The Vancouver Hot Chocolate Festival returns for a second year January 14 to February 14, 2012. I heard mention of this on Twitter yesterday and found details on Erin Ireland’s blog which linked to the event host, CityFood Magazine.
The month-long festival has a massive line up of daily flavours and treats that will be served up at the 15 participating cafes and restaurants. In case you’re wondering if that many flavours of hot chocolate exist, believe me they do! The Hot Chocolate Festival has a Flavour Index listing over 20 dark chocolate, over 15 milk chocolate, 5 white chocolate, and 5 non-dairy options. You can look up flavours by date and follow the festival on Facebook for daily information.
Participating venues are: Bel Cafe, Bella Gelateria + It’s to Die For Banana Bread, Beta5 Chocolates + The Juice Truck, Chocolaterie de la Nouvelle France, CocoaNymph, French Made Baking, Gem Chocolates, Leonidas Chocolates, Mink – A Chocolate Cafe, Schokolade, Terra Breads, Thierry Chocolaterie Patisserie Cafe, and Thomas Haas. Click on a day in the calendar/listings to see what they’ll be serving up.
Proceeds from featured festival drinks will benefit the food program at the Downtown Eastside Women’s Centre. With the weather dipping mid-month, it’s the perfect time to try a new silky sweet hot chocolate flavour and support a very worthy cause in the process.
You can also pick up a Hot Chocolate Passport for the festival which you can stamp at the various locations when you pick up a participating beverage.
Chances are you’ve passed by quite a few of Charles Marega’s pieces around Vancouver, perhaps several times daily. The Italian-born sculptor moved to Vancouver in 1909 and taught art in town for 30 years. He was commissioned to create some of the city’s most popular public art pieces including the following:
Oppenheimer Monument Archives Item# Mon P60
David Oppenheimer
The 1911 bust commemorating Vancouver’s Mayor (1888-1891) is located along the Beach Ave entrance to Stanley Park. “The original budget for the project was $50,000, but by the time Marega was commissioned in 1910, the project had become a bust for $4500, of which Marega was paid $3600 and the balance paid for an elaborate unveiling ceremony.”1 Read: Vancouver History: Oppenheimer.
Captain George Vancouver
Marega was commissioned by the Vancouver Canadian Club (for $5,000) to build this life-size tribute to Captain Vancouver. This full figure bronze statute stands on the North side of City Hall and points toward the harbour. “The statue was cleaned in 2001, 65 years after its installation and in time for the city’s 115th birthday. The bill for cost of cleaning was $5800, almost the same amount as the original statue cost.”2
President Harding Memorial
This bronze and granite piece is located in Stanley Park between the pavilion and Malkin Bowl, where President Harding gave a speech just a short time before he passed. The Kiwanis Club pooled funds and hosted a competition to see who be commissioned for the piece. Marega won.3 Read: Vancouver History: American Presidents
Joe Fortes Fountain
Lifeguard Joe Fortes, who lived down in English Bay, was named Vancouver’s “Citizen of the Century” and taught hundreds of local children to swim. His funeral in 1922 was the biggest in Vancouver history. The drinking fountain is in Alexandra Park along Beach Ave. Read: Vancouver History: Joe Fortes
King Edward VII Fountain
This fountain tucked beside the Vancouver Art Gallery along Hornby. Marega was commissioned in 1912 and the fountain was prominently displayed on the front lawn until 1966 then it was put away in storage. In 1983, when the art gallery moved into the space, the fountain was placed on the West side of the building. Read: Vancouver History: Fountains
Lions Gate Lions
The two lions at the South side of the Lions Gate Bridge were Marega’s last commissioned work in 1938. Marega enthusiast Peggy Imredy said that after his wife passed away in 1936, “all his vitality left him then. He was devoted to her throughout his life. People who knew him only in the late ’30s have a different view of him. They see him as a shrunken and poverty-stricken artist.”4
Two months after the lions were placed at the bridge, in January of 1939, Marega passed away at the age of 67. His obituary in The Province said he was “acknowledged to be the greatest sculptor in Western Canada.”5 Additional works include the heads of Vancouver and Burrard on the Burrard Bridge, and a crest on the Seaforth Armory.
Reservations for Dine Out Vancouver opened up this week as the highly-anticipated restaurant festival kicks off January 20, 2012. Aside from the $18, $28, and $38 prix-fixe menu offerings (with wine or beer pairing options) there are also several special events happening around the city including one on Granville Island.
