They may be late but they’re just as sweet. BC fresh blueberries are now in season, after a soggy start to summer, and are ready for picking this month. After publishing my “Where to Pick Strawberries” post I received some great feedback and decided to include more Richmond and Delta farms for the blueberry guide (though there are still some great options in Langley and the Fraser Valley).
Where to Pick Blueberries
No. 5 Blueberry Farm
Location: 7040 No.5 Road, Richmond
Notes: 9am to 9pm, no pesticides/sprays. Cash only, bring your own container for u-pick.
Birak Berry Farm
Location: 9111 No. 6 Road, Richmond
Notes: 8am to 9pm. Available in ready-picked packs from the stand or for u-pick.
DFG Blueberries
Location: 11071 Blundell Road, Richmond
Notes: Saturday and Sunday from 10am to 6pm. Uses natural growing practices. Cash only.
Bissett Farms (at Westham Island Estate Winery)
Location: 2170 Westham Island Road, Delta
Notes: Look for the big blue barn. U-pick and some ready-picked berries. Bring your own container. Cash, debit, credit cards.
Emma Lea Farms
Location: 2727 Westham Island Road, Delta
Notes: Bring your own container or purchase ready-picked packs. Call ahead for the latest picking updates (604) 946-8216. Find them on Facebook.
Blueberries are known as a “superfruit” as each one packs a punch. In fact you can eat 1/2 cup of blueberries to fulfil the Canadian Food Guide recommended fruit serving each day. They’re also a great source of antioxidants.
Find more information about blueberries, where they grow, where to get them, and delicious recipes from the BC Blueberry Council. A great resource for growing practices and organic certifications can be found on the Pick Your Own site.
Araxi Restaurant, a star of Whistler’s restaurant scene, is hosting the Araxi Longtable series at North Arm Farm in Pemberton August 27 and September 11, 2011.
A “longtable” meal is exactly what it sounds like – a meal served to a large group at a long table – but this this series will also see that table sitting in the middle of a field at North Arm Farm (driving home the point of “farm to table” cooking).
The afternoon will start with a tour of the family-run North Arm Farm with proprietor Jordan Sturdy. Then, Chef James Walt (of Araxi) will use dozens of ingredients sourced from the farm and the Pemberton Valley in order to prepare a 4-course menu. Beef from the pastures of Pemberton Meadows, daily-catches from the coastal fishery, BC’s best wines, and more.
John and I enjoy Araxi so much that I created a tag for it on my site (where you can see all of my posts about Araxi at once). Chef James Walt’s creations are always fresh, locally-sourced, and bursting with flavour. We attended the Araxi Longtable on July 30th and once again had an amazing experience.
Over 90 people were at our table, many couples from Whistler and Pemberton and a few visitors hailing from California and even Ohio. Everything is served family-style so you get to know your neighbours and wines are constantly being refilled and refreshed.
North Arm Zucchini Flowers
Stuffed with Okanagan goat cheese, with heirloom tomatoes, Root Down organic greens, red pepper vinaigrette.
Wine pairing: Mission Hill Perpetua, 2008
Cherry Wood Hot Smoked Barclay Sound Sockeye Salmon
With roasted North Arm beets, English pea and green tomato salsa.
Wine pairing: Mission Hill Quatrain, 2007
Pemberton Meadows Natural Beef
Crispy beef cheek fritter, pepper and rosemary roasted sirloin with North Arm rainbow chard and baby carrots.
Wine pairing: Mission Hill Oculus, 2004
North Arm Farm Strawberries & Okanagan Cherries
Strawberry ice cream dipped in dark chocolate and Agassiz hazelnut financier with Okanagan apricots.
