Friday, July 29, 2011

sun peaks

Staying outside for as long as possible/watching the sun set in the horizon/lying on the beach with a good book/feeling the warmth of the sun on your skin/the smell of sunscreen/eating ice-cream and popsicles and road trips with your friends is what { summer } is all about.
The Catmobile.

Saturday, July 23, 2011

khatsahlano!

Khatsahano, the West 4th Avenue Music and Art Street Festival, took over the west side as 4th Avenue was closed off from Burrard to MacDonald for the festival. A huge street party took over as thousands of people and their canine friends took in the mouthwatering aromas from various street food trucks and stalls, patio parties, great sales and discounts from stores sucks as Moule and American Apparel and a huge garage sale that stretched for blocks as neighbours brought out tables and racks of clothes, jewellery, wares and knick-knacks to sell. 

Zulu Records curated an impressive lineup of local musicians and bands to perform free concerts at five stages located at the intersections at Vine, Cypress, Yew, Maple and Arbutus. Popular shows included Aidan Knight, The Shilohs, Flash Palace and the Evaporators fronted by lead singer, Nardwuar the Human Serviette (apparently that's his legal name).


Hot Panda rocking out. I love the name.
Organic beef burger with cheese from Whole Foods. Mmm...
Money from the hot dog sales go to charity, so of course, it only has zero calories.
Neighbours showcasing their wares along a huge multi-block garage sale.
Cute puppy was so friendly and energetic. Managed to take this shot in the 5 seconds he was standing still before he started bouncing around on the grass again.
The Shilohs.
Aidan Knight and friends
Funky sofa in front of one of the yoga stores.
The Flash Palace with a great electronic sound.
Vintage buses lined the streets of 4th Avenue.
Dunk a fireman for charity!
This girl was waiting for her friend outside of Bimini's. These dogs were HUGE.
Butter chicken with naam bread and rice. The chicken was so tender and the naam bread was nice and hot. SO GOOD.
Street skateboarding inside a cage in case someone bailed, which did happen a few times.
He must have just been sweating buckets inside that ram's head...
This little cutie pie wanted to say hello.
The Evaporators with Nardwuar as the lead singer. He was wearing a Canadian thermal suit.
I was just as confused as this kid.


I decided to walk over the Burrard Street bridge on my way home:

Tuesday, July 12, 2011

familiar faces over good food

A university friend came back to Vancity after moving to Singapore three years ago for a job. So glad to see her smiling face and to chat since I haven't seen her in about five years. So, there was lots of giggling, laughing and catching up over delicious food and drink and before you know it, it's already 11 o'clock and everyone has to head home (since it was a week night). I think we might have managed to further persuade her boyfriend to move to Vancity in the near future ☺



Roasted sablefish marinated in honey, soy and sake glaze served on a bed of seaweed and Yukon Gold potato gnocchi with green beans in a taramind, lemongrass and ginger broth. SO GOOD. This is on their seasonal inspiration menu, so if you want to try this dish, get it now before it's gone!

Sunday, July 10, 2011

Happy 125th Vancity!

So, Vancity is celebrating its 125th anniversary and what better way to kick off the 125 Vancouver Summer Live celebrations than with a free 3-day live concert in Stanley Park at Brockton Point. I went on Sunday, the last day of the event and caught some awesome live performances.


Grey heron just chilling in a tree.
To get to the Summer Live event, you had to trek through a trail going into the park and some of those trees are T-A-L-L.
As I was walking along the trail, I was startled by knocking noises. Looking up, I realized it came from the woodpeckers tapping on wooden boxes. Apparently, the knocking noise is suppose to create some sort of melody, but for the life of me, I couldn't figure it out. It just sounded like... knocking.
Close up of the musical woodpeckers.
Got a prime seat to watch Aidan Knight perform.
After watching Aidan Knight perform his set, I pretty much ran over to the merch tent to pick up his CD, Versicolour. I was only previously familiar with one of this songs, Jasper, but I loved the whole set so I had to get the CD.
The name says it all. If you've never tried mini donuts, YOU HAVE NOT LIVED.
Story-telling and a puppet show for the kids.
Plenty of stilt walkers to talk to, ask for directions or ask how the weather is like up there.
I loved how the park was decorated for Vancity's 125th. So festive ♥

You can't have a free concert without beer. Unfortunately, the beer is not free.

After seeing Aidan Knight's set, I went over to the other stage to watch the Vancouver Symphony Orchestra perform. Got a good spot, centre stage and then this happened. You don't need two umbrellas to shade you from the sun. Wear some damn sunscreen, sunglasses and a fucking hat.

The crowd watching VSO perform. You notice there aren't any other umbrellas obstructing peoples' views.

This is Tate Zawadiuk. He's 14 years old. Just turned FOURTEEN like three days before this summer festival. He's the same size as the cello. Impressive.

Hula hoop contest. I nominate the old guy in front to participate.

Lounging and taking in some sun during intermission.

On my way home. I decided to walk back to the downtown core, since taking the bus would have been out of the question, after seeing the mass crowds waiting for the shuttle. I guess I wasn't the only one.

The sign says: "Beware, bike eating tree. No bike parking." Must be a rare, endangered species of tree.