When I decided I wanted to try Fraiche (in West Vancouver) and told JT and he agreed to drive all the way up to West Vancouver on a rainy and dark night, I knew that if it wasn’t amazing, I would have huge remorse. After all, we could have had a quiet dinner near by my place. But I had promised my friend Phil Reigh (who works at Fraiche) that I would come by sometime (and I wanted to surprise him). So away we went, and after a solid 45 minutes drive (with a couple of turnarounds and twists) we made it to Fraiche. Best. Decision. Ever.
Renowned as one of West Vancouver’s most celebrated dining experiences , Fraîche is a feast for the senses. The bright and elegant dining room provides a sophisticated and comfortable framework to showcase the spectacular, panoramic view, while the top notch service team similarly supports the talented kitchen brigade. Led by rising culinary talent Executive Chef, Jefferson Alvarez, Fraîche offers delicious and diverse menus for lunch, dinner, bar and brunch that incorporate westcoast sensibilities and ingredients with global flare and flavours. Enjoy an evolving and inspired selection of wines by the bottle and glass expertly paired for your meal or mood. Guests looking for a light lunch, indulgent weekend brunch, mouth watering chef’s table experience or savoury bite after the game will find a welcoming place at the Fraîche table.
While I know that my point-and-shoot digital camera does not make justice to Fraiche’s amazing views, I am pretty sure you can imagine how beautiful the view is. The dining room at Fraiche is spacious, inviting and delicate. The staff is simply out-of-the-ordinary. And they spoiled me. We all know how much I love being spoiled!
As soon as we arrived, we were promptly seated (even though we didn’t have a reservation – I didn’t want to spoil the surprise for Phil). The servers were incredibly friendly and attentive (not only with me, but I noticed that with everyone in the room). It was impressive to see that so many people had chosen to have dinner at Fraiche on the same night (considering how rainy and dark it was, it requires a bit of a trek to go up – but the drive is totally worth it – I will include detailed instructions on how to get there).
Very graciously, Phil sent a couple of appetizers to my table as well as a couple of glasses of sparkling wine (I totally wasn’t expecting this). Though I’ll admit, I’m totally a fan of the prosciutto. My photos aren’t the best as the lighting is fantastic for mood, but horrendous for photos!
I am really impressed with the culinary prowess of Jefferson Alvarez, Executive Chef, Fraîche Restaurant. From his biography on the Fraiche website:
Self taught chef, Jefferson Alvarez left Venezuela for Ottawa at age 16 where he briefly attended Le Cordon Bleu Ottawa Culinary Institute. Throughout his career, Alvarez has taken many return trips to explore Spain in-depth while working stages at exciting restaurants such as the three-star Michelin rated Arzak and Akelare. Ready for a new experience, Alvarez decided to move to British Columbia in 2009 to head up the kitchen at Divino. His experience and techniques paired with his culinary passions are sure to spell delicious and exciting times for the guests at Fraîche.
While Fraiche’s website purports this wonderful restaurant to be casual, it’s an elegant dining room that is well suited for romantic dinners or special occasions. And this is good as I’m about to publish my List of Romantic Places for Dinner for Valentine’s Day. Both JT and I commented on the fact that we were happy we had worn dressier clothes, as we would have felt bad to be in such nice place with just t-shirt and jeans.
For his dinner, JT ordered Smoked Bison Short Ribs with root vegetables (at $29, a pretty decent price for an upscale restaurant). For my dinner, I ordered Free Range Chicken Supreme ($30, soft truffle polenta, wild mushrooms, porcini jus) which was absolutely to-die-for. While some people may wonder why I didn’t order the Sablefish, I wanted to try the chicken supreme. The wild mushrooms combined with the porcini jus give this dish a salty, rich and fulfilling taste where the polenta provides texture and context. The chicken was perfectly well done and I totally would have done seconds if I had had room in my stomach.
(Sorry, my photos are a bit overexposed because of the flash).
While we could have been totally happy with this, we decided to go for dessert. Best. Decision. Ever. After, of course, deciding to have dinner at Fraiche.
I ordered a Chocolate Trio ($9.5, lava cake, jelly, honeycomb bar) and JT ordered an apple tart ($9.5). Both desserts were delicious, though I have to say my dessert was much tastier. I have no idea how we ended up eating this much, considering that we both were very full from our meal. The lava cake was fluffy, filled with chocolatey flavor, and the honeycomb bar was the perfect after-taste palate cleanser.
I totally will return to Fraiche, particularly on a special occasion. It left an indelible positive impression in my palate. And considering that it has such beautiful views of the city (including the North Shore), and how excellent the staff is, I have to say that I have no qualms recommending it as a romantic place for dinner and/or for a special occasion. JT and I agreed we need to come back. Soon.
TRANSPORTATION NOTE:
You HAVE to drive, I think (you may be able to take the bus but I’d strongly recommend driving). Take Marine Drive (in West Vancouver) until you hit 21st Street. Turn right and take 21st Street all the way up until you cross Queens Avenue, and the highway (99 and 1). Immediately after crossing the highway turn left (west) towards Skylift Road. Take Skylift Road until Falkenstone (you’ll see Salmon House on the Hill, that’s where you should turn right, or North in this case). Go all the way up and then turn to the right towards Chippendale Road, until you reach 2240 Chippendale Road, West Vancouver V7S 3J5. It looks a bit convoluted but it’s totally worth getting up there.
