Granville Island's 10th annual Winterruption Festival happened last Saturday and one of the activities was the David Suzuki Foundation & SeaChoice seafood walking tour.

The first stop our guide led us to was to the lockers - where the fishermen keep their equipment. We were introduced to Skipper Otto's Community Supported Fishery (CSF), which is an organization that connects local fishermen directly to the consumer. How it works is that CSF members buy in at the beginning of the season and receive a share of premium, wild, local, and sustainably caught seafood. Using this model ensures that independent, small-scale harvesters can fish using the low impact practices to provide sustainably caught seafood; us as the consumer will have the confidence in knowing how, when, where and who caught their fish.

Membership to the CSF is $68 (or $38 if you join by Feb 28 for early bird rate) and then you can purchase credit (as little as $100) to trade for any of the CSF's products. They include: whole salmon (sockeye, spring, chum, and pink); sashimi grade salmon fillets (all species); a variety of smoked, candied, and canned salmon products; sashimi grade tuna loins; halibut fillets; spot prawns, and Dungeness crab. Members will then receive notifications on where and when they can pick up their fish at the Fisherman's wharf or other designated places around the lower mainland.

Next to Skipper Otto's was Organic Ocean. They are independent fishermen who believed in ocean-friendly, sustainable and responsible harvesting practices before it became "popular". They believe in quality over quantity and they supply many restaurants around Vancouver, which include Blue Water Cafe, Raincity Grill, Fuel, Campagnolo, and Vij’s. Did you know that seafood has seasons as well? Something may be sustainable in one season may not be suitable to harvest in another part of the year. This is something Organic Ocean is trying to get restaurants to understand - many have set menus and require a type of seafood year round, which is not possible from a ocean-friendly perspective.

After listening to Skipper Otto and Organic Ocean, we visited some retail stores - The Lobster Man and their neighbour, Finest At Sea.

As their name implies, The Lobster Man sells lobsters, jet flown daily from Nova Scotia! Did you know that lobsters used to be fed to prisoners? They were considered a garbage food - cockroaches of the sea.

The Lobster Man also sells fresh oysters (for shucking yourself), clams, mussels and other shellfish. They have quite a selection of oysters so you'll be sure to be able find one you like!

They are pretty popular because while we were inside, several people came in to buy shellfish.

Finest At Sea is a provider of the finest quality seafood on the West Coast and again their products are caught through sustainable fishing practices. They also have an in-house smoker.

I bought some of the Candied Salmon Nuggets and they were delicious. I couldn't stop and ate them all while we were standing outside. Hahah. We were also offered a sample of their Candied Sablefish, which was even more delicious! Yum!

 Our last stop on the walking tour was in the Granville Island Public Market - Seafood City!

The vendor introduced us to what they carry; they specialize in wide selection of local in-season seafood but they also carry large amount of specialty products from around the world. If you are looking for something rare, check them first!


He added celery for crunch, pepper for a little heat, a little Panko (Japanese-style bread crumbs) for texture and egg white for binding it all together. Chef Ian said that proper crab cakes should fall apart in your mouth. Many restaurants add more binding agents - egg, breadcrumbs - so they can use less crab! O=

The annual BC Home + Garden Show was held at BC Place last week. Here are some interesting things I saw there.






 This is my sort of decor! Love it all.



Cuteness at BC SPCA's Million Acts of Kindness booth. Visit millionacts.ca to learn more.

 Free beer samples.




Wear Your 'Hood Designs. Why do the guys' t-shirt designs look so much cooler? All the womens' have are hearts!

Gear deer

Linwood Cardinal Cabin

BC Home + Garden Show Main Stage

It's been a while since I seen Trevor Bird of Fable Restaurant. He has a full beard now! I almost didn't recognize him!

He taught the audience how to properly cook salmon - basically a cooking it slowly under a low temperature to avoid overcook it. And what do I do a day afterwards? I overcooked it. LOL

Last day of Food Truck February! Fresh, local, organic foods & crafts. 60+ vendors, hot food, music! Rain or Shine! Food Truck February! February is here and we’ve double the number of food trucks on-site all month long. We've asked the food trucks to create a NEW Market Menu item using market products from their fellow vendors and market shoppers (that’s you!) will decide who does it best. Don’t forget to vote every week - see us at the information tent for the official voting!

Seedy Saturday - by donation
Saturday, 10 am - 4 pm
Floral Hall, VanDusen Botanical Garden, 5251 Oak St, Vancouver, BC V6M 4H1
A celebration of heritage varieties and organic gardening, featuring more than 30 seed and plant vendors, free lectures, display and information booths, used books sale, food, and kids activities. This year's keynote speaker will be Sharon Hanna, award-winning author of The Book of Kale & Friends.

Soil and Manure Sale
Saturday, 10 a.m. - 3 p.m. 
VanDusen parking lot off 37th Avenue near the west end exit
Products: Red Label Topsoil from high grade organics and/or Brown Label Manure: an essential organic mix which will stimulate and multiply the natural organisms of your soil.

Vancouver Pet Lover Show - $12
Friday 3:00 pm - 8:00 pm Saturday 10:00 am - 6:00 pm Sunday 10:00 am - 5:00 pm
TRADEX 1190 Cornell Street Abbotsford, BC V2T 6H5
Vancouver Pet Lover Show celebrates animal lovers from the Vancouver area and the lower mainland. Now doubled in size to 120,000 sq.ft. of exhibits, features and fun! Informative seminars and exhibits by top professionals, rabbit and dog agility shows, raptor shows, TICA affiliated cat show, dog fashion show, horse clinics, and K9 detection demonstrations are just a few of the attractions. Bring the whole family and come out to the Abbotsford Tradex!

HWKRS MRKT
Saturday, February 28, 2015 – Sunday, March 1, 2015 5:00pm
The Independent, 188 Kingsway Vancouver, BC, V5T 3J2 
Ticket price includes Edible Bug Experience & Tasting by Chef David George Gordon & By purchasing a ticket you are supporting the development of local food entrepreneurship in Canada and helping to give new food makers a chance to successfully launch, learn and grow. We also have amazing live bands and DJs playing for you all night!

Sunday, March 1, 2015

Celebrity chef and TV food personality Alton Brown came to Vancouver on Friday, Feb 20th, 2015 to give Vancouverites a spectacular food show of epic proportions! Vancouver was part of his Alton Brown Live: Edible Inevitable Tour. He also ate his way around Vancouver prior to the show and hosted a flash signing (coordinates were posted on a Post-It Note via Twitter). A superfan who went to the signing had him sign her arm and had it tattooed after! She was lucky to be chosen to go on stage for one of the cooking portions of the show. It was awesome!

Prior to the show start, we were treated to a gaseous symphony performed by puppet yeast. Alton Brown is so cool. He started the show by introduced his obsession with Post-It Notes and how he has a wall of Post-Its of his thoughts and ideas. Basically this live show is everything that he wanted but can't show on TV. He had a lot of great stories involving chicken fingers among other things!

Of course, with Alton Brown, there has to be cooking. Experimental cooking that is! Ice cream and pizza were on the menu! Both were made in colossal contraptions he conjured up in that genius mind of his and built for his show!

He is known to a lot of fans as a food scientist but did you know he also sings? Haha, he performed a whole bunch of food songs that he wrote himself. So funny! The whole show was very funny and I loved every bit of it.

From @AltonBrown on Twitter

Alton Brown took a photo of the audience in the Orpheum Theatre and posted it up on to Twitter. I'm somewhere to the right. Haha.

Had an awesome time and really glad I ended up going!