Mashed Thoughts: April 2015

Friday, May 1st, 2015

Health, Sports & Lifestyle Expo
Thursday, April 30 – 5 to 8pm
Friday, May 1 – 11am to 8pm
Saturday, May 2 – 10am to 6pm
Vancouver Convention Centre West, 1055 Canada Place Vancouver, BC
The Health, Sports & Lifestyle Expo launches BMO Vancouver Marathon weekend. It boasts the latest and greatest products and services from the sporting, leisure and health world. The Expo is FREE to participants, visitors and local enthusiasts.

Shipyards Night Market
Friday Nights 5-10pm - 2015 from May 1st to Sept 25th
Shipbuilders' Square, 138 Victory Ship Way V7L 0B1 North Vancouver
You won't want to miss this years Shipbuilders' Night Market on Friday Nights! Come down for great food, art, music, entertainment and shopping. The festivities in the Square kick off at 5pm every Friday night all summer long! On the Shipbuilders' Stage there is live music going until 10pm, showcasing talent from all over BC. The Friday Night Market also includes a Beer Garden that features local craft beer and organic Betty's Vodka Ice Tea!

EAT! Vancouver Food + Cooking Festival - $18 + tax
Friday, 2pm - 9pm,
Sat, 10am - 9pm,
Sun 10 - 5pm
BC Place (777 Pacific Blvd, Vancouver)
The 2015 EAT! Vancouver Food + Cooking Festival is a week-long festival taking place throughout downtown Vancouver from April 26th to May 3rd showcasing the city’s extraordinary culinary culture. EAT! Vancouver attracts Canada’s culinary stars, food producers and restaurants, from Vancouver, North America and beyond. Consumers, from across North America, will come to the EAT! Vancouver Food + Cooking Festival to participate in Vancouver’s vibrant food culture and experience great food from around the world.

Commercial Drive Street Party
Friday, 6:00pm - 9:00pm
Grandview Park, 1657 Charles Street (@ Commercial Drive), Vancouver
First ever Commercial Drive Street Party. Part of the annual Vancouver Anti-Capitalist May Day celebrations. Loud music, dancing, free BBQ. At 8:30pm, we will turn up the speakers while we wait for stragglers to arrive, and at 9pm, we will take to the streets for a night of revelry.

Live Concert and Food Fair
Friday, 7:00pm
Italian Cultural Centre, 3075 Slocan Street, Vancouver BC
Free concert, followed by a food fair & food and wine tasting of typical products of Puglia. Special Apulian dishes prepared by Chef Prof. Giacomo Giancaspro and his student.

Saturday, May 2nd, 2015

Free Comic Book Day 2015
your local comicbook store
Saturday May 2nd! Celebrate and discover the amazing world of comic books on Free Comic Book Day! Taking place annually on the first Saturday in May, Free Comic Book Day is a single day when participating comic book specialty shops across North America and around the world give away comic books absolutely free to anyone who comes into their shops!

South Delta Garden Club Plant Sale
Sat. May 2, 9:00 - 2:00 pm
5800 Mountain View Blvd., Ladner
South Delta Garden Club's annual Plant Sale & fundraiser for the Delta Hospital Extended Care gardens. An extensive variety of foliage & flower perennials, shrubs, ground covers, grasses, mixed containers plus 40 varieties of tomato plants. Vendors, tool sharpening for a small fee, tea & treats. Admission is free.

LDFotoCon Consumer Photography Show
Saturday, 9am - 5pm
525 West Broadway Vancouver, BC
LDFotocon by London Drugs is bringing together expert Photographers and representatives from the top manufacturers to share their expertise, techniques and knowledge. In addition, London Drugs’ own team of experts will take the mystery and confusion out of the latest digital camera. Let them show you how easy it is to capture images that will be treasured for a lifetime. See schedule and register online.

Bird Week Opening Walk
Saturday, 10am - 12pm
River District Vancouver, 8683 Kerr Street, Vancouver, BC
Join biologist Robyn Worcester for a closer look at birds living in the River District community in Vancouver. This growing community along the Fraser River has been planned with sustainability and songbird habitat in mind. Come explore this urban interface from a birds’ perspective and learn more about the species that have adopted the neighborhood.

125th Anniversary of the Steveston Post Office
Saturday, 10am - 1pm
Steveston Museum Park, 3811 Moncton Street, Steveston
Join us on May 2, 2015 to celebrate the 125th anniversary of the Steveston Post Office. Festivities are from 10am – 1pm and include live entertainment, prizes and give-aways, free refreshments and postal exhibits.

Got Craft? Spring Edition - $3
10:00 am to 5:00 pm, Saturday, May 2nd and Sunday, May 3rd, 2015
Maritime Labour Centre 1880 Triumph Street, Vancouver, BC
Got Craft? aims to bring together a community that fosters handmade and D.I.Y. culture. Featuring 75+ handmade designers, craft workshops, tasty treats, music, and an average attendance of over 5500 a year. First 50 people each day get a free swag bag!

