What to do on a rainy Saturday? Go out for coffee & hit our favourite Lebanese restaurant! There’s a delightful french café in the middle of a residential neighbourhood called Le Marché St. George. Not very many people know about it, it’s like a hidden gem in the city that only opened a little over a year ago. When you walk in, you feel like you’ve just flown to the South of France. It’s beautiful, cozy, rustic and serves excellent coffee, teas & pastries. They also carry a selection of gourmet food products as well as a basket full of handmade wool blankets made in a mountain village in Mexico. I wanted them all. Such a perfect place to be on a cold & rainy day.

Then our stomach started growling and off we went to our favourite Lebanese restaurant – Nuba! I was craving for the Najib Special which is exactly what I had. Peter had a bowl of their red lentil soup and garden falafel (so good btw, it taste similar to that amazing falafel place in Paris called L’As du Fallafel). Luna had a glass of orange & carrot juice and happily continued eating her little doughnuts from Le Marché St. George. We usually never leave Nuba without having their turkish coffee but we were over caffeinated by that time. We left full & happy. Until next time.

Happy Monday everyone!

I just started using Instagram and loving it! I like following peoples photographers as it shows snapshots from around the world. But sometimes, I think people are from places they are not because of the subject on their photos. When I was looking at my photostream on Saturday, it could have been from several places from around the world but it was all shots I took in Vancouver.

My Saturday felt like a culinary trip around the world. We started off at Joe Fortes for old school New York style brunch with Oysters Rockefeller and classic Bennys. Then it was off to Thierry for french style patisserie for sweets. Dinner was Japanese Izakaya at Guu Garden. We were stuffed by end of day but definitely a Saturday filled with yummy goodness mixed in with good company.

A few random photos taken the past 2 weekends. Did you have a good weekend? It’s been really cold here lately and been raining way too much which always leaves us having to find fun stuff to do indoors. Went to the East Side Culture Crawl the other weekend and spent the day at the Art Gallery for Family Fuse.

We discovered this cute little sashimi/bar cafe called Gyo-O. It’s the seafood version of Gyoza King. The place is small but luckily, we were there before 6 pm so there were still a lot of empty seats but it did quickly fill up by the time we starting eating. The food was amazing & the flavours so delicate. We also couldn’t help but try out a couple of their desserts so we went for their black bean pudding and assorted macarons. A highly recommended place.

For the past 5 years, Peter and I have been going to the Cranberry Festival held in Fort Langley. We missed it last year as we were in Mexico so this was the first year we brought Luna. The festival is filled with all things cranberries (cranberries by the pound, cranberry tea, cranberry soaps etc.). Our favourites are the amazing sausage rolls from a local bakery, going to the village antiques mall, eating freshly made bannock on a side street & just casually enjoying the small town festival.

We went to the 10th annual Southlands Country Fair at the Southlands Riding Club and had a fantastic afternoon. There were a lot of activities for kids throughout the day like pony rides, hay rides, musical entertainment, country market, bake sale…. But I’m ashamed to say that we didn’t participate in any of them except for the bake sale & the latte limo. Instead, we sat on bleachers hiding out from the sun and chatted away with our friends Francis & Tracy while our little ones played around us. Was it fun? Definitely! It was a great way to spend the afternoon.

After the country fair, we headed over to Francis & Tracy’s place and the kids continued to play and the bigger people continued to chat. We ordered japanese food for dinner and enjoyed some homemade sauteed peaches topped with ricotta cheese as we sat in their beautiful deck enjoying these warmer days.

Last night, we were out and about in Granville Island and decided to have dinner at Edible At The Market. They used to have a cute little shop in the market but now have expanded to a full service bistro with all things from BC. It was a fantastic night to be out in a patio. Great food & family friendly.

To start we had the Slik Spiced Albacore Tuna with Yuzu marinated cucumber & watermelon. We also tried the Artisan Bread Basket with Lobster oil, Pinot Noir balsamic. For our main dish, Peter went for the Sloping Hills Pork Belly & Loin with Celeriac & apple salad, chilled cucumber almond gazpacho and I had the Pemberton Meadows Steak Frites with Poplar Grove Tiger Blue butter, duck fat BC potatoes. I was pretty stuffed after enjoying my steak but when the waiter came by to give us a run down of the dessert menu, we knew we couldn’t leave without having their creme brulée with lavender. I think that was Luna’s favourite!

