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5 Things Vancouver: kc Dyer

by Dan
Travel + Vancouver / February 09, 2010

kc dyer lives with her children (and other animals) in the wilds north of Vancouver, BC, where she works as a freelance writer, speaker and educator. She is a director and long-time participant at the Surrey International Writers’ Conference, and a mentor with Creative Writing for Children in Vancouver. Her most recent novel is A Walk Through A Window, and the sequel will be published by Doubleday in fall, 2010. This year, she has been writer-in-residence at New Westminster Secondary School, and will be a featured presenter at writing conferences in Penticton, Victoria, Surrey, and Washington State. kc is an unrepentant tech geek, and can be found on-line at www.kcdyer.com, blogging at leftwriter and sweetly tweeting @kcdyer.

What’s the one place everyone should visit?
I've lived here for more than 15 years, now, and the one place that I try to take everyone who visits me is the Art Gallery. So many reasons... Cool old building—looks haunted at night. Right downtown—the heart of any protest action in the city, so something's always going down on the steps. Close to lots of public transit. The exhibits never fail to intrigue...daVinci is starting tomorrow! But what brings me back every time is the food. Hands down THE best cafeteria food you'll ever eat. Great prices for gourmet fare. The Vancouver Art Gallery will be moving house soon—they need to shift to a larger location. I don't think I'll be the only one mourning the change. So get there while you still can!

Where do you look for books in Vancouver?
Vancouver Kidsbooks, man. Their Kitsilano location is the most central, but they have a fantastic location in Edgemont Village on the North Shore and have recently opened a new location in White Rock. They have always supported me as a writer, and are the first to bring in great authors to introduce to their public. They foster an environment where books and stories are a part of life, and they are a huge part of the cultural scene in the city. You can't walk in the door without a crowd—people love shopping there because the folks who work at Kidsbooks are all huge readers and can make a recommendation under any circumstance.

What is the best thing to do with kids in Vancouver?
This is a city made for kids. So much to do, from the bike trails on the North Shore to Second Beach at Stanley Park. But my favourite thing to do with kids [or without them!] is Science World. The big golf ball on the shores of False Creek never fails to enchant, with the combination of new and well-loved exhibits, and great movies in the I-Max theatre. And when you're tired? White Spot burgers downstairs. Kid Heaven. Decent parking, but also right by the skytrain, AND on the seawall bike path.

What is your favourite building in Vancouver?
Loads of decent architecture in this town, of course, as the stomping grounds of Arthur Erikson. My favourite of all the buildings, though, is the downtown main branch of the Vancouver Public Library. Sweeping columns, skylights, beautiful use of stone—it's design by Moshe Safdie is unparalleled. I've had loads of happy times here, which doesn't hurt. Library Square has a huge indoor atrium [a must in this Rain City] and is the scene of Word on the Street here every year, among other gatherings. It's right across from the CBC, has got some decent parking downstairs—and hey, any building that shows up in Battlestar Galactica deserves a place on this list. It's downtown, so easy bike, bus, Skytrain access.

Where’s a good spot for Wi-Fi downtown?
We're lucky here as there are so many techie/enlightened shop owners -- it's pretty easy to find free Wi-fi. [Easier than loads of other cities in the world; I've struggled in both New York and London to find decent wifi]. My favourite place here, though, is Blenz coffee. Homegrown chain, great treats and THE best hot chocolate in town—made from actual dark belgian chocolate chips. Lots of plugs for weak batteries, and caffeine for slow brains. Great combo. Loads of locations around the Lower Mainland. 

Thanks kc!

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5 Things Vancouver: Chris Wood

by Dan
Travel + Vancouver / February 08, 2010

Chris Wood is the author of Dry Spring: The Coming Water Crisis of North American. He is a journalist and former Maclean's editor, and has written for The Globe and Mail, the Financial Post, The Walrus, The Tyee and more. He won two Gold National Magazine Awards for his work on water, co-authored Blockbusters and Trade Wars (shortlisted for the Donner Prize) and, with Beverley Wood, wrote the Sirius Mystery teen books, including The Golden Boy and DogStar.

What is the single best thing about living in Vancouver?
The demographic, culinary and fashion diversity

Where’s your favourite spot to eat on a budget?
Kent’s Kitchen, old Chinatown off Main

What is your favourite building in Vancouver?
Marine Building on Burrard

Where’s the best place for coffee?
Any of the Italian joints on Commercial

What’s your favourite free thing to do in Vancouver?
Walk... the Stanley Park Seawall or False Creek and the Market, the Drive

Thanks Chris!

