I hadn’t been much of a fan of New Order up until I heard Bizarre Love Triangle. Then I heard about Electronic and how Bernard Sumner had teamed up with Neil Tennant and Johnny Marr and created awesome tunes such as “Getting Away with It”. Then somebody sent me a link to this tune, and I became instantly hooked. Jetstream makes me want to dance, so I always enjoy listening to this tune. The video doesn’t thrill me much, but the song is totally worth it. Enjoy!
“Because nobody living with AIDS should live with hunger” (A Loving Spoonful), please consider donating.
Some people call it the “waste hierarchy”, others call it the 3 Rs (reduce, recycle, reuse). Whatever name you want to assign to these waste management strategies, these are intended to minimize human impacts on the environment. The principle is that we should choose to prevent generation of waste, reduce amounts that are being generated, and dispose of waste only as a last resort. With the recent civic strike in Vancouver, the 3Rs seem like one of several possible strategies to cope with the disruption of service. But I would argue that waste minimization shouldn’t only occur when garbage collection is disrupted. It should be part of our daily lives. However, behavioral changes are hard. Our consumption and waste generation patterns may be very powerful. Nevertheless, I believe we can effect change, one less plastic bag at a time.
“Because nobody living with AIDS should live with hunger” (A Loving Spoonful), please consider donating.
When I told him I was entering Blogathon 2007, H suggested that I choose a theme for my blog posts. At first, I toyed with the idea and thought “oh yeah, I should do that”. He suggested looking at some environmental issue in a different time zone than mine. And then I thought “well, to actually write a meaningful post I’d have to really do some research”. And once you start the Blogathon, let me tell you, there’s really very little time in between posts. You think “oh yeah, I got 30 minutes until the next one” and then all of a sudden, you find yourself scrambling to gather some thoughts and write a meaningful one.
I think other bloggers had been better prepared than I have – some at least sketched some ideas beforehand, came up with a theme, etc. In my case, it was a really last-minute decision. Had I thought about this more, I would have
Contacted A Loving Spoonful much more in advance so that they could advertise my efforts.
Contacted my friends who are actually on Facebook and asked them to post a link to my blog.
Thought about the theme for my posts.
Prepared a few ideas in advance.
But … I didn’t. So I’ll just have to go with the flow. There’s really nothing I can do about a, b, and c (though Miss604 was very gracious and nice by linking to my blog on hers, so I am hoping some of her readers will go through mine).
As for d and e, I think that the best thing I can do is to follow H’s advice every hour. That is, starting at 9:30am Pacific Standard Time, I will be posting on environmental issues every hour (10.30am, 11.30am, 12.30pm, and so on). This post does not count because this is the one that explains what I plan to do.
Then, every hour on the hour I will post about what I usually post – my random thoughts, some restaurant reviews (yes I eat out a lot and no I don’t feel guilty about it), some music reviews, and some local content that is not food-related, but still is Vancouver-centric.
I also thought that I should post a link to the “Sponsor Me” page on every post so that you don’t need to scroll up and down to find where the link is. Hope you are enjoying the posts, that you’re feeling in a giving mood and that you sponsor me (or other bloggers, for that matter. We are all doing it for a good cause). Come by, leave a comment…
“Because nobody living with AIDS should live with hunger” (A Loving Spoonful), please consider donating.
I thought this Blogathon was going to be piece-of-cake, up until the moment when I realized that my mind had wandered so much that I didn’t have enough content to post a very coherent essay. So I’ll have to post what I had on my mind before, which was a little rant on the fact that there are no 24-hours Safeways or Superstores. We need those! What if I wake up (as I did today) and I don’t have food in my fridge for breakfast?
— Next post will be more coherent, once I have had some food…
I am not sure how other bloggers are doing it, but in my case, I am getting inspiration pretty much from very recent experiences (time spent together with friends, activities I’ve undertaken, my Mom’s visit, etc.)… This post will not be the exception. I recently went with a very good friend of mine (J) to watch The Simpsons Movie. Now, full disclaimer: I had no idea about the Simpsons until he loaned me Season 1. I was perhaps one of the very few people in North America who didn’t understand references to the Simpsons (M used to tell me “thank you, come again” with an Apu-like voice and I wouldn’t get what she was referring to).
