Food Trucks and Summer’s End

September 4, 2012May 4, 2014 ~ Teresa ~ 5 Comments

The Labour Day weekend has just passed and for many of us, that signals summer’s end. Though summery weather around these parts (barring early torrential rains) seems to last into October some years, September usually marks the end of community celebrations and summer programs.

With that in mind, I decided to stop by the last day of one of my neighbourhood’s most popular events this summer – The Waldorf Hotel‘s Food Cart Festival, which has been taking over their parking lot every Sunday since the end of July. I took a few photos there and indulged in a double-decker cone from Earnest Ice Cream – their salted caramel was perfect and the strawberry-basil made me want to run home and roast some strawberries right away to recapture the flavour. But I digress…

The Food Truck Festival is a great example of the zeitgeist in Vancouver these day – a nice selection of local food (in those trendy trucks); pedestrian and bike friendly; a neighbourhood event that attracts folks from all over the city. Along with VIVA Vancouver and the community celebrations funded by Neighbourhood Small Grants, Vancouver’s summer street scene is becoming a lot more vibrant.

Speaking of Neighbourhood Small Grants, a group of neighbours planted this herb garden I passed today. I thought it was a lovely concept.

So tell me, does your community promote street-level interaction? What are the community events that define summer for you?

Dog Social

August 14, 2012August 14, 2012 ~ Teresa ~ 2 Comments

Having a dog in the city is an inherently social act. You don’t realize that until you suddenly start having conversations with folks around the neighbourhood that you’d never spoken to before, just because they like your dog. Going to the dog park leads to an acquaintance pool full of people you only know by their dog’s name. It’s something that helps me feel even more rooted in my neighbourhood.

Vancouver East Village and the neighbourhood business association there capitalized on this by hosting a pet social for neighbourhood folks and neighbourhood dog-related businesses. Full disclosure: I live on the edge of the next neighbourhood over, but I dropped by anyway. I’m glad I did, too, since I won the draw for a bag full of doggie goodies from Dog Country. I’m looking forward to picking it up later today.

I think events like this are smart. Neighbours get to connect with each other and local businesses, while dogs get to do what they love best – meet, greet, and play. (Best not to mention the rolling around on dubious patches of grass.)

While we were there, we also got to enjoy the beauty of Pandora Park’s community gardens. I’m lucky enough to have a back yard big and bright enough for vegetable beds, but a lot of urbanites don’t have that luxury and sign up for community garden patches, instead. They’re spreading across the city and it’s a wonderful way to enjoy gardening and grow your own food. I bet there’s as many connections being made in community gardens as there are in dog parks, too.

In the Swing of It

July 17, 2012 ~ Teresa ~ 4 Comments

It’s truly summer here and I’m spending a lot of time fussing over the plants in my vegetable garden. That’s not all that there is to do, though. Summer’s a busy time around here.

For instance, while I’m typing away in my stuffy apartment (what am I thinking?), there’s a hyper-local honey tasting at Salt Tasting Room; folks are finding a spot for their blankets to watch a movie in Stanley Park (courtesy of Fresh Air Cinema); and elsewhere in the park, folks are settling in to watch a live presentation of The Music Man.

This week’s Main Street Farmer’s Market is featuring a pie contest as part of their Berry Festival and The Salty Tongue’s brought back their Long Table Supper series with a fruit-focused Pit for your Supper theme. If that’s not enough berry goodness for you, Gourmet Warehouse is tempting folks (well, me) by stocking Bernardin’s Home Canning Starter Kit. If you’re needing a canning primer, the Greater Vancouver Food Bank‘s Community Kitchen program is hosting a Safe Canning Basics demonstration. If you’re more of a grow-your-own sort, there’s Mid-Season Gardening workshop coming up, too. I think I may need a little help on both counts – I got a little carried away with the five(!) varieties of beans I planted and I think freezing all the extras would be a bit of a shame. I’m also trying to figure out what to plant in my newly freed up garden squares – ah, Square Foot Gardening, you really know how to keep a body hopping.

There’s tonnes more going on, with all the festivals, block parties, and outdoor events of the summer. I’m hoping to take in a goodly portion of them. But for now, I’m off to water my garden before it gets dark.

What’s happening in your neck of the woods this summer?

Gluten-Free Goodness in Vancouver

January 24, 2012May 4, 2014 ~ Teresa ~ 2 Comments

On Sunday, Kevin and I visited Vancouver’s first (annual, I hope) Gluten-Free Expo. I didn’t take any photos there, as I’d intended, because the crowds were huge. Around 3,000 people attended, so many that some booths ran out of stock and had to send for more. Some of our favourite gluten-free vendors were there and we discovered some new ones, too. Things are looking up for those with celiac disease and gluten-intolerance.

