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RECIPE: Vegan Apple Rosemary Scones

Tue, 09 Feb 2010 11:27:05 -0800

Bring your lover to his/her knees with the intoxicating aroma of rosemary baked goodness

This recipe is from an excellent cookbook called Vegan Brunch by Isa Chandra Moskowitz.

Often used in perfumes, rosemary is an extremely aromatic herb used by women in medieval times to lure men and also to rekindle that lovin’ feeling. The smell of rosemary and cinnamon radiating from the oven will surely warm your hearts.

Vegan Apple Rosemary Scone

1 ¼ cups almond milk (or non-dairy milk of your choice)
2 tsp apple cider vinegar
3 cups flour
2 tbsp baking powder
½ tsp salt
½ cup vegan sugar (plus more for sprinkling)
¼ cup fresh rosemary, finely chopped
¼ tsp ground nutmeg
1 tsp ground cinnamon
½ cup non-hydrogenated vegetable shortening (we used Earth Balance and it worked fine)
2 tbsp canola oil
1 tsp vanilla extract
1 ½ cups diced apple

My vegan Valentine

More brunch recipes for the vegan (and vegan-curious) romantic >>

Preheat oven to 375° F. Lightly grease a baking sheet. Measure milk in a large measuring cup and add vinegar. Set aside to curdle.

Combine flour, baking powder, salt, sugar, rosemary, nutmeg and cinnamon in a large mixing bowl. Add the shortening in small clumps, then use your fingers or a pastry cutter to cut it into the flour until the dough texture becomes pebble-like.

Create a well in the centre and add the milk mixture, oil and vanilla. Mix with a wooden spoon until about half of the flour is incorporated. Mix again until all ingredients are just moistened, taking care not to over-mix. A couple dry spots are fine. Fold in apples.

Use a ¼ measuring cup to spoon mixture onto the baking sheet. Dust the tops with more sugar, then bake for 18–22 minutes, until tops are lightly browned and firm to the touch. Transfer scones to a cooling rack.

The Vegan Project’s Jessica Grajcyzk and Bridget Burns are passionate about health, the environment and the treatment of animals, and are learning about what it means to be vegan. Follow them on Twitter for daily updates including recipes, vegan Vancouver resources and more.

RECIPE: Vegan Asparagus Pesto Crepes

Tue, 09 Feb 2010 11:18:53 -0800

Aphrodisiac-stuffed vegan crepes for a romantic brunch at home

This recipe is literally stuffed with aphrodisiacs: the phallic symbolism of the asparagus, the alluring power of basil—once used by ancient Greeks to keep husbands faithful—and the pine nuts' libido-strengthening zinc.

Pesto

½ cup pine nuts
1 package fresh basil, stems removed
zest and juice of one lemon
2 cloves garlic
¼ cup olive oil
½ cup water
salt and pepper to taste

Crepes

½ cup soymilk
½ cup water
¼ cup Earth Balance, melted
2 tbsp agave
1 cup unbleached flour (or your flour of choice)
¼ tsp salt
1 bunch asparagus
olive oil, salt and pepper to taste

My vegan Valentine

More brunch recipes for the vegan (and vegan-curious) romantic >>

Combine pesto ingredients in a food processor or blender and blend until smooth. These measurements are suggested, so feel free to adjust anything to your preferred taste or consistency (we added water to make it easier to drizzle on top of the crepes). Set pesto mixture aside so the flavours can mingle.

Mix soymilk, water, melted Earth Balance, agave, flour and salt in a large bowl. Cover and chill in the fridge for 20 minutes.

While crepe batter is chilling, arrange asparagus in a single layer on a cookie sheet and sprinkle with olive oil, salt and pepper. Roast for 20 minutes at 375° F.

Pour about ¼ cup of chilled crepe batter into a lightly oiled frying pan over medium-low heat. Tilt the pan evenly to distribute the crepe in a thin, circular layer. Once it is lightly browned, carefully flip the crepe.

Place the crepe on a plate, fill with a few stalks of roasted asparagus, roll it up and drizzle pesto on top.

Repeat to your heart’s content (or until you run out of batter).

RECIPE: Strawberry Avocado Salad

Tue, 09 Feb 2010 10:59:35 -0800

The saucy avocado and the libidinous strawberry infuse this brunch salad with some serious sex appeal

This recipe is from InterCourses, An Aphrodisiac Cookbook by Martha Hopkins and Randall Lockridge. According to the book, Aztecs believed in the sexual powers of avocados so much, they forbade village maidens from coming outside when the fruits were being harvested. And of course red, heart-shaped strawberries have long been symbols of love and sensuality.

Dressing

My vegan Valentine

More brunch recipes for the vegan (and vegan-curious) romantic >>

1/4 cup olive oil
1/4 cup raspberry vinegar
1 1/2 tbsp vegan sugar
1/4 tsp hot sauce
1/4 tsp salt
1/8 tsp pepper
1/4 tsp cinnamon

Salad

1 head romaine, torn into bite-sized pieces
1 mandarin orange, peeled and sectioned
1 cup strawberries, stemmed and quartered
1/2 cup sliced red onion
1/4 cup toasted, coarsely chopped pecans
1/2 avocado, sliced

Combine dressing ingredients in a jar and shake until blended. Set aside so the flavours can mingle.

Combine the salad ingredients in a large bowl, add half the dressing and toss well. Serve with remaining dressing.

Beer with a taste of home

Mon, 18 Jan 2010 13:15:00 -0800

BC craft brewers turn to home-grown organic hops that reflect the local terroir

Matt Phillips plucks a bright green hops cone from the vine and peels back its sticky, paper-thin petals to reveal a set of tiny yellow lupulin glands. He rolls the tip of his thumbs across one of the pollen-like sacs, releasing a complex aroma that’s equal parts citrus, pine forest and cannabis, with just a hint of freshly brewed beer.

“These are Cascades,” he points out, noting that the pungent variety grows particularly well in BC’s southern coastal region and was developed in Yakima, Washington. The owner of Victoria-based Phillips Brewing Co. notes that hops are a close cousin of both marijuana and stinging nettles.

“The only thing they’re good for is making beer,” he says. “It would be a shame to do anything else with them.”

It’s a crisp fall morning on a Saanich Peninsula acreage about 20 kilometres north of Victoria and Phillips, with his assistant, Bill Stuart, and landowner Vic Davies, are hard at work harvesting a small but coveted crop of organically grown hops.

Matt Phillips (right) and Vic Davies
examine a hops cone.

One by one they tote plastic pails brimming with fragrant hops into Davies’s garage to dry on a series of large window screens. Once they’re dried, they’ll be vacuum-sealed and hauled back to Phillips’s brewery to add flavour to a batch of all-organic beer.

“Hopefully the beer we make from these will showcase some distinct Vancouver Island flavours,” Phillips says. “This gives us something more local, with more of a connection with the community where the beer is produced.”

BC's hops industry, then and now

Sixty years ago, the sight of workers harvesting hops in the fall was commonplace in BC, especially in the Fraser Valley, where as many as 4,000 seasonal labourers were needed to pick more than 1,600 acres that were under cultivation when the industry peaked in the late 1940s.

But today on the Saanich Peninsula, a dozen years after a prolonged price slump drove the province’s once-thriving hops industry to extinction, a fresh crop of locally grown hops is an exceedingly rare commodity.

