October 2014 - Changing Seasons

It has been awhile since I posted on this blog.  I have had a very busy fall and am looking forward to getting away on Nov 30^th to meet Karen in Mexico.

I haven’t written anything since the end of September so here I go.

My baby Reeeebaaaa turned 22 on October 1^st.  She has turned into a lovely young lady.  

Archie's new fireplace

Then on Friday, Karen and I were invited out to Archie and Cheryl’s “Gun Club”. 

Yummy food

Now let me explain the “Gun Club” to you.  The Dunnville Gun Club went out of business and put up their land and club house for sale.  Archie and Cheryl decided to purchase it and make it the ultimate Man Cave.  They host parties there (Canada Day 150 guests etc) and dinner parties there.  We went with two other couples and had a blast eating great foods, drinking wonderful wines (including Archie’s home made wine) and had lots of laughs.  I encouraged Archie to enter his wine into a contest.  I think he will do well.

Since we were in Dunnville, we stayed at the trailer for the weekend.  The next day I went Kayaking on the Grand River and have really fallen in love with this activity.

Geoff explaining the process

On the 8^th I went to Dillon’s Small Batch Distillery.  There I met with Geoff Dillon and he showed us process, equipment and let us taste some products.  They do an amazing job there and I was very impressed.  Geoff will be helping us get the Distillery program up and running at Niagara College.

The new arena opened up in St. Catharines and WOW what a beautiful arena. 

Both Karen and I were quite impressed with it.  It looks like the downtown area of St. Catharines is finally starting to be something.  

The next weekend was Thanksgiving weekend and we had been invited to a wedding in Perth Ontario.  Jamie Brown was finally marrying Wendy and we were thrilled for them.  Our annual Trailer Thanksgiving was canceled so we could attend the wedding.  The family was upset about this (the weather sucked anyways) but we ensured everyone that we will do it next year.  Karen and I went to Nancy and Ron’s for Thanksgiving dinner on the Saturday night.  Sunday morning we left for Perth and the wedding.  The wedding was beautiful and Perth is a gorgeous town.  

 Harvest has finally started at the teaching winery. 

This harvest is very challenging with the weather for spring, summer and fall all sucking.  Never the less, harvest has begun and we will take what we get.  Actually the whites and the pinots are not bad.  The bigger style reds are a bit green.

 

October 16^th was the Ontario Craft Brewers Conference held in Toronto.  What a great conference.  This industry is really growing by leaps and bounds. 

Then the weekend came and the weather was again damn awful.  Karen and I decided not to go to the trailer because of the weather. 

So instead we got a chance to go watch Sirena take skating lessons.  She is growing up fast and it is absolutely amazing what Karen and I have experienced being so closely part of her life. 

a very proud skater

Getting the hang of it

Paul and Calvin with Karen

While we were at skating lessons Bruce phoned us and said he had tickets to the Buffalo Sabres game that night.  Damn we had fun.  Bruce and I were of course misbehaving and Karen and Gubby just laughed at us.  Boston beat the sabres to Bruce’s delight.  At the game we also ran into Paul Goodman and his son Calvin.  These are good guys.  After the game we went to a little neighbourhood bar that Bruce knew about and ordered beers, chicken wings and pizza.  OMG there was so much food we couldn’t even eat half of it.  And damn it was might tasty. 

October 20^th I was a presenter at Taste Canada, the Country’s cookbook awards.  I have been a presenter and sponsor now for 7 years.  Great event and very important people involved from a food and beverage perspective in Canada.  I really enjoy this event.  That day Alicia and I went to Toronto for the awards and we dropped in to see Rebecca at her work.  She was off sick that day and so I talked to her on the phone.  Rob joined us for lunch and the off Alicia and I went to the awards.

Later that week, on the weekend, Karen and I drove up to the trailer to shut it down for the winter.  This is always a sad time of year.  We just caught up with Olive and Gil and had a drink with them and gave them a present for looking after our place so well during the summer.  This year with the activities and weather that we have had it was difficult to use the trailer as much as we wanted.  While we were at the trailer Karen realized that she forgot out cheque book and that I would have to make another trip up to pay our dues.

Well this week Karen was called to court by her old boss.  I have no idea why he would do that since Karen can only hurt his case.  He has bullied everyone and is so stubborn that he thinks he is always right.  Karen didn't get called up yet (will on Dec 15^th) and the proceedings are like out of a three stooges show.  Very laughable.

Well that’s October for now.  I still have to catch up November.

September has been busy

Back on to this blog after almost 3 weeks.  Man this month has been busy.

Where do I start?

Busy Crowd

The start of the school year went actually quite smooth.  We have finally got a good team in place with the wine and beer areas. 

First weekend of September was the Niagara Food Festival.



