Celebrate BC with White Spot

White Spot may come easily to mind if you are thinking burgers or breakfast, but the rest of the menu is also worth exploring.  This summer they’ve launched a Celebrate BC menu featuring dishes with local ingredients such as mushrooms, tomatoes, goat cheese, salmon, blueberries as well as their new 100% BC VQA wine list….

Picnics at VanDusen Gardens with Truffles Catering

Before summer becomes a distant memory, a visit to VanDusen Gardens while the gardens are in full bloom is a must. If you plan your trip around lunch time, there are two choices for dining, the more formal Shaughnessy Restaurant and Truffles Fine Food Cafe offering sandwiches, salads, desserts, afternoon tea and now picnic basics.  What better way to…

Sol Sun Belt Cookery Opening Night

Our friends Gord Martin (Bin 941, Go Fish) and Abdel Elatouabi (Bravo Bistro, Marrakesh) opened up Sol Sun Belt Cookery unofficially last night and we stopped in for some drinks and dinner.  They were still piecing the room together, but the bar and kitchen were ready to go. The menu here is Mediterranean in style. We…

Gastown Craft Beer ‘n Bites Tour

From Monday to Sunday for $69 Vancouver Food Tours offers a tour of Gastown’s craft beer scene on their beer-centric culinary tour. If you think you know beer, great, but your guide will certainly teach even the savviest of beer drinkers something, and you’ll sip local craft brews alongside a variety of food pairings. Your guide will teach…

Black Widow Wines at Central Bistro

Lucky for me my friend Dan Schell reps a number of great BC Wines and is kind enough to offer me a seat when one’s available.  Black Widow winemaker, Dick Lancaster, was in town this week to present his wines along food pairings from Chef Nick Gazdag at Central Bistro.  A steal of a deal…

Kraft Peanut Butter Truck Hits Town

The Kraft Peanut Butter Truck #KraftPBTruck  is travelling across Canada this summer and will be in Vancouver on July 1, 2012 at Canada Place.  Check out where the truck is stopping next at www.spreadthefeeling.ca or on the Kraft Peanut Butter Facebook page at www.facebook.com/kraftpeanutbutter Kraft sent some samples of PB S’More, PB Belgian Waffle, PB…

Spinach, Asparagus, Mushroom Salad with Egg

Because I eat out (A LOT), when I am home it has to be something nutrient dense and light.  I eat lots of salads.  There’s nothing precise about this recipe as I just take a couple handfuls of spinach, some chopped mushrooms or anything else I have on hand (tomato, grated carrot, sprouts, roasted beets,…

Taste Victoria 2012 July 19-22 – Why You Should Be There

This year Taste Victoria celebrates its fourth year with an even busier few days celebrating Vancouver Island’s cuisine and the wines of British Columbia.  Fellow Dame d’Escoffier Kathy McAree, a food, wine and travel writer and owner of Travel With Taste indulgent culinary adventures does an amazing job of coordinating vintners, farmers, fishermen and food suppliers…

Organic Fair Soda Line Launched at Food Fest

Not your average Lemonade Stand Cobble Hill, BC: Organic Fair Farm & Garden participated as a Farm Exhibitor in the 2012 Island Chef (ICC) Food Fest, where they launched the new soda line product and offered honestly delicious handmade organic ice cream made with heritage chicken eggs from the farm and a dark chocolate vegan choc-sicle. Food…

Van Houtte Introduces Coffee Profiles And Recipes from Wendy Boys

Are you bold and woodsy or mellow and fruity? Why do we need a coffee profile? Well, much like how we choose different wines for different foods to create a memorable experience, coffee is another wonderful way to learn about our palates and taste preferences. Every person has a preferred blend, roast and pairing that…

Anna Olson at Edible Canada – Recipes

Anna Olson is now on her seventh cookbook, Back to Baking – 200 Timeless Recipes to Bake, Share, and Enjoy.  Last Saturday she joined Edible Canada at The Market, at their bistro to demo recipes from this cookbook and others. The team from Edible Canada, Chef Tom Lee, Sous Chef Jack Lin and the kitchen crew…

Cooking For A Cause – Chef’s Celebrate the Great Bear Rainforest

The Gitga’at First Nation and King Pacific Lodge  have partnered to form Guarding the Gifts charitable organization in order to protect Great Bear Rainforest on BC’s northern coast which is in jeopardy as  projects such as the proposed Northern Gateway Pipeline Project threaten to destroy this pristine country. On May 11 Cooking for A Cause at the Georgia Cannery…

Amber & Friends – Have Culinary Training Society Dinner with Kayla Dhaliwall of House Guest

Have (Hope Action Values Ethics) Culinary Society is an amazing culinary training school providing foodservice job training and job placement to individuals in Vancouver who have had many life issues that have made finding work difficult.  There are students with mental and physical disabilities, those facing poverty or addiction issues or homelessness.  Over the past…

Maui Onion Festival 2012

I’m off to Maui tomorrow to judge this festival.  Follow my adventures at #goodlifevanmaui Here are the highlights: There are onions. And then there are Maui Onions. Believed by many to be the sweetest onions in the whole wide world, these glorious bulbs are the star of our annual festival. Saturday, May 5 The Maui…

Oliver Osoyoos Oyster Festival #oooysterfest

If you love Oysters, you need to be at the Okanagan’s only oyster festival: the OOOyster Festival! The Oliver Osoyoos Oyster Festival was created to showcase sustainable oysters together with the award-winning wines of the Oliver Osoyoos Winery Association. Even oysters need a day in the sun! Sip the new Spring releases from the participating wineries of…

Vancouver’s Easter Treats

It’s good Friday in Vancouver and another long weekend when those with real jobs take time off and us freelancers catch up on our never ending to do lists or organize our taxes (and some of us a few years of taxes).  I am working all weekend and not really even a huge fan of…

Terra Breads Hot Cross Buns

Hot Cross Buns remind me of my childhood.  We had them at Easter every year, but they weren’t always my favourite.  I hated the ones with the candied and coloured fruit in them and used to pick those out, and preferred the icing over the other strange plastic-like topping some had.  Later on in life…

Sun-sculpted chocolate Easter eggs add sensational artistry to this year’s Easter baskets

Beautiful sun-sculpted chocolate egg from Cocoa West Chocolatier is filled with its signature Unbelievably Good Egg truffles and foil-wrapped solid dark chocolate eggs. Chocolate is the preferred ingredient when it comes to Easter eggs, and this year, Cocoa West Chocolatier of Bowen Island offers a stunning and delicious alternative to the mass market eggs that…

Where to Eat Before the Game – Vancouver – Rogers Arena (Hockey)

Here’s a quick list.  I will be updating and flushing it out, but I had several people in need immediately, so here goes (I’ll be perfect another time, ok?) As always open to suggestions, please comment below. Chambar – French/Belgian fine dining, but casual feel (always packed go early) 562 Beatty Street http://www.chambar.com/ Verace –…

Vancouver Does St. Patrick’s Day

Vancouver makes a big deal of St. Patrick’s Day, so I thought I’d give you some hints on how to celebrate the day locally. Here’s some local, pubs, beers and Irish treats available around town.  AND PLEASE NO GREEN BEER.  Also check out my article on Daily XY for St. Patrick’s Day Suggestions. Local Irish…