Phillips is one of a growing number of BC microbrewers who, driven by record-high prices and unstable supplies in recent years, are seeking partnerships with local farmers to grow the essential beer-making herb on contract.

BC’s hops industry came to a crashing halt in 1996 with the last commercial harvest on the Lower Mainland. By then, the province’s major corporate-owned breweries were buying cheaper hops almost exclusively from Washington state’s rapidly expanding and heavily subsidized hops industry.

BC growers also suffered from disease and pest damage, the result of years of “mono-cropping” – planting single varieties over large areas using the same rootstock, a practice that weakens hops’ genetic resistance.

“You also had new high-potency varieties and higher yields per acre, so the major breweries didn’t need to use as much and less acreage was being planted,” Phillips explains.

But just as commercial hops farming in BC was dying, province’s emerging craft brewing sector created a new but undeveloped market for locally grown hops.

“When the craft brewing industry started, it was really hard to get hops at all because the big guys had them all,” Phillips says. “It forced a lot of us to get real creative about how we secure our supplies.”

The profit margin

When he founded Phillips Brewing Co. in 2001, Phillips considered the logistics of buying a piece of land and growing his own hops, but realized it would be too costly and complicated. However, as hops production shrank and stockpiles dwindled, prices began to rebound, culminating in a worldwide hops crisis in 2007, when dried, preserved hops were selling for upwards of $30 a pound.

Farmers took notice, and slowly local supplies began to reappear on the market. “We’re working with several growers on Vancouver Island and the mainland,” Phillips says. “Eventually we’d like to source all our hops locally.”

When Davies acquired his root cuttings last winter – from a friend on Salt Spring Island whose barn was overgrown with the plant – commercial production was the last thing on his mind. Last summer, with a healthy crop maturing on his vines, he read a story about Phillips’s struggle to find local sources of hops and decided to give the Victoria brewery a call.

“I thought ‘here’s a young guy; he’s got the fire in his belly and he’s working to go 100 per cent local, so I gave him a call,” Davies recalls.

Surveying the acre and a half of grapevines in front of his house, Davies estimates the same land could produce at least two thousand pounds of hops a season. With Phillips offering to pay $16 a pound, a bumper crop could fetch more than $30,000.

“That certainly makes it more profitable than growing grapes,” Davies says. “Next year, I’m hoping to triple the number of vines… and if I can triple that the year after that, we’ll have a nice sized crop.”

Supporters of the BC hops revival

Among the avid supporters of BC’s hops revival is Sean Hoyne, brewmaster at the Canoe Club, a waterfront brewpub and restaurant and a few blocks from the gleaming new Phillips bottling plant in Victoria. A hands-on craftsman who is constantly tinkering with his recipes, Hoyne is eager to forge relationships with local hops farmers who can offer a secure supply of less common varieties that have been scarce in recent years.

“Microbreweries need small quantities of a much wider variety of hops because we’re not adverse to experimentation,” says Hoyne, draining the spent mash from a stainless steel kettle of Winter Gale, an extra-strong seasonal ale with 8.5 per cent alcohol.

“We make beer for the flavour of it, not for the shareholders of the board of directors.”

Crash course in craft brewing

To illustrate the point, Hoyne pours samples of the pub’s three most popular beers and offers a crash course in the creative use of hops in craft brewing. The Red Canoe Lager, light in body and colour with bold hops overtones, is more reminiscent of a European pilsner than your average store-bought Canadian lager. It’s a distinct taste that relies on four different varieties of European hops – Saaz, Hersbrucker in the initial brewing stage, Noble and Spaltz for the finish – all of which are imported from Europe via brokers on the West Coast.

“I like to refer to it as depth of hop character, not just a way of adding bitterness,” Hoyne says. “It all about balancing the sweetness of the malt with the bitterness of the hops.”

The Siren Song Pale Ale is a darker and more subtle beer “bordering on the malty edge,” he says, with a “slight hops nose” provided by two British varieties, Goldings and Fuggles.

The River Rock Bitter, a classic English-style brew favoured by regulars from Victoria’ British ex-pat community, combines the complex nuttiness of a heavier ale with the clean bite of a standard lager, owing to the use of Challenger hops that have been used to make bitter in England for centuries.

Crannog Ales co-owner
Rebecca Kneen

The state of the hops industry

Hoyne looks forward to the day when he can buy all his specialty hops from local producers.

“When prices skyrocketed a couple of years ago, the availability of certain varieties disappeared completely for a while,” he says. “It’s only a matter of time before we rebuild the hops industry here locally. We’d like to buy local because there’s a much smaller carbon footprint.”

For the moment, most BC hops producers are hobbyists like Davies or small-scale farmers who have planted a few hundred vines on an experimental basis. But a handful, like Mission resident Rick Rindero, have decided the time is right to resume production on a larger scale.

Rindero, who has a day job with Fraser River Pile and Dredge, planted an acre and a half of hops on the “back half” of his parents’ farm in Lillooet in 2008. Encouraged by the enthusiastic response from microbrewers, he bought an additional 10 acres nearby and plans to convert the entire property to hops production.

Once the operation is up and running, he plans to quit his day job, move back home, and farm hops full-time. “A couple of years ago, a friend of mine happened to mention the world ‘shortage,’ and sort of became obsessed with it,” he says. “There used to be a big hops farm on the plateau in Lillooet. It was gone by the ’60s but some of the buildings are still there.”

However, large-scale hops farming is an ambitious undertaking that requires a hefty investment not just in land, but equipment and buildings as well. Since harvesting hops by hand is labour-intensive, Rindero has invested $30,000 in a mechanical harvester – one of only two in the province.

To ensure his crops are properly dried to prevent spoilage, Rindero is also planning to build what’s known as an “oast house,” patterned after the cone-shaped brick barns that have been used to cure hops in Europe for centuries.

And while many producers choose to sell whole hops, Rindero has also bought a “pelletizer” to chop and form his crop into compressed bricks that look like leaf-green hockey pucks. “I’m not going to say how much I spent on the pelletizer – too much,” he says, adding that he’s decided to go with full vacuum packing and sealing.

Rindero’s research also indicated that, despite growing demand from craft brewers, organic hops are in especially short supply in BC As a result, he’s planning to make the entire operation 100 per cent organic, right down to the all-natural untreated wood he’s bought for the trellises he’ll install on his new farm this winter.

This fall, Rindero spent dozens of hours calling microbrewers across the province and had little trouble finding buyers for his crop. “The response has been quite phenomenal,” he reports. “Everything I have this year is already sold.”

The obstacle in boosting local supply

Rindero’s hefty investment in processing and packaging equipment underlines one significant obstacle faced by brewers seeking more local supply.

Mike Kelly, owner of Nelson Brewing, an all-organic brewery in the Kootenays, says the number of people calling to offer him locally grown hops has increased in the last coupe of years. But his enthusiasm is always tempered by concerns about proper packaging and preservation. “We can get whole hops but they don’t last as long. We need them to be packaged to certain specifications,” he says.

Roots of the hops resurgence

The roots of BC’s hops-growing revival can be traced directly to Brian MacIsaac and Rebecca Kneen, owners of Crannog Ales in Sorrento. When they started their farm-based, all-organic brewery in 1999, Kneen recalls, “there were no organic hops produced anywhere in North America.”

