We awoke to pretty much another perfect day in paradise. Our host had asked (the night before) what we would like for breakfast in the morning and I said an egg would be great. ‘No problem…I’m sure I can come up with something’ was her understatement. A one egg request transformed into 3 perfectly triangular eggs, pan fries, bacon, sliced tomatoes and strawberries and cinnamon/raisin toast. This was naturally accompanied with her standard fresh coffee, orange AND apple juice. Between her breakfasts and the wine, I think some intake reduction is going to be more than a little necessary when we get back home.
Some of you may already know about this but I will share it none the less. Her idea of bacon was to serve it totally flat, not shrunken, crisp, and not greasy. I like to cook, but I was embarrassed to ask her how she managed such magic. As it turns out, it is (like many things) very simple indeed. Use the oven. 🙂 Take a cookie sheet, put down one layer of tin foil (or parchment paper). Put down another layer of tin foil on top of the first one, but crinkle it up somewhat so there are hundreds of tiny hills and valleys (ridges). Lay the bacon flat along the top of the ridges. Bake it for 18 minutes at 425 degrees and don’t bother flipping it. Voila’! The fat runs away from the bacon and the result is nirvana. Clean up is a snap as you just let the fat solidify somewhat, pull the foil off the cookie sheet, fold it up and toss it. Done. It also makes it easy to do an entire package at once (should the need arise). I do love simplicity. 🙂
Our explorations today took us all along the Bottleneck Drive in the immediate Summerland area. There are 14 possible stops to make but our travels today took us to only 7. The 8th was closed for renovations, opening again in the fall of 2015 (Greta Ranch). Another was a vinegar farm that had recently changed hands and was no longer in the same location nor was it open to the general public anymore. The others we did drive by, but they didn’t quite grab our interest. Maybe we’re just getting too picky. Despite the partially limited visitations, we still managed a full case and a half to add to our collection. There simply is no shortage of marvelous wines in the valley…at all.
A late lunch was spent in a park overlooking the beach at Skaha Lake. It’s early June so it’s somewhat of a treat to not only find an unoccupied picnic table, but also see there really is grass at our feet and sand just ahead of us. In a couple of weeks this entire area will be covered with half-naked bodies and at least two-thirds of those should really be covered from head to toe. But…such is summer in the Valley.
Our wine exposure complete for the day (and almost the trip), we headed over to visit the youngest (which is relative as he is 55!) son of the couple we visited with yesterday. They have a fabulous view near the upper end of Summerland overlooking a lot of the town and the lake. He also happens to be a Very good cook. The rest of the day and a lot of the evening was spent with him and his wife, tasting a bit more wine, eating well and swapping stories of the ‘good ol’ days’.
As he so very aptly put it…do what makes you smile and pay far less attention to the problems around you. You’re only here for a short time.