Inspired by the expo, I thought I’d do a round up of some great gluten-free goods. I’ve posted about a few favourites before, but the list just keeps growing. As does the awareness of how to serve gluten-avoiding customers safely in restaurants.

Gluten-Free Bakeries

mygoodness!

Mountain Top Café and Bakery

Panne Rizo

The Sweet Tooth Cakery

Quejos

Choices Rice Bakery

Gluten-Free Grocers

All Choices stores label gluten-free goods with a blue shelf tag and stores like East End Food Co-op, Donald’s Market, Nestor’s, and Drive Organics carry gluten-free goods, but there’s only one store in Vancouver that is dedicated to gluten-free goods entirely – Ed’s Gluten Free Specialty (which has sadly gone out of business, now).

If you’re looking for gluten-free flours, though, my first choice is Famous Foods. They have a huge selection of flours, along with tonnes of grains, nuts, and seeds.

Gluten-Free Dining

Vancouver is a great city for gluten-free eating. So many establishments get it. I’m listing a few that we’ve had good experiences with, but there are many more. Call ahead and ask if the restaurant you’re interested in can accommodate a gluten-free eater. You’ll be pleasantly surprised at how many places, even if they don’t have a dedicated gluten-free menu, know how to take care of people who avoid gluten.

The Reef on Commercial Drive

Biercraft on the Drive

The Wallflower

Gluten-Free Resources

The Canadian Celiac Association

The Celiac Scene

Gluten-Free Vancouver

All the photos in this week’s post are gluten-free dishes from past posts. Here’s the list, if you’re interested:

A Tale of Two Crusts

Mustard Bâtons

Chicken B’Stilla

Marie-Hélène’s Apple Cake

Le Weekend

November 15, 2011May 4, 2014 ~ Teresa ~ 2 Comments

It’s election day in Vancouver this Saturday and as I’ve said before, while voting isn’t the only or best way to make change, leaving it to one’s political opposites isn’t a very good idea. I’m going to have to fit it in early, though, as it’s a busy weekend.

One of my favourite events of the year takes place this weekend, the Eastside Culture Crawl. It’s worth planning a vacation around, even though we’ve settled into the rainy season. Here’s my post about last year’s Crawl, if your interest’s been piqued: Art Anchors the Eastside. Scout Magazine has put together a list of places where you can rest between studios and have some great food and drink. That’s just a jumping-off point, of course; there are tonnes of great spots within walking distance of Crawl studios.

I’m going to wait to do my Crawling until Sunday, as there are too many other events going on this Saturday. After voting, I’m heading over to Festival de la Poutine, to get in touch with my French Canadian heritage and take my less-than-perfect French for a stroll. But who am I kidding, really? I’m going to eat a lot of poutine. Don’t judge; it’s part of my cultural heritage, just like tourtière, paté de cochon, and sucre à la crème.

Later on, I’m going to drop by Terra Madre Day, put on by Slow Food Vancouver – local chefs, using local ingredients, preparing samples and giving demonstrations. Local food organizations and producers will be there, too. It’s going to be a great way to connect with Vancouver’s foodshed.

I’m not going to make it there this weekend, but if you’ve got kids, you’re going to want to make time for the Vancouver Art Gallery’s Family Fuse Weekend. They’ve got some great performances, workshops, and activities lined up – it’s definitely not your average kid-centred event.

Finally, and more seriously, it looks like there’s going to be a big rally on Saturday at the Occupy Vancouver site beside the Art Gallery. I’m going to make some time to drop by there, to show my solidarity. I’m all for feeding the stomach and the mind, but some things are more important.

Some Autumnal Distraction

September 27, 2011May 4, 2014 ~ Teresa ~ 2 Comments

September’s nearly over and I’ve started to do a fall cleanup of my backyard and garden beds. (You can guess at the state of my yard right now, since I’ve tried to distract you with a nice ocean view, instead of sharing a photo of my garden.) I’ve got an extra incentive to get that clean up done, as we’re having a patio put in starting Friday and the contractor’s also going to build me a raised bed along the fence. I think my days of fighting with blackberry cane and morning glory will soon be done. There’s still a little life in my vegetable garden, with beets and swiss chard going strong. I even found a few more cucumbers today. I’ve brought the dill in to dry, but should have several more weeks of the other herbs. The warm, sunny days aren’t quite over, but the nights are cool and damp. I like to think I embrace the changing of the seasons, but sometimes I need a little distraction from winter’s approach. Luckily, it’s going to be a busy autumn.

