Food Tour of Canada

Vancouver

Here is a short food tour of Canada. I'm sorry that I didn't start taking pictures of food sooner because ate some great stuff. We didn't want to eat out all the time and this night we were tired. We bought wine, cheese, fruit, bread and a dessert at Granville Island Marketplace and had a simple dinner in our room with the Choys. We followed it up with a game of deminishing bridge. This meal was actually quite good. I highly recommend the Granville Island market. It was amazing.

Our last night in Vancouver, we meet Bruce and Anita for dinner. Bruce was an RA in the dorm with me. Later he followed Chet as the assistant head resident. So, we go back a long way. The last time I was in Vancouver (over 30 years ago) was for Bruce and Anita's wedding. Dinner was great and the visit was wonderful. Now Bruce and Anita have to come visit us.
Rocky Moutaineer Train


Here are Paula and Chet eating their breakfast. All of the meals on the train were really amazing. We ate in a dining car with white table clothes and had lots to choose from. One of my favorites was eggs benedict.

Here is the first course fruit plate for breakfast. The light brown thing is a goose berry. The berry is orange in color and makes for an interesting presentation.

This is the eggs benedict. Yum!

Here are two of the desserts served on the train. I think this one is chocolate mousse in a chocolate cup and a raspberry tart. Now how could that be bad. Often Don decided not to eat the dessert and I was forced to eat two. It was a sacrifice that I was willing to make. Maybe that is what makes for such a strong marriage after 36 years.

Each of these plates serve two people. This was a fruit tartlet on the outside with a light cake in the center. The plate was dotted with raspberry sauce. Nice presentation! Oh, the taste was to die for.

Can you believe that I only took one picture of an entrée? They were all outstanding. I was just too busy eating. This was the salmon. They brought us wine with dinner and lunch. They actually offered us wine before breakfast. I decided that I shouldn't have wine that early, so I got bailey's irish cream. That was a lot more sensible.

Canmore

Here are three dishes that we had at The Wood in Canmore. This is a town next to Banff where we stayed in a condo. The condo was great because it was brand new. We may have been the first people to stay in the unit we had.

These dishes are butternut squash Ravioli, salmon and ribs. They were great. I was glad that we moved from outdoors to inside before they served our meal because by the time our meal came, it was pouring outside. It pays to travel with a Meteorologist.

Banff

This was good chinese food. The most significant part of it was that we took the gondola to the top of the moutain. The view from this place was amazing. We looked down on all of Banff, the famous Banff Fairmont Hotel and the Bow River winding through town. I'll be posting those pictures later. This is just our food tour.

Canmore

Here we are again in Canmore at my favorite restaurant, The Bistro. Their food was the best we had on the trip. The dishes are Pork Roast, Cassoulet and Salmon. Not only was the presentation wonderful, but they were all cooked perfectly. This restaurant wasn't very busy and it should have been. It was a great place at a reasonable price. So, if you ever get to Alberta, I recommend The Bistro. Oh, then there was dessert. We split two desserts. The chocolate mousse was excellent, but the vanilla and chocolate cream brulee was even better.

Lake Louise

I wouldn't be right unless I included a basic pizza. We had this at the Lake Louise Inn. Even though it only looks like just a pizza, it was really good. The crust was crusty on the outside and soft on the inside. This pizza was carmelized onions, mushrooms and pesto. As you can see, I forgot to take a picture until after we started to devour it.

If anyone is going to British Columbia or Alberta I hope you enjoy some of the same food that we did. Now I have to diet because I managed to collect a couple of extra pounds, but it was worth it.

Happy Birthday (93) Mom

Happy Birthday Mom!!!

My mother is 93 years old today. Can you believe it? Doesn't she look great. These pictures weren't taken today because I couldn't be in Southern California today, but they were taken in the last two years.


This was a fun picture of Laurel taken with her about a year ago.
Here is a picture of my mother with all of her surviving children. We were that traditional 1950's family growing up. Missing from this picture (and we miss them a lot) are my dad and my two sister's Linda and Nancy. They are currently in heaven tending to the Lord's business.

