Some things really do get better with age, and I have to say that an old friendship is my favourite of them all. There is nothing better than sharing time, or better yet food and drink, with old friends as you catch up and soak in the comfort that comes from being with someone who knows you. Touching base with many of my old friends this past week inspired me to share some favourite food memories, in hopes that might inspire you to enjoy the same feeling across a dinner table or picnic blanket. So, here we go…

A very dear girlfriend and I do much of our best catching up over steaming cups of homemade latte. She has the best little machine in the world and so the deal is, when I visit her, she makes the coffees and I clean the machine. (It was the best way I could think of to thank her for putting me up time and again over the years, and it has become a symbol of how symbiotic our relationship is.) Sometimes we have bagels or a bowl of cereal with the coffee, but sometimes just having your hands around the cup and being able to share a story or two is enough to recharge your soul. The recipe that makes me think of Sue is always crumble… she, like me, sometimes uses the fruit that is nearing the end of its days as the filling, but the inspiration I loved was when she put bananas in with the other plums and apples and stuff.

Another friend of long standing called me up this week and we got to catch up a bit. I don’t want to call him an “old friend” but he has known me since I was a kid and as a result there are plenty of good memories. When he called our house his greeting when I answered the phone was, “So, how’s your sex life?” I was ten years old – I didn’t even know what a sex life was! He was one of those adults that always treated me like a regular person, even though he still calls me “kid”. Ever since then when I hear David’s voice on the phone, it makes me smile. He is a part of my extended family – the part that extends to those non-blood relations that are as natural as your immediate family. I am comfortable having last-minute dinner guests because I grew up with people like David, who might just drop by and was only too welcome to stay. We would do the same at his house. A big hug for you, my friend.

The last old friend I heard from is a dog friend. If you have a dog, you know what I mean if you are not a dog person you will just have to trust me when I say that four-legged people can provide a special connection for two-legged ones in a magical way. Such is the case with John and I, for without Riley wandering across the field one day to say hi to Satchmo we would never had met and what a shame that would be. I spent many a morning at Kits Point sharing quality time with a man I recognized more from his yellow slicker and his Irish Terrier than for his reputable standing in the community. Our four-legged friends of those days are only with us in spirit now, but those shared memories will last more than a lifetime. And of course, I would have to say that a good dog biscuit would be the food I think of here… many a treat was left on the running board of my old 4Runner that had a special place in Mo’s heart as well as her tummy. But I have also raised many a glass of good red wine in honour of such a friendship. Cheers to you, John, and to the memories of all those mornings on the Point.

Food is what brought Martin and I together, and it is something you know from us is certainly a passion in our lives. What fuels that passion is being able to share it with loved ones. I hope you have the chance to catch up with an old friend or two sometime soon the ambiance of having those around you who love you with all your foibles is the best recipe for comfort food that I know.

There is lots of talk about all the processed food we eat and how it may affect our systems, possibly working against our immune systems and certainly being less nutritious than the more natural foods of the past. I was on a Girl Guide trip last weekend and I was struck by what the kids ate (and didn’t eat!) and it made me think… do kids eat worse food than kids of yesteryear did?

My Mom used to tell us that Gramma fed her parsnips every time she made Mom’s favourite dessert, lemon pudding cake. It would take almost a quart of milk she said, to get through those parsnips, but the deal was she had to clean her plate before she could have dessert. My Mom has never touched another parsnip since moving out. As a result of memories like that, the rule when I was growing up was that you just had to try those foods you didn’t like each time they came around (the theory was eventually you would like them). It is possible I was just too much of a hungry growing kid to care too much what I ate but I did come through my childhood liking almost every food I tasted. The kids I saw last weekend were much more likely to not like a lot of things that were presented to them… at least in the savoury department. The sweets on the other hand, were pretty much universally loved!

My theory on this topic is that with so many more choices today, it is easier for kids to be picky. I never hear of anyone being made to stay at the table to clean their plate. In addition to that, kids are more used to processed foods that tend to taste a bit sweeter so of course less sweet things are harder to like. But it is not a case of kids not liking flavour – for example, one of the most popular foods we served on the Girl Guide trip was Caesar salad! I don’t know that they would have chosen garlic-flavoured lollipops over the Gobstoppers they bought and sucked on for the whole weekend, but I do know that Martin’s practice of taking a flavour kids like and using it in other dishes seems to be successful most of the time. (Next time I will make sure I prepare a pot of the pasta with the leftover garlic bread-butter for those girls that don’t like tomato sauce.)

Since we are in salad season I thought perhaps we could use this time as an opportunity to help our kids learn to love some new foods. Another flavour I know many kids enjoy is balsamic vinegar. You don’t have to serve them a store-bought dressing, just a bit of balsamic drizzled over the veggies with your favourite oil will do nicely. You can even do this with strawberries as a fun twist on dessert!

I know the packaged foods offer the grown-ups a chance to provide something interesting for the kids without having to spend so much time preparing it. But perhaps we can mix up the prepared ingredients and the ones that come “as they are”? I know the Guides did a great job of packing their own lunches from a table full of ingredients and they also managed to get themselves a pretty healthy meal, too. We could even take it a step further… I wonder what would happen if we packed their lunch and they packed ours?

The thing that struck me about my Mom’s horrible parsnip memory was that food (like life) should be fun. When you are a part of the process, things are almost always more fun. If the only thing you have to do is unwrap a package, then where’s the fun in that? It’s almost as boring as parsnips.

