♪ I'm a journalist, and I'm travelling across my home country, Canada.

On this journey, I'll be visiting two provinces, British Columbia and Ontario.

My next adventure begins in central Canada in the province of Ontario.

♪ ♪ I've come to Smith Falls here in South Eastern Ontario, because I want to learn about boat life.

And I'm going to have the opportunity to go cruising on the UNESCO World Heritage Rideau Canal, and I'm with Doug Wade, he works at Le Boat.

Doug, are you going to teach me how to drive this luxury houseboat?

Absolutely, Brandy, we can teach anyone how to drive one of these as long as you have some patience.

We're going to spend some time talking about charts, destinations, safety, we're gonna get your hands on the controls.

We're even gonna go out and do a test run.

[Brandy] And why do people want to come here?

Why did they want to experience this UNESCO World Heritage Rideau Canal, what's so special about it?

[Doug] Sure.

So first off, this is a truly a hidden gem in E- here in Eastern Ontario.

We've got 104 miles of waterway running from Kingston to Ottawa.

There's 47 locks.

Each one has a unique feel, a unique look, and some wonderful staff from Parks Canada.

I cannot wait to get on there.

And for you to teach me how to drive the boat.

Let's go!

Let's go!

Let's do it.

[Brandy] What's the first step?

[Doug] What's the first step, I'm just going to just give you a little bit of familiarization of what we actually have in front of us here.

And it might look a little bit intimidating to begin.

But it really is actually pretty straightforward.

There's only a few things we're going to focus on.

One of the best tips we can give you is, is on steering, the steering wheel on these boats has a long, long range turns back and forth.

So my first tip for you is less is more, you want to do a turn, turn the wheel, let the boat do the job.

There's number one.

Number two, if we've got good weather or bad weather, we have two helm stations on this boat, you've got the opportunity to work from out up top, outside, or inside if the weather is kind of cool or wet.

So right over here, there's a little control lever that allows us to determine which set of controls are going to be in use.

Very simple.

Just pull it out, give it a twist.

And now the set of controls is operational, bring it back like this in the vertical position, controls up top are in gear.

So it's very clear because this is upper and lower.

Very simple.

As we start to play around a little bit.

One of the best features on these boats are the, are the thrusters, we have thrusters on both the bow and the stern on both sides of the boat.

So if you watch this, if I just give that a little push, it's gonna move the bow the direction I want it to go.

All it's gonna do is very, very simple.

Trying to move the back of the boat right now, but in this case, we're tied up so we're not going to get too far.

So allows us to simply point in the direction that I'd like to change, change the direction if I want to dock.

So all we're going to do here is I take, take all my fingers, and, and push.

Now I've got a sideways thrust and it's going to allow me to go right to the dock.

In addition, if I do an offset, I can spin the boat around in circles.

So we're gonna and we're gonna get in the basin.

And we're gonna do a few little exercises, they're going to show you just how tight and how maneuverable, this 45-foot boat actually is.

Wonderful.

Good.

I'm ready.

♪ Here we go.

In gear.

In gear.

Click.

There's gonna be nice and slow, and crank the wheel.

That's enough on the wheel, they say less is more.

[Doug] Let the boat do the job.

It's gonna, it's gonna come around.

Always be mindful of what's behind you as well.

Now start to come out of that turn.

You see what we're lined up for.

We're going to head over to that far shoreline, just get aligned up with that and then just hold the wheel steady.

And now with the thrusters get to experiences this.

Do the offset we talked about earlier which is like that you're doing top and bottom together.

[Brandy] Like this way?

[Doug] Like just like that.

I'm turning around.

What you're going to experience here is literally we can turn within the, within the length of the boat itself.

[Doug] Very very tight control on these.

[Brandy] Wow.

I can't believe you're letting me do this Doug.

(laughs) That's all I have to say.

I'm learning, I'm doing well.

You're doing fine.

I'm a better boat driver than a car driver that's all I can say!

♪ [Brandy] So in front of us is a lock.

