Woah, it's November already! You might be recovering from sugar overdose this weekend but maybe a little tea would help. Vancouver's inaugural tea festival will be held on Saturday at the Olympic Village; that's sure to draw crowds. The Winter Farmers Market also opens on Saturday. If you like to stay indoors, you might want to watch or support those in Extra Life who are gaming for 25 hours to support children hospitals. Have a wonderful weekend, everyone!

Friday, November 1, 2013 

DiwaliFest - Diwali Workshop
4:00pm to 6:00pm
West End Community Centre, 870 Denman Street, Vancouver  
BCGEU is proud to bring Diwali Fest to your community! Our Diwali Workshops are extremely popular with community centers  neighborhood houses and schools across Metro Vancouver, and this year we hope to bring them to Surrey as well. These workshops feature professional artists and facilitators leading workshops in rangoli design, diya lamp painting, Bollywood dancing, and mehndi hand painting. Tickets:Nominal fee may be charged

The Animation Show of Shows Vancouver - Industry Screening
7pm - 10pm
Bosa Centre for Film and Animation Skeena Rd North Vancouver, BC
The Animation Show of Shows is a travelling selection of the years best animated short films, curated and presented by Ron Diamond, founder of Acme Filmworks. The show's mission is to bring exciting, groundbreaking animated short films to big screens around the world. In it's 15th year, the tour will stop in Vancouver - hosted by Capilano Unviersity's Bosa Centre for Film and Animation.

Vancouver International Flamenco Festival - Flamenco Dance & Music
8pm
LA TRIANA (Vancouver) CHAI LOUNGE, 4433 Main Street
Flameno Dance & Music. See website for more events.

Saturday, November 2, 2013

Extra Life
8am
Anywhere you like to game (Most people play from home!)
On an Autumn Saturday each year since 2008, tens of thousands of gamers have joined together to save the lives of local kids in a celebration of gaming culture that we call Extra Life.  From console games to tabletop RPG's to even lawn sports, Extra Life gives people that love to play a chance to do what they love to save lives and make a difference. The proceeds from Extra Life stay where they're raised to support children's hospitals.

Winter Farmers Mrket starts this weekend! Fresh, local, organic foods & crafts. 60+ vendors, hot food, music! Rain or Shine!


DiwaliFest - Diwali Workshop
10:30am to 12:30pm
Renfrew Park Community Centre, 2929 East 22nd Avenue, Vancouver 
BCGEU is proud to bring Diwali Fest to your community! Our Diwali Workshops are extremely popular with community centers  neighborhood houses and schools across Metro Vancouver, and this year we hope to bring them to Surrey as well. These workshops feature professional artists and facilitators leading workshops in rangoli design, diya lamp painting, Bollywood dancing, and mehndi hand painting.   Tickets: Nominal fee may be charged

Vancouver International Flamenco Festival - Public Forum
11am
Pepper SCOTIABANK DANCE CENTRE, 677 Davie Street, Vancouver
Guest Speaker: Spanish Flamenco Scholar ESTELA ZATANIA Moderator: Kaij. See website for more events. 

Vancouver Tea Festival - $5 (or $7 for 2 with Groupon)
11am - 5pm
Olympic Village, 1 Athletes Way, Vancouver, BC
Vancouver's inaugural tea festival at the Olympic Village on November 2, 2013!  Come explore the world of tea, interact with like-minded tea lovers, and taste dazzling examples of one of the world's most beloved beverages. Admission to festival sessions and demonstrations is free with festival admission, but seating is limited for all sessions and demos. All sessions/demos will be ticketed on a first-come, first-serve basis starting immediately upon the opening of the festival; limit of two tickets (sessions and demonstrations combined) per person.

DiwaliFest - Diwali Downtown - $5
3:00pm to 8:00pm
Roundhouse Community Centre, 181 Roundhouse Mews, Vancouver
Smuckers presents this year's main event: Diwali Downtown!   Diwali Downtown brings together the best of contemporary and classical Indian culture for the entire family. This year’s event will include over fifteen different music and dance performances, an Indian bazaar featuring South Asian crafts and food, and a room-sized rangoli!  We will wrap up the event with our big outdoor finale, sponsored by Patak's!  Tickets: Suggested donation at the door: $5 per person / $15 per family.

