Until further notice, all non-essential travel to and within British Columbia should be avoided. Now is the time for us to stay local and support local, so that we can all explore BC again, soon.
Over the last year I’ve spent every #TravelTuesday looking back at fond travel memories, and one that brings back visions of spectacular coastal scenery, feelings of relaxation and pure fun (with kayaking, boat trips to waterfalls, and grizzly bear photography) is has some really big news! Homfray Lodge in Desolation Sound is now is now Klahoose Wilderness Resort.
View of the resort from our boat, arriving from Lund.
Klahoose Wilderness Resort in Desolation Sound
The Klahoose First Nation’s Economic Development Corporation, Qathen Xwegus Management Corporation (“QXMC”) purchased the lodge in November 2020, strengthening business activities for the Nation and bringing optimism to BC’s regional tourism sector.
There’s a new meal kit delivery service in Metro Vancouver! Founded by Chef Marie Grapé, MANNA Sacred Meals is a plant-based meal delivery subscription program that helps people enjoy better tasting plant-based meals in their homes. Whether you prefer a vegan, vegetarian, flexitarian or pescatarian diet, each delivery includes four-to-six servings per person, per week.
MANNA launched in November 2020, offering restaurant-style meals delivered weekly to homes from Vancouver to Chilliwack, and all the way up the Sea to Sky to Whistler. The menu is always curated to deliver both full flavour and balanced nutrition. The comfort of familiar meals will always be found in each week’s menu but there are always some tantalizing dishes to try that are out of the ordinary like Ital Stew and Jerkstyle Tofu.
Additional menu options include BBQ Pineapple Tofu Bowl, Stir Fried Udon, Coconut Peanut Tofu, Sichuan Chilli Eggplant with Tofu, Truffle Wild Mushroom Pasta and more!
Zero Waste Packaging
As the first ready-made meal delivery company to be a member of the Recycling Council of BC, MANNA Sacred Meals offers a near zero-waste packaging model that takes up little room in the refrigerator and many items can be frozen. Most meals are packed in sleek plastic BPA-free and FDA-approved sous-vide pouches that make reheating the meals perfectly as easy as boiling a pot of water. MANNA closes the loop for their customers by picking up all used packaging to clean, wash and dry before dropping the packaging off to be properly recycled at a local Recycle BC facility. By diligently following the guidelines of the BC Recycling Regulation, MANNA ensures no materials are burned, buried, or enter waterways and oceans.
A partnership with Charitable Impact means 5 per cent of subscription fees are donated to a Canadian charitable organization of the customers’ choice while an ongoing subsidy for frontline workers ensures those at the forefront of the pandemic can save time on meal preparation and access healthy meals with 40% off weekly meal delivery subscriptions.
Prices range from $79 for one person to $289 for a family of four. Larger orders are also possible, as well as corporate catering. Deliveries are made between 12:00pm and 8:00pm every Monday, around the Lower Mainland.
Got your Easter dinner plans hopping into place yet? If not, there are lots of great Easter dinner meal kits designed to get your lips smacking while you stay safe with family or your bubble. Here at Miss604.com, we want you to support restaurants while we get through what we hope is the last wave of COVID-19, but to do it safely, so we can all enjoy the best of what Vancouver has to offer this summer.
And meal kits are such a great way to do that!
But don’t wait – reserve your kits quickly so your chosen eatery can accommodate you. This list is a great start, but don’t forget to check with your local favourites. And delivery is always a great choice too!
The Lazy Gourmet Easter. Photo by Jamie-Lee Fuoco
Easter Dinner Meal Kits and Take-Out
Note: Some options are take-and-cook and others are ready-to-eat. Most order cut-off dates are Wednesday, March 21st. Click through for full details from each venues.
Chicken or Ham? Have both! Monday the 29th is the last day for reserving Belgard Kitchen’s meal kit. For $80, two can enjoy a half-chicken roast, some honey-glazed ham, savoury bread pudding, herbed baby potatoes, and butterscotch panacotta. What’s great about Belgard’s kit is they provide a YouTube link for a video demo to help you cook your feast to perfection. Also available are wine and beer.
Be spoiled by choice – and yum! At Vancouver’s catering institution The Lazy Gourmet, a variety of choices await – like the amazing “Easter Grazing Box” for two ($95), because why cook when God made cheese, charcuterie and glorious carbs? Their set menu is $45 a person and includes a spring pea salad, garlicky-cheesy-herby bread knots, duck-fat potatoes, stuffed turkey breast, seared BC cod in an orange-basil sauce, roasted Brussels sprouts and honey-brown sugar carrots, with cupcakes to finish. But there’s also an Easter Dessert Box with bite-sized delights, like chocolate truffles. Need cocktails? A batch of grapefruit Paloma will help you imbibe your day away. Families with discerning children can order the “Easter Egg Hunt” with little plastic eggs crammed with carrot cake truffles (!), homemade mini-chocolates and meringues, even mixed caramels. Learn about their kits here.
Take some crispy French fries, the squeakiest of cheese curds, ladle on some sauce and top it all with a generous helping of supporting a great local cause because Poutine with Purpose is back!
Poutine for a Cause in Vancouver
When: April 23 to May 1, 2021 Where: Participating locations/restaurants
A youth in need provided a meal through Mealshare partners. Mealshare partners with restaurants across North America through a simple ‘buy one, give one’ model that provides simple, healthy meals to youth in need.
Local chefs are challenged to dream up and dish up a feature poutine for the week — from the traditional, to the creative, to the unusual.
Confirmed participants in Greater Vancouver so far…
Tap and Barrel (Convention Centre, Olympic Village, Shipyards)
The Park Pub (1755 Davie St, Vancouver)
Patina Brewing
Wok Box (Surrey, Abbostford and New West)
Poutine with Purpose started in 2010 as a one-day poutine crawl in Calgary created as a fun social media experiment by MRU instructor Karen Richards. The poutine passion grew into Calgary Poutine Week, and over time, has evolved into an annual food festival frenzy in Calgary, Victoria and in 2019 they launched in Vancouver. Poutine With Purpose events have sold over 35,000 poutines since 2013. Follow along on Facebook for updates.
I’ve been watching the emails trickle in day-by-day, slowly becoming a waterfall of communiques filled with photos incredibly delicious treats, chocolates, pastries and more. With my mouth watering and my finger ready to click the ‘order’ button online, I present my list of tempting Easter treats to try around Vancouver:
What: Four-inch milk or dark chocolate Easter egg with a smooth colourful shell, decorated with daisies, and filled with two signature truffles: Ruby Chocolate and Mango Passion Fruit. They also serve up the Velvet Chocolate egg with white and milk Easter chocolates inside, and a fruit and nut egg filled with caramelized nuts and dried fruits.