EAT! Vancouver Food + Cooking Festival - $18 + tax
Friday, 2pm - 9pm,
Sat, 10am - 9pm,
Sun 10 - 5pm
BC Place (777 Pacific Blvd, Vancouver)
The 2015 EAT! Vancouver Food + Cooking Festival is a week-long festival taking place throughout downtown Vancouver from April 26th to May 3rd showcasing the city’s extraordinary culinary culture. EAT! Vancouver attracts Canada’s culinary stars, food producers and restaurants, from Vancouver, North America and beyond. Consumers, from across North America, will come to the EAT! Vancouver Food + Cooking Festival to participate in Vancouver’s vibrant food culture and experience great food from around the world.

Health, Sports & Lifestyle Expo
Thursday, April 30 – 5 to 8pm
Friday, May 1 – 11am to 8pm
Saturday, May 2 – 10am to 6pm
Vancouver Convention Centre West, 1055 Canada Place Vancouver, BC
The Health, Sports & Lifestyle Expo launches BMO Vancouver Marathon weekend. It boasts the latest and greatest products and services from the sporting, leisure and health world. The Expo is FREE to participants, visitors and local enthusiasts.

Vancity Member Day at Science World
Saturday, 10am - 6pm
TELUS World of Science, 1455 Quebec Street Vancouver, BC
In celebration of Earth Day (4/22), the first 422 Vancity members will get in for free. Additional members and their guests receive 50% off admission. Present your Vancity MEMBER CARD® debit card or Vancity enviro™ Visa* (or other form of membership verification) at Science World’s Guest Services desk and the first 422 Vancity members get in for free. Additional members and their guests gain entrance at half-off - a savings of $11.25 on adult admission!

GWCPC Crime on the Drive Event
Saturday, 11am - 3pm
1st & Commerical Dr. Vancouver
Play sleuth by visiting participating retail stores to discover what the feathered filcher pilfered. The stores can be identified by bird tracks on the sidewalk and the Crow Poster in the window. Store staff will explain what was taken and put a sticker on your card. Fill out what was taken at that store. When you have identified eight (8) stolen items and collected eight stickers, return the card to the CPC office. Each completed card will receive a small prize and will be entered into a draw for an adult or child grand prize. Free anniversary cake for all at the GWCPC.

Sunday, May 3rd, 2015

Street Festival
SUNDAY, MAY 3 | 8:30AM – 2:30PM
Near the BMO Vancouver Marathon Finish Line, runners, supporters and spectators can find entertainment, Kids’ Zone, food sampling as Hastings Street turns into a family-friendly Street Festival on race day. The Street Festival builds on the spirit of celebration that Vancouverites experienced during the Olympics.

Rhododendron Festival
Sunday, 10am - 3pm
Shadbolt Centre for the Arts, 6450 Deer Lake Avenue, Burnaby, BC
This charming festival produced by the City of Burnaby in collaboration with the Burnaby Rhododendron & Gardens Society, promotes the long-term sustainable, ecological health of our communities. It presents a very unique venue for both horticulture and arts groups. Festival highlights include variety entertainment, rovers, mini-workshops, horticultural and nature tours, plant sales, and interactive arts activities. A silent auction, artisan, and pottery sales are always crowd-pleasing favourites at this fun-filled festival!

Got Craft? Spring Edition - $3
10:00 am to 5:00 pm, Saturday, May 2nd and Sunday, May 3rd, 2015
Maritime Labour Centre 1880 Triumph Street, Vancouver, BC
Got Craft? aims to bring together a community that fosters handmade and D.I.Y. culture. Featuring 75+ handmade designers, craft workshops, tasty treats, music, and an average attendance of over 5500 a year. First 50 people each day get a free swag bag!

EAT! Vancouver Food + Cooking Festival - $18 + tax
Friday, 2pm - 9pm,
Sat, 10am - 9pm,
Sun 10 - 5pm
BC Place (777 Pacific Blvd, Vancouver)
The 2015 EAT! Vancouver Food + Cooking Festival is a week-long festival taking place throughout downtown Vancouver from April 26th to May 3rd showcasing the city’s extraordinary culinary culture. EAT! Vancouver attracts Canada’s culinary stars, food producers and restaurants, from Vancouver, North America and beyond. Consumers, from across North America, will come to the EAT! Vancouver Food + Cooking Festival to participate in Vancouver’s vibrant food culture and experience great food from around the world.

Drawing To Save Birda 1/4
Sunday, 3pm - 5pm
181 Roundhouse Mews, Vancouver, BC
Throughout North America, approximately 100 million to 1 billion migratory and endemic birds are killed each year from collision with glass, including commercial buildings and private homes. It’s estimated that one of every two birds that hit a window will succumb to its injuries. This workshop aims to show how participants can take actions into saving bird from hitting windows through the activity of drawing.

EATalian was a cooking demo event held at the Urban Fare Yaletown location over two days, Saturday, April 11th and Sunday, April 12th. We joined three local chefs in four hour-long interactive cooking demos.

