Last Richmond Night Market of the Year

Not too crowded but a bit chilly at the Richmond Night Market

A friend asked me to go check out the Richmond Night Market, and I can barely remember if I had gone before so a good a reason as any to check it out this evening.

It turns out she had admission tickets and the market ends this weekend so we were able to skip the very long lineup to get in at 7pm when it started. There are a few dragon decorations from the Mid-Autumn Festival, though there are a few dinosaur sculptures standing around which is a bit incongruous, but no one seemed to notice. 

California Roll in seaweed taco

Once we got in we made a beeline for the stalls serving food. It felt like the Canadian version of Ladies' Market in Hong Kong, or maybe what the Lunar New Year festival in Victoria Park used to be like, with the various stalls selling items for impulse buys and mostly deep-fried food to entice your hunger pangs.

We had some Japanese takoyaki topped with large bonito flakes that were not bad, and had some deep-fried popcorn chicken and mushrooms, both were quite good. 

At a dim sum stand I got some pan-fried pork buns and Hong Kong-style curry fish balls that were not bad. By this point we were getting thirsty and had a lemonade drink for C$7, though one could get a giant bucket of a drink to carry around too.

My friend got a California roll taco, basically rice topped with fake crab meat, a bit of mentaiko, sprinkles of sesame seeds, mayonnaise and spring onions in a deep-fried seaweed taco shell; after eating that she was full. I got a giant scoop of pistachio gelato that only had a hint of the nut flavour, but the ice cream hit the spot despite it being around 8 degrees Celsius.

The non-food items ranged from earrings and fake nails to socks, smartphone accessories and even camping gear. As it is the last weekend, some stalls discounted prices to get rid of stock, only with limited success.

A man and his dog hanging out

I was surprised to discover Richmond Night Market has been around since 2000 when entrepreneur Raymond Cheung started it at Continental Centre on Cambie Street. It's now on an empty piece of land that has a lot of electricity to power all the stalls as well as live entertainment.

As we were leaving we discovered the games section of the fair, where people had to throw rings around the necks of bottles or pick up a bottle using a ring attached to a stick. One guy with his dog strapped to his chest hung on a bar; he had to stay there for two minutes, but gave up at the 1.47 mark! 

Would I go again to the night market? Probably not, though I didn't mind spending C$45 for food and drinks to share on a chilly Friday night.

Picture of the Day: Dragon-in-Waiting

The dragon-in-waiting at Floata Seafood Restaurant

Yesterday we went to a concert put on by the Vancouver Recital Society at the Vancouver Playhouse downtown.

It featured a trio of a pianist, cellist and clarinetist performing works by Gabriel Faure, Johannes Brahms and Ludwig van Beethoven.

After the concert we headed to Floata Seafood Restaurant for an early dinner as it offers free parking and the food portions are generous.

However, when we got there, we were surprised to discover not one, but two banquets being held simultaneously to celebrate the Year of the Dragon. Even though Chinese New Year ended on February 24, some groups are still holding their festivities.

There was even a dragon on poles that was leaning against the wall, waiting to dance around the room held by members of the local kung fu club.

The head waiter was blase when we asked for a table -- he started setting one up at the back of the room of one of the banquets but then changed his mind and took us to the other side, where there was a small room.

In it were stacks of chairs, but a space big enough for six people to dine. So he moved the table over here, throwing a white table cloth over the round table, and a lazy Susan. 

We marvelled at having this mini private room that shielded us from the loud festivities outside -- until the event actually started. We could hear everything because there was a speaker in the room we were in!

Oh well.

The good thing was that we ordered quickly and were served our food before the banquets got started!

Happy Lunar New Year

Happy New Year of the Dragon!

Wishing everyone a Happy New Year!

This year is the Wood Dragon, and it is the only mythical creature on the animal zodiac. The Dragon has the characteristics of dominance, ambition, authority, dignity and aggression.

Some famous dragons include Russian President Vladimir Putin, tycoon Li Ka-shing, and billionaire Jack Ma Yun, retired from Alibaba, as well as the late Deng Xiaoping and martial arts legend Bruce Lee.

While fortune tellers are predicting a tough year ahead for Hong Kong's economy, we hope the city's Lion Rock spirit will help residents be resilient and weather the rough times ahead. 

Chinese New Year Western Style

The dragon winding its way through the crowd

Last night I was invited to a Chinese New Year party held at a popular restaurant in downtown Vancouver. When I got there after 6pm it was already heaving with people and I barely knew anyone.

Nevertheless it was fascinating to people-watch during the hour that I was there.

Many women took advantage of the theme to wear cheongsams with heels, warmed by the mobile heaters, or something red, from sweaters to slip dresses and one woman even wore a body-hugging hooded floor-length red dress, something Grace Jones would wear with shades.

Two acrobats posed on spinning hoops

Some men wore Chinese jackets, mostly the tacky satin embroidered kind found in Chinatown.

The music was definitely not Chinese, but it was pumping dance music with a strong beat from a DJ and so I was surprised to see a Chinese woman carrying a one-year-old boy around and then later some girls, five to seven years old with red decorations in their hair looking up to see a scantily-clad acrobat twirling around from a hoop suspended from the ceiling.

What were these kids doing here on a school night?

Perhaps their parents are regulars at this restaurant? These people congregated in groups and had already commandeered tables where they had plates of food and glasses of wine -- red of course.

Ah yes the food. We were in a restaurant, after all.

But this is a Western restaurant and nothing Chinese about the food, with queues for every thing to eat and drink.

There were freshly-shucked briny oysters -- and amazingly I didn't get sick -- as well as tons of sushi, and two stations where giant parmesan cheese wheels were melted to coat penne pasta. There was also a queue for roast beef and mini Yorkshire pudding complete with three different mustards to choose from and gravy poured from a teapot.

Freshly shucked and briny oysters

And then there were glasses that from a distance looked like dessert. When I got one, it was under a heat lamp and when I dug my spoon into it I soon realised it wasn't sweet -- it was beef stew topped with mashed potato.

However the Peking duck spring roll was good, stuffed with meat and vermicelli, while dessert of mandarin mousse in what looked like a mini mandarin orange was a nice finish.

I felt badly for the servers who had to hold heavy trays with one hand and put their other arms around glasses and plates to prevent people from knocking them over. What a tough night.

Just after 7pm the drumming and clashing of the cymbals began and there was actually a glow-in-the-dark dragon weaving around the crowded restaurant. Quite appropriate since it was pretty dark in the place and the dancers had to try and wind their way around people and food. 

An hour was enough time spent there to take in the revelry and see Vancouverites turn out for a Chinese New Year party. Next time wear red red red! And heels heels heels!

Chinese New Year Gift Ideas

Impressive artistic work, but not appealing to buy

Many western companies are getting into the Lunar New Year spirit to cash in on Asian customers.

At Costco, Sunkist has boxed its oranges in a fancy burgundy-coloured box complete with a golden dragon on it, and it even has 龍年 2024 Year of the Dragon on it.

We needed to buy oranges, but cute packaging

The tagline says: "Citrus for Prosperity".

Today I went to Thomas Haas, a local chocolatier's shop. Among the special items this month along with chocolate hearts is a red dragon in white chocolate, gold chocolate coins and "bamboo". I didn't buy it, but a Caucasian woman did!