City of Vancouver, B.C.

Are you ready to see four bonifide foodies get into some serious trouble?  Welcome to blog post subtitled:   "Eating our way through Vancouver”!   Some background—my nephew, Travis, and his wife, Grace, share Bernie and my passion for culinary exotica, big time!!   The only difference is we live in a tiny town in northern Wisconsin and they live in one of the food meccas of the planet—Vancouver, BC!!!   We had been looking forward to our weekend with Travis and Grace for months, every time we ate a can of pork ’n’ beans for supper (just kidding), and the time had finally arrived!   I’ll let the pictures do the talking!

Travis and Grace begin our Vancouver food extravaganza by ordering dinner
at a Korean BBQ

"Lead on!", we say!

Lebanese fare for lunch 

Dim Sun for brunch.   Ladies bring choice of 30 different and exotic  little "food things"
on 30 different carts, and you say, "Yes, I'll have that" or "No, not that"
as they wheel past!

Shredded radish cakes, BBQ pork in steamed dumpling, and
pork-filled dumplings, respectively

Crispy shredded something with mashed tarot root inside

Banana leaf-wrapped sticky rice and pork

Something like a donut wrapped in steamed rice paper. 

We had very little clue what we were eating, but loved every bite and
every moment of the experience!

Two of the unusual flavors of donuts at "unusual" donut shop in Vancouver!
Not to be confused with offerings at unusual gelato and ice cream shops--
wasabi-flavoried ice cream, anyone?

"Take-out" sushi night at Travis and Grace's!

What a treat!

Then there was dinner at the Indian restaurant featuring cuisine from the Southern
coast of that country!   Curries come wrapped in enormous crepe-like
things called "dosas".

We are blown away!!

So now you’ve had your “belly laugh”, let me tell you a little bit about the great city of Vancouver!  It is the largest city in British Columbia, having a population of 604,000.   Vancouver has had the distinction of being named one of the world’s most livable cites year after year.   People from dozens of countries have made it their home, resulting in a rich cultural mosaic, and this is very evident just walking down the street!   The downtown areas, and there are several, are vibrant and alive.  It is one of those places which exhibits what I understand is greatly desired by young adults today—to live downtown, rather than in suburbs.   As such the skyline is chock full of high rise condominiums and there are countless shops, restaurants, over 50 microbreweries serving up an estimated 200 kinds of beer; bicycle paths, dog parks, people parks, museums, theatre…you name it!   It is blessed with stunning Pacific beaches, soaring coastal mountains and very temperate weather such that “winter” is nonexistent by Wisconsin standards!   The area is a world-renowned destination for outdoor sports including skiing/snowboarding (remember the 2010 Winter Olympics?), SCUBA diving on coral reefs and shipwrecks, cycling and mountain biking, hiking and rock-climbing, sea kayaking—OMG, maybe I should work for the Vancouver Bureau of Tourism!!!

Condos fill skyline of one of Vancouver's downtown areas

Storm Brewing Ltd, one of the most creative of microbreweries we visited--how does
"spicy mango salsa pilsner" or "pineapple-upside-down ale" grab ya?

Meanwhile the 49th Parallel Brewing Co is serving "Chocolate
Pumpkin Porter" this time of year!

So what did we do there besides eat and taste beers?  Well, in order to expend some of these calories we consumed, we walked a good portion of the seawall that borders Vancouver’s coastline.   We really enjoyed the lovely ocean views this provided, especially in light of the beautiful weather that Travis and Grace arranged for our visit!  

View of Vancouver from the sea wall trail.

We travelled one day to the heart of downtown to what is considered the birthplace of Vancouver.   A bronze plaque here proclaims "here stood the old maple tree under whose branches the pioneers met in 1885 and chose the name Vancouver for this city".   Almost 20 years prior to that, a fella named John Deighton, a riverboat captain and innkeeper who was very fond of “spirits” erected Vancouver’s first significant structure here—a saloon.   The neighborhood is officially known as Granville, but called “Gastown” by locals due to this guy’s propensity to jaw on at length—he should’ve written a blog!   Besides cobblestone streets and interesting architecture, here as well one can visit numerous First Nations art galleries and trendy boutiques.