Tickets to the event were $10 for one demo or $30 for all four. All the demos included a tasting as well. All proceeds went towards the BC Children's Hospital. Food and helping charity at the same time? Sign me up! It was a win-win experience!

An area in the centre of the store was partitioned off for the demo, which had room for 20 people per session.

The first demo was with local chef, Chef David Robertson of the Dirty Apron Cooking School & Delicatessen and author of the bestselling cookbook, Dirty Apron Cookbook. Chef David demonstrated how to make a Classic Italian Osso Buco with Garlic & Asiago Polenta. All attendees received the recipes so we could recreate them at home. While he cooked the delicious smelling dish before our eyes, he also gave us useful tips to help us in the kitchen.

Tip: Keep all vegetable scraps (Even the onion peels!) in a zip lock bag in fridge. Once it's full, you can make vegetable stock at home!

Tip: Grapeseed oil is a high temp cooking oil and has no odour! No more stinky home. Olive oil should only be used for low to medium heat.

Tip: Stainless steel and cold water gets rid of onion/garlic smell from your fingers - rub your sink or faucet!

This is a tip that is repeated consistently from chef to chef to chef:

Tip: Don't use "cooking" wine but you don't need to buy a $50 bottle either. Use something that you'd drink ordinarily.

While Chef David was up demoing the dish for us, his colleague was busy preparing 20 smaller plates of the same dish for the hungry attendees! The veal was really tender and the sauce was so delicious! So much flavour!

After the demo, Chef David was autographing cookbooks for those who requested it. $1 of each sale of the cookbook was donated to BC Children's Hospital. Chef David is also going on tour to promote the launch of his cookbook in the US. It is already a bestseller in Canada and also recently won 1st place for design in the Alcuin Society Book Design Awards!

The second demo was by Chef Colin Aspinall from HillsFoods, which also supplies exotic meats at Urban Fare. He showed us how to make Wild Boar Sugo with Rustic Pasta. What is sugo? It is essence, flavour - sauce with lots of flavour.

Wild boar has more fat than pork, which adds more flavour.

Tip: To get a nice caramelization on the pork, don't stir so much. This tip extends to a lot of other foods as well; leave the food to cook and leave it alone!

The dish was amazing! It was very big on flavour! One of the reason it tasted that good was because the amazing sauce was complimented with a great pasta.

Artisan pasta usually as a rough edge to make the sauce stick. Rusticell pasta was slowly dried so retains moisture, therefore you don't need to use as much as a conventional cheap pasta to get the same volume. It's good to remember that an average tasting pasta can bring down a great tasting sauce and vice-versa.

Besides pasta, olive oil was also talked about. Did you know, next to currency, olive oil is the most counterfeited product in the world? A good olive oil shouldn't go rancid. If it does, it's probably because there were other types of oils mixed in! Gasp!

What's this? Champagne glasses? We took a little break in the middle of the demos to savour some bubbly.

Val D'oca Prosecco. It's a great summer wine - good for sipping.

Chef David Robertson returned to show us how easy it is to make homemade pasta. The main difference between dried and fresh pasta is that dried uses water while fresh uses egg.

He made us a delicious arugula & goat cheese ravioli with brown butter sage sauce. To make brown butter, heat butter over high heat and listen for the crackling. Once the crackling stops, BAM! You have brown butter!

Tip: You can make brown butter ahead of time and keep it in a fridge for a month.

The last demo, is of course a dessert! Chef Takashi Mizukami subbed in for Chef Kat Tuason on Sunday. He is also from Dirty Apron Cooking School.

Tip: Don't crack an egg on the edge of a bowl; crack it on the counter or a flat surface so that you don't get any egg shells in and also cracks straighter.

Chef Takashi made this beautiful frangelico & red wine poached pear tart with muscat sabayon. Heavenly was the only word to describe it.

This event raised about $1040 for BC Children's Hospital! Attendees left the event bellies full and feeling happy about having helped a good cause. I hope Urban Fare does more of these cooking events!

Friday, April 24, 2015

Saturday, April 25, 2015

CANstruction Vancouver
April 24th - May 8th
Four Seasons Hotel, The Pendulum Art Gallery and the Rotunda at Pacific Centre
Canstruction Vancouver is an annual design and build competitions that takes place in over 160 cities world wide. Teams of architects, engineers, designers and schools get together to CANstruct fantastic, giant sized sculptures made entirely out of canned food. This year's theme is FACT OR FICTION.

Ocean Open House
Saturday, 10am
1415 Johnston Street, V6H 3R9
Have you ever wanted to honk one of those horns from the inside of a concrete truck? Or how about climb up into the cab of North America’s largest concrete mixer truck? The Ocean Construction Supplies Open House is your opportunity to fulfill these desires! On Saturday, April 25, Ocean will be opening its doors to the public for their 17th Annual Open House. There will be interactive displays, prizes, and tours. Learn about the many uses of concrete, see the history of the Granville Island location with vintage trucks and photographs, and find out why Ocean is the industry leader in environmental accomplishments. Rain or shine, it promises to be a blast!