NerdFest III: A Night of Medieval Fantasy - $10 advance, $15 at door
7:30pm
254 East Hastings St Vancouver, B.C.
Aesir Promotions presents "NerdFest III: A Night of Medieval Fantasy"! We are pleased to offer businesses an invitation to be part of this fantasy convention that is happening on NOVEMBER 2, 2013 at the Rickshaw Theatre in Vancouver.  Doors open at 7:00 pm. Show starts at 7:30 pm. Additionally, NerdFest will be a golden opportunity for vendors to interact/outreach with members of the fantasy/gaming community. An Exclusive number of booths will be setup for vendors to sell and promote their goods and services throughout the entire evening. Buy advanced tickets here.

Sunday, November 3, 2013

DiwaliFest - Diwali Workshop
12:30pm to 2:30pm
Trout Lake Community Centre, 3360 Victoria Drive, Vancouver
BCGEU is proud to bring Diwali Fest to your community! Our Diwali Workshops are extremely popular with community centers  neighborhood houses and schools across Metro Vancouver, and this year we hope to bring them to Surrey as well. These workshops feature professional artists and facilitators leading workshops in rangoli design, diya lamp painting, Bollywood dancing, and mehndi hand painting.   Tickets: Nominal fee may be charged

Sprinkles!: Recipes and Ideas for Rainbowlicious Desserts by Jackie Alpers is fascinating a book. There are lots of ideas of how to use sprinkles in different ways and in ways you probably wouldn't think of doing. To be expected, it's a fun book with colourful pictures. It's great for inspiration for fun desserts!


 Lots of different types of sprinkles.

Some of the recipes were ok like these hot chocolate stir sticks. Other ones, I thought are better on paper than real life. Nice pictures though! Sprinkles have a tendency to liven up anything and everything.

I decided to coat some of my home made marshmallows in sprinkles...it wasn't a great idea...with these sprinkles anyways. Make sure you use plain vanilla marshmallows and high quality sprinkles. I bought these Cake Mate sprinkles at Safeway and...the "chocolate" tasted like some kind of Indian spice. =S It was pretty disgusting. But at least they look pretty!

Sprinkles! is $14.40 on Amazon.ca if you are interested.



Disclosure: I received a free copy of Sprinkles! to review. No other compensation was received. The opinions expressed in this post are entirely my own and have not been influenced in any other way.

Did you know you can easily make marshmallows at home?! I just recently found that out with the help of the book Marshmallow Madness! by Shauna Sever! This book is amazing. It has a puff cover and so many marshmallow recipes from Classic Vanilla to Margarita to Maple-Bacon Marshmallows. It also covers tricks for fancy marshmallow shapes, as well as some other recipes that incorporates marshmallows. All in all a great resource for someone wondering how marshmallows are made and try their hand at making it at home - like me!

It was bake night with my friends Miche and Winw! Marshmallows are made mainly from water, sugar, corn syrup, and gelatine. That's it! The rest is flavouring. Ignore the sprinkles for now, I'll get to that in a following up post. We decided to just start off with the Classic Vanilla Marshmallow recipe though it kind of turned into the Malibu Marshmallows but without the coconut rum by substituting some of the vanilla extract with coconut extract.

Boiled a corn syrup, sugar, water, salt mixture until it reached 240F and mixed it with the rest of the corn syrup and melted geletin.

It's amazing to watch the watery mixture turn into a thick pillowy consistency!

We used a regular baking pan because that's all I had but probably better if the pan was a little deeper.


Now, you have to wait about 6 hours for the marshmallows to set. I neglected to read this part of the recipe when I invited my friends over at 8pm. XD So we had to continue making the marshmallows the next day.

Meanwhile, Miche toasted some coconut bits on the stove to a beautiful golden brown colour. It smelled soooo good!

You are suppose to coat the finished marshmallow with a corn starch and icing sugar mixture so that it's not so sticky but here we are coating it with toasted coconut.

Phew! Winw said it was like a marshmallow sweatshop!

The finished product. They are SO DELICIOUS!

Marshmallow Madness! is a great and fun cook book and only costs $13.68 on Amazon.ca if you are interested in making your own marshmallows. Happy cooking!