Disclosure:I paid for both of our dinners on our own dime. We were offered a couple of complimentary glasses of sparkling wine and appetizers, but I paid in full for the rest (and we did NOT expect nor request any special treatment). As always, I retain full editorial control over anything I post on my site.
One of the things that makes me most excited about my blog is to have the opportunity to showcase local businesses (in particular, small enterprises). Every time I walk on Columbia Street in New Westminster, I have the opportunity to pass by Moody Beads, a crafts store that sells beads, offers classes, and all sorts of supplies for people who love doing crafts. What a great hobby to stay offline for a while!
Lynn Roxanne Quesnel is a connoisseur of beads. With a background in project management and over 18 years experience creating beaded jewellery and crafts, her passion for beads has advanced from home based entrepreneur, to storefront business owner.
Having a storefront operation allows her to share her enthusiasm for beading with others, as well as inspire fellow crafters and artists. Lynn offers new customers an existing and truly unique creative beading experience: beads that create a mood. She invites you to come and enjoy the comfortable and inspiring atmosphere at Moody Beads.
I love Moody Beads. That’s where I got the necklaces for the hummingbirds that Minna, Arieanna and I got for myself (yeah, I have a few hummingbird necklaces!)
They even have mood beads, etc. I love the creativity that Lynn puts into her store. Motivational charts and all!
And for a lucky reader of mine, I have a $25 gift certificate to Moody Beads to give away. All you need to do is tell me about what kind of crafts you like doing with your hands (maybe knitting, maybe beading and making your own jewelry, etc). An additional entry for maximum of up to 2 entries can be gained by posting the following on Twitter:
Shared with @hummingbird604 my crafts interests for a chance to win a gift certificate to @moodybeads http://is.gd/hjF2Xz
I will draw a random winner on January 19th at 2pm. Good luck everyone!
At some point in the past couple of years, I started disclosing when I paid for myself for the meals I wrote about on my blog (which is the vast majority). But even before, I ALWAYS disclosed when I had a complimentary meal (I still do that). I figured that it was better for people to make it obvious that, generally speaking I pay for the meals I eat and then write about (though on rare occasions I get invited for free). Admittedly, this “disclosing even when you pay” may be seen as a little bit of an overkill, but I’d rather over-disclose than under-disclose. One of the reasons, the fact that there will always be a third-party verifier in everyone’s world (and the Vancouver food blogging scene just got one!) Let me introduce you to “Foodie My Ass” (aka Calling You Out).
The individual behind this Twitter account has taken it upon him/herself to keep food bloggers honest by commenting on certain practices that have given some food bloggers a bad name (and perhaps the whole Vancouver restaurant review scene). To be perfectly honest, as long as it’s done with respect (and I didn’t go back through the account’s tweets enough to see if there was any specific confrontation that got out of hand), I don’t see much of a problem with this approach.
I don’t think there is a reason for this confrontation. Obviously, there’s value in having your clients talk about you. Admittedly, there’s always room for discussion and disagreement on what constitutes a good restaurant review. I think I called myself a foodie in a couple of blog posts and frankly, now that I think about it, I cringe at the thought that I called myself “a foodie”. I’m a lover of food, period.
Now, on to the issue of “calling out” (which I’m trying to call a bit more formally, a third-party audit). It’s my opinion that food bloggers (particularly those with large audiences) ought to exercise a solid degree of judgement when writing negative reviews about a restaurant. It’s also important (to me, at least) to disclose any potential conflicts of interest. For example, the author of ‘Calling You Out” sent me a tweet late the other night (which I answered as you can see on my screen captures). I also noticed the author also asked my friends Kevin (604foodtography), Mijune (Follow Me Foodie) and Sherman (Sherman’s Food Adventures) the same question. We all disclose (you can see an example of my disclosure statements on my food posts).
I believe in disclosure, and I don’t believe in ridiculous confrontations (of which I’ve had my fair share). I hope that in 2012, people can move forward to being (a) more open in their disclosures and (b) the restaurant industry can look for many ways in which they could actually benefit from collaborating with bloggers and other social media folks.
When I was a child, I would patiently wait for the Dia de Reyes (Day of the Kings, or Epiphany) when you know, Melchor, Gaspar and Balthazar would come and drop gifts for all children. You’ll see… neither in Mexico nor in Spain you expect Santa Claus to bring you gifts, you wait until January 6th when the Kings will bring all sorts of goodies to you (as the Christian story says, the Kings arrived on horse, camel and elephant, bringing respectively gold, frankincense and myrrh to the baby Jesus.
Well, that’s what the story says…
In Mexico, it’s traditional to eat King’s Cake (Rosca de Reyes), and I know of two people who make it. One of them is Rossana Ascencio (@MiMetate on Twitter) and the other is Pamola Bakery in River Market in New Westminster. This cake is delicious and normally I would have hosted a party to eat Rosca de Reyes, but I’m really not in the mood. But that’s something we’d do in Mexico.
