Tag: Vancouver

A guide to Vancouver, BC according to the Adept Universe

I often get asked for recommendations – based on the Adept Universe novels – for things to do when in Vancouver, BC, Canada. I thought I should start a post so that I could add to it as I remember and/or add individual places mentioned in the various books.

ETA: Covid19 has not been kind to Vancouver (or most of the world) and a number of places mentioned in the book no longer exist! I’ve kept them listed below for posterity (😂).

Caramels from Chocolate Arts, including their dark chocolate salted caramels on the left.

Treats/Restaurants:

Chocolate Arts (CLOSED): specifically mentioned in Dowser 4 as having Jade’s favourite salted caramels.
Mario’s Gelati – mentioned in multiple books – for the Black Forest Cake gelato that tastes like Warner’s magic. The retail location is Amato Gelato, where Jade buys Mory ice cream in Dowser 2.
Notte’s Bon Ton (temp closed as of July 2024) – mentioned for their pastries, including Florentines and Jealousy. Also the location of Warner’s botched marriage proposal in Dowser 6.
Sun Sui Wah – Vancouver location – where Jade and Warner have dim sum in Dowser 6
Connie’s Cookhouse – take-out Chinese food eaten by Jade, Kandy, and Warner in Dowser 4. Great lunch specials!
Xoxolat (CLOSED) – mentioned in multiple books as a place to buy unique chocolate bars from all over the world. Specifically, in Dowser 1, Hudson buys some very expensive bars for a date with Jade that never ends up happening.
Fable – Jade takes Kandy to the restaurant for her birthday in Dowser 4, specifically for the S’mores’ dessert.
Bishop’s Restaurant (CLOSED 😰) – Wisteria (and Kett) dine there in Reconstructionist 1

General places to visit:

Kitsilano – specifically the sea wall highlighted in Dowser 2 and Dowser 7
Stanley Park
Granville Island (and Fisherman’s Wharf for fresh prawns). I recommend wandering around the market, putting together a picnic lunch, and eating it outside on the benches.
Capilano Cemetery, West Vancouver – Reconstructionist 1
Mountain View Cementary – Dowser 7, Dowser 8.5 – where Mory hangs out

Hotels:

Pan Pacific Vancouver – mentioned in Reconstructionist 1, where Wisteria stays.

Okay! I’ll try to add to this completely incomplete list as other locations and recommendations occur to me. If you see any that are mentioned in the books that I missed please let me know in the comments.

By request, I’m here are of my current fav places in Vancouver, as of July 2024, but these are NOT mentioned in the Adept Universe books (yet) (not sponsored, but definitely MCD’s Fav Things™️).

Chocolate related:

Kasama Chocolate – smooth and creamy chocolate (the caramels are also very yummy). My current favourite bars (like, above all other chocolate right now) are the 70% Costa Esmeraldas and the 70% Kisanga. But Michael loves a lot of the limited edition including the whiskey and various white chocolate bars. They’ll make hot chocolate for you from their drinking chocolate as well.

Beta 5 – so many fun things at including gorgeous and ridiculously tasty cream puffs (they change them up seasonally). My fav is the variations of chocolate (of course and always). They have small batches of individual chocolate (flavours constantly changing) and chocolate bars. Michael loves, loves their interesting bars. But on its own, their base chocolate flavour is a little earthy to my palette. With that said their caramals are DIVINE! The hot chocolate is solid as well.

Theirry – everything at Theirry is excellent – tasty pastries, chocolates, and great hot drinks – various hot chocolate and drinking chocolate options. Michael loves their Spanish latte. I haven’t tried their sandwiches but they look fantastic.

Restaurants:

See the above list for some of my long-term favs.

For it’s location (Granville Island) – Sandbar. Solid food but it’s the ambiance that makes this worth the visit. (Quiet) Live music some evenings. If you follow me on social media, this is where I took Hailey when she visited in May 2024.

For amazing (but expensive) Japanese food (the chef invented the California roll) – Tojo’s.

For ridiculously expensive but absolutely delicious Chinese food – iDen & Quanjude Beijing Duck House. Michelin star! The room is pretty. The staff is attentive. We had a fabulous New Year’s Eve. And will definitely return to celebrate other major life events.

