Vancouver's best-kept restaurant secrets

The Next Food Vancouver Newsletter is on June 4th, 2009.

The prize give away is the new BBQ Secrets Deluxe Cookbook.

In order to have a chance to win you have to sign up here: Newsletter sign up

Directly from the Listel Hotel Press Release:

Go Dutch: Hangin’ with the Masters
The Listel Hotel offers a package featuring the Vancouver Art Gallery’s
Dutch Masters exhibit.

ROBSON STREET:  The largest public art museum in western Canada, the Vancouver Art Gallery (affectionately known as the VAG), in collaboration with the Rijksmuseum in Amsterdam, brings to Vancouver an exhibition, running May 10 to September 13, that highlights the extraordinary works of art made by Dutch masters of the 17th century, a period known as the Golden Age of the Netherlands.

The Listel Hotel is the perfect hotel address for a visit to this impressive show….and the hotel’s “Go Dutch: Hangin’ with the Masters” package is the perfect way to enjoy it!

Elements of The Primer Package include:

Accommodation for two in an art-infused Gallery Floor room or for an additional fee, an upgrade to a luxurious Artist Series Suite.
Two express-entry tickets to the Vancouver Art Gallery. You can simply walk over to the Gallery anytime and cruise past the line up, straight into the exhibition.
Exclusive 15% discount in the Gallery Store.

Price: $229.00 CDN per room, based on double occupancy.

Elements of The Immersion Package include:

Accommodation for two in an art-infused Gallery Floor room or for an additional fee, an upgrade to a luxurious Artist Series Suite.
Two express-entry tickets to the Vancouver Art Gallery. You can simply walk over to the Gallery anytime and cruise past the line up, straight into the exhibition.
Exclusive 15% discount in the Gallery Store.
A catalogue of the show.
A private tour of the show with a VAG Animateur.
A basket of decadent Dutch treats from Vancouver’s own Dutch Girl Chocolates

Price: $389.00 CDN per room, based on double occupancy.

Cost/Small Print: This package is available until September 13, 2009. Bookings are subject to taxes and fees and based on availability and can be made by calling 604.684.8461 or 800.663.5491 or by email at reservations@thelistelhotel.com.

The Hotel. The Listel Hotel is a cultural tourist’s dream and one of the city’s most interesting and well-appointed boutique hotels. Located on Vancouver’s most eclectic shopping and dining street, The Listel Hotel has a sought after location, a reputation for warm, genuine service and creative partnerships with some of the city’s most dynamic cultural organizations.

The Restaurant. The hotel is home to O’Doul’s Restaurant & Bar one of the city’s favourite jazz venues featuring all of Vancouver’s finest performers – 7 nights a week! Their remarkable West Coast menu is complemented by an award-winning wine list (Wine Spectator “Award of Excellence” annually since 1997) and a reputation for impeccable service.

The Exhibit.  The exhibition will feature major paintings and drawings by all of the celebrated masters of the period such as Aelbert Cuyp, Gerard Dou, Franz Hals, Rembrandt van Rijn, Jacob van Ruisdael, Gerard ter Borch and Johannes Vermeer, as well as an extraordinary selection of decorative arts, including furniture, silver, glassware, porcelain and textiles.For additional information visit vannartgallery.bc.ca. The show is open until September 13, 2009.

Directly from the Provence Newsletter:

June is finally here and le soleil is our inspiration!! We bask in it, we celebrate it and we sit ocean side on our glorious patio enjoying the fruits of the sea! We are extending the Spot Prawn extravaganza for another month!! We have a new June Chef’s menu featuring the B.C. Spot Prawn!

Just for fun our Sommelier, Rachelle Goudreau, has come up with some simple suggestions for your outdoor cooking: stay within budget and wow your guests with your amazing wine knowledge, be the star of all your parties! These three suggestions provide a range of styles and price points.

For a fun and inexpensive summer wine you could go with Espelt Corali Rose from Spain. If you prefer a crisp classic warm weather white try Kris Pinot Grigio from Italy. Or for something unique try the lightly oaked Pinot Blanc from Okanagan wine producer Sandhill. All available at BC Liquor stores for $15.99, $21.99, and $17.99 respectively.

