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Last last weekend I headed out to Abbotsford with a bunch of other food bloggers to check out the Fraser Valley Food Show. Just like last year there were lots of samples and things to look at. FVFS is a lot less busy then Eat Vancouver so you get many more opportunities to chat with the vendors and learn about their products.

Again they had a sausage competition where you could try about 15 different types of sausages for $2 and then vote for your favourite. I liked the crunchy chewy sausage sticks from Dressed To Grill the most. The silky smooth smoked liver pâté was also really nice.

I also attended TWO cheese tasting sessions with Reg from The Dairy Farmers of Canada. Thirteen types of cheese, OH YEAH. I loved the spoonfuls of mascarpone with honey and cranberry.

I haven’t eaten any sugar in one month (!!) in an attempt to stabilize my blood sugar and break my addiction to candy. Anyway because of this I was kind of limited to what samples I could try. I did manage to find some awesome balsamic salad dressing that didn’t have sugar, and some unsweetened almond milk for Scott to use in his coffee (he’s off sugar as well). And a bunch of gluten free crackers for Lesley. So… a successful day!

PS I’m off to the Food Bloggers of Canada annual conference this weekend. A whole weekend of learning how to be a better blogger, I can’t wait! All food is provided… so it’s going to be a cheat weekend…. can’t lie, I’m pumped.

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Fancy lunch at the restaurant at Burrowing Owl Winery. We got there a little early so we could look around and taste some wines in the tasting room. I guess they also have a hotel there too? It definitely had a beautiful view.

We ordered the breads and spreads appetizer which ended up being this enormous platter with roasted carrot hummus, shrimp salad, and olive tapenade, with three different types of bread. The mini herb loaf was delicious and the soft baguette was so good. I really loved the shrimp salad and the salty olive tapenade. The carrot hummus was ok too, nice and sweet. We must have tried every combination of bread and spread several times. This platter is definitely big enough for several people to share!

I ordered the duck leg confit, which comes with basil gnocchi, a random piece of chorizo, with some vegetables and aioli. It was all very nice, the duck was nice and tender and the vegetables and sauce were prepared nicely. I didn’t understand the inclusion of chorizo at all, I actually thought they had put it on the plate by accident.

Scott ordered the lamb sausage sandwich which ended up being like a fancy hotdog. Which is funny because Scott doesn’t like hotdogs. It had aioli and cheese on it and came with a nice salad. I think he enjoyed it alright, but it wasn’t as nice as my duck.

All in all, a nice meal. Be sure to make a reservation ahead of time as we saw people without being turned away.

The Sonora Room Menu, Reviews, Photos, Location and Info - Zomato

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Last week I came home to a big box from Hancock Gourmet Lobster. They sent me a couple lobster pot pies, and a couple lobster mac and cheeses (in a styrofoam cooler with ice gel packs!) for me to try and review.

Hancock is based in Maine but has a fully Canadian site with Canadian currency and shipping to Canada. The products are made in small batches with real ingredients so that the quality remains very high.

The lobster pot pies were super cute! They came in a reusable ramekin with a puff pastry lobster crust on top. After baking it for 25 minutes it looked like the pictures above. The good: Huge chunks of lobster, nice sauce, decent pastry. The bad: It wasn’t very full inside since all it is filled with is lobster and sauce. Could have used some vegetables or something too in my opinion.

I liked the lobster mac and cheese more. It was also filled with tons of lobster, like every second forkful had another big chunk. Yum. The cheese sauce was super rich and the panko topping gave it a nice crunch. It had mascarpone, cheddar, and parmesan in it. NOM. It tasted amazing but definitely a cheat meal!!!

I don’t get to eat lobster very often so these dishes were a special treat.

Disclaimer: I was not compensated for this post other than the free product, and all opinions are my own.

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One of the nights we were in Osoyoos the four of us decided to go across the border to Oroville, Washington for dinner and gas and groceries. Scott volunteered to be DD so Lauren, Rosemarie and I could go nuts on their obscenely cheap margaritas. This GIANT margarita fish bowl was $14.50!! It was funnnnnn.

Chimichanga del mar. Had (real) crab, scallops, shrimp, onions in a tortilla thing covered with sauce. Scott and I shared this. It was definitely big enough for two people. It was rich and tasty.

I think this was seafood enchilada? Crab something with a lot of cheese (clearly). Lauren said all he could taste was cheese.

Rose ordered prawn fajitas. The onions were nice and caramelized. Quite tasty. Giant. Good thing Lauren is a bottomless pit. ;)

Sopapilla for dessert. I forget what was inside the pastry bit, but it was covered in ice cream and strawberries. Was ok.

Dronk.

Trino's Restaurant Menu, Reviews, Photos, Location and Info - Zomato

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Sooo let’s just ignore that some of these pictures are like three months old……

Rosemary Rocksalt bagel with salmon, avocado and cream cheese. How can you even improve on this?? Perfection.

Two kinds of ceviche, guacamole and pico de gallo at La Mezcaleria. OM NOM NOM. With a ludicrously expensive margarita. (Best margaritas in town though).

GIANT VOLCANIC BOWL OF MOLTEN CHEESE AND CHORIZO. So greasy, so amazing. This is a once-a-year (or less!) food.

Pork tenderloin kebabs with vegetables and halloumi. Homemade tzatziki and tortillas. This was a team effort meal with Scott, Rosemarie, Lauren and I that magically all came together perfectly despite little planning.

Rosemarie and I finally did the crayon art project that she gave me for Christmas/AFFH. Making the crayons melt was so addicting.

The Jornas, at the PNE this year. Lesley took this picture.

I had a jalapeño popper grilled cheese. It took them like 30 minutes to make. Le sigh. But it tasted pretty good, it had cheese, peppers, cream cheese, corn chips!

Me broad jumping at the bobsleigh/skeleton summer tryouts. I did pretty bad, it was sort of embarrassing. But still fun, kind of. I think I was a lot better at running this year compared to last (still too slow though) but I actually got worse at broad jump (down to 1.75 m from 1.78 m). Yikes. And I was HORRIBLE at the underhand medicine ball toss. It kept slipping out of my hands!! Lots of work to do if I ever plan on being competitive.

So many more people than last year!! It was nice seeing some old friends from last season, and great to see some new faces! I am hoping that the group of recreational (and BC development) sliders gets bigger this year. It would be fun to have races with more people, especially girls!!

Manicure from last week. Stained glass/negative space. I did my left hand. Scott had to help me with my right hand. Maybe Rosemarie will post a link in the comments to the Salon Jorna picture she took.

A made pie! Peach pie! We had picked a dozen or so giant freestone peaches in Osoyoos last week at a giddy u-pick session. I whipped up two pies with homemade crust and everything. I usually don’t like pies because I hate cooked fruit, but peach pie is pretty good. Maybe because the texture of cooked peach isn’t very different than raw peach? This was my first time making crust and it went… ok. It’s a little tough. I think that happens when you overwork the dough? But overall the pie tastes GREAT. Making pies is very satisfying.