Anyhow, J wanted to watch it and I wasn’t about to say no (he’s sort of a die-hard fan and it was nice to share the movie together). Anyhow, I loved it. I laughed like I had not laughed in years, and at one point I couldn’t stop until tears welled my eyes. It is a really funny movie. Granted, it has an environmental theme and given that environmental affairs are issues that are near and dear to my heart, I was particularly pleased that these topics were touched upon.
Of course, it would really help if you actually had watched The Simpsons before going into the movie, but in my case, I was a neophyte and I still could understand everything that was said in the movie, so no complaints here.
On opening night, the Rio Theatre (on Broadway near Commercial) had organized a movie launch party, so I am guessing you can still see it there. Other venues include the Scotiabank Theatre (Smithe and Burrard). I’d seriously recommend the movie. And “thank you, come again”.
I am known for my love of Italian food, and I jump at every opportunity that I get to either make it or go out for dinner and have it. With my Mom’s recent visit to Vancouver, B and C offered to take us out for dinner and we settled on Favorito Pasta Trattoria (552 Broadway, pretty much between Ash and Cambie). Favorito has pretty much every Italian dish you want, although I again settled for something a bit fusion – penne with curry. I know, oh the heresy!
With all the construction around the Canada Line, I have made a point of eating around Cambie more often (support local business is one of my mottos). So, I was pleased to go to Favorito (even if it isn’t technically located ON Cambie, it’s close enough). The food was excellent, and the service was impeccable. Of course, the best part was the company. C and B are married and they have always made me feel part of their family, and I am very grateful for having friends like them.
I would recommend Favorito, although I found that the music was a bit too loud for me. But I am sure they’d compromise if you asked them to turn the volume down, as the service was excellent and attentive. And the best part of it all? The food is not expensive. So, good food, great service and your wallet won’t have a hole… what else can you ask for?
PS – In addition to another friendly reminder to sponsor me and encourage you to donate for A Loving Spoonful (again, the money goes directly to the charity – Blogathon only keeps track of who has raised how much money) I would also like to encourage you to comment. Many people are awake already (I noticed comments on Miss604’s blog and other Blogathon-related blogs, so I decided to open up my comments and leave them non-moderated). Throw ideas, comment on the content, encourage us.
PPS – I hate that most corner stores will open until 9 or 10 am. Didn’t anybody tell them that I need breakfast food? I’m getting hungry! So now I’ll be forced to go to one of the 24 hours stores that charges a premium for the mere fact that they are open 24 hours (well, that’s the convenience right?).
I had wanted to come to Capricorn for years, even before I moved out of the neighborhood (I used to live around the Fairview Slopes area, and for a while there I moved closer to Cambie and Broadway). The décor is beautiful and sophisticated, and I can’t really remember why I never got around to eating here in almost a decade.
We had tried to come here on Sunday night a couple of times, but they’re closed on Sunday nights, so it hadn’t worked out. Up until recently, when we actually ate here on a weekday. And I am going to have to say that I don’t understand why I hadn’t come here earlier.
I ordered Cajun penne pasta with chicken, and it was really good. The food is well cooked, and the décor is very pretty. Granted, we got there too early during the day to actually see the lights but it was overall a very nice experience, not only for the company (a great friend of mine) but also for the actual meal. It wasn’t expensive, contrary to what you could expect on the Broadway corridor. Apparently this area is filled with nice inexpensive restaurants. I had dinner at Favorito Trattoria recently and it was very good too (but that’s the subject of another review).
Located on Broadway close to Ash (656 Broadway), on the south side of the street, I would very much recommend Capricorn for dinner. Never been for lunch, though I am curious about their lunch features. Will tell you more about it later.
