Today, we spent the afternoon picnicking at a semi-secret park, Crab Park at Portside with our friends Jonathan, Anita, Jamie and Heather. On the hottest day of the summer, the other city beach parks would have surely been jam packed. Jonathan and Anita live in the area and, to beat the weekend rush, suggested Crab Park instead. Sure enough, we had the whole park practically to ourselves. On the menu was a spectrum of finger foods: deli meats, baguette slices, cheese, mixed nuts, fresh berries, chips & salsa and, for dessert, a variety of chocolates. The meal was paired with Villa Teresa Rose’ Veneto and Old Style Pilsner for a high/low, old-world/new-world fusion. Conceptual? Yes. Purely coincidental? Um, maybe.

Crab Park isn’t well known to people who don’t live in the area. That’s, partly, because it’s surrounded by industry and, partly, because it borders the northern most tip of the Downtown Eastside. If you do make it to the park, you’ll see a 360° microcosm of Vancouver – old, new, rich, poor, scenesters, immigrants, families, singles, industry and nature. To the north are unobstructed views of the North Shore Mountains. To the south, loom the heritage buildings of Gastown and Railtown. To the west, you’ll see the downtown financial district and luxury cruise ships docked at Canada Place. While to the east, is the port with brightly coloured shipping containers that look like giant lego building blocks. Adding to the industrial romance, occasionally, a helicopter will fly by to land at the nearby heliport or a train will chug along the still active railroad. This is not Celebration, Florida, though. You’ll see homeless people and colourful locals dotted throughout the Park. For the most part, they’re just getting some rest in the sun like everyone else. If you’re comfortable with that part of the urban tapestry, give Crab Park a visit. It’s a diamond in the rough.

We spent part of the day walking in the woods at the beach today admiring all the greenery around us. Then a little picnic and a siesta for the rest of the afternoon. Hope you had a great and relaxing Saturday too.

We spent a full day at the beach yesterday as it’s been scorching hot! I really love summer. The days are longer, the smell of bbq surrounds the air, birds chirping away, ice cream everyday and long days at the beach. It always feels like I’m a kid again. Hope everyone is having a great summer too and not melting from the heat.

Back at Little Nest today for a nice summery lunch with Stacy and her little guy Cohen. Luna and Cohen are only 2 days apart. Though, they still don’t know how to play together yet but hopefully soon they will. Summer is finally here and it is hot outside! A nice lunch at Little Nest and wandering around Commercial Drive made for a perfect day. Hello sunshine – we’ve missed you!

When the tv is on at home, it’s usually either on the design channel or food channel. I recently watched an episode of Anthony Bourdain in Provence and I couldn’t help but remember the time Peter and I spent there. Provence is truly magical. It’s like re-living one of Cezanne or Van Gogh’s paintings. Being there is like a dream. The faint smell of lavender in the air made me realize that it was not a dream, I really was in Provence.

To truly experience Provence, we rented a car and stayed at a lovely Chambre D’Hote in a typical Provençal village called Eyragues. Our Chambre D’Hote was surrounded by olive trees with a beautiful swimming pool that was owned by a lovely lady who decided to move there from Paris to take over her uncle’s Chambre D’Hote. Eyragues was the perfect village to stay at as we were less than an hour drive to some of the most beautiful villages in Provence like Saint Remy, Le Baux, Gordes, La Fontaine de Vaucluse, Rousillon, Bonnieux & Avignon. We visited all these villages, feasted on Provençal food, drank rosé and kept on telling ourselves that we need to retire here.

I sometimes find myself dreaming of living in Provence and running my own Chambre D’Hote. In my dream, I spend my days wandering around town, sipping pastis or Ricard with my Provençal friends while we exchange recipes and watch men play petanque. The warm sun and distinct smell of lavender surrounds us making everyday a perfect day. Then I would make my own bread & jams to serve my guests for breakfast as they tell me stories of where they’ve been and where they come from. Life moves slowly. People come and go. The sun never leaves the sky. Doesn’t this sound so perfect?

Provence  has a special place in my heart. The people are friendly, food is out of this world and the landscape so beautiful.

We had lunch at Nuba with Eileen & Jessica on Saturday and indulged ourselves in Lebanese food. We went to their new location on E 3rd and the space is so beautiful. Nuba is probably one of my favourite places to eat in the city. Their vegetable falafel is to die for. Try it if you’re there! The ingredients and the taste is very close to one of the best falafels I had ever tasted which happens to be located in Paris. It’s called L’as du Falafel in the Jewish neighbourhood. So tasty! Peter loves ordering the Najib’s Special which is crispy cauliflower tossed with lemon & sea salt. It doesn’t sound like much but it transcends cauliflower-ness. Who knew fried cauliflower could be so good? You also can’t go to Nuba without ordering their Turkish coffee. It’s brewed to order and is made with rose water and spiced with cardamom. The first sip will be shockingly exotic in taste but enjoy the experience. It’s like a mini-vacation. With the spicy floral aromatics of the rose water and cardamom you’ll feel transported to another world.

