Delicious Mini Squash for Dinner

Pattypan and striped acorn squash, cucumber

Today I walked past a neighbour who gave away free vegetables in a cardboard box, and saw there were two mini squash in there and picked them up to take home.

One is saucer-shaped called pattypan squash or scallop squash because of its frilly edge. The other is a mini striped acorn squash. I picked up another cucumber that was relatively small. 

Stir-fried squashes with Shanghai choy

Usually the pattypan squash is roasted, but I sliced the top and bottom and then cut it in half down the middle and cut relatively thin slices. With the striped acorn squash I just cut coin discs.

They weren't quite enough for three of us for dinner, so I added Shanghai choy.

I first stir fried shallots, garlic and ginger in cooking oil, and then added the two squash, and some water, and let them steam for a bit.

Then I added the Shanghai choy, some salt, and after a few minutes the vegetables were done.

The end result was a bright, colourful plate, and the squash tasted sweet, contrasting with the slight bitterness of the Shanghai choy.

North Burnaby's New Shopping Malls

The mall at Gilmore Place is taking shape

Today I visited a friend who lives in Burnaby, which is the land of skyscrapers in Metro Vancouver. There are several towers that are over 60 stories high, many are walking distance to two SkyTrain stations, Gilmore and Brentwood. 

Like the MTR stations in Hong Kong, Gilmore and Brentwood both have shopping malls attached to them. Brentwood has The Amazing Brentwood, a large, partially open-air shopping mall, which has an airy food court offering mostly Asian food, from Japanese and Chinese to Korean, and Persian. 

It also has free-standing restaurants, and tonight I visited Bow & Stern, which is celebrating its first anniversary later this month. It offers mostly seafood dishes, and for Happy Hour (2pm-5pm, and 9pm to closing), freshly shucked oysters are $2 each! 

Meanwhile Gilmore Place is coming together now, with a few shops open like KFC, and Big Way Hot Pot will open, as well as a Thai spa, and Subway too. But my friend is really excited to hear that a T&T supermarket will open within a five-minute walk from her place!

I joked that with this Asian supermarket near here, she will never have to cook, as T&T offers not only uncooked ingredients, but cooked foods as well, including congee, roast meats, and noodles, so she has her "neighbourhood canteen" set up!

With so many people living and working in the area, and located next to the Skytrain station, it's no wonder that T&T has planned to open here, with many Asians living in the area.

However, while I was at tonight's dinner, one of the guests I ate with told me one of her friends lives in one of the nearby towers and said it was a nightmare getting up and down the elevator -- it takes 30 minutes just to get one, and when you have a dog that needs to go to the bathroom, and a wailing child, it can be pretty stressful!

Having a shoebox in the sky here doesn't sound fun at all, if there are only two elevators for so many units...

Canadians Sour on Bick's Pickles

Bick's pickles are specifically made for the Canadian market

It turns out the car industry isn't the only one where the product goes across the border a few times to be made.

Pickles, specifically Bick's, are made using Canadian cucumbers and metal lids, but based in the United States after it was acquired by TreeHouse Foods Inc in 2014.

After US President Donald Trump imposed tariffs on Canadian goods in March, the Canadian government retaliated with counter tariffs on certain goods, including a 25 percent tariff on "cucumbers and gherkins."

US-based Bick's buys Canadian cucumbers

Now supermarkets are running out of Bick's pickles -- which are specifically made for the Canadian market -- and aren't restocking them anytime soon, because consumers won't have the appetite to pay 25 percent more for pickled cucumbers.

A Safeway in Edmonton had this sign at the pickle shelf:

"Bick's pickles are currently unavailable as an unfortunate impact of tariffs. We are pleased to offer a selection of alternatives for your shopping convenience."

This has resulted in sales of Bick's falling 25 percent in the last three months.

It's pretty ironic, considering Bick's purchases 11 million pounds of Ontario cucumbers each year, and the metal lids are bought from an Ontario manufacturer.

How about making your own pickles with brine?

For some die-hard pickle fans, they are willing to shell out more for their favourite pickled vegetable, while others may turn to other local brands. 

Or they can use their leftover Bick's pickle brine to make their own pickles, by salting the cucumbers and boiling the brine before adding them together in the jar.