Uncomfortable with the carbon footprint inherent in importing organic hops from New Zealand, the couple started growing their own hops in 2000.

Realizing there was little information available on organic hops production, they also co-wrote an instructional booklet called Small Scale Hops Growing Manual, which has become the unofficial bible for those who would follow in their footsteps.

In the ensuing nine years, Kneen (pictured at top) has been a one-person advocate for the local hops industry, supplying rootstock and acting as an advisor to most of the province’s new community of hops farmers. Crannog itself now has exclusive access to about 10 acres of locally grown organic hops – nine of which are being farmed on contract by new growers in the region. Local producers now supply about 80 per cent of Crannog’s hops, and Kneen estimates that 100 per cent self-sufficiency is two or three years away.

The idea is catching on across the country, she says: “What I’m seeing across Canada is where there are clusters of breweries there are clusters of hops growers to supply those breweries.”

The ecological impact

But for Kneen, local sourcing is less about the quality or the cost of the hops and more about environmental responsibility. “I wouldn’t say there’s any lesser or greater quality with organic hops. It’s more about the way the hops are grown,” she says. “The major difference is ecological. We shouldn’t have to import our hops from New Zealand.”

Gazing across the fertile fields (of the agricultural land reserve) south of his acreage, Vic Davies sees visions of the past in the future of hops farming on the Saanich Peninsula.

“Some of the first vines in BC were planted in this area,” he says. “We’re seeing the resurgence of a very old industry. It’d be nice to see a couple of coast houses out there someday.”

Sex: The final frontier

Thu, 07 Jan 2010 15:06:08 -0800

They've graduated from seedy storefronts, but why has the green revolution bypassed sex toys?

It's not very easy to track down good, green sex products. No really. Cruelly, though the delights and benefits of sex products are almost innumerable, the health and eco downsides of most are almost as many.

Vancouverites’ interest is ahead of the curve, according to Andrea Dobbs, retail manager of Vancouver sexual products retailer Womyn’s Ware. She notes that consumers interested in green sex products are the same ones who eat local and organic food, and use natural moisturizers. It’s about what they put into their bodies, she notes, and this city is a leader in such concerns.

It’s still very difficult to source good eco products, and she compares it to calling a distributor in search of fair trade, organic coffee and being encouraged to buy crack – they’re both stimulants, right? Most sex toys are still made overseas, she notes – for a dollar or so – out of toxic materials; they’re then distributed through a corporate chain, and sold for $150 at a store with windows covered in stickers and a display with blow-up dolls.

Happily, there are some tantalizing green sex product options available. And in Vancouver, there are sex shops outside of the red light district – in green tree districts, even – with windows, that sell local designs and products. Still, right now, sex toys are often a downer, and sex-positive often means green-negative.

One reason, when it comes to toys anyway, is that archaic laws in some American states make it illegal to create or sell anything whose primary use is the “stimulation of human genital organs” (as the law in Texas reads), but allow “novelty” items to be made and sold. Even in Canada, “novelty” items don’t need to be medically tested, and are often made of toxic materials. Eww.

What to do? “Avoid anything with a futuristic name, like phthalate,” says Dobbs. Phthalate – which makes plastic squishy and jelly-like – is banned in baby toys, or in anything for medical use, as it tends to make plastic break down and give off gas. Sexy. And, many lubes have artificial colours, flavours and scents, which contain toxins.

“If you’re going to be putting something into your body,” says Vera Zyla, the co-owner and sex educator at The Art of Loving, another retailer of sex products, “it’s a short little jump into your bloodstream . . . membranes are so soft and permeable.” The good news, she adds is that despite the lack of legislation, the industry is changing; fewer people are buying toxic products, and supply and demand is the most powerful turn-on to manufacturers and retailers.

Zyla says she has recently seen “huge growth” in requests from Vancouver shoppers for healthy materials, especially among people hoping to get pregnant. And she’s also seen a demand for more eco materials such as silicone toys, and organic lube.

However, there’s no such thing as LEED certification when it comes to sex toys, so Dobbs encourages people to zone in on their priorities – health, carbon use, packaging, and so on.

“And oh my god, are they ever over-packaged,” she says. “Like you see a small bottle of lube in a plastic bottle, that’s inside a big clamshell, which is in a plastic sleeve, then in a box wrapped in plastic. It takes you seven hours to get into the box,” she says, laughing. Perfect for those romantic moments.

Womyn’s Wear focuses on sourcing products that are locally designed and locally produced, to save on fuel. The store buys in bulk, and insists on no packaging. And Dobbs looks for motorized toys designed so that you can replace just the motor instead of the whole toy, if it breaks.

If “less is more” doesn’t entirely apply when it comes to green sex, at least it can with the products themselves.

Read Vanessa Richmond's past columns

Opening new doors at ShamaWood Fine Woodworking Studio

Mon, 04 Jan 2010 10:48:00 -0800

What does your door say about you?

After turning his back on a career with a tech giant, two weeks at a Byzantine monastery in his native Colombia inspired Arnim Rodeck to apply old, slow methods to woodworking.

Crafting doors in his Maple Bay ShamaWood Fine Woodworking studio, Rodeck considers himself a “storyteller on wood,” and he delights in bringing his customers’ lives and interests into each piece. One door, created for a boater, uses Douglas fir, red cedar and glass to form a map of the Gulf Islands and Vancouver Island.

“Most doors nowadays are boring,” Rodeck says. “They’re custom-made but give no idea of the people who live inside.”

During the six-to-eight-week production period, customers are invited into Rodeck’s studio to observe, and maybe even pick up a hand tool to add their own touch to the door. Rodeck sends weekly emails and compiles photographs and commentary throughout the process for a coffee table book for the customer.

Most customers provide their own recycled wood for their entryways, which cost between $2,000 and $10,000. But if a customer insists on new wood, Rodeck insists on using FSC-certified.

{+} info

ShamaWood Fine Woodworking

250-715-4030
www.shamawood.com

Get on the bus: Public transit in Metro Vancouver

Thu, 31 Dec 2009 17:11:00 -0800

Green index: Vancouver public transit by the numbers

Did you know that 61% of Vancouver transit riders do so by choice, not necessity?

Who takes public transit?

	Age 16-34: 45% 35-54: 33% 55+: 21%
	Gender Male: 51% Female: 49% Average age: 39
	Employed Full-time: 47% Part-time: 12% Not employed: 38%
	Household income Under $35,000: 21% $35,000 - $75,000: 26% More than $75,000: 26%
	Average passengers per day 1999: 615,068 2008: 827,397

Why do we take transit?

Prefer it over other forms of transportation

61%

Have no access to other means of transportation

38%

Who pays for our public transit?

Transit fare and ad revenue: 38%
Property tax: 28%
Fuel tax: 27%
Other (real estate, tolls, parking tax, interest income): 4%
Hydro levy: 2%
Canada Line: 1%

The commute: Mode of transportation to work (2006)

Automobile	Vancouver: 75% Toronto: 71%
Public transit	Vancouver: 17% Toronto: 22%
Walk	Vancouver: 6% Toronto: 5%
Bike	Vancouver: 2% Toronto: 1%
Other	Vancouver: 1% Toronto: 1%

Curbing that lawn obsession

Tue, 29 Dec 2009 15:28:00 -0800

Vancouver is slowly turning the tide on manicured turf, writes Granville columnist Allen Garr

We were once green with envy when we looked at our neighbours’ lush lawns. But now that more and more of us would rather grow it than mow it, that envy is turning to disdain.

