During the month of April I will be featuring a Cherry Blossom Photo of the Day, sourced from the Miss604 Flickr Pool and/or the #Photos604 tag on Instagram. You can barely walk a full block in the city without encountering a photographer capturing this pink blooms — or stopping yourself — so it’s the perfect time to start this series. Enjoy!
View more photography posts on Miss604 along with the Vancouver Photos of the Week.
The Museum of Anthropology (“MOA”) at UBC quickly became one of my favourite places in Metro Vancouver after school field trip visits when I was younger. The history and artwork, the in-depth look at Northwest Coast culture, and the various galleries make the MOA an enchanting place for a visitor of any age.
Without Masks: Contemporary Afro-Cuban Art opens at the Museum of Anthropology on May 2nd. Originally launched in Johannesburg in 2010, this is the first time this collection has been seen in North America. The largest and most diverse exhibition of Afro Cuban art ever to be staged in the world, Without Masks includes artworks from 31 Cuban contemporary artists spanning from 1980 to 2009.
Two great themes are explored in this exhibition: the cultural and religious traditions of Africa in Cuba and related racial themes and issues from around the Atlantic. The vast media represented in this collection include painting on canvas and wood, watercolour, drawing, printing (xylography, silk-screen, collography), collage, patchwork, installation, soft-sculpture, photography, video-installation and video art, creating a powerful exhibition that comments and reflects upon the multiple imprints of Africa in Cuba’s culture.
I have two passes to give away for this exhibition at the Museum of Anthropology, valid until it closes in November of this year. Here’s how you can enter to win:
I will draw one winner at random from all entries at 12:00pm on Tuesday, April 22, 2014. Follow the Museum of Anthropology on Twitter and Facebook for more information about this exhibit and other happenings at the museum.
The MOA galleries and shop (at 6393 NW Marine Drive at UBC) are open daily from 10:00am to 5:00pm and until 9:00pm on Tuesdays.
Update The winner is Cj!
It’s fairly easy to get out and about in Vancouver, becoming one with nature on seaside paths and forest trails. However it’s not often that you can get up close with wildlife–especially birds–and that’s where strategically located webcams come in handy. Here are just a few online spaces where you can view creatures and critters around BC without leaving your house.
Eric Pittman has been filming birds in his Esquimalt backyard for five years on his Hummingbird Cam.
The CBC has a nice roundup of various Eagle Cams around BC including White Rock, Hornby Island, Delta, and Sidney. The Hancock Wildlife Foundation also hosts over a dozen bird cams.
Rehabilitated otters at the Vancouver Aquarium, who themselves became pretty “internet famous” with a video of two creatures holding hands or “rafting”, can be found on one of the aquarium’s many live cams.
The BC SPCA hosts two webcams, one is the Critter Cam hosted by Wild ARC — who cares for almost 2,500 injured and orphaned wild animals each year — and another is the live Kitty Cam hosted by BC SPCA South Okanagan/Similkameen Branch.
James Keller found a pigeon nest on his fire escape complete with two eggs so he began documenting the day-to-day of parents he named Earl and Pearl.
There used to be a selection of Heron webcams available as well (from New York and Victoria) but if you’re up for the quick walk into Stanley Park, you can visit the heronry near English Bay in person. Learn more in the Heron Report that the Stanley Park Ecology Society contributed to Miss604 in December.
Update: March 2015 The Stanley Park Heron Cam is back!
The heron cam gives you the ultimate close up view of one of North America’s largest urban colonies of Pacific great blue herons. It is a window on the world of these magnificent birds from courtship through egg laying, until the grown chicks fledge in late summer.
During the month of April I will be featuring a Cherry Blossom Photo of the Day, sourced from the Miss604 Flickr Pool and/or the #Photos604 tag on Instagram. You can barely walk a full block in the city without encountering a photographer capturing this pink blooms — or stopping yourself — so it’s the perfect time to start this series. Enjoy!
View more photography posts on Miss604 along with the Vancouver Photos of the Week.
When the PappaRoti signs when up on the corner of Robson and Nicola I’m certain that many in the West End (myself included) opened up a browser to search the term, curious to see what would finally occupy the long-vacant space.
As a neighbourhood resident for the better part of the last decade, I was certainly excited to see a coffee shop — with a unique twist — move onto that corner. Sure, we have plenty of coffee shops in downtown Vancouver but absolutely none like PappaRoti. This is the very first franchise in North America, the Canadian flagship, and home to the “Father of All Buns”.
What exactly is PappaRoti? It’s a coffee-caramel coated bun, which is wildly popular in cafes and kiosks from London to Dubai, Singapore, Malaysia, India and Australia. There are 400 PappaRoti locations worldwide and this is the very first in Canada and the USA, thanks to co-owners Sherri Zarandooz and Javeed Somji.
Crack through the crisp outer shell of these baked-to-order treats to reveal a soft, buttery centre. Buns are served with cutlery but you can feel free to use your hands to rip it apart, dip, drizzle, and enjoy.
PappaRoti compliments its coffee buns with JJ Bean coffee, loose-leaf tea from Teaja, and freshly squeezed organic juices. You can dine in or take out, and you’ll have the chance to slow things down as you sit and wait for your bun order to be delivered straight to your table.
You can enjoy the bun on its own, or with sides like Pappa cream cheese, local organic jams, fresh fruit, Nutella, kaya, maple syrup, honey, whipped cream, ice cream, dark chocolate, or caramel.
The cafe itself is bright, spacious, suitable for working on your laptop or bringing the kids for a playdate. They’re also open late, until 11:00pm.
If you would like to try the world-famous PappaRoti coffee bun, I have three $50 gift cards to give away. Here’s how you can enter to win:
Follow PappaRoti on Facebook, Twitter, and Instagram for more information and inspiration. I will draw three winners at random from all entries at 12:00pm on Thursday, April 17, 2014.
Update The winners are @conniehgn, Oana, and Eric!