All in all, a restaurant definitely recommended. We will for sure be back and try the rest of the menu.

Here are some random photos from this long weekend. We had a fantastic long weekend spent mostly at the beach, going to some of our favourite shops in Gastown & did a whole lot of biking. Hope everyone is enjoying these glorious summer days!

The Fair at the PNE happens every time this year. We hadn’t been in many years but, with Luna, we thought it’d be a fun family day out. Luna loved the Bobs & Lolo show. It was such a pleasure to watch her dance around full of joy. Luna also enjoyed the Super Dogs show and burnt a lot of enthusiastic energy just in time for nap time. She woke up from her nap halfway through the Peking Acrobats performance and gave a worried “oh no” to some of the stunts. I was worried too – some serious acrobatic talent there, worth the gate price alone. Luna also loved KC Bear’s Summer Jam. Again, so cute seeing her dance around and hug KC after the show. And she went wild seeing the baby ducks, chicks, rabbits, cows and piglets at the agrarian exhibits. As for the big people, I enjoyed the Container Art show and the BBQ contestant stands. Mama bear ended up buying a steam cleaner from the ShamWow-style gadget vendors. It’s not country fair snake oil junk, though. It’s an essential household device that sanitizes and cleans – so, she says.

Yesterday was Peter’s birthday. We didn’t have anything planned as we’ve been renovating our kitchen the past 3 weeks and we’ve had trades coming in and out of the house. But luckily yesterday, our tile setter finished earlier then expected and we were able to go out for the evening. We decided to do a little food crawl and started off at Judas Goat. We ordered Beef Tongue, Duck Confit & Foie Gras Terrine, Pulpo with Egg Yolk & Smoked Paprika and Roasted Polenta with Olive-Scallion Dressing. I would highly recommend them all!

Second stop was at La Taqueria for a few tacos. I love this place – so low key & the tacos so good! We ordered one De Chachette, one Al Pastor, one Pesacado and one Lengua taco. Yum. Another place highly recommended!

Last stop was at Cheesecake Etc. to end the night with a couple slices of strawberry cheesecake. I didn’t take any photos as the place was so dark – almost too dark to eat actually. But it was a great way to end the night. Happy Birthday Peter!

Our love of discovering new areas of the city led us to visit Antique Alley in New Westminster for the first time. With the heritage buildings, bridges, pedestrian overpasses and inner city grittiness, the area actually looks more like Brooklyn than Vancouver. Antiques and vintage finds, packed into the stores, overflow onto the sidewalks. There’s lots of junk, to be sure, but where there’s junk, there’s treasure. Although we didn’t find anything, it was worth a visit to scope out future resources. Our favorite store was Urban Treasures which stocks an extensive collection of antique hardware and building materials – definitely a store to keep on file.

Antique Alley has a really unique vibe as does New West. Unfortunately, in Vancouver, the city folk tend to poo-poo anything not in the city proper. I think we should develop more of the boroughs mentality and celebrate all the close-by adjacent cities. There’s lots in the metro-area to see and explore. I know because we’re still discovering and have a lot more ground to cover.

Mmmmm…. Richmond Summer Market! Yum in every corner. Modeled after traditional evening markets in Asia, the Richmond Summer Market will make you feel like you’re actually in Asia without the airplane ride. It opens at 6:30pm but by 7pm, it’s packed with people eyeing what they want to eat next.

One part of the market is all food and the other side are filled with stalls selling sunglasses, electronics and other trinkets all made in Asia. But for us, we bypass that part of the market and go straight for the food. The food is truly amazing, cheap & authentic. You start off buying a few pieces of little steamed dumplings for $2. As you’re eating it, you walk to the next stall and order some more dim sum like siu mai & har gow and next, some bubble waffle. It’s never ending. It’s like a street food crawl!

By the end of the night, you can’t even count how many of those little dumplings, bbq’s & okonomiyaki you have eaten. All you know is that your stomach is stuffed with so much goodness.

So if you plan to go, make sure you bring a lot of small change & and an empty stomach.