Photo credit: Photodreamz_ on Flickr – Submitted to the Miss604 Flickr Pool.
Plated and Paired
Taking place on the opening night of Dine Out Vancouver, Plated and Paired participants will be dining after-hours at the world famous Granville Island Market. The fare for the evening will be prepared by local chefs from The Dockside Restaurant, Bridges Restaurant, The Keg on Granville Island, Sandbar Seafood Restaurant, Whet kitchen-Bar-Patio, and Edible Canada.
Photo credit: The Vancouver Guy on Flickr – Submitted to the Miss604 Flickr Pool.
They’ll be creating the menu for the evening with ingredients right from the market vendors including Dussa’s Ham & Cheese, Granville Island Tea Company, La Baguette et L’Echalot, The Salmon Shop, The Stock Market, Stuart’s Bakery, Terra Breads, Zara’s, and more.
Guests will enjoy floral arrangements from V & J Plants and over two dozen BC wine selections – from Saturna Island to Hester Creek. This is a special event that’s only happening on one night. Tickets are currently available online for $38.
You can still enter to win a Dine & Stay prize package from Dine Out Vancouver & Miss604.
The BC Ministry of Health has recently launched a free mobile application that helps residents locate their nearest health services.
I took a quick spin around the BC Health Service Locator and did a search for something I had to find before. I looked for the travel clinic I found last February when I needed to get my Yellow Fever vaccination for my trip to Ghana. The results came up within a couple clicks on the app and included the location, hours, link to the clinic’s website, and a button to save this information to my iPhone’s contacts.
Search results appear in a list view but you can click on the settings icon (that looks like a cog) and change it to a map view or “Sort by Distance”. For this feature to work you’ll need your location settings turned on so it can give you directions. You can also click to get the latest government health alerts, direct from BC HealthLink.
It’s a handy tool for those on the go. Having this information in the palm of your hand is useful since you’ll need to call to make appointments and it can easily locate services that are closest to you.
The BC Health Services App is free to download from the iTunes store but I haven’t been able to find it on my desktop iTunes, only directly from the app store on my iPhone. I also haven’t been able to locate a link to any other mobile marketplaces from the HeathLink BC website but I have sent an email to one of the volunteers who worked on the app to find out if they have plans for an Android version. The official launch is January 20, 2012 so I’m sure more information will be available after that time.
Vancouver now has its own “wine of the month club”. The new My Sommelier program is an initiative of My Liquor Store which operates three independent liquor stores in Vancouver (West End, Crosstown, and Burrard). It allows you to sign up to receive carefully selected bottles of wine each month along with tasting notes, winemaker information, and pairing suggestions.
The packages (that include your preference of red or white wine) are $45 a month for 2 bottles, $100 a month for 6 bottles, or $200 a month for 12 bottles. You can sign up for yourself or gift the My Sommelier program to someone special.
The sommelier behind the scenes, making the selections for program participants, is Vancouverite Cyndy Pellegrin who has traveled the world to gain first-hand knowledge of winemaking operations in France, Italy, Spain, New Zealand, South America, and the United States. She has a Sommelier Diploma from the International Sommelier Guild and the Advanced Wines and Spirits Certificate with Distinction from the Wine and Spirit Education Trust, as well as the Society of Wine Educators “Wines of Spain” certificate. She is currently the Director of Wine (Sommelier) for My Liquor Store and their partner clubs, pubs and restaurants.
The My Sommelier Wine Club has generously offered up a 3 month package for one of my wine-loving readers. The winner will receive 2 bottles of wine for 3 months (value $135) with free delivery within Metro Vancouver (if they live between West Vancouver and Abbotsford). Here’s how you can enter to win:
Leave a comment here naming your favourite wine (brand or varietal) (1 entry)
Post the following on Twitter (1 entry)
RT to enter to win a #MySommelier Wine Club subscription from @MyLiquorStore & @Miss604 http://ow.ly/8pWWY
You must be 19 years of age or older to enter and receive the prize. There will be free delivery in Metro Vancouver. All My Sommelier program rules apply. Please enjoy responsibly. I will draw 1 winner at random from all entries on Thursday, January 19, 2012 at 10:00am. Follow @MyLiquorStore on Twitter for news and information about in-store events.
