Hello? Is it me you're looking for?

As the writer of this blog I often also assume that I'm the only reader: an act that feels a little like whistling into a strong wind (except I can't whistle. Arguably I can't write either, but I digress.) So it's a lovely surprise to get nudged by someone when I fall silent for too long. It's nice to know that readers include many friends and family that Scott and I don't see as often as we'd like, but are still never far from our thoughts.

It looks like I have some catching up to do, and I promise to carve out some time in the next few weeks to share with you some of the highlights from the past few months. In the meantime, we hope you've been enjoying the transition from fall to winter, -  although it's perhaps the most irrititating of seasonal changes what with shorter days and colder nights, it also brings anticipation of warm fireside evenings, hearty delicious meals and ski season excitement. Enjoy!

Two new things

Next month, I have a special trip planned with my sister and mom, so it was time to take stock of my travel gear. And it was in a sorry state.

My blue "superluggage" (as Scott would call it) was at least a decade old, and battered and broken from far too much rough-housing. The zipper pulls were gone, the wheels were often stuck and the handles were getting wonky. In fact, on one recent outbound trip I collected my case from the carousel to find the pull-out handle stuck permanently in the 'down' position... super uncomfortable to wheel, and far to heavy to carry. For the return journey, I managed to jimmy the handle into the 'up' position - where it was stuck and had to be checked in 'as-is'. When I picked it up at the Vancouver Airport at the other end of the flight, the handle had been thoughfully unstuck .. and had a couple of new metal springs sticking out the side of the handle. Customized baggage-handler-modifications, perhaps?

But the worst of all was it was heavy. With weight limits for checked baggage being increasingly tight, it seemed like a waste to start out with an empty case that already felt like 10 pounds. A timely sale at the Bay (where luggage is almost always on sale anyway) led me to my new suitcase -  a little smaller, but the lightest model out there! It's also a chic grey with crisp and cheerful yellow highlights - easy to spot on the carousel.

The second item was for something that was only five years old but still due for a replacement... that's right, I needed a new passport. While I'm looking forward to the day that Canada adopts 10-year passports like most reasonable countries, I'm happy to report that the renewal process is significantly easier than the last time I did so, and I can now travel outside of our borders up to August 2016.

  

I'm ready to hit the road again!

Summer living

Getaways to Galiano are a highlight of our summer, not the least for the neighbours. Bill and Karen are nice, but I'm really talking about the otters who live under the logs at the edge of the high tide line. These little guys can most often be spotted at dawn or dusk, headed out for a fishing session. They usually travel in packs and are pretty hilarious to watch. They're shy, but don't let their reticent style fool you... they love to party. In fact, they've been known to throw a bender on the speedboats moored nearby when no one is looking... and leave one stinky mess to clean up. But when they're behaving, they're fun to have around.

looking for lunch

A lot is being said lately about food trucks - a trend across North America which has now reached our fair city. Introduced in Vancouver just a year ago with a change to civic licensing, there's now a food truck or cart on many corners of downtown. Food trucks have become the new source for lunch for many Vancouverites, and many trucks have line-ups 10 deep at peak times.

While I love the concept of food trucks (quick, cheap, delicious? I'm in!) my love of food trucks has been tempered by reality. The drawbacks?

First: messy. Really, really messy. This whole street food concept is new to Vancouver so we don't have much experience with portable food, which means many offers are cumbersome and oversized. Plus, some truck operators are a bit precious with their presentation and ingredients, which doesn't translate well to tightly packaged and easily consumed.

Second: not always so cheap. There's a wide range of prices, I admit, but if I'm paying ten bucks for a sandwich, I'd like a roof and seat, please and thank you. Especially if my meal is going to be messy (see point one).

For an incomplete, unobjective and uneven review of Vancouver's carts, see below. My unscientific choices have been solely based on proximity to my office and my mood, rather than reputation or diversity, so consider the below with a grain of salt... or plenty of other seasoning!!

La Brasserie
A chicken sandwich with gravy and fried onion bits. On the delicious scale, this was near the top, but on the messy scale, pretty close to the bottom. All it took was one little breeze and gravy droplets and onion bits (solids AND liquids!!) were in serious danger of meeting my skirt hem.  I probably used 6 napkins in 5 minutes. But the cart is quick to serve (from it's well-chosen, single-item menu) which keeps the crowd moving, and my order was up almost immediately: an important factor on a short lunchbreak. 