While it seemed like the rest of the world was enjoying hot weather, here in Vancouver we could only dream of beach days while still wrapped up in our spring attire. Finally, over the last few days, we’ve had the loveliest warm days and it seems like summer is officially here. We’ve all been patiently waiting.

Living in a little seaside village where the beach is just a couple blocks away from our house and a bigger beach is just a bike ride away, our life in the summer is mostly spent at the beach. We spent the entire Sunday at the beach by our house and didn’t get home until later that evening. The water was really warm and Luna spent quite a bit of time in it while Peter was busy cooking up a storm. Not a bad Sunday at all. Welcome back Summer!

Living only 10 min away from the ferry terminal, we decided to do an impromptu day trip to Vancouver Island. We actually had Salt Spring in mind but we missed the ferry and decided to go to Vancouver Island instead. It was the perfect day to be on a boat for a full day of Island adventure. It was Luna’s first time to ride a ferry and spent the hour & forty five minutes running around on the top deck checking things out. It was a fun day for all and I realized that impromptu trips like this should be done more often!

A few weekends ago, we hopped in the car and headed over to Langley farms. Langley is just 45 min away from Vancouver which Peter and I refer to as the Provence of Vancouver. The roads are long and narrow with rolling hills as far as the eyes can see. Once in awhile, a farm tractor will turn into your road & you’re stuck behind it barely moving as the tractor finds it’s way to another road where he is headed. Then you continue your journey until people riding their horses share the road with you so you slow down once again to admire the horses and say hello to the people riding them. Then off you go again.

The scenery is so beautiful and so green. Aside from wineries surrounding you, there are also quite a few horse stables where you see horses out and about enjoying the sun and beautiful large barns scattered in the area. It’s stunning & breathtaking.

Our first stop was Vista D’Oro farms. We love their preserves so we picked up a small bottle of the turkish fig with walnut wine preserve and a bottle of their fantastic port wine. Our second stop was Domaine de Chaberton which apparently is Langley’s largest and oldest winery. We tasted some of their wines and took a peek at the lunch menu of their restaurant called Bacchus Bistro. Need to try this restaurant one day! Then on our last stop we had a picnic style lunch at Township 7 – a small little winery with picnic tables surrounding their property where you can order from a picnic style menu and eat it outside. So, that’s exactly what we did. A few little things to nibble on and a glass of their rosé wine is all that we needed as we sat in the middle of their vineyard. It was a great way to end our Langley farms adventure. I think this is a summertime weekend favourite. We’ll be back and will try picnic menus at the different vineyards.

Who doesn’t love bubbles? We spent the afternoon/evening last Saturday at the Jazz Festival and Luna, being the social butterfly that she is, made friends with people blowing bubbles.

On our way to the Jazz Festival, we decided to stop by the newly opened Nelson The Seagull for some coffee & pastries. I felt right at home in the space – this is exactly how I dream my kitchen looks like. They have an open kitchen in the back so you can watch them make their fantastic sandwiches & pastries. They were getting ready to close so lucky us, we got a few free pastries to try out. The sweet one was an apple type pastry and the other was a savoury pastry -prosciuto & quail egg. Double yum!

We went to check out a fantastic pop up shop called The Found and The Freed which we read about through Janis from Pinecone Camp. I fell in love with the whole shop – I want them all! If you haven’t been, go check them out. They are scheduled to open until July 16th but might be extended throughout the summer or until December. But just in case, go before the 16th so you’re not disappointed.

After dreaming about this place for years, we finally made it to the famous Amalfi Coast. Located in Southern Italy and declared as one of the UNESCO World Heritage Sites, the Amalfi is beauty beyond words. It really is a slice of heaven. Positano is probably the most romantic village on the Amalfi Coast with Ravello being the second.

When we went to visit, we decided to stay in Sorrento as it was more central and easy to get to by train from Naples. Sorrento is also just a quick boat ride away from Capri which we also visited. So everyday, we would wake up in the morning, find a little cafe in Sorrento to have our morning espresso & pastry then hop on a bus to take us to Positano, Amalfi & Ravello. We visited these places in a span of 5 days which was nice as we had a full day in Positano to relax and swim at the beach. Aaahhh.. talk about La Dolce Vita! But you also must not miss Ravello. Ravello is situated up on a mountain only 5 km from Amalfi & it is stunning & so romantic.

