Life in the Lower Mainland (BC, Canada)

It's been a while since I had any coupons from SocialNature , but I recently qualified for a promotion of Only Goodness. I'd never heard of this brand before, but it is available from our local Save-On-Foods . A quick look at their many products including commonplace staples like rice and pasta, shows they are competitively priced with similar products of other brands. In the case of this couscous , I looked at the price of Casbah brand couscous sold at Real Canadian Superstore , which is generally a cheaper supermarket than Save-on-Foods. The couscous in particular I had trouble locating, though that is probably because I don't often shop for couscous or at Save-on-Foods. All the couscous was in its own "Natural" food section whereas I had initially thought it would be somewhere near grains/rice. Happily the Save-on-Foods staff were extremely helpful and polite and competent. She knew exactly where it was and walked me to the exact product. In many other superma...

Thanks to Yelp I got tickets for this year's Gluten Free Expo (last year it was called the Specialty Food Expo ). There were no shortage of one-per-person-please bags of Spokes puffed potato chips for the taking right when you entered the convention centre. Maybe the tamer flavours were all gone because these were no-punches-pulled spicy-hot Mango Habanero flavoured. For once, a chip that is actually spicy-hot when it has a picture of a chili in the ad copy. Unfortunately, the rather wildly inconsistent seasoning means you could get a really hot chip, or a sweeter one, but generally there's some buzz and flavour to each chip. These are light chips and if not for the spicy heat could go very quickly. I found they were very good to get my appetite whetted and mouth salivating.

Thanks to Yelp I got tickets for this year's Gluten Free Expo (last year it was called the Specialty Food Expo ). Enjoy Life was handing out samples pretty much right when you entered the convention floor. These soft baked mini chocolate chip cookies by Enjoy Life are quite okay. Life a lot of gluten free baking, it feels grainy and in this case also seems to have a very slight gummy feel. However for tiny bites, they are pretty packed with chocolate chips so a little bit -- like one tiny cookie -- can go a long way if you take time to savor each cookie.

Thanks to Yelp I got tickets for this year's Gluten Free Expo (last year it was called the Specialty Food Expo ). You're probably already familiar with Quesava Kitchen and their veggie poppers  (among their various products). This year at the expo I noticed Forno de Minas, which had a plainer Brazilian cheese roll, not heavily flavoured like Quesava (which is not to say the strong flavours in the Quesava Kitchen ones were a bad thing -- they were actually quite delicious). What struck me about Forno de Minas cheese rolls was how the inside seemed much lighter. Maybe they were fresher out of the oven and would harden up later into a similar consistency. Not sure. I was curious enough to buy a couple packs to try at home however (convention price was $7 for 1 pack, $12 for 2 packs, $15 for 3 packs). I'd made Brazilian cheese rolls (with this watery recipe so easy even I could do it) before and they do harden up once they get cold. It'll be curious to see how the...

I got the chance to go to Yelp's Holiday Market Party , a fundraiser for the Lion's Gate Hospital Foundation  as well as an opportunity for various up-and-coming food and drink vendors to show their wares. One of the most interesting vendors flying under radar was Coast Cricket Protein . Their wares looked like chocolate bars and tasted like it, but they were actually about eating crickets for protein! As for the wares, the chocolate bar and peanut butter bars tasted like... chocolate and peanut butter! Nothing weird or off-putting, which I think was the point.

I got the chance to go to Yelp's Holiday Market Party , a fundraiser for the Lion's Gate Hospital Foundation  as well as an opportunity for various up-and-coming food and drink vendors to show their wares. One of them was Wholly Veggie . They are vegetarian, gluten-free, soy-free, dairy free. Which is almost vegan but not quite -- they still use egg as a binding agent, but apparently working toward being vegan in 2018. I got to try all three types and I did like them for their strong, clear, flavour. Possibly strong enough to cut through whatever else you're throwing into a burger. Definitely don't overwhelm it like you might a regular burger. Wholly Veggie has various easy recipe suggestions online . Something else I also really liked was how it wasn't trying to be meat in taste or texture. They are conveniently patty shaped and proudly vegetarian, advertising vegetarian flavour. Fake meat patties, often with soy and bitter overtones, have never really worked...

I got the chance to go to Yelp's Holiday Market Party , a fundraiser for the Lion's Gate Hospital Foundation  as well as an opportunity for various up-and-coming food and drink vendors to show their wares. One of them was Panda Coco, snacks made of flavoured coconut chips. Coconut chips aren't a novelty anymore of course but Panda Coco does them very nicely, and with a southeast asian twist, with such flavours as durian and tom yum soup . What I really liked about the samples I tried from Panda Coco is the strong, clear flavour. Sometimes you'll see specialty flavours for potato chips such as poutine or hamburger, but they are so salty on top of struggling to identify the iconic tastes of each specialty flavour. Not here. Tom yum soup flavour is clear (and not super-strong -- because if you've had the paste or the soup, you know it can be darn strong and sour). Durian flavour is clearly durian. For those two flavours, the coconut chips are just a vehicle to carry...