Review: Bird Milk & Mosquito Bones

A memoir about Kashmir and beyond

On Instagram there's an account called Brief But Spectacular, where a short video gives an opportunity for someone to talk about their life or life experience, and some are so profound, others informative or heartfelt.

One post featured Priyanka Mattoo, who talked about how she was born in Srinagar, Kashmir, and has vivid memories of growing up in the mountainous Himalayan area before a violent rebellion against India erupted in 1989.

Her family left for Riyadh, Saudi Arabia, which they thought would be temporary, but led to exile in London, then Michigan, and eventually Los Angeles.

Mattoo now lives in Los Angeles

Mattoo wrote a book called Bird Milk & Mosquito Bones and I was intrigued enough by her short video to borrow the memoir from the library.

The "chapters" are actually a series of essays that were published in the New York Times and The New Yorker mostly, and it would have been better to note this in the forward, and that while each essay was a part of her memoir, it was not in chronological order.

As a result, I was surprised to see the stories, times and places jumping around and it was hard to keep track. 

Nevertheless, she has fond memories of her grandparents, particularly her maternal grandfather, who instructed his daughters, nieces and Mattoo, his granddaughter to be strong-headed and independent. She also talks lovingly of her parents who adore each other, and how Mattoo hoped she too would find a nice Kashmiri boy and settle down like them.

Throughout the book Mattoo pines for Kashmir, while her parents have decided to make the best of each place they settle in. Is it because she felt her idyllic childhood was violently snatched from her? Or she is nostalgic at a young age?

Then as she grows up she is a bright student, but when it comes to university, she wants to please her parents and study law, and while she manages to complete her degree, it's not exactly what she wants to do. 

She ends up with another degree in Italian with a stint living in Rome. Eventually she wants to write and ends up in Hollywood, but the hustle is not fun. That said, she meets a nice Jewish boy at a networking event and ends up marrying him, both her career and love life turn out exactly not what she had envisioned when she was younger. But isn't that the case with most people?

It's her last chapter, Someone Else's Spiders that is the best essay summing up her reflections on her identity. Mattoo also talks about how ethnic groups are treated in Hollywood, reminding me of Christopher Cheung's Under the White Gaze, where in her case, she is frustrated that non-Indians come up with movie storylines, while her ideas of more compelling stories are rejected.

Mattoo's writing style is chatty and at times funny, particularly when it comes to her dating experiences, but it's her cultural explanations that are interesting to read.

However, we never do learn what bird milk and mosquito bones are about...

Picture of the Day: Sweet Corn

Sweet and juicy corn is in season now from British Columbia

Summer means fresh strawberries, blueberries, cherries, plums...

And zucchinis, cucumbers, tomatoes and corn!

British Columbia produces 5.9 million kilograms of corn annually, and it's grown in the Okanagan Valley, the Lower Mainland and Vancouver Island.

We bought these and boiled them. So sweet and juicy!

Mboko Beats Osaka to Win National Bank Open

Canada's new tennis darling Mboko who won the NBO today

Tennis phenom Victoria Mboko has catapulted from No. 333 nine months ago to No. 25 following her win over Naomi Osaka 2-6, 6-4, 6-1 at the National Bank Open in Montreal.

Mboko had the crowd nervous when she lost the first set, but she powered through her wrist injury and as fans cheered her on, this may have unnerved Osaka, and Mboko used this to her advantage to defeat her in the second and third sets.

She gave a shoutout to the fans in the stands

"It's been an incredible week here in Montreal," Mboko told the crowd in a post-match ceremony. "Montreal, je vous aime!"

She got praise from Prime Minister Mark Carney and Billie Jean King among others.

What's not to love about this an amazing fairytale run for Mboko, who was a wildcard entry into the tournament. But now she has been assured a spot in the US Open -- where she has never played before.

Mboko is the youngest of four children, her parents originally from the Democratic Republic of Congo. The family moved from North Carolina where Mboko was born to Burlington, Ontario, where all four kids learned tennis, with their tennis dad. Two of her siblings played at the college level, but Mboko has gone the furthest.

Osaka (right) visibly upset following the match

A former coach describes her as very athletic on the court, hitting hard like her idol Osaka, but Mboko has the mental ability to mistakes aside quickly and focus on the present, which makes her very resilient.