Lyle Davies, Vancouver Councillor Andrea Reimer’s grandfather, was a man well ahead of his time. Just after the Second World War, Davies moved to the Marpole neighbourhood of Vancouver. One day when his wife was off at work, Davies ripped up his front lawn and planted potatoes. When his wife returned home she was surprised. The neighbours, though, were outraged and, according to a story that is still retold at family gatherings, a “delegation” piled onto his front porch to let him know it.

That neighbourhood anger was simply a sign of the times. Author Ted Steinberg lays it all out in American Green: The obsessive quest for the perfect lawn. North Americans, and particularly those living in new suburbs, had turned lawn maintenance into a kind of “moral crusade.” The point of salvation was reached when you had a thick, pampered expanse of grass that was uniform in its makeup, as close-cropped as a ’50s brush cut and, most importantly, weed-free.

Yet that cultural climate didn’t just blossom overnight; it was nurtured over hundreds of years. The principal influence was Britain, where rich folks lived in mansions surrounded by endless rolling swaths of lawn maintained by small armies of serfs armed with scythes. Wealthy Americans travelling abroad admired and then imported the foreign grass species that originated in Africa, Asia and Europe.

What Steinberg refers to as the “eventual democratization” of the lawn came in 1830. Gone were the slaves and serfs and scythes. Enter the lawn mower, again from Britain. First there was the push mower, then a machine that could be drawn by horses. It wasn’t until 1893 that a power mower was introduced, fuelled by either gas or kerosene.

And all that foreign grass needed water – lots of water. The lawn mower was followed by the sprinkler in 1871, which spread in use as communities developed central water systems.

Those new subdivisions with their abundant lawns led to a new industry known as “lawn care,” and one essential element in that care was pesticides, which apparently owed their origins to chemical warfare products developed during the Second World War.

Homeowners got hooked. In the year 2000 the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service observed that homeowners use up to 10 times more chemical pesticides per acre on their lawns than farmers use on crops. Meanwhile push mowers were replaced by gas mowers, trimmers, and leaf blowers, and that obsessive quest is today a serious threat to the planet. No, just because it’s small doesn’t make it innocuous: running a power mower for one hour is the pollution equivalent of driving a car 1,050 kilometres.

The passion for lawns has begun to fade recently, but judging from the teams of two-stroke terrorists who regularly invade my neighbourhood to cut and trim and blow my neighbours’ lawns, that fade is slow.

In 1994 the City of Vancouver launched its Green Streets Program, which encourages folks to replace boulevard lawns with gardens. In 2005 the city followed other municipalities in the region and passed a bylaw banning the use of cosmetic pesticides. And last spring Vancouver’s mayor Gregor Robertson allowed a large chunk of the city hall lawn to be torn up so vegetables could be grown. There are even some potatoes. And no delegations turned up on his porch to complain.

Allen Garr is a Vancouver journalist with a passion for birding and beekeeping. Read his past columns here >>

Fashionable art: Kulus Designs

Tue, 22 Dec 2009 10:38:00 -0800

Kulus Design's fashion-forward blouses emblazoned with aboriginal artwork bring myth to the modern day

There’s a legend in the Kwagulth culture that Kulus, a mythological bird, emerged from the flood and lifted the logs used to build the first big house, says Amanda Anderson of Vancouver’s Kulus Designs, describing her family crest and company namesake.

“I’ve seen native art on a daily basis for my whole life,” says Anderson, who grew up in Victoria watching her mother create regalia—blankets bedecked with buttons and aprons—used in traditional potlatch ceremonies.

As a teenager, she fell in love with fashion and did a stint in Montreal working in fashion production. When she came back to the West Coast and was once again exposed to the beauty of aboriginal artwork, she “really wanted to blend those two worlds,” and Kulus Designs was created.

Emulating one of the latest trends in fashion—future imperfect (and harem pants!)—Anderson takes classic designs and exaggerates an element. Case in point: the voluminous sleeves on the Seagull dress. Deep blue, red and black tones embody tradition, and the fabrics are a modern blend of organic cotton and bamboo.

[+] info:

Kulus Designs

Available at
Dream and Shop Cocoon
in Vancouver

www.kulusdesigns.com

The stunning aboriginal designs are the work of Anderson’s stepfather, master carver John Livingstone, and her cousin Rande Cook.

Anderson’s goal is as much education as fashion; each hangtag tells the piece’s story, such as how the butterfly that bedecks a blouse helped guide the Kwagulth people back to dry land after the flood.

Hangover chandeliers

Tue, 22 Dec 2009 10:08:32 -0800

The Dram chandelier by Propellor Design is made of recycled tumblers and glasses

Memories of steamy nights, rowdy parties, hangover cocktails – who could imagine the scenes witnessed by 120 recycled tumblers and glasses? But in this sculptural reincarnation, the Dram chandelier by Propellor Design, each glass has been given a new function: to bend, reflect and colour light.

Propellor partner Toby Barratt explains: “I’m a thrift store nut. I’d see this beautiful glass from the ’60s and ’70s in ones and twos, and I just started buying them.”

{+} info

Propellor Design

604-682-6665
www.propellor.ca

The chandeliers can be custom-made and are limited only by the colours of glass available from times passed. The team has made the Dram chandelier in greens and blues, ambers and reds, and clear and white combinations. Prices start at around $3,400 for a 22-inch-diameter chandelier. The 36-inch-diameter piece (shown) goes for $6,100.

Transit: Bring it on!

Mon, 14 Dec 2009 16:08:41 -0800

L.A. proves that success depends as much on attitude as infrastructure

Los Angeles, like Vancouver, has loudly proclaimed its aspiration to become one of the greenest cities on the planet. Having just visited that city, I learned firsthand how the best intentions for sustainability can be scuttled by systemic problems, though I am more optimistic than ever that Vancouver will live up to its dream.

The difference in what’s possible doesn’t just come down to mass transit and sustainable planning; it’s also about attitude.

I couldn’t help feeling a little smug seeing L.A.’s transportation catastrophe at the street level. The place has been called 72 suburbs in search of a city; it’s synonymous with urban sprawl. Amid the endless eight-lane freeways and choking traffic, public transportation is a depressing sideshow. Ask which is the best bus to take to LAX, and you get looks as though you’ve just sprouted antennae.

The riders who roast in the heat at bus stops all seem to confirm the stereotype of transit as the “loser cruiser.” Average household income of bus riders is around $12,000, while rail riders earn about $22,000 a year. The buses never seem particularly full. Rail is a bit better, but as in most American cities, those who can most easily afford tickets don’t buy them.

L.A.’s leaders are trying to make their city more sustainable, even if it won’t be enough. L.A. Mayor Antonio Villaraigosa wants to cut his city’s greenhouse gases to 35 percent below 1990 levels by 2030 and make L.A. the “cleanest and greenest city in the country.”

The city is building eight rail projects, and has already doubled the number of bus routes. New electric train and lower-emission natural gas buses will be added to the fleet.

