From the monthly archives:

July 2008

Road Trip to Kelowna – Cedar Creek Estate Winery

by KimHo on July 28, 2008 · 2 comments under: British Columbia,Photo Essay,Travel

This entry is based on my trip to Kelowna on mid June 2008. My other entries on this trip includes:

Road Trip to Kelowna – Highway 3
Road Trip to Kelowna – Downton Kelowna
Road Trip to Kelowna – Quails’ Gate Winery and Mission Hill Winery

Out of the 10 or so wineries I visited, this is among the top three. No, it was not only the wine (again, too many reds to my liking), the tour (our host was really informative) or the scenery (which was great). It was the combination of all of them and a charm of its own. Now, it was cloudy that day but, managed to get some shots. Comments appreciated!

I might be overstating the obvious here but, you might have seen a lot of flowers in the pictures I have taken. The reason roses are planted near the vines is because they tend to “attack” them first rather than the vines. That way, they know how to react against them.


According to our host, the winery is sometimes used to host weddings/wedding receptions.


According to our host, the grapes were behind schedule. If memory serves me right this is a close-up of Merlot.

Why Not Everything is “Double”?

by KimHo on July 27, 2008 · 0 comments under: Food

In the past, when I bought blueberry muffins, I asked myself: Why there are so little blueberries in it? In a way, I think I found the answer today… Now, before I continue, I must mention I started to bake recently. Back in Panama, we only had stoves so that meant I never had home-made cookies or similar goodies (though my mom made similar steamed goodies).

So I took one of several quick bread recipes from Suanne (of Chowtimes) and made some adjustments. However, when preparing the strawberries and blueberries, I prepared a little more than expected (a little more than 2 cups for recipes that call for 1 cup). What to do? Well, that’s the reason of this entry – I just dumped all the berries in the mix. Below are the pictures of the end result.


The loaf after resting and just before cutting.


Cutting a slice.


Close up of the slice.

I had that slice shown above. Yes, it had a lot of berries and, needless to say, it was good (Thanks Suanne for the recipe!). But, there were slightly sour spots… I think that was because of the fruit “burnt” to the side of the pan. Next time, I will try to stick with what the recipe calls, hehehe.

A Night Watching Fireworks – Celebration of Light

by KimHo on July 27, 2008 · 0 comments under: British Columbia,Events,Photo Essay

The Good…

If you have taken pictures before, you know taking pictures at night is challenging. Sure, I have used flash but, a lot of times it does not help or it does not produce the expect results. Also, due to the exposure/shutter speed, even the slightest movement will result in something odd. So, without further ado…

The Bad…

What, only two pictures? Actually, I took around 30 pictures. However, there are reasons why:

1. Wherever there is fire, there will be smoke. Since the smoke does not clear right away, sometimes it will “block” subsequent explosion.

2. Unpredictability, or at least, from the viewers perspective. Since you do not know where the fireworks will explode, you might need to zoom in/out not to mention focus again. As a result, you might end up capturing things you were not expecting or the result might end up out of focus (auto-focus was not working correctly for me so I had to focus manually). Now, I have been told I should set it to infinity; however, it did not work for me… Below are some of the results. Although they are not necessarily bad, I think it could have been better.

3. Timing. OK, not when the fireworks will blow; rather, the time some of the pictures took to take. It depends on the settings but, while tinkering with the settings, in some cases, it took me over a minute to take an unsueable picture… Remember, the firework displays is around 30 minutes…

The Ugly…

This is the reason why I haven’t gone to the celebration in years. When I was living in Downtown, that was not a problem; I would be home by 11:00 p.m. at the latest. However, now that I am not living there, I am part of the sea of people trying to leave the Downtown area. I could have left five minutes before it would end and try to beat the rush but that would mean five minute less to take pictures. So I took my chances and stayed to the end. But, instead of rushing to the Skytrain station, I decided to take it easy instead and stayed in the area for a while. Was it a good idea? Bad idea? Well, see below…


Southeast corner of Burrard and Davie. The sea of people leaving the West End.


Granville Street. Now, to the people “posing” while I was setting up my camera… !@#$!^%!@#$


Robson and Hornby.

It was exhausting in the end. I did not get home until after 1:30 a.m. and did no sleep until after 2:00 a.m. Unless I can check with my friends who lives in Downtown, I think I will just skip this next time…

RIP – Randy Pausch

by KimHo on July 26, 2008 · 0 comments under: News,Random

If you haven’t heard this name, I will not blame you. I am aware of it because of my Computer Science background. But, regardless, I will highly recommend you watch this video in YouTube or, in the event you can’t access/view those videos, read the transcript (part 1, part 2, part 3 and part 4).