She is now the No. 1 Canadian women's tennis player and after winning the National Bank Open, takes home $750,000 in prize money.

Unfortunately Osaka was a bit of a sore loser, not congratulating Mboko on her win. Nevertheless, Osaka has done well this tournament too, getting this far since giving birth to her daughter Shai in July 2023. She has changed coaches a few times and perhaps is more settled now.

Mboko could play in the Cincinnati Open which started today, or withdraw and focus on the US Open which starts on August 19.

Mboko Blazes Trail in Canadian Tennis

Mboko fought hard in the semifinals to win tonight

She did it -- again!

Tennis phenom Victoria Mboko rallied hard to defeat Elena Rybakina 1-6,  7-5, 7-6 (4) in the semi-finals and the Toronto teen will meet four-time Grand Slam champion Naomi Osaka in the final on the National Bank Open in Montreal. 

"Incredible match, thank you to everyone for supporting me," Mboko told the sold-out crowd in French. "It was really difficult, but anything can happen."

Osaka (above) meets Mboko tomorrow in the final

Indeed!

Mboko is the fourth Canadian woman to reach the final at the Canadian Open, the last one to do that was Bianca Andreescu in 2019.

The 18-year-old Mboko is also the first Canadian player to defeat three former women's singles Grand Slam champions in a single WTA event in the Open Era, and has a spot in the US Open.

This fairytale run will help move Mboko up to at least 34th in the world rankings, a massive jump from outside the top 300 at the beginning of this year.

Unfortunately Mboko doesn't have much time to rest -- she suffered a wrist injury during her match against Rybakina -- and will face Japanese-born Osaka tomorrow in the final.

Regardless of what happens tomorrow, Mboko is on everyone's radar and has quickly become a trailblazer in Canadian tennis!

Picture of the Day: Feeding the Neighbourhood

Cucumber and zucchini from a neighbour

The other day I finished walking around Pacific Spirit Park and was on my way home on a street I don't usually walk on, and one of the homes has a vegetable patch in the front yard.

By the steps to the house is a cardboard box with a sign saying "Free veggies". Inside were four zucchinis!

Apparently with the warm weather we're having, many people with vegetable patches are harvesting their zucchinis.

I took the smallest one, which was already quite large and brought it home.

The next day I went back to the same street and inside were cucumbers! I took the smallest one when I got home I peeled the bumpy skin and sliced it up. It was so crisp and fresh!

Tonight I stir-fried the zucchinis with shallots, garlic, ginger and dried conpoy, and it was delicious!

I shall check for more veggies later!

Vancouver Art Gallery's Financial Woes on Show

Strangled by Growth, by Emily Carr, 1931

Last week I brought my relative visiting from the United States to the Vancouver Art Gallery, and it was eerily quiet.

The lobby was hardly bustling with visitors so there was no line to buy admission tickets. Inside there were probably 20 people looking at art in the entire art museum.

Interestingly there is a rate for British Columbia residents at $29 compared to $35 for everyone else. Children up to 18 years old are free! The VAG may want to rethink allowing teenagers to be free with the severe belt tightening that's going on.

Sans titre, by Riopelle, 1950

In early July there were news reports that the art gallery cut about 30 percent of its total 129 staff. In June, 16 people took voluntary leave benefits, while another 18 were laid off since.

"We're really looking across the institution, trying to leave no stone unturned, and we really tried to save as many roles, as many jobs as possible," explained Eva Respini, the VAG's interim co-CEO.

"This is an incredibly difficult moment," she said. "It's quite literally every department in the museum that has been affected in one way or another."

We could see that. It seemed that some staff took turns acting as security guards, while the ones in uniform didn't seem to know much about the gallery. We asked one a question about an art work and they politely apologised and said they didn't know, but didn't offer to help us find the answer either.

Another way the VAG will cut costs is the number of exhibitions it holds each year, from 12 down to eight, while more shows will feature the gallery's permanent collection. Which means more Emily Carr...

Untitled (Toothpicks), Tara Donovan

The gallery is planning to exhibit more of the BC artist's work from its collection as it has some 250 pieces of Carr's. 

The drastic cuts are due to attendance at the gallery never returned to pre-pandemic levels. 

It's quite sad seeing the VAG so empty and has affected morale in the place. 