Have you ever had Rosca de Reyes and/or celebrated Dia de Reyes? I’d love to hear from you.
A couple of years ago I participated in Ahimsa Media’s project “Reading Is Sexy” calendar. It was supposed to be shot “Calendar Girls” style. But truth be told, I wasn’t about to bare my all (at least not while I’m an educator, and without a 6 pack and a perfect body!). Anyhow, in conversations with people, most will recognize the phrase Calendar Girls, and there is a reason for it. Namely, Dame Helen Mirren.
Kerry Sandomirsky, Linda Quibell, Jane Noble, Anna Galvin, Wendy Noel, Shirley Broderick in the Arts Club Theatre Company’s production of Calendar Girls. Photo by David Cooper.
When middle-aged Annie Clarke loses her husband to leukemia, her best friend suggests a—ahem—cheeky new way to raise money for research. But their fellow Women’s Institute members balk at baring—well, almost baring—it all! Gradually, though, these prim tea-and-crumpets ladies “of a certain age” come around and learn to delight in their newfound pluckiness and status as international sensations.
The Arts Club is presenting Calendar Girls from January 26th through to February 26th, 2012 at the Stanley Industrial Alliance Stage. You can purchase tickets here. And to enter my giveaway for a pair of tickets to opening night, all you need to do is on the comments section, tell me an anecdote about your closest group of friends. Calendar Girls is all about friendship, and about being there for each other, so why don’t you share a tidbit about how your friends have been there for you? In particular, I have to praise a small group of my closest friends whom I didn’t meet through social media, because they have coped rather well with my being “an online social hummingbird”. They’ve been there for me in the good and in the bad, especially in my doctoral dissertation defense.
You can add an entry for a maximum of two by posting the following on Twitter:
Told @hummingbird604 an anecdote about my best friends 2 enter 2 win tix to Calendar Girls @TheArtsClub http://is.gd/JWQN4l
I will draw a random winner on January 19th, at 2pm. Good luck everyone, and hopefully you’ll get a chance to check out Calendar Girls. Promises to be much fun!
Calendar Girls
By Tim Firth
Based on the Miramax motion picture by Juliette Towhidi and Tim Firth
Starring Shirley Broderick, Anna Galvin, Aslam Husain, Shawn Macdonald, David Marr, Jane Noble, Wendy Noel, Lisa Norton, Linda Quibell, Kerry Sandomirsky, Colleen Winton
Director Rachel Ditor
Set Designer Drew Facey
Costume Designer Nancy Bryant
Lighting Designer Adrian Muir
Sound Designer Mike Rinaldi
Stage Manager Pamela Jakobs
Assistant Stage Manager April Starr Land
Every year since I started blogging, I’ve written about Dine Out Vancouver. This year will not be the exception, even if I am on a reduced blogging schedule. At some point this weekend, I’ll try to find my picks and recommendations of restaurants for you to check out. In the mean time, you should know that Dine Out Vancouver 2012 starts on January 20th and goes until February 5th.
Jambalaya at Ouisi Bistro on Granville Street
This past year, I tried a lot of new restaurants, and one of the things that makes me more excited is to find new restaurants that are in Vancouver proper but not in the downtown core. Much as I love downtown Vancouver, I live in East Vancouver and I have many reasons to try other restaurants outside of the downtown core.
F-bombs at Fray on Fraser Street
Stay tuned for coverage of Dine Out Vancouver 2012 in the next few weeks. Are you planning to try any of the new participating restaurants?
If you follow me on Foursquare, you may have noticed that for the past few weeks, I have been “checking in” at 604insomnia. This, I wasn’t the creator of. Somebody else came up (@mini604) with the witty idea of congregating (as a moving target, not a specific location) all of us who have been suffering from insomnia and live in the Vancouver (or near by) area. Mine is purely stress-related. I have so much work, that even with the steps I took to unload some of my responsibilities, I still have trouble sleeping. AND, I have done most of the old-fashioned, proven remedies.
I’ve counted sheep, drank warm milk. I’ve taken also taken natural remedies such as melatonin, etc. The problem with melatonin is that once I take it, it is much harder for me to stay awake and remain alert throughout the day. So, when my natural sleep cycle is altered, I can no longer do the 4:45 am wake up call and I end up having trouble throughout the day. This situation has not been so extreme that I have to go to the doctor, but if it does not improve soon I will definitely have to pay a visit to my nearest physician!
You may have seen this one coming. I announced last year a blogging hiatus and this year I’m indicating a reduced blogging schedule. What happened in 2011 that made me reconsider the way I approach blogging? Well, for starters: I had to hire help. And for seconds, I just can’t keep up. Last year I had the heaviest teaching load I ever have had (5 courses in total) and that nearly destroyed me. Not even waking up at 4:45am I could deal with everything I set to do. And now that I’m having insomnia, it’s not helping either. So I have decided that I am only going to take on the projects I actually realistically can do.
This means as well that the likelihood that I will accept a multi-post, travel-type kind of project will be higher, whereas smaller projects I might not have the time to blog about them. You may wonder “well, you could possibly copy-and-paste the press releases on to your blog“. Yeah, no. That doesn’t work for me. It will detract from my hard-earned SEO and it really won’t add as much value. I have tested copying-and-pasting press releases on my blog’s Facebook and Google Plus pages and people seem a bit more receptive there.
