wine country
Okanagan highlights and even more zucchini
It looks as though we picked the perfect time to go out of town— from what I heard, the weather at home last weekend was muggy and alternately overcast and windy or rainy. Conversely, in Penticton and the Similkameen Valley we saw consistent sun and the thermostat showed 25°C at 9 in the morning, 31° in the afternoon. The drive up the Crowsnest Highway (BC’s most metal highway name) was as beautiful as I remembered, I destroyed my mouth eating Miss Vickies salt and vinegar chips in the car as usual, but the wine tasting aspect of the journey has changed a lot.
Places we’d been to many times without being charged for tastings, or that had tasting fees which were waived with bottle purchase, were suddenly charging $5-10 per person, non-refundable. One place was charging $25 for a tasting of 5 wines! I understand the effect the pandemic has had on the food and beverage industry, but it did make the relaxed and friendly nature of past trips feel impossible. However, it meant we bought less wine, because we were inclined to skip tastings at more places in favour of just buying a bottle (rather than trying the wines and feeling unable to leave without 2 or 3 different bottles). And despite the fees we still had lovely experiences at quite a few places— if you’re visiting the Okanagan and would like some recommendations, feel free to send me a message.
We stayed at a roadside motel near the lake in Penticton; I always feel nostalgic staying at motor inns built in the 60s and 70s, because these types of places were where my family would always stay on road trips, too. This place in particular is one Jeff and I have stayed at before and really like because it has a kitchenette, so we can make breakfast. We picked up eggs and bacon and English muffins for sandwiches, and I brought ground coffee along with my Aeropress from home. There is something so luxurious about drinking a cup of coffee in your underwear in an unfamiliar room, listening to the sounds of other people coming and going while knowing you have a day of pure enjoyment and almost no responsibilities ahead of you.
For dinners, we went to a couple of the local breweries, because for some reason there is nothing more refreshing than a beer after a day of wine. We visit Bad Tattoo almost every time we’re in Penticton because of their wide variety of beers and the fact that their inventive wood oven pizza menu has vegan, vegetarian, and gluten-free options so everyone in our usually much larger group of travellers can find something. The donair pizza was incredible, though I have to admit I somewhat regret not also trying the dill pickle pizza. And I love that one of their staple beers is a cerveza negra, a type I love that you don’t see made here too often.
The next night we went to Neighbourhood Brewing, which we learned is a sister brewery to Yellow Dog in Port Moody. The food there is a mix of Tex-Mex and more traditional Mexican-style tacos, with some more unique options (just ignore the ridiculous names). I couldn’t resist trying the shrimp taco which featured prawns breaded with Takis Fuego, topped with pear salsa. All three tacos I tried were great, and overall my favourite was the street corn and refried black bean— why mess with a classic? They also bring to the table 4 sauces of various spice levels which were all differently good, but I liked the habañero pineapple hot sauce the best.
It was still fairly early when we finished so we walked a couple blocks over to Slackwater for a final round; I’d tried some of their beers in cans at home and was interested to see some of their taproom-only options. The vibe there is more dive-y than either of the two previous breweries, which was appealing at that time of the evening. We were surprised and at first put out to find there was live music, but after being seated we ended up really enjoying the tunes: a solo blues guitarist whose drum machine and loop station made the sound full and lively for a Saturday night. And I really enjoyed the single-hop IPA I tried, too.
We arrived home in the early evening on Sunday, eating leftover sandwich halves out of the cooler for dinner, too late to be bothered going to the grocery store after such a long drive. So when I came home on Monday and found that two small zucchini were the only real produce items in the drawer, I was thankful to be reminded of the Smitten Kitchen zucchini butter pasta. Shredded zucchini is cooked to an almost pesto-like consistency in butter with chili flakes and garlic, then made into a sauce with the addition of parmesan and pasta water. The amount of zucchini I had was only about half the suggested weight in the recipe, so I chopped up some kalamata olives to fill out the sauce a little more, adding them in the last few minutes before the pasta water and noodles. This was stupidly delicious and absolutely no hassle to make, so I can see why it’s so popular.
I had half a brick of tofu to use, and knew I would probably end up frying it until crispy and tossing it in some kind of sauce for a rice bowl, as I’ve been doing about once a week for the past month or so. Something low-effort was appealing so I settled on sweet chili sauce, of which we have a Costco-sized bottle in the fridge. I added a little gochujang for extra heat and some miso paste and rice vinegar for balance. While the tofu fried, Jeff grilled some slices of eggplant, and then we tossed everything in the sauce, with radishes and cilantro from the garden on top for garnish.
Sweet chili sauce is supremely satisfying to eat, and making it a little spicier and saltier only adds to that. The char from the grill was great here, but you could get a similar effect from roasting in the oven at a temperature above 400°, assuming it’s not too hot to turn on the oven where you are. You can also make tofu crispy in the oven if you aren’t in the mood for frying; it’s not exactly the same texture-wise (frying is truly a unique beast) but this method works pretty well.
More things in our garden are finally starting to be ready to eat, which is exciting— it feels much later than last year thanks to our overly cold and dreary spring. We dug up the first few Warba potatoes and roasted them with rosemary to eat on the side of BLTs, made with fresh sourdough (I have been neglecting my starters the past couple weeks but I’m back now). We planted six seed potatoes and there are now dozens growing in the planter bin, so I’ll report back with what else we make as we start to dig up more.
I also filled a 4-cup container in about 10 minutes of picking black raspberries off the bush, and there are still lots more. I’ve been putting some in my yogurt at breakfast, and I also made these crumb bars again— I made them last year when the berries were ripe, and they’re delicious. The crumb part of the recipe comes together quickly in the food processor, and the rest is just assembly. These are easy to make vegan; just use olive oil or a vegan butter (you’ll need to refrigerate before cutting in this case). I love that they’re sweet enough to feel like a treat, but not so sweet you can’t enjoy one with your morning cup of coffee if you so choose.
Thanks for reading— if you enjoyed this newsletter, please smash that like button below, or share it with someone new! I like providing this to you for free, but it does still involve time and effort, so donations I can use towards cookbooks or future treats are much appreciated. Finally, I will not be talking about the pink sauce because I wish I did not know about it, and hope to spare you my fate. Instead here’s a reminder that you can listen to the playlist I made for this road trip here.