Dine Out Vancouver reservations have been open for about a week now and the city is hopping with anticipation. This prix-fixe, multi-course, festival of food at over 200 participating restaurants will run from January 20 to February 5, 2012. The Sequoia Company of Restaurants is hosting their own promotion, in tandem with Dine Out Vancouver, called the Sequoia Dine Out Passport.
Visit any of their 4 restaurant locations (The Sandbar, The Teahouse in Stanley Park, Seasons in the Park, or Cardero’s) to pick up a passport and get a stamp when you partake in their Dine Out meal.
You could enjoy Steelhead Salmon with grainy mustard butter & roasted squash risotto at Cardero’s, Hoshi’s California Roll with dungeness crab & fresh cucumber at The Sandbar, vegetable lasagne with roast pepper & eggplant caponata at Seasons, or a slow-cooked, port-roasted lamb shank with roasted garlic demi-glace from The Teahouse.
Each location is offering a $18 Dine Out lunch menu and a $28 Dine Out dinner menu (until February 9th). When you reach 3 stamps or 4 stamps in your passport you will be entered to win prizes. Get all 4 stamps and you could win 1 of 3 grand prizes (such as a trip to San Francisco).
Seasons in the Park
To promote the Sequoia Dine Out Passport, they have offered up a $100 gift card for one of their restaurants. Here’s how you can enter to win it:
- Leave a comment on this post naming which of the 4 Sequoia Dine Out Menus you would like to try: Cardero’s, The Sandbar, Seasons, or The Teahouse (1 entry)
- Post the following on Twitter (1 entry)
I will draw one winner at random from all entries at 12:00pm on Friday, January 20, 2012. You must be 19+ to participate and win. Please enjoy Dine Out Vancouver responsibly and be sure to plan a safe ride home if you partake in one of their fabulous wine or beer pairing options.
Update The winner is Peter H!
In the last 6 months we’ve had a Vancouver Cupcake Challenge, Bake for the Quake, Vancouver Cupcake Bike Ride, and now the city will see the return of the Vancouver Cupcake Throwdown.
Photo credit:
Mandy_Jansen on Flickr – Submitted to the Miss604 Flickr Pool.
This annual event will take place February 16, 2012 at The Chapel and will benefit H.A.V.E. Culinary Training Society in the Downtown Eastside. H.A.V.E. “has been changing lives by training and placing employment barriered individuals in BC Restaurant and Food Association sanctioned kitchens since 2007.” This non-profit hosts a cafe that serves breakfast and lunch, and they do catering as well.
I received an email from the event’s organizer, Stephanie, who said she’s having a hard time recruiting bakers. I’d love to help her get more challengers for this event that supports such a worth cause. If you’re a cupcake baker (just at home or as part of your business) consider contacting Stephanie. There’s room for 20 competitors.
You can witness this cupcake baking challenge from 7:00pm to 10:00pm on February 16th. The $10 admission (donation) gets you 5 tastings and additional tasting tickets are available for $1 each. Each audience member will receive a ballot on which to rate the cupcakes. A fan-favourite winner will be crowned in several categories and prizes will be awarded.
Update My friend Keira-Anne has thrown her hat into the ring. Read her post here.
A few weeks ago, arctic-dwelling Snowy Owls migrated to Boundary Bay (bordered by Surrey to the East and Delta to the West). These birds are on BC’s Endangered Species list under a code “blue” which means they are “considered to be of Special Concern (formerly Vulnerable) in British Columbia. Blue-listed taxa are at risk, but are not Extirpated, Endangered or Threatened.”
As expected, many photographers have setup their tri-pods at Boundary Bay to catch these beautiful creatures in action. Our friend John Biehler went out to document the snowy owls yesterday.
According to the Vancouver Sun: “They feed largely on lemmings on the tundra. The population fluctuations of these rodents dictate when we see owls. In most years, lemmings are numerous and the owls stay in the north feasting on the rodents. However, every few years the lemmings numbers crash and the owls need to go in search of food. When food is particularly scarce, the owls will appear far south of the arctic in places like Boundary Bay.”
