Food Media Omnibus #545: On The Aptly Named “Meat Fest” And Scarfing Macaroons

by Claire Lassam | Alexandra Gill is pleasantly surprised by Vancouver bakeries in the Globe and Mail.

The North Shore News tells you all you need to know about the Cornuccopia Festival in Whistler.

The Province talks to Dale MacKay about takeout pizza and zip-lining.

The American Academy of Hospitality Sciences gives a big nod to the Loden Hotel with a Five Diamond Award, a Chefs Plate Award and Medallion Award to chef Marc-Andre Choquette in the Georgia Straight.

I’m not entirely sure what Bonfire Night is in the UK, but apparently candy apples are a tradition, and I do love candy apples, even though The Guardian calls them toffee apples.

DINER: A Photo Tour Inside The New “Wild Rice” (Opening Before November’s End)

by Andrew Morrison | The new Wild Rice (aka Wild Rice Too) is only a few weeks away from opening. I toured the space at New West’s River Market with owner Andrew Wong yesterday and they’re looking very much on track. The skinny: the garage-door fronted, water-view dining area will seat 52 at square, interchangeable tables and sport a living wall of herbs and greens; the lounge will see a 12 seat bar, 3 couches, 2 armchairs and a host of low-slung coffee tables (a la the original Wild Rice on Pender); the open kitchen will include a line-fronting chef’s table of 8; and the patio – oh, the patio! – will seat about 35. Take a look. There’s clearly still a lot of work to do, but wow…

Get a load of architect Marianne Amodio’s gorgeous vision after the jump… Read more

Foreign Intelligence Briefing #387: Thinking Of Afghanistan With Beauty And Humanity

I like this short film by Lukas and Salome Augustin because it reminds me of how beauty and humanity co-exist in a place that we’ve been relentlessly conditioned to negate the existence of both. Societies tend to dehumanize their adversaries in times of war. We do it in order to make the killing easier to shrug off. In the case of Afghanistan, we’ve long made a habit it, going back to the British Raj (remember your Kipling: “When you’re wounded and left on Afghanistan’s plains, and the women come out to cut up what remains, just roll to your rifle and blow out your brains and go to your God like a soldier”). If we succumbed to our media’s treatment of the decade-old conflict today, we’d all share a vision of a brown, war-torn shit-hole; a 15th century den reserved for heroin-making, intolerant, terrorist-enabling fanatics who’d sooner blow up an ancient statue of Buddha than play a round of golf. But it’s never that simple. Despite our society’s seemingly perennial effort to de-sensitize us to the destruction of these people (in the name of their country’s salvation), they are clearly as human and beautiful as we are. What a tremendous shame it is that we were ever meant to doubt it.

SOUNDTRACKING: Musician Cass McCombs Chats In Advance Of His Electric Owl Show

by Daniel Colussi | Cass McCombs is for the most part portrayed as a lone-wolf weirdo, some kind of inscrutable mystic. There are at least a few reasons for this: his nomadic adulthood spent living in various American and European cities; his distaste for indulging the music press beyond the bare minimum required of him (for the promotion of Wit’s End, all correspondence between Cass and the press was strictly epistolary); but most of all because of his music. His music seems to stand outside time.  Over the course of ten years and six albums, he has pretty much done his own thing, always sounding fresh and inspired; totally himself. Despite his heavy rep, McCombs came across pretty directly to me. He revealed an earnest, sincere reverence for music and how powerfully it can affect us. He also understood his position in the music world at large. Elusive and inscrutable? Maybe. But he’s not exactly the first rocker to loathe the repetitive and thankless task of doing interviews. This time out, McCombs was generous and forthcoming in his responses. Read on…

Hey Cass, how are you? Did you hear some of that funky music while you were on hold? I know that music well. It’s the same song every time.

So I’ve read that it was by design that you were going to release two albums this year? You recorded a bunch of tracks and then split it up into two albums. Is that correct? No. No, where’d you get that from? 

My mistake. I thought I read that on your label’s website. Hmm, well, uh, no that’s not true. What we did was, uh.. I’ve been making the first of the two, Wit’s End, since the previous record, Catacombs, and while I was on tour the last couple years, I’ve just been recording a song or two in different cities if I had extra time and just kinda put ‘em all together, you know. And every song is a different band, a different location and um…totally different styles. But it’s just kind of, I dunno, what’s the word for it…kind of a “cornucopia” of miscellaneous debris.

So then you and Ariel Rechtshaid got together and did a monster session of mixing down and… The two records will never be in proximity to each other. They’re totally separate. Wit’s End was it’s own thing for years you know? And then Humor Risk is it’s own thing.

I like this idea of releasing two distinct albums in such close succession. It kind of makes me think of when The Beatles and The Stones et al would release albums every six months. Well, I’m not The Beatles! But I think that my purposes were actually for the kind of the opposite reason than why maybe The Beatles were inspired to do it. The Beatles record company – EMI and Capital – I would assume, would encourage them to release many records because they sold millions of copies. I, on the other hand, sell no copies! So…it doesn’t matter when I release. Most bands these days are encouraged to release an album every several years so that they can stretch out the life of each one. So to release one every six months is to devalue the potential of what each record can sell. Since I sell nothing, it doesn’t matter, you know? So I’ll just release them as they come. Read more

Smoke Break #892: New iPhone App “OINK” Gets Users To Rank And Share Everything

Oink is a brand new app that will very likely leave the Foursquare tele-nerd set in deep puddles of their own making. It encourages the terminally lonely you to rate, rank and share everything from a restaurant’s poutine to the best cars to rent at Budget. How does it work? Basically, you walk in to Moxies, sit down, open the menu, and check Oink to see what comes highly recommended from other users (the exit?). It sounds great, except for the downside: there you are, totally oinking.

