Scenic Sunday in Kamloops

Kamloops, British Columbia is a very different place from where I live in Vancouver. Kamloops is about 4 hours drive north and is located in what is called the Interior of the province. It is cattle country and for years this small city was more like a frontier town.

[Panoramic shot of the North Shore, Kamloops]

I'm happy to say that in the past decade or so things have changed a lot. New commercial buildings have gone up aplenty. New areas of the city have seen significant residential development and there are new facilities and services to be used such as the new downtown library and the one that will open on April 19, 2010 on the north shore. There are also new hotels and restaurants.

[Photo of the newest hotel opened in February 2010]

If you are a golfer there are numerous golf resorts. If you are a mountain biker, the city is known for it's mountain bike trails. If you love the outdoors the entire region is known for fishing and camping. If you like hot weather you are also in luck as the summer temperatures can frequently get over 30ºCelsius. So you will likely want to hang out in one of the city's many beautiful parks just to stay cool and relax. Or you might participate in a community or national event like Canada's birthday on Canada Day, July 1st.

[Collage of photos taken at park on Canada Day 2009. 
Click on photo to enlarge]

Whatever you want to do, you will likely be able to do it in Kamloops. But you better hurry. Those real estate prices have been going up, up and up.

Here now are a few photos taken downtown in February 2010.

[Plaza Hotel, a landmark in the city centre]

[Zack's Coffee shop, a long time business in downtown core]

[City sidewalks are nice and wide downtown and planter pots await Spring]

[Traffic is not exceptionally heavy]

[Buildings downtown retain their history. Big malls are on the hill & across the river]

[This mall has undergone about 3 complete renovations in last 40 years]

[One of the local radio stations]

[Bus routes are extensive and run every 15-30 minutes depending on time of day]

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Savoury Eats

I was googling recipes for non-gluten eating a few days ago. While I didn't find quite what I was looking for, I did find a tasty looking vegetable dish. Here is my version of it.

Ingredients:

half a red pepper sliced

half a yellow pepper sliced

handful of broccoli chopped in large pieces

handful of cauliflower chopped in large pieces

two small yams washed and sliced lengthwise like fries

half a zucchini chopped in larger pieces

two medium carrots, peeled and sliced in long pieces

olive oil

cracked pepper

tuscan seasoning

After washing and chopping all the vegetables, toss them with olive oil cracked pepper and tuscan seasoning (recipe here).  You can eyeball the amounts. You  just need enough seasoning to taste and enough oil to coat the vegetables.

When done, place the veggies in a nice casserole dish and bake until the vegetables have enough crunch. I think I left mine for about 202-5 minutes in a 350ºF oven but you can experiment on this as I find that no ovens are created equal in terms of heat distribution.

The vegetables were very good and very filling. I didn't make a salad or any dessert that day. I just had my vegetables with two small hamburger patties (minus the bun) and was very full.

I was reminded yesterday that today is Earth Hour. This is a global call to action for business and individuals alike. During this hour one turns of all electricity from 8:30 p.m. to 9:30 p.m. local time. Just think how much energy we can save around the globe when we all stop and turn off our power supply for one hour. At the same time, we can use this time to pray for others, meditate on God's Word and give thanks for all that we have.

In every thing give thanks: for this is the will of God in 

Christ Jesus concerning you.

2 Thessalonians 5:18