From our calendar to yours comes this carefully considered agenda of cool things we are doing, wishing we could do, or conspiring to do in Vancouver from February 19 to February 25, 2021.

CONTINUE | The Year of the Ox began on February 12th, but Chinese New Year festivities continue! Get into it by using some portion of your weekend to celebrate. Start with decorations. The Dr Sun Yat Sen Classical Chinese Garden has a $10 Chinese New Year Craft Kit that will get you organized with materials and instructions to easily make up to 24 decorations. Bonus: the cost of the kit includes free delivery! Once your home is decorated, we suggest a proper Chinese New Year feast. Pro tip: take advantage of Bao Bei’s CNY menu, which is only available until Sunday. Details here.

ADMIRE | There are three new reasons to book a visit to Vancouver Art Gallery this week: Sun Xun, Mythological Time (video installation presented alongside a major 30-metre ink painting); Stories That Animate Us (animation and works on paper that draw inspiration from “oral histories, narratives, knowledge systems and cosmologies.”); and Pictures and Promises: A Display of Advertisings, Slogans and Interventions (a Capture Photography Festival collaboration featuring “lens-based works that employ the structures, conventions and formal qualities used in mass media, fashion and advertising”). Reserve here.

REFLECT | A Future for Memory is on at the The Museum of Anthropology. Taking place on the 10th anniversary of the ‘Great East Japan Earthquake’, this exhibition “addresses how we deal with memory when our physical surroundings are drastically altered. It focuses on the changing physical and psychological landscapes in the aftermath of 3/11 and shows that regional disasters have global relevance.” Heads up: museum admission is now on a timed-entry basis. Pre-book a ticket here.

LEARN | Ready for a new hobby? There’s a bead weaving workshop happening at Slice of Life Gallery this Sunday that you might be interested in. The 2-hour workshop, led by jewelry designer and educator Ange Adair, will guide participants to use a variety of bead shapes, sizes and colours to make a freestyle beadwork creation of their own. This in-person class includes materials, as well as safety protocols and limited capacity. Details here.

DECOMPRESS | So what if we’re expecting a little wet weather this weekend? Pull on that rain slicker and get outside for a bit of nature. We suggest a few hours on the trails out at West Vancouver’s escapist Lighthouse Park. Forests are full of thick mosses, cool mushrooms and dramatic branches right now, not to mention fewer people. You might even see the beginnings of spring!

SKATE | Do you skateboard or know someone who does? Now is the time to show off those skills by making a tight little 1 minute video for Coping Bash (On until February 28th). This year’s COVID Coping Bash event is rolling with a new video submission process and stickler health and safety regulations – so be sure to give the rules a thorough read. That being said, one thing is still the same as always: it’s all in good fun! Prizes run from $25 to $500 in cold hard cash. Categories include “Best All Around”, “Best Use of Humour”, “Best Dialogue” and “Most Creative”.  Find out more.

COMFORT | Looking for a quick dinner fix? In the depths of a West Coast winter few foods are this satisfying and restorative as a big bowl of Japanese curry. For some delicious direction on where to score, check out Our Favourite Japanese Curries. Did we miss a spot that you love deeply? Let us know!

NOURISH | Spring is getting closer, but winter’s not done. Stay strong, take your vitamins, and eat well. The very best way to keep your immune system in tip-top shape is to eat good food, and the best place to source good the stuff is from healthy soils as close to home as possible. Get your fill of fruits and veggies at the Winter Farmers Market. Look for kale, crisp apples, leeks, beets, potatoes and squash, as well as goodies like fresh eggs, bone broth, pickles and local honey. Thanks farmers!

CONNECT | Remember conversations with strangers, the kind that unfold at a party or even sitting beside someone on an airplane or while waiting for a bus? I miss those unexpected, fleeting windows into peoples lives. That’s probably why I went down a Youtube rabbit hole watching Thoraya Maronesy’s channel the other day. She asks strangers questions like “Who’s one stranger that you still remember?”, “What’s the most painful thing you’ve been told?”, and “The moment you felt most alive?”. She stitches a pile of responses together in interactive short films. It’s not the real thing, but it helped satisfy a specific kind of social deficiency I’ve been suffering, and it might help you too. Have a look.