The exhibitions we saw were of Emily Carr, Riopelle, and pieces from the collection of a couple who are VAG patrons. One work featured a cube made entirely of toothpicks...

Municipal, provincial and federal governments are all focused on the World Cup next year, making it very difficult for arts and culture institutions to get more money to keep going. 

It seems so tone deaf for the VAG to continue planning for a new gallery space, but apparently it still has funds from various levels of government and donors. A new architect will be announced in the fall.

Labubu's Panda-monium Promotes Hong Kong

Yeoh posing with her special edition Labubu with twin pandas

Academy Award-winning actress Michelle Yeoh has become the latest Labubu fan after she was gifted a custom one holding two panda cubs that are celebrating their first birthday in Hong Kong.

Yeoh posted pictures of herself on Instagram holding the doll with a mischievous grin with a giant bucket of popcorn, another with British actress and singer Cynthia Erivo, and a shot with fellow Wicked actor Jeff Goldblum.

Jia Jia and De De were born in Hong Kong

"Celebrating Hong Kong born Panda Twins first birthday (and my birthday too) with Labubu in the Hollywood Bowl!!! Thank you @discoverhongkong for sending the greatest companions!" she wrote.

Yeoh is one of several celebrities who received the specially-designed Labubu doll as part of a collaboration between the Culture, Sports and Tourism Bureau and the toy's creator, Hong Kong-born Kasing Lung, to mark the twin pandas' first birthday and promote the city... of course.

The cubs, Jia Jia and De De, who were born on August 15, are the first pandas to be born in Hong Kong and this promotion is a way to prolong panda-monium a bit longer.

Seems like just about everyone has caught onto the Labubu craze, and the government is riding the wave with this special doll. 

Will it catch on with Labubu fans? The sales numbers will tell.

Canadian Victoria Mboko Stuns Coco Gauff in Montreal

Mboko excited with her stunning upset over No. 1 seed Gauff

Canadian women's tennis has gotten more exciting these days, and tonight may be a sign of what's to come.

Torontonian Victoria Mboko, who is 18 years old, definitively defeated No. 1 seed Coco Gauff 6-1, 6-4 in a stunning upset at the National Bank Open in Montreal today.

Mboko, who climbed from No. 333 to No. 85 this year, crushed the American in only 62 minutes, and advances to the quarterfinals on Monday.

Gauff (left) beat Mboko in May at Italian Open

The teenager entered this tournament as a wild card and is the last Canadian standing in the singles draw, for both men and women.

Mboko thrilled the sold-out crowd in Montreal with her deft placements of the ball, making it near impossible for Gauff to return.

When Gauff had an enforced error, leading to Mboko's victory, she covered her face with her hands, in shock that she'd done it.

"I don't even know what to say still," she told reporters an hour afterwards.

"I was kind of shocked about it all. Everything kind of came so fast. There were so many people. I feel like tonight I'll let it soak in a bit more, but I'm still kind of on a high, a little bit.

"I'm super happy, and I'm just really content with how things went today and that I get to move on to the next round." 

Three months earlier Gauff beat Mboko at the Italian Open in Rome and today the teen said she had flashbacks of that match.

Mboko in shock, crowd shouted in delight

"I just remember when she kind of came out playing even better and stepped it up a bit better when I played her in Europe, I was thinking about that. I kind of wanted to step my game up a little bit more and make sure I matched whatever she was producing and I wanted to stay right there with her."

Mboko sure did and more, while Gauff could not find her rhythm, with several enforced errors.

Now Mboko is waiting to see who the winner will be in the match-up between Zhu Lin of China and Jessica Bouzas Maniero of Spain.

Hakka Style Salt-baked Chicken

Salt-baked chicken Hakka style at Southern Delicacy

The other day we went to Southern Delicacy restaurant in Vancouver and tried salt baked chicken, a traditional Hakka dish.

My mother remembers her mother stir-frying coarse salt in the wok for a long time before burying a chicken wrapped in parchment paper in the salt and cooking it for about an hour.

Chicken wrapped in parchment paper

She remembers it being hard work, constantly shovelling the salt to prevent it from burning.

The one we tried was fantastic -- the meat was cooked through, but tender, juicy, and seasoned perfectly, not salty at all.