What does a reduced blogging schedule mean for the Vancouver arts community (given that so much of my blog’s focus is dance, theatre, music, etc.)? Well, what that means is – if I can attend the play and/or the music show and/or the dance show, I will (and write about it through at least one of my social platforms). But this also means that I may just do what I started doing last year: passing on the opportunities to other bloggers, like Lauren Kresowaty (who herself has a background in theatre!) or Anabelle Bernard Fournier (my former intern, who also writes her own blog), or ask other friends to guest-blog on my behalf, like the lovely Dianne Chow did this past year, and like Lois Patterson has done a few times (or my friends Minna Van and Lisa Thomas-Tench, who also have written some guest blog posts for me).
What this means in terms of sharing the pie and still providing exposure while maintaining my sanity is that there will be more people who will be sitting at the table and sharing from the collective pie that is the wonderful opportunities that I am afforded. By connecting PR folks who pitch me with other local bloggers, I am able to still play a key role in fostering the growth of our local communities. And it will also enable other voices to come to the forum.
I will still keep my trusted contacts and networks at hand, and whenever possible, I will work on specific blogging projects. But you will not see the usual 5-7 blog posts per day. You may, however, very likely see a couple of new books I’m working on! All of this is part of my resolution to, in 2012, embrace change.
While I am nothing further than a prude, sometimes there are things that make me squirm due to uneasiness. The word taboo in itself makes me feel a bit uncomfortable (go figure, perhaps my Catholic upbringing?) At any rate, if there’s something that is naughty but nice, is the Taboo Naughty But Nice Show in Vancouver. From the information I was forwarded:
The Taboo Naughty but Nice Show provides an upscale adult playground dedicated to enhancing lifestyles, encouraging romance, personal betterment and all things TABOO! Enjoy LIVE entertainment, provocative and educational seminars in the We-Vibe Seminar Theatre and The Libido Lounge presented by Sex Butter Canada, unique shopping, fashion shows and LIVE demonstrations. Everything from your hearts’ desires to inconceivable delights. This is a ‘can’t miss’ event.
Visit The Taboo Show website and SAVE $5 when you purchase tickets online! You can learn more on Facebook and the hashtag for Twitter is #TabooYVR. The Taboo Naughty But Nice Show is from January 19th through 22nd. Hope you get a chance to check it out and tell me all about it!
It became clear to me in 2011 that travel and tourism will be the major theme of my blog in 2012. The more media trips I have undertaken, it’s become much more evident how a media (or academia-related or familiarization) trip can generate content of a broad variety that highlights not only the destination resort but also the associated restaurants, artistic community, local cuisine, etc. Thus, the more I have reflected on this, the more I have realized that the major focus for Hummingbird604.com in 2012 will be travel and tourism. Luckily, it’s been already a couple of years I’ve been doing travel writing and I am sure I will continue to combine it with my heavy academic workload.
This year took me to a variety of wonderful destination. The ones below are just a few highlights of the trips I took. The most important thing I learned in 2011 about travel writing is – travel with those journalists with whom you have chemistry and where you can create interpersonal synergies. Doing this ensures that the coverage for the destination is coordinated and has a general theme, and makes the trip a lot more fun.
In February of 2011, of course, I came back to Parksville to visit two of my most beloved destinations: Tigh-Na-Mara and The Beach Club Resort, for the always amazing Parksville Uncorked Wine and Food Festival 2011. This year, I travelled to Parksville with my good friend Cassandra Anderton and visited with my other good friends, Cheryl Mackinnon and Luba Plotnikoff.
March of 2011 enabled me to travel to the amazing Hastings House and visit Salt Spring Island, where I covered the Salt Spring Island Short Documentary Film Festival. One of my best experiences this year without a doubt. I managed to stay “on island time” most of my visit.
I also got to play tourist guide for all the travel bloggers who visited us for TBEX. I hope my good friend Julie Ovenell-Carter feels proud of me for taking on that role!
June and July marked my visit to Montreal, obviously as an academic trip, but I absolutely love this city and can’t wait to visit again.
Beyond the wonderful local destinations (which I visited quite often), I got one of my dreams made true: I did one of the Circle Farm Tours around Abbottsford, Langley, Fort Langley and Maple Ridge/Pitt Meadows. This was in August of 2011, and it demonstrated to me the importance of chemistry. Travelling with Jayne Lloyd-Smith and Cassandra Anderton (and seeing Nora Weber and Summer Dhillon) was a highlight of my trip.
I absolutely loved coming back to Salt Spring Island for what is a must-do event: Chefs Across The Water. Finally, this year, I got to attend! My busy academic schedule almost never allowed me to do this, but this year, I finally came back to Chefs Across The Water. One of my best meals of 2011.