I’m sure most of you have heard about the hair-raising drive to Amalfi. Well, let me tell ya, I thought I was going to die with every sharp turn the bus driver made. The road is so narrow and winding uphill. I really don’t know how they can drive that way. So Crazy. The view is stunning though so I kept myself busy taking photos the whole way.

The Amalfi Coast should definitely be part of your travel list. Yes, it’s packed with tourists but there’s a reason for why everyone wants to see this part of Italy. It really is worth a visit. And if you do make it there, make sure you come home with a bottle of limoncello. We sure did!

Deep Cove, in North Vancouver is one of our favorite places to go to. Every time we’re there, Mommy & Daddy have to stop into Honey’s Donuts for what many regard as Vancouver’s best donut. We didn’t want Luna to start the day with all that sugar so she got a savoury scone instead. Kind of a raw deal, it’s true, but, on the up side, her Captain’s chair is the best seat in the house.

Javier Tellez, “Letter On The Blind For the Use of Those Who See,” Saint Estache Cathedral. Projected Video.

Felicie D’Estienne D’Orves & Frederic Nogray, “Monolithe et Massage,” Saint Roch Cathedral. Installation and Concert.

Jeremy Blake, “Station to Station”, Englise St.-Paul-St.-Louis. Multichannel Video.

One year, we decided to take a vacation to Paris to check out Nuit Blanche. Nuit Blanche is an all-night arts festival where public spaces including churches and civic buildings serve as unlikely settings for installations and performances. We tried to see as much as we could but it’s impossible to see all the venues. But with jetlag, it wasn’t hard to stay up all night.

Nuit Blanche happens in major cities like St Petersburg, Rome, Tel Aviv, Berlin, Paris, Madrid, Toronto to just name a few. We chose Paris because… well, we love Paris. It was such a fun night and also nice to see so many people out in the streets enjoying all the art & hearing music everywhere.

We’ve been to Paris a couple times and absolutely LOVE everything about the city. We always like staying in the Marais and for this trip, we stayed at Hotel Jeanne d’Arc and was lucky enough to be given their one and only 2 bedroom suite at no extra charge. Lucky us! A wonderful hotel situated in the heart of the Marais. It’s also really close to the most amazing falafels we’ve ever tasted in the heart of the Jewish neighbourhood called, L’As du Falafel. Amazing, believe me! You also can’t go to Paris without stoping by Laduree to fill up one of their georgous boxes with macarons.

Aaahhh… Paris. So beautiful, romantic & inspiring. A perfect combination for a city. Also worth noting, Nuit Blanche is coming to Vancouver for the first time in 2012. Yeah!

More travel photos to make you want to hop on a plane this summer! I am currently organizing all my photo files from the past years and hence the reason for my travel photo posts. When we travel, we come home with almost 2,000 photos and it’s a shame that they are all hidden in our hard drive or in burnt discs. So in the next while, I’ll be randomly posting some of our travel photos to inspire you and me to go back to them someday. I had forgotten about these photos so it’s nice to visually see them again.

When we visited Barcelona, I was amazed to see the buildings so well preserved. The building facades are so colourfully painted and features such beautiful doors & windows. I was in awe. I can see how proud the citizens are of their history that they make all efforts to preserve them. I was constantly taking photos with each step I made hoping that one day, these patterns & colours will inspire me to create something with them. Such beauty & elegance.

I also have to say how much I love catalonian food. We feasted on paella, pan con tomate (a slice of country bread rubbed with tomato & garlic and drizzled with olive oil), chorizo, gazpacho, bacalao and absolutely enjoyed eating at a Pintxo bar (basque style tapas). We only got to try one pintxo bar and it’s called Irati – SO good!!

We also found a great place to stay at called, Casa Meva. The owners are architects & they did an amazing job with the space. Super highly recommended! The location is great too with a little churros cafe right next door. How convenient is that? Would definitely stay here again.

Before Luna was born, Peter and I did a lot of traveling around Europe and Cinque Terre is one of the places we really fell in love with. Cinque Terre is a fishing village on the Italian Riviera in the Liguria region of Italy. It is composed of five enchanting villages: Monterosso al Mare, Vernazza, Corniglia, Manarola and Riomaggiore. These villages are all connected by trains and walking paths – most of it you can’t even get to by car. We visited most of the villages and ate a whole lot of trofie al pesto, a local specialty, and drank the ligurian wine, a slightly fizzy red popular in the region.

