Last night we went into Penticton to have dinner with our friend Denise who is lived there for a number of years. She has now sold her house and will be moving shortly. We meet her a the Barking Parrot Pub. This is a pub right on the Okanagan Lake in Penticton. They have all items on their menu for $5.95. We share some chicken wings and a couple other appies. Oh yeah, some wine too. We have a great catch up with her.
This morning we go down for our breakfast. Today they are serving a spinach quiche, along with the usual fresh fruits and breads. This is a historic old building.
After our breakfast we head out for a walk around the charming little town. I start my tracker a little late 🙂 . We pass by a small beach that appears to be public, but there are signs indicating that it is privately owned by the church. You are welcome to use the area if there is no church activity in progress.
Our walk takes us to the Naramata Store where we pick up a newspaper before heading back to the Inn. Back on our little patio we take our time and do the crossword puzzle and read some of the newspaper before we head back out to taste more wine.
We stop at 3 wineries today. We begin with La Frenz where we buy a Pinot Noir and their Grand Total Reserve, which is a Merlot, Cab Franc & Cab Sauvignon blend. We follow that with the nearby Deep Roots. Deep Roots has a logo that is a corkscrew that has four
screws. We learn that this represents the four generations of the family that have farmed this land. The lady serving us is the wife of the 3rd generation, her son the 4th generation is now the wine maker. They have grown grapes on the land for 25 years but have only recently begun to make wine. They have a great number of awards since 2012. We purchase a Merlot and a Syrah. We travel another short distance to Lake Breeze. It is early afternoon and we have heard they have a great restaurant and we would like lunch.
Our timing is perfect. The restaurant is quite busy, but someone is leaving a table with the best view. We get to see the view without looking through all of the other people.
The food here is amazing. We order Mussels and an Antipasti with a selection of meats, cheese and other yummy things. Very nice lunch done, we head into the tasting room. I already know that we will buy their Meritage as it was the suggested pairing for the Antipasti. It was very very nice. We sample their wares and come away with 4 bottles from here. The prices here are all over the place. We have paid between $25 and $45 per bottle. Here our choices are all in the $25 range.
We now have 12 bottles to take home. We think that is the limit for our tiny car.
We played scrabble this afternoon. I lost very very badly 🙁
We plan to have dinner up the street at a bistro that is a coffee shop (the one with the peacock) by day and a bistro by night. We are seated in the outdoor area. We review the menu as we chat with the server. He tells us about the chef. He is happy to be working with him, he loves he approach to food. We are both ordering an entree, but he describes a specialty of the house, a peanut soup. It sounds intriguing but I think what we have ordered will be way too much already. He does bring us a small bowl to share. It is delicious. I say, “I need this recipe” Ahah!! There is a cookbook. 🙂 He brings us the book to look over. The dishes look amazing. A percentage of the proceeds are being sent to the Congo to help children there. The chef Victor Bongo was born in the Congo. We decide to buy the book and our server brings the chef out to sign the book.
He asks us where we are from. We say “Pitt Meadows” expecting a blank look on his face. But it was not blank, he has a big smile and tells us that he graduated from Maple Ridge Secondary in 2001!! He confessed he wasn’t the best student, but loved cooking. His cooking teacher at MRSS personally paid for him to go to culinary school. He has a great story. We loved his food and will have enough for lunch tomorrow. 🙂
Our last night of our Beautiful British Columbia Road Trip was amazing too. The whole trip has been amazing. Loving it!!
Homeward bound tomorrow.