Bronze plaque marks birthplace of Vancouver stating,
"Here stood the old maple tree under whose branches the pioneers met in 1885
and chose the name Vancouver for this city"

Bronze status of "Gassy Jack" Deighton on pretty
cobblestone street corner

The niftiest thing in Gastown, though, is a big clock standing on one of the street corners which gives a steamy rendition of the Westminster Chimes every 15 minutes, utilizing the power of Vancouver’s underground steam-heat system.  It was a thing of beauty!

Vancouver's famous steam clock

Note steam escaping as the Westminster chimes ring out
every 15 minutes

We also visited two museums.   The first was the Vancouver Aquarium which contained fish from around the globe with a spotlight on marine life from the area of the Pacific Ocean just offshore of British Columbia.  As we toured this fabulous facility with Grace, we couldn't help but think about Travis who even at that moment was deep in the ocean, surrounded by an amazing variety of sea creatures like this, while teaching his SCUBA class.   What a place for a young man of his interests and abilities!  

Vancouver Aquarium

Jellies

One of two beluga whales at the aquarium who do put on a show
to demonstrate some of their abilities

The Aquarium also had wonderful exhibits of marine mammals including sea lions, seals, porpoises, belugas, and most fascinating of all, a pilot whale named “Charlie”.   Charlie was rescued as a baby from the Charles Island area nearby, and nursed by human staff round the clock to keep him alive after some misfortune which I can’t recall, occurred to his mom.  As such he was strongly socialized to humans such that he seeks out interactions with those watching him underwater from the viewing area.   I  was charmed to bits to have him swim right up to me and smile!!   Truly smile, just as he did for others of us, one by one!!   We’ve all heard about the amazing intelligence of whales, and now here I was, face-to-face with this sea creature communicating with me in such a clear and openly friendly manner.  WOW!   He stole my heart, and to this day I think about him and hope he is as happy as a captive can be, swimming around with his friend, “Helen”, the porpoise.   I am sad that he cannot be released to the wild, socialized to humans as he is, but what an ambassador to the animal world Charlie is!   

Charlie seeks out mother and child

Charming them with his winning smile!

A smile meant just for me--what a thrill!!

The other museum we visited was the University of British Columbia Museum of Anthropology.  It is Canada’s largest teaching museum and holds a world class collection of artifacts from First Nations Peoples throughout the province, especially those from the coastal regions.   The building itself was designed by a renowned Canadian architect named Arthur Erikson to reflect the post-and-beam structures of these peoples.    We took a guided tour with a very knowledgeable curator who taught us much about the cultures of First Nations tribes.   Among other things, we learned it was European explorers who dubbed their poles, “totem poles” because of previous exposures to cultures in Asia where carved objects like these had religious significance, and were even worshipped in some cases.   The Northwest Coastal Natives’ poles, on the other hand, had nothing to do with religion, but rather documented family history, community events, or the passing of a prominent person (mortuary poles).   We saw the beautiful work of some of the most skilled and artistic carvers of more modern times as well as those long gone, and felt really privileged to do so!   

Beautiful University of BC Anthropology Museum building

Map showing the very large number of different First
Nations tribes in British Columbia

Very knowledgeable museum curator gave us tour.
Here he explains exactly how Northwest First Nations people made
their fabulous dugout cedar canoes

Musquean tribe clan housepost.   Traditionally only the owner of the house
is permitted to tell the story associated with it.  

Northwest Coast First Nations carvings simultaneously served
functional, artistic, and social functions...

And so beautifully!

Pole carved by Mungo Martin of the Kwakiutl people

Huge yellow cedar carving depicting legend of raven discovering men hiding in a clam shell
after the great flood.  The artist was Bill Reid of the Haida people.  An image of this
carving appears on the Canadian 20 dollar bill!

Yes, indeed, we had a wonderful visit to Vancouver with Travis and Grace though we barely, barely, BARELY scratched the surface of all there is to do and see here!   The experience nourished our minds, hearts, and, as you clearly saw—bellies!!   Now full of memories of the big city, we were off to Vancouver Island, to immerse ourselves in wilderness once again!