There’s No Place Like Home

Hola Bloggies:

I’ve missed you friends!!!

After almost a solid month of travelling (mostly for work) I finally arrived home late on Friday night. It feels so good to be back in my own casa.

The next time I travel will be in late September; granted it will only be for a few days (in Vancouver). Then there are October and November – which will frankly be non-stop travel. The difference is that those trips will be for pleasure!!! I will be flying to Southern California to run the Long Beach Half Marathon, Toronto for my wedding dress fitting, Whistler for a brief work event, San Jose del Cabo (Mexico) for our wedding, and then Guanajuato (Mexico) for our honeymoon. Happy times indeed!!!

For now though I’ll enjoy chilling in my Rocky Mountain casa.

With all this running around I need to catch up on a lot of blog posts. That means for the next little while you’ll see Vancouver Island, Rocky Mountain, and Calgary posts.

 

A Little Slice of England

While I was on Vancouver Island, my co-workers did their best to introduce me to all their favourite haunts.

One place in particular, The Crow and Gate, was deemed special enough for my goodbye luncheon. The property is located outside of Nanaimo on Vancouver Island, Canada on beautifully landscaped grounds.

I’ve never been to England but this is what I imagine a proper pub in the countryside to look like.

Diners could either choose to enjoy their lunch in the cozy and dark interior (probably a wonderful place on a cold rainy winter day) or in the lovely exterior of the premises.

There is no traditional table service at the Crow and Gate, rather, everyone orders at the counter. At the suggestion of other diners, I ordered the local (from Fanny Bay) pan-fried oysters, paired with a Pimm’s.

If you’ve never had a Pimm’s, I highly recommend you give it a try! It’s a cocktail made of Pimm’s (an old school gin based beverage), mixed with either sprite or ginger ale, and traditionally garnished with cucumbers, mint, and strawberries. It goes down very easy and is wonderfully refreshing on a warm summer’s day.

There was a bit of a wait for food but I was so busy enjoying the ambiance that, I scarcely noticed.

When my plate did arrive I was genuinely surprised at the size of the oysters. They looked rather plump and juicy; rather unlike any pan-fried oysters I had ever eaten.

You’ll have to excuse the lack of further food pictures – my co-workers didn’t know about the blog and given that it was my last day I preferred to keep it that way. But you will have to trust me when I say that the oysters were magnificent!!! So good in fact that when I cut into the first one a spurt of oyster juice went flying. Not gross. I swear. lol

Honestly, I couldn’t have thought of a better place to visit on my last day in Nanaimo. It was a fitting end to a wonderful two weeks at the local office.

 

Question of the Day: Do you like oysters? What is your favourite way to eat them?