Friday, October 25, 2013

Savour
Fri, Sat, Sun
Cooking demos at 12pm every day
Lonsdale Quay Market
Delight your senses at Savour,  Lonsdale Quay Market's food and beverage festival from October 24-27 2013. Explore the array of fine foods and experts who prepare them, from locally grown produce to imported delicacies.  Rediscover the taste of Lonsdale Quay Market with cooking demonstrations, guided Market taste tours, kids activities, contests and much more.  *All of our taste tours are now full. Please join us for live cooking demos in the Rotunda from 12:00 to 1:00pm every day. See our expert chefs in action and sample some of their delicious dishes. Schedule below. No registration required.  Cooking Demonstrations will take place on the following days and times: Friday, October 25th - 12:00pm - Sharky's Chophouse Saturday, October 26th- 12:00pm - Kosta, The Fish Monger & owner of the Salmon Shop Sunday, October 27th - 12:00pm - Shallaw Kadir, Top Chef North Shore Winner & owner of The Sandwich Shop

Xbox One Tour
4pm-8pm
BC Place, 777 Pacific Blvd Vancouver, BC
Xbox One is hitting the road with four decked out Xbox One trucks. Meet us at a Test Drive stop in one of the cities below and we'll put a controller in your hands, a game on the screen, and a spring in your step that'll carry you through to launch.

Haunted Village at the BVM - $14 adult, $9 children
6:00pm - 9:00pm Fri, Sat & Sun
Burnaby Village Museum 6501 Deer Lake Ave Burnaby BC
Come have fun with monsters, vampires, mummies and more! Witches will welcome you to explore the Village in the dark of the night.      Children - wear your costumes     Dance at the Witch's Ball on Main Street     See the latest styles in Witch's hats     Savour tasty toes at the Voodoo Cafe     Make a withdrawal at the Blood Bank     Enjoy the Circus Sideshow and ride the carousel

Saturday, October 26, 2013 

Bikram Yoga Commercial Drive 10 Year Anniversary
all day
1109 Commercial Drive, Vancouver
Party all day. Beverages & snacks will be served. All classes cancelled except 7:30am & 9:30am

Celebrate Science 2013! Make Science Fun! 
9:30 AM to 12:30 PM 
Beaty Biodiversity Museum - 2212 Main Mall - Vancouver, BC
Join us for a celebration of science --- an event for parents, teachers, writers, and librarians! Want to engage youth in science and math?  Why not use interesting books, simple hands-on activities, scientific collections, quests and above all make it fun!

Halloween Comicfest
Sat & Sun
partipating stores around the city
FREE mini and full-sized comics are going to be available during Halloween ComicFest. Your local comic book specialty shop is a great destination for the latest Halloween and horror pop-culture products and merchandise: from comics and graphic novels to costumes, toys and more! Plus, each shop has great Halloween events planned, so make sure you find your closest destination and come in and see what haunts your local comic book shop!

Knit City - $5
10am - 5pm Sat & Sun
Croatian Cultural Centre, 3250 Commercial Drive
Knit City is back for a second year! We had so much fun with you all last year that we couldn’t wait to do it again! Join us for another round of great workshops, demos, and fun! Meet awesome fibre enthusiasts, fatten up your stash, and learn new tips & tricks for your next knitting project. 

The Brick Games - $30
10:00am - 5:00pm
Langley Events Centre, 7888 - 200 Street Langley BC
Come and participate in the second LEGO Brick Games with MORE prizes and at a LARGER venue! It will include EXHIBITORS and more ENTERTAINMENT for the whole family. This year's event will raise money for the LEGO Foundation and Love Global Foundation.

Savour
Fri, Sat, Sun
Cooking demos at 12pm every day
Lonsdale Quay Market
Delight your senses at Savour,  Lonsdale Quay Market's food and beverage festival from October 24-27 2013. Explore the array of fine foods and experts who prepare them, from locally grown produce to imported delicacies.  Rediscover the taste of Lonsdale Quay Market with cooking demonstrations, guided Market taste tours, kids activities, contests and much more.  *All of our taste tours are now full. Please join us for live cooking demos in the Rotunda from 12:00 to 1:00pm every day. See our expert chefs in action and sample some of their delicious dishes. Schedule below. No registration required.  Cooking Demonstrations will take place on the following days and times: Friday, October 25th - 12:00pm - Sharky's Chophouse Saturday, October 26th- 12:00pm - Kosta, The Fish Monger & owner of the Salmon Shop Sunday, October 27th - 12:00pm - Shallaw Kadir, Top Chef North Shore Winner & owner of The Sandwich Shop  

Pie Baking Contest
2:00pm - 3:00pm 
River District Centre, 8683 Kerr Street, Vancouver
Calling all amateur bakers! Dig up your best pie recipe and fire up your oven, it’s time to get baking! River District’s Pie Baking Contest is back, and the competition is heating up!  Come join us and our panel of celebrity judges at River District Centre on Saturday, October 26 from 2:00 – 3:00pm and find out which pies rise to the top!

