Metro Vancouver Talk

Even though I grew up in a very small town in New Brunswick, I was able to develop a fondness for fried rice at quite a young age.  Any time I would go out to a Chinese restaurant (pretty well the only ethnic food available in northern New Brunswick outside of North American), I ordered what was called “chicken friend rice” from the menu every time, and it was so delicious: nice light brown in color, and perfectly textured and flavored.

When I moved to Vancouver in 2003, one of the first things I noticed was that the Chinese food here is quite different compared to the Chinese food in Eastern Canada. It seemed that all the fried rice was white or yellow in color and the taste was quite bland compared to what I was used to. Besides that, some of the other Chinese food items I was used to were missing from the west coast Chinese restaurant menus, such as Chop Suey and even another one of my favorite food items: the egg roll (haven’t seen one in Vancouver yet, and on a few occasions, the Chinese server at a restaurant pointed out a spring roll from the menu when I asked if they made egg rolls).

Anyway, the purpose of this post is to tell you about a delicious plate of fried rice that I discovered at a restaurant on Davie Street. It’s actually at a Thai restaurant on the north side of Davie Street, just east of Bute called Thida Thai.

Thai Fried Rice - one of the lunch combos for less than $9.00.

The Thai fried Rice, like all of their lunch combos, comes with a spring roll and a small side salad. The fried rice can be ordered with chicken, beef, pork, or tofu, but I always choose chicken. The chicken is good quality, too, and just the way I like it: generous portions of high quality white meat (very rare I will find gristle, but it has happened a couple of times), and just the right texture. Also within the rice, you’ll find around 4 sweet tomato wedges and onion slices. It’s a very nice tasting lunch that I go back for again and again, and it definitely satisfies my “chicken fried rice” cravings in Vancouver.

Another of their items I like to indulge in once in a while is the Thai Yellow Curry lunch combo:

Yellow Curry lunch combo - includes spring roll, rice, salad, and yellow curry with potatoes and chicken (or beef or pork)

All in all, it’s a pretty good little Thai restaurant with extremely reasonable prices, and a super friendly staff. It’s quite quiet and cozy inside with some pretty nice Thai decor.

Thida Thai interior - actually, it looks better than this now. I'll get a more recent picture soon.

Elephant statue/ornament

If you would like more information about Thida Thai and its menu items, try visiting the Thida Thai website at http://www.thidathairestaurant.com/.

The Christmas activities in Vancouver are now in full swing, especially with the arrival of the annual Rogers Santa Claus parade this Sunday. Since I have been in Vancouver for several years now, I’m confident I can recommend some pretty decent seasonal attractions that you should check out sometime this month. Following is a list that I was able to come up with that should be especially useful to newcomers to the Metro Vancouver area.

The Rogers Christmas Parade

This Sunday (December 5, 2010) at 1:00 pm, come to Downtown Vancouver to check out the annual Rogers Santa Claus Parade. If you’ve seen it a few times already, it’s nothing special since they pretty well use the same floats and acts every year, but if you haven’t seen it yet, you should definitely check it out. For the parade route map and to find out more information about it, go to the official website at http://rogerssantaclausparade.com/home

Lights of Hope at St. Paul’s Hospital

I’ve been checking this out since 2003, and I never get tired of it, though it has lost a lot of its awe-factor for me. You can see it on Burrard Street near Helmcken Street. If it’s night time, you definitely won’t miss it because you won’t see more lights in one place anywhere else. It seems they manage to make it a little bit different every year. For more information about it, go to http://www.helpstpauls.com/lights-of-hope/lights-of-hope-display.

Festival of Lights at VanDusen Botanical Gardens

In my opinion, this is the best Christmas lights attraction in the entire Metro Vancouver area. This light show is located at the VanDusen Botanical Gardens, which is located at 5251 Oak Street in Vancouver. Some of the highlights of the Festival of Lights include (taken from the official site):

• Santa’s Living Room: Dec. 10 – 24 with Santa appearances 5:30, 6:30, 7:30, 8:30 p.m.
• Svend and Jens, our Scandinavian Christmas Elves appear nightly in the Centre Court.
• Dancing Lights on Livingstone Lake: starting at 4:30 p.m. Two different shows – one show on the half hour and a different one at the top of the hour. Two different shows repeating in sequence throughout the evening.
• Gingerbread Wood
• Golden Chain Walk
• Community Choir Concerts on the Deck at 6:00 pm and 7:30 pm – view choir schedule
• Make-a-Wish Candle Shrine
• Candy Cane Lane
• Sparkling Spruce in the Centre Court
• Candy Cane Express model train

For more information, go to the official site at http://vancouver.ca/PARKS/parks/vandusen/website/events/fol.htm.