Lovebug Newell Shower

I went to a baby shower for Karmina today. This is a picture of Karmina and Helen (my best friend). Don't they look great!Here is the quilt that Helen struggled to complete in time for the shower. She did a great job and her first granddaughter is going to love it.

Butfest 2008 (Halibut that is!)

2008 is an amazing year for Halibut. It seems like we always have more than we need. This years fishing was great. The fisherman this year were Don, Steve, Ron, Uncle Fred (Jess's uncles from Virginia) and Greg. Here are a few pictures from the butfest including the 34 lbs halibut caught by Steve. This was the biggest halibut of the trip. I might mention that on the first day of fishing Uncle Fred caught the first and the largest fish. He is a seasoned fishman.

While the guys were fishing on Friday, Aunt Kathy and I went to SF and did the a great tour. We saw fisherman's wharf, pier 39, ghiradelli square, marina green, presideo, palace of fine arts, golden gate bridge and tiburon. We then came home and had dinner with the guys. It was a fun and busy day.

Here is a picture of the happy fisherman. Some are happier than others.

The 34 lb. halibut and the happy fisherman Steve

Here is Greg wishing that this was his fish!

The first day slaughter

This was the fish feast. We actually had halibut and blue fin tuna (previously caught).

Here is the setting sun with the smoke filled sky. Too many fires in California, but it makes a nice picture.

Amazing Evening on San Francisco Bay

The weather in the Bay Area has been way too hot for me. So, two days in a row, we headed out to the bay seeking cool air and it was wonderful. On top of that we were with our good friends Helen and Ben and David and Lakshmi.This shot was taken as we were leaving Richmond. David, Lakshmi and Ben were enjoying the breeze.
Here we are: the three long time friends and walkers. We tried to walk today, but it was way too hot. It looks nice here.


Speaking of looking nice. It was a spare the air day today, but the GG Bridge looks like the air is pretty nice.

Check out this sunset on the way home. It was beautiful.


Here are pictures of the three couple. Friends for life!

Here is David talking to the seagull that was following our boat. A short while before this David was hardly talking. He likes to keep his eye on the horizon. He's much more fun when the boat is moving.
I almost always want to post pictures with people in them, but this was just too beautiful. Thanks to Captain DB, we had an amazing cruise on the Bay.

A perfect evening on the Bay

What a picture perfect evening on San Francisco Bay. Eric called yesterday and asked if we could take some of his friend from out of town, out on the bay. Who would have guessed that the weather would be in the 80's? On top of that Don had a young man on the boat that loved to fish. He caught his first halibut. It was a keeper at 24 inches. Not bad for one cast.
Oh, did I mention that I enjoyed taking pictures. Another day in the life of Carol and DB




Now this is a happy fisherman!

Surprise 40th Anniversary

My best friend Helen and her husband Ben were blown away last night when their daughter Karmi, who is 7 months pregnant with their first granddaughter, surprised them with a wonderful bay view dinner. They didn't have a clue that their closest friends would be there to celebrate with them. 40 years is something to celebrate!
Here is Helen being greeted by our dear friend Lakshmi who lives in Utah (now that was a big surprise).

This is long time friend Irene and her husband Marsh being greeted.

This is an important picture. Ben is explaining how simple a wedding they had. Ben claims the church did everything and it cost almost nothing. Helen was rolling her eyes and was thinking "It was simple for Ben, but not for me." Oh...... The memories!
Here we are. What a great evening. Happy Anniversary Helen and Ben

San Francisco Walk - Eureka Valley

I took another Stairway walk in San Francisco. These are my friends Jeanie, Marianna and Helen. That could almost be a European hillside city in the background. But it isn't. It's right across the bay from my house.

There were lots of stairs and some slopes on this walk. Jeanie did survive the walk even though she wore very cute, but not practical walking sandals.
At one point we had a great view of downtown SF. I took a lot of pictures with my very big new camera lense. I don't think I will take it on too many more walks, but it was fun to play with. Helen just got back from Paris and she still had the energy to join us for the walk. We concluded the walk with a great little french restaurant on 24th Street.