Kaboom Box
A smoked (wild, organic, happy-life) salmon sandwich - nice, solid, all-round eat. My order came up quickly, the sandwich was pretty low on the messy scale (the salmon was more like a pre-barbequed fillet), there was a nice sauce on the bun that wasn't too saucy (read: messy), and the bun was fresh and chewy. Still, I don't wake up dreaming about this sandwich, so I can't say its worth a trip of it's own to seek out.



Tacofino
On the other had, of all food-truck-foods, this is the one that I would most likely wake up dreaming about. A nice, reasonably-priced, soft fish taco with good sauces. Pretty high on the messy scale - very high, some might say (tortilla was overstuffed and drippy) but worth the effort for the deliciousness. A little slow on the service, which might explain the disorganized crowd...



Feastro
Fish taco number two. On the Janice-o-meter, this one didn't fare well. Very messy, pricy, and slow to be delivered. I could overlook all that if the fish taco was amazing, but here's the kicker: refried beans in the fish taco. WHAT? That's right, I said refried beans in the fish taco. I don't like refried beans at the best of times, but I have never, ever, seen (or wanted) any in my fish tacos. Case closed.



Fresh, Local, Wild
Tuna Melt. This one gets points for both portability and low messiness. Also, the friendliest bunch of guys that ever ran a food cart. All good things, cause my sandwich took a while and adding few greens to the sandwich couldn't hurt. Some might say that fresh greens don't belong in a tuna melt, but if you're already using (wild, happy-life) premium albacore, cooked rare, why stop there? In fairness, they did offer a caesar salad as a side, but that would have significantly changed the portability, messiness and price factors.


So, that's my roundup... so far, at least: when I find the ultimate dream-about-and-worth-the-trip-food-truck-food, I'll let you know!

Treats from the Street

One of my favourite summer treats in our neighbourhood is a mango lassi from East is East, an Indian restaurant nearby. They have a take-out window where you can order up all kinds of treats - but I admit, I've rarely strayed from my usual. A post-dinner walk through the neighbourhood on a late, light evening, is made perfect when it's topped off by a cool, tangy cup filled with exotic flavours of mango, yogurt, rosewater and cardamom.

Los Angeles

A week or so ago, I had another work trip, this one to Los Angeles. My colleagues and I rented a car to get to and from our meeting appointments, and over four days we logged 220 miles. That might not sound like much by comparable roadtrip vacation standards, but all of these 220 miles were travelled within the metro Los Angeles area. In my book, that's a lot of city driving. LA's reputation for really bad traffic is honestly earned.

The day of our departure coincidentally coincided with the start of 'Carmageddon,' when 20 miles of the 405 freeway - a major north-south artery - was due to close for 48 hours. The resulting domino effect was expected to bring the city to a possible standstill. The event has come and gone and from what I understand, the city is still standing, but one thing I learned is no one does hype like the Angelenos do.



One evening we headed to the Hollywood Hills for a light hike through Runyon Canyon. From the summit we could see all of Los Angeles spread out below us: from downtown, through Hollywood and Beverly Hills, and out to Santa Monica and the Pacific Ocean. Far from our traffic woes, with soft evening light filtering through the hazy air, the sun warming our backs and fit and flawless actor-slash-waiters passing by us, the city seemed picture-perfect.

We found many picture-perfect moments during our visit - at our hotel's rooftop pool, at a charming outdoor cafe near Silver Lake, at the beach with crashing surf at Santa Monica, or winding along Mulholland Dr. (like I said, 220 miles). For as much as LA is maligned for bad transportation, poser people and overpriced everything (all true) it's still an endlessly fascinating city with diverse and engaged communities, a beautiful environment, and great people watching (and I mean really great). And the weather ain't bad, either. I'll be back.

The Emerald Isle

Last week I was at a conference in Dublin, a special treat.

While I agree with the common belief that Dublin is nice and the people are friendly, I admit --- I struggled to understand language. For example, when the bellhop asked me, "Are you finished with that," I understood through his brogue that he was asking, "Are you friends with that." We were talking about a rental car at the time: the resulting conversation was pretty entertaining.

