Turbulent Times with Air Canada Strike

Flight attendants want to be paid for ground services

The Air Canada strike was barely 12 hours old when the Canadian government shut it down. Flight attendants with the nation's largest airline are fighting to be paid for all the work they do on the ground before the plane pushes off from the gate.

It's an issue they have repeated all over the media, gaining a lot of sympathy from the public, though others are annoyed the strike has severely impacted their travel plans, including my brother and nephew. 

They were supposed to fly on AC Saturday, but earlier this week I warned him about the impending strike and he made a backup plan to fly on American Airlines.

Air Canada turned to government for intervention

However, this morning when they arrived at John F. Kennedy International Airport in New York, the flight was cancelled. He literally scrambled to get another flight leaving nine hours later to Seattle, and a train ticket to Vancouver. It was the cheaper option than to shell out around US$4,000 for two tickets on an alternative airline.

The plane left late, but managed to cut its flight time thanks to tail wind and it looked promising for him and my nephew to arrive with enough time to get to the train station.

But alas -- the bridge to connect to the plane in order to de-plane was broken! It took over an hour for the plane to be towed to another gate, and so they did not make the last Amtrak train at 9pm.

This afternoon CBC Radio's national call-in show Cross Country Checkup asked people how the Air Canada strike was affecting them. People phoned in from Dublin and Brazil to say they were stranded there, while others were upset their loved ones would not be able to make their wedding in a few days, or that the bride wouldn't make it on time, a father said he was traveling through Texas to get to his son in another part of Canada who was having cancer treatment.

A flight attendant disrupts an AC press conference

Others complained they tried to get through to Air Canada many times on the phone and got no where, and one person said the phone message told people to go to the website, while the website instructed people to call.

Despite the headaches and stress, most of the callers supported the flight attendants.

At the same time academics who study labour or airlines said Air Canada should have bargained in good faith with the flight attendants, that they should not have turned to the government to invoke Section 107 of the Canada Labour Code, forcing the flight attendants back to work and binding arbitration. 

Experts also blamed the government for siding with management so quickly.

"It really is a troubling development," said Barry Eidlin, who studies labour and social movements at McGill University.

"Section 107 basically just allows the labour minister this unilateral power to intervene to order workers back to work against their will. Ant that is extremely concerning."

In retaliation to the government forcing them to go back to work, the flight attendants are refusing to do so and are continuing their strike.

So while Air Canada says it will get flights up and running by Monday evening, that probably won't be happening. It's just creating bad blood between the flight attendants and Air Canada, with the passengers held hostage during one of the busiest travel periods of the year.

Lighting Up Chinatown with Delicious Grub

Delicious curry fish balls and XO siu mai

Today Light Up Chinatown kicked off, just as the epic rainstorm finally ended and the skies turned blue. The Chinatown event is an annual weekend initiative to get people to come visit the neighbourhood, eat some food, patronise some shops and maybe even bump into some friends.

Visitors can get a "passport" and visit specific shops to get a stamp. Get eight stamps, two in each of the four zones made them eligible to put their name into a lucky draw to win prizes like a Lululemon gift card, an Arc'teryx hoodie, and the grand prize of two tickets to see John Legend in concert.

The weather cleared up for Light Up Chinatown

I arrived shortly after the opening ceremonies began, but instead of listening to the speeches, I focused on the food offerings. Along Columbia Street were several stalls and I tried a few of them.

First off was Mama in the Kitchen with chef William Lew, who presented four dishes, and I tried three of them.

The typhoon shelter calamari was a great idea, the calamari tender and a slight crunch to it, and not too spicy. The portion is good to share -- too much for one person. The same could be said of the salted egg yolk pork belly in terms of portion, and while the pork belly was slightly caramelised, the salted egg yolk flavour wasn't pronounced, which was a pity. 

A signature dish for Mama in the Kitchen is the curry fish balls, and this was a portion that can be eaten by one person, with two pieces of siu mai topped with a small shrimp and dressed with XO sauce. It's a good combination of street food with spice.

