Since I’m celebrating the 10 year anniversary of Miss604 on November 13th, I figured that a retrospective series was in order leading up to the event. Over the last 10 years I have personally published over 6,240 posts while family and friends have contributed over 200 guest posts. I’ve decided to pick out my Top 10 posts in various categories and showcase them this week.
Top 10: Food Experiences on Miss604
My best food experiences over the years have been selected based on the menu, the scenery, and the company that was with me:
10. Treetop Tapas and Grill
The ideal girls weekend checklist: Stay at an awesome resort by the sea (check). Spend all day at the spa (check). In your spa robes, visit the bistro for all-you-can-eat tapas and some cocktails (check). You can do all of this at Tigh-Na-Mara’s Grotto Spa and Treetop Tapas and Grill. My stay at Tigh-Na-Mara in 2009 with Keira was definitely made for this list.
9. ART Restaurant at Four Seasons Seattle
There are many excellent places to dine in Seattle, and we usually gravitate towards those of the “brewpub” variety however it was at ART Restaurant at Four Seasons that I first had what have become some of my favourite flavour combinations. John and I enjoyed Crab wrapped in cucumber, sunchoke bisque, pan seared halibut with fiddleheads, and Giorgio’s Limoncello. It was this limoncello that led to me ordering it on special occasions at Nook in Vancouver (usually on my birthday).
8. Nanaimo Bar Trail
In a stroke of pure genius, Chelsea Barr of Tourism Nanaimo created a list of all of the places in downtown Nanaimo where you could get Nanaimo Bars and Nanaimo Bar inspired confections, drinks, and desserts. I first experience the self-guided Nanaimo Bar Trail in 2010 and again in 2013. Highlights include the gluten free bar at Mon Petit Choux and the Nanaimo Bar Martini at Modern Cafe.
7. Brunch at Reflections
While it’s only open seasonally, Reflections at the Rosewood Hotel Georgia is a lovely oasis in the city where you feel like you found a secret patio between downtown towers that’s just for you and your party. John and I enjoyed a very cozy brunch in one of their cabanas on a rainy afternoon, complete with champagne and strawberries, while we snuggled under a blanket and the outdoor fireplace roared. It was definitely one of the most romantic brunches I’ve ever had.
6. Circle Farm Tour
Every Vancouverite who truly believes in supporting local producers and eating local ingredients needs to check out a Circle Farm Tour. These self-guided routes lead you from farm to artisan, to farm. Maps are provided for Harrison Mills & Agassiz, Langley, Pitt Meadows & Maple Ridge, Chilliwack, and Abbotsford. One of my Circle Farm Tour Highlights was doing the Slow Food Cycle Tour in Harrison/Agassiz in 2012 and the farmer + media dinner earlier this season.
5. Afternoon Tea at the Fairmont Empress
You have a slice in New York, poutine in Montreal, fish and chips in London, and when you’re in Victoria, you enjoy Afternoon Tea at the Fairmont Empress. While craft beer culture has taken the city by storm, the classic and timeless tradition of afternoon tea is a must-do. I’ve been fortunate enough to enjoy it twice, once in 2010 with Keira and in 2011 with my family, which included a mini Princess Tea for my niece.
4. Araxi Longtable Series
Get a table long enough to seat a few hundred people and set it up in a clearing on the farm where most of the ingredients for dinner will be sourced. This is the epic event that is the Araxi Longtable Series. John and I have covered two long table events, the first at North Arm Farm in Pemberton and the second at Lost Lake in Whistler. Both featured BC-fresh dishes served up on location by Executive Chef James Walt and his team and paired with BC wine.
3. Tacofino Food Truck
No Vancouverite’s list of food destinations would be complete without mentioning our famed food trucks and street vendors. The very first of which I visited was Tacofino Food Truck, and I’ve been back several times since. The food is delicious but Tacofino is also a meeting place at lunch hour, where I find Keira or John downtown and we take a moment out of our day to enjoy the city and devour devilishly good fish tacos. Everyone has a favourite food truck, and this one is definitely mine.
2. Ka’anapali Fresh Festival Maui
The best food festival I have attended in my years of blogging is the Ka’anapali Fresh on Maui. Over several days we attended seminars, tours, and tasting events that served up local, Maui fare using the best ingredients the island has to offer. At the market there were farm-fresh eggs, pineapples, smoothies, broccoli, bok choy, green beans, kale, pohole (young fern shoots), and offerings from the Alii Kula Lavender Farm. We had MauiGrown Coffee, Maui Blanc Pineapple Wine, Moloka’i purple sweet potato gnocchi, and of course SPAM hash from the breakfast buffet at the hotel.
1. Hastings House on Salt Spring Island
Apple juice from the orchard, edible flowers from the garden, lamb from the meadow, and spot prawns from the waters off Salt Spring Island. Hastings House, situated on the hill between Ganges Harbour, surrounded by forest and meadow, is one of the places on earth where I am the absolute happiest.
