I am baking and ganaching and wrapping up safely (I hope) this week. My boys are helping me to make the final batches. The occasion is a very special one, and one which I have been unable to be part of, for the last two years (due to performing a play). So this year, I am happy to be back, as part of the huge team of amazing volunteers, who put together the annual Oppenheimer Park Christmas Dinner, in Vancouver’s Downtown Eastside, hosted by the BC Film Commission. [Read more…]
“Meanwhile, let us have a sip of tea…let us dream of evanescence and linger in the beautiful foolishness of things.”
“The Book of Tea” by Okakura Kakuzo
I absolutely concur with this very wise author. There are few things in life more conducive to dreaming and lingering than a hot cup of tea. I don’t know whether it is the steam, the aroma of the infusion or the whole process of concocting a cup of it, but I do love the focus and commitment it takes to do it properly. [Read more…]
I was walking past Granville Island Brewing Company on Granville Island, on my way to a matinee performance of Snowman, on a chilly afternoon, appropriately enough. Pressing my nose against their big windows looking into a bustling “neighbourhood house”, I noticed they had put up a big sign, promoting their HOP CHOCOLATE event.
Aww, I get it. Even though I do not drink beer (it’s not an allergy, just body sense memory), I can appreciate the wit, and it gets me thinking about chocolate beer. [Read more…]
That song has always made me hungry. And today is the absolute perfect day to indulge.The first snow of the season started yesterday afternoon, and being in North Vancouver, we were among the first to get it.
I love the fact that we are a city known for going absolutely verklempt when it snows. Things shut down, people refuse to drive (no bad thing, for some of ‘em). We, the same people who adore snow up the mountains, and would rather ski than eat, are paralyzed by the white stuff lying in the driveway.
I went, last week, in this approach to Remembrance Day, to see a friend of mine in a performance of Vimy, a touching play about 5 soldiers and a nurse whose lives change forever in the spectre of that famous World War One battle.
In one scene, the nurse, attempting to provide a treat and distraction to a distraught young soldier, hands him a piece of hidden chocolate, and says “Try that. Better than Bully Beef, I’ll bet.” [Read more…]