The City of Vancouver had their snow and ice removal information posted weeks ago, in anticipation of the white blanket that was bound to fall this season.
Aside from having a winter-ready vehicle, it’s also your responsibility to make sure the sidewalks are clear for pedestrians in your neighbourhood. No matter how long the snow sticks before turning into a muddied slush, there are a few things you should know:
- All Vancouver property owners and occupants (tenants) are responsible for clearing snow and ice from the full width of sidewalks that surround their property (shown in blue) by 10 am on the morning following a snowfall, seven days a week. Property owners and occupants who fail to remove snow and ice may be fined. Please make arrangements for someone to clear your sidewalk of snow and ice if you are away or are unable to clear it yourself.
If you are unable to clear the walk yourself or if you are an able-bodied person who can assist someone who cannot clear their sidewalk, you can get on the Snow Angel list. You can call 3-1-1 in the city to be listed for assistance or to be a snow-shoveling volunteer. You can sign up through the Britannia Secondary School Streetfront Program, the Grandview- Woodlands Community Policing Centre, Templeton Secondary School, or the West-End Coal Harbour Community Policing Centre.
A few more tips from the city when it comes to removing snow:
- Choose a snow shovel that is right for you. Push the snow instead of lifting.
- Speak to your doctor if you have a heart condition or you’re unsure if you’re physically able to shovel snow. If you experience pain, stop immediately and seek help.
- Warm-up and stretch before shoveling.
- If the storm is over, the City has plowed, and snow begins to melt, please clear the snow around the catch basin in the gutter fronting your property. This will help the melt water runoff into the storm sewer system, and reduce flooding problems.
- Avoid shovelling snow onto sidewalks or the roadway as it can be hazardous to pedestrians and vehicles.
Read the complete list online and find out more about the Snow Angels program.
One thing that John and I look forward to most on the weekends is a proper breakfast. From Monday to Friday we’re starting the day with coffee and a muffin, or sometimes a breakfast sandwich. When Saturday and Sunday roll around, we either take a morning trip to the market or try out some of our city’s best eateries to get our dose of eggs.
The Egg Farmers of Canada have recently launched a mobile application (for iPhone and Android) that helps you cook eggs at home. Whether you’re boiling, poaching, frying, scrambling, or combining them with other ingredients, the app set out to educate Canadians about the seemingly endless array of egg preparations – for any meal.
I downloaded the free app to give it a whirl. It caught John’s eye right and we played around with the settings. We usually get our eggs over medium so I clicked on the pre-set timer. You could just use your iPhone’s default timer for this, but the benefit of using the one within the app is that it will pair up with recipes, and let you know when to flip.
I do cook from home often and I use various recipe applications. The Egg Timer app has dozens of recipes for breakfast, lunch, dinner, kids meals, and quick snacks. It’s been added to my food app arsenal for my future endeavours with quiche, macaroni bake, risotto, gnocchi, or burger melts.
To promote this new tool, the Egg Farmers of Canada have offered up 5 egg-tastic prize packages to give away. Each package includes:
- A Get Cracking apron
- A cookbook: The Perfect Egg Cookbook, by Alex Barker
- A cookbook in French: Les Oeufs, Plus de 130 recettes, par Michel Roux
- A microwave egg cooker
- Spiced French Toast mix
- A Get Cracking egg turner
To enter to win, leave a comment on this post naming your favourite place to eat eggs in Vancouver. You could say eggs benedict at Cafe Medina, the big bowl breakfast at White Spot, a frittata from Campagnolo, or the scrambled eggs you make with your kids at home.
I will draw 5 winners next Wednesday, January 18, 2012 at 10:00am. Prize packages will be delivered to each of the winner.
Update The winners are Shelley, Rachel, Jan, Mike, and Vaughn!