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Dry Spring: The Coming Water Crisis of North America
Chris Wood
Raincoast Books ISBN 978-1-55192-814-2
$23.95 Paperback

"The best thing yet written on the many impacts of global warming on the world's water and climate systems. A highly readable interweaving of hard science with the stories of individual people."

— Al Appleton, former commissioner, Department of Environmental Protection, City of New York

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5 Things Vancouver: Jesse Finkelstein

by Dan
Travel + Vancouver / February 08, 2010

Jesse Finkelstein is up next with her recommendations for 5 Things Vancouver...

Jesse is a displaced Montrealer living in Vancouver—happily, mostly, though she laments the lack of decent bagels.

She is the director of digital assets and foreign rights at D&M Publishers and you can find her on Twitter @j_finkelstein.

 

What is the single best thing about living in Vancouver?
Beaches everywhere.

Where’s your favourite spot to eat on a budget?
Toshi Sushi at Main and 16th Ave.

What’s your favourite restaurant for a romantic dinner?
Chambar Belgian Restaurant in Crosstown.

What is the best thing to do with kids in Vancouver?
The beach, the Aquarium and Science World

Where’s the best place for coffee?
Elysian Coffee on 5th Ave., or Broadway and Ash.

Thanks Jesse!

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5 Things Vancouver: Darren Barefoot

by Dan
Travel + Vancouver / February 08, 2010

We're continuing our series 5 Things Vancouver this week in the run up to The XXI Olympic Winter Games. First up on the docket is Darren Barefoot.

Darren grew up in West Vancouver, and current lives above the HomeDepot near Cambie and Broadway.

He’s a writer, marketer and blogger, and the co-author of Friends With Benefits: A Social Media Marketing Handbook.

 

What neighbourhood do you live in?
It’s called Fairview Slopes, though I think that’s a snooty invention by local real estate agents.

What is the single best thing about living in Vancouver?
I didn’t appreciate this until I lived abroad and returned to the city, but it’s really among the most beautiful cities in the world. Set between the Coastal Mountain range and the Pacific, on this relatively small patch of land, it’s really a joy to behold. And, as a result of this geographical accident, it’s an unusually (for North America, at least) dense city, which makes it feel more metropolitan than its size might merit.

What’s your favourite book about Vancouver?
I’m always a little reluctant to recommend Douglas Coupland, as we grew up in the same neighbourhood and I’m envious of how he wrote about being middle-class in West Vancouver before I could. That said, his book City of Glass is a terrific introduction to the city. I also like Timothy Taylor’s Stanley Park.

What is your favourite building in Vancouver?
I really like the Sun Tower, which is this lovely Beaux-Arts building right downtown. In a city full of glass towers, it’s a surprising change of pace.

What’s your favourite free thing to do in Vancouver?
My first thought was that, on a nice day, you can’t do much better than the Reifel Migratory Bird Sanctuary. It’s about 30 minutes south of downtown, and right on the coast. It offers this highly unusual terrain for the region—there’s very little wetlands around the city—and a chance to see a ton of airborne wildlife.

However, I checked, and the sanctuary isn't free. It is really cheap—$4 for adults, $2 for children and 50 cents for a packet of birdseed.

But if you're looking for truly free, I'd recommend heading up into the North Shore and hiking a portion of the Baden Powell trail.

Thanks Darren!

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5 Things Vancouver: Peter Darbyshire

by Dan
Travel + Vancouver / February 05, 2010

Kicking off our new and exciting "5 Things Vancouver" travel series is author Peter Darbyshire.

Peter is the author of Please and The Warhol Gang (forthcoming from HarperCollins Canada).

In his spare time he runs the website CanCult.ca. Follow him online at
www.peterdarbyshire.com.

 

What is the single best thing about living in Vancouver?
Being able to cycle year-round. It’s the small things that matter.

Where do you look for books in Vancouver?
32 Books on the North Shore. It’s like a diamond mine: small and
cramped but packed with beautiful little gems.

Where’s the best place for coffee?
Where isn’t a good place for coffee in Vancouver? People know their
brews here. I guess I’d say Caffé Artigiano because that’s the place I
hit most often, but you can’t really go wrong here unless you stumble
into a Starbucks by mistake.

What is your favourite Vancouver hangout?
Wreck Beach. I haven’t been there in a while, but I love that it
exists. Every city should have a nude beach.

What’s your favourite free thing to do in Vancouver?
Walk one of the sea walls and just take in the ocean views. Some
people have to fly thousands of miles and pay thousands of dollars for
something like that. I just have to walk out the door and down the
street.

Thanks Peter!

