Butchart Gardens 2009

A little something extra for you all. 

When I was home for the Christmas holidays, three of my bestest girlies (Ingmarie, Tiffaney, and Charmaine) and I headed out to Butchart Gardens for the Christmas display and a lovely dinner.  I recapped a bit of it at the time, but was waiting for my friend Ingmarie’s photos.  She uses a Nikon D60 so we designated her our fancy photographer for the evening.  It’s mainly due to Ing’s photography and new love of the hobby that I really wanted a DSLR of my own.  Maybe next year I’ll be the designated photographer!

Dinner at The Dining Room Restaurant:

• shared appies…seafood trio, herb-crusted goat cheese, and braised short rib.

 

• main courses…seafood boulliabase, game hen & risotto, pork chops & polenta. (2 of us had the pork)

• shared desserts… chocolate trio with pot de creme, homemade donuts, pralines…and one of the best creme brulee ever…

People often look at me like I’m crazy when I recommend the Butchart Dining Room.  It it perceived to be some sort of touristy place that would have mediocre food.  I am here to tell you that it is a hidden gem!  A little pricey because you have to pay full admission to the Gardens even to just go to the restaurant, but worth it for the great atmosphere, lovely service, and amazing local food.

The Christmas light displays are nothing short of awesome.  I had lived on Vancouver Island for pretty much my entire life, specifically in Victoria for 7 years before FH and I decided to go to Butchart for a date the first Summer we were together.  We had such a great time, we had to go back for Christmas.  It was to be a tradition, but of course we got transferred and only managed to get there one more time right before we moved. 

Last year, the girls and I had plans to carry on the tradition but that’s when Victoria got hit with a huge snow storm and we could barely get around downtown let alone all the way out to Butchart.

Needless to say I was pretty happy to get there this year!

• two turtle doves, three French hens…

• sunken garden…

• four calling birds, six geese a laying…

 

• fiiiiiive golden riiiiiinnngs…

   

They put in a crazy cool carousel this year!  Tiff and I just had to ride it.  :)

 

So glad we got to go!  Thanks girls!  and thanks Ingmarie for playing paparazzi for us the whole night.  *hugs*

 

Blogger Catch-up!

I’ve been a busy gal!  Between sleep, visiting, running around, working and even a workout, blogging just had to wait!  Here I am!

Yesterday:

My first full day home.  After an awesome night’s sleep I was happy to simply arise from my own personal airbed to a freshly stocked kitchen here at Tiff’s and a comfy spot on her sofa to work for the day.  :)

My comfy bed:

We hit the supermarket last night and picked up healthy breakfast and lunch options for my stay (knowing our dinners are going to be filled with indulgence!).  First thing on my list was SilverHills sprouted grains bread.  For some reason I haven’t found this on the East Coast and have been missing it.  I LOVE the Squirrelly variety but they were sold out so I got this Mack’s Flax one instead. 

Toasted up a couple of slices with Adams natural peanut butter and a bigass organic banana…

 

With herbal tea (read: decaf).  Gasp!  Ha!  Don’t worry, I knew I was going for coffee a bit later.  :)

Got some work done.  Have I mentioned that I love Skype?  Weekly conference call tackled from the comfort of the couch via laptop.  Have work will travel.

Next up:  pretty latte!  Met my friend Kristoff for a catch-up and some caffeine.  Buon Amici’s is literally right next to Tiff’s building…so convenient. 

Medium 1% vanilla latte (they didn’t have skim…that’s a little wierd).  My second coffee art in the last week!

After visiting and running errands with Kristoff, I came back to work and lunch.  More of the lovely, healthy good eats that Tiff ensured were on hand…salad fixings!

In the big blue bowl:  organic baby spinach, tomatoes, yellow pepper, red onion…

Topped with 1/2 small avocado (possibly the most perfectly ripe avocado ever!) and chunky salsa for dressing.…

I threw my one little leftover chicken strip on top just for fun…

Now…for the next part you will just have to stay tuned for photos. 

Tiff and I met up with other bestest girlfriends Ingmarie and Charmaine for a fabulous reunion dinner and Christmas fun at Butchart Gardens!  Ingmarie has an oh-so-fabulous DSLR so she was in charge of photography…and the doll even took my food pics for me!  So when I get those, you’ll get those!

For now I can tell you that dinner at The Dining Room Restaurant was awesome as always!  FH and I discovered it a few years back and had a few great date nights there before we moved away.  Last year the girls and I had planned to go, but a massive snow storm foiled our destination.

On the menu for the table: 

Shared appies…

• 2 x Warm herb-crusted goat cheese
• 1 x Braised beef short rib with butternut squash ravioli
• 1 x Seafood Sampler

Small, decadent, rich little plates.  Nicely shared.

For dinner I had the pork chop with AMAZING polenta and baked acorn squash.  (and brought home leftovers…mmmmmmm)

And of course we had to share some dessert…

• Vanilla bean creme brule with cranberry biscotti (heaven!)
• Chocolate sampler featuring choc/caramel pot de creme, fresh donut balls, and choc/almond brittle (sinful!)

Along with a festive rum & egg nog and a bottle of BC’s own See Ya Later Ranch Riesling for the table…deeeeeelish and fabulous!!

After dinner we walked through the incredible Christmas light displays…12 days of Christmas vignettes.  This is my third time and I loved it even more than the first time!  It’s just so cool!!

(Partridge in a pear tree!)

(Fiiiiive golden rings!)

Tiff and I even rode the brand new carosel.  How fun is that?

 

(Char, me, Ing)

(Tiff, me, Ing)

Now just you wait until I get my hands on Ing’s pictures!!!

After the park closed we headed back to town.  Ingmarie and I stopped by a little Christmas partay at Kristoff and Nicole’s where I got to catch up with a few more friends.  Still full from dinner I opted for a glass of yummy red wine…and later Nicole convinced me to sip on a homemade rum & egg nog.

Back to my airbed by 1am and asleep before my head hit the pillow!

Friends, fresh air, festive fun, fabulous food.  Not bad for a first day back!!  :)

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And tonight Miss Cat arrives from Vancouver!!!