Cinque Terre is no longer a secret and can get quite busy in high season. It is part of the UNESCO World Heritage status and the residents make all efforts to preserve their land.  Travel tip: there’s a lot of towns that are only a half-hour or less away from Cinque Terre by train. We stayed in Rapallo, a near-by resort town. You probably can’t go too wrong no matter which town or village you’re in. It’s a beautiful area of Italy. Highly recommended. Hope to go back one day.

We spent yesterday morning at the Vancouver Aquarium. At $21 per person and $10 parking it’s not the cheapest thing to do but worth the price of admission to see Luna’s amazed expressions. The dolphin show and Dora & Diego in 4-D are the major attractions but my favs will always be the jellyfish. I snapped these grainy pics with my iPhone using CrossProcess with default Photoshop sharpening applied for extra grit. Such beautiful, delicate creatures. I could look at them all day.

The past two days felt like Spring has arrived. I spent the day wandering around Granville Island market indulging in a few (yes, a few!) Lee’s donuts (so good btw, a must try!), a carrot cake, a cup of one of my favourite coffee in the city – JJ Bean & Indian food. And no, I didn’t eat them all myself – the calories were shared with my parents. Gotta blame my mom for my sweet tooth and my dad for my love for food. We ate outside the market listening to musicians playing while watching all the birds fly around us. Pretty amazing. After all the sweet indulgence, we walked back to Kitsilano beach so Luna can have a bit of playtime in the playground. To all of our surprise, she decided to walk on her own (without me holding her hand). Amazing!! She just went off on her own happily waving to people walking by and checking out what all the other kids were doing. Definitely a proud moment for all of us to see little Luna walking all by herself!

Another weekend walk along the shore line. This time the air was still brisk but without the wintery cold. As we headed deeper towards the trees, large eagles flew overhead, surely, signaling that spring will soon arrive.

Once again, we are so full and so satisfied. We went for brunch with Len, Olga, Louella and Biren at Me & Julio on the Drive today and had a great time catching up while it poured outside. If you haven’t noticed yet, I love going out for brunch with friends or having friends over for brunch. It’s really the best way to get together on weekends in these cold, wet wintery days.

Last night even in the pouring rain, we made it to Illuminate Yaletown 2011. Pictured above is: “Kinetic Floating Pixels” by Shaun Mavronicolas & Miles Thorogood, “Sound Clouds” by Alex Beim & Daito Manabe, and “Factory” by Mark Ashby, Hans Christian Berger, Alex Grunenfelder, & Phil Johnston. Unfortunately, I can’t ID the last installation because I don’t remember where that was. The light festival is on til tonight.

Rocanini! A new coffee shop that opened up in Steveston. Every cup of coffee is brewed to order – so special.

After all the rain we’ve been getting, the sun has finally come out! So yesterday after having our gigantic Sunday brunch, we all got bundled up and went for a wintery walk at the beach by our house. It was a great lazy sunny Sunday.

One afternoon, I decided to have some outdoor playtime with little Lily so her very pregnant mother can get some rest. Lily, Luna and I got all bundled up and played at the beach and park by our house. We collected some feathers and leaves and ran around to keep ourselves warm. It was great fun to hang out with little Lily and watch her skip, jump on the swing and say hello to the dogs walking by. It made me feel like I was 3 years old again.

On the weekend, our friend, Mark Shieh, toured us around the new River Market at Westminster Quay. A couple of years ago, Mark took on the enormous task of revitalizing the Quay. The market was at one time a major attraction in Greater Vancouver but for various reasons fell off the map. I’ve been living in Greater Vancouver for 14 years and had never been to the Westminster Quay. I never had a reason to and no one ever talked about it. Mark and his team are changing all that.

The new market revolves around a “FOOD 360″ concept. FOOD 360 is about creating a space for buying food, eating food, growing food, learning about food and discovering new food. During the early brainstorming stages of the project, Mark talked about a blue-sky scenario where residents could harvest basil that they’ve grown from the community gardens, pair them with market ingredients of their choice and bring them to a vendor who would cook up a custom pasta dish, fresh and ready to go. Another idea was to have a chef-in-residence on site to inspire visitors with new meal planning ideas.

