lake, well, this was just too much for my dad and he would make us pack up our things and move on to the next lake. I would ask him, “why are we moving to another lake after we finished unpacking everything? What's wrong with this place, it's nice!?” He would reply pointing across the lake, “they ruined it for us” like the people were contaminating the place. We would pack up everything, put it in the car, and then drive for an hour or so looking for another lake in the hope that we could have the entire lake to ourselves. When we did find another lake my dad would comment, "ah, this is better..."
• Canada is expensive, and the thousands of Canadians living in Japan can no longer bitch about how Japan is so expensive. There is now no real difference. Housing prices in the Okanagan are outrageous and only worse in Vancouver. The only real difference is the size of the houses (except in the larger Canadian cities). Gasoline is almost the same price. Our grocery bills are unbelievable. Health care is a lot cheaper here however - we pay about $110 per month for the kids and myself (BC Medical is still working on getting Atsuko into the system!) but in Japan we paid over $500 a month. A friend of mine from Toronto who has lived in Osaka over 15 years also agrees - Toronto prices equal Osaka prices. I never thought I would see the day...

October 28 - 31: Halloween in Penticton

We had a lot of fun celebrating our first Halloween. On October 28 we got all dressed up and went to the Halloween Pumpkin Patch Carnival put on by the Penticton Community Centre. The event was sold out way in advance (550 kids tickets were sold, not including the parents who tagged along), and the kids went all out with their Halloween costumes. Atsuko made some great homemade costumes for the kids. Angela was a cat and Matthew was the grim reaper. There were games and food galore, including a very cool haunted house which scared us half to death! The following day we carved the Halloween pumpkins and I roasted the pumpkin seeds in the oven (overcooked but they still tasted great). On Halloween eve we left our home about 6:00pm and ventured out into the night. I was dying to get dressed up but as usual I was disorganized and missed my chance - maybe next year. We started trick or treating along our street, and then slowly made our way toward the other houses bordering Columbia Elementary School. I was so impressed with some of the decorated houses. One house on our street put a coffin in their front yard and as you got close the coffin lid lifted up and a ghoul sat up and howled at you! Another house had their entire front yard decorated as a graveyard and some of the graves were truly terrifying (Angela refused to go to this house but Matthew put on a brave face and took a quick run up to the front door). The highlight was a haunted house set up outside of a house. There was smoke coming out of the house and as you went in a man dressed in back came out at you from the corner and scared you silly. We trick or treated until 7:30 and returned home all tuckered out. In total we had about 70 trick or treaters at our house which really surprised me. When I was living in Japan I was under the impression Halloween was a dead tradition (pardon the pun) but, no, it is certainly alive and well, at least in Penticton.

Pumpkin Patch Halloween Party

Pumpkin Carving at the Patrick Home

Halloween Eve in Penticton

Halloween Eve in Penticton

Halloween Eve in Penticton

It has been a very busy summer and fall so we decided to take our first family vacation. We visited my sister and brother in law who are building a house on the beach in Powell River. The location is fantastic - right on the waterfront facing Texada Island (an island located between the BC mainland and Vancouver Island). It was a very long drive from Penticton to Powell River which includes 2 ferry boat rides. We left Penticton about 9:00am and arrived in Powell River around 7:00pm. The weather was terrific for the first few days but then the clouds rolled in and it rained on us for the remainder of our trip. Despite the rain, we had a great time soaking up the natural beauty of the west coast. After Powell River we decided to take the ferry across to Vancouver Island and drive down to Victoria. We checked into a B&B in Victoria and that night we had dinner with Alistair and Junko Hicks and their 2 lovely daughters who moved to Victoria 3 years ago. I've known Ali for years in Osaka, and we promised to keep in close touch. Everyone fell in love with Victoria - what a gorgeous city!! I was amazed how much the city has grown though (now at 330,000 and expanding fast) and I did not recognize the downtown area and my old alma mater the University of Victoria. Victoria is no longer the sleepy provincial town I once knew but a hustling and bustling Canadian city. Believe it or not, there is now a rush hour in Victoria and we were stuck in traffic as we made our way out of the city! Our return to Penticton was a real adventure. We did some last minute souvenir shopping along Government Street and at ujiya to pick up some much-needed Japanese food and cooking ingredients. I then discovered my right headlight was burned out so it was off to Canadian Tire to get it repaired. We just missed the 12:00 noon ferry and had to wait for the 1:00pm ferry ride to Vancouver. We arrived at the Tsawwassen ferry terminal at 2:30pm but on our way to the Trans-Canada Highway we got twisted around and then lost! We got stuck in Vancouver rush hour traffic and finally made it out of the city and on to the freeway at 5:00pm. By the time we got to the Fraser Valley it was pitch black and pouring with rain. After much debate (a polite word for "fighting with Atsuko") we decided to pull off the road at Chilliwack, check in to the Best Western, and spend the night. It was the smart thing to do. It was raining cats and dogs and we were hydroplaning along the freeway while huge trucks were screaming past us. When I parked at the Best Western I had to pry my fingers off the wheel as they were clenched tight from the nerve-wracking drive out of the city. The next day we had a terrific breakfast and slowly made our way back to the Okanagan.

Powell River Visit

Powell River Visit

Powell River Visit

Views of the log cabins at Paradise Lake