OWL Spring Open House
Saturday & Sunday, 10am - 3pm
O.W.L. Orphaned Wildlife Rehabilitation Society 3800 72nd Street, Delta, BC V4K 3N2
April 25 & 26 OWL is having the Semi annual Spring Open House which is one of our major fundraisers to help continue the work we do. Up to %70 of our facility not normally seen will be open to see the rehabilitation process. We will have many other local community environmental groups and interactive presentations. A truly great family event, and wonderful photography opportunities.

East Side Flea - $2
Saturday, 10am - 4pm
Wise Hall, 1882 Adanac St. (@Victoria)
Just under 40 local vendors selected for goods we ourselves would want to buy or see at the market, whether vintage, new, used, or handmade! * cool vintage clothing & collectables * household goods * vinyl records * rarities & memorabilia * posters, paper goods & art * small furniture * handcrafted & vintage jewelry * succulents & plants * natural locally-made body care * quality handmade items * local small businesses * your friends & neighbours selling! *

Party for the Planet
Saturday, 10:00am to 6:00pm
The Plaza at City Hall, 13450 104th Avenue, Surrey, B.C., V3T 1V8
Join the largest Earth Day celebration in BC on Saturday, April 25, 2015. Party for the Planet is a top-quality FREE, family-friendly event produced by the City of Surrey. Celebrate the environment and learn all the ways you can create a sustainable future. Live music, entertainment, tree sale, booths and exhibits.

Earth Day Celebration at Everett Crowley Park
Saturday, 11am - 3pm
Everett Crowley Park, Entrance off Kerr Rd. near E. 64th Ave. (3 blocks south of Champlain Mall) Help plant 1,000 native trees. Live entertainment, Family fun, environmental education and helping with the long-term reforestation of Vancouver's 5th largest Park.

Keep Vancouver Spectacular 20th Anniversary Celebration
Saturday, 12pm - 2pm
Vancouver Art Gallery, north plaza, 750 Hornby Street Vancouver
Join hundreds of KVS volunteers in a family fun-filled 20th anniversary party at the Vancouver Art Gallery.

Kerrisdale Carnival Days
Friday, Saturday, 12pm - 4pm
Sunday, 10pm parade
Community parage at 10am on Apr 25th along West 41st between Maple and Larch Streets. Free events for the entire family, music, clowns, face painting, rides and amazing sidewalk sales.

Got Craft? Pop-Up at West Elm
Saturday, 12pm - 5pm
West Elm Market (2915 Granville Street, Vancouver)
West Elm (2947 Granville Street, Vancouver)
Got Craft? will be popping back up at West Elm and West Elm Marke featuring five Got Craft? spring vendors: LanaBetty Designs, East Van Light, Foe and Dear, Reclaimed Print Co, and Got Craft?

Sunday, April 26, 2015

The chef from Guu Izakaya and teacher at TKC Japanese Gourmet Kitchen was giving cooking lessons during the Sukura Days Japan Fair at VanDusen Garden.

Always up for a chance to learn how to cook, I sat down for the class. It was actually an hour long and we learned how to make 3 types of Japanese-style soup without powder soup stock. Quick and easy! Here is what I learned.

First we learned what the elements of tastes were and the most important element that gives you a very tasty soup - Umami.

Mix is 2 or more types of umami together

Umami means very tasty, delicious and consists of 3 types:

Glutamate
- vegetables, kombu, tomatoes, onions, chinese cabbage, cheese, etc
Inosinate
- meat and fish
Guanylate
- mushrooms

Mixing 2 or more of the three types of umami increases the deliciousness 10 times more!

Don't Forget the Salt

The key to a good soup is SALT. 1% salt level in soup is the best percentage. But the ingredients also add salt to the soup and evaporation increases the percentage so aim for 0.5 to 0.6% - that's about 2 -3 teaspoons in 5 cups of water (2L).

Chef showed us how to make a Vegatable soup, Chicken and Anchovies Soup and Japanese DASHI soup. One common ingredient in them all is kelp (KOMBU).

Vegatable Soup
- chop up and mix in Water, Sake, kelp, mushroom, onion, carrots, burdock, chinese cabbage, ginger, salt, soy sauce and bring to boil
- top off with NORI (seaweed) and sesame seeds

Chicken and Anchovies Soup
- marinate 3 pieces of chicken thighs in 3 tblsp of sake, salt, sugar for a 5 min
- chop and mix in water, garlic, dried anchovies, kelp, tblsp of rice, onion, and chicken
- bring to boil

Japanese DASHI Soup
- mix in water, bonito flakes, Kelp, green onion, salt, soy sauce, tofu, yuzu
- bring to a soft boil and take out the kelp (don't want the kelp to overpower the taste of the bonito)

I went home armed with my newfound knowledge, I attempted to recreate one of the recipes. Except I didn't bring my ingredient list and missed some others. So I ended up mixing things - chicken bones, chinese cabbage, enoki mushrooms, king oyster mushroom, carrots, onions, ginger, garlic, rice, salt and sugar - it actually turned out pretty well! Success!