Taken out of context, I am almost 100% sure everyone who reads this blog will define the word forever pretty much in the same way as Dictionary.com would: “without never ending“. I think just about everyone would agree with that definition. Forever would mean sort of “till death do us part“. In recent years, I have learned to use this word sparingly, even though I know I love hearing it, particularly in the context of friendships or romantic relationships.
Guilty as charged. I have used it in the past without any degree of measure. The phrase “I love you. I always have, I always will” was frequently uttered by yours truly (and in the same way, I loved hearing it). Yep, I used to be the one who promised to love [XYZ] forever. The key word here being forever. Nevertheless, I never thought about the fact that forever is a bloody long time.
You may ask yourselves “why do you ask yourself this question? why now?” … well, honestly, this is not something I just started thinking about today. As a matter of fact, my life at the moment is really fulfilled in many ways. No, the thing is that recently, I have become keenly aware that geographical distance, time elapsed and bi-directionality are factors that influence the meaning of forever (whenever used in the context of friends and romance). Can you really love someone forever if that someone is thousands of miles away from you, you haven’t talked to him or her in a very long time and the relationship was pretty much unilateral (where you loved them more then they loved you)? I would doubt it.
In promising someone that you’ll love him/her forever, I would argue that you are implicitly forgetting about the potential challenges that may loom in the horizon, particular circumstances that may separate you from the loved person, etc. The truth is, things change, and we change. And expecting people to love us “forever”, while extremely sweet in theory, is somewhat impractical. Now, the problem is that saying “I love you for the time being” isn’t really that practical either. Would somebody propose an alternative to saying “I love you forever” or “I love you, I always have, I always will” that would work? I’m listening …
PS – Remember to click on the link at the top to sponsor me for Blogathon … I’ve seen a few of my fellow bloggers offer prizes, rewards and goodies… I’ll think of something throughout the day.
Well, this is my kick-off post for Blogathon 2007, and what a better way to start the 24 hour marathon of blogs than doing one of my music reviews. I had the opportunity to watch The Simpsons’ movie recently, and just before the movie started, during the previews, we had the opportunity to watch Jann Arden’s recent video “At Seventeen”.
I love this song, even if I find it sometimes a little bit depressing. It does bring tears to my eyes when I listen to it. However, that’s the case sometimes with Jann Arden’s songs. An accomplished songwriter and singer, Arden is capable of bringing out very strong and powerful emotions.
Here is the video rendition of Jann Arden, “At Seventeen”. Hope you like it. Happy Blogathon! And to my fellow blogathoners, go bloggers go! 🙂 Vancouver participants of this year’s blogathon that I know of are Miss604 and Open Up.
I just checked Blogathon’s website and they have updated their website, so now you can find me on their list 🙂
I’ve got a list of potential topics, but I’ll appreciate thoughts and ideas for blogging content. Furthermore, I’ll appreciate donations to A Loving Spoonful 🙂 — Remember, you have to go through the Blogathon website to register your donation (for statistical purposes), but your donation does not go through Blogathon nor I. There’s a direct link to A Loving Spoonful donations website.
Thanks for your generosity, thanks for reading my blog and more than anything, thanks for the support! 🙂
A few weeks back, I read somewhere that the transit system in Metro Vancouver (formerly the Greater Vancouver Regional District) moved somewhere around 25 million people. I don’t recall if it had a time-frame associated (e.g. 25 million people per month), but it seemed to me as though it didn’t and thus is quite open to interpretation.
I have been mulling over and thinking about this for a while now… the way in which we report numbers and statistics. If the population of Vancouver is now around 2 million people and, of those only a percentage (whatever that is, let’s say 30%) take transit, in reality, only 600,000 people would take transit. So, to say that a transportation system mobilizes 25 million people is inaccurate, because the city doesn’t even have 25 million people! (now, if somebody told me that was the case with Mexico City, I would probably believe it a bit more).
I am guessing the 25 million refers to number of trips per month(e.g. about 40 bus trips per person per month times 600,000 people, to give a number). I would prefer to read this figure rather than hear that the system moves 24 million people a month, when there aren’t 24 million people in Vancouver.
