A Meteor's Flash and Boom in Metro Vancouver

Some residents were able to capture a shot of the meteor

Last night just after 9pm, I heard a muffled boom and some minor vibrations.

I knew it wasn't an earthquake but it was very unusual.

Lots of other people on social media thought so too.

People reported seeing a bright flash

Turns out it was a "fireball" meteor about the size of a soccer ball that flew into Earth's atmosphere, causing a bright flash in the sky, followed by two booms in quick succession.

The fireball was seen as far west at Comox, British Columbia, as far east as Merritt, and as far south as Seattle, Washington.

Johanna Wagstaffe, a CBC meteorologist and science reporter said local seismographs showed a spike at around 9.10pm, and that the sonic boom is "classic evidence" of a meteor travelling through the atmosphere.

She noted meteors don't often appear in western North America. "But it's always a big deal when we can visually experience something falling from space."

Wagstaffe explained a sonic boom occurs when an object travels through the upper levels of the atmosphere so fast -- from between 20 to 70 kilometres per second -- that it compresses the air ahead of it and heats up. In this case, the meteor was traveling 33 kilometres per second, or around 119,000 km/h.

A seismograph registered the boom at 9.10pm

The American Meteor Society also confirmed the meteor sighting, and described it as a fireball, as the duration of the flash was too short to be human-made debris, and that it was a natural fireball made of stone, metal, or a combination of both.

It is believed the meteor landed tens of kilometres north of Coquitlam in a heavily forested area, so the chances of finding the fragments are extremely slim. Maybe one day years from now a hiker will discover the fragments? You heard it here first.

Settling into Vancouver, Cats and All

The peaceful view from Coquitlam 

Almost a month ago, a friend from Hong Kong landed in Vancouver. She has been preparing to move for years and now it's finally happened.

We had a chat yesterday on the phone and she seems to be settling in well. She said she spent the first two weeks doing all kinds of mundane but necessary things, from opening up bank accounts, buying insurance to finding a place to live.

One cat investigates the blinds

She is currently staying in an Airbnb in Coquitlam and enjoying it, despite the location not being the most convenient. Her exercise consists of walking up and down hills to get to the supermarket and back, but she loves inhaling the fresh air.

"It's so nice to be here, in freedom," she says. Since she arrived she stopped watching Hong Kong news because she found it depressing. "People are being arrested everyday," she says.

Next month she will move into her rental flat, also in Coquitlam and needs to buy furniture and other household goods and is eyeing the Ikea catalogue. But being in Vancouver is  all exciting to her and she hopes to soon be reunited with her mother, who is currently in Malaysia.

In the meantime her two cats are keeping her company, one 14 years old, the other four years old, though they don't get along. Hopefully they at least like Vancouver!

Au Revoir Le Crocodile by Chef Michel Jacob

A meaty Dungeness crab cake with a red pepper mousseline

It was announced in early February that beloved Vancouver French restaurant Le Crocodile will close at the end of April, as chef-owner Michel Jacob will retire after over 43 years. 

He has sold the business to one of his early apprentices, Iron Chef winner Rob Feenie, who has been a consultant chef at Cactus Club for many years and most recently had a pop-up at Bacchus at Wedgewood. Currently Feenie is biding his time at the Vancouver Golf Club -- in Coquitlam.

Calm before dinner service at Le Crocodile

There's some skepticism that Feenie can pull off "Le Crocodile by Rob Feenie" as he intends to call it -- which is why diners are heading to Le Crocodile now for one last taste of Jacob's food. Since the news broke, reservations have been snapped up until April 30 and I managed to get a table tonight.

We arrived for 6pm and were seated off to the side by the bar, which is a nice, quieter area. For starters I had the Le Crocodile classic of tomato and gin soup that arrived piping hot topped with whipped cream. It was so comforting to have the soup, the creaminess tempering the acidity of the tomato, and yet it wasn't too rich either. 

The Dungeness crab cake was a thick puck-shaped portion choc full of crab meat that was fresh and flaky, topped with salmon roe and dressed with bell pepper mousseline and a side of greens. Another classic is the Alsatian onion tart full of umami flavour served with an endive salad with mustard dressing.