It was a fun cooking class and I enjoyed learning about Japanese style cooking. The rest of the Sukura Days Japan Fair was fun too. There were food stalls, performances, workshops and more!

There were still a couple of flowering cherry trees despite many of them flowering a couple of weeks early this year due to warm weather. They were beautiful!

Traveling usually means turning off mobile data on my phone so I won't be charged an arm and a leg for roaming fees by my phone company. That need not happen anymore - I have found a solution to keeping me connected while in the US: Roam Mobility, a prepaid wireless service for Canadians traveling to the states.

There are 3 daily plans for USA roaming starting at only $1.95 per day:

Text+Data CA$1.95 per day
Talk+Text CA$2.95 per day
Talk+Text+Data CA$3.95 per day

I flew to Los Angeles in the first week of April and signed up for the Talk+Text+Data plan for 8 days, which included unlimited calls to Canada and the US. The great thing about Roam Mobility is that you get all your data up front. You get 400MB of data for each day purchased, so 3.2 GB was plenty for an 8 day trip!

To use Roam Mobility, you will need:

Unlocked mobile phone, and
Roam Mobility SIM card, which can be bought online or at many local retailers such as London Drugs, Superstore, 7 Eleven and Staples. It costs $9.95 and looks like this:

I like how the SIM comes with an "adaptor", which allows you to use it in all type of phones!

It is very easy to set up the SIM to work with your current phone. You just need to activate your SIM card online, which then generates a US phone number for your use. What was weird was a stranger’s name showed up in caller ID. The number must have been in use previously. This certainly confused my relatives when I called them! But this was a minor hiccup.

Prior to traveling, select the plan you want and the number of days you need service for, including the start date. When you are in the US, pop in the SIM and you will automatically be connected directly to Roam Mobility's US network thereby eliminating any roaming fees! Hurray!

When I was in Los Angeles, I was relying solely on mobile data as the Wi-Fi on my mobile device was not working at all. Roam Mobility made it easy to check email, make updates on my social media accounts and access apps like Uber and Google maps. If it weren't for Roam Mobility, I wouldn't have been able to call for an Uber and would have been stranded at Disneyland...not that being stranded at Disneyland would be so bad! I’m very dependent on data day to day, especially when traveling out of the country. How else was I supposed to find how to walk from the hotel to the nearest attraction? Roam Mobility's coverage was excellent. I was even able to get a signal when I went to Paso Robles for a wedding, farther out in California.

Roam Mobility was very easy to use and such a convenience since you can do everything yourself, without having to add upgrades to your existing phone plan. Phones are also available to buy for $49.95 if you don’t have an unlocked phone.

Are you traveling to the US soon? Want a chance to win a Roam Mobility Breeze USA Travel Phone with a SIM card and 7 days of unlimited USA talk and text? Roam Mobility is giving a prize bundle to one lucky winner each week until May 15, 2015 - so there are four Breeze Phone prize packs up for grabs. Enter for your chance to WIN now!

Disclosure: Roam Mobility covered the cost of the talk+text+data plan for the 8 days I was in the US. I bought SIM card myself. No other compensation was received. The opinions expressed in this post are entirely my own and have not been influenced in any other way.

Kitchen on Main St. claim that they have the best balls on Main - meat balls! The restaurant is a new addition to the Main St. neighbourhood, replacing Tapas 23. I received a flyer advertising the opening of this place and I passed by it when trying to find it because their sign is so small. It was opening week and they had a different promo every day. I decided to check them out when their meatball skillets were 50% off.

Chicken ball with pesto and parmesan

It is a four ball skillet cooked in sauce includes your choice of side. Usually one of these is $14. K and I decided to each order a different type of meatball and side. I chose the Chicken ball with pesto and parmesan and roasted vegetables for the side. I enjoyed the pesto very much and used the garlic bread from K's side to soak up some more.

K chose the Classic Beef Ball with fire roasted tomato sauce and a side of garlic bread.

The flyer offered a free meatball slider and this was what came. It's so cute! A little difficult to eat because it's so tall but so cute!

Overall the meatballs were pretty decent. I'm a little skeptical about the normal price though. $14 for 4 meatballs even with a side seems overly priced.

©Disney

Take a peek into the world of toque macaques living in abandoned temples in Sri Lanka. Monkey Kingdom is DisneyNature's the 8th film, following Bears from last year. Narrated by Tina Fey, this time, we follow Maya a lowly toque macaque on the bottom rung of the monkey troop hierarchy. This means she eats last, lives on the ground instead of up in the tree branches and gets constantly bullied by the three alpha females and their children. Since rank is inherited, she has almost no chance of bettering her status...almost. A handsome lone macaque joins the group and Maya catches his eye...leading to the birth of their super cute son, Kip.