Bright Nights at Stanley Park

Here is another not-to-be-missed attraction which even features a Christmas train ride with a different theme every year. Before or after your train ride, you can take your time to walk around the plaza to check out all the spectacular Christmas light displays.  For getting on the train, you can either buy your tickets through Ticketmaster or purchase them on-site. Check out the official site for more information at http://vancouver.ca/parks/events/brightnights/

Festival of Trees at Four Seasons and Christmas Street

I was just at the Four Seasons hotel to check this out today. It’s always worth checking out, especially if you just happen to be in the area to do some Christmas shopping as I was today (the Pacific Centre Mall is connected). Situated in the lobby of the Four Seasons, and also up the escalator on the next floor are many trees that have all been decorated with a theme.

The Festival of Trees at Four Seasons

While you are in the area to check out the Festival of Trees, you may as well head through the mall into the Bay to see another nice set of Christmas displays. Located on the 5th floor of the Bay is a very nicely decorated area that they call Christmas Street. I’m not sure why they call it Christmas Street, since there is no street, but I think the name is pretty cool. What you’ll see is a lot of Christmas items for sale, but what makes it special is how they have all their items on display with colorful themes in different areas.

No, your eyes are not playing tricks on you. This is a McDonald's Christmas tree.

Gingerbread Lane at the Hyatt Regency

If you like gingerbread creations, you definitely can’t go wrong stopping by the Hyatt Regency Hotel on Burrard Street between Georgia and Pender.

From the official site:

This year, the centrepiece is again Executive Sous Chef Hans Lutz’s gigantic gingerbread house measuring 11 feet tall and 16 feet wide. Ingredients include 500 pounds of gingerbread dough, 400 pounds of confection sugar and 1,400 egg whites, plus a few secret ingredients and a little help from Hyatt’s engineering department. Four foot tall cut outs of gingerbread families are also available for picture taking. Nearly 40 individually crafted gingerbread creations from culinary professionals and amateurs, corporations and secondary schools round out the sweet smelling lavish display.

For more information, go to http://vancouver.hyatt.com/hyatt/hotels/, and click on Gingerbread Lane Celebrates 20th Anniversary in the right column.

The Vancouver Christmas Market

Step back in time … Experience A Traditional German Christmas Festival For All!

New to Vancouver this year is traditional German Christmas market located at the Plaza at Queen Elizabeth Theatre.

Welcome to the Vancouver Christmas Market, an authentic outdoor German Christmas market village featuring unique holiday shopping, seasonal music and entertainment, and delicious traditional food and drink.

I haven’t been able to check this one out yet, but I plan on heading there this week. The German Christmas Market is open until December 24, 2010.

For more information, check out the official website at http://www.vancouverchristmasmarket.com/

Even though stores and TV networks usually begin promoting the Christmas season the day after Halloween, I’ve always found that to be a bit too early, especially with my jack-o’-lanterns still smiling at me with their Happy Halloween grins. A little bit after the middle of November, however, is an event that changes all that and finally kicks me into Christmas mode and gets me looking forward to Santa’s visit. It’s the annual Christmas at Hycroft.

I decided to go there on opening day this year, which was Thursday, November 18. I figured that since it was a weekday, it wouldn’t be very busy there, and I was right. The fact that it was raining probably kept a lot of people away, too.

Upon walking through the gate, I got the usual eyeful of this huge house that I was about to enter, quite nicely decorated from the outside.

Christmas at Hycroft, exterior view

There is a small box office outside the entrance where you can purchase a ticket to enter. The cost is $10 to get inside, and the ticket includes a stub that you can write your name on and put in a raffle box for the chance to win a number of prizes including getting to use the Hycroft mansion for a day for your own private party.

Now I’m going to show you a bunch of pictures that I was able to snap while exploring all the areas of the house. These are some of the best interior Christmas decorations I’ve seen, and the main reason I keep going back every year.

One of several fireplaces in the house

Showing the upper level and ground level. There is also a basement.

Frosty's family out on the balcony

All the rooms are well done and tidy

Even Santa Claus was there

Throughout the day, there is always some form of entertainment going on. While I was there, I got to see a choir performing various Christmas songs, and something else that was definitely a first for me: a quartet of elderly ladies playing the bells.

A choir performing a set of Christmas songs

Bell Ringer Quartet - a small group from "Kerrisdale Bell-Ringers" playing Christmas music on bells at the Hycroft. Click on image to see a short video clip.

In case you missed it, you can click on the above image to see a short recording of the bell ringing performance.

I lost count of how many Christmas trees they had in there.

A nice bedroom setup. Reminded me of my own bedroom at Christmas time when I was a child.

Another nice bedroom setup. I wish my room looked like this.

The dining room

This couch can fit around 10 skinny people.

This was the 38th annual Christmas at Hycroft event. It usually takes place during the last half of November, but you better pay attention and make sure you don’t miss the opening because it’s only available to be visited for 4 days. This year, the house opened to the public on Thursday, November 18, and the last day will be on Sunday, November 21.

Hycroft is owned by the University Womens Club of Vancouver, For more information about the Hycroft and the University Womens Club of Vancouver, you can go to the official website at http://www.uwcvancouver.ca/christmas-at-hycroft/

One of my favorite decorations of the night. Let it snow!

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