There’s a lot of tasty ideas cooking at River Market. With Granville Island, Lonsdale Quay, the plethora of weekend Farmer’s Markets and speciality grocers, Vancouver doesn’t really need another market. Mark realized this early on and has curated an innovative set of experiences for River Market. A community garden was planted in the summer creating a hands-on connection between gardener and market consumer. A commercial kitchen called “Make” will be available for rental allowing home-producers to pack food-safe products that can legally go to market. And a cooking school on-site will add to the hub of FOOD 360 activity.

Mark once explained to me that there’s a catch-22 in development where savvy tourists only want to go where the locals are but locals don’t want to go anywhere tourists are. I think the plans for River Market wisely takes this into account. The focus on community engagement and locally-relevant programming gives locals reason to embrace the market as part of their neighbourhood life. Once things are in full-swing, there will be plenty of unique experiences to bring in the out-of-town foodies and enough art & architecture innovation to make it a design-minded destination.

River Market is being rolled out in phases or what Mark calls “courses”. The appetizer is the opening of Donald’s Market, the anchor grocer tenant. If you’re in the New Westminster area, drop by to take a look around. If you’re travelling from elsewhere, you’ll want to wait for a special event. Projects will roll out over the next few months. Valentine’s 2011 is the target date to get a critical mass of tenants and programming into the market with Summer 2011 serving up the full-course meal.

River Market’s moto is “Hungry & Curious”. The first floor is for “food for the body” (hunger) while the upper floor is for “food for the mind” (curiosity). The first thing you’ll notice upstairs is The Vancouver Circus School that takes up 6000 sq. ft. of open space. Without seeing it, I didn’t really understand the connection between a food market and circus school. In person, though, it’s brilliant and the synergy jumps out at you. The school creates a signature visual attraction both with the circus performances and with the playful landscaped architecture designed by Marianne Amodio. Mark also explained that lessons at the circus school typically run less than one and a half hours which means parents are better served by exploring the market downstairs rather than go home and come back. Again, adding to the hub of market activity.

Coming soon to the “food for the mind” floor is a boutique toy store where kids can take art classes. There’s also plenty of space upstairs earmarked for specialty programming which is currently in the early stages of planning.

Public art like the interactive installation pictured above adorn the market. These water drop lights are connected to a weather station. When the weather changes, the lights change. There are also buttons on the railing in front of the lights that allows vistors to play the lights like an instrument. It’s playful, thoughtful and creative much like what the market is shaping up to be.

Tiny is an innovative retail concept that packages local BC specialty foods into tiny sample-sized portions. Tiny products come at a tiny price, thus reducing the barrier of entry for the everyday shopper. The thinking behind Tiny is that while a shopper might be hesitant to buy artisan jam for $12, they’ll jump at the chance to try it for $5. Once they’ve tried it, they’ll never go back to the big-box factory-made version. Or at the very least, they’ll gain an appreciation for local artisan producers and that that experience will set the table for new dining adventures. I had the pleasure of working on the brand concept with Cory Ripley (Exhibit A Design Group). So, come back here for a big update on Tiny in the near future. The wood panelling you see is constructed using discarded shipping pallets; one of the many space innovations by Marianne Amodio.

Also sprinkled throughout River Market are playful environmental graphics by Hangar 18. I love the little narrative details. For example, each washroom entrance and exit houses a metaphorical set of graphics. In the example above, it’s raining when you enter the washroom but when you leave all is sunny again. Clever, playful and surprising. This kind of detail and craft gives a space personality and meaning but it takes gutsy visionaries to see the value.

River Market is a great space with very exciting things planned. I would love to sign off with the phrase “I’m hungry for more” but Anthony Bourdain pretty much owns that one. So, let me just say, Bravo to River Market!

Burger Heaven is semi-legendary amongst Vancouver burger bloggers but it’s all the way in New Westminster. Since we were going to New West to visit River Market we decided to make a pit-stop and give it a try. First thing you’ll notice is the decor is stuck in a 1980s time-warp. It’s hokey but authentic and charming. I had the Burger with Bacon & Cheddar. It was a good burger but not quite drive-for-half-an-hour good. My only real critique is that the BBQ sauce was strong and over-powered the first few bites. The bacon over-powered the beef flavor, as well, but that’s my own fault for ordering it. Next time, I’ll go for a basic with cheese. That will be the real test.

