Based on the best-selling book (and blog) by James MacKinnon and Alisa Smith, the Food Network’s new series, The 100 Mile Challenge, is testing the lifestyle habits of families in Mission, BC. I recently did a write up about the show for E!Online and soon after started counting my own food miles.

Photo credit: Roland on Flickr

“The production of food has gone crazy in our world,” noted Smith in the series opener that aired Sunday, April 5th. “I mean you’re getting strawberries from California when there are strawberries you can grow in your backyard, lettuce from China and you can grow lettuce in your backyard. That’s a really redundant impact on the environment.”

The “100 Mile” concept involves only consuming food that was grown, harvested, or produced within 100 miles of your home. This cuts back on environmental impacts from things like packaging and shipping, while also helps you explore local business. They call it the “100 Mile Diet” although it’s more like a movement.

For the documentary-style TV show, MacKinnon and Smith head to Mission, BC to enlist community members in the challenge and the series then follows six families closely for the 100 days of the challenge. Things the Mission families can’t eat during the 100 Mile Challenge include coffee, rice, tropical fruit, avocado, soda, beer, olive oil, sugar, peanut butter, and basics like black pepper and salt.

Local markets are praised as being excellent resources not only for locally-grown food but also for inspiration, recipes, and community support and discussion.

Markets in the Vancouver Area

The 100 Mile Challenge television show will air Sundays until May 10th, following all 100 days of the challenge in Mission, BC.

I love this time of year in the city. The grey and dreary winter days are behind us and although the rain still showers down every few days (or for a few days on end) it just makes everything so lush, green, and full of life. Walking up from Burrard SkyTrain the other night I noticed the cherry blossoms were in full bloom, which reminded me of the festival.

Photo credit: vancouver_scenery on Flickr

The Vancouver Cherry Blossom Festival began in March (running until April 24, 2009) and includes haiku installations, photo contests, bike and trolley tours, and tree-gazing walks at various parks around the city.

just a petal
the mountain vanishes
into pink air
– 2009 Best of BC Haiku winner, Jill Stanley

Today there is a ‘tree talk and walk‘ in Stanley Park at 3:00pm and there are three more events this coming Saturday, along with the final activities next week.

Photo credit: rcousine on Flickr

Photo credit: frarytd on Flickr

Brief history of cherry blossoms in Vancouver:

Check out the cherry blossom viewing map if you’d like some inspiration for your next stroll, or photo walk. The map also outlines the type of tree, in which neighbourhood they are located, and if they are currently in bloom.

Photo credit: mjw5208 on Flickr

Should you take any digital photos while you’re out and about on a blossom photo walk, feel free to add them to the Miss604 Flickr Group and I’ll showcase some on my site at the end of the week.

This coming Thursday I’ll be out at Dublin Crossing in Surrey for the Tech Valley Social Club‘s Meet and Tweet event. It will be a chance for those East of the Fraser to get together, chat, discuss, mix, mingle, and hopefully learn a bit about social media during a quick talk I’ll be giving.

Where Dublin Crossing Pub [Google Map]
When Thursday April 16, 2009 from 5:00pm – 8:00pm

The event is totally free and hopefully those interested in Twitter, or already using social media for personal or business use, will be able to join us for this conversation. I think it’s great to have an event like this outside of downtown because our region is filled with so many industries and a large percentage are based in the Fraser Valley. Feel free to RSVP online and we hope to see you there.

Our friend Shayam, a local podcaster and close family friend of my friend Tanya, is involved with The C-Word — a play now showing at the Playwrights Theatre Centre on Granville Island. Last night Tanya and I stopped by to check it out.

If cheating is colour blind, so is commitment, increasingly a “C-word” to both sexes. How do you deal with intercultural cheating, commitment, and consequences? The C-Word, a contemporary, set-in-Vancouver dramedy directed by Mel Tuck, invites an intimate in-and-out of the bedroom view of four friends’ lives when infidelity and unforeseen consequences force them to choose to whom, and to what, they must commit.

The C-Word cast – Photo by Terry Wong

Cast: Preet Cheema (Akesh Gill), Grace Chin (Kelly Cho), Sheryl Thompson (Ashley Hennessey), Fane Tse (Steve Chung), Raahul Singh (Pal Prasad).

Set in Vancouver, with frequent mentions of the Opus and Yaletown, C-Word was written by Grace Chin who also stars in the play as Kelly Cho. The (mature) subject matter is emotionally gritty but doesn’t lack humour, wit, and attitude. On a simple set it takes you through the lives and relationships of unique individuals who seem put together however each is neurotic and confused in some way when it come to love and that elusive C-Word.

Directed by Mel Tuck, founder of the Gastown Actors’ Studio Ltd., The C-Word was captivating in a refreshing, real, tell-it-like-it-is manner.

They have just two more performances, tonight and tomorrow, and tickets are available online for $18. They also give away door prizes at the top of each show. Note, the language is for mature audiences.

Wednesday night I met up with Raul for a bite to eat and then headed over to Shenanigans for this month’s Vancouver Blogger Meetup.

My goal was to meet new bloggers, and I believe I was successful. There were tech bloggers, marketers, and even a match-maker. Jan Karlsberg was the unofficial scribe so he took some notes and made sure to get everyone’s website address:

Please check out Jan’s post for all of the details, topics, and discussions.

Following the meetup we moved to the back of the room for some karaoke where Raul, Karen, Airdrie and others entertained the place with delightful tunes (and dancing). Combining #VanTechKaraoke that evening made forp robably one of my most enjoyable experiences at a blogger meetup.

Anyone and everyone is welcome to stop by and you can check out the latest events on the Vancouver Blogger Meetup site.