Maria’s Taervna – Greek – a go-to for Michael and me. This is NOT a pretty room, but the food is excellent. Lots of garlic. Share a platter (we like Maria’s platter). Michael LOVES their pizza.

Extras (not to be missed):

Bread Affair (Granville Island) – the pastries and the bread (expensive but worth it). Hailey tried their sandwiches and raved about them. The Love at First Bite ($12 a loaf!!) is my fav bread of all time. But I also love the Soul Mate (whole wheat sourdough).

Siegel’s Bagels (either location) – disappointingly they don’t seem to be making their pumpernickel bagels which are freaking stellar. But the bagels and sandwiches are otherwise fantastic.

I’m sure there are many more places I could mention but I have to get back to work!

cherry blossoms in the rain

This morning we had a wicked rainstorm in Vancouver, but, by the time I was walking home from my errands, the sun was burning off the clouds and the air was so, so sweet. The cherry and magnolia trees all along the boulevards are (almost) in full bloom; their heavenly scent triggered even further by the rain.

In the garden my dwarf stella cherry tree is just starting to bloom … I snapped this with my iPhone right before I came inside to – once again – chain myself to the computer.

Stella Cherry Tree Blossom

Now the sun is out and I’m inputing numbers into spreadsheets. Death and taxes, right?
————-
WIP: taxes – yuck!
On the headphones: “Don’t You Worry Child” by Swedish House Mafia
Pen of the day: blue ink bic
Chocolate of the day: fresco 214 (74% single origin Madagascar). I’m attempting to savour the last piece as I write this, damn!

Post No Bills

I discovered this amusing series of photos while walking down West 4th Avenue in Kitsilano on July 28, 2012 – yes, I’ve been remiss in posting it.

An entire block is under construction between Yew and Maple (??) and some brilliant person posted these photos on the plywood wall built between the sidewalk and the site. I’ve included my favourite “Bills” in the photo series above, but there were easily 20+ photos (if memory serves).

Thank you for the laugh, Anonymous Vancouver street artist … a tip of the blog to you!

Photos from the Seawall

It is a winter wonderland in Vancouver today and, with the forecast predicting pissing rain for the next couple of days, we decided a lunch time walk was in order. The photo opportunities were numerous and these are a few that I grabbed with the iPhone:

It is so strange – such a strange juxtaposition – to see snow on the beach. Beaches, even growing up here on the WetCoast, seem analogous with summer and sunshine specifically.

Here a fountain is almost completely crusted in ice… I imagine the city has the water on so the pipes don’t freeze…

Duck. Duck. Goose? I think this might be a goose – perhaps a domesticated type that was released into the “wilds” of Granville Island? Here he/she is chilling with the ducks. I have sent this photo to my Dad, who, I have no doubt, will be able to identity this water fowl.

Ah, a Great Blue Heron… while you can almost always spot these amazing birds down at Granville Island it is rare to get this close to one… at least for me… here he is eyeballing me pretty closely, but, based on the amount of water fowl we saw near shore on our walk, it must be a pretty good day for fishing so he put up with getting his picture taken.

LOVE LIES BLEEDING @ THE COLD READING SERIES

Just found out that the first act of my feature script LOVE LIES BLEEDING will be read at the Cold Reading Series this Thursday, July 29th.

Logline: Pamela just wants to reunite in the afterlife with her dead fiancé, Grady.  Problem is, Grady was a secret agent, and his coded emails have infuriated both his employers and his enemies.  They need Pamela alive.  So, instead of her planned suicide, she is kidnapped by Black Op’s Agents, tortured by Mobster Warlords, hunted by a Psychotic Killer, chased by Zombies …and killed; all necessary evils in order to ultimately walk into the sunset with her true love.

LLB is one of my bloody comedies, so the read should be fun and funny (I hope).

Please join us if you happen to be in Vancouver!  If you want to read you need to get there by 7:30pm for casting otherwise just show up for 8pm.  Feedback is welcomed and appreciated.

Address: 1407 Laburum Street (between Cornwall and Creelman).

Hope to see you there.