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5 Things Vancouver

by Dan
Travel + Vancouver / February 05, 2010

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Coffee Talk

by Dan
Food & Drink + Vancouver / February 04, 2010

As a quick follow-up to yesterday's post about the art and science of the perfect espresso, I just thought I would post a link to this Report on Business article in The Globe & Mail about Vancouver coffee institution Caffè Artigiano:

“The coffee world has really evolved in the past five, 10 years, the science of extraction. A large corporation can't focus on that. Coffee's becoming more and more detailed. People will want to know where the coffee came from, how sustainable it is, how the farmer is treated, how much he was paid, the terroir of the farm.”

The general manager of Caffè Artigiano on Hornby, Kyle Straw, is the current Canadian Barista Champion(!), and along with Bryant Simon, author of Everything but the Coffee: Learning about America from Starbucks (University of California Press), and business reporter David Ebner (who wrote the article), he participated in an informative live chat about coffee with Globe readers yesterday.

(Pictured above: Wanderlust Coffee Journal from Chronicle Books)

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Richard Poplak on Kenk

by Dan
Graphica / February 04, 2010

 

Richard Poplak, author of The Sheikh's Batmobile and Ja No Man (published by Penguin Canada) recently talked to the Globe and Mail's Peter Scowen about his forthcoming project Kenk: A Graphic Portrait, which captures the life and times of the notorious Igor Kenk:

Igor has indeed been convicted as a thief, and he indeed made many people's lives miserable. But that's where the story starts, and it goes way deeper... Igor tells a much, much larger story – about a neighbourhood in flux, about what we're willing to accept as a community, about who we are as people. Igor is about much more than just Igor...

I'm very attracted to the old New York reporting of Joseph Mitchell and A.J. Liebling – guys who wrote about neighbourhood personalities for the New Yorker in the 50s. To me, this is the apex of journalism, because it says absolutely everything – not just about the characters in question, but about those that loved them, those that avoided them and the times in which they lived. These extreme characters explicated their surroundings and their epoch.

Richard also posted about his reasons for working on the project on his own website late last year:

Very simply, we are defined by characters on the extreme edges of our society. As much as I’d like to write about the upstanding citizens of the world – and the older the get, I happily realize these are in the vast majority – they can play a little dull. Kenk... is as much about what it means to live on the fringes of a tightly regulated society as it is about bike theft. And if I had to define the book in one word, I’d assert that it’s about compulsion.

Kenk: A Graphic Portrait will be published by Pop Sandbox in May 2010.

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Espresso!

by Dan
Food & Drink / February 03, 2010

We're very serious about our coffee here at Raincoast. Or, at the very least, we certainly drink a lot of it. OK... I drink a lot of it... And, I've got to tell you, I do like a proper espesso, properly made. No surprise then, that I absolutely love this video by Dpt4D about the art and science of the perfect espresso:

 

 

And if you feeling the need for a little caffeine injection after watching that (and who could blame you?), you might want to check out Coffee by Betty Rosbottom (author of The Big Book of Backyard Cooking and Sunday Soup) which demystifies hot and cold specialty coffees and offers 50 easy recipes for a variety of tastes, from Cafe au Lait and Caffee Macchiato to Individual Tiramisus. Yum!

Now... Where's my travel mug?

(Espresso video via INDEX // mb)

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Pound of Chocolate Cake recipe

by Danielle
Excerpts + Food & Drink / February 02, 2010

Here's an delicious recipe for Pound of Chocolate Cake from Chronicle Books' new cookbook called CHOCOLATE CAKES. Available at your local bookstore. Enjoy!
 

 

 

 

Pound of Chocolate Cake
Makes 9 to 12 servings
Mixing time 10 minutes
Baking 350°F (180°C/gas mark 4) for about 35 minutes

This square cake is dark and moist, with a fudge-all-the-way-through texture. What else would you expect from 1 pound (455 g) of chocolate? The cake can be spread with a ganache glaze for even more chocolate richness.

13 oz (370 g) semisweet (plain) chocolate, chopped
3 oz (85 g) unsweetened chocolate, chopped
3⁄4 c up (170 g) unsalted butter, cut into pieces
1 tsp instant coffee granules dissolved in
1 tbsp water
4 large eggs
1 1⁄2 cups (300 g) granulated sugar
1⁄2 tsp salt
1 tsp vanilla extract (essence)
1 cup (130 g) unbleached all-purpose (plain) flour
1 cup (240 ml) ganache (recipe below), cooled until thickened but pourable (optional)
Powdered (icing) sugar for dusting (optional)
1 qt (960 ml) vanilla ice cream or flavor of your choice

Position a rack in the middle of the oven. Preheat the oven to
350°F (180°C/gas mark 4). Butter a 9-in (23-cm) square pan
with sides 2 in (5 cm) high. Line the bottom with a piece of
parchment (baking) paper long enough to extend over opposite
sides of the pan. Butter the paper.