It sounds similar to Italian salt-baked cod, which isn't wrapped in parchment paper at all, though the skin acts as a barrier between the salt and fish meat.

In the case of the chicken, I looked up the recipe and it doesn't look too difficult?!

Take a raw chicken and rub Shaoxing wine on it, as well as sand ginger powder, salt and white pepper. Then let it marinate overnight in the refrigerator.

The next day take the chicken out and let it warm up to room temperature, tie up the legs and wrap it in parchment paper. Meanwhile get some coarse salt, the same weight as the bird, and in a clean wok, stir-fry the salt for about 15 minutes over medium heat, until the salt turns light brown.

Have a Dutch oven ready and pour some of that salt in there, add the wrapped chicken and then cover it with the rest of the salt.

Wrapped chicken in coarse salt

Cover the Dutch oven and have it on the stove on medium heat for around 35 minutes, then turn off the heat and let it sit for another 30-40 minutes.

The chicken should be done by then.

Some recipes suggest the presentation of the chicken should be deboned, while others, including the restaurant, serve it chopped with bones attached.

Backlash Ends Plan to Move Sculpture by Granville Bridge

Trans Am Rapture used to stand near Science World

There used to be a curious piece of public art featuring a stack of cars that stood along Quebec Street near Science World in 2015 as part of the Vancouver Biennale.

Called Trans Am Rapture, formerly named Trans Am Totem, it features five salvaged cars, including a Trans Am on a Cedar trunk.

Then the 10-metre high art piece weighing over 25,000 pounds was taken down in 2021 to be cleaned because it had accumulated a lot of bird poop!

Birds liked to flock at the public art sculpture

Finally there was word the City was going to relocate the sculpture near the south end of the Granville Street Bridge between West 4th and West 5th Avenues, but residents in the area were incensed.

"They're treating our neighbourhood as a storage locker for a piece of art they don't know what to do with," said Darlene Forst, who lives across the street from where the art piece would be located. She was concerned the stack of cars would block her views.

Forst started an online petition against the sculpture being moved to the area, and now the City has backed down.

"The City of Vancouver is ceasing work on the reinstallation of Trans Am Rapture," said a press release. 

"The decision was made by the city manager's office following further consideration of the size and scale of the artwork in relation to the site. City staff have been asked to revisit previously assessed locations and explore potential new ones that can better accommodate the artwork."

The art work was supposed to move to this spot

So it seems the City gets antsy when there's organised pushback and backs down very quickly. Why was there no consultation to start with? However the concrete foundation for the sculpture was already made so that will stay for a subsequent smaller public art work...

Trans Am Rapture was created by artists Marcus Bowcott and Helene Aspinall as a commentary on car culture and how urban life is compounding pressures on the environment.

The giant sculpture became part of the City's public art collection in 2019 with a $250,000 donation from billionaire Chip Wilson, founder of Lululemon, and his wife Shannon.

Picture of the Day: Bizarre Bench Bump

A "bench bump" on the Granville Street Bridge

We like the new upgrades on the Granville Street Bridge, but what the heck is this?

On the the bridge is a protected biking and walking path, and there are periodic so-called "bench bumps", a kind of ramp made of asphalt outlined in bright yellow and a bench on there.

People have commented that they look like last-minute additions because they stick out and not clearly thought out. Others say when you sit on the bench, you see the railing, not the northwest view of the Burrard Street Bridge and English Bay.

One person said they have a friend who needs the opportunity to rest their legs periodically and this fits the bill despite the slap-dash appearance of the bench.

Apparently these bench bumps are temporary, but that could last between a few months to a few years.

After spending $54 million, they can't get bench bumps right? Why aren't they fully integrated with the sidewalk for pedestrians, and why so low that people's views are blocked by the railing?

Why can't our taxpayer dollars be spent in a more aesthetically-pleasing way?

Indigenous Art Statement

2000, a totem pole made of golf bags

Yesterday we visited the Vancouver Art Gallery, and one of the exhibitions on now is called Postcards from the Heart: Selections from the Brigitte and Henning Freybe Collection. The Freybes are art collectors who began this expensive hobby in the 1970s, and continue to today.

It's an eclectic mix of artists, the ones shown were mostly Canadian.

Skeleton of a whale made from plastic chairs

One piece was by Brian Jungen called 2000 that he completed in 2007.