This weekend’s particularly busy, starting with Knit Social‘s yarn sale and swap. It’s also Culture Days weekend, a cross-Canada celebration of arts and culture. The CBC is kicking it off on Friday, with a day-long outdoor festival. The Vancouver International Film Festival starts on the 29th, which is so good that some folks plan their annual vacations around it. Saturday’s Faeries’ Ball looks like a lovely way to recapture youthful fantasies and will be just a taste of what we can expect at their House of Faerie Bad Things later this month. I think that haunted house might give the Secret Souls Walk a run for its money. Sunday mixes cycling with art appreciation for BIKENNALE, a free tour of the Vancouver Biennale sculptures.

Perhaps after the weekend’s over, I’ll be too tired to notice the turning of the seasons.

Travelling at Home

July 12, 2011May 4, 2014 ~ Teresa ~ 8 Comments

This summer seems especially full of community events. Part of it is Vancouver’s125th Birthday, with events like this past weekend’s Summer Live. Another part of it is that there’s been a groundswell of community creativity around public events that’s been supported by the current City government. Organizations like Vancouver Public Space Network, websites like Vancouver is Awesome, and initiatives like Car-Free Vancouver are helping to drive this movement. Public Dreams pioneered such community-making, espousing a grassroots ethos that includes making these events free of charge.

I think this atmosphere is inspiring traditional institutions like Tourism Vancouver to follow suit. This May, they ran a promotion of local attractions called Be a Tourist in Your Own Town, which was open only to residents of Greater Vancouver. Each day of the promotion, residents could download coupons good for a range of destinations around Greater Vancouver, ranging from the well-known to the obscure.

I managed to take advantage of two of the offers, admission to Vancouver Lookout and Dr. Sun Yat Sen Chinese Garden. The first was one I’d never considered, while the second was a chance to re-visit one of Vancouver’s treasures.

Vancouver Lookout sits atop Harbour Centre’s tower, which was Vancouver’s tallest building until 2009. It still gives a clear 360° view, looking out over downtown, the west and east ends of town, and toward the North Shore. Even on a rainy day, the views were compelling. It made for a nice exercise – trying to identify our neighbourhood from that height and distance; seeing the roofs of most of the downtown’s buildings; getting an aerial view across the water.

I went to Dr. Sun Yat Sen Gardens on another grey day, but the rain held until near the end of my visit. The Vancouver Tourism offer coincided with the garden’s 25th Anniversary celebration, so we were treated to tours, activities and goodies. I loved watching the koi feed, hearing the history of the garden, and contemplating the symbolism of elements in the scholar’s garden. The garden is not just a contemplative space, providing a venue for theatre, music and conferences.

I try to approach living in this region, where I grew up, in the same way I do unfamiliar places. Looking at one’s home through traveller’s eyes means trying to discover both the surprising and delightful, along with what’s most authentic. But tourism has its rewards, too. Thanks Tourism Vancouver, for reminding me of that.

From the Ground Up

June 14, 2011May 4, 2014 ~ Teresa ~ 6 Comments

Plotting out the future can be a daunting task, whether it’s for a book club or a neighbourhood. Conflicting personalities, differing goals and incompatible world views can all get in the way. It’s why generating participation is the bane of any planning process. When it’s as high-stakes as public consultation about neighbourhood development, it’s easy to get discouraged by bureaucracy and lobbyists. Things can get discouraging enough, even, to make folks dream of moving to a new place, to avoid the changes that are taking the shine off their current home and to build something that better reflects their own desires. Unfortunately, one neighbourhood’s fleeing resident can become another community’s damaging interloper.

There’s really no such thing as building a community from the ground up, at least not in the real world. But last week, the Vancouver East Cultural Centre presented an opportunity to do so imaginatively, with their home sweet home installation. This piece was created by Subject to_change, a British theatrical company that specializes in breaking down the boundaries of artistic production and putting the spectator into the centre of its pieces. Home Sweet Home has been travelling to sites world-wide since 2007.

The piece begins as a planned community would, with lots marked out and construction materials at hand. Participants could choose to build residences, businesses or community amenities. Over the course of the installation, residents could also become involved with the community’s radio station and council or simply interact with other residents.

There were elements of the fantastical involved in the community that developed, like unicorn corrals and zombie warnings…actually the radio station and bulletin board seemed to really run with the zombie theme. But what I noticed, having arrived late in the process, was that the little village seemed to be an ideal version of the real-life neighbourhood outside. There were dog parks, community kitchens, bike shops and co-ops of all kinds. There were very few outsized developments and at least one of these was a seniors’ residence. A number of houses were given over to Canucks playoff fever and there was even a tiny East Van sign.

This little East Van also reflected our neighbourhood’s anxieties – the biggest threat wasn’t really zombies (or the ongoing campaign against someone called “Councillor Bob”), but the letters delivered to residents promising an enormous Walmart development. In a neighbourhood where long-time residents are worrying about a future filled with chain stores and cookie-cutter condos, the installation encompassed what we love about this place, what we want for it and what we fear is on its way.