I got the chance to go to Yelp's Holiday Market Party , a fundraiser for the Lion's Gate Hospital Foundation  as well as an opportunity for various up-and-coming food and drink vendors to show their wares. One of them was Amanda Huhn's  La Petite Cakerie , which had vegan and vegan-and-gluten-free goods. I tried to sample the "normal" one alongside the gluten-free counterparts. As mini-cupcakes go, the vegan ones were very good and certainly much better than the generally oilier-feeling supermarket cheapies. The gluten free cupcakes, however, had a grainy texture and a greater tendency to crumble, which is sadly common in gluten-free baking. It also had a flavour to it that demanded so much attention -- more than even the delicious cream on top -- that I found it too distracting to like. That said, I am not celiac and for people who have to be gluten-free, to a great extent beggars can't be choosers and the difference might be moot anyway. Cupcakes ...

The latest free sample I received from SocialNature is Little Northern Bakehouse gluten-free bread . For restrictive diets, there's lots to like with this pretty much lowest-common denominator almost-everyone-can-eat-it bread: Gluten-free, but also non-GMO and Vegan. The first challenge in getting them was actually finding them in-store. From the online Store Locator , I knew to look in Save-On-Foods but I didn't see it with the rest of the breads, and ended up having to ask the Bakery Department, who directed me to a freezer near the meat section. Nowhere close to breads and chock full of other gluten-free breads. I really wanted a "normal" loaf of plain white to compare with "normal" bread, but they only have fancy varieties with stuff in it. In the end I picked  Cinnamon & Raisin Loaf  because I figured raisin breads are common enough that I could compare and non-raisin-hater readers could also relate. Here are some *before store discount* ...

Still thinking vegan and there were intriguing-sounding things on the menu, so I decided to try the Chickpea sit-down restaurant (not the food cart). Interesting choice of locations as it's right next door to also-vegetarian Meet on Main. Busy starting around 6pm till maybe 8.30pm, so best bet is to squeeze in early or resign yourself to a later-night snack. Table turnaround doesn't look that bad, though, but you might be waiting outside the door as the waiting area isn't that big. Style of food is similar to that popularized by places such as Nuba and Jamjar, so nothing too weird and meat-eating friends out for Lebanese probably won't care. A good gathering place as it's vegan with gluten-free option -- this is pretty lowest-common-denominator food nowadays. ChickTea ($3.50) mint, ginger, organic sugar, and lemon Pass on this if you are are used to stronger-tasting pouch teas. If you do get it, let it steep for a long time or it will taste like hot wate...

I've had Queso Fundido at a couple of places ( Glowbal and The Mexican ) and so far Glowbal's done it the best. Why? The main reason is it's hot and stays sizzling hot for a long time. This keeps your cheese goopy and tasty, and helps you get some seared cheese on the sides of the stone bowl. Tried it tonight at La Mezcaleria and it was disappointing for so many reasons. Price was probably the worst -- at $26 you might be able to make it a meal for one, but you're also more likely to get much better and tastier for your money. And at $26 (for the one with ground Mexican chorizo, the only meat-optioned one) it cost twice as much as at Glowbal or The Mexican, for a comparable portion of cheese in a big but thick-walled shallow bowl. It came to the table sizzling but strangely with very little seared cheese on the sides of the volcanic stone bowl. Our server pointed out the seared cheese being a delicacy and I was also definitely looking forward to it. But it was ...

Got dragged to the Keefer Bar for their happy hour (Sunday to Friday) . Not a bad deal (2-for-1 food) except you have to buy a drink with it and I'm not a drinker. So she had the drink, I had a non-alcoholic beverage, we shared the two food plates -- and somehow we ended up splitting the bill in half which meant I walked out feeling having overpaid. Which was actually not the case. Food is okay with some nice points and there's a decent selection of gluten-free choices. Nothing that really stands out but decent in taste and portion at full price -- meaning it's really good value during 2-for-1 happy hour, which is at a very convenient 5pm-7pm -- dinner right after work. It's all small plates and it doesn't look like you can put together a dinner, but you actually CAN and at a good price during happy hour! So just patiently order and order again. Two of the larger plates can possibly add up to a fairly filling meal and you're topping it at $10 for two plat...