[Doug] Yes, this is actually the biggest, the biggest drop on the canal at about 27 feet.

What I'll have you do is I'm gonna have you put the boat into gear.

We're just gonna go through at idle, I'm going to, at one point, I'm going to tell you to go ahead and pop it into neutral, because we're just going to glide.

Gonna keep the boat straight, we're gonna get in and have you bring it to a stop by going back and reverse, and then thrusters, straight over to the wall, we're going to glide into the, into the lock chamber.

And then we're going to pull over to the side.

So here we are in your first lock chamber.

If you look ahead, you can get a sense of we're dropping at a pretty quick rate at this point in time, we're currently going downstream.

The objective here is we're at a high point on the water.

And the City of Ottawa, which is to the north is down, simply the elevation is lower, and we're bringing the boat down to match the next bit of elevation.

I say there's 47 locks along the canal.

And each one is either going to bring you up or bring you down depending on what direction you're headed.

And you can see this one is a significant one.

[Brandy] So we have two people putting the lines on and off throughout this whole experience.

Yeah.

Wow.

So you have to be with how many people on the boat?

Oh, you can, we can, we can do it by ourselves.

Really?

Oh, yeah.

No problem.

Okay, what are we doing?

We're gonna bring the bow out a little bit.

Like this?

Just like that.

You're getting pretty comfortable with that setup, pop it in the gear to the, to that idle position.

And just watch your bow just a little bit because it still wants to move over... And you are exactly where you need to be.

Well done!

[Brandy] Wow.

So what do you call this kind of boat?

[Doug] Some would consider it a small yacht, I consider the large cruiser.

You know, some people refer to it as a houseboat.

But this isn't a traditional houseboat of what we used to see back in the 80s.

These are a little, little fancier.

[Brandy] This is very fancy.

And now we've just turned around and we're going to drive right back into that lock.

Look at this, how cool, it's amazing.

Go ahead, put it neutral.

Ta da!

Hands free!

How fun!

I'm loving this.

♪ ♪ (change) Next I travel around 4662 kilometres or 2896 miles west across Canada to the province of British Columbia.

♪ I'm in Abbotsford, British Columbia.

This place is famous for its agriculture and is known as the city in the country.

It's east of Vancouver in the Fraser Valley.

While I'm visiting, I'll be learning about the wine and the food that grows here.

♪ ♪ (sitar raga) I've come to Maan Farms.

This is a wonderful place where you can try pumpkins, strawberries, wine.

The Maan family has been running this farm for over 40 years and I've come to the kitchen of one of the owners.

I'm with the Davinder Maan and her son Gaurav Maan.

And we're going to learn how to make samosas.

Tell me a little bit about your South Asian culture and why it's such a big part of the farm experience?

Well, I'm from Punjab, India.

So food is a very big part of our culture and having the food on the farm, Punjabi food like samosas and butter chicken.

It completes the journey of our guests.

Gaurav, tell me a little bit about the experience here for visitors.

What can they do?

So we are here at our farm, we're super unique.

We're in the business of making memories, so families can come here and they can pick berries in our strawberry patch.

Come to our pumpkin patch in the fall.

We have a haunted corn maze.

We also specialize in making delicious wine so I'm the winemaker here.

We make fruit wines from our berries.

[Brandy] Wow.

And you know I see that samosas are what we're going to make today.

Gaurav, have you ever made them before?

Never.

So I'm excited to learn.

All right, Brandy and Gaurav, I got an oil, it's a vegetable oil, canola oil.

I'm just putting in the hot pan.

Just about a couple tablespoons.

And then I'm going to put my cumin in, you want to let that crackle in the oil.

So you can see Brandy it's turning a little bit brown.

So it's releasing all the flavours in the oil so as it crackling I'm just gonna add my other spices which is half a teaspoon red pepper.

This is garam masala, half a teaspoon, a teaspoon of coriander, a little bit of black pepper and I'd say heaped teaspoon of salt, a little bit more, just to add the more and then Brandy I have, this is my ginger powder.

And then I have mango powder, [Brandy] Mango powder.