Monkey Kingdom is full of beautiful cinematic shots and tells a story that can resonate with a lot of us - working to better ourselves and providing a better future for our children. It's amazing how human these monkeys are sometimes. I loved watching the film and was fascinated by the behaviour of the monkeys. They are amazing animals!

Monkey Kingdom swings into theatres Friday, April 17th, 2015. As part of Earth Week, see Monkey Kingdom during opening week (4/17 – 4/23) and Disney will make a donation to benefit Conservation International to protect habitat in Indonesia, Cambodia and Sri Lanka!

Got Craft? is Vancouver’s largest indie craft fair celebrating their 17th show at the Maritime Labour Centre from May 2-3, 2015.

“We’re super excited to be returning to the East Village, one of our favourite Vancouver neighbourhoods this May to celebrate our Spring show,” says Andrea Tong-Tucker, one half of the husband-wife production team. “We’ll be bringing back some of our most popular workshops to the upcoming event such as hand lettering with legendary sign painter, John Lennig of Big Top Sign Arts.”

The first 50 people through the door each day will receive a swag bag full of goods from vendors and sponsors. Also, D.I.Y. lovers will have a great time making their own craft projects at the workshops on site. For more information visit www.gotcraft.com.

Event details:

Dates: Saturday and Sunday, May 2-3, 2015 from 10am to 5pm

Venue: Maritime Labour Centre at 1880 Triumph Street, Vancouver, BC V5L 4C3

Tickets are $3 at the door and free for children 10 & under.

Social media:

Facebook: Facebook.com/GotCraft
Twitter: @LFieldsShoppe
Instagram: Instagram.com/lfieldsshoppe

Friday, April 17th, 2015

Saturday, April 18th, 2015

Spot the BMO Truck
Friday, Saturday
103-2nd Avenue West, Vancouver, BC
On April 17 and 18, BMO will have lots of FREE ice cream for everyone who comes to help them celebrate the opening of their new BMO branch False Creek.

Vancouver Retro Gaming Expo - $20
Saturday, 10:00am - 11:59pm
The Columbia. 530 Columbia Street New Westminster, BC V3L 1B1
The 4th Annual Vancouver Retro Gaming Expo will return in 2015 on April 18th, at The Columbia in New Westminster BC. We're bringing you vendors (some new, some old), artists (including the 8 Bits of Destiny art show), retro gaming (including tournaments fresh & expected), Video Game Trivia from West Coast Geeks versus Nerds, and performances from missingNo, and newcomers The Runaway Four, and Opus Arise.

Fraser River Walking Tour during Earth Week
Saturday, 11 a.m. -12pm
Start at the lower level of Marine Gateway station by Cambie and Southwest Marine Drive.
Environmentalist and fisherman Terry Slack will be speaking at a walking tour during Earth Week about how rehabilitating the area by the river will help restore oolichan runs.

Eat Italian at Urban Fare - starting $10
11am - 3pm
177 Davie St, Yaletown, BC V6Z 2Y1
Join Chefs David, Colin & Kat Urban Fare Yaletown on April 18 & 19 for Eat Italian in support of BC Children's Hospital Foundation! 4 Interactive Cooking Experiences. Book 1 Experience & Tasting for $10 or all 4 for $30.

Celebrate Spring 2015 Feire Varen
Saturday, 11am - 4pm
6688 Southoaks Crescent Burnaby BC V5E 4M7
Celebrate the cherry blossom season at our annual spring festival showcasing Japanese culture! Try your hand at cultural demos such as tea ceremony, kimono dressing, and crafts. For 2015, we are partnering with the Scandinavian Community Centre, so come enjoy inspiring performances by artists from diverse cultural backgrounds. You’ll also have the opportunity to peruse our line-up of local vendors and shop for unique accessories, kimonos, jewelry, sweets, and more. If Japanese food is what you’re after, we’ll be offering our popular sell-out Sakura Bento boxed lunches, as well as light tea and sweets.

Got Craft? Pop-Up at West Elm
Saturday, 12pm - 5pm
West Elm Market (2915 Granville Street, Vancouver)
West Elm (2947 Granville Street, Vancouver)
Got Craft? will be popping back up at West Elm and West Elm Market not once, but twice this month! Featuring five Got Craft? spring vendors at each event: Green With Envy, Vancouver Candle Co., G & T Design, Veespoke, and Got Craft? on Apr 18th.

Blossom Bollywood meets Kite Dance
Saturday, 1pm-2:30pm
Queen Elizabeth Theatre Plaza, 650 Hamilton St.
Shiamak Vancouver Performance Team (SDI) collaborates with Egan Davis on a new Blossom Bollywood meets Kite Dance performance. Come see Vancouver’s cherry blossom twist on the Indian Kite Festival and learn hip new Bollywood dance moves with the SDI team, no prior rehearsals required. All ages welcome!

Raw dessert demo and book signing
Saturday, 1-3pm
Book Warehouse, 4118 Main Street, Vancouver
Meet Heather Pace author of Sweetly Raw Desserts and watch a demo featuring creamy strawberry orange shake and chocolate fudge tart at Book Warehouse.

