I’ve had my joyful fill of Japanese, and so-called “West Coast cuisine”. Not that there’s anything wrong with them. But I was wondering if anyone in the Vancouver blogosphere could recommend something different, preferably not too expensive. Here are some ideas to get you started:

Indian Food

Thai

Filipino

German

African

Carribean

English Pub Food

Anything wacky, but great tasting.

Thanks!

Photo Courtesy of BC Hot House

One of my most favorite places to get local produce is the Two E’s Farm at 16411 Fraser Hwy in Surrey. They grow a lot of their own organic fruits and vegetables. More importantly, they try to keep all of their food local whenever possible.  They’re the only place that I know of that actually tells you where the food came from, which is a big plus. They have their own farm on site, so a lot of the staples people eat (broccoli, Green Onions, Lettuce) are grown there as well. Tried Kale from Two E’s for the first time last year… very sharp flavour.

Did I mention that they don’t charge you an arm and a leg for their food? Yes, even the organic stuff.

Great produce, and great value… but make sure you pack your paid for produce in their bags… otherwise they’ll think you didn’t pay for them when you go outside. Also, no Credit Cards Either.

If you know of any other places around Metro Vancouver and the Fraser Valley to get reasonably priced, high quality food, leave a comment. Currently, I’m looking for both an egg supplier, beef and milk source. Sometimes Safeway and the regular chain stores  can get quite expensive.

Some say it has to do with a certain family with gang ties, others say it’s a series of revenge killings between the UN and Red Scorpion gangs. Some others say that it has more to do with silencing certain people before they go to the cops.

Why can these groups have free reign to spread such fear? How did it get to this point where these groups are left unchecked? Where are the laws that are supposed to protect us from these groups? Where are the deterrents? Are there deterrents? Why are those who deal drugs or commit gun crimes given such light sentences? I understand that there was legislation to impose maximum sentencing for crimes involving guns, but that it’s currently being held up by the senate.

Just a little frustrated… I’d like to know your opinion.

It’s not an easy job. You have to be on your feet all day long, trying to get people to grab a paper that they don’t necessarily want or need. You get ignored or get the odd rude comment. All for a piecemeal rate. But it’s a living and the two that give me my paper seem to enjoy it.

Delivering for the Sun, Province or National Post is no easy task either. Take this posting from Craigslist for example. They need to get to their collection site by 2 AM, and have them all delivered by 8AM. From what I heard, for every complaint that they get, they get a certain amount knocked off their pay to compensate for the call centre time. Not pretty and not fun if they have a route that’s on an hill that ices over or gets snowed up.

So if you see someone giving you a newspaper, pick one up. If you don’t like the content, you can always recycle it at Burrard station anyway. At least you helped someone earn just a few pennies more… that add up in the end. And if you subscribe to the Sun or Province, a nice tip at Christmas time would be a nice gesture… especially if they get your nice, dry paper to your doorstep despite the weather.

For some reason, I thought, “Hey why not see if good ol’ (or god-awful, depending on your point of view) Gordon Campbell is on Twitter.” Sure enough, he was. What about good ol’ (or god-awful, depending on your point of view) Carole James? She’s there too!

I added Gordon Campbell (@g_campbell) to my list… and within two hours he added me to his. Still waiting for Ms. James (@carolejames) to add me to hers. But considering that she’s not following anyone at the moment, I don’t think she’ll be inviting me to her list anytime soon. Granted, they’re both probably written by party staffers anyway.

Buzz Bishop (@buzzbishop) of 95.3 FM Virigin Radio fame tweets quite a bit, and I find his them to be a great source of what’s going on in Vancouver… and a great source for good eats! Local Vancouver Sun writer Gillian Shaw (@gilliamshaw) is a great read as well… She taught me a lot about how Twitter works on her recent Twitter article. For you Vancouver talk radio junkies, CKNW (@cknw) and News1130 (@news1130) are on it as well.

I’m sure that there are a more Vancouver twitter accounts out there. If you know of any good ones that we can follow, please leave a comment… Bonus points for you if you could find one that covers Vancouver’s food scene. I’m looking for more great places to eat!

Going to Lumiere for our anniversary was one of the most memorable experiences I’ve had with my wife – after all, the thrill of going to a restaurant run by the famous Iron Chef Rob Feenie was well…. cool. Now that he is gone, I think that the two restaurants will have to compete solely on the food, rather than Rob Feenie’s name. It remains to be seen whether Dale MacKay, the new executive chef, will continue the tradition of fine food, artistic quality and impeccable service that my wife and I received while we were there.

I expect that Rob Feenie will get another chance to start a new restaurant here soon. He is a mainstay in the Vancouver food industry here and helped put Vancouver on the map as one of North America’s capitals of cuisine. Good luck to him!

I went to Digg.com recently and pulled an article off Yahoo: “7_elevens become Simpsons Kwik-E-Marts“. They mentioned that there were 11 Kwik-E-Marts in the US and 1 In Canada.

I did a search on the 7-11 website, and lo and behold, the single one in Canada is in Coquitlam.

The picture here is the artist’s rendering, but I’ll pull the family out and get some live shots!

yong_sa

I remember when Z95.3 came out. It was originally billed as a dance music station and was the first top 40 FM station in the Lower Mainland. LG73 tried to compete but didn’t last long due to the difference in stereo sound. I still miss the Morning Zoo crew. Anyway, the first song to officially hit the airwaves was “Everybody Dance now” by C&C music factory. Once LG73 died, they changed into a top40 station and was successful for many years. By the time I left UBC, Z95 changed to Z and focussed on playing “Adult hits” to prevent us 20-something yuppies from jumping ship to the Beat 94.5. Since then, I’ve been listening to nothing but Podcasts and CKNW for the political stuff.

Thanks for the memories Z95.3. I hope you become a jazz station the way the Beat 94.5 was supposed to be!

He pointed out that much the computers that we donate overseas doesn’t go to the needy people that we though would receive them. Much of it winds up in waste dumps where the poor scrounge around looking for copper and spare parts in highly unsafe and often toxic conditions. Free Geek Vancouver specializes in recycling computer parts in a safe manner and ensures that the computer parts that they donate get to those who need them.

Check out his article on the technology waste situation in Vancouver:

The View from the Alley

They’re motto is:
“Helping the needy get nerdy since the beginning of the 3rd millenium”

So if you’re interested in helping the needy get nerdy and to reduce the amount of recycled technology waste in Vancouver, contact David Repa at www.freegeekvancouver.org.

If you’re able-bodied, and want to make upwards of $39.00 / hr average, then go to

http://www.bcmeajobs.com

The website closes at the end of the day on March 25th. So hurry!

Good luck!

yong_sa