BC Wine School

A couple nights ago, I went for a little wine tasting. Along with the few sessions that I went with my cousins on our family cruise, this would make it my fourth session this week. But anyway, back to BC Wine School.

We got to sample 15 different wines from all over the globe. Before this session, I had told a few people about my experience at my previous wine tasting session on the cruise ship. We sampled 12 different wines that time also from all around the world. My cousins and I concluded that we learned we all enjoyed the same local wines from North America. It generally has more aroma and flavour, compared to the European wines that tend to seem more watery and flat. We agreed that it must be due to the reason that we've all just grown adapted and used to what we normally drink.

After sampling the 15 different wines this time, it was very apparent that my observation from the previous session stayed consistent. The local wines (from BC, from California, etc) tend to have more flavour and notes, while the European wines (from Germany, Italy, France, Spain, etc) tend to be more flat and watery. But, on top of that, we learned that there is a reason. The European wines (also called the "Old World" wines) are meant to be paired with food. Its relatively flat and watery characteristic matches its purpose, which is to compliment the food you're eating, but not overpower it. Having too many flavours going on at one time, will take away your enjoyment of the food you're eating. Whereas the wines from everywhere else other than Europe (also called the "New World" wines) tend to be more aromatic and flavourful because it's meant to be sipped on its own. A drinking wine.

I've been to other wine tastings in the city, and while some friends enjoyed the other sessions more (because they're more educational than just simply wine tasting), I actually preferred this session more. I personally liked it because it seemed less "stuffy". I found the instructor's descriptions of some of the wines rather amusing.

"Can you taste the pencil sharpening in this wine?". (describing the woody, oaky flavour)

"This wine was only half oaked. So it's less like you're sucking on a two-by-four." (also describing the woody, oaky flavour).

"So... if you must get a present for someone you don't really like, this wine might be it." (describing a so-so mediocre wine that probably won't offend anyone).

I enjoy the educational part behind these sessions, but in the end, to me anyway, if you like the wine, you like the wine. Everyone will have different taste and preferences. One wine isn't better than another to me... someone could enjoy a $10 bottle of wine just as much as someone else enjoying a $400 bottle of wine. And that's great either way.

I was told that beginner wine drinkers tend to go on the sweeter side first, and as they grow to learn about wines, most people will switch to dryer wines. This may be true, however, I don't believe this defines one as a beginner or experienced wine drinker. I'm skeptical to believe anything in the wine world... other than the fact that if you like it, you'll drink it.

I prefer wine (over beer and hard liquor) because I do enjoy the taste. Actually, I take that back... I sometimes can enjoy a beer just as much minus the carbonation. On a warm, summer day... I'll go for a glass of white wine or a pint of beer on a patio without hesitation. I still prefer my local wines and depending on what I feel like, I could go dry or sweet (like a riesling or moscato and not an ice wine).

Overall, it was a fun, enjoyable night to unwind after a day's work.

Marian and Justin's Wedding - The Photos

 

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Aloo Gobi

I love myself a bit of Indian spices now and then. When tasty spices compliment each other, I just can't help myself with more heapings of it. (It could be Thai, Malaysian, Chinese, Indian... you name it). At Indian Food Night, I made an Aloo Gobi dish that I found super easy to make, and I felt like duplicating it at home.

Aloo gobi is a dry Indian, Nepali and Pakistani cuisine dish made with potatoes (aloo), cauliflower (gob(h)i) and Indian spices. (Source : Wikipedia).

I've been baking a lot because it's mindless and quick in terms of having ingredients and recipes readily available. But, when it comes to the kitchen, my passion goes to cooking. I love it. I love it. I love it. This aloo gobi tasted mighty good if I can say so myself.

I Was Away

From August 5th to August 12th, I was away. I enjoyed a week-long Alaskan cruise with my extended family from my dad's side. Most of them live in the Bay Area in California, and we don't really get to see each other a whole lot. So, one of my cousins organized this entire family reunion, and we enjoyed a beautiful trip together and brought home a crapload of wonderful memories.

While I go through my 1000+ photos, I'll post up some older posts from before the trip in the meantime.

Just sayin'... I am back.

The Wan's

Ahh... Geoffrey. (I never call him that).

I met Geoff when I was 14. Him 16. I may have told this story before, but this is my blog, so I'll tell it again. We went to different highschools. Had different friends. How we met was a little peculiar (for those times anyway). At that time in age, internet was pretty new. (Gosh, are we old?). And between highschools, there was a bulletin board system, which is essentially a network that you can use dial-up modems to connect to. It connected some of the highschools in our city into a common chatroom. The purpose of this network was for school and homework help. Obviously, for curious teenagers, it was more of a place to meet strangers from different schools. In these golden years, it was much more safe to do so but definitely a no-no with parents. We chatted online and decided to meet in person one day at the Oakridge Library. I'm laughing inside thinking back on how that went...

Anyway, we hung out now and then. I met some of his friends, and he met mine. Some of the people in my life now are friends I met through connections through him. I made it to some of his live gigs when he was part of a band. He played the guitar for me on my 16th birthday. I watched him go through his break-up with his highschool sweetheart and met all his girlfriends after the first. He was always so eager for me to meet them. Meanwhile, he watched me go through a sour relationship with one of his friends. Through the years, he wrote me lengthy letters and Christmas cards. And right before he left of Australia for dental school, he made me a CD of songs he played. I remember I cried.