December 2011 demonstrated to me that it wasn’t enough for me to travel to all the wonderful places I went to. Not only did I spend Christmas with my good friend Chris and his girlfriend, I ended up having lunch with my good friend Janni and I also travelled to Harrison Mills (thanks, Summer Dhillon). Getting to know Catherine Roscoe Barr, Melissa Lawson, Ursula Maxwell-Lewis, and hanging out with Nora Weber, Cheryl Mackinnon, Sheri Radford and Christie Lohr re-emphasized to me the importance of chemistry. We had SO MUCH fun I can’t wait to travel with all these lovely folks.
If 2011 has been any indication of how amazing my 2012 year in travel will be, I can’t wait to start the year! 🙂
Towards the end of 2009, I began writing a personal manifesto and making it public on my blog. A manifesto is, for me, a set of rules and guidelines for me to live by. To this day, almost 6 years after starting, I still use this blog as my own personal canvass, the journal where I chronicle my life.
In my 6-months report, I indicated that I had done, for the most part, exactly that. I indicated that in the fall of 2011, I would do only things for myself, things that made me grow. Of the goals I set myself with, I am quite pleased to report that at least, I did 2 out of 3, and 1 more or less. I only took really 2 weeks off, not three, but I kept focusing on my academic development, and I did come back to competitive volleyball. My knees are still hurting, but I have done exactly what I promised myself I would do.
In the fall of 2011, I hired 2 interns (as I mentioned I would have to do), Anabelle Bernard Fournier and Jessica Brodeur. The experience of having interns was a really positive one on many aspects. Anabelle and Jessica worked really hard and really shared my philosophy of covering events to help people and increase the exposure of worthy causes. The only relatively negative one is that the demand for my blog grew instead of staying stable, and of course, once the internship ended, I was left with a lot more work than I had ever planned to do.
My goal in 2012 is to share the wealth, as I have started doing in 2011. I will not attend as many events as I get invited, and I will not promote as many projects as I am pitched. But given my position as one of Vancouver’s most well-read and connected bloggers and social media specialists, I think I can safely redirect some of those pitches and requests for promotion to other bloggers (including my own former interns, something I’ve already done – redirect projects to them). Their traffic may not be as big as mine, and the exposure may not be as large, but at least, there will be promotional mechanisms for worthy causes. And the collective combined traffic and exposure of those who promote the projects I can’t will definitely account for a lot.
Photo credit: Robyn Hanson for 604 Pulse.
My view in the past few years is that some people in the social media community in Vancouver hog the opportunities. They want to be invited everywhere, and be part of every event and every party. Why not redistribute the wealth? Why not ensure that we have a variety of voices writing about the amazing things that are happening in our beautiful city?
At least, that’s going to be my objective moving forward: I will be doing a lot less projects, but I will do the projects I find interesting and I find I have the energy to go through. It will be a challenge, but it won’t be impossible. And I think, at the end of the day, emerging bloggers will feel better that more opportunities are coming their way, instead of resenting the success I (or any other large-scale blogger) have had.
2012 for me will be a year of delegating and redistributing. Hopefully I will continue to have an army of collaborators who will be able to tackle promotional projects along the way, and walk the walk with me.
I am not even done with the year and I’ve already started the giveaways for next year! If you like scary movies, particularly of the type of The Exorcist, The Devil Inside looks like one of the most scary (I saw the trailer and was totally spooked – but well, it’s not hard to scare me off! Apparently it’s similar to Paranormal Activity.
In 1989, emergency responders received a 9-1-1 call from Maria Rossi (Suzan Crowley) confessing that she had brutally killed three people. 20 years later, her daughter Isabella (Fernanda Andrade) seeks to understand the truth about what happened that night. She travels to the Centrino Hospital for the Criminally Insane in Italy where her mother has been locked away to determine if her mother is mentally ill or demonically possessed. When she recruits two young exorcists (Simon Quarterman and Evan Helmuth) to cure her mom using unconventional methods combining both science and religion, they come face-to-face with pure evil in the form of four powerful demons possessing Maria.
The advanced screening date in Vancouver is this Thursday January 5 at 7pm at Scotiabank Theatre. I will run this giveaway until Tuesday January 3rd at 2pm.
You can win tickets by (a) commenting on this post on your favorite horror movie and/or by posting the following on Twitter:
Retweet this to enter to win double passes to the advanced screening of The Devil Inside from @hummingbird604 #DevilMovie http://is.gd/APLwke
I will draw 4 winners (as I have 4 double passes) on Tuesday January 3rd at 2pm. I will count up to 2 entries (one comment, one retweet) for every entrant. Good luck! The movie looks scary and if you’re a fan of that genre, you totally should enter my giveaway.
UPDATE: I’m going to extend this giveaway until 8pm tonight, January 3rd!
Usually, I publish my Manifesto for the year a month in advance. This year, 2011, has been so hectic and exhausting I did not have the time to really write a Manifesto the way I have done in 2010 and 2011, and I was worried I would start the year without an actual theme and series of goals for the year. Luckily, I had the time to reflect in the past few days on what I want out of 2012. There are a few major goals, and those goals will require that I embrace change. Even if embracing that change means shutting down Hummingbird604.com, moving to another city/country and/or making my already smaller circles of friends, even smaller.
