Salt & Vinegar or Gravy with your

Chips

Portland Willamette River waterfront
A Canadian export that the USA can't slap an import tax on -
the more the merrier, they crap everywhere! 

Thu Aug 29

A 45 min hop in a Dash 8

If you have been brought up on salt and vinegar with your chips (or fries as they are known over here) the idea of having them soaked in gravy may feel somewhat alien.  Poutine, or fries with brown gravy and cheese curds originated in Quebec.  Some say it was invented to mock French society (and cuisine) in the Francophone province.  Whatever the true story it has become popular across Canada.  I have avoided it, preferring to stick with the traditional British salt and vinegar 'dressing'.  

I mention it because we were in Portland last weekend and spent our first evening at a Peruvian
restaurant.  I ordered Lomo Saltado or stir-fried sirloin with tamari, tomatoes, red onion, papas fritas (fries), garlic and rice. Tamari, it turns out is a brown sauce, a byproduct of miso. I remain unsure of the dish's Peruvian credentials as much as I will continue to avoid any form of fries with brown sauce (gravy).  Soggy chips does not do it for me.  Incidentally if you want chips when you're dining out this side of the pond, order fries or you will get a packet of crisps.

The main reason to pop down to Portland was so that we could return via YVR (Vancouver International) and get our passports stamped for a further two years - more later. As well as checking out the city, we decided an Oregon wine tour had to be part of the itinerary as we continue to develop our knowledge of North American wines.  

Elk Cove winery

We spent a day in the care of Wayne Oppenheimer of A Great Oregon Wine Tour, whose great grandfather David, was the second mayor of Vancouver between 1888 and 1891; unrelated he says, to the nuclear Oppenheimer.  As well as a long family history, Wayne, a former grape picker in California, wine bar owner, Grateful Dead fan amongst other career paths and now wine guide, has an amazingly detailed knowledge of Oregon wines and specifically those grown in the Willamette (Pron: wuh·la·muht) Valley, where we spent most of Sunday.  He was as entertaining as he was knowledgeable and we were regaled with stories of his past as well as a forensic description of the
region.  

If you like Burgundies, you will like Oregon wines with its predominance of Pinot Noir and Chardonnay, which make the bulk  of the region's production.   Thank goodness he was driving as after three wineries and 4 - 5 wine tastings in each ....... I was sober, but not drivable!  As well as wine, Oregon is the biggest producer of grass seed in North America, and has an impressive hazelnut agri-scene.

We liked Portland which had some lovely walks around the architecturally historical quarters.  It also has a famous (in North America) Rose Garden and close by, a Japanese Garden.   If you like roses it's worth a visit with over 10,000 roses across 610 varieties.   Late August meant it was coming to the end of the

One of the karesansui gardens,
meaning dry landscape

season, but still quite impressive.  More interesting (for both of us) was the Portland Japanese Garden  with its classic mix of Japanese landscaping, architecture and planting.  Nine full time gardeners and some 40 volunteers tend the garden.

After the gardens on Monday morning we walked around part of the Pearl District in downtown Portland before heading off to do a boat ride along part of the Willamette river, always a good way to see a city.  

The trip took us out under the Hawthorne Bridge, the oldest vertical lift bridge in North America.  It is raised three times a day to keep it in working order. The need of large ships to transit under the bridge is receding nowadays with the main docks sited north of the city.  After hoping to the see bridge in use we finally watched it go up on Tuesday morning before heading back to the airport. 

313m to Vancouver BC

For our first international flight in three and a half years, we were not looking forward to the airport hassle but took the chance of seeing if we could renew our USA Global Entry passes.  Having applied, been vetted and interviewed at the US embassy in London just before Covid, we never got to use them and they had expired last year.  Renewal online this time was a doddle.  It meant we were pre-screened for entry to the USA in Vancouver, laptops and liquids stayed in the carry on luggage, belts and shoes stayed on.  The USA Border Control officer took a brief look at our passports, no stamps or bits of paper, and we were on our way.  Arriving at the domestic terminal it was straight off the plane and into a taxi.

We were not looking forward to the return journey as we had to get visas sorted at YVR.  That said, exiting the USA was as easy as the arrival.  When we first landed in Canada in 2021 after the border control kiosk check, we had to be interviewed by an immigration officer who went through our paperwork, mandatory Canadian health insurance, sponsorship letter from Nick, Super Visa approval etc. etc.  

This time, after we tapped in our details in the terminal in the arrival hall, we headed to the border control kiosk expecting to be referred to an immigration interview.  He asked for our paperwork which Fred had carefully collated, he had a cursory look at the file, stamped our passports for FIVE years and we were on our way with the broadest smiles.  Just half an hour from getting off the plane to getting out of the airport, most of which was spent hiking the terminal building!   We had hoped to get two years; having applied online in December and only getting six months, we were gobsmacked, to say the least, to get a five-year stay without the interrogation.   

Port Mellon fire

Back in Gibsons, Team Fast Lane have won the Gibsons Yacht Club Wednesday series and the Sunshine Coast Yacht Club Sunday Summer series.   It's nice to be top dog again after the learning opportunity we were gifted at the Cow Bay Regatta! (See last blog).

It feels as though summer has come to an abrupt end here.  The days are noticeably shorter, we have had more rain and the evenings are cooler.  

On the positive side there have been fewer wildfires this season and campfire bans have been lifted for this coming long Labor Day weekend on the Coast.  

Fire retardant being dropped

Water restrictions have remained at level 2 and recent rain has brought the Chapman Lake reservoir back to 75% of capacity. The last two summers it has been down to 0% and the syphon from the higher level lake providing only limited water, resulting in stage 4 restrictions being put in place.

There have been three small fires on the Coast, one just a few miles from where we were living in Langdale back in 2021 and close to Port Mellon.  All believed to have started by lightning strikes.  Wildfire crews were soon on the scene, water bombers started dropping fire-retardant and water so it was contained within a couple of days and out within a week.  Unusually we have had a few thunderstorms in recent weeks, a rarity on the Coast.

Rehearsals have started for Rutter's Requiem, which a subset of the choir are doing on Remembrance Day in November.  I wasn't sure I liked it when I first heard it, but I've grown to love it the more I listen to it and the more I hear the choral harmonies.  

It's quite a hard piece of music compared with Handel's Messiah and Vivaldi's Gloria, but our music director is good at getting the best out of the choir, so I have no doubt it will come together.

Wayne in his Grateful Dead T shirt

Hawthorne Bridge over the Willamette River

Rainbow over our home (Bonniebrook) Beach

One of our 4 tennis ball sized garden figs
the other 24 are green golf balls

A Brown Creeper in recovery after flying into one of our windows

A paddle up the Sechelt Inlet