Fast foward 16 years, and here we are now. Adults. Geoff is married now. And honestly, I cannot imagine anyone else more perfect for him than his wife, Kia. They live in Australia now, meaning meeting up or hanging out has become a once-a-year event. This year, on a balmy, summer evening, we met up at Sandbar in Granville Island and enjoyed a wonderful dinner together. I yakked off a storm with Kia ... and I gotta say, I was never able to do that with any of his past girlfriends. Needless to say, I love them both.

I made a huge deal about where we should eat and Shum didn't get it. \

"Kia wants mussels and beer, so we can go to Sandbar, but should we go to Granville Island?".

Shum : "Why not? They seem pretty easy going."

Me : "Sandbar's pretty good, right? Should we go to Granville Island?".

Shum : "I don't get it. Why not? Let's go."

I finally admitted. "They are easy going. But I know Geoff's going to say he's okay with wherever we go... but I know he hates Granville Island."

We ended up eating there anyway, because my fickleness was becoming even more annoying than Granville Island ever will be. After dinner, Geoff says, "Good choice for dinner. Good food. Great view. A pretty good place here. Even though ugghmm.... ".

Me : ".... Even though you hate Granville Island?".

"Yah."

Kia adds, "You know he hates Granville Island! I love this place, and I can never get him to come. But that is Geoff. He'll whine and complain about doing something he doesn't want to do and say he's doing it just because I want to, but after he's done it, he surprises himself by really enjoying it."

Even though our meet-ups have become far and few, it's good to know that I still remember a thing or two. Friends for life... it's totally gonna happen.

Making A Difference

We all somehow want to make a difference. Some people do it through volunteer work. Others do it through charity. There are an incredible amount of ways to make a difference.

Remember my smoking cessation post?

She came back several days later and told me she's been keeping her promise of fifteen cigarettes a day. She was beaming. So proud of herself.

We don't know how long this gleam of hope will last. Could be days. Months. Years. Forever. But if it's even for a moment, I'm pretty proud to say that I had something to do with it.

If you just think... if you could successfully get her to quit smoking some time down the road, and perhaps as a result of it buy her some more time in life to spend extra time with her family or even just to do more of what she loves to do... how great would you feel?

I may not be the one to find a cure to cancer. Or be one to create a movement towards world peace. But if I could just make a small speck of a difference in someone's life... I think that's pretty cool already.

*****

I'm taking off on a happy note.

As I'm leaving town and leaving my electronics behind, I won't be blogging much. But rest assure, in a less macho way than the Terminator...I'll be back.

From Vancouver To New West And Back

When finally a day worked out for some of us to get together to do some cycling, the weather hits a high of 30C. I went out in the backyard to cut out some herbs from my garden in the afternoon, and beads of sweat started rolling down my face after a mere ten minutes. I could feel the heat on every inch of my exposed skin, and I wondered how my first long bike ride would fair.

I made a quick text, "Good idea to ride in this heat?".

Got a reply back, "We'll be fine."

So, with the reassurance, I was pumped and ready. All you have to be is prepared. Sunscreen. Fluids. And willingness. I threw my bike into the car and drove it to meet up with my friends.

I gotta say... there is no one better than Ray to start your cycling journey with. He was a teacher, a coach, a motivator, and a tour guide. He knows all the routes in the city pretty well (as he rides everyday), so he picked what he thought was best for a beginner like me. It was relatively flat. (Yeah, relatively doesn't mean completely). Made us do some warm-up riding before we hit our route, then we were off.

He lead the way since none of us knew where we were going. Yet, would fall behind to make sure that each and every one of us were hanging in there. Made appropriate water breaks. Gave us enough heads up for what was coming ahead (hills, gravel, cars and potholes), and was a great motivator when we didn't believe we could (telling us we can totally do it workin' up a hill). And on top of all that, he gave us random knowledge and facts about the places we rode by. All the positivity and encouragement and fun facts made the ride pretty awesome.

Little did I know... we ended up cycling 27km in 2 hours 35 minutes with three two-minute water break and a five-minute water break halfway. Now, since I probably haven't been on a bike since I was in highschool  (renting a bike to go around Stanley Park), it was one good feat for me.

I honestly was looking for something far more leisure for my first ride. Cruising pace. One hour tops. But it wasn't and I'm glad. When I saw a steeper hill come up and I was already tiring out, I felt a loom of dread over me as I approached it. Shifting down to a low gear helped, but it was still quite a trek. One thing I learn is, there is also another "gear" inside of me to shift. It's really all mental. Switching my "oh gosh, this is tough. am I gonna make it?" thoughts and channeling it like I did running, it instantly gets so much easier. "How did you run... remember how you did it... just find a rhythm and keep at it and you'll make it. At least when you're running, this pounding goes on forever until you stop. But with cycling, you just gotta make it to the top of this hill, and then you're gonna cruise."

So I didn't stop.

The only one time that I had to stop and get off my bike was when I somehow slipped on gravel. Didn't even see it coming. One second I was riding, the next second, my bike was no longer vertical. I managed to jump off before an actual fall. And all was good.

It was great seeing Sharon again. I haven't seen her in years. We met through dragonboating, and then went on an Asia trip together afterwards. Kept in touch through facebook. And years later, we're now cycling. It felt like I had just seen her last week at dragonboat practice. Some people you share great memories with seems to always have a place in you. It isn't just Sharon. Unexpectedly, I've got to hang out with some of the old dragonboat crew lately... just seeing them again brings back such a great feeling of comfort.

Ahh, this is definitely a brain fart post. Just one of those posts you randomly read again in the future and think... this totally makes me happy. Soaking in sunscreen and sweat in 30C weather sportin' a funky sunglasses tan. My kind of day.