Ukrainian Arts and Culture Fest
Saturday & Sunday, 1pm - 4pm
Sunday 11:00 to 3:30 - Ukrainian Perogy Lunch
AUUC Strathcona Ukrainian Hall & Performing Arts Society, 805 East Pender Street, Vancouver
Explore the spirited music, beautiful artistic traditions and delicious homestyle fare of Ukraine in this weekend-long Arts & Culture Fest held at the Ukrainian Cultural Centre in Strathcona. The Association of United Ukrainian Canadians (AUUC), has an 85 year history of arts and culture programs in Vancouver. Pre-register for workshops. $20-$25, save on 2 or more.

Shogi event with Madoka Kitao (pro player from Japan)
Saturday, 1pm - 4pm
Japanese Hall, 487 Alexander Street, Vancouver, British Columbia V6A
Shogi pro Madoka Kitao (北尾まどか) will deliver a shogi and animal shogi presentation at 1:00pm. Afterward, we will break out into games of shogi and animal shogi. PLEASE NOTE: The initial presentation at 1:00pm will be entirely in Japanese language.

Capture Photography: Monument to Mysterious Fires—Tailgate Party
Saturday, 2pm
Parking Lot at Quebec and East 5th 60 E 5th Ave Vancouver, BC
Capture and Other Sights for Artists’ Projects co-host a family-friendly Tailgate Party to celebrate the installation of Other Sights’ public project, Monument to Mysterious Fires. The event includes entertainment, food trucks, and a beer garden from a local brewery.

Vancouver Premier of Project Wild Thing
Saturday, 6:30 -9:30 PM
Rooftop, MEC Vancouver -130 W. Broadway
WAV Poem Reading: Vancouver Poet Laureate, Rachel Rose, Keynote – Dr. Mariana Brussoni There will be prizes, a 10% MEC discount card, and chances to win cool outdoor gear! Get INvolved, and Get OUTside.

Sunday, April 19th, 2015

Ukrainian Arts and Culture Fest & Perogy Lunch
Saturday & Sunday, 1pm - 4pm
Sunday 11:00 to 3:30 - Ukrainian Perogy Lunch
AUUC Strathcona Ukrainian Hall & Performing Arts Society, 805 East Pender Street, Vancouver
Explore the spirited music, beautiful artistic traditions and delicious homestyle fare of Ukraine in this weekend-long Arts & Culture Fest held at the Ukrainian Cultural Centre in Strathcona. The Association of United Ukrainian Canadians (AUUC), has an 85 year history of arts and culture programs in Vancouver. Pre-register for workshops. $20-$25, save on 2 or more.

Hummingbird Homecoming - by donation
Sunday, 11:00am - 3:00pm
Richmond Nature Park, 11851 Westminster Highway Richmond, B.C.
Learn how to attract birds to a garden, how they feed and other bird facts. Presentations ongoing. By Donation

Eat Italian at Urban Fare - starting $10
11am - 3pm
177 Davie St, Yaletown, BC V6Z 2Y1
Join Chefs David, Colin & Kat Urban Fare Yaletown on April 18 & 19 for Eat Italian in support of BC Children's Hospital Foundation! 4 Interactive Cooking Experiences. Book 1 Experience & Tasting for $10 or all 4 for $30.

Baker's Market
Sundays, 11am - 3pm
Moberly Arts & Cultural Centre, 7646 Prince Albert Street, Vancouver BC
Get your fill of sweet & savoury baked goodies from local bakers and artisans. Inspired by traditional farmers markets in Vancouver, this market is even better since it is indoors with lots of free parking too. You'll find talented budding, professional or home bakers selling fresh artisanal breads, soft German pretzels, butter croissants, chocolate croissants, cupcakes, yummy cookies, hand made chocolates, brownies, Belgian Liege waffles,vegan cupcakes, mini bundt cakes, muffins, gluten-free baked goods and much more!

Nifty for Fifty
Sunday, 11am-8pm
Heritage Hall (3102 Main Street)
30 local designers and artists will gather under one roof for the 8th annual Nifty for Fifty shopping sale. Find everything from accessories to clothing and trinkets, all for $50 or less. Just in time to revamp that Spring wardrobe!

Jelani Remy as “Simba” and the ensemble in “He Lives in You” from THE LION KING National Tour. ©Disney. Photo Credit: Joan Marcus

More than 75 million people around the world have experienced the phenomenon of Disney’s THE LION KING, and now you can, too, when Vancouver’s best-loved musical returns to the Queen Elizabeth Theatre for an exclusive 4 -week run beginning Thursday, June 18, 2015 and playing through Sunday, July 12, 2015.

In its 18th year, THE LION KING remains ascendant as one of the most popular stage musicals in the world. Since its Broadway premiere on November 13, 1997, 22 global productions have been seen by more than 75 million people and, cumulatively, run a staggering 112 years. Produced by Disney Theatrical Productions (under the direction of Thomas Schumacher), THE LION KING is only the second show in history to generate five productions worldwide running 10 or more years.