This year, I will go beyond what I did in previous years. I am already someone integrated again: I play volleyball, I do art, I am an intellectual and a humanist. This 2011 I did indeed concentrate on making myself a priority. In 2012, I am fully embracing change. Whatever changes 2012 brings to my life, I will embrace them happy and fully. I may be a completely different person in 2012 from what you knew in previous years, and that will be alright.
Happy New Year’s Eve!
UPDATE – I now realize why Embracing Change is my motto. This is a photo of my good friend Mat Wilcox and me in 2010. And then look at our hair in 2011. Embracing change is what makes us stronger.
I remember when I was doing my MBA, I listened to this cover of the song Freedom 90 by George Michael alongside two of the hottest people on this planet (long story). We were at Bar None (again, don’t ask – that’s where my MBA friends used to go! In addition to, of course, Bimini’s on 4th Avenue). At any rate, I fell in love with this damn song, and I’m so glad I found it on video format, so that YOU can appreciate it. For your listening pleasure, one of the most popular songs of George Michael, Freedom 90 in Back to Reality Mix (yes, you may recognize Neneh Cherry’s Buffalo Stance in the mix).
We are extremely fortunate to have the caliber of ballet we do in this city and we were lucky to have not one but two presentations of The Nutcracker. A few weeks back, the Goh Ballet presented The Nutcracker, and this week, Ballet BC is presenting for a very short time (December 28-31 with three evening performances and two matinees), the Alberta Ballet‘s rendition of The Nutcracker, with music (as you should know) by Piotr Tchaikovsky with the absolutely sublime Vancouver Symphony Orchestra. I grew up as a dancer, and my family always listened to classical music, so the music from the abridged version of The Nutcracker (also known as The Nutcracker Suite) was part and parcel of my childhood training in the arts.
Photo credit: Darren Makowichuk
The Alberta Ballet performance is, in every single way, exquisite and worth listening to and admiring intently. I was fully mesmerized (and for someone like me who gets tired really easily, this is the result of amazing performances that combine spectacularly well designed sets (the backdrop to every scene changes frequently and it’s absolutely stunning), technically solid ballet elements and an outstanding cast of dancers that combine passion, sensibility and artistry with their physical and athletic prowess.
Taking a different approach from other versions of The Nutcracker, the inaugural scene looks a little bit more like musical theatre than classical, pure ballet. I think this innovative approach really works, because it leaves the spectator wondering what to expect. Alberta Ballet delivers, and in what form.
Photo credit: Darren Makowichuk
Alberta Ballet presented by Ballet BC with the Vancouver Symphony Orchestra will have shows Wednesday, Thursday & Friday, December 28-30 at 7:30 pm, Friday & Saturday, December 30 & 31 at 2 pm. It’s definitely worth skipping work for a couple of hours on Friday if that’s your only chance to see it. I’m serious.
Choreographed by Edmund Stripe, with sets and costumes designed by Emmy Award-winning designer Zack Brown, The Nutcracker is set in turn of the 20th century Imperial Russia, an era of opulent grandeur.
The Nutcracker is the story of a young girl (Klara) who receives a gift from his godfather, Drosselmeyer, a nutcracker that has an interesting and magical back story. You can read the actual story line on the Wikipedia page, as I would like to pay more attention in my review to the actual performance. My respects to Akiko Ishii who is Klara on Dec 28 evening, the performance I saw), and I would LOVE to return to see Jennifer Gibson and Alexandra Gibson (whom if I am not mistaken are identical twins, at least they look like it from their photographs!) who are also Klara, Alexandra on Dec 30th evening and Jennifer on Dec 31st. Akiko is an extremely delightful Klara, and has a strength and physical delicacy in her movements that tell me she will be going places.
Photo credit: Darren Makowichuk
I was really impressed with the young dancers who took on the roles of mice, party girls, party boys, soldiers, rats, and page girls and boys. Several of these young dancers impressed me with the complexity of their movements and their artistic prowess, particularly during the dance of Mother Gigogne and the Bon Bons. I shed tears during the Lullaby (particularly because I could see the promise of these young artists at this tender age).
During the Grossvater dance, I felt immediately transported to my own childhood. And the little dancers are amazingly good at blending with the older cast. Obviously there are a number of dances that I’m more drawn to, like the Spanish and Arabian dances. The scene design and construction are quite impressive. The choreographic richness I perceived in every scene was astonishing, in fact. Obviously, I loved Klara and the Soldier’s Pas De Deux, but in general the whole production was really well done.
More information on Alberta Ballet:
Alberta Ballet is Canada’s third largest dance company and is in its 45th season. Alberta Ballet has developed a distinctive repertoire and performance quality that has brought it to the forefront of both its home and international stages. Established in 1966, Alberta Ballet operates and performs in both Calgary and Edmonton. The company invites leading conductors, choreographers and other guest artists to take part in its seasons, and presents the best of Canada’s ballet companies including the National Ballet of Canada, Royal Winnipeg Ballet, Les Grands Ballets Canadiens de Montréal and Ballet BC.
Tickets for The Nutcracker can be purchased through Ticketmaster at 1-855-985-2787 (855-985ARTS or online at ticketmaster.ca and range in price from $70-$22.50 (excluding service charges). I can tell you that it’s definitely worth your money.