This conversation happened at the end of the trip after a free day I spent with colleagues. After a few days of work in Dublin we were ready to break away from the urban scene, so we pooled together on a car rental and headed for the hills.

With a manual drive and right-side steering, no one was really rushing to be behind the wheel, so for better or worse I elected to drive. That made the day a little more mentally stimulating than I had in mind, but my colleagues were very understanding when I stalled the engine, ran a little too close to the hedges, or swore a blue streak. More than once.

We had lovely weather - a mix of sun and cloud. An "Irish heat wave" as one local called it, with temperatures in the mid-twenties... enough to give me a light and unexpected sunburn.

We stopped at the beautiful Powerscourt Gardens for a wander:

The rose gardens were in full bloom - a garden so beautiful that it made even me want to drop everything and become a gardener:

Then it was up and over the Wicklow Mountains for rugged and expansive views:

Of course, enjoyment of Ireland wasn't only visual. A stop earlier in the week at the Jameson Distillery in Dublin warranted a sampling of whiskey:

We had to find some way to recover from all the Jameson and Guinness: a few brave souls, plus me, joined Sightjogging Dublin for early morning runs around town. On two mornings during the conference, we ran through many of the areas around central Dublin on Sightjogging's City Highlights and Waterside tours. Thank God for jet lag - it's way easier to get up at the crack of dawn if you're body is already confused and angry with you to start with.

I left Ireland with still plenty to explore. And if I take a few language lessons, I'm sure my next visit will be better still.

Thoughts from June

Skiing season is over and mountainbiking has begun. Despite a slow start to the weather (and a tentative approach to my bike) we've had a few great days of riding between Vancouver, Squamish and Whistler. And the more I bike, the better I'll get, right? I could use a confidence boost before every ride, but by the end of the day I'm glad I went.

Last weekend we were in Whistler, and while Scott took a day to go biking with friends, I played tourist with visitors from Mexico. A train journey from the city; ziplining, spa-ing and good food - and so much fun! It's always a pleasure to see my home province through the eyes of a first time visitor, and remember what a remarkable place it is.

This week, I switched roles - this time it was me playing 'first time visitor' on a trip to Dublin, Ireland. There is nothing like a dose of that wide-eyed feeling of travel: of learning, of confusion, of connection - to remind me why I love what I do, and how travel opens doors to learning about cultures, history, environment and more.

More on Dublin later, I promise - right now I'm in transit in Heathrow, and I have a plane to catch!

Mexico!

I've been to Mexico City a number of times, and while I can find the chaos of the streets overwhelming, the energy of the city is endless and ever-changing, giving every visit a fresh and new perspective. As my visits have been as a result of business trips, the contacts and friendships that have resulted provide a unique and intimate access to a culture and city that I would otherwise know very little about.

With this, I convinced Scott to join me on my most recent visit, and it was an added pleasure when our friends Daniela and Manuel not only offered to host us at their home, but also take us on a weekend visit to Tepoztlan, a resort town an hour south of Mexico City.

Some of our highlights included:

The lovely groomed gardens of Carmelita and Eduardo, whose home we stayed at in Tepoztlan:

Scott's first taste of chapulines, or crickets, in a taco (he actually enjoyed them much more than the expression on his face would indicate):

A visit to Luchas Libres, or Mexican wrestling, which actually resembles cartoon gymnastics more than actual fighting. We had second row seats!

Fisk and Lola, Daniela and Manuel's two miniature schnauzers, who were always happy to see us when we came home:

Lunch at Cafe Tacuba in the Zona Historico, where we shared Agua Fresca of melon juice and I had the best Tamale I have ever, ever eaten:

More photos can be found on Flickr (click on the slideshow on the upper right corner of the blog) - enjoy!

Wanderings

My silence here has not been without reason: I've had a number of travels this spring that have taken me away from the computer and out into the wild, wild world. A few of the highlights from the last number of weeks include:

A trip to New York, to attend a conference at which one of my favourite writers was speaking - Adam Gopnik. I was totally like a rock-band groupie and gushed endlessly when I met him. I also asked to have my picture taken with him (see exhibit A, below). So as not to seem like a towering giant, I did take off my very high heels a second before the picture was taken. Awkward.