Anybody who hangs out at UBC long enough will end up seeing trailers and/or people on location. UBC is frequently home to movies (such as Fantastic Four, the Butterfly Effect) or TV shows (Supernatural, Smallville, and the 4400). Recently I watched a very brief part of an episode of the 4400, where I recognized so many locations it was so funny. The Chan Centre for the Performing Arts is the 4400 Center, and a particular scene takes place right outside the Angus building, home to the Sauder School of Business.
Well, it’s going to happen. After hearing that Miss604.com would be blogging for Surrey Food Bank and learning that I could do some good as well, I decided to join Blogathon 2007. I will be blogging for A Loving Spoonful (Vancouver) (they don’t know just yet. I haven’t yet sent them an e-mail saying I would). So, while my profile is still getting set up, I thought I’d just tell you a bit about Blogathon and give you the URL to my sponsor page.
Blogathon is an effort to make a difference through blogging. Bloggers all over the world will be blogging for a specific charity. In my case, I chose A Loving Spoonful because I believe that this charity makes a difference. They deliver meals for people living with HIV/AIDS in the Vancouver area. I remember that I learned about A Loving Spoonful at the Elbow Room, a wonderful diner located on Davie and almost Seymour. Their owners require you to make a donation if you don’t finish your (usually huge) meal.
Since I am just setting up my account, I can’t do the beautiful buttons where you can click and sponsor me, so I’ll just have to go with … if you want to sponsor me and contribute to the charity of my choice (A Loving Spoonful), click here.
There are a few perks associated with having a mother who knows how to cook well. First, you learn when you observe (or when she shares her recipes – and my mother has lots of them). Second, you get to eat tasty yummy food all the time (or at least, when she visits). Third, you learn the tricks of the trade for when you need to cook dinner for guests. Only problem? You end up having A LOT OF FOOD IN YOUR FRIDGE.
During my Mom’s recent visit, she taught me how to make mole con pollo. Mole is considered a traditional Mexican dish. The way my Mom serves it is with chicken breast, red rice (arroz rojo) and refried beans (frijoles refritos). She cooked it when H came over for dinner, and I did it recently when I invited another very good friend for dinner.
The only problem with being single and living alone is that most days, I cook for myself. And since I don’t know how to cook very small portions, I often make food for a bunch of people and end up having to throw some of these into the freezer and then warm them up for a later occasion.
At any rate, I am glad I can make my own food. For the most part, it works well. And luckily, it works well for my guests too 🙂 My friend M is often the one who checks whether my food is edible or not (she has not had any food poisoning so I must be doing something right).
I am always amazed at the number of events that are organized in Vancouver, particularly those that support many relevant causes (amongst those that I am passionate about are HIV prevention and treatment, poverty alleviation, sustainability and cancer treatment). I found out about the BC Cancer Foundation 2007 Tour of Courage recently and thought I’d throw in a call for support for this worthy cause.
Having lost three members of my family to cancer, and having one close family member currently afflicted by the disease, I know first-hand its devastating consequences. I blogged last year about the ‘invisibility of cancer’. In that post I wrote that sometimes, close family members of the person who is afflicted with cancer may simply not want to talk about it and ‘wish it were gone’. Cancer thus becomes a non-spoken word, stigmatized and feared.
All this brings me to the event I wanted to promote – the BC Cancer Foundation 2007 Tour of Courage. In this event, you sponsor a biker (or you bike yourself and raise money) that goes to support cancer-related research. So I’d like to ask you, dear readers, to consider the possibility of supporting this event. Full disclosure – I am in no way associated with BC Cancer Foundation, although someone I know is biking in the event. But I am also someone who has lost family members to cancer. Thus, I’d like to help, and it would be great if you could help too.
While Burgoo is highly touted as “the” place in Vancouver where you can get any type of soup(s), we decided to try for brunch. K, M, H and I went there recently for brunch and we weren’t disappointed. Well, at least I wasn’t 🙂 I think they liked their breakfast too.