Chef Jean-Francis added this tip: for cooking Spot Prawns to perfection simply toss them with sea salt and light olive oil then place on the BBQ whole (heads and shells). Cook for two minutes on each side and squeeze some fresh lemon and voila… the perfect summer meal! Don’t forget June is the month to celebrate your father. We will be taking all sizes of reservations for this very special brunch or dinner so call and book soon to avoid disappointment.

We look forward to sharing patio bliss, belly laughs and fabulous food with you all summer long! Bon Appetit!

Directly From the Fraser Valley Wineries Association Press Release:

Langley, BC… The Fraser Valley Wineries Association (FVWA) is thrilled to announce their 2nd Annual Wine & Culinary Extravaganza, coming to Langley’s Highpoint Equestrian Estate Community (2 Avenue at 200 Street, Langley) on June 27, 2009 from 2:00-5:00PM.  The wineries of the Fraser Valley are once again pairing up with the hottest local restaurants for a spectacular afternoon of food, wine and live entertainment. This year, participating restaurants include: Bacchus Bistro, Coza! Tuscan Grill, Memphis Blues, Restaurant 62, Sonoma Grill, The Seasonal Experience, and more.  Be sure to check the website for up to date information. Last year’s event was hugely successful, and this year we anticipate no less.  Tickets are $50 + tax and are available now at 1-800-663-1900 or www.fvwa.ca.

Once again, partial proceeds raised from the FVWA Wine & Culinary Extravaganza will go to Langley’s Pacific Riding for Developing Abilities. This organization was established in 1973 to provide therapeutic horseback riding to individuals with physical, cognitive and emotional disabilities. Equine assisted therapy has long been recognized as an excellent means of providing physical, psychological, social and recreational benefits to children and adults with disabilities. Pacific Riding for Developing Abilities is dedicated to enhancing the quality of life for people with a wide range of disabilities.  For more information on Pacific Riding for Developing Abilities, visit www.prda.ca.

The 12 wineries of the Fraser Valley Wineries Association are located just outside of Vancouver, making for a short drive to enjoy a taste of the Valley. With great local wines, food and farm-fresh ingredients, the FVWA Wine & Culinary Extravaganza is your opportunity to celebrate country life in BC. Formed in 2006, The Fraser Valley Wineries Association includes: Domaine de Chaberton Estate Winery, The Fort Wine Company, Lotusland, Lulu Island Winery, Mt. Lehman Winery, Pacific Breeze Winery, Real Estate Vineyards & Winery, River’s Bend Winery, Sanduz Estate Winery, St. Urban Winery Ltd., Wellbrook Winery, and Westham Island Estate Winery.  For more information, visit their website at www.fvwa.ca.

Directly from the VSO Press Release:

Bramwell Tovey and the Vancouver Symphony Orchestra perform Carl Orff’s thrilling Carmina Burana in a sensational Season Finale concert!

Vancouver BC – The VSO’s Season Finale is a real barn-burner: Carl Orff’s extraordinary masterpiece Carmina Burana is a musical setting of medieval poetry, from the sacred to the profane, from devotional love and piety to drinking songs and debauchery! It also happens to be one of the wildest live concert experiences you can possibly have. Combined with Stravinsky’s Symphony of Psalms, this concert is a magnificent Season Finale for Lower Mainland audiences, and a prelude to the excitement of the 2009/2010 Season!

Maestro Bramwell Tovey wields the baton in this massive concert that features soprano Laura Whalen, tenor Colin Ainsworth, baritone Hugh Russell, the Vancouver Bach Choir, and the Vancouver Bach Children’s Chorus. Concerts take place on Saturday and Monday, June 13th and 15th, 8pm at the Orpheum Theatre.

Carmina Burana was German composer Carl Orff’s first and greatest success. It is a scenic cantata composed between 1935 and 1936 based on 24 of the poems found in the medieval collection of the same name. In 1803, at the monastery of Benediktbeuern in Upper Bavaria, musicologist J. A. Schmeller discovered a manuscript collection of lyrics, dating from the twelfth and thirteenth centuries and eventually published it in 1847. The polite side of the collection includes six plays based on the Christmas, Passion and Easter mysteries. The earthier part contains some 200 drinking songs, love lyrics and recruiting songs.