Wine pairing: Mission Hill Late Harvest Riesling, 2005
The wine pairings were spot-on but we enjoyed the Quatrain the best (very smooth). The zucchini flowers are something I could eat every day (crunchy and fresh yet creamy on the inside), the salmon was deliciously smoked, and I have to say the beef cheek fritter was a real surprise. Crunchy on the outside and the slow-cooked pieces of shredded meat on the inside were tender and moist. Chef Walt knows how to combine textures and flavours into the most interesting and unique packages on your plate.
This spectacular meal is enjoyed outdoors and tickets are $160 all-inclusive (4-course menu, wine, tax, gratuity). Return executive transportation from Whistler Village is available for $35 per person, including tax.
If you would like to attend and to experience stunning scenery and farm-fresh ingredients, here’s how you can enter to win two tickets from me (valued at $320) for the either August 27th or September 11th (winner’s choice). Each evening will have a different featured winery for pairings.
Leave a comment on this post or name your favourite local ingredient (for cooking or baking) (1 entry)
Post the following on Twitter (1 entry)
I will draw one winner at random from all entries at 9:00am Wednesady, August 17, 2011. Must be 19 years of age or older to enter and win. Please enjoy responsibly and plan a safe ride home. Return executive transportation from Whistler Village is available for $35 per person, including tax.
All photos in this post were taken for Miss604.com by John Bollwitt. You can view more photos from our evening at North Arm Farm in his Flickr set.
Update The winner is Helen!
Disclosure: As with all of my contests and posts, I was not paid to write this or offer this giveaway. However, our experience was compliments of Araxi.
Last month Vancouver City Council decided to proceed with a second series of studies that would concern the future of the Georgia and Dunsmuir viaducts [The Province]. The current viaducts, installed in 1972, serve as passage for tens of thousands of vehicles (and bikes) into the downtown core from False Creek, Chinatown, and East Vancouver. The City’s vision is to modernize transportation and traffic flow, but they’re just not sure how to go about doing so just yet.
Vancouver’s actually had viaducts in place, in that area, for close to 100 years so I thought it may be worth looking at their history to see where we might go in the future.
1913 – Georgia viaduct under construction. Imagine Rogers Arena to the right, BC Place to the left.
Vancouver Archives item# CVA 99-1303. Photographer: Stuart Thomson
On July 1st, 1915, the first Georgia viaduct opened for streetcar use. It extended over the CPR’s Beatty Street yard and it was named the “Hart McHarg” bridge after a World War I hero. Apparently the viaduct was so poorly constructed that within a few years of it going up, chunks began to fall on, endangering pedestrians below.
1915 – Georgia Harris Street viaduct opening. Vancouver Archives item# PAN N100B. Photographer: W.J. Moore
1915 – Car on the Georgia Viaduct, Sun Tower in the background. Archives# CVA 99-18.
It wasn’t until 1963 that, under the leadership of Bill Rathie (the first mayor of Vancouver that was actually born in the city), a 20-year program was drawn up that would involve redevelopment, transportation solutions, low-cost housing, and a downtown revitalization. A new Georgia viaduct was thought up for cars to allow easier access to downtown.
But the replacement viaduct in the 1960’s and into the 1970’s was also part of a larger plan. There was a movement to build a freeway system right into and through downtown Vancouver. Can you imagine Highway 1 ploughing right through East Vancouver, Strathcona, and Chinatown? This was the grand idea and it was thought that the viaducts would nicely connect the freeway to the city’s centre.
Between 1971 & 1981 – Georgia and Dunsmuir viaducts from the air. Vancouver Archives item# CVA 780-8.
Before the freeway plans were solid, buildings were being razed in anticipation. This included the Hogan’s Alley community, which was bulldozed to make room for the new Dunsmuir and Georgia viaducts. Buildings on the East side were reduced to rubble and wiped off the city map — and this is where residents stepped in. Strathcona community activists created much opposition to the grand plan and ended up saving their corner of the city.
Now, forty years later, the issue has been raised again. So far I’ve heard both opposition and support for getting rid of the Dunsmuir and Georgia overpasses. For example, during the Vancouver 2010 Winter Olympics the viaducts were closed to public traffic. Some felt it was a blessing while others found it terribly inconvenient and had to find alternate routes to get around.