I have to say that, besides Crave on Main, I don’t think I have tasted better scrambled eggs than those of Burgoo. I ordered the Mesa Scramble and I loved it. The potatoes were amazing, the chorizo was spicy and the eggs were very well done.
By the way did you know that a burgoo is a Kentuckian stew? I certainly did not! Burgoo was recently voted Best Restaurant for a Rainy Day and it certainly shows. The staff is super friendly and they took good care of us. They weren’t pushy with the bill or anything to that extent. The food is reasonably priced (brunch for two can hover around 30 bucks after tax, coffee included). I was surprised at their Pain Francaise, but then again, I’ve seen other versions. But their brunch menu, while not all-encompassing, is good for many different palates.
This beautiful gem is located in Point Grey (yeah, a bit out of the way for those of us who live more in the central area of Vancouver). But it’s definitely worth the trip uphill. Besides, what else do you really have to do on a rainy morning? 🙂
I think the last tune I heard from Maroon 5 was “She Will Be Loved”, somewhat nostalgic and a bit sad. But “Makes Me Wonder” is the type of tune I love listening to while writing or at a bar/club. Funky enough to dance to, and not too crazy, so you can actually concentrate on whatever you are doing. Do you like it?
Finding good Italian food in Vancouver is a challenge. Not for lack of restaurants, but sometimes for lack of consistency. Nevertheless, I’ve been very lucky in that I always end up finding good Italian restaurants. Incendio is one of the best, and it has two locations that I know of: Incendio West on Burrard and 6th and Incendio in Gastown (on Columbia near Water).
Truth be told I have only had pasta here. The name Pizzeria means that it sells pizza, but I’ve never had it here. Shame on me, yeah. But hey if I am going Italian, I might as well have pasta! Anyhow, I have read some mixed reviews, but I’m going to have to say that this is a solid place. Every time I’ve had dinner at Incendio (both locations), the food has been great.
Pasta is hard to do well because sometimes it may be overcooked or undercooked. I find that Incendio’s pasta is consistently good. Their portions are generous. Furthermore, they seem to be willing to experiment with flavours. More recently I’ve sampled some non-traditional pasta, like penne with curry. And I’ve got to say I like it a lot. Incendio likes to experiment with these non-traditional flavors too, which I appreciate. The Dragon’s Breath pasta is unbelievably good. And their Puttanesca is very good, a worthy rival to that of Water Street Cafe. Their Pancetta pasta is excellent too.
Again, I admit I have nothing to say about their pizza because I have never had pizza there. But the service (bread and water refills) is top-notch. Many people like this place for dinner and a movie at 5th Avenue Cinemas.
If you love hanging out and drinking coffee in Kitsilano, and eavesdropping on loud customers’ conversations does not bother you, you’ll love Higher Grounds.
The coffee is really good and I always have a fun time watching customers. Drawbacks – wireless is not officially theirs (you might catch some signals here and there) and not enough electrical energy plugs. So this is perhaps a good place for a nice read, work on something that doesn’t require much internet and/or just relax sipping a nice coffee. It still remains one of my favourite coffee shops.
This is one of the best places for brunch. Consistently reliable, great service, friendly, not overpowering. I love the Sunset Grill‘s Huevos Rancheros and the standard brunch fare they offer. The best thing about this place? Location. It is so close to Kitsilano Beach and to other amenities/restaurants that it’s almost impossible to miss it. Located at York and Yew (if I am not mistaken, which I think I am not), the Sunset Grill offers comfort brunch food.
I remember reading that they offered burgers, beers, and specials. So if you are a Kitsilano resident and want to just go rent a movie (there’s a Rogers Video right beside) and then have some lunch at the Sunset Grill, that sounds like a nice lazy afternoon for me!