Kristin

P.S. If you think BBQ is fun, head downtown this weekend. Chef Martin and his Commis Squealers will be competing in the “Smoke on the Water” competition, slow cooking beef brisket and ribs and chicken. I hear they are even offering samples this year! This is the perfect food trip for most Dads, so it’s a great place to visit on Father’s Day!

Okay, all is forgiven. For the first time this year I sat outside after work just a short while ago, with my feet propped up and a beverage in my hand, enjoying the warmth of the sun on my face. I feel as though I can breathe easy again, knowing summer is coming after all and everything will be all right.
Isn’t it funny how we never seem to see the end of winter come fast enough? And then, of course, once the hot weather hits we groan about how incredibly hot it is. I have heard it said that one of the reasons Canadians make great comedians is because of our extreme climate. (You have to admit, with names like Michael J. Fox, Jim Carrey, Dan Akroyd and Howie Mandel the list is impressive. And that doesn’t even count Red Green – whose real name is Steve Smith.) We come from a nation where people will spend their first camping trip in winter garb just to say they made the annual May long weekend trek, and where in years like this one even planting the garden on that same famous weekend could be treacherous in some parts due to frost and wind.
But here we are with the solstice in sight and all those frostbitten memories behind us. We are now happy to complain about the plethora of dandelions and the sudden heat rash we suffered from the first day out mowing or gardening. Beverage coolers are dusted off, kiddie pools are seen dotting lawns again, and suddenly the sale of potato chips plummets and fresh veggies are popular as we all try to get back to bathing-suit-friendly shape. It is not just the better temperatures, either, that make for warmer memories from summers past. There seems to be some Midsummer fairy magic that makes those times seem some of the best…

I remember the joy of finding the perfect dandelion seed pod. My Mom even figured out that larger pods could be preserved whole if you got them carefully inside and sprayed them with a bit of hair spray. How cheered I was to hear this is still special: one of my Guide leader friends told me that her little son likes to blow the seeds willy-nilly to the wind and then hand her the stem as a gift. I also discovered that despite technology they still thwart the average lawn aficionado – our neighbour was seen last Sunday with the vacuum cleaner under his arm and hose in hand as he tackled each stem!
I know this will sound corny, but I love the taste of water from the garden hose. It seems just slightly poetic that we have come around to a time when this might be acceptable again, what with the processing and cost of plastic water bottles. Kids might not walk to school (at least not unescorted) but at least when they play in their own yard they can drink the water.
Even just the sound of kids playing is a summer sound, one that continues later at night as that lovely sun lingers on the horizon longer this time of year. I always felt decadent to know that I could stay out for so very long as summer began going home at dark when summer started could allow you time for a whole other adventure from the one you had before dinner!

There are all kinds of wonderful and crazy food at any time of year now, but even today there is more variety in summer here than in winter. And even if you don’t care about local versus imported ingredients, you have to admit the colours are brighter in the produce section. I had the first radishes and lettuce from the garden on Sunday, and I can hardly wait for more goodies. The taste of a garden carrot just rubbed in the grass and eaten fresh out of the ground is one of those experiences even a five star restaurant cannot match.

I don’t know if you reminisce about childhood memories from long ago or if you have kids whom you regale with stories, but if you don’t then I think it is about time you gave it a try. Here are some things you can do here in our part of the world that will give you an old-fashioned taste of summer…

• Visit the farmer’s market for veggies that still have dirt on them.
  
• Take a trip with your sweetie to Enderby to see a drive-in movie at the Starlight (it actually has North America’s largest screen!).
  
• Go for old-fashioned hard ice-cream cones with your kids and sit outside eating them – teach them about how you have to push the top scoop gently down so it doesn’t fall off.
  
• Set up your lawn sprinkler and run through it (this is best done screaming – if the neighbours laugh, invite them over to try it!).
  
• Pick a dandelion gone to seed, make a wish, and blow!

If you have kids, this will help show them the value of making those warm memories. If you don’t have kids, it will remind you we are never too late to have a happy childhood.

It’s that time again - the famous Okanagan summer is just around the corner. It seems everything that people love and often choose to move to the Okanagan for is connected to the summer weather.

We moved here five years ago and we are not going anywhere. We fell in love with the Okanagan easily because our first month here was April and that year it was exceptional so we loved it from day one. Now we enjoy the long growing season in the garden, the great camping weather, and the days at the lake letting the dogs swim till they drop of fatigue (we sometimes join them in the water to swim too)! The fact that we now have fruit trees on our land is also a very therapeutic reason why we would never leave the Okanagan. Neither of us had a cherry tree or plum tree on our land before and there is a certain decadence in waiting for the sunny days to grow your very own delicious fruit.

The Okanagan is a great place to live and we should do everything we can to keep it that way. I don’t hate progress, but let’s try to keep the values and reasons intact that are why people moved here in the first place. We need to make sure that the power people know what we want and what we don’t want. Tell your new and old political leaders to maintain the Okanagan lifestyle the way it is and stay away from all those ideas that corrupt the big city. We like the fact that we have small local shops, and local farmers selling their bounty of fruits and vegetables. We should even encourage businesses to do more 4 x 10 hour sifts to allow employees to have three days off each week to go to the lake and put their toes in once in a while. It is up to the employers/businesses of the Okanagan to retain their employees and use what this area has to offer and use the Okanagan to their advantage. Create work schedules that are conducive to your employees having a life outside of work giving them extra energy once they are back at work on Mondays!

The Okanagan is a unique place where people come to enjoy the lake any way they can and get a taste of what life should be!

Martin