Life in the Lower Mainland (BC, Canada)

Dropped by Saravanaa Bhavan last Wednesday for their "seasonal special" -- a $5 South Indian Thali -- with the Vancouver Meatless Meetup dining group (run by Earthsave Canada ). The Thali comes in vegetarian and vegan versions. With the vegetarian version, you get some yogurt and dessert as well. This may be a limited-time offer, so if you're going specifically for the thali, call first (604.732.7700). Although a thali is basically a plate with a sampling of various dishes/curries arranged like a bunch of sides around a plate of rice and some roti, it comes out of the kitchen quite slowly. Everything does, it seems -- so it appears that the food isn't mass produced in vast quantities at the start of the day, to be reheated and doled out slowly. I was also introduced to the yummy Potato Bonda (2 pieces for $5), and it was quite slow in coming out. Hopefully, this meant that it was prepared fresh rather than plucked out of the fridge and plopped into the deep ...

Got this in my e-mail box today... Join Us for Kambolis Gives Back Week Dear Simon There are a lot of unique and meaningful events coming up at C, Nu and Raincity Grill this week. The devastation in Japan has moved us profoundly. We find ourselves asking, "How can we help?" The answer is simple: cash donations are quick, efficient and adaptable. They are the fastest, most efficient way to get help to people living in a disaster zone. They allow relief agencies to purchase supplies based on the specific needs of the affected population. Therefore, one dollar from each tasting menu ordered at our restaurants will go towards Japan relief. Dining Out For Life is BC’s largest restaurant fundraiser , benefiting A Loving Spoonful and Friends For Life. C, Nu and Raincity Grill will contribute 25% of our food sales that day to people living with HIV/AIDS. Join us on Thursday, March 24th for this vital initiative. Earth Hour is on Saturday, March 26th. Earth Hour asks h...

Happy days are here! For singles who can't cook, anyway. Way back, I wrote about massive almost-1-kilogram frozen pizza deal at Superstore or Save on Foods for $5 or a few cents under . Those deals are sometimes still around, but the latest craze seems to be smaller pizzas which are more or less personal-sized (although 2 pizzas can probably be a moderate dinner for 3 people, especially if you throw in a bit of home-made salad or garlic bread). They have lighter crusts or sometimes thin crusts, and interesting ingredients -- and are on sale for a few cents less than $4. The up side of this is a slightly smaller serving so you don't feel inclined to polish off a pizza that's normally too much for you, and there's no troublesome leftover pizza to re-heat the next day. Also, if you still believe in a low-carb diet , then less crust should please you. So far, I rather like Dr. Oetker's Panebello Pizza , which features a slightly thinner crust, but not exactly fl...

Page 3 news in The Province today, if you haven't already got an earful off Twitter: Bing tried to get community involvement and raise $100,000 toward disaster relief in Japan by urging people to retweet this: For each retweet @Bing will give $1 to Japan quake victims up to $100K. More ways to #SupportJapan http://binged.it/fEh7iT on Twitter. The shortened link goes to http://www.microsoft.com/about/corporatecitizenship/en-us/our-actions/in-the-community/disaster-and-humanitarian-response/community-involvement/disaster-response.aspx , and if you actually bothered to go to the link instead of getting caught up in the negative spin around the tweet, you would have seen, highlighted in red, SEVEN ways to donate and help Japan. IF -- and this is a BIG IF in today's superficial social media world -- the campaign were successful, a lot of attention could have been brought to how people could have donated to help, far beyond a measly $100,000. But instead, social media once agai...

If the recent 8.9 quake that devastated Japan hasn't gotten you spooked about emergency preparedness, you should cancel any insurance you have on your house and person. After all, it only happens to someone else, right? Otherwise, you may want to look into an Emergency Preparedness Kit. If, like me, you're too lazy to assemble one yourself with the scores of items you should have in it, you can try the Red Cross or Costco. Yes, Costco. The Red Cross has personal Emergency Preparedness Kits weighing in at 2.65 kg (5.85 lbs). NO FOOD. NO WATER. It comes with a collapsible water container. There's no size indicated for the container, but as the basic recommendations range from 2 to 4 liters per person per day, you can expect it to be at least 6 liters. Costco has an Emergency Preparedness Kit for 4 people. It is a single kit that weighs 11.8 kg (26 lb.). This includes an empty 10-litre water carrier, but also includes packages of water with a 5-year shelf life. Clea...

It's been a long time since I tried an ad on Craiglist personals. As there hadn't been any hot pictures from scammers (actually, not even not-so-hot pictures), that sort of took the fun away. The last batch of replies was so blatant and bad that I just have to share it, though. Here are the responses I got. Check out the dead-giveaway ending on both e-mails from http://www.localsdating.info/ fake users. The funny thing is how they're both trying to recruit me for the same website -- or maybe it's the same person trying two different approaches, hoping at least one will work? ----- from "Karina Valdez" (ulricahongonf5721@yahoo.com) ----- Karina: Hi, mister! I liked your ad. How are you doing today? The basics: blonde, way short. Blue eyes behind glasses. A few small tattoos, and a pierced bellybutton. I'm curvy without being thick, 5'4" and 127. Let's see, what else. My biggest secret is that I can pole dance. It's a secret because I...