Wow.

[Davinder] All the spices are getting roasted in the oil and then releasing the smell and the taste in the oil.

So my ingredient is now onions.

We're just gonna sauté lightly.

I'm going to add the potatoes.

I'm literally going to turn off the heat.

I don't need any more heat, and I'm just gonna mix the potatoes.

And the last step is add the peas because the peas don't need to be cooked.

They are already boiled and they're frozen.

So the potato filling is done.

Brandy.

Are you ready for it?

I am ready for the next step.

Okay.

This is the last step to fill the filling in the wraps.

So Brandy, I have wraps, they come in circles, tortilla wraps, they are simple as this.

I cut them in half.

And now simply I have flour and water.

I just made it almost like a glue.

This will help me to close the, all the sides of the samosa so I have strategically put the wrap half, like half moon towards me.

So I will put the glue on the one side.

And, and I'm going to - look at this.

Putting this in my hand.

I'm going to twist them on one to another.

So make a cone, you see?

Oh yeah, so it turns in a cone.

And so next up is with a spoon I'll put a couple tablespoons or more or less into the wrap.

So.

Wow.

Yeah, like two and a half.

And then, I'll do it with the finger it's much quicker.

So I just, closing it.

That's it.

That's it.

Wow.

And then just make sure it stays all intact.

That's it.

Okay.

I would love to try one.

Yes.

So, the first thing is take this sort of glue mixture and where do I put it?

Just put on a half.

Put it on half here.

Okay.

[Davinder] Yeah, you don't put too much so we want to make sure.

So make sure okay, I'm gonna just give you a hand.

And then go this way?

Yes, perfectly.

Oh!

No?

Brandy, you're doing fine.

Oh, I see like this.

Yeah.

So I want to make a little cone.

Yes, a cone or pocket.

It is more like a cone.

[Brandy] Okay, and then I'm gonna hold the cone open.

[Davinder] Yeah.

[Brandy] Then I'm going to take a spoonful, 1,2,3.

Maybe one more because I'm greedy.

[Davinder] Just press them down.

Everything.

[Brandy] Press it down.

[Davinder] Yes.

And then the trick is the beauty of samosas is you keep the seam in the middle.

Okay, and you just put this glue.

Yes.

All the way around?

Oh, just I think enough.

Okay, Brandy, you're going very.

I get too involved!

I put too much!

No, no, no.

We don't want to put too much so the flour we don't want to leave it uncooked.

Kind of thing, we don't want to eat it.

So, the trick is just join it and then I'm just pressing to make sure it's joined properly.

Look at that!

You made a samosa!

Thank you and Gaurav it's your turn.

Oh boy.

Oh my god!

Gaurav, do you think you can do it?

Let's see.

I'll be so amazed!

[Gaurav] Oh no.

Gaurav, Gaurav...

Okay, now, now hold it like a cone.

There you go.

Okay, can you tell I've never done this before?

It's all good Gaurav.

All right, a couple teaspoons here.

Yes, let me put the filling on this one side.

One, two.

Okay?

Sure.

There you go.

Now you have to put the glue on the... Oh, you're doing it the authentic way!

The authentic way they used to do it in India.

[Davinder] Wow, and keep the seam in the middle.

[Gaurav] The seam in the middle and press down.

[Davinder] Yes.

Well, I think Gaurav, and I did a really good job.

What do you think?

I think you guys did perfectly fine... for a first attempt.

And I know that you created some before we came and they're ready to be fried.

I'd love to try the ones that you made.

Yes!

So they're ready to go into the fryer or in my wok to get fried and then the last step will be eating them!

Yummy.

[Gaurav] I'm hungry.

[Davinder] Yes!

[Brandy] It looks so tasty.

[Davinder] Yes and look at that it's turning already a golden brown.

ooh!

Yes.

I can't wait to try these.

Yes, it's getting crunchier.

So oil makes it more crunchy and yummy.

Uh, hmm.

I'm so excited to be here at your family table and look at all the treats in front of us, the samosa we made, butter chicken from Mama Maan and then three different wines, Gaurav, tell me about the wine?