More info on Ballet BC:
Ballet BC, a company of 16 talented dancers from around the world, is committed to the ballet of today. Solidly grounded in the classical ballet lexicon but with more immediacy and connection to the 21stcentury, the company presents a diverse repertoire of Canadian and international contemporary ballet. Ballet BC continues its commitment to perform on multiple regional, national and international tours in addition to its regular performance season at the Queen Elizabeth Theatre in Vancouver.
For more information, visit balletbc.com, albertaballet.com or follow us on Twitter @balletbc
This song defined my childhood. Yes is and has always been to me, one of the best progressive rock groups. For your listening pleasure, Owner of a Lonely Heart.
In the past few weeks, I have been talking to my friends about whether I would move away from Vancouver. Most of my friends, strangely enough, have encouraged me NOT to move, in particular because of the strong social network I have here in Vancouver (not only my offline friends from long time ago, but also newer friends and associates I have met through my blog). The truth is, through the power of online social networks, I don’t actually think that if I were to move away from Vancouver I would have to re-start from scratch. Admittedly, I might need to have people introduce me to other people, but with the size of network I have, I don’t see that as something I might need to fear. 2012 sounds like a year for much change. And whether we like change or not, we should always be reminded that our home is the people that we come home to. Vancouver has been and will always be my home, because of the many people whom I love and love me here.
In the Mexican (and Spanish, and Brazilian and French, if I’m not mistaken), the celebration of Christmas Eve is more important than the actual celebration of the actual Christmas Day. In anglosaxon countries, my understanding is that Christmas dinner is on December 25th, when Santa Claus comes and drops off gifts for the kiddies to open in the morning of Christmas Day. My gift has already been pre-delivered: I am lucky to be alive, happy, healthy. I definitely look forward to spending time with good friends while on holidays.
A few days ago I complained I could not find the Christmas spirit. Somehow, I felt that I wasn’t really on Christmas mode. Today, I can successfully tell you that I am very much in Christmas mode. I am happy I get to spend Christmas Eve dinner with people I care about and who care about me. Though I will miss my family (my brothers and their wives, and their children, and my parents, and my cousins and their extended families), I get to do what I love the most: travel, and to take care of the one that I should take care of first: myself.
My heart is filled with gratitude and love, and it is my wish for you and your loved ones that these holidays, whether you celebrate Solstice, Hannukah, Channukah or Christmas, that you are surrounded by the people you love and that you get to enjoy their company. Much love, Merry Christmas and have a wonderful 2012.
I have always associated Christmas with travelling. In my childhood we would travel from wherever we were living at the time to my grandparents for Christmas. As we grew older and we started leaving the nest, we began travelling back to Mexico from Canada, the US and Spain. There were some Christmas when I wouldn’t spend any time in Mexico (this year, for example, I won’t be visiting Mexico for Christmas). For a few years, my brother and I would travel from Vancouver to Paris or Madrid to spend Christmas with my Mom and my brother. We would settle on Christmas in Paris and New Years in Madrid, for the most part.
For the past few years, I have either travelled to Calgary to spend Christmas with my brother and his family or with my friend Chris and his girlfriend, which I’m doing again this year. I am always surrounded by people who love me and care for me, and that’s one of my many blessings: wherever I travel for Christmas, there’s always someone who loves me waiting for me on the other side.
In Mexico, Spain and most Latin countries, we actually celebrate Christmas Eve dinner, so for those of you who celebrate: Merry Christmas Eve. May your lives be filled with health, love and companionship.
If you want to have a quick Amaretto and a brioche, Thierry Patisserie is the place for it. I recently visited with my good friends Erin Gee and Ashley Mangat who are co-organizing Out In Style 2012 with me, and I ended up a bit peckish. I ordered a single shot of Amaretto liqueur ($3.45) on the rocks and a raisin brioche ($3.50). All in all, it wasn’t all that expensive (I thought that the ice cream was really expensive, though!) and the place is small, but the lovely folks who are customer service representatives really put their heart into it and they deserve praise as they handled an always busy crowd (on a Thursday afternoon, no less!). I’ll have to come back again to eat something more substantial.
Disclosure: I paid for my Amaretto and pastry on my own dime.
There are few things I like more than reviewing gear, equipment and nerdy/geeky stuff. And since I just received an HP Gear Messenger as part of a year-end event swag by Hewlett Packard Canada (their Vancouver store), I thought I’d write about it (I’ve been using it for my 15″ Acer laptop). Because of the fact that I travel so much (and the fact that I now own 2 laptops), I’m always looking for gear that enables me to travel and be productive on the go. I’ve previously reviewed one laptop bag portfolio style (the Jett Spire) and one laptop bag backpack style (Kensington Countour) and the HP Gear Messenger is pretty much portfolio style but it’s primarily, almost 100% targeted towards the frequent traveler (like yours truly) who needs compact laptop bags with fast access to the laptop for security screening.
For those looking for something more than just a way to carry your notebook, meet The HP Gear Messenger. Familiar, 100% cotton canvas material is soft to the touch yet strong and durable to last. The padded notebook compartment protects your investment and is a TSA-friendly design to speed through airport security. With it’s combination of style and toughness, this messenger bag is at home in the office or in the wild.