At first glance it looks like a totem pole, but upon inspecting it closer, the work is made of golf bags.

Several years ago his work was exhibited at the VAG, where he took everyday objects and turned them into art, from plastic lawn chairs into what looked like the bones of a whale, and taking Nike shoes and making them into striking Indigenous masks.

BC artist Jungen is known for transforming mass-produced commercial goods into sculptures and installations. 

Indigenous mask made from Nike shoes

In 2007 when this piece 2000 was made, Jungen was interested in land-use in Vancouver, particularly where some local Indigenous nations leased their land to golf courses. 

For him, this recalled the Oka Crisis of 1990, where there was a land dispute prompted by the expansion of a golf course on Mohawk territory in Quebec. 

His works are bold, making a strong political statement and at the same time executed flawlessly. Jungen has thought out what he wants to say in his work and makes them into exciting and fantastic art pieces which in a way is ironic in itself.

Picture of the Day: Scallop-flavoured Chips

Pan-fried scallop-flavoured chips, anyone?

This afternoon we had to pick up some groceries at T&T Supermarket, so my relative wandered the snack aisles while I went to stock up on some food we ran out of.

She came back with this bag of Lay's potato chips -- in scallop flavour.

Actually it's pan-fried scallop flavour. So precise.

We came home and she promptly opened the bag for us to try.

Sniffing the contents inside was a sweet seafood kind of aroma.

The thin chip also had a seafood taste, a hint of shrimp crackers, not specifically scallops.

Would we specifically buy this one? No, but it was fun to try!

 

Visiting Capilano Suspension Bridge

Hold on as you walk across the shaky bridge!

With a relative in town I did a very tourist thing today -- we went to Capilano Suspension Bridge in North Vancouver. I can't even remember the last time I went, so this was a good refresher with many new features since 2004.

Tickets aren't cheap -- $72.95 for adults plus tax it's $76.60 -- but if you can get downtown, you can catch a free shuttle bus to the tourist landmark.

Stunning views of the bridge at various points

We caught it at the back of Hyatt Regency Vancouver and about 15 minutes later we had arrived -- along with another busload of people.

As we bought tickets in advance, we were able to walk in right away and soon join the relatively short line to cross the Capilano Suspension Bridge.

The bridge was originally built in 1889 and was made of hemp ropes and a deck of cedar planks. It was later replaced with a wire cable bridge in 1903. 

It doesn't look daunting at first, but once you step onto the bridge, held up with steel cables, it's unsettling because the foot bridge sways a bit. You have to at least hold onto the steel cable handrail, and traffic coming from the opposite side also adds complications to the steadiness of the bridge.

My cousin was pretty freaked out and held on for dear life. I just held on with my right hand and clutching my iPhone for dear life. I didn't dare take pictures!

We made it over to the other side of the bridge. and began exploring the massive park that is filled with Douglas Firs, Cedars and Hemlocks. You can hear a few birds here and there, and some running streams. 

We learned a lot about the banana slug today

At the Raptor Ridge, we met three people who had a different bird attached to their left hand glove. They sat there and rested their hand on an arm rest, the bird attached to the glove.

The expert trio fielded people's questions about a Great Horned Owl that is nine years old, and likes to vocalise; a 21-year-old Saker Falcon, and a Bay-Winged Hawk that is used to scare away seagulls from sports venues. They don't live in Capilano but Maple Ridge and come out periodically on rotation with several other predator birds.

We also learned about banana slugs. What? They are yellow slugs with two pairs of antennae, 27,000 teeth, when handled release a numbing agent, and would take 15 hours to slide across the Capilano Suspension Bridge.

There isn't just the bridge, but two other nature walks that take you up into the trees. One is called Treetops Adventure, where you walk along narrow wooden bridges between trees, and another called Cliffwalk, where you walk along a path secured onto the side of a rock face!

By the time we went through the entire park, it was just over two hours. We went through the gift shop which is very big, and sells a bunch of nice stuff including Herschel knapsacks, retro CBC T-shirts, honey and maple syrup products, fudge and ice cream.

Cliffwalk had scenic views too

As we were leaving there was a massive line to get onto the suspension bridge and I got a certificate certifying that I had survived the Capilano Suspension Bridge! A fun souvenir.