L.A. County’s Metropolitan Transportation Authority (MTA) does claim average weekday boardings of nearly 1.4 million, which puts L.A. in competition with New York and Chicago for the most public transportation riders of any city in the country. But that’s only because the L.A. is one of the country’s most populous cities, with over 10 million people. As a percentage of total trips, transit accounts for only around two per cent of daily travel in L. A., and that percentage has been declining for decades. In comparison, Vancouverites get around on transit 17 percent of the time (30 percent downtown). Traffic congestion in L.A. remains the worst in the country.

Sorry, Angelinos, it’s not looking good for you no matter what you do. Sure, L.A. might actually make some progress in boosting public transit to lower greenhouse gas emissions, but only because it’s starting from almost zero. Real progress will be constrained by L.A.’s network of freeways and its runaway urban sprawl.

But more important than infrastructure, it’s attitude that really determines what’s possible. Angelinos show their disdain for public transit by not using it; as I mentioned earlier, per capita ridership is actually falling, even as the city invests billions in new mass transit options.

In contrast, Vancouver just needs to build capacity fast enough to meet demand. Witness the masses waiting at Broadway and Commercial as full buses go by on a rainy weekday morning.

Since the Canada Line opened, I’ve hopped on many times and noted the full cars – in its first week, ridership was 85,000 a day, not too short of its the goal of 100,000. As Vancouver’s manager of strategic transportation planning Lon LaClaire put it, Vancouverites don’t just use transit more to get to work, but we’re also happier to use it for personal trips: “There’s just not the same stigma here.”

That’s part of why Vancouver’s goal to be the greenest city seems not so much pie-in-the-sky as simply practical. We will build more capacity into the transportation system we’ve developed. We’ll accommodate growth around where we’ve already built it. And we can expect people to actually use transit and alternative forms of transportation. We’re already on the road to get there.

Jonathon Narvey is a Vancouver writer and principal of WRITEIMAGE.
Read his past columns and his Granville Online blog.

Unique, locally sourced gift ideas

Mon, 14 Dec 2009 14:10:00 -0800

No lumps of coal here! Spread holiday cheer with our guide to local gifts that delight, indulge and inspire

	Gifts for her From accessories to home decor, a wide range of Vancouver-sourced gifts she'll love.
	Gifts for him Gift ideas for the hubby, Dad, lil' bro and other guys on your "Nice" list this year.
	Gifts for the oenophile Top BC wine picks to excite the palates of your very favourite wine lovers.
	Gifts for the fashionista Delight the style maven in your life with beautiful wares from local ecofashion talents.
	Gifts for the hard-to-shop-for No more head scratching! Gift ideas to please the ones who have you stumped.
	Gifts for your lover Jingle your honey's jangle with gifts for the boudoir.
	Gifts for your chef Great culinary gift ideas for the hobby chef on your list to feast on.
	Gifts for the bookworm From the locaphile to the bleeding heart, pages that will keep them turning.
	Gifts that are safe for the baby Safe, non-toxic toys for the precious little ones on your list.
	Guiltless gift wrap Gift wrap ideas that get points for presentation and eco-consciousness.

Red by Michael Nicoll Yahgulanaas

Mon, 14 Dec 2009 08:41:02 -0800

An innovative, striking twist on the traditional Haida narrative, Red is the tale of an orphaned Haida leader determined to exact revenge on his sister’s captors at any cost. Set in B.C.’s northwest islands, the story invites comparisons to classic tragedies such as Oedipus Rex and King Lear. The book includes 108 hand-painted colour plates that combine Haida designs with the modern, stylistic features of Japanese manga.

Graphic novel: Douglas & McIntyre, 2009. $28.95

'Climate Cover-Up' by James Hoggan with Richard Littlemore

Mon, 14 Dec 2009 08:20:13 -0800

Climate Cover-Up: The Crusade to Deny Global Warming

Two Vancouver public relations professionals take a hard look at the role PR has played in stirring up doubt and piling on controversy in the climate change debate and how the mainstream media have responded to the onslaught. The writers, who also collaborate on www.desmogblog.com, hope to end the debate by exposing cases of public manipulation and private-interest deceit.

Greystone Books, 2009, $20

Play-mats

Sun, 13 Dec 2009 14:46:16 -0800

These playful placemats are sure to be a conversation starter

Shun the formal dining room and plan a playful affair by serving up a feast on these creative Hug placemats, made by Josh Jakus. The California native, known for his eponymous collection of items crafted from excess industrial wool felt, such as the Eggflat and Winepocket, has branched out with a collection under the Fuz banner: fun table toppers fashioned from recycled rubber or 100-per-cent-wool felt.

Hug placemats let you play while you set the table: just pop out the built-in napkin ring (shaped as a boy or girl) and let it “embrace” a serviette.

These simply made accessories (think industrial-size cookie cutter) – manufactured in small batches in the U.S. – are sure to be a conversation starter. And they make setting the table “boy-girl-boy-girl” fashionably foolproof.

Cast-off leather reimagined by Ora Bags

Thu, 10 Dec 2009 12:58:00 -0800

Fashion design and storytelling are woven together in purses from rescued and re-imagined leather cast-offs

You can’t look at a purple leather jacket with wide lapels without wondering who wore that once-edgy design back in 1982, says Randi Obenauer, designer and owner of Ora Bags.

“When I see unique pieces, it’s important for me to imagine the character of the person.”

The thrill of the treasure hunt—finding leather cast-offs like skirts and jackets—and the obsession with quality craftsmanship and detailing, have helped launch the rising star into the limelight.

A fine arts grad from Thompson Rivers University, Obenauer says that as an artist, her first love is fabric, but quality and construction are critical, too. A stint getting a certificate in automotive upholstery and industrial sewing gave her the craftsmanship skills to turn recycled leather into luxe purses.

[+] info:

Ora Bags

available at Nouvelle Nouvelle,
Eugene Choo and El Kartel in Vancouver.
www.oraearth.com

At last count, Obenauer had hand-made her 180th one-of-a-kind recycled leather purse.

“Every one is different. I’m never going to find that jacket again. That’s important to me,” she says, noting that she’s “itching” to reach the milestone of having made 200 bags.

And then what? Obenauer, who describes herself as passionate about shopping vintage and using fabric as a medium, is looking forward to creating her own line of clothing under a different label later down the road.

But first up is the launch of her latest collection: a recycled leather bagpack-style bag retaining the pockets and zippers of rescued skirts and pants.

A place to call home

Wed, 09 Dec 2009 16:11:00 -0800

Is affordable shelter going the way of the phone booth?

The disappearance of phone booths inspired designers Nathan Lee and Trevor Coghill of Contexture Design to create Home Phone, a conceptual piece meant to stimulate discussions about access to our basic needs. After public exhibits, Home Phone now resides at the Contexture Design studio, visited by appointment only.

MORE: What does homelessness look like?

Meet the designers of Home Phone and see photos.

Infant massage relaxes baby naturally

Wed, 09 Dec 2009 12:09:26 -0800

Infant massage is an easy way to relax baby while improving health and nurturing the bond between you

Lately I have been giving my son massages after his bath. He absolutely loves it.

Massage is a nice way to get him ready for bed, and it is said to help babies sleep better, too. It also stimulates brain development and sensory awareness.

Instead of following a prescribed approach, I use my instincts to guide me through the infant massage. I use a light pressure and let the baby tell me what he likes with his body language.

Infant massage support

If you aren't comfortable trying infant massage alone, there are classes and support available.