Road Trip to Kelowna – Quails Gate Winery and Mission Hill Winery

by KimHo on July 25, 2008 · 0 comments under: British Columbia,Photo Essay,Travel

This entry is based on my trip to Kelowna on mid June 2008. My other entries on this trip includes:

Road Trip to Kelowna – Highway 3
Road Trip to Kelowna – Downton Kelowna
Road Trip to Kelowna – Summerhill Pyramid Winery

So far, all the wineries I have blogged, in a way or another, I tasted/sampled their wines. Since I was in a tour, it was safe for me to do so. However, on my way back to Vancouver, I decided to stop at two best known wineries (not necessarily producing the best wines, in my opinion, though) in Kelowna: Quail’s Gate and Mission Hill. Since I was driving (no drinking and driving!) that meant pictures only…

Unlike the previous day, the weather in my last day in Kelowna was great. Bright and almost not a single cloud in the sky. My first stop was Quail’s Gate, in Westbank (again, west of Kelowna). I overheard the name of the winery was due to quails in the area. Whether it is true or not, I did not bother to check. I must say I have mixed feelings about the place. Sure, it looked busy and modern to a certain extent; however, I did not feel the charm I felt from other wineries.

They also have a restaurant but, since I was not hungry, I did not walk in. Based on the pictures of the view taken from the restaurant, it looks spectacular so, in a way, it is a shame. Yet, I will not find that out with my own eyes anytime soon if that is indeed the truth… Oh, contradictions… C’est la vie.


Mission Hill and its well known tower on the background.

I did not spend a lot of time in Quails’ Gate and then drove to Mission Hill. At first, I missed the turn and had to drive around a bit to go back. Once I arrived, I was rewarded with an indescribable view… But, hey, that’s why we have pictures, right?

Fortunately (or unfortunately), the comments for Quails’ Gate applies to Mission Hill. It was interesting in its own way; yet, I did not find it charming as other wineries (specially the three others I haven’t blogged yet).

Conclusion: Great view, so-so wines…

And, as usual, comments appreciated!


This is the restaurant. You can see from here the view ought to be spectacular.


In this amphitheatre, there are functions in summer. I did not attend to any, as it was a bit out of the way.


A close-up of the vine. According to other wineries, it was a bit behind schedule.


View of Westbank from Mission Hill. To the right, the road that would take me to Okanagan Connector and, eventually, the Coquihalla.

An Evening in Dr. Sun Yat Sen Garden – Enchanted Evening

by KimHo on July 24, 2008 · 2 comments under: British Columbia,Events


A lotus (?) flower on the pond in the garden

As somebody who likes to take pictures, I always try to find new places to take pictures; however, there favourite spots. One of mine is Dr. Sun Yat Sen Garden located in Vancouver Chinatown. Because I often visit it, I chose to obtain a membership card. About a month ago, I received an email about their Enchanted Evening Concert series. I visited there on the evening of July 18th.

That night, the group playing was Tzimmes who played “Middle Eastern, Folk and Worldbeat Diversity with Jewish music”. Odd to have Jewish music in Chinese Garden? Well, yes to an extent. However, do not let it fool you. Sure, some of the lyrics were yiddish but some of the lyrics were Ladino (a Spanish-Jewish mix), which I was able to understand a little bit (again, I am a Spanish speaker). Sure, I didn’t understand all the lyrics but, sometimes, you don’t have to: The way a song is sung can also tell part of the story by itself. In th end, it was enjoyable.

This event runs each Friday until September 5th. Tickets are $18 for non-members and $15 for members. More information is available in Dr. Sun Yat Sen Garden’s site.


Just before start of concert.


Centre of the garden.


Tzimmes playing.


And, after the concert, a visit to Chinatowns Night Market.

 

Solo dining

by KimHo on July 22, 2008 · 1 comment under: Random

I like to eat. Most of the time, I restrict myself to home cooking or take outs. Sure, I still dine out but other than lunch with colleagues on Fridays or with meeting with friends, I don’t eat out that often. Here is the reason: I feel most restaurants do not really welcome solo dinners. Now, before I continue, I know there is this question: Why dine alone? Well, sometimes, you just want to enjoy the food…

Now, I understand to a certain extent the cons of a single diner. After all that same table the solo dinner takes could be taken by a couple instead, which means double revenue. Also, depending on where the diner lives (vs the location of the restaurant), he/she might not order alcohol, which is one of the greater sources of profit in restaurants. So, in a way, it is not as profitable.

However, there are what I consider to be pros of solo diners:  In my case, I do not demand a lot nor require much attention from the waiter/waitress so it is really easy for them to take care of me. Likewise, since I am only there for the food, turnaround is relatively faster than larger parties. 

Having said that, here is a non-inclusive list of places I tend to go when I want to eat alone:

  • White Spot/Moxie’s/Cactus Club or similar. Actually, White Spot more than the others; the problem with the rest is that they tend to over-emphasize the alcohol in the “bar” section.
  • Japanese-type restaurants (does not matter if they are run by Japanese, Chinese or Korean). They tend to have a bar section and, again, no over-emphasis on alcohol.
  • Noodle places (except those in Downtown). My favourite is Lao Shan Dong (Nelson at Kingsway, across Metrotown).
  • Any buffet. Well, yes and no. They usually do not mind; however, I try not to go to buffets – in fact, have not been in one in a long time.
  • Diners, my favourite being Slocan Restaurant (Hastings, between Nanaimo and
So, whenever you want to go out to have a meal by yourself, where do you usually go? Any other recommendation?

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