From The Tyee: “The demolition and removal of the Georgia and Dunsmuir viaducts could begin in as little as five years, opening a wide swath of virgin land to public space and development — and forming the eastern core of Vancouver’s new 21st-century downtown.”
“Bev Davies, a punk rock photographer who fought against the original freeway (in particular, the plan to bore a tunnel beneath Burrard Inlet) wants the viaducts gone because more than 40,000 cars pass her front door every day at Princess and Prior streets.”
From Councillor Geoff Meegs: “For the next year residents will be invited to put their ideas forward in an “ideas fair” and international and local experts will make their own recommendations. The project also opens the door to planning of the False Creek Flats, the last major area slated for development in the city core.”
From The Georgia Straight: “Public consultation over the coming months will come in the form of an “ideas fair”, an expert panel of local and international experts, and a series of public discussions and consultations.”
At this point, residents and concerned citizens will be able to voice their opinions at these “ideas fairs” and learn more about proposed plans over the course of the latest year-long study.
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Please note that reference material was found thanks to the research of the late, great, historian Chuck Davis.
Mitsubishi City Chase returns to Vancouver this month as teams compete in the world’s largest urban adventure series.
Photo credit:
tyfn on Flickr
Last year over 30,000 people participated in City Chase around the world, enduring various physical, intellectual, adventurous and humourous challenges. Taking off from Granville Square on the morning of August 27th, teams can only get from checkpoint to checkpoint by city bus, ferry, train, subway, or streetcar — so be sure to wear your running shoes.
Photo credit:
tyfn on Flickr
For registering, each team will receive a reserved entry, a participant gift bag, official City Chase t-shirts, race numbers, one-day all access transit pass, access to the ChasePoints Challenges, access to the City Chase after-party, and a memorable experience exploring Vancouver.
If you’re up for the challenge, Urban Rec has offered up three team spots to Miss604.com readers. Here’s how you and a partner can enter to win your place in City Chase Vancouver:
Leave a comment about why you and a partner would like to participate (1 entry)
Post the following on Twitter (1 entry)
I will draw three winners, who will each be able to sign up their team, at 9:00am on Friday, August 12, 2011. Each registration is worth $150. Read full City Chase rules and regulations.
Find City Chase on Twitter & Facebook and sponsor Urban Rec on Twitter & Facebook.
Update The winners are Jessa, Julia Falci, and @chrisvales!
I’ve been tracking the BC Place construction progress since it began in May of 2010, following the Vancouver Winter Olympics, and this past weekend public were able to check out the renovations in person during an Open House.
With BC Place being the home of the BC Lions and Vancouver Whitecaps FC (as of this September) there has been speculation over sponsors and in particular naming rights for the refurbished stadium. It was announced that Budweiser will be the official beer of both teams, and Bell has rights with the Whitecaps. However, Telus has stepped into the picture as well.
This morning Bob Mackin shared a link to an article he wrote for the Vancouver Courier where questions about naming rights for BC Place come up with BC Pavilion Corporation (PavCo) chairman David Podmore. “I can’t comment on any Telus deal,” David Podmore told the Courier during Sunday’s public open house. “We’ll have an announcement around naming rights and sponsorship, probably I’d think around the middle of September.”
Seeing as how BC Place is next door to Rogers Arena (which already has nicknames like the “Call Centre”), I put the word out on Twitter asking what the area around Rogers Arena and (potentially) Telus Place would be called. Here are a few of the responses I received:
With more and more corporate sponsorships of prominent buildings (like Telus World of Science aka the Telusphere aka Science World) and even talk of having sponsored SkyTrain stations, this step comes as no surprise for the currently un-attached BC Place. We’ll have to wait until mid-September, around the time of the re-opening, to get any official word or confirmation.
