Yesterday, I was on Saturna Island, photographing their stunning vineyard and winery. It is a site to see like no other: overlooking the ocean, surrounded by rock cliffs and hills and beautiful old oaks.

Danny, the resident winemaker is from S. Africa. He has a deep seated passion for Canada. And more so for BC. And more so for the islands. And mostly, for the nature that surrounds him. Danny closes his eyes and takes a deep breath of the musky evening air through his nose. He opens his eyes. And looks at me. And smiling, he says: “Just smell that”. In the very short time that I got to know him, it seems to me that this is very much who Danny is.

As the evening progressed and I got to know him a bit better, it doesn’t seem so odd that he suggest we drive up to the tower, and ‘hike a goat’s trail’ to the edge to see the vineyard from a higher vantage point.

Sure, I thought. I can hike. With my gear. And so I’m wearing flip flops. No big deal. It can’t be that bad. Let’s do it.

I’m  not sure if I can exactly portray the grade we were hiking. It’s often hard to capture in a photo. Suffice it to say, I slid down on my bum a lot. And it wasn’t so easy to stop. And on the way up, hands AND feet were required. And so was Danny’s help. A lot. And the flip flops had to go. They were doing me no good. I went most of the way barefoot and I laughed when Danny asked, as he skipped along ahead of me, what my most adventurous photo shoot was. (never laugh too heartily on a cliff side. I learned this.)

I just know he’s going to read this and chuckle at me. He is as able on this cliff side as the goats we saw perching there. (which I didn’t capture due to the balance issues that come with mounting a 70-200 on ones camera whilst teetering on a cliff. You understand.)

I know that I am one to take risks to get the shot. I love taking risks (in certain areas of life). It’s scary and exciting and exhilarating. And I often don’t connect to what I’m doing until it’s over. And…I never realized I was afraid of heights.

I didn’t sleep well last night though. My foot kept slipping in my dreams. :)

I can’t share the winery shots with you just yet, but here is part of what we saw.

Danny. Thank you! For suggesting this. There is no way I could have taken your map and done this without you! Enjoy your wine as you and your girlfriend skip up here after work on a regular basis. After all, this is one of the easy trails, right? Right.

I am getting to places where I normally don’t get to with all the shoots this month. From Saltspring to Saturna to Pender. And lots of time in the Cowichan Valley. Where this scene caught my eye…

This week, I’ve hung out in commercial kitchens with uber-creative chefs, with people who are following their dreams, opening their own restaurants, and established places that are showing me their best work in between cooking for a full house. Sometimes, like today, I get served delicious home made ice cream made with just a touch of rose. Alongside a gorgeous white wine. This was at Devour. Which is where you need to go. I’m thinking the ice cream will be appearing again here on the blog. :) Stay tuned for that…

We had the perfect evening. Sunshine, the perfect amount of wind, a gorgeous scene. A very active little boy and all his energy and joy plus two adoring parents. Ideal conditions.

Here is a tiny sneak peek of the session we had together. So hard to choose what to put here!

Enjoy you guys! Plenty more to come…xo

Denise runs French Mint, a cooking school here in Victoria, which is housed in the lower level of her lovely home. Denise invited me back to attend one of her classes, and today, I had the pleasure. I’ve been excited about this for weeks.

The class I decided on concentrated on a number of Appetizers and Small Bites. It was full, with ten of us perched around the room, watching, taking notes, and drooling over the amazing smells Denise was conjuring up. Fresh herbs in bouquets sent wafts of greenness around the room. Oil infused with garlic and rosemary and some of my other favorite things in the world, simmered gently on the stove. Things baked and toasted and were finely chopped. We sipped wine and laughed with each other. My head was spinning with ultimate foody pleasure.

There’s something I love about not only food, but the preparation of it. Matching white bowls of already chopped peppers, crisp crostinis on a tray and other embellishments awaited their turn to be put into service. All of our senses were satiated while Noreen, Denise’s assistant, kept us watered and fed as more and more delicacies came off the demo counter and onto our plates.

As I sat there and munched on carpaccio de boeuf, prosciutto wrapped palm hearts, Vietnamese rolls, halibut ceviche and one of my favorites – blue cheese cookies fresh out of the oven (oh. my. God.), I looked around, took a deep breath and stopped. I suddenly longed for a commercial kitchen, with a barn door oven like Denise’s. More stainless bowls than I would ever need. Two hundred tiny white bowls for dipping sauce. Professional knives and eight chopping boards. It was like every scent in that kitchen hit me at once. The chili oil, the jalapenos, the fresh mint and cilantro. It gave me goose bumps. It made me want to cry. I wanted to invite everyone that I know over for food. I would cook it all and serve it with wine. It would be a non stop assembly line of amazing tastes and scents. It recharged me to get back to the kitchen. Maybe not in such volumes to need two hundred dipping bowls! But back to the kitchen nonetheless.

I didn’t bring my camera with me to class. It was hard not to, but I knew that’s what I  had to do in order to get the full experience. This day was for me, so I can’t tell you  how glad I was that I didn’t. I love cooking. I love food. I love food appliances and gadgets and dishes. And I needed to fully immerse myself in all of these things without a camera in my hands. It’s been a really long time since I’ve done this. And I needed it. Badly. It was a wonderful reminder of the other passion. Anyone who knows me, knows how much I love to spend time creating with food. You will all be glad to know that the beast has been reawakened! And it needs guinea pigs people, so stay tuned.

Thank you, Denise. I cannot tell you enough how much I enjoyed myself today. And despite what they say…it turns out that food really is love. :) Or at least I like to think of it that way.

The left image below was on the cover of the March/April issue of EAT magazine and was so beautifully put together by Denise. xo

Treya is three.

So we celebrated!

Happy Birthday Princess Girl. I love you. xoxo

Aaaaand …we’re done. :)