My favourite tomato and gin soup

The bread basket was so good we couldn't help ourselves but ask for a refill! We paid for it later as we barely finished our mains.

Mine was one of the four specials -- duck confit featuring two legs that were so tender they literally fell off the bone, together with a vol-au-vent with a savoury custard inside with citrus fruits on top, and a salad on the side. The duck skin wasn't crispy at all, but rather braised and moist. The vol-au-vent was small, but still crispy and held up the custard inside. The citrus fruits were a welcome counterpoint to the savoury duck. 

The pan-seared Haida Gwaii scallops were huge! Not having read the menu I thought they were from Hokkaido, but no they were on British Columbia's front step. They were cooked perfectly, meaty and subtle in flavour with a beurre blanc sauce.

Lovely pan-seared Haida Gwaii scallops

Meanwhile the grilled tiger prawns were quite large too, decorated with swirls of thinly zucchini spaghetti and in the middle some angel hair pasta in a lobster veloute and Pernod sauce. The sauce was not to one of my companion's liking, who found it a bit on the sour side. 

By now the dining room was filling up and becoming noisier, and a couple seated next to us celebrating their wedding anniversary. We got a mini pre-dessert, a small scoop of pear sorbet. It was so divine I could have eaten another.

We ordered a Grand Marnier souffle and it looked lovely, like a mushroom with a muffin top sprinkled with icing sugar. The server generously poured in creme Anglaise, a vanilla custard that made it quite wet at the bottom. Nevertheless, the souffle itself was very light and airy.

Duck confit with vol-au-vent and citrus fruits

Our second dessert was sunburnt lemon meringue tart with passion fruit sorbet. The presentation was dramatic, the lemon tart decorated with frilly piped meringue that was torched. Also a nice light, tart finish, though we could have had more passionfruit sorbet! Lovely finish.

We thanked our server and asked him to pass on our gratitude to the chef. He said the new owner plans to keep the restaurant as it is, but even he is not sure if it will change and urged us to try it under Rob Feenie.

There are too many memories in this restaurant, as we have eaten here many times over the years. The best part of it is the quality and consistency over four decades, not an easy feat. The landlady lives upstairs from the restaurant and we've heard she dines here regularly. So there will be expectations to keep it pretty much the same... we can only hope!

Lemon meringue tart with passionfruit sorbet

Le Crocodile

909 Burrard Street #100

Vancouver, BC

604 669 4298

Cha Chaan Teng Offers Taste of Home

A giant fluffy pineapple bun that's made on the premises

Hongkongers missing the taste of home can now to go to Ho Yuen Cafe, opened by the second-generation owner. The mural on the wall has Lion Rock in the centre, flanked by Hong Kong on the left and Vancouver on the right.

Over 60 years ago her father opened Ho Yuen, a cha chaan teng in Tsz Wan Shan, but in the 1980s the family immigrated to Vancouver and so he shut Ho Yuen. However, in Vancouver he opened two other Ho Yuen businesses in Richmond and Coquitlam. 

The interior is bright and cheery with Lion Rock

By 1996 her father retired, and the family returned to Hong Kong where she worked in marketing in the fitness industry. She met her husband, a personal trainer and they had a son.

She decided to go back to her cha chaan teng roots and in 2014 she revived the Ho Yuen brand by opening in Wong Tai Sin, and later Ho Yuen Bakery.

When Hong Kong invited tenders for food trucks, Ho Yuen Express was born and it was a baptism by fire, spending HK$1 million on the food truck and modifying it, and then quickly learning how some locations like Disneyland were better than others, like Kwun Tong.

In 2020 she moved back to Vancouver because of her special-needs son. And in the last few years she took her time looking at locations to open Ho Yuen Cafe.

The location is not high traffic at all -- it's in an industrial area near a park where people walk their dogs. Nevertheless, the bright cafe has large windows and a big kitchen where staff make everything in-house from the char siu to cookie-base egg tarts and pineapple buns. 

Satay beef noodles is another signature item here

One of the signature items is the pineapple bun which is really large and fluffy, complete with a giant slab of butter inside, and a cup of hot milk tea to wash it down.