I spent part of my day today having lunch with our good friend Gen and her little Aoi as they are moving to California. We are sad that they are leaving but yet excited for their new adventure. We will miss you guys!  xoxo

Lounging outside in the sun yesterday afternoon. It’s been raining and cold here the past few days but the sun finally came out yesterday and it was so nice out. So Sisi and I met up for lunch at Urban Fare in Yaletown and lounged around at the seawall and chatted all afternoon. What a great day! Vancouver is so lovely in the summer.

A nice lunch with my friend Kevin at Little Nest today on Commercial Drive. I had toasted organic baguette with ricotta and honey & chocolate cake. Kevin had a platter of smoked applewood cheddar, mild genovese salami, apple, fig jam, maple roasted hazelnut, crostini and organic baguette. After lunch, we headed off to one of my favourite Italian grocery store called Santa Barbara and bought a 3L extra virgin olive oil for only $17! I love this place. Kevin has been extra busy at school doing his Master’s so it was nice for us to have some much needed quality time together to do some catching up. We then headed to the park for a quick walk until heavy rain started falling from the sky and we quickly ran to my car and headed back home. A perfect simple Thursday.

Dinner last night was at Munch in North Vancouver. What a fantastic place! I had a nice creamy seafood risotto with a glass of Malbec and Peter had a bison burger. I could have seriously had another plate of that risotto but was too embarrassed to order another one. Well, I’m going back with my friend Sisi for lunch next week so I could have my second serving then. It’s nice to have a place like this in the city where Peter and I can enjoy a really good meal and not have to worry if Luna cries. How many places have a play area for kids and a full bar for adults? Yippee! We’d definitely recommend this place to other young families too.

First treat of the day for us was a visit to Mark & Shannon’s new place for coffee and a slice of lemon meringue pie. Mark converted a 70 year old schoolhouse in Strathcona into an innovative mixed-use multi-family dwelling. The conversion maintains 40% of the original structure with modern updates getting the schoolhouse to Built Green Platinum standards. Each of the five units have a flex-space that could be used for an income-suite, additional living space or a home studio. The main floor of the schoolhouse is Shannon’s studio/workshop with future plans for public community programming. It’s a beautiful and thoughtful conversion which I’m sure must be the talk of the neighbourhood. Now, about the pie…it was baked by Shannon’s mom and it was spectacular!

You know the safehouses in Grand Theft Auto? No? Don’t play video games; not criminal minded? Well, neither is Nerissa. It took some explaining but we’ve come to incorporate the word “safehouse” into our parenting lexicon. In Grand Theft Auto, a safehouse is place where you can escape from the cops, get your stolen car fixed or covertly meet up with your associates. For us, a safehouse is far less nefarious. It’s a place where we can comfortably nurse, that has a properly maintained changing area or where we can get a decent meal and not feel guilty about Luna crying. We keep a mental catalogue of places around the city so that we can make a pitstop when out and about rather than rushing home. One day, I’d like to create a Grand Theft Auto style map with all the baby-friendly safehouses around the city. I think it’d be funny.

So far our safehouse list includes:

• IKEA, Richmond – the best family/changing area we’ve seen. It’s bigger than most downtown dens and looks like a mini-showroom.
• Whole Foods, Cambie Street – the eating area has lots of space for a stroller and other gear. Hippies love crying babies. Hippies love everyone.
• Little Nest, Commerical Drive – delicious food, good coffee and designed with young families in mind.
• Lilli’Q Cafe, Yaletown – During a long walk, we needed to find a place to change Luna and found Lilli’Q. We were a long ways away from the nearest safehouse so Lilli’Q was a welcome new discovery. There’s a comfortable changing area, a play area for bigger kids, friendly staff and nice drinks.
• Munch, North Vancouver – You won’t find a lot of kid friendly places with a full bar! Amazing food & drinks and would definitely recommend this place to other young families.

I spent an afternoon at Little Nest with the girls (& Peter). We had a lot of catching up to do so the afternoon was filled with non-stop chatting, laughter, entertaining Luna, coffee and munching on food. I love this place. It’s casual, kid friendly and has great food too. I could spend everyday here if I lived on Commercial Drive.

I was checking out Bloesum Kids the other day and there was an article on this wicked café called Moomah in New York. It’s like a gallery/studio/café/shop all in one. This place is stunning, you have to explore the site yourself to know what I’m talking about. It’s a creative café where parents and kids can hang out. It’s a similar concept as Little Nest but Moomah offers a little bit more by having some classes for kids & adults. Oh, do I wish we had a Moomah here in Vancouver…

On one sunny day, we decided to take a trip to Langley to check out Vista D’oro Farms. Vista D’oro farms is part winery, part cooking studio and part tasting room. We were first introduced to Vista D’oro while we were on a search for rose confit which we first tried in Nice, France.

It only took us a year to finally check out their flagship store in Langley which is right on their farm. The location is so beautiful, it brought back memories of our trip to Provence. We tasted their Merlot and Port wine. Their Port wine is out of this world. Super good! Their flagship store also carries all of their jams, wines and other artisan market goods. I could have stayed in that store for hours tasting their different jams and drinking their wine!

If you haven’t tried their jams, trust me, they are a treat! Oh, and you have to taste their Port wine too!

(On our recent trip back to Europe, we brought back a bottle of rose confit from Paris and soon after, we found a store called Farfalla tea boutique in Gastown that sells boutique jams from Paris and they had rose confit! But sadly, they have recently closed their doors).