Typhoon shelter calamari

Torafuku is celebrating its 10th anniversary and made its debut at Light Up Chinatown with its beef rendang taco. It looks like a simple dish, but the beef has been braised for a long time and infused with curry flavour that is then wrapped in a soft tortilla. It's relatively easy to eat, though the oil drips out...

Also supported Holy Duck Chili Oil that collaborated with Ember HK BBQ with a cart noodle concept. Customers can choose one, two or three toppings out of a total of six, and the kind of noodles -- Japanese instant noodles, spaghetti or vermicelli.

I chose peanut satay pork and honey char siu with Japanese instant noodles. After about five minutes my name was called out and it was a decent portion. The char siu was in chunks instead of slices which would have been better in terms of eating it with a plastic fork, while there wasn't much taste of the peanut satay pork. There were quite a lot of noodles that soaked up the sauces though.

By this point I was almost full and was curious about the ice creams by Hype Chocolate. I tried the White Rabbit milk chocolate ice cream and it was creamy and easy to eat with chunks of chocolate on top. However the white rabbit flavour was completely lost in the chocolate ice cream. Perhaps vanilla ice cream would have worked better? 

White Rabbit milk chocolate ice cream

It was good to bump into a few acquaintances and catch up briefly with them, while supporting the event. 

HK Government Rethinks Water Budget

HK government tried to cut costs by buying water from China

Times are tough in Hong Kong when the government is cutting back on the kind of water it supplies to its staff.

Previously it was Watsons Water, provided by Watsons Group, in other words, a Li Ka-shing company.

But in June, Hong Kong's Government Logistics Department announced it had awarded the three-year drinking water supply contracts to mainland Chinese companies for the first time in a bid to save HK$16 million annually.

A water brand has serious quality issues

Government offices in Kowloon would continue to get water from Watsons Group, but its sub brand called Cool, while those in the New Territories would be supplied the water brand Happy Xishi from Professional Trade International Limited.

And government offices on Hong Kong Island and the Outlying Islands would get the water brand XinLe from Xin Dong Xin Trade Co., Ltd.

Local officials said the selection process used rigorous quality standards despite the cost savings.

However, media outlet HK01 reported XinLe had a history of safety concerns. From 2014 to 2017, the company was repeatedly flagged by China's food safety authorities for exceeding acceptable levels of harmful substances, including bromate, which can be a potential carcinogen, as well as microbial contamination.

So today, the Hong Kong government has announced it has partially terminated its contract with Xin Dong Xin Trade Co., Ltd.

The press release added the Government Logistics Department will decide if it will fully terminate the contract and has referred the incident with the police. 

In the meantime the government has asked Watsons Water to temporarily supply Cool water to offices on Hong Kong Island and the Outlying Islands.

Sometimes you can't be too petty on saving money when it comes to water. You can wear cheaper clothes and shoes, and take cheaper transportation, but you really can't be too cheap when it comes to what you put in your stomach...

Eat Those Blackberries

Eating blackberries as many health benefits

Now's the season for blackberries, and if you see big ones that you can easily pick, please do.

Pick as many as you want and you'll be doing your part to prevent blackberry bushes from proliferating.

That's because the Himalayan blackberry, also known as the Armenian blackberry is an invasive plant that has its origins in Armenia and Iran.

However, these blackberries were brought over to North America in the late 1800s and have taken over natural environments, creating thorny thickets that reduce biodiversity, including wildlife movement.

In Pacific Spirit Park along Powerline Trail, a giant patch of blackberry bushes were removed with heavy machinery over a year ago, though there are still blackberry bushes lining the outside of the park.

Rachel Tancock, known as The Nature Educator in Instagram, says the best way for people to prevent new blackberry plants from growing is to eat the berries! Each blackberry has seeds inside so eat up!

They are also packed with vitamin C which helps boost immunity and vitamin K beneficial for blood clotting and bone health, high in fibre, and manganese for bone development and manage blood sugar levels.

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.