The Joys of the Empty Nest
“Hey…you want to take a
drive up to Canada and have dinner?”
This was the beginning of a
great evening and a wonderful dining experience. Jacque had just returned from dropping Greg
off in Spokane for his return to Wabash College, and we had our empty nest back. Some couples find this challenging, but for
Jacque and me, while we love, and adore our two boys and couldn’t be prouder of
them, we relish the life and relationship we have together.
Living just 40 miles south
of the Okanagan Valley, Canada’s premier wine growing area, we have become very
familiar with several of the wineries in what is referred to as the “Palm
Springs of Canada”. The wineries, or at
least the associates at several of the wineries, have also become familiar with
us. (Not sure it is a good thing when a local food server recognizes us from
her other job at one of our favorite wineries “Church and State”.)
With temperatures hitting
almost triple digits, we opted for Terrafina, (http://www.terrafinarestaurant.com), which is situated on the west side of the valley
and has a patio protected by grape vines, making it a nice cool setting even on
the hottest of days.
(photo from Google search)
We started off with the Wagyu Beef Carpaccio with chipotle caper
aioli, carrot chips, sprouts arugula, crispy capers, and parmesan. Awesome dish! The Wagyu beef was great, but I
really enjoyed and could not get enough of the carrot chips and crispy capers.
For our main courses, Jacque
opted for the Prawn and Manila Clam Pasta,
with chorizo - (yes chorizo, the Mexican sausage) - basil pesto cream, asiago
arugula, and baby zucchini. The chorizo
gave the dish an interesting amount of heat and flavor, truly knocking up this
dish to level 10.
I opted for the special which
was Okanagan Summer Vegetable Insalata,
passing on the other special of the night - a 40 ounce bone in rib eye which
the waitress had suggested was designed to be shared. This nice summery dish was the perfect
combination of confit garlic emulsion, oyster mushrooms, baby zucchini,
shallots, tomato, fennel, carrots, and cukes.
Jacque was a little surprised when I ordered this, but the real surprise
was on me in how much I enjoyed this as my meal…though it left me still a
little hungry.
Wanting to not ruin the
theme of my nice healthy meal, I suggested that Jacque and I share the dessert
cheese platter. The cheeses were a real
treat, but it was not the typical European idea of cheese for dessert. It was more of an appetizer cheese platter as
it was garnished with olives and pickled carrots. Again we enjoyed the cheeses, but for a
dessert cheese platter, I would expect maybe some chutney or jams, possibly
some dried fruits, or freshly sliced Okanagan apples. With that said, it was a great finish to our
meal.
We capped the evening off
with a glass each of the Hester Creek Late Harvest, and then I had the perfect
espresso before the drive home. An
additional treat was the approximate 23% discount we got on the bill due to the
current exchange rate between the U.S. dollar and the Canadian dollar –
everything in Canada is on sale right now!
It is no wonder that
Terrafina is listed for the South Okanagan as the “Best Winery Restaurant”
according to Okanagan Life magazine.
We will be back!
I highly recommend Terrafina at Hester Creek Winery in Oliver. We have enjoyed many meals there in the past and look forward to great experiences in the future.
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