Our first time at Hastings House was in 2011 and last winter we spent a few winter nights there again, holed up in the manor overlooking the harbour and tending to the crackling fireplace. Hastings House also hosts a Chefs Across the Water series where they fly in Canadian and international chefs to cook pairing dinners using Salt Spring Island ingredients.
For its amazing scenery, dedication to local produce and ingredients, its afternoon tea to its evenings sipping wine by the inglenook fireplace in the manor, Hastings House tops the list when it comes to culinary experiences for me. A very honourable mention goes to Harbour House on Salt Spring just down the hill from Hastings House. When in season, 80% of their food served comes from the island.
More themed Top 10 posts will follow this week and be sure to get your tickets to the #Miss604is10 anniversary party:
Thanks to #Miss604is10 major sponsors London Drugs, Patio Social, Granville Liquor Store, Honda Canada, Granville Island Brewing, and Tourism Surrey.
“It was intense,” my niece told me this morning when I asked her about the show last night. I took her to see Stickboy at Vancouver Opera, which was composed by Neil Weisensel and written by Shane Koyczan. Given my general knowledge of the libretto — based on Koyczan’s powerful book about a boy who, after enduring years of bullying from his classmates, finally snaps and becomes a bully himself — intense was expected and delivered.
Photo by Tim Matheson for Vancouver Opera
Stickboy at Vancouver Opera
My first impressions, when I sat down inside the Vancouver Playhouse, was that this really was going to be original. Not just original but a fusion of classically presented opera and contemporary sets, lyrics, and themes. Surtitles in english for an english opera, a set that doesn’t look to change, and costumes that consisted of gumboots and parkas. You didn’t get lost in a fantasy like you might watching a classic opera. It was real, raw, and packed a punch.
“Survival isn’t an instinct, it’s an act of sheer will.”
We follow a “Boy” at school from the age of 10 until high school graduation and throughout that journey we hear administrators say things we’ve heard before when it comes to bullying but under the lights of the Playhouse it really made you think, and made you want to act. It made you want to do more to change the way everyone looks at bullying and the bullied.
Giant Ant Media‘s animations brought the set to life with powerful imagery and striking drawings and Shane Koyczan’s voice cut through the music providing narration at times. Kudos as well to Neil Weisensel for composing music that complimented Koyczan’s poignant words.
Sunny Shams, who played the main character with no name, just “Boy” made you feel his pain and heartache, made you fear him, and made you feel for him. His interactions with “Grandmother” Megan Latham didn’t just pull at your heartstrings, it tugged them as though trying to set something free from a powerful grip.
The tears I held back last night have started to flow as I write this review. Stickboy was beautiful and it was disturbing, and you should experience it for yourself today at 2:00pm because every other evening performance (through November 7th) is entirely sold out — and I know exactly why.
Follow the Vancouver Opera on Twitter for the latest show information and updates.
Craft beer fans in BC and Alberta will be able to celebrate the holidays with a special treat starting December 1st if they pick up the “Mystery Gift Holiday Countdown” 24-pack of Central City and Parallel 49 beer.
The Mystery Gift Holiday Countdown features 22 of the best and most sought-after craft beers from Central City and Parallel 49, as well as two special collaboration beers, one from each brewery. This marks the first time two North American craft breweries have come together to collaborate on an advent-style holiday beer pack.
The case includes Central City’s Dubbel Trubbel, a classic Belgian Brown ale made with a world famous Belgian Abbey yeast — a great beer to have during the holidays — along with Parallel 49’s collaborative beer, the Schwarzwald Chocolate Cherry Porter which is inspired by Black Forest cake. Where these beers are in the Mystery Gift Holiday Countdown gift pack is a mystery.
This advent-style calendar box, with individual cutouts so you can enjoy a beer-a-day in December, retails for $74.95 a case and is available now in government liquor stores across BC and parts of Alberta.
Thanks to Central City, I have a Mystery Gift Holiday Countdown case to give away to one lucky Miss604 reader — or the craft beer lover in their life. Here’s how you can enter to win:
- Leave a comment naming a beer by either Central City or Parallel 49 (1 entry)
- Post the following on Twitter (1 entry)
I will draw one winner at random from all entries at 12:00pm on Wednesday, November 12, 2014. Must be 19+. Please enjoy responsibly.
Update The winner is Alex W!
Great wine is even better when it’s paired with great food, and when both come from within several miles of each other, the experience is even better. We’re so fortunate to have the ability to grow, harvest, and serve up fantastic wines and dishes in BC’s wine regions.
Winery Restaurants in the Okanagan
Heading south to north, here are three winery restaurants that I recently visited while on a tour with the Okanagan Wine Festivals Society and Thompson Okanagan Tourism.
Talon’s Restaurant at Spirit Ridge (at Nk’Mip)
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Location: Spirit Ridge – 1200 Rancher Creek Road, Osoyoos, BC
Restaurant: Talon’s Restaurant at Spirit Ridge
Executive Chef: Jamie Hertz
The Spirit Ridge and Nk’Mip property in Osoyoos is filled with a full day’s worth of activities. Stay at Spirit Ridge Resort, take a dip in the pool or have a coffee at the market, visit the Desert Cultural Centre, do a winery tour at Nk’Mip Cellars, and round out the day with a glass of wine and dinner at Talon’s.