Thrill Vancouver 2013
4pm
Turntable Plaza, The Roundhouse Community Centre
It's close to midnight, and something evil's lurking.... in Vancouver! Calling all zombie dancers! It's time to dust off your dancing shoes, practice your Thrilling moves and get ready for Vancouver's annual Thriller Dance! Learn the dance online… grab your friends, your family, your neighbours… practice together then join us on Saturday October 26th for Thrill Vancouver!

Haunted Village at the BVM - $14 adult, $9 children
6:00pm - 9:00pm Fri, Sat & Sun
Burnaby Village Museum 6501 Deer Lake Ave Burnaby BC
Come have fun with monsters, vampires, mummies and more! Witches will welcome you to explore the Village in the dark of the night.      Children - wear your costumes     Dance at the Witch's Ball on Main Street     See the latest styles in Witch's hats     Savour tasty toes at the Voodoo Cafe     Make a withdrawal at the Blood Bank     Enjoy the Circus Sideshow and ride the carousel

Parade of Lost Souls
6:30pm - 9:30pm
location to be revealed, East Vancouver
This beloved East Vancouver event, whose heartbeat is a community-driven parade inspired by Dia de Muertos (The Day of the Dead), and similar traditions that occur all over the world, was created by Paula Jardine and Public Dreams over 20 years ago. In recent years, the parade has traveled around East Vancouver featuring performance of all sorts, interactive art installations, and all of YOU Lost Souls, sharing in and creating this enchanting experience. This transitional year aims to be a smaller and cozier event, an imitate affair – after all, magical things come in small packages.

Sunday, October 27, 2013

Halloween Comicfest
Sat & Sun
partipating stores around the city
FREE mini and full-sized comics are going to be available during Halloween ComicFest. Your local comic book specialty shop is a great destination for the latest Halloween and horror pop-culture products and merchandise: from comics and graphic novels to costumes, toys and more! Plus, each shop has great Halloween events planned, so make sure you find your closest destination and come in and see what haunts your local comic book shop! 

Savour
Fri, Sat, Sun
Cooking demos at 12pm every day
Lonsdale Quay Market
Delight your senses at Savour,  Lonsdale Quay Market's food and beverage festival from October 24-27 2013. Explore the array of fine foods and experts who prepare them, from locally grown produce to imported delicacies.  Rediscover the taste of Lonsdale Quay Market with cooking demonstrations, guided Market taste tours, kids activities, contests and much more.  *All of our taste tours are now full. Please join us for live cooking demos in the Rotunda from 12:00 to 1:00pm every day. See our expert chefs in action and sample some of their delicious dishes. Schedule below. No registration required.  Cooking Demonstrations will take place on the following days and times: Friday, October 25th - 12:00pm - Sharky's Chophouse Saturday, October 26th- 12:00pm - Kosta, The Fish Monger & owner of the Salmon Shop Sunday, October 27th - 12:00pm - Shallaw Kadir, Top Chef North Shore Winner & owner of The Sandwich Shop

Knit City - $5
10am - 5pm Sat & Sun
Croatian Cultural Centre, 3250 Commercial Drive
Knit City is back for a second year! We had so much fun with you all last year that we couldn’t wait to do it again! Join us for another round of great workshops, demos, and fun! Meet awesome fibre enthusiasts, fatten up your stash, and learn new tips & tricks for your next knitting project.

Sustaining Our World
12pm - 5pm
7pm - 9pm -  the Clean Bin Project movie
Britannia Community Centre, 1661 Napier Street, Vancouver
Help us wrap up Waste Reduction Week by visiting our Sustainability Fair to celebrate all the amazing environmentally focused work done in our neighbourhood and meet people from local "green" organizations. Visit the Britannia Green Team Blog.  Sign up for some fun family adventure - the 2nd Annual Race to Zero Waste. Contact Kathy to be part of the event.