Check these websites for group and personal classes and information:
www.vancouverinfantmassage.com
www.neomama.com
www.fit4two.ca
www.myfirstmassage.com

Using organic olive oil, which is a great moisturizer for baby’s sensitive skin, I start with his belly, gently rubbing in a circular motion and massaging his digestive organs. The massage can help relieve discomfort from constipation, gas and colic.

I then move to his legs. I think this is his favourite. I massage his thighs and calves and then his feet and he points his little toes as I run my hands down his legs. This massage helps normalize his muscle tone and improve his blood circulation. I do the same for his arms and hands. I then lay him on his side to do his back.

Whenever I give him his massage, Rhame goes into a kind of trance, gazing up at me with a little smile on his face; he really starts to relax. I really feel that we are connecting and bonding in a loving and nurturing way.

It also gives me some time to look over his body for any little injuries that I may not have noticed and make sure he is in good shape.

It has become a special quiet time for us and I am happy that I can help him feel good and relaxed.

Check out this quick video showing how easy infant massage is to administer and how calm it makes baby (by Jake Krohn via Flickr):

Meet Sam Whittingham

Tue, 08 Dec 2009 14:36:13 -0800

Who'd have thought the world's fastest human lives right here in BC?

Most days, Sam Whittingham is hard at work, quietly turning out handmade bikes at his Naked Bicycles and Design workshop on Quadra Island. But once a year he travels to the U.S. to test the limits of human propulsion on a custom-built speed bike. This year he set the world record at 82.4 miles per hour in Battle Mountain, Nevada, narrowly eclipsing his own record of 82.3 mph, set the previous year.

It’s not the thrill of speed that motivates the 37-year-old self-professed bike nut, but the freedom of flight. “I’m not a big speed junkie,” he confesses. “I’ve always wanted to fly, and I find that riding these things is even more like flying than being in an airplane because I’m doing it myself . . . . It’s a feeling of freedom.”

Raised on Quadra Island, Whittingham left his Island paradise at the age of 18 to study engineering at UVic (“I always wanted do make things,” he says), but ended up in set design, and worked in live theatre for several years. He started building bikes in his Victoria garage in the late ’90s, and when the opportunity to move back to Quadra arose five years ago, he jumped at the chance.

Today, with his partner Andrea Blaseckie and one part-time assistant, he turns out about 60 to 70 one-of-a-kind bikes a year, averaging around $4,000 to $5,000 apiece.

Apart from the ecstasy of near weightlessness as he whizzes down the road at 80-plus miles an hour in a custom-built, kevlar-wrapped recumbent bike, speed cycling has a certain intellectual appeal. “I love the simplicity of bikes,” he explains. “When you contrast it to the automobile, to basically do the same thing – OK, maybe a little faster, and carry a little more – how did we go from 20 pounds to 2,000 pounds? It just doesn’t make sense.”

And after flying down a stretch of highway at speeds that would merit a ticket in any province in Canada, how does Whittingham feel about cycling in Vancouver?

“It scares the hell out of me!” he admits readily.

Sustainability Television

Tue, 08 Dec 2009 14:36:00 -0800

An online digital broadcaster and distributor based in Vancouver, Sustainability Television is committed to providing citizen-powered media. It features professional-quality HD videos that promote awareness of health and the environment. Members submit their own content and engage in online discussions.

How to pair a rich local Viognier

Tue, 08 Dec 2009 13:45:00 -0800

La Frenz's Viognier: A fresh, fruity offering from the heart of the Okanagan Valley

Located on the Naramata Bench in the heart of the Okanagan Valley, the La Frenz winery is known for producing exceptional wines, says Kevin Van Hullebush, sommelier at Vancouver’s DB Bistro Moderne.

He recommends La Frenz’s Viognier, a rare grape variety that is well suited to the Naramata Bench. Van Hullebush describes the wine’s rich body as “clean and weightless on the palette,” adding that the intensity of stone fruits, peach, nectarine, and at times even candy pineapple, is derived directly from the grape’s characteristics. He suggests pairing it with roasted game birds or rich, oily seafoods, like scallops or sablefish.

To hell with hockey - I'm going for the beer!

Thu, 03 Dec 2009 12:24:00 -0800

Vancouver is throwing the party of the decade, and everyone’s invited. Best of all, a lot of it is free

I don't know about you, but I probably won’t be attending any Olympics sporting events.

Sure, I’d love to see “amateurs” like the Sedin twins and their Swedish teammates Henrik Zetterberg and Daniel Alfredsson face off against Canada’s own Sidney Crosby and Jarome Iginla.

But I didn’t win the ticket lottery. (I guess it’s true what they say—you can’t win if you don’t play.) And I’m not holding my breath for the speculation bubble to burst: as of press time, Craigslist scalpers were still demanding $2,500 a ticket for hockey gold.

Even if, like me (and 83 percent of BC residents, according to a September Innovative Research Group survey), you’re likely to pass on the whole sports thing, that’s no excuse for letting those 17 days in February pass you by. The fact is, Vancouver is throwing the party of the decade; everyone’s invited, and best of all, a lot of it is free.

When else are you going to have a chance to catch acts like Akhe, the Russian experimental theatre group, whose White Cabin promises “countless absurd, inspired, bizarre and often touching ‘events’”? I have no idea what that means, but I’m willing to bet the $30 admission price that it beats sitting on the couch.

If you’d rather get intimate with your own city, 20 bucks will book you a tour with The Miss Guides, an outfit billing itself as “a cultural walking collective.” In its capable hands, you’ll be led on “a one-hour walking tour focusing on the historical and present-day roles of drinking establishments in the city’s psyche.” The best part? Said examination of drinking’s effect on the psyche includes first-hand research.

If you’re a true connoisseur of interactive live theatre involving drinking, you can’t miss The Candahar on Granville Island. Billed as “part sculpture, part theatrical stage,” it’s a meticulously re-created Irish pub, with improv actors manning a functioning bar. That’s one examination of drinking’s effects on the psyche that I won’t want to miss.

OK, so drinking as a form of artistic expression isn’t for everybody. If you prefer, you can get down to some good old-fashioned partying at any of the dozens of national “houses” sprinkled around the city and environs. (Holland’s Heineken House at the Richmond end of the Canada Line promises to be a particularly hot draw.)

This is just a smattering from among the hundreds of once-in-a-lifetime performances, exhibits and events that you’re not likely to find listed in the officially sanctioned press releases. But thanks to this, Granville’s special-edition secret insider guide to the Olympics, you won’t miss out on the fun.

Opinions, questions, story suggestions?

Please email me.

Eastside arts hub takes shape

Wed, 02 Dec 2009 08:53:00 -0800

Woodward’s art space comes to life as a vibrant hub for both media and arts

The first things to hit you when you open the door of W2 in the new Woodward’s complex will be a whirl of people and the smell of espresso. Then you’ll notice the walls, stretching 34 feet up, with huge video art installations over the atrium’s open stairwell.

W2 Community Media Arts, expected to open just in time for the Olympics, will be home to a collection of arts and media organizations. Its resources and expertise will be available to area residents, students and non-profit groups, and amenities will include a performance venue, a TV studio, a public reading room, multi-purpose community rooms, a digital-media lab, art studios, and creative-technology incubators designed to support developing artists.