Yeah, so the first wine that we're gonna have, it's our strawberry raspberry blend.

What I really believe about fruit wines is they're the perfect pairing for Indian food.

We are Indian at heart so and we make fruit wines, so why not pair them with authentic Indian food?

Wow.

Okay, well, I'd love to try.

Cheers!

This is the first one - this is the strawberry one?

Strawberry raspberry blend!

Oh, it smells incredible!

It smells just like the fruit.

Ooh, that is quite good, just beautiful.

That's good.

Oh, my mouth is full!

It's like a dessert and I can't wait to try the samosa.

Are you ready?

Let's do it.

We've got this chutney that Mama Maan made as well.

Should I just put it right on top?

[Davinder] Yeah.

You can just put it on top!

[Brandy] And this is a vegetarian samosa but you have other types too right?

[Gaurav] Yeah, we do butter chicken samosas, those are our most popular.

We have beef samosas and we have chicken samosas.

I want to try this.

Yeah, they're all available fresh, but also sell them frozen.

Oh, I'm gonna fill up my suitcase.

There you go... 'K, I'm gonna jump into this one.

It's a vegetarian samosa.

Mmm...

Try the wine again.

MM-hmm!

I love the potatoes, and all those spices.

There's just so many different flavours all at once.

It's incredible.

Wow, what a meal!

I'm having so much fun here!

Yeah.

Okay, the next wine, what's this one?

This is our blackberry wine.

So this one, as a winemaker you are not supposed to have any favourites.

But this is our best seller.

Blackberry is the most popular.

It goes really well with butter chicken.

So Mama Maan was kind enough to get us some butter chicken.

So should we dig in?

Yeah.

Let's do a cheers first.

Okay, cheers to the blackberry wine!

Cheers.

How would you describe this one?

It's sweeter at the beginning, but then it finishes dry.

Dry.

Lots of body.

Lots of colour.

Almost like merlot.

Yep.

It's delicious.

I really like that one.

Let's try the butter chicken.

Butter chicken!

And do you sell a lot of this?

We sell tons of it.

Like every day.

We make, yeah, especially in the fall season.

You like to have kind of warm food.

And we sell through our freezer so people take the sauce and make their own butter chicken.

It's very sweet.

It's not that spicy.

No.

[Gaurav] Yeah.

This is our strawberry rhubarb, so also one of our most popular.

It's, you know, when you think about strawberry rhubarb.

We think about pie.

This one surprisingly starts sweet like strawberry.

But it finishes a little bit drier.

It smells incredible.

Yep, it smells like fresh strawberry fields.

It does!

Yep.

[Davinder] Wow, it finishes with rhubarb.

I love being here with your family.

Everyone is so warm, and you can taste it in the food.

I just want to come back every season and explore because there's so much to do here and thank you for opening your house to me and sharing your recipes with me.

And it's just wonderful.

I love how you share your culture with the locals here and the other visitors from around the world.

Thank you.

Thank you very much Brandy.

You're welcome to come anytime.

I'll be back.

Yes!

♪ While I'm here in Abbotsford, British Columbia, I've decided to come to the Seaside Pearl Winery.

It's in the Mount Lehman area in the Fraser Valley and I'm with Allison Zimmerman.

She co-owns this beautiful winery with her husband.

Allison, why did the both of you decide to grow these grapes and have this winery here?

Well, we both love wine, and my husband loves making wine.

And I love agriculture.

I love being connected to nature.

And when you were growing up, were you living around agriculture?

I'm originally from Trinidad Tobago, and my grandparents are coffee and cocoa farmers.

So it wasn't hard for me to get involved in growing grapes and making wine.

Wonderful.

So you grew up in Trinidad Tobago, and then you move to Canada, meet your husband, decide to build this beautiful winery, was it hard?

It has its challenges.

We are down here on the coast, where it's pretty, it's really wet.

So we had to do varieties of grapes that would lend itself to this environment.

