barolo

That's a very nice collection RRO. I love blue and white pottery too. I keep promising myself I won't buy more pottery but I fall off the wagon fairly often!

OK, that made me delurk. Great blog. I'm going to keep reading, so your cheese consumption may spike this week.

At work I have fruit at around 10:00 am and fruit or a handful of nuts at around 4:00 pm. I eat breakfast at 6:30 and it's a long slog to lunch without something mid-morning. In the late afternoon I have an energy lull so a small snack gets me through to the end of the work day. On weekends or otherwise when I'm not working I don't usually snack.

I sniff in appreciation, especially ripe fruits like strawberries, raspberries, peaches, but I'm pretty subtle about it (I hope so anyway). Like some others, I have done a lot of sniffing of wine so it is part of appreciating what I am about to eat or drink. Sniffing is not to see if it is "off" in some way. Although I do sniff stuff from my fridge if I am unsure about it.

I also think gifts aren't gifts if there are strings attached. But tomatoes are difficult to grow here, and I don't even have a balcony let alone a yard, so if someone offered me homegrown tomatoes with conditions, I would accept them gladly.

Brandy Snaps here too.

19 inches.

All of the above but noise is probably the most frequent culprit these days. I like to have a conversation when I'm dining out, but facilitating conversation seems to be a low priority in a lot of restaurants these days.

This peach blueberry cake is good: epicurious peach blueberry cake That's a great looking haul.

Is it Chris?

Grand Marnier

I doubt you have anything to worry about because commercial stuff is so processed - it sits on shelves for months so I doubt it is particularly temperature sensitive.

Yes I believe the same is true here in BC. Also we do not have much of a day fishery here. Most boats are out for a few days and freeze fish on the boat as they are caught. Edited to add: Coincidentally this thread was revived today: Wormy Fish

You mean Octaveman, I think.

This sounds like Two Fat Ladies: link

Thanks for showing us your part of the world, haresfur.

And here they are: Vancouver Restaurant Awards 2011

I'll take a beef and onion pie with some of that tomato relish. The fish and chips look good too. Thanks for sharing some of your favourite pots with us. I prefer glass for my wine but I love the the pots. And I'm with Shelby on the healing wines.

How about "Very Secure"? I like Man Enough to Drink Pink and Very Secure

Yes I agree. Small, local hardware stores are lots of fun too.

Love the pink drink, haresfur. I wouldn't add beets or turnips to the lamb shank braise. Keep it simple, a little white wine, some tomato, some aromatic vegetables, and "low and slow". White beans on the side.

I'm looking forward to learning more about what is like to live in a smaller city in Australia and especially through the eyes of someone "FOB".

Not a closing, but La Brasserie will no longer be open for lunch on weekdays. They are still doing Saturday and Sunday brunch.

Arbutus is a gum. And Wattle is also known as Broom Wattle - so I'm guessing Oz and Vancouver Island share a climate and flora. Another image required for sure. I don't think Arbutus is in the same family as Eucalyptus. I believe it is in the heather family while Eucalyptus is in the mytrle family.

OK, well I see wattle and eucalypus. Pam: you must post another image to clear this up.