My friend Amber from Nugget City lives in Summerland during the winter; that’s just an hour and a bit from Osoyoos depending on traffic. So, we promised that we’d see each other at least once this winter, depending on how long I would be in Osoyoos. Last night she mentioned on Facebook that she wanted to go to a craft fair in Kelowna today. Did anyone want to join her? A craft fair sounded like fun and I’m still not back in my work groove yet, so I replied that I was game. She suggested I meet her in Summerland, almost exactly halfway between Osoyoos and Kelowna, and that she’d drive us the rest of the way. Perfect!

The craft fair is an annual pre-Christmas event. It was a lot bigger than I would have expected. I found that there were more food products than there were crafts. We did a couple of circuits and I decided to buy a few things. The first was a huge bottle of balsamic vinegar reduction, which is vinegar that has been boiled with sugar to thicken it. It’s nice as a dip for bread or a salad dressing when mixed with olive oil, or on its own as a glaze for chicken. The next thing I wanted was a bottle of ‘Moroccan’ spice mix. At $5, that was a bargain since I couldn’t have bought the individual spices for that price. There’s lots I’ll be able to do with that! We were about to leave when Amber mentioned that she wanted a second look at a mustard display that I had tried to avoid. Needless to say, I walked out with another jar of mustard for my collection. 😀 It’s a honey/lime/ginger one that will be awesome on chicken.

Next, we headed over to Cherry Lane mall to grab a bite to eat. There, Amber used her iPhone to check movie listings. We agreed on Due Date and headed off to the theatre. I spent the next two hours laughing. The movie’s a riot! The rare second I wasn’t laughing, I was incredulous. I haven’t seen a movie in a proper theatre in so long I can’t even remember the last time I did and this one was worth the price of admission!

We had a couple more stops after that, then we drove back to her place. I didn’t stay long since I had another hour’s drive ahead of me.

It was an awesome, out-of-the-blue, sort of day, and it was really nice to hang out with Amber in ‘civilization’!