The good:
This laptop bag is extremely compact and allows you to travel light.
Has a number of compartments that are useful to pack wireless mice, a cell phone, pens, note pads, and even the power cable of your laptop.
The separate (cushioned) compartment to store a 15″ laptop allows you to open it and keep it separate from your other gear. This is quite handy when you need to travel as much as I do.
The bad:
The bag is small, so if you are a bookworm, you can’t carry as many books as you would with a larger laptop bag.
There is no actual compartment for water bottle or coffee mug. In the case of someone as clumsy with coffee travel mugs as me, this is perhaps a good point rather than a bad one.
Overall: I love the HP Gear Messenger. It’s fantastic to just bring my laptop and a very limited number of books or notes or files along with me. If I bring my HP TouchPad with it, I can basically avoid bringing books as long as I have the files stored as PDFs on my TouchPad. Overall, really nice and I love its functionality. And from the website, I find that it retails $49.99 (which is relatively reasonable).
Disclosure: I received a free HP Gear Messenger from HP Canada as part of the swag provided when attending a year-end media event. I was not paid nor required to review the laptop bag, but I thought my readers would benefit from reading my review. As always, I retain editorial control on anything I publish on my site.
As it turns out, my good friend Harmony’s little one really enjoys grilled cheese sandwiches. Since I (a) don’t eat cheese and thus (b) don’t eat Grilled Cheese Sandwiches, I ended up having to ask my lovely Twitter folks to help me out. Here are the responses!
A few months ago, I was invited to a preview of the Hapa Umi menu. I never actually got around writing about it, but when my friend Tanya came to Vancouver for a whirlwind tour, I had an opportunity to go for lunch with her to Hapa Umi. As I mentioned on Twitter at the time, I was pretty unimpressed at how slow the service was. The food is excellent, don’t get me wrong. But considering that (a) it wasn’t packed and (b) it was a work weekday, I expected faster service.
We both ordered the same, a Bento Box (traditional Japanese lunch box. Includes choice of daily features, miso soup, rice, and a selection of Hapa Umi specialties, which at $19 IS on the high end of the price point scale for lunch any way you slice it). Admittedly, Hapa Umi’s portions are abundant and flavourful, and the delicacies they serve are well worth it, but it’s on the higher end of the scale (e.g. no cheap $6 sushi boxes).
I enjoyed the fact that the bento box had 2 levels which made the amount of food we ate a lot more substantial. My favorite dish was, without a doubt, the salmon skewers and the elbow pasta salad. Given that I’ve tried other Hapa’s, I’ll agree that Umi is the higher end brother in the family. Worth visiting at least once in your lifetime. My only complaint in addition to the service (which that day wasn’t stellar) is the lighting – horrible for my indoor photos.
I’m a privileged guy. Every time I get invited to undertake a media trip, there is ALWAYS a historic component, and most DMOs and PR agencies focused on travel who pitch me really understand how important history and geography are to me (for example, read one of my recent travel posts on the Fort Langley historic site). In particular, because I’m not a born-Canadian, I think I appreciate the history, anthropology, sociology and geography of particular locations. And I hope I bring that fresh perspective to my readers. When I got invited to “Christmas in Harrison Mills”, I was really pleased to see that one of the stops we had was at Kilby Historic Site in Harrison Mills.
Located near the junction of the Harrison and Fraser Rivers, the Kilby Historic Site stands as the only reminder of the once thriving community of Harrison Mills, British Columbia, Canada. Step back in time and enjoy a leisurely tour of the Kilby Historic Site with its magnificent 1906 General Store Museum. Visitors will view a fascinating gallery of product packaging dating back to the 1920s and 1930s. Don’t miss the intriguing artifacts in the heritage Post Office and Manchester House Hotel; both were an integral part of the Harrison Mills community at the turn of the twentieth century.
While the site is closed this season, it will be open NEXT season (e.g. for December/Christmas/Holidays 2012). This is such a beautiful location filled with history. There are two main components to the museum in Kilby Historic Site: the farm (dating to the 1920s) and the store.
We had an opportunity to tour the store, the hotel/guest house components and the actual farm.
Luckily there were things to see for each and every one of us (some of my travel companions, like Christie Lohr, Melissa Lawson and Catherine Roscoe Barr are very interested in fashion, and we got to see some of the fashion of the time)
I noticed that a number of the rooms were fitted as living quarters much like other museums I have visited before, like Roedde House in Vancouver, and the Craigdarroch Castle in Victoria. We also toured the store, which was in many ways a general store (with anything from shoes to food!)
We had a fantastic time, and I’m pretty sure my colleagues who traveled on this FAM tour could appreciate the fun of this historic site. I will definitely bring some of my friends on a tour of Kilby Historic Site, so close to Vancouver (less than 1.5 hours drive!).
Disclosure: I was invited to visit Kilby Historic Site as part of a familiarization tour for Christmas in Harrison Mills 2012. My travel to and from Harrison Mills was covered as part of the media tour. This post was neither paid for nor expected, but I do think that this historic site is an excellent place for a museum fan. As always, all views are mine, and I retain editorial control on anything I publish on my site.