Well, I finally found the right version on YouTube. This is Lonnie Gordon’s “Gonna Catch Ya”… if you ever watched Vanilla Ice’s movie “Cool as Ice”, it’s included in the soundtrack and the movie. This is one of the most dance-able songs of the early 1990s (I think it’s 1993). I have never found the MP3 though 🙁 I suppose that when I transition to iPod (which I am fairly soon) I’ll be able to find it on iTunes. All this is still theoretical, though! In the mean time, hope you enjoy it as much as I do. The sound and video quality aren’t stellar but hey who am I to complain? 🙂
One of my close friends (T) is leaving for Ottawa, so a bunch of us agreed to go out and have dinner with her before she left, and we settled for The Mongolie Grill. I can’t recall the last time I ate there, but it seems like a popular location and I hadn’t had Mongolian food in a long while so I thought “why the heck not”. Furthermore, it was T’s farewell so I am not one to complain about location choice when my friends are leaving town.
Anyway, the deal in this restaurant is that you choose your meats, veggies, noodles and sauces and then they weigh your place and stir-fry it. Quite simple. Surprisingly for me, all my friends (all of them female) knew the weight of their food, approximately. So did I, but I think it’s because I cook too. I think that helps 🙂
So we had the patio, our server was attentive (I wasn’t shocked at the high level of service, but she was nice enough) although splitting the bill was a bit of a hard time. Nevertheless, if you think about the fact that it came to about 12-15 dollars per person, and they serve complimentary rice, it wasn’t that bad. We weren’t served the soup, though (now that I think about it – I did not even remember!) but I am sure we could have if we had remembered to ask.
The food is nice and the cook is a really nice guy, but I am not entirely sure people are satisfied with the level of service of this particular location (Broadway and Cambie). I read some pretty nasty reviews that are here and here.
I can’t complain much because I got what I wanted: tasty food and the company of awesome friends, in a well ventilated space (we got the patio). But I suppose that there are good and bad elements to this restaurant. In my view, it’s worth coming with lots of friends… there are discussions around “what are you having for dinner” all the time 🙂
I am just back from taking my Mom to the Vancouver airport, and I have to say that I feel quite nostalgic. We had a really good visit (as we always do) which was even better because two of my brothers came to visit as well. Therefore I got to see at least 3 members of my family. We always have great times when we are together.
As I was seeing my Mom off to the gates, it occurred to me that I was experiencing a reversal of roles. As a child, I am sure my mother was always worried that I would get into trouble, or that I would hurt myself (I did a lot of tree-climbing in my younger years). She had to see me and my brothers off to different countries many a time and I am sure that, in the back of her mind, she was always worried.
However, now that I’m grown up, I worry about her (naturally). You should have seen me, I was right at the gate before security clearance waiting to see if she had made it safe and sound through security. This is not a really challenging task, and she has traveled the world, so she is quite comfortable taking planes, making connections, reading departure and arrival computer screens, having her stuff searched while going through security, etc. Yet I was worried.
How funny that as children our parents worry about us and as adults, we worry about them. And the funniest part is that they’ll never stop worrying about us. However, we seem to have a heightened sense of worry because now we realize that there is a world out there and that nobody is invulnerable. Moreover, if we have children, we now worry as parents for our children, and as children for our parents. So the chain never stops… who said that parenthood was easy?
I’m not sure if this is actually the third installment in the series of blog posts where I’ve talked about the need to have the right equipment for whatever activities I undertake. Yesterday, I bought two non-stick teflon frying pans (I’m not going to tell the make so that I don’t get into trouble). At any rate, these were the two best purchases I’ve done recently, because now I can do scrambled eggs for breakfast and not have to work for an hour cleaning them.
Another piece of equipment I recently found very useful was a pair of sunglasses (excellent sunglasses, by the way). Given Vancouver’s recent hot weather and sunny skies, I have really given them excellent use. Particularly because I use contact lenses, so I really need to use sunglasses when hanging out outdoors.
As you may imagine, there’s something else that has had me occupied for the past couple of weeks. I’ve had family visiting me and therefore I have been basically occupied and unable to blog. Moreover, while out with my family, I’ve eaten out in some repeat restaurants, so I won’t review them again. I’ll be back with more restaurant reviews, random thoughts, music and movies after a short break. Stay tuned 🙂
