Life in the Lower Mainland (BC, Canada)

I have to admit that the "President's Choice" (and "No Name") brands sold at Superstore have long been for me and my mom synonymous with "cheap knock-offs". You typically find them as reasonable facsimiles stacked in the supermarket aisles next to name brands of the same type of item. However, for many years now, around Christmas they have pumped out Christmassy items, and this year is no exception. At $2.48 per box this week, the President's Choice Candy Cane Eat the Middle First Cookies  looked like a good deal as a Christmassy thing to have. They were actually really decent. But let's start with what's bad with it: The packaging on the inside still leaves them vulnerable to being jostled out of their plastic cradles. If you are hoping for a picture-perfect presentable item, this won't be it. As you can see from the pictures, they aren't bad, but aren't exactly perfect either. This would be a minor quibble any other t...

Got this in my inbox just the other day: Looks like the Shangri-La Hotel in downtown Vancouver has gone with an Arabian theme this holiday season. Click here for the full brochure , including Afternoon Tea service, spa treatments involving coffee and dates, Christmas and New Year dinners (though without mention of whether it, too, will be Arabian themed or turkey-traditional), and hotel packages. Hint for page 7, " mignardises ".

A genuine Venezuelan recommended this place, and in the late evening, around 8pm, it had a few tables of South Americans, so it looked like it was authentic, or at least close enough. I can't say I've been to Venezuela, but if this is the sort of food they have, I don't know if I'd be so keen on going there just for the food. There's lots of meat involved here and plainly presented. Portion for price is OK. For example, we had an order of Tequeños (~4" long ~3/4" thick fried white cheese sticks wrapped in wheat flour dough); at $7.99, it came out to over a dollar a piece. An order of Mixed Parrilla (steak, chorizo, pork chop, chicken breast, yucca & Venezuelan guasacaca ) was $25. Initially it looked like an enormous mound of meat, but it was really a layer of meat over an enormous mound of yucca. Considering the 49th and Fraser neighbourhood, price for what you got was just okay but not really tipping over into expensive. An interesting option a...