During the Games, W2’s True North Media House will be a social-media hub, supporting up to 800 bloggers. And the café, a social-enterprise business with support from Salt Spring Coffee, is expected to be a major draw for artists and non-artists alike.

W2 expects some revenue from the café, and will share some equipment with fellow Woodward’s tenant the SFU School for the Contemporary Arts, thanks to a $1-million grant from Western Economic Diversification Canada. W2 executive director Irwin Oostindie says remaining funding is uncertain, but a bulk of it will come from W2’s many member organizations.

Martin Gotfrit, director of the SFU School for the Contemporary Arts, says the Woodward’s development “will be transformative in the city,” explaining that the cluster of arts venues will provide access to cultural events and opportunities that weren’t available before.

Olympic festivities: The puck drops here

Tue, 01 Dec 2009 13:15:00 -0800

Just how much do you want to watch Olympic hockey with Trevor Linden?

OK, enough of this democratic party-of-the people stuff. You can thumb your noses at the shivering masses by shelling out $8,500 for a 17-day pass to Molson Canadian Hockey House, the 81,000-square-foot hospitality pavilion for Hockey Canada and the International Ice Hockey Federation.

Every Olympic hockey match will be simulcast on giant HD screens, and the select few will enjoy aged steaks from the on-site kitchen and lots and lots of Molson Canadian, all while rubbing elbows with hockey legends including Molson Canadian Hockey House Ambassadors Trevor Linden and Stan Smyl.

When the final siren brings the day’s Games to a close, the sausage fest continues with a live stage featuring performances by top Canadian artists such as comedian Sean Cullen and the Barenaked Ladies, among others.

Insider guide to the 2010 Winter Games

What to do in and around Vancouver during the party of the century

Daily events coverage, city secrets, athlete profiles and TV picks

For information on Molson Canadian Hockey House, including schedules of televised games, menus, entertainment lineups, and tickets, visit www.molsoncanadianhockeyhouse.com.

Olympic festivities: Victory is yours

Tue, 01 Dec 2009 13:10:00 -0800

Maybe you can't afford tickets to any Olympic sporting events, but a mere $22 buys you entry at one of the nightly victory ceremonies around Vancouver

As that day’s victorious teenaged athletes take to the podiums of B.C. Place, and live via satellite from Whistler’s Olympic Celebration Plaza to tearfully receive their medals (to the strains of the Vancouver Symphony Orchestra’s rendition of their national anthems), even the most virulent anti-Olympic protester would find it difficult not to be overrun by a genuine outpouring of sympathetic pride followed by, yes, self-loathing: while these athletes were pushing physical prowess to its limits, what did you do all day but watch daytime talk shows? Hell, you almost didn’t get your ever-expanding butt off the couch to catch the SkyTrain down here tonight.

But these athletic paragons have spun around on the ice better than anyone else, swooshed down a hill faster than anyone else, and have given up most of their childhood to do so. Their entire lives have led up to this moment, and here you are privileged enough to witness it.

Insider guide to the 2010 Winter Games

What to do in and around Vancouver during the party of the century

Daily events coverage, city secrets, athlete profiles and TV picks

As you trudge back home, the cold, bitter rain of a Vancouver winter drumming its syncopated rhythm on your head, that little voice you’ve come to count on inside your head brings a devilish smile to your moistened lips. Your future may be a bleak and barren wasteland, but you’re used to the ache of unfulfilled desire. For you, life may always be an uphill battle.

But, for all their noble sacrifices, those kids have peaked and it’s all downhill for them from now on.

For more information on the Victory Ceremonies, visit www.vancouver2010.com.

Olympic festivities: Cultural Olympiad

Tue, 01 Dec 2009 13:05:00 -0800

With arts and culture funding cuts looming, the Cultural Olympiad offers Vancouver audiences a last supper of events to feast on

By presenting hundreds of concerts and performances from January 22 to March 21, the Vancouver 2010 Cultural Olympiad will serve B.C.’s arts community its proverbial last supper before the looming post-Games cultural funding famine takes effect.

Positively dripping in Tim Hortons-style populist patriotism, the lineup ostensibly offers something for everyone, but the big-ticket events seems heavily weighted toward enthusiasts of twangy guitar solos (an all-star tribute to Neil Young and an outdoor concert by Canadian country-rockers Blue Rodeo are at the top of the roster so far).

Insider guide to the 2010 Winter Games

What to do in and around Vancouver during the party of the century

Daily events coverage, city secrets, athlete profiles and TV picks

Prior to the Games, one Vancouver 2010 Cultural Olympiad-sponsored production might help to calm the disgruntled and steel them against their impotent Olympic rage.

Berlin-based avant-garde theatre troupe Rimini Protokol will début a made-to-measure multimedia experience for 200 participants in The Cultch’s newly renovated facilities.

An interactive “theatrical documentary,” the tentatively entitled "Best Before" recreates a virtual Vancouver, wherein “citizens” will vote with wireless joysticks on a series of initiatives – including a revisiting of the February 22, 2003 Olympic referendum.

"Best Before" runs January 29 to February 6 at The Cultch (1895 Venables Street).

For detailed listings of Vancouver 2010 Cultural Olympiad events, visit www.vancouver2010.com.

Olympic festivities: The art part

Tue, 01 Dec 2009 13:03:00 -0800

Vancouver City Hall spearheads massive public art project

From the uproar over the rusting hulk of French sculptor Bernar Venet’s 217.5 Arcs X 13 (popularly referred to as the “whale carcass”) at English Bay and Sunset Beach, to a group of Coal Harbour residents successfully lobbying to uproot Dennis Oppenheim’s Device To Root Out Evil from their million-dollar views, public art in Vancouver has always been a lightning rod for controversy.

Perhaps hoping that Olympic goodwill will soften the hard-hearted and real estate speculators alike, City Hall is investing in a massive public art project that will encompass temporary installations as well as works on permanent display across the city.

Insider guide to the 2010 Winter Games

What to do in and around Vancouver during the party of the century

Daily events coverage, city secrets, athlete profiles and TV picks

In what may well end up the only evidence of traditional winter weather at the Games, German artist Gunda Förster will sheath city hall in reflective, shimmering ice.

Meanwhile, a roving information kiosk, Vancouver Vancouver Vancouver, by Emily Carr graduate Vanessa Kwan, will ask passers-by to interact with the cityscape thanks to cut-outs in touristy postcards.

Fiona Bowie’s Surface will use a camera mounted under the Granville Island Aquabus to transmit live underwater images onto the boat’s canopy and onto screens around False Creek and on the internet.

And, in what might be the most interesting commission from an impending public outrage point of view, Myfanwy Macleod’s first public sculpture tackles the thorny issue of how “the beauty of birds can sometimes mask their threat to biodiversity” and takes pride of place in Southeast False Creek’s Olympic Plaza, just a few metres as the crow flies from the Olympic Village’s man-made island bird sanctuary.

For a complete list of public art unveilings and accompanying map, visit www.vancouver.ca.

Olympic festivities: Free transit

Tue, 01 Dec 2009 13:01:00 -0800

Belgian trolleys to service Vancouver

In what can only be described as a very public thumb of the nose to TransLink’s continuing fossil-fuel-dependent transit schemes for Metro Vancouver, the City of Vancouver and Bombardier Transportation have teamed up to offer free public transit between Canada Line’s Olympic Village stop and Granville Island during the 60-day period marking the Olympic and Paralympic Games.