EASTSIDE CULTURE CRAWL: A Few Minutes With First Time Participant Kari Kristensen

The Eastside Culture Crawl (November 18, 19, 20) is hands down one of the best things about Vancouver during November. It’s the time of year when Eastside painters, sculpters, jewellery designers, carvers, photographers, potters, furniture designers, glass blowers and printmakers open their studios to the public an the vibe of the already cool-as-hell neighbourhood rises to unprecedented levels of awesomeness. The Crawl covers Terminal Avenue to Burrard Inlet between Main Street and Victoria Drive. That’s a lot of ground to cover and a lot of artists to meet. This year there will be over 300 participating, so we figure it’s a good idea to meet a few in advance in order to better familiarise ourselves (and perhaps you) with what to expect. Meet Kari Kristensen. This is her first year as a participant. We caught up with her while she was taking a breather in Paris and asked her about what she had planned for her inaugural Crawl weekend.

Three things about your neighbourhood that make you want to live there: I’ve lived in East Van since I moved here 9 years ago. I love East Van. I am walking distance to the drive and all of its great restaurants and food shops. There’s also an expanding restaurant scene happening on Hastings Street, which is fantastic. I am close enough to my studio that I can walk or bike there. And lastly, I live across the street from Trout Lake which is great for exercise for me and my little dog.

How many years have you participated in the Eastside Culture Crawl? I’m excited about this year being my first as an artist. My previous studio was on Granville Island, a terrific little shop for printmakers called Dundarave. I moved into 1000 Parker Street almost a year ago for a change of venue and to specifically be part of the Crawl. of course, I’ve gone to the Crawl almost every year.

Three words you would use to describe the ECC to someone who had never attended: Fun, inspirational, eye-opening. Of course, I’ll have to get back to you after the 20th to see if my opinion has changed.

Why is Vancouver a good city for art? Vancouver, and BC in general, has a rich art historical foundation that’s endlessly impressive. This is the the city of Jack Shadbolt, Arthur Erickson, Emily Carr, Toni Onley, Bill Reid, Robert Davidson…you can’t help but be inspired when you see their work around. Read more

SWAG: The “Circle Craft Christmas Market” Cometh (And Yes, It’s That Time Already)

According to my copy of Beginner Retail Ethics For The Holidays, one can start with the Christmas stuff when the pumpkins start to rot (you should see my front deck right now. I have half a dozen orange lumps bleeding all over the place). Anyway, as we all know, Christmas isn’t all about the giving and the reindeer and the Baby Jesus. It’s also about the rushing and the pushing and buying of things made far, far away that do nothing for the creatives in our local economy. Which brings me to the Circle Craft Christmas Market that goes down November 9th to the 13th at the Vancouver Convention Centre West. It’s the antithesis, and it’s pretty awesome. The crib notes:

Vancouver’s Circle Craft Christmas Market has been a local tradition since 1973. For 37 years, generations of Vancouverites, British Columbians, as well as tourists from near and far have been enjoying the Market where they come face to face with fine BC and Canadian artisans and their work: wood turners, glass blowers, sculptors and potters, clothing and jewellery designers, toy makers, leather and metal workers, and more. In addition, food vendors, entertainment by local dance groups, craft technique demonstrations, and other crafty activities, round out the experience!

The really cool thing? 282 vendors! The other, really, really cool thing? We have a double pass to give away. As soon as this post appears in the stream on our Facebook page (automatic, usually within 10 minutes), be the first to write the words “I’m buying local” in the comment thread underneath it and they’re yours. If you’re too late, you can always snag your tickets here.

GOODS: Gastown’s “L’Abattoir” Looking For Some Help In The Office And At The Door

L'Abattoir is located at 217 Carrall St in Vancouver's Gastown neighbourhood | 604-568-1701 | www.labattoir.ca

The GOODS from L’Abattoir

Vancouver, BC | Gastown’s L’Abattoir restaurant is looking for a part-time administrative assistant-hostess/host to work 3 to 5 shifts a week on a flexible schedule. The successful applicant will have Open Table, MS Word and Office proficiency, and be organised with good phone etiquette and communication skills. Restaurant experience a must. Apply in confidence to paul [at] labattoir [dot ca]. Learn more about the restaurant after the jump… Read more

AWESOME THING WE ATE #854: Christophe Bonzon’s “Fabbrica” Tiramisu At CinCin

Celebrity chef Mark McEwan was in town a couple of nights ago promoting his new book, Fabbrica, so Barbara-Jo McIntosh’s Books To Cooks arranged for CinCin chef Todd Howard to prepare several dishes from its pages. You can read the menu full here, complete with all-Italian wine pairings. Howard’s cooking was really top drawer (particularly the steelhead with clams and sausage), but I still can’t stop thinking about the deconstructed tiramisu by pastry chef Christophe Bonzon. I will never look at the ubiquitous dessert the same way again. A few more shots from the meal below…

MORE AWESOME THINGS WE ATE

GOODS: Gastown’s “Pourhouse” On The Lookout For An Experienced Chef De Cuisine

Pourhouse is located at 162 Water St. in Vancouver, BC | 604-568-7022 | www.pourhousevancouver.com

The GOODS from Pourhouse

Vancouver, BC | Passionate about great food? Pourhouse in Gastown is looking to hire an experienced Chef de Cuisine. Applicants must have a minimum of 7 years cooking experience, possess strong leadership skills and most importantly be passionate about food. The Chef de Cuisine will be responsible for the daily operation of the kitchen, including ordering, inventory, hiring and managing a brigade of 8 – 10 people. Applicants should send resumes to jc-poirier@hotmail.com. Read more

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