THE LION KING won six 1998 Tony Awards®: Best Musical, Best Scenic Design (Richard Hudson), Best Costume Design (Julie Taymor), Best Lighting Design (Donald Holder), Best Choreography (Garth Fagan) and Best Direction of a Musical. THE LION KING has also earned more than 70 major arts awards including the 1998 NY Drama Critics Circle Award for Best Musical, the 1999 Grammy® for Best Musical Show Album, the 1999 Evening Standard Award for Theatrical Event of the Year and the 1999 Laurence Olivier Awards for Best Choreography and Best Costume Design.

Meet the Lions of THE LION KING:

Simba
Meaning: lion (Swahili)
Species: Lion
Only son of Mufasa, the King of the Pride Lands and ruler of Pride Rock, he is adventurous and mischievous and can't wait to be king!

Nala
Meaning: gift (Swahili—dubious)
Species: Lion
Best friend of Simba and partner in crime, Nala is just as bit of adventurous and mischievous as Simba.

Mufasa
Meaning: none
Species: Lion
The regal king of the Pride Lands and ruler of Pride Rock. He tries to teach his son Simba how to be a wise and responsible future king.

Scar
Meaning: none
Species: Lion
Mufasa's younger brother, who resents being second. Scar secretly plots to take over the throne.

Discover your inner Lion King and win tickets to Disney's THE LION KING in Vancouver!

Broadway Across Canada is generously giving away a pair of tickets to one of my readers for the THE LION KING performance on Thursday, June 18th at 7:30pm held at Queen Elizabeth Theatre in Vancouver! Here's how you can enter:

Entry -Form

Giveaway closes on Monday, April 27th at 5:00pm. A winner will be drawn and notified via email and have 48 hours to respond, otherwise another winner will be drawn. Good luck!

If you don't win, tickets to the THE LION KING are on sale online or by calling 1-855-985-5000. Tickets start at $35.00 (plus applicable service charges).

Photo by Joan Marcus

Horribly offensive but I couldn't stop laughing. I wasn't sure what to expect going into The Book of Mormon but I have only heard how good the musical was and how hard it was to get tickets because it was always sold out. Let me tell you that The Book of Mormon totally lived up to its hype.

Photo by Johan Persson

The Book of Mormon follows two new "Elders" of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints, Elder Kevin Price and Elder Arnold Cunningham who are teamed up and sent to Uganda on a two year mission to convert the African people there to Mormonism. Elder Price, who's dream was to preach in Orlando, Florida, thinks this turn of events is a punishment. After a failed attempt to convert the locals, he ends up abandoning Elder Cunningham, leaving him with the gigantic task of converting at least one African before a status update needs to be sent to the Mormon leader by the end of the week. However, Elder Cunningham has a little problem with ~~lying~~ embellishing the truth and that leads to hilarious consequences.

The Book of Mormon was conceived by Trey Parker, Robert Lopez, and Matt Stone; Parker and Stone are the same people who created TV's South Park, so expect the same type of witty, potty mouth humour. This is definitely not a show to which you can bring your kids. The religious satirical musical was full of swearing, sexual connotations (there's even a song revolving around it), and is politically incorrect. It is offensive but equally offensive to everyone - religion, AIDS, Africans, Chinese even! The play may leave you in a state of shock because they are not afraid to offend; You have to have a good sense of humor and remember that that is the intention.

Photo by Joan Marcus

Despite this, the musical is offensive to the point of hilarity and the songs were so catchy. It starts off with the upbeat song "Hello" and maintains that same type of high energetic tone throughout the whole show. I wouldn't have expected anything less from Robert Lopez, who brought you the songs from Avenue Q and Disney's Frozen! There are a lots of WTF moments when you listen to the lyrics closely. I know what will be on playing on repeat on Spotify tomorrow!

The cast was brilliant with their energetic singing and dancing. I could tell they really enjoyed playing their roles in the musical as much as we enjoyed watching them. The sets were elaborate and fun, and had really smooth scene transitions. There were also lots of pop culture references (great little gems for TV and movie fans!). The play does end on a pretty funny note and had a standing ovation. The audience couldn't get enough!

The Book of Mormon is musical not to be missed! It is playing for a limited run at the Queen Elizabeth Theatre in Vancouver from now thru Sunday, April 12th, 2015 only. Make sure to catch it before it's gone! Get your tickets at http://vancouver.broadway.com/shows/book-mormon-baa.

The Book of Mormon have a few (but expensive) tickets still available but there is still a chance for you to get your hands on tickets for only $25 each! Entries for a lottery will be accepted at the Queen Elizabeth Theatre Plaza beginning two and a half hours prior to each performance, every day. A limited number of names are drawn two hours before curtain. Read more about the lottery rules here.

Photos provided courtesy of Broadway Across Canada.

Disclosure: Tickets to the show were received from Broadway Across Canada free of charge. The opinions expressed in this post are entirely my own and have not been influenced in any other way.