Haunted Village at the BVM - $14 adult, $9 children
6:00pm - 9:00pm Fri, Sat & Sun
Burnaby Village Museum 6501 Deer Lake Ave Burnaby BC
Come have fun with monsters, vampires, mummies and more! Witches will welcome you to explore the Village in the dark of the night.      Children - wear your costumes     Dance at the Witch's Ball on Main Street     See the latest styles in Witch's hats     Savour tasty toes at the Voodoo Cafe     Make a withdrawal at the Blood Bank     Enjoy the Circus Sideshow and ride the carousel

The Xbox One is less than a month away from launch but gamers can give the console a test drive early! Xbox One Truck is in Vancouver for two days and I swung by before work this morning to give it a go. Players can try out the games Forza 5 or Killer Instinct.


I played a game of Forza 5 before leaving. It's hard to tell what I think of the console without sinking that much time into it. And there's no game to demonstrate the the improved Kinect. I mean, it's nice. The controller felt nice in my small hands but again hard to tell if I'll get hand cramps after long periods of play. XD The Xbox One is an impressive machine, though I'm wondering if I will use all the extra new TV and social features they are advertising. I'm pretty sure I'm going to get the console in the future, just not on launch day.

I waited for this concert for what seemed like forever. Bought the tickets on presale all the way back in March and have been counting down the days since! And on Monday, October 21st, P!nk was finally here! Was it worth the wait? A resounding YES! One of the best concerts I've ever been to!

The opener was New Politics. Their set wasn't too bad. I liked a fair bit of their songs.

P!nk's concert started with this ringleader guy wandering around tormenting delighting the audience with his antics. He was funny and weird! He kind of licked a guy's bald head. XD

The Truth About Love was the started off the concert with a bang. It was weird to hear P!nk's voice coming out of the ringleader's mouth!


He was going to chose a member of the audience to join him on stage to open their eyes to the truth about love.

And that person turned out to be P!nk! She was "in the audience" on screen! Hahaha she's so fun!

It's been 11 years since the last time she was in Vancouver. She sung a lot of her hits from older to newer ones and I loved them all! Clean versions of her songs because she says she's a mother now. lol 5 years ago, she'd still drop the f-bomb and 5 years in the future probably but right now she doesn't. =)



P!nk is amazing. She does acrobats while singing!

Hahaha P!nk wasn't the only one to do some acrobatics. The ringleader came out dressed out as cupid complete with diaper! Hilarious!



Apparently, P!nk likes to learn something new each tour. Last time it was guitar and this time it was piano. She played The Great Escape for us.





She flew above the audience during her explosive performance of So What. It was so awesome!
 (I'm uploading the clip I took of this sequence onto Youtube. Check back later.)

P!nk sung the beautiful Glitter in the Air to end the concert. She's an amazing artist and performer and I would not hesitate to go to her concert again. Let's hope it's not going to be another 11 years before coming back to Vancouver!

Last Friday night, the Vancouver Aquarium was host to over 500 foodies and wine lovers in the annual Toast to the Coast fundraising event. Funds raised went in support of the Aquarium's conservation and education programs. Guests enjoyed food from leading Ocean Wise Restaurants and sampled the best of B.C.’s local wines with live music from DJ Dana Baird.   


The Aquarium has gone through a renovation since last time I came here! The entrance is now on the other side!




Ocean Wise restaurants that participated in this event were: The August Jack, Delta Hotels & Resorts, Louis Gervais Fine Foods & Catering, Chef Rob Walker from Vintage Hospitality, Rocky Mountain Flatbread Company, Shangri-la Hotel Vancouver, The Sonora Room at Burrowing Owl Estate Winery, Szechuan Chongqing Seafood Restaurant, Tableau Bar Bistro, Tuc Craft Kitchen, Vancouver Aquarium Catering and Yew Seafood + Bar. Other specialty foods came from Fresh St. Market, Terra Breads, Soirette Macarons & Tea and XOXOLAT. 











DJ Dana Baird spinning tunes.

Besides, the silent auction, a spin to win wheel was set up in the gallery; $20 per spin and you get a chance to win some pearl earrings, t-shirt or tickets to the aquarium.

I didn't win but ended up helping this super cute guy! And that makes me feel good. =)

Downstairs was the desserts.


 We were delighted by the super cute cookies made by Soirette Macarons & Tea!










It was also cool to see all the different jellyfish on exhibit at the Aquarium. I was fascinated by the upside down jelly!


These jellyfish models are life sized! Humongous!