Waterfront Wines

Waterfront Wines was one of the highest rated places in Kelowna that was available for labour day weekend, so we decided to give it a try.

The decor is pretty neat, we especially liked this tree branch light fixture in the dining room to the right.

We decided to all go for some tapas style appetizers first. B and I had the cheese platter and the potted foie gras. For the three types of cheese, we had the St. Geric Blue Cheese, the Alpine Gold semi soft cheese, and the Louis d'Or firm cheese.

The blue was of course the strongest, and the other two were good on their own, but would be drowned out by the apricot if added. We really loved the walnuts that were dusted with cinnamon sugar.

The potted foie gras was REALLY good. It was creamy and the wine jelly was a good balance of tart but sweet to go with the creaminess of the liver.

We didn't stay for main courses because we were pretty stuffed from the appetizers and none of the main dishes stood out for us.

Great for a night out while lake cabin-ing in Kelowna. Give it a try if you're in town.

Three Mushroom Risotto

Today’s recipe was inspired by Chatelaine’s Porcini-mushroom risotto. Because we didn’t have time to look for dried procini mushrooms and cremini mushrooms, we just bought white and brown mushrooms. We also saved some shiitake from Monday’s recipe to add some flavour.

Ingredients

• 4 cups water
• 2 bouillon cubes
• 3 tbsp butter
• 1 medium onion, finely chopped
• 100 g white mushrooms, sliced
• 100 g brown mushrooms, sliced
• 100 g shiitake mushrooms, sliced
• 1 cup Arborio rice
• 1/4 cup white wine
• 1/2 cup grated parmesan cheese

Method

1. combine four cups water and 2 bouillons, cover and bring to a boil, reduce heat to low to keep warm

2. melt butter in a medium saucepan over medium

3. cook onion and mushrooms until mushrooms are soft (4 to 5 minutes)

4. add rice and stir until glossy (1 minute)

5. stir in wine until all liquid absorbed (2 to 3 minutes)

6. lower heat to medium and medium-low so mixture is just simmering

7. add 1/2 cup of broth at a time until absorbed (28 to 30 minutes) - risotto should be slightly saucy but not soupy

8. remove from heat, stir in cheese

9. serve immediately with or without sriracha

Horizons

We were invited to join my fifteen family members at Horizons for my little cousin's birthday. Normally, I would say that's a bad idea - for seventeen people to dine at a quiet romantic type restaurant, but I'm glad I was wrong.

For this dine out, I ordered from the dine out menu and my partner ordered from the normal menu. Our table shared two bottles of Lindeman's Bin 45 Cabernet Sauvignon. It went down so smooth my uncle said you can drink it straight from the bottle.

As appetizer, I ordered the crab cake. At first I thought it was too fishy, it didn't taste like fresh crab meat. Then I realized it was served with wasabi, and it was the "wow" factor in the dish.

As our entree, I ordered the pork tenderloin while my partner ordered the New York Steak, rare.

The pork was really tender, juicy, and flavourful. I was afraid we were going to be shortchange during dine out, but the dish was so big we had to pack half of it.

The steak was done just right. It was properly cooked - pink throughout and cool in the middle. It was juicy and tasty. It was really good steak. We also packed half.

For dessert, I ordered the raspberry green tea creme brûlée. My partner ordered the brownie. The green tea flavour from the creme brûlée caught me off guard. It was so strong, but so deliciously balanced by the tartness of the raspberry, which is ever so light. The brownie was the exact opposite - dense, and the texture created by the nuts mixed in was great.

The menu says they add 15% gratuity to parties of 8 or more, but not for us! That's such a brilliant thing to do when you give good service - because you can always get more than that if we have a good time!