So we did two hybrids: Maréchal Foch, which you are looking at right now, and Petite Milo.

[Brandy] They look so beautiful.

Is it common for people to have these grapes here?

Um, this is an uncommon grape variety.

It, um, it's thick skinned.

It's a teinturier grape.

So the flesh is actually red on the inside.

You see most grape varieties, the flesh is, is white, but on this one on this, on these berries, the flesh is red.

[Brandy] Beautiful.

[Allison] So yeah, so there.

It's an uncommon grape.

[Brandy] I love learning about your grapes.

And I would like to see your barrel room.

Oh, it's beautiful.

Let's go.

Let's go!

[Allison] And we can have some of this wine.

♪ [Allison] Brandy, I have a wine thief here.

Is that me?

No, let's steal some wine!

[Brandy] I love that it's called a wine thief.

We're in your barrel room.

And what are we tasting here?

[Allison] We are tasting Cabernet Franc.

[Brandy] Okay.

And this wine has been in these oak barrels for how long?

[Allison] It's been here for one year.

And it will be released in four years.

Can you drink it after one year?

Of course.

It's young wine.

Okay, but you wait three or four years?

Yes.

Okay.

We'll see.

It smells wonderful!

What are we thinking about when we're drinking this?

We're thinking black currants, we're thinking raspberries.

And we're thinking sweet spice.

Oh, yeah, this is delicious.

This is beautiful.

I don't think I can wait three years.

It's so beautiful.

I can taste all those spices like you're saying.

And you get the oak.

[Brandy] Smells so good.

So in all these different oak barrels, what's being made in here?

All of our red wines.

So we have Cabernet Foch which you saw in the vineyard.

We have Cab Franc, what we're having now.

We have Cabernet Sauvignon, Petit Verdot, which is beautiful, and Pinot Noir.

[Brandy] Wonderful.

Okay, well, I can't wait to go into your tasting room and see what this tastes like four years after it's been in these beautiful oak barrels.

[Allison] Oh, yes.

Cheers.

[Allison] Cheers.

(glasses chime) ♪ [Allison] Welcome to Seaside Pearl Chapel Tasting Room Brandy.

[Brandy] It is beautiful.

Look at all these different wines you have here.

[Allison] Oh yes, we represent 3 of the 10 wine-growing regions here in British Columbia.

We do Similkameen Valley, Okanagan Valley and of course home here, Fraser Valley, Mount Lehman.

[Brandy] Beautiful.

This is one of our newest wine products, Sparkling wine in a can, Daffodils.

I love it.

Yeah, you're in the Daffodil capital of Canada Mount Lehman.

I didn't know that.

Yes.

So this is a frizzante style.

And this wine is from our Petite Milo grapes.

It is bright and refreshing and citrus.

It's beautiful.

It goes really nicely with seafood.

We're on the coast.

So put it with the Ceviche, put it with white fish, halibut.

Cheers.

Cheers.

It smells wonderful.

Mmm-hmm.

It's delicious.

I've never tasted anything like that.

[Allison] So our next one is the Cab Franc.

This is the finished one that you had down in the barrel room.

[Brandy] Okay.

This is Similkameen Valley, um, Similkameen is two degrees cooler at night than the Okanagan and so what happens is the sugar production stops in, in the night because temperature drops, but you have nicer flavours so you get the preservation of the flavours on the, on the fruit.

And you get nice high acidity because it's cooler.

And it allows for cleansing of the palate when you're eating, you know, so you're able to taste your food.

And then you have your sip of wine, and dinners go longer, and conversations are sweeter.

And you will have fun.

This is nice.

I'm so happy that you and your husband decided to grow the grapes here and to start this winery and that you have all these different regions represented in your wine from British Columbia.

You have a lot of different varieties here.

Yes.

I just want to thank you for sharing your knowledge with me and I'm having such a good time with you.

I never want to leave.

Oh, you can stay.

You can stay anytime.

Thank you, Allison.

You're welcome.

Thank you for coming Brandy.

Thank you.

♪ ♪ ♪ ♪