Category Archives: Events

INSPIRED TO TASTE CANADA HOSTED BY HBC: VANCOUVER

An exciting event is taking place tomorrow, Saturday, June 17th 12PM – 3PM at Hudson’s Bay Vancouver DTN Pacific Centre!

Hosted by Hudson’s Bay, there will be an evening of food, fun and your favourite Canadian cookbook authors – Meeru Dhalwala, co-author of Vij’s Indian: Our Stories, Spices and Cherished Recipes, published by Penguin Canada, and Denise Marchessault of British Columbia from Scratch: Recipes for Every Season, published by Whitecap Books.

Meeru Dhalwala, co-author of Vij’s Indian

Denise Marchessault of British Columbia from Scratch

They will be at the Hudson’s Bay store in downtown Vancouver, sharing their best culinary tips and treats. As a bonus, with a minimum $75 purchase from Hudson’s Bay kitchen and cookware department at the event, guests will receive one of the featured Inspired to Taste Canada cookbooks – your choice! Come meet the authors, enjoy cooking demonstrations, taste samples and get your cookbook signed. Not to mention attendees can enter into a draw for a $500 Bay gift card. And the best part – this is a free event! Don’t miss your chance to participate in this unique opportunity to meet and learn from some of Canada’s best culinary writers!

I’ve been informed just today that Vikram Vij, co-author with Meeru Dhalwala of Vij’s Indian, will be making a guest appearance and doing a demonstration at the event as well!

RSVP today at http://www2.thebay.com/giftregistry/taste-canada-event/

Hope to see you all there!

Can’t be there in person? Follow along on social media: #HBxTasteCanada or through my Instagram @idearabbit

With thanks to our sponsors Canola Eat Well, Cuisinart Canada, De’Longhi, Grosche, Turmeric Teas and Hudson’s Bay for their support of great culinary writing in Canada.

Happy Halloween!

With all the pumpkins sold out, a group of us craved out mini watermelons! The best part, you get to eat the inside! I actually like this idea better than the pumpkins!

My character (with a bit of help from Sheepie), was based on NHK’s mascot Domo-kun!

Throw in a candle and viola! Awesome jack-o-lantern!

The other 2 pairs had really neat designs too. The middle one is based on the minion from Despicable Me.

What fruits or vegetable did you carve out from this Halloween?

Cook Your Life with MayMay Chan at Gateway Theatre

I was contacted by the Communications Coordinator from Gateway Theatre, located in Richmond BC. She invited me to see a a complimentary show called Cook Your Life that took place from September 17 – 19, 2015 during their Gateway Theatre Pacific Festival.

The show featured MayMay Chan who cooked live on stage while doing a comedic solo skit about love and relationships, and how they have parallel similarities with food. It was the first of its kind that I had seen and it was interesting to watch.

The show incorporates a 4-D theatre approach where the audience can not only just see and hear, but also smell and taste (for those lucky as some food samples gets passed around) to enhance the theatre experience.

MayMay is not only a performer, but a cook as well with her own cooking channel in Hong Kong. She performs in Cantonese as  the two screens on each side of the stage, showed the surtitles in both Chinese and English.

She was very lively and energetic. She spoke quickly, which made the subtitles seem to lag way behind. She threw in a lot of improv, especially during when she would invite some of the audiences up to help her with cooking and such. Although it wasn’t an usual situation where I would be surrounded by people talking in a language where I was clueless, I did feel a slight disconnect, or an outsider feeling. My Chinese friend understood only Mandarin, so he was as clueless as I was.

At the end, he didn’t quite enjoy it as he didn’t like all the whining and girlie-talk that he couldn’t relate to. Although the surtitles were quite limited for the amount of actual talking May Chan actually did, I did however understand the main just of the story, and as a female, could relate to the relationship issues she brought up. Her insightful analogies between food and love and was intriguing.

Its always so interesting to see one person play so many different roles, and be convincing. What’s always even more credible is that she also created, produce, and directed the show as well.

As for the theatre venue itself, parking costs 1 hour $2.50, 2 hours $5 and so on. No inbetween times. But it is free after 9pm. There were helpful ushers and friendly staff with freebies for facials at this particular event.

Thank you Gateway for a unique experience!

www.gatewaytheatre.com