Not long after, Scott and I went to a fun and intimate concert by Colin James at the Fairmont Pacific Rim Hotel. It was so awesome. I remembered how much I love Colin James and also would have acted like a rock star groupie in his presence had I been given half a chance. Like Adam, Colin is not a tall man, so it's probably best we didn't meet otherwise I would have been taking off my shoes again.

Then a concert of a different sort with the Vancouver Symphony, when Scott's mom Marina came to town. Two cent summary: the introductory piece was a jarring and unpleasant (from a Vancouver composer of the 1960s...) but things improved with a stellar violin concerto and some Brahms.

Then it was off to Montreal! Cold and rainy, I'm afraid, but I snuck out one morning to my favourite bakery, Olive + Gourmand, and all was right with the world again.

There were also business trips to Portland and San Franciso, which mainly looked like this: my colleagues and I, huddled over our blackberries, madly typing emails in between meetings...

There was some respite from the road, with a lovely long weekend spent on Galiano with visitors from the UK:

The highlight of highlights, however, was a trip to Mexico City for both Scott and I in mid-May. More on that soon...

Sending out an S.O.S.

It's the final days of a cold, dark winter and fresh local fruit is slim on the ground. The craving for something sweet and bright to break through the dry-toast-syndrome is real, but we're in a bit of a bind.

Most years, we have an ample supply of berry jam gifted from friends and family, and this canned summer goodness keeps us smiling through to the glorious months when nearby bushes are laden with fruit. This year, however, our appetite exceeded our jam supply and we've run out a full two months short of strawberry season. We're trying to be calm about this, but jamic (jam panic) is starting to set in.

The 2011 jamine (jam famine)

So, we're sending out the alert. If anyone has particularly delicious jam that needs a good home, please send, stat. Our breakfasts need your help.

Love,

Janice & Scott

Winter greens

A favourite recipe of both Scott and mine this winter was one from Jamie Oliver, whose casual and easygoing approach to cooking dinner is hard not to love. We've fixed this salad for everything from large potlucks, to Christmas dinner, to casual suppers at home. And on a recent visit to a posh and upscale restaurant, I'm sure I spied a variation of this salad on the menu. It's deliciously fresh and fragrant and can be a little bit spicy (if you kick up the chiles), yet still easy to source all ingredients in the middle of winter when good-looking vegetables can be hard to find.

Now, it is a salad recipe and generally I'm not one for complicated salads - but this one is actually worth the effort. The most complicated thing about this salad is the preparation of the carrots, which carries most of the flavour (and actually makes the dish much more hearty than your garden-variety side-salad). Once you've finished with the carrots, it's really a toss and serve situation. I've adapted the recipe slightly, but the original can be found in the "Jamie at Home" cookbook, which is filled with a whole lot of other delicious and inspirational recipes, plus encouragement to try growing a few veggies yourself. Highly recommended!

Roast carrot and avocado salad, with orange and lemon dressing

1 pound carrots, with their leafy tops
2 level teaspoons whole cumin seed
1 or 2 small dried chiles, crumbled
   salt and peppper
2 cloves of garlic, peeled
4 sprigs of fresh thyme, leaves picked (*I've also used dried in a pinch, no problemo)
   extra virgin olive oil
   red or white wine vinegar
1 orange, halved
1 lemon, halved
3 ripe avocados
4 slices of cubed bread for crouton
1 bunch of greens (*we use watercress; frisee, arugula, radicchio are Jamie's suggestions)
4 tablespoons mixed seed, toasted (*we usually use pumpkin, sunflower and/or sesame)

Preheat the oven to 350F degrees. Parboil your carrots in boiling, salted water for 10 minutes, until they are very nearly cooked, then drain and transfer into a roasting pan. You should flavour them while they're steaming hot, so while the carrots are cooking, grind up the cumin seeds and chiles (*for this I use a grinder, Jamie uses a mortar and pestle), add salt and pepper to taste, and then add the garlic and thyme and smash up again untill you have a kind of paste. The idea here is to build up the flavours. Add enough olive oil  to generously cover the paste, and the a good swig of vinegar. This will be like a marinade, a rub and a dressing all in one! Stir together, then pour over the carrots in the pan, coating them well. Add the orange and lemon halves, cut-side down. These will roast along with the carrots, and their juice can be used as the basis of the dressing. Place the roasting pand in the preheated oven for 25 to 30 minutes.