If that's not enough carbs, a bowl of satay beef with instant noodles is delicious. The noodles have slices of tenderised beef and it's not too spicy, and the soup is comforting.

The owner is already thinking of expanding the brand down the west coast to Seattle and California, and it will be interesting to see if she can spread the culture of cha chaan tengs in North America.

Ho Yuen Cafe

113 - 1750 West 75th Avenue

Vancouver

Over 1,000 Fines on Vancouver Lawn Lovers

Watering lawns was prohibited from August to October

Metro Vancouver has a lot of homeowners who love their lawns more than letting them go yellow even when there are threats of fines.

From August to October, residents in Metro Vancouver who didn't abide by the water restrictions in a bid to conserve water were slapped with fines worth CA$166,000.

Over 1,000 fines ranging from CA$100 to CA$500 were issued on those who continued to use sprinklers to water their lawns and not leave them dry, and didn't hand water trees, shrubs, flowers and vegetable and fruit patches.

Hand water vegetable patches, flowers and shrubs

This summer there was an unprecedented drought, and the water restrictions were meant to conserve water for essential needs.

"As climate change continues to affect our region's water supply, using water wisely year-round is just the right thing to do, irrespective of a potential monetary penalty," said Richmond Mayor Malcolm Brodie who is also chair of Metro Vancouver's water committee in a statement.

The City of Vancouver had the most fines at 168, followed by Coquitlam with 154 and North Vancouver with 109 offenders.

These fines probably came after neighbours snitched on them... otherwise how would the respective city authorities know? Other municipalities didn't record any fines because they lacked the manpower to check out possible offenders, or only issued warnings.

But in general residents in Metro Vancouver use too much water at about 270 litres per day. If commercial uses are considered then it jumps to 400 litres per day.

This summer there was unprecedented drought

In the summer water usage dramatically increases in the summer, with nearly 40 percent used for residential and non-residential lawn watering.

"Lawn watering restrictions are an effective way to reduce water consumption for esthetic outdoor uses and ensure that we have enough water for essential needs, such as drinking, cooking and cleaning," said Brodie."

But at least greater awareness of water usage has led to a drop per capita, from an average of 474 litres per day in 2013 to 387 litres last year, below the performance objective of 402 litres.

Nevertheless, the less water we all use in general the better, not just for cities but the planet as well. 

Homeless Numbers Rise in Metro Vancouver

Many municipalities are seeing increases in homeless people

Every three years there is a count of the homeless people in Vancouver and the surrounding municipalities, and sadly the numbers are getting higher in every area, many of them are indigenous and seniors.

Counting was conducted by the Homelessness Services Association of BC and the statistics are shockingly high in areas like Delta with a 159 percent increase, 91 percent in Richmond, and 86 percent in the Tri-Cities (Coquitlam, Port Coquitlam an Port Moody). Surrey has seen a 65 percent increase to 1,060 who don't have a proper roof over their heads.

Vancouver has the highest number of homeless at 2,420, but among the slowest growth at 16 percent compared to 2020.

Many homeless are indigenous and seniors

Indigenous people are hit the hardest -- they only make up 2.4 percent of the populations, but are one-third of the homeless population. Seniors are next along with LGBTQ+, youth in the foster care system, and visible minorities. 

This year 4,821 people across the region are experiencing homelessness, a 32 percent increase since 2020; homeless advocates say this is the "minimum" number, and there are probably many more that volunteers could not find.

The count was conducted on March 7 and 8 this year, finding people in shelters, transition houses, hospitals, police cells, alleys, doorways, parks and vehicles. At the time of the count, two-thirds had a temporary roof over their heads, while the rest were unsheltered, either sleeping outside, living in a tent, or couch surfing.

In addition one in five were over the age of 55, and 10 percent of them said they were experiencing homelessness for the first time as a senior.

"The number of seniors have been going up significantly, and that's really challenging. In an environment with ever increasing food costs and housing costs, seniors are disproportionately being impacted," said Stephen D'Souza, executive director of the Homeless Services Association of BC.

More than two-thirds of the respondents had experienced homelessness for at least a year, a significantly larger number since the last survey in 2020.