I went there on the Friday night to see it all set up and running smooth.  Had a couple of drinks with Dorita and her husband, Craig and the Olsons. 

I noticed a storm coming in on my app MyRadar and it looked like a doozy.  As I was walking to my car Craig texted me to stop in at the Olson's house for a small impromptu party.  Well after trying to figure out how to get to there home (lots of road closures in Welland) I arrived and knew most of the people there.  Michael was grilling steak, grilling bread then putting tomatoe puree on it with thick slices of smoked bacon.   Damn it was good.  He also had some very cool craft beers.    The coolest was Fucking Hell. 

Fucking Hell is a German Pilsner or pale lager. It is named after the village of Fucking in Austria. It is brewed by the Waldhaus Brewery located in the Black Forest.  The beer's name (which also plays on hell, the German word for 'pale' and a typical description of this kind of beer) was initially controversial. Both the local authorities in Fucking and the European Union's Trade Marks and Designs Registration Office initially objected to the name. It was eventually accepted and the lager is now sold internationally.

During the next week we had loads of activity happening.

On the Monday, students picked Chardonnay grapes for our Sparkling Wine Project.  The grapes came in real clean and looks like a great year for sparkling.  It was a sunny and warm day and I think the students had a blast. 

Later that week Ron G. organized a “Grape Stomp”.  Again the students had a good time pressing the grapes the old fashion way.  The bees were all over the place and it was again warm out and sunny. 

Getting the juice

The same week the teaching brewery released a new growler.  A growler is a glass or ceramic jug used to transport draft beer.  They are commonly sold at breweries and brewpubs as a means to sell take-out craft beer.   Growlers are generally made of glass and have either a screw-on cap or a hinged porcelain gasket cap, which can provide freshness for a week or more.

I went golfing in a tournament at Peninsula Lakes with Bruce, Tony and Norm.  On the way to the game it was raining CATS AND DOGS.  I was wondering to myself, holy shit what am I doing here?  We then got lucky.  It stopped raining 10 minutes before we teed off.  Thank god it stopped raining because it would have been an awful day if it kept up.  I golfed like shit and Bruce won the day. 

That night I met Karen at Peter’s house because Peter T. was throwing a 60^th birthday party for his partner Peter R.   His big present of the night was a wood fired pizza oven.  WOW what a cool gift.

A couple of hotties staying warm

Peter T’s backyard is so beautiful (it has been featured in the Toronto Star) and he even has an outdoor gas fireplace.  Karen and Shelley hogged the fireplace most of the evening. 

A few days later Karen got ready for a whirlwind trip to Turks and Cacos, Granada and Bahamas.  She had a great time even with her 14 hour delay at the Rochester airport to leave.  On one day she had breakfast in Turks and Cacos, lunch in Granada and dinner in the Bahamas.  WOW she has some cool business trips.

Well the time has come for the start of the Niagara Wine Festival.  I attended the announcement of the new Grape King (Kevin Buis) at Peller Estates Winery.  Apparently you could see me drinking wine on the news that night.

Crowd to see Rick Hansen

The next day I attended the kickoff luncheon for the festival at Club Roma.   Always a sold out affair (about 300 people) and the guest speaker this year was Rick Hansen.  Rick did a speech that was the most inspiring thing that I have ever heard.  He is truly a Canadian Hero.

On the Friday night I attended the RBC awards.  These awards recognise different people and wineries for their contributions.  I was happy to see that John Potts got an award for his dedication to the wine festival.  He is a good man.

Later that night I went to Peter Secord’s home for a fund raising event to raise money for his run at mayor of St. Catharines.  Peter’s good friend was there as well, Bruce Croxon.  Bruce is a Dragon from TV’s Dragon Den and a very successful entrepreneur.  He is also a nice guy and I had the chance to chat with him that evening.  I wish I had gotten a picture with him though. 

That night Karen went to see Enrique Iglesias in concert in Toronto.  She went with her friend Terri Lynn Crawsley (TLC) and they spent the night in a hotel close to the Air Canada Centre.  She also saw Pit Bull and had an absolute blast.

The next day I went over the river to replace shoes that my lovely evil dog Lucifer ate.  When I got back I went to the park to check things out.  Karen showed up there and the rest is history.  Around 9pm we both staggered to my sister Nancy’s house and a couple of more drinks with Ron and her and then Nancy drove us home.   Reminds me of a day in Mexico when Karen and I drank tequila together.  Hmmmmmm.

"Happy" Couple

Next morning Dustin drove us to get our cars and I went golfing at Royal Niagara with Bruce.  Again I golfed like shit.  (have some great holes and then fall apart on others).  I have decided that I have to get out more and golf. 

Well that is it for now.  Been busy and fun.  Let us see what the fall has in store for us.