Our group had a lovely lunch on the patio with Benedict Genaille of Nk’Mip Cellars, who is an aboriginal cuisine instructor and chef as well, specializing in preparing Canadian First Nations food in traditional recipes with modern flair. Chef Hertz, a former Top Chef Canada competitor, prepared a four course lunch with Nk’Mip wine pairing for us, using his own inspirations and techniques to create dishes inspired by the desert landscape and the wines of Nk’Mip.
We started with a steelhead salmon roulade and then a warm roasted beet salad with roasted garlic, golden beet syrup, and beet chips. This salad followed by the halibut with dashi broth and mushrooms was probably my favourite meal combo of the entire trip. I love beets, I love halibut, and both were prepared in refreshing ways that highlighted the main ingredients on many levels. The meal was capped off with a warm blondie bar, walnut ice cream, peaches, cherries, and cream.
The Kitchen at Misconduct
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Location: Misconduct Wine Co. – 375 Upper Bench Road N.
Penticton, BC
Restaurant: The Kitchen at Misconduct
Executive Winery Chef: Abul Adame
Misconduct was the very first stop on our trip and it was a great introduction to the personal style and flare that each Okanagan winery chef puts into their menus. We dine family style as Chef Abul Adame served us his own Portuguese and Mexican tapas, family style.
We began with a mix of olives, then a smoked tomato soup, a toasted walnut, chickpea and roasted garlic spread with warm bread, grilled vegetables, a platter of tuna with guacamole, and the pièce de résistance — Misconduct’s signature paella with spanish saffron rice, chorizo, mussels, clams, chicken and prawns. The Kitchen serves up these tapas as large plates for sharing, and as 5 dollar and 10 dollar tapas. With this feast we enjoyed Misconduct’s Bootleg Series Massacre Rosé and Misfit, and their Suspect Series Chardonnay Viognier.
The flavours and fusions are so creative, it really is a treat to find such unique combinations for wine pairings. Toasted walnut spread? Saffron rice? Guacamole? It all works so harmoniously and your taste buds will thank you for making that reservation.
Grapevine at Grey Monk
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Location: Gray Monk Estate Winery – 1055 Camp Road, Lake Country, BC
Restaurant: Grapevine Restaurant
Executive Winery Chef: Willi Franz
The Heiss family has 32 years of winemaking and 42 years of grape growing experience in BC’s Lake Country, just between Kelowna and Vernon. In 1976 George and Trudy Heiss first planted Alsace Pinot Gris in the region and these trailblazers are going strong today on 75 acres overlooking Okanagan Lake.
Walking onto the patio at Grapevine Restaurant, my eye caught the bright red and pink geraniums that lined the railing, contrasting row upon row of lush green vines on the hillside below. George and Trudy joined our group for dinner and their warmth, hospitality, humours and accents (German and Austrian) made me feel as though I was visiting family. Sipping their 2012 Riesling, the late summer sunshine warming my back, I dug into a lively lunch with all the comforts of home paired with the benefits of having a meal at a winery with its owners.
A crisp heirloom tomato bocconcini salad was paired with the Reisling and with a choice of two entrées I decided on the beef brochette with cherry pink peppercorn sauce, potato and seasonal vegetables. This was paired with the 2011 Odyssey Red Meritage, which brought out the richness of the meat and the tartness of the cherries on top. The Odyssey III Port arrived with our final dish, a trio with crème brûlée, chocolate raspberry mousse, and a truffle.
Between the delicious comfort food and the Heiss’ hilarious and captivating stories, I had a smile on my face all afternoon. Chef Franz’s meal blended bright and crisp flavours of the season with warm and hearty dishes that played in perfect harmony with Gray Monk’s wines.
The patio at Grapevine is a place where you’ll want to sip, savour, and cherish the bounty of the land around you while enjoying the panoramic view. Watching the sun cross the sky, from vineyard to lake to mountain, you may feel as I did: right at home.
Check all of the winery restaurants’ websites for seasonal hours and start planning your trip to wine country today. Call ahead for reservations to make sure you get a table at these popular, and delicious, destinations.
Related Post: Miradoro Restaurant at Tinhorn Creek in Oliver, BC.
Our lush coastal rain forests are prime growing grounds for fungi of all kinds, including the bright red and white mushrooms — Amanita Muscaria — that pop up around this time of year at the base of trees. These highly toxic toadstools, also known as fly agaric, become prime objects of photographers looking to capture all the colours of autumn in the greater Vancouver area.
This fairy tale mushroom should not be consumed, but it can be photographed as these local shutterbugs have done:
The Thunderbird recently wrote about Amanita Muscaria and featured the Vancouver Mycological Society. This organization educates the public about the importance of mushrooms to ecology, the forests, and the economy. They also there to help people make sure they pick mushrooms that are safe to eat.
Should you wish to learn more, the Vancouver Mycological Society meets once a month at VanDusen Botanical Gardens and hosts various other events throughout the year.