Nerissa ordered the Kangaroo Burger from their menu of specialty game meats. Yes, you read right, Kangaroo. Now before you judge, let me tell you that on CBC Radio I once heard an Aussie researcher go on and on about how cows pollute the earth with methane gas while Kangaroos produce almost none. His conclusion was that it’s much more sustainable and environmentally friendly if we all ate ‘roo instead of beef. But how did it taste? Well, it tasted exactly like a beef burger. It also cost a budget breaking $15.99; quite a bit for a burger but a bargain compared to a safari adventure. Overall, it’s a fun place to go to for a retro food adventure. I’m willing to try any place that’s a local legend at least once and I’d say this one is worth a visit if you’re in the area.

Our good friends Jonathan & Anita hosted a farewell party as they are moving to Toronto and relocating their studio there. We are sad to see them leave but happy for their new life adventure. Their company, Rollout, has really taken off and was awarded as this year’s Western Living Industrial Designers of the Year! Amazing. We are so proud of them. Cheers to a new beginning!

Before we had Luna, Sunday brunch with friends was a favourite weekend activity. Now that we have a baby, it’s more challenging to wait in long lines and sit in jam-packed places. So our plan was to find a place big enough to be kid friendly while delicious enough to satisfy our brunch aficionado friends. That means no Denny’s, no IHOP, no White Spot. None of that. Sacrificing standards is no way to live, especially if you’re only going to meet up once a month. We were going to give, new lunch hotspot, Meat & Bread a try. I’ve been during the week. It gets really busy but I imagined we might get lucky on a Sunday. They have a big communal table and plenty of space. Unfortunately, they’re not open Sundays. Plan B was all-time favourite, Nuba, which we knew would work but they’re not open Sunday afternoon either. So, we headed deeper into Gastown/Railtown to go to Deacon’s Corner. Deacon’s is an old-school diner with some of the best pancakes and other traditional breakfast fare that you’ll find in Vancouver.

It’s not modern, eclectic, west-coast, fusion or any other commonly used Vancouver food adjective. We’re talking serious breakfast here. Len and Sophia had Pancakes with Sausage. Olga had the Corned Beef Hash. Nerissa had the Carolina Pancakes layered with Pulled Pork and I had the Biscuits with Sausage and Country Gravy. All the entrees came with eggs and toast. It’s all delicious but we didn’t get any good food shots because it’s not much to look at.

The food was both familiar and unexpected. It’s familiar because it’s reminiscent of vintage Americana, a type of nostalgia ingrained in our collective pop conciousness. But it’s unexpected because this is Vancouver, Canada where biscuits are more exotic than sushi. Come hungry; the portion sizes are enormous. Curiously, I noticed that between the five of us – not including potatoes – there weren’t any vegetables on our plates, not even a single slice of tomato. In another booth, I did see two girls munching on giant celery sticks but that was only because they were drinking Bloody Marys. I suppose that’s somewhat nutritious.

We found the layout and atmosphere of the restaurant to be very family-friendly. Most of the seating is made up of comfortable old-school dining booths and there’s space around the restaurant to park a stroller. They only have one highchair in the whole place, though. Luna sat in a booster seat which was not ideal but a workable solution. The ambience is so casual that you can make as much noise as you want and take all the time you need. We left full of laughter and full of food. Both signs of a good brunch.

Brrrr…. it’s cold out there. On a really cold and windy day, we decided to go and play at the beach by our house. Yes, we were cold but it also felt kind of refreshing. We really love the beach in our area. In the summer, the beach gets packed with locals having barbeques and swimming until the sun goes down. Now that summer is over, it’s all about hitting the tiny concession stand for a cup of hot chocolate and trying to stay warm and toasty. Hope everyone is staying warm and enjoying Autumn while it lasts.

We just came back from a fantastic first family vacation to Mexico. We spent a week in the Mayan Riviera and was absolutely spoiled by the white sandy beaches Mexico has to offer. We spent our days having long afternoon siestas by the pool or morning walks and swims at the beach. Mexico, we miss you and we will be back!

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…