We encountered tourists from Taiwan, The UK, South Korea, and United States and luckily we didn't have to wait too long to get onto the shuttle to get back to downtown. 

The logistics of the park was very well managed and most of the staff are cheery and informative. They have an activity booklet for kids, and if you hang around for some informative sessions, you will be rewarded with a sticker or stamp.

Capilano Suspension Bridge

3735 Capilano Road

North Vancouver, BC

604 985 7474

Chinatown Meat Store Hosts Barbecue

Chinese ham being air dried in the store

Dollar Meat Store has been in Chinatown for 54 years and today it hosted an interesting event -- at the back of the store they set up some barbecue grills and had a chef from Michelin-starred Kissa Tanto grill some A5 wagyu beef steaks, a meat spice brand to make some Maui ribs, and showcase its own brand of Chinese sausages, and a local chilli sauce brand, Holy Duck Chili Oil.

Local brand Holy Duck Chili Oil

For free.

We just filled out an online survey, followed Dollar Meat Store on Instagram and then we were in!

The meat was donated by Dollar Meat Store and was delicious, including prawns and scallops each wrapped in bacon, and there was coleslaw too. Drinks were provided by Maxim's Bakery, Hong Kong style milk tea, cold brew coffee, and iced lemon tea.

We tried the Hong Kong style milk tea with half the sugar added which was actually just right.

As we arrived soon after the event started at 11am there weren't too many people, so we were able to chat with people and comfortably move around in the back of the lot. 

Afterwards my relative who is visiting Vancouver not only bought a pack of Chinese sausages but also two jars of chilli sauce! Win win!

It is very generous of Dollar Meat Store to invite people to come eat for free -- they could have charged admission and people would have come anyway. Nevertheless it's a great way to bring people down to Chinatown, check out the neighbourhood and support local businesses.

Bottles of Hong Kong-style milk tea

 

Shanghainese Restaurant Salty Disappointment

Eight treasure duck too salty for our tastes

Earlier this week we went to a Shanghainese restaurant in Richmond that we'd never been to before, and won't be going back to anytime soon.

It's called Yuan's Garden Restaurant, and when we arrived we hoped it would be a suitable substitute to Suhang, a very good Shanghainese restaurant that closed recently.

Inside, the decor of Yuan's Garden is clean, tidy and contemporary; we were surprised when the waitress told me the restaurant has been around for about 10 years.

Looks good, but tough meaty texture

As we waited for our fellow diners to arrive, we perused the menu and the prices, particularly for the set menus looked very reasonable, featuring ingredients like lobster and steamed fish. Peking duck two ways is $86.98, while eight treasure duck (they call it "duck stuffed with eight delicacies") is $84.98. We had preordered the latter dish.

We ordered the rest of our dishes, many standard Shanghainese ones and then waited for them to arrive, while the restaurant quickly filled up.

One of the first dishes to arrive was the appetiser of ma lan tou with minced tofu. It was OK, but the vegetable was not very fresh, more on the older side so it was tougher. 

Xiaolongbao is usually a good test. With eight of us we ordered two servings and they came freshly steamed. Picking it up, the dumpling looked good, the skin practically see-through as you can easily see a lot of soup inside.

The skin was thin at the bottom, thicker at the top, but the pork filling was more on the leaner side, with not enough fat to make the texture smoother. This was surprising for a Shanghainese restaurant that should know better what the ratio of meat to fat.

Stir-fried egg white and broccoli

Next came the shrimp stir-fried with green tea leaves, and honestly the shrimp did not have much of a tea flavour and this dish was left mostly untouched throughout the dinner!

Next came our pre-ordered eight treasure duck and it arrived with quite the procedure. The waitress used a knife to slice it down the middle and then along the sides to make about 10 pieces. 

It looked very promising, with a moist, tender appearance, but the initial taste was salt. It was much too salty and the filling inside was not very discernible except for baby shrimps, a few lotus seeds and mushroom with the salty duck meat. Disappointing.

However, we had a bit of a reprieve from the saltiness with a hot pot filled with napa cabbage, tofu, mung bean noodles, fish balls, ham, and pig skin in a soup. We also ordered broccoli stir-fried with egg white and a raw yolk in the middle. None of us wanted to try the yolk and ate around it.