Put both chocolates, the butter, and dissolved coffee in a
heatproof bowl (or the top of a double boiler) and place it over,
but not touching, barely simmering water in a saucepan (or the
bottom of the double boiler). Stir until the chocolates and butter
are melted and smooth. Remove from over the water and set
aside to cool slightly.

In a large bowl, using an electric mixer on medium speed,
beat the eggs, sugar, salt, and vanilla until fluffy and lightened
in color, about 1 minute. Stop the mixer and scrape the sides of
the bowl as needed. On low speed, mix in the melted chocolate
mixture until blended. Mix in the flour just until no white
streaks remain. Spread the batter evenly in the prepared pan.
Bake until the top of the cake is shiny and firm and a
toothpick inserted in the center comes out with moist crumbs
clinging to it, about 35 minutes. Cool the cake in the pan on a
wire rack for 1 hour.

If using the ganache, pour it over the cake, tilting the pan
to spread it evenly. Cool the cake in the pan thoroughly. The
cake will become firm. If omitting the glaze, dust the cooled
cake with powdered sugar, if desired. Use the overhanging
ends of parchment (baking) paper to lift the cake from the pan.
Serve the cake at room temperature with scoops of ice cream.
The cake can be covered and stored at room temperature
for up to 3 days.

 

Ganache and Whipped Ganache
Mixing and cooking time 5 minutes

The ganache can be used warm as a fudge sauce or poured over a cake as a glaze or filling. And that is not all. When lightly whipped, ganache becomes an extraordinary creamy filling.

When whipping ganache, let it cool and thicken to a firm but not hard texture. Refrigerating it will firm it more quickly, but it should chill for only 1 or 2 hours until the edges are firm. Use a whisk to beat the mixture for about 30 seconds until the color lightens from a dark brown to a medium brown. The taste and texture will change from fudgelike to creamlike. Using a whisk prevents the ganache from being whipped too vigorously, which could turn it grainy. Whipped ganache should be spread immediately, as it firms up quickly and becomes difficult to spread smoothly.

Makes 2 cups (480 ml) or 4 cups (960 ml)

For 2 cups
1 c up (240 ml) heavy (double) cream
1 tbsp unsalted butter
9 oz (255 g) bittersweet chocolate, chopped, or
1 1⁄2 cups (255 g) bittersweet chocolate chips
1 tsp vanilla extract (essence)

For 4 cups
2 c ups (480 ml) heavy (double) cream
2 tbsp unsalted butter
18 oz (510 g) bittersweet chocolate, chopped, or
3 cups (510 g) bittersweet chocolate chips
2 tsp vanilla extract (essence)

In a medium saucepan, heat the cream and butter over low heat until the cream is hot and the butter melts. The hot cream mixture should form tiny bubbles and measure about 175°F (80°C) on an instant-read thermometer; do not let the mixture boil as a skin might form on the top. If this happens, use a spoon to lift off the skin and discard it. Remove the pan from the heat, add the chocolate, and let stand in the hot cream mixture for about 30 seconds to soften. Whisk the ganache just until all of the chocolate is melted and the ganache is smooth. Stir in the vanilla.

If the ganache will be poured or spread, let it cool and thicken slightly, about 30 minutes. It can be covered and refrigerated for up to 1 week; if it becomes too firm, it can be warmed over low heat, stirring to soften it evenly.

To make whipped ganache, cover the warm ganache and let stand at room temperature until firm, 3 to 4 hours, depending on the quantity and the temperature of your kitchen. Or, cover and refrigerate the ganache until the edges are firm and the center is slightly thickened, 1 to 2 hours. You can speed up the process to 30 minutes or less by pouring the ganache into a 9-by-13-in (23-by-33-cm) or larger baking dish. Drop a teaspoon of the cold ganache on a plate; set aside to compare the color with that of the beaten ganache. Place the cold ganache in a bowl and whisk until it changes from a dark chocolate color to a medium chocolate color and thickens slightly, about 30 seconds. Compare with the ganache on the plate. The whipped mixture should look lighter in color—similar to a dark, good-quality milk chocolate. Use immediately.

Choices: Other flavorings for ganache include almond extract; ground cinnamon; dissolved instant coffee granules, finely grated orange or lemon zest; fruit purees; and rum, brandy, or other liqueurs. Start with a small quantity, taste the mixture, and keep adding to your taste. Begin with 1 tbsp for the liquor or liqueurs and 1 tsp for instant coffee or grated zest. For almond extract, try ¼ tsp; for cinnamon, ½ tsp, and for fruit purees, 1 tbsp. Quantities can always be increased.
 

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