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 now until the end of the month. Note that you can now get the Scout List – with a few extra pieces of intel included – sent to your inbox by signing up for your subscription in the sidebar.

FINALLY | Livia owners, Claire Lassam and Jordan Pires, have been working towards opening their beautiful Commercial Drive restaurant evenings since they first opened doors in 2019. There have been spurts of dinner service (think antipasti, burrata and bread, housemade pasta, and most importantly, wine) but the open-close see-saw ride of pandemic restrictions made it difficult to be consistent…until now. Livia has just announced that they are now open and serving up meals meant for sharing with friends by candlelight every Thursday to Sunday. Count. Us. In. Find out more.

WATCH | It’s never a bad idea to have some movie tickets up your sleeve. Showing at The Rio this Tuesday, January 31st: 4K Restorations of Chungking Express and Infernal Affairs. Tony Leung fans, rejoice! Wong Kar Wai’s bilateral heartache flick Chungking Express kicks off the double-headline at 6:30pm, followed by the crime-thriller Infernal Affairs shortly thereafter, with doors opening at 8:30pm. Dial up a friend and take your pick, or settle in for the long haul and see both. It’s The Rio, after all…there’s grilled cheese and beer to tide you over. Details.

POP-UP | On Saturday, February 4th, Mount Pleasant’s Coffee Roastery Modus will take on a second, nighttime persona with their new “dinner/bevy/collab” series called Modus After Hours… The first guest talents slated to segue the 112 W Broadway spot from daytime cafe into casual, after hours vibes will be Jian Hui Cheng (previously Nancy Go Yaya) and Daniel Muñoz (Toña chocolates). Details of the dinner are still being hammered out, but so far we know to expect a tasting menu of five-(plus)-courses hitting all the sweet and savoury notes you’d expect from the two talented local chefs – and that’s enough to persuade us! There are two seatings: 5:30-7:30pm and 8:30-10:30pm. Tickets are just $75 per person for all of the food (and fun). If wine is your thing, then choosing the pairing option for an additional $55 is definitely not a bad idea. Set yourself up here.

OPENING | There’s a new show opening at The Art Shop on Friday, February 3rd: Luck, Coincidence or Chance features the works of six artists who take on the challenge of illustrating the ‘intricate tangle of circumstances’ of serendipity. From The Art Shop: “All encounters with Luck, Coincidence or Chance, are personal and special, built upon the layering of a seemingly infinite series of past moments and the individual lens through which we view their culmination. Each encounter is wondrous in its singularity. While impossible to replicate or force into existence, they are more common than we might think. The artists of Luck, Coincidence, Chance, attempt to appreciate the presence of these moments by incorporating their influence into works of art.” Opening reception for this show goes down from 7-9pm and the show is viewable (weekends only) from February 3rd to March 12th. Find out more.

KITCHEN TAKEOVER | Duck into the Main Street location of Dalina this Friday evening to warm yourself up from the inside out with all-night breakfast by Baker’s Breakfast Joint. Offerings will include baos with pork belly or duck confit, as well as breakfast sandwiches made with Baker’s steamed buns. Guests will also be able to load up on fresh soy milk, four types of steamed buns (plain, green onion, whole wheat and brown sugar), as well as Baker’s famous cheesecake and egg tarts. Baker’s Breakfast Joint is usually only available for pre-order for delivery via their website, so this is a nice opportunity to enjoy offerings in a more casual and interactive way. Need more incentives? Some proceeds from the event will go to the Greater Vancouver Food Bank. As Baker himself explains: “The rising costs of ingredients and the growing problem of food insecurity in our city is a problem we can’t ignore. Hopefully, our contribution can help make our community a slightly easier place to live in.” Details.

GO BOWLING | Want exercise but don’t want to deal with the cold? Plan some indoor fun. Grab a few friends and hit your local bowling alley. Commodore Lanes on Granville Street and Grandview Lanes over on Commercial Drive are both good places to start. While Grandview offers both 5-pin and 10-pin bowling with the added bonus of black light bowling (ooh…look at it glow!), Commodore also has billiard tables and a lounge. In the end, both venues have all the elements necessary for a good (indoor) time though – so hit ’em up!

100 AMIGOS | The 100 Amigos art show opens downtown tomorrow (Friday, January 27th). If you haven’t seen one of these exhibitions before, here’s the premise: 100 artworks by 100 artists, all working within the same 12″x12″ parameters, presented within the same space. From the organizers: “The collection aims to celebrate and uncover some of Vancouver’s most exciting visual artists from a full spectrum of disciplines. The artists are curated on skill and motive – not marketability – 100 Amigos provides artists the opportunity to create without bounds.” It’s been a while (about two years) since the last one. Show up on Friday night to enjoy the art and all the makings of a proper opening party, including swanky canapes, DJ sets and tequila. Find out more.

CREATE | Still trying to scratch the New Year itch by adding a new skill to your 2023 repertoire? Or just looking to fill some “downtime” getting your hands dirty while having fun and getting your butt out of the house? Either way, there’s a good chance that THIS Gallery can help sort you out with their stacked calendar of winter workshops, through March 19th. The diverse roster of topics so far range from painting, figure drawing and gelli-plating (basically a simpler version of screenprinting) to making new threads out of old denim and meditatively hand-stitching portals. THIS Gallery also hosts monthly ‘Quaff and Create’ nights every third Thursday (mark your calendars: the next one is scheduled for February 16th, from 6-9pm), where participants can enjoy music and a drink (included in the price of registration) along with some wild card elements while art-making. Find out more.

FRESH AIR | Take some time to get outside and appreciate the seaweed, shells, driftwood and beach glass at a local beach. Any beach will do. Can’t decide? Iona Beach Regional Park in Richmond (just north of the Vancouver International Airport) is a beautiful stretch of sandy shoreline that spreads toward the sea at the mouth of the Fraser Rive – a great go-to at this time of year. In addition to walking the beach – when the tide is out it seems to go on forever – there’s also a breakwater to conquer. Breathe it in! Details.