The main reason is the skyrocketing rents that have made it so difficult for people on low-income budgets to afford, along with cost of living, substance abuse and mental health issues. 

Another interesting point is that the homeless population is mostly made of people from Vancouver -- they are not people who migrated from other parts of the country. Four out of every five people were homeless in the community where they used to be housed. 

Mayors blame the province for not building low-income housing fast enough, while the BC government claims the federal government isn't doing enough to release more funds.

The blame game hardly helps the situation -- all levels of government need to earnestly tackle the issue of homelessness quickly and effectively before more people lose their homes in the next few years.

White Hot Anger Over Chinatown Stabbings

Eby "white hot angry" over the stabbings in Chinatown

The outrage over the triple stabbings on Sunday evening at the Light Up Chinatown event continue, with Premier David Eby expressing his anger that a mentally ill man who allegedly committed the attacks was given a day pass from a psychiatric hospital.

"I cannot fathom how someone who murdered his daughter was released in 2009, went out and stabbed somebody else, would then be released again, unaccompanied, somehow, be able to go out and buy a knife, go to Chinatown, and stab three people. How is that possible," he said Tuesday.

The Forensic Psychiatric Hospital in Coquitlam

Eby added he was "white hot angry" and called for an independent review on how Blair Evan Donnelly was able to get the day pass.

"We will ensure that an independent person looks into the specifics of this case, the decision-making process, how we arrived at this awful place, for Chinatown, for the community, for the people who were attacked. And we'll make sure there's nobody else that's on a day pass that's in a similar situation to ensure the community is safe," he said.

Donnelly allegedly attacked three people with a knife near the stage of the Light Up Chinatown event just before 6pm on Sunday. The couple in their 60s and a young woman in her 20s were sent to hospital and released later.

Not only did Donnelly kill his daughter in 2006, but was found not criminally responsible in 2008 due to mental disorder, he also stabbed a friend in 2009 while he was in a psychotic state. For this Donnelly was held criminally responsible.

There are now questions on why the Forensic Psychiatric Hospital in Coquitlam allowed Donnelly to have a day pass despite the previous violent acts he had committed.

Chinatown has held events to get people to come

Ironically this tragic incident has brought much more attention to Chinatown again, with the premier vowing to make it doesn't happen again.

However, reporters listening to Eby today were skeptical that he would make any substantial change for the better. Will he prove them wrong?

Stay tuned.

Changing Face of Canada is Asian

More immigrants make up the Canadian population

Statistics Canada has unveiled its latest population figures and 8.3 million people or 23 percent of the national population were either immigrants or permanent residents from 2016 to 2021.

This percentage tops the previous record of 22.3 percent in 1921.

Metro Vancouver has 54 percent visible minorities

Asian-born immigrants were the largest ethnic group at 62 percent last year, compared to only 12.1 percent in 1971. India was the source of most of the Asian immigrants, contributing 18.6 percent of the total number arriving between 2016 to 2021.

They were followed by those from the Philippines at 11.4 percent, and then China at 8.9 percent. Part of the drop of Chinese immigrants could be because of Covid-19 pandemic restrictions that prevented many people from leaving, and also China making it harder for people to move money out, thus hampering their exit plans.

When it comes to Metro Vancouver, 54 percent identify as visible minorities, compared to 49 percent five years ago.

The largest non-white ethnic groups are Chinese at 19.6 percent of the population, and South Asian at 14.2 percent, and Filipino at 5.5 percent. 

Richmond has over 80 percent visible minorities

When analysed further, Richmond has the highest proportion of people who are visible minorities at 80.3 percent, followed by Burnaby, Surrey, Coquitlam and then Vancouver at 54.5 percent. 

This national census also gave people the opportunity to identify themselves as from Hong Kong as opposed to just China, and that number is 8,560 in Metro Vancouver. Also interestingly there seems to be some 12,000 more Chinese women than men in the 25-40 age group. One urban planner suggests perhaps it's because of astronaut families with husbands back in Asia.

However, there is much chatter post-National Congress that many businessmen in China have either left or are leaving, and with conscription in Russia, we could see more Chinese and Russians landing on our shores...