By leaving participants a blank slate, Subject to_change manages to make each iteration of this piece a social commentary, a learning environment and a kind of community carnival all at once. It also allows for artistic expression on a playing field that’s levelled across age groups – there were interesting and provocative structures from kids and adults alike.

I’d like to adapt this concept to some of the organizations I’m involved with – a day long retreat, complete with paper, glue and decorations, might do more to foster dialogue than any number of meetings.

Social Media from the Roots – Northern Voice 2011

May 17, 2011March 14, 2015 ~ Teresa ~ 4 Comments

I’m good at figuring things out and learning things on my own, but I like taking classes and learning in a group environment. It not only exposes you to the knowledge of instructors and other students, but I also find my own thoughts and ideas quickening when I’m sharing them with others. So, when I started this blog, I knew at some point I’d want to do some learning away from my computer screen.

This weekend, I did just that. Northern Voice is a social media conference based in Vancouver and is in its seventh year. The conference is organized by volunteers and has a grassroots ethos to it. You won’t find corporate swag bags, but you will find media professionals, artists, amateurs and enthusiasts gathering to learn from each other. The participants are drawn mostly from around BC, as well as the Pacific Northwest in the US.

I knew that I was going to like this conference as soon as Day One’s keynote speaker began her presentation. April Smith of AHA Media spoke about using social media to democratize media and to provide coverage of Vancouver’s Downtown Eastside as a member of the community. Beginning a conference with such a dynamic, grassroots perspective is so different from what professional/corporate events provide. It’s a much needed perspective.

Day Two’s keynote speaker was Chris Wilson of Google. His presentation was well-tailored to the audience, too, bringing a technological perspective to the idea that the social media and blogging worlds cater to the long tail of interests – there’s room for a lot of diversity in these spheres.

Highlights from Day One:

The Courting Controversy session:
Don’t be controversial for its own sake, because you’ll be called on to back up your claims.

Photocamp:
– Leah Gregg’s photos
– Roland Tanglao’s exhortation to shoot daily
– Jeremy Lim’s advice to shoot less so you can notice more

Communities that Rock:
There was more information in this session than a newish blogger like me could even get down on paper, but what stuck with me most was that you need to work at making your blog visually appealing, giving your readers opportunities to interact beyond comments and keeping your blog posts fresh by varying form and content.

Highlights from Day Two:

Grassroots Campaigns
It was fascinating to hear the evolution of the presenters’ various social media and offline campaigns.
– Keeping your message simple, then translating the interest and support into offline actions is key
– Complexity can come later
– Simplicity doesn’t have to cancel out diversity

Looking Through the Lens
Alan Levine led us through a presentation of gorgeous photos and discussed the impact of aperture, shutter speed and ISO on photo quality. He also encouraged us to shoot daily, through communities like The Daily Shoot, which provide feedback as well as incentive.

DS106
The DS106 Radio crew took a university course and turned it into a Wild West of internet radio experimentation. Great storytelling.

Awesome-izing Your Podcast
v, an experienced broadcaster, gave us a wealth of information on best podcasting practices. What it boiled down to, though, was creating a sense of intimacy in your recordings.

I encourage you to click through to the Northern Voice conference schedule link at the top of the post – there were many more sessions and the schedule has lots of links to the fantastic presenters’ sites.

And lest you think it was all session and no play, I’ll leave you with a photo from the wine tasting room.

A little something to heal the spirit

May 3, 2011May 4, 2014 ~ Teresa ~ 15 Comments

It’s the day after our federal election and I’m in need of a lighthearted post – it was an extremely dramatic election night.

So, here’s a small round up of some of the things that are happening in this neck of the woods:

On Thursday, the Museum of Vancouver opens its Bhangra.me exhibition, about the history of Bhangra in Vancouver. Their programming has become absolutely stellar, both in the museum itself and in the ways it takes its exhibitions beyond that space.

This coming weekend, the Ederlezi Balkan Brass Festival puts on a bunch of high-energy shows. Or, if crafts are more your thing, you can go to Got Craft? and do some last-minute Mothers’ Day shopping.

The next weekend, the 2011 Northern Voice Personal Blogging and Social Media Conference is happening. I’m looking forward to the photo workshops, especially as the conference is on the same weekend as this.

I’m happy the Vancouver Farmers’ Market summer season is beginning again soon – I’ve been missing the convenience of going to the Trout Lake site.

Throughout much of May, you can check out emerging artists at Emily Carr University’s Degree Exhibition.

That’s only a smidgeon of what’s going on, of course. Here are a few links to sites that can tell you about even more:

BeeVancity

Vancouver is Awesome

Georgia Straight

I’d love to know what’s happening where you are. Or, if you’re from here, anything I’ve missed that you’d like to share.

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