For dessert, something a bit unusual -- black sesame glutinous rice balls that were studded with crushed peanuts. 

In the end the dinner was $37 per person including tip which made it great value, but quality-wise we weren't persuaded to come back again.

A hot pot filled with ingredients

Yuan's Garden Restaurant

101 - 8077 Alexandra Road

Richmond, BC

778 297 6098

 

Therapy Ponies Ease Pre-Flight Stress at YVR

Magic (left) and Tinkerbell (right) with their handlers at YVR

Anxious about flying?

Vancouver International Airport (YVR) has therapy dogs or ambassador dogs to help soothe pre-flight jitters, as part of the airport's Less Airport Stress Initiative (LASI) program that started in 2017.

And now YVR is trialling miniature therapy ponies, making it the first airport in Canada to do this.

"At YVR, we're always looking for creative ways to bring new solutions and amenities to the travel experience, so when we thought about what's the next evolution of the LASI program, introducing therapy ponies... was a great fit," explains Eric Pateman, chief experience officer with the Vancouver Airport Authority.

Magic is three years old, and Tinkerbell is 17, and they are from Green Acres Therapy Horses, which trains the ponies to be experienced in high-traffic public areas like shopping malls, schools and seniors' homes. 

The trial period this summer will see how Magic and Tinkerbell do in the stressful airport environment and the feedback from passengers, though so far it's pretty positive. If all goes well by the end of the pilot, Magic and Tinkerbell may be hanging around YVR more often, along with the therapy dogs from St John's Ambulance.

Therapy llamas a Portland International Airport

Other airports have used different kinds of therapy animals. San Francisco International Airport (SFO) has a "wag brigade" that has calmed passengers since 2013. The team includes 27 dogs and one hypoallergenic pig named Lilou.

Meanwhile last year Portland International Airport started having therapy llamas and alpacas in its terminals to ease passengers' stress levels.

Guess these llamas and alpacas don't spit on humans! Otherwise that would add another stress level to people in the airport!

HK Government Doesn't Entertain Benefits of Reusable Cups

So far, Kai Tak Sports Park will be using single-use cups

The Hong Kong government prefers using single-use cups at Kai Tak Sports Park, saying reusable plastic ones will "undermine" efforts to promote carbon reduction and resource recycling.

Secretary for Culture, Sports and Tourism Rosanna Law Shuk-pui said that research by the park's operator compared local and overseas practices showed that using reusable plastic cups in Hong Kong would generate more carbon emissions and consume more resources.

But environmental NGO Greenpeace Hong Kong called on the authorities to consider using reusable plastic cups for sporting events like the upcoming Hong Kong Football Festival, and urged Law to look at other international sports organisations like the English Premier League, where 65 percent of clubs use reusable cups.

Reusable cups used at HK Sevens since 2019

However Law was not to be persuaded.

"As reusable plastic containers are not biodegradable, they do not support the plastic-free initiative and undermine Kai Tak Sports Park's efforts in promoting carbon reduction and resource circulation," she said.

"In contrast, the use of biodegradable paper cups aligns well with and makes good use of the above-mentioned waste decomposition system at Kai Tak Sports Park, leading to a better overall carbon reduction outcome."

May we point out that single-use paper cups would not decompose because they have a plastic lining on the paper so that liquids don't soak through it? Not to mention how much garbage it creates after each event?

It has been demonstrated that reusable cups at sporting events make much more sense.

A marathoner named Kristina Smithe took part in a marathon in California in 2019 and was horrified thinking about how much waste paper cups generated in one race. She calculated with 9,000 runners, some 150,000 paper cups were used once and then thrown away.

Smithe with her reusable silicon cups at a race

She went about designing a lightweight, pliable silicone cup that could be reused many times. In 2021 she launched Hiccup Earth, where she rents out 70,000 silicone cups to race organisers. 

Smithe drops off the cups by the thousand, collects them after and then washes them in her proprietary dishwasher that uses less water than a household dishwasher. 

While it's a bit more expensive to rent these cups, there is much less garbage accumulated and wouldn't people feel better using these reusable cups?

It was a proven concept at the Hong Kong Sevens in March. Greenpeace noted the sporting event used reusable cups from 2019 to 2024 and saw a 90 percent return rate of the containers.

Surely it's not too hard to implement at sporting events and concerts?