While the carrots are roasting, halve and peel your avocados, cuting into wedges lengthwise and placing in a big bowl. Sometime before you remove the carrots from the oven, start toasting your croutons in the oven alongside the carrots.

When you remove the carrots from the oven, add them to bowl with the avocados (*along with any bits of the marinade/rub still in the pan). Using some tongs (*or whatever) squeeze the roasted orange and lemon into a separate bowl and add the same amount of olive oil plus a swig of vinegar. Season with salt and pepper, then pour over the carrots and avocados.

Final prep is to add the greens, seeds and croutons and then toss the whole thing together and serve.

Here's a recent version we prepared (with a side of fresh halibut, but minus the croutons because I forgot we were out of bread). I'm no food stylist so can't tell if this looks any good to you, but I can say that this version was really, really delicious.

A glimpse back

Recently my father sent me an email containing an wonderful and unexpected surprise.

Dad had been browsing newly digitized items from the City of Vancouver archives with the possible goal of locating some of the work of his father, who had been a staff photographer at the Burrard drydocks in the '40s. What he discovered instead was an photo portrait of the most senior family member to reach Vancouver, a face that I hadn't seen before - my great-grandfather.

Albert Greenwood, originally of Toronto, arrived in Vancouver in 1906 by way of Liverpool where he worked as a reporter. He settled in Vancouver with his wife and two young boys, working as an editor at the Vancouver Province newspaper for at least 25 years.

Natty cuffs and collar, don't you think? This portrait was taken in 1931, which means that the Vancouver of his later years looked something like the photo below. His office would have been located half way between the two tallest buildings in middle distance (the darkest and most prominent in the center of the picture), the Sun Tower and the Dominion Building:

80 years later, and both the family and city profiles have changed, leaving only hints of the past behind. What do you think - on either the city or the family side, is there still a resemblance in more than just name?

Out of bounds

Sunshine breaks, originally uploaded by Janamel.

Spring is peeking out from behind the shadows of winter, but Scott and I had one important appointment to keep with mountain god Ullr before he retired for the season. We ventured out for seven days of backcountry skiing in the Monashees and I'm happy to report that not only did our group of eight bring skis and strong legs, Ullr brought along about a metre of fresh snow which arrived in 10 to 30 cm increments over the week. My legs have recovered from both the uphills and downhills, and all that's left are great memories of soft smooth slopes and good times with friends. You'll find a few photos posted on flickr (click on above photo to access)... Enjoy!

It ain't no Warren Miller flick...

... but still, a fun little video that Scott and I shot during a recent visit to Sun Peaks with a great group of friends.

And if you're wondering about the title, I mentioned to someone that we were headed to Sun Peaks with KenandCarla, and they mis-heard. And it stuck. Oddly, no rum was consumed (although I do love a good post-ski gin and tonic).

Also, listen carefully at the end of the video for Carla's commentary on the weekend. It makes me laugh every time.

Birthday month.

February is Scott's birthday month. Taking his cues from our good friend Lisa, he likes to make sure the festivities last all 28 days (or 29 in a good year).

This time round, the celebrations began at a family dinner, which was a shared event between Scott and my niece, who turned 5 two days after Scott turned (ahem).

Anyway, it was widely accepted by both birthday kids that there would be TWO cakes, at minimum. And so, two cakes were created with love.

Here are the birthday kids, about the blow out the candles:

And here they are a moment later, sharing candle-blowing success:

And next, licking the birthday cake candles:

Both cakes, by the way, were delicious.

Scott received many remarkable birthday gifts this year. The one I thought might be fun to share is this fantastic hometown mug from our friends and neighbours:

Happy birthday month, Scott!

Scott's Doppleganger

Today over the water cooler, we started talking about Cash Cab. This naturally led to a conversation about which person we would most like to see as a Cash Cab contestant. A friend picked Scott, which kind of baffled me, but then again, her husband thinks Scott looks like Tracy Jordan which is also baffling for many unrelated reasons.