Insider guide to the 2010 Winter Games

What to do in and around Vancouver during the party of the century

Daily events coverage, city secrets, athlete profiles and TV picks

In remembrance of when trolleys were king in Vancouver – a service ultimately undone in the late 1950s by various diesel-powered business interests – the Olympic Line will run two modern streetcars on loan from Brussels, Belgium, along 1.8 km of refurbished historic railway track, raising awareness of the city’s intention to replace much of TransLink’s downtown bus fleet with a more sustainable mode of transportation for under-serviced neighbourhoods.

Olympic festivities: Winter in the city

Tue, 01 Dec 2009 12:56:00 -0800

When in doubt, head downtown... Take in the Games at Canada's $10 million Olympic Pavilion

An effortless 25-minute ride away at the Vancouver end, the City of Vancouver is hosting events at two downtown locations. LiveCity Yaletown Mainstage in David Lam Park will play host to the February 11 torch-welcoming ceremonies as well as a raft of daily live performances by Canadian and international artists. And for those who didn’t score tickets to live events, giant TV screens at this family-friendly (read: alcohol-free) site will show daily highlights.

Temporarily pedestrianized, Hamilton and Mainland streets will connect LiveCity Yaletown to LiveCity Downtown where the bus depot at West Georgia and Beatty streets will be transformed into Canada’s $10 million-dollar Olympic Pavilion. Giant TV screens will carry live coverage of Olympics events. Beer and wine will be on tap, and visitors can chow down on local fare at The Canada Pavilion.

Insider guide to the 2010 Winter Games

What to do in and around Vancouver during the party of the century

Daily events coverage, city secrets, athlete profiles and TV picks

Admission to both sites is free, but be forewarned: entrances will feature airport-type security.

For more information on LiveCity, visit www.vancouver.ca.

Olympic festivities: Partying in Richmond

Tue, 01 Dec 2009 12:55:00 -0800

Richmond pulls out all the stops in vying for honours as Party Central

The City of Richmond has pulled out all the stops to outdo its big sister north of the Fraser in vying for honours as party central. A vast swath of real estate stretching from city hall to Minorou Park – and a few minutes’ walk from Canada Line’s Brighouse Station – will be converted to a giant indoor-outdoor mall.

The O Zone

With the ironically eco-unfriendly moniker the “O Zone,” the Richmond party will feature the “Ice Gate,” a monumental ice-art installation by B.C.-based artist Gordon Halloran; the “Ice Zone,” a 35-square-metre outdoor ice rink with disco-style interactive light displays; and multicultural events ranging from a bring-your-own-drum World Beat Night to a Pan-Northern celebration of indigenous Arctic cultures.

The O Zone’s main stage will host a bevy of Canadian bands, including hot young acts Bedouin Soundclash, Tokyo Police Club and Wintersleep. Wannabe athletes can try their hand at virtual winter sports at the B.C. Lottery Corp.’s Winter Games Dome, a virtual igloo housing equally virtual games of hockey, skiing and sleighing.

Insider guide to the 2010 Winter Games

What to do in and around Vancouver during the party of the century

Daily events coverage, city secrets, athlete profiles and TV picks

Holland Heineken House

Anchoring the Richmond party will be Holland Heineken House, serving as home away from home for visiting Dutch athletes and fans. The main hall will serve double duty as a venue for celebrating successful Dutch athletes, and a nightclub capable of hosting 4,000 partygoers. Food will be on hand, ranging from quick snacks to full meals at the Lodge restaurant – all washed down with fresh, cold Heineken draft beer.

Entry to the O Zone is free, though those holding Dutch passports will move to the head of the line at Heineken House.

For more information, visit www.richmondozone.ca.

Granville RSS Feed

RECIPE: Vegan Apple Rosemary Scones

Bring your lover to his/her knees with the intoxicating aroma of rosemary baked goodness

Vegan Apple Rosemary Scone

My vegan Valentine

RECIPE: Vegan Asparagus Pesto Crepes

Aphrodisiac-stuffed vegan crepes for a romantic brunch at home

Pesto

Crepes

My vegan Valentine

RECIPE: Strawberry Avocado Salad

The saucy avocado and the libidinous strawberry infuse this brunch salad with some serious sex appeal

Dressing

My vegan Valentine

Salad

Beer with a taste of home

BC craft brewers turn to home-grown organic hops that reflect the local terroir

BC's hops industry, then and now

The profit margin

Supporters of the BC hops revival

Crash course in craft brewing

The state of the hops industry

The obstacle in boosting local supply

Roots of the hops resurgence

The ecological impact

Sex: The final frontier

They've graduated from seedy storefronts, but why has the green revolution bypassed sex toys?

Opening new doors at ShamaWood Fine Woodworking Studio

What does your door say about you?

{+} info

ShamaWood Fine Woodworking

Get on the bus: Public transit in Metro Vancouver

Green index: Vancouver public transit by the numbers

Did you know that 61% of Vancouver transit riders do so by choice, not necessity?

Who takes public transit?

Age

16-34: 45% 35-54: 33% 55+: 21%

Gender

Male: 51% Female: 49% Average age: 39

Employed

Full-time: 47% Part-time: 12% Not employed: 38%

Household income

Under $35,000: 21% $35,000 - $75,000: 26% More than $75,000: 26%

Average passengers per day

1999: 615,068 2008: 827,397

Why do we take transit?

Prefer it over other forms of transportation

Have no access to other means of transportation

Who pays for our public transit?

Transit fare and ad revenue: 38% Property tax: 28% Fuel tax: 27% Other (real estate, tolls, parking tax, interest income): 4% Hydro levy: 2% Canada Line: 1%

The commute: Mode of transportation to work (2006)

Automobile

Public transit

Walk

Bike

Other

Curbing that lawn obsession

Vancouver is slowly turning the tide on manicured turf, writes Granville columnist Allen Garr

Fashionable art: Kulus Designs

Kulus Design's fashion-forward blouses emblazoned with aboriginal artwork bring myth to the modern day

[+] info:

Kulus Designs

Hangover chandeliers

The Dram chandelier by Propellor Design is made of recycled tumblers and glasses

{+} info

Propellor Design

Transit: Bring it on!

L.A. proves that success depends as much on attitude as infrastructure

Unique, locally sourced gift ideas

No lumps of coal here! Spread holiday cheer with our guide to local gifts that delight, indulge and inspire

Red by Michael Nicoll Yahgulanaas

'Climate Cover-Up' by James Hoggan with Richard Littlemore

Climate Cover-Up: The Crusade to Deny Global Warming

Play-mats

These playful placemats are sure to be a conversation starter

Cast-off leather reimagined by Ora Bags

Fashion design and storytelling are woven together in purses from rescued and re-imagined leather cast-offs

[+] info:

Ora Bags

A place to call home

16-34: 45%
35-54: 33%
55+: 21%

Male: 51%
Female: 49%
Average age: 39

Full-time: 47%
Part-time: 12%
Not employed: 38%

Under $35,000: 21%
$35,000 - $75,000: 26%
More than $75,000: 26%

1999: 615,068
2008: 827,397

Transit fare and ad revenue: 38%
Property tax: 28%
Fuel tax: 27%
Other (real estate, tolls, parking tax, interest income): 4%
Hydro levy: 2%
Canada Line: 1%