Back on to this blog after almost 3 weeks. Man this month has been busy.
Where do I start?
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| 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.
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| 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
60th birthday party for his partner Peter R. His big present of the night was a wood fired
pizza oven. WOW what a cool gift.
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| 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.
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| 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.
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| "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.