The bafflement all comes together in the best scenes ever from 30 Rock, in which Tracy Jordan is a contestant on Cash Cab. An accurate representation of Scott? You be the judge...

Ukrainian Celebration

Is it perogy? pyrogie? pierogi? or pyrohy? Whichever, last Friday night was all about these little potato dumplings when we visited the local Ukrainian Orthodox Church for their Friday Night Supper. It's a classic combination: church hall, homemade food, paper plates, good friends.

With such a popular event, lining up early is a must. It was lucky that we had a place in line 15 minutes before the doors even opened because by the time we had settled in, the crowd snaked around the room and down the block. It seems that, like our friend Carla below, there are many in Vancouver who crave a taste of home, whether that be memories of eastern European or more likely, a good prairie meal. 

Our group of eight, plus Rose (who we met in the lineup, recently retired and relocated from Alberta) agreed that the sausage could be better and a good polka band would liven up the joint.  But the perogies were delicious and as delicate as dumplings can be: we'll be back.

Tofino Pictures

A colleague put together this great slideshow, and I thought you might enjoy this too. Tofino's an amazingly gorgeous place. I've visited the area a number of times, including my honeymoon and as an Olympic torchbearer - so it's a place that also holds many wonderful memories for me. After seeing this slideshow, I can't wait to go back.

Happy Robbie Burns Day!

So on Saturday, Scott and I were at the butcher, picking up a few things for the week. Scott was ordering up the meat, and I was distracted in the other direction by the cool historical neighbourhood photos in on the other side of the shop (another story). When I heard a voice behind me saying, "and I'll take one of those little haggis there... "

So tonight it was time to cook up the meaty sphere. Soliciting advice from friends was unhelpful. "Bury it, pitch it, throw it out and drink scotch instead," was the overwhelming consensus on how to prepare this dish. We took the advice about the scotch and called Scott's mother instead (she might be of German-Canadian stock but married a Maritime Fraser so knows her way around a haggis). Her guess was the meat was already pretty well cooked, so Scott chose not to boil the poor beast but instead threw it in the oven to bake for a while.



Meanwhile, sides. Tatties and 'neeps, as Scott apparently now calls them, or potatoes and turnips. Mmm, root vegetables, the answer to many a northern famine. Anyway, we mashed both and dressed them up with plenty of butter and other yummy additions, plus a bit of broccoli to add a bit of greens to the plate.



Plus, Scott wore his kilt (which made him look cool and handsome).


Verdict? The haggis was actually really good - we finished every last morsel. Ground meat with good strong seasoning, combined with oatmeal which soaked up the flavourful fat - how can that be bad? I think haggis is a pretty reasonable idea that's got a bad rap for being unconventional. (As an aside, how it's any different from standard sausage - or even hotdog - is beyond me. Plus, nose-to-tail approach to meat preparation is an ethically sound one. And if you really want to worry me with upsetting variations of meat products, try the French first - Andouillette sausage remains the most difficult meal I have ever faced. Ever.)

Anyway, it looks set that Robbie Burns' night will become a tradition in our household - including the haggis but minus the poetry (Scott recited Jabberwocky in lieu of Burns' work - I don't know why.) Should anyone  be interested in partaking next year, you're cordially invited...

Retro Love

As some of you know, photography is one of my first-love hobbies. Despite my lack of technical and creative skills, I still find the moment when I capture a meaningful image to be incredibly rewarding (sometimes, it's just the image in my head that's captured - and that's a great memory to keep, too).

One of my favourite Christmas presents this year was from Scott, a departure from the digital age and a return to the 'analogue'... in the form of a small film camera modeled after a 1980s-soviet style camera, called the Diana Mini. This little camera fits in the palm of my hand and is slightly more advanced than a pinhole camera, but not by much. Cool, but quirky.

The point is that no picture is a bad picture - in fact, the effects produced from a plastic, light-leaking, overexposing, underwhelming camera can be more interesting and unexpected that those images from their high-tech cousins. Don't think, just shoot - that's the motto of Lomography fans.

Between Christmas and New Years, I shot off my first role of film and waited with anxious anticipation for the results. And? Some were good, others were bad. But the fun I've had with this little camera has renewed my interest in looking closer at everything around me, and finding the beauty in small things everywhere.