When Orff came across the manuscript in 1935, he saw in it the ideal vehicle to express the kind of basic, uncomplicated human emotions he had in mind. Choosing two dozen poems from the collection, with the assistance of Michel Hofmann, he matched them with equally direct music, featuring simple yet striking rhythms, melodies and harmonies. “It’s not sophisticated, not intellectual,” he wrote, “and the themes of my work are themes that everyone knows…There is a spiritual power behind my work, that’s why it is accepted throughout the world.” The premiere took place in Frankfurt on June 8, 1937.

The illuminated pictures that accompanied the original poems intrigued Orff virtually as much as the words. The cover showed luck as a revolving wheel, blindly governing people’s destinies. Orff begins his Carmina Burana with a grandiose hymn, Fortuna Imperatrix Mundi (Luck, Empress of the World), saluting this inscrutable, unpredictable concept. O Fortuna is one of the grandest statements in all of music, and has become famous world-wide. This extraordinary music from the beginning of Carmina Burana has been used in movies, commercials, and in sports arenas around the world as a trigger for creating feelings of drama and thrilling anticipation. Primo vere (In Springtime), follows. It deals, mostly in quiet, mysterious fashion, with the anticipated arrival of that season. Joy eventually breaks forth as Spring itself appears. It is celebrated in the section entitled Uf dem anger (On the Green).

The next segment, In Taberna (In the Tavern) salutes the juice of the grape in riotous fashion. The tenor soloist, singing in falsetto, takes the role of a swan roasting slowly and sadly on a spit. The baritone is an Abbot who launches the men of the choir into a rollicking ode to drink.

Cour d’amours (Court of Love) brings several of Orff’s loveliest, most lyrical moments. The soprano solo In trutina (In the Balance) a glowing anticipation of fulfillment, is a particular highlight. After the ecstatic fervor of Blanziflor et Helena (Blanchefleur and Helen, the principal characters in a medieval romance), Orff’s ode to luck returns, to close Carmina Burana as majestically as it began.

Igor Stravinsky’s Symphony of Psalms was commissioned in 1929 by conductor Serge Koussevitzky, for the fiftieth anniversary of the Boston Symphony Orchestra. He used this opportunity to realize a project he had been considering for some time: a setting of selected Biblical Psalms for chorus and orchestra.

“I began with Psalm 150,” Stravinsky wrote. “After finishing the fast-tempo sections, I went back to compose the first and second movements…The first movement, Hear my prayer, O Lord, (Psalm 39) was composed in a state of religious and musical symbolism in any of my music before The Flood. It consists of an upside-down pyramid of fugues.

“The Allegro in Psalm 150 (Finale of the Symphony) was inspired by a vision of Elijah’s chariot climbing to the heavens; never before had I written anything quite so literal as the triplets for horns and piano to suggest the horses and chariot. In setting the words of this final hymn, I cared above all for the sounds of the syllables, and I have indulged my besetting pleasure of regulating prosody in my own way.”

Stravinsky, who had become a regular communicant of the Russian Orthodox Church in 1926, inscribed the score of Symphony of Psalms “To the Glory of God.” The orchestration includes enlarged wind and brass sections, but excludes violins and violas.

GK Media Inc is pleased to be presenting an ongoing collection of recipes from various cookbooks.

The recipe that will be featured today is Lemon Tarte from the New World Provence cookbook.

To download all of the recipes please use the recipe iPod guide or go to the Recipes page.

Directly from the Pacific Institute of Culinary Arts Press Release:

(VANCOUVER, BC) – Feeling Crabby? Indulge your crabbiness with a three-course menu built around our fresh and local BC Dungeness Crab. For three weeks only, starting Tuesday, June 9th, Pacific Institute of Culinary Arts’ soon-to-be graduating class will be cracking, shelling and cooking in the kitchen for their BC Dungeness Excrabagannza Menu.

The excrabaganza is available for lunch and dinner in the marina-view restaurant at Pacific Institute of Culinary Arts. For $38 per person (excluding taxes and gratuities) crab lovers can choose from a number of dishes on our three-course menu including crab bisque, crab cakes, wild sockeye salmon with crab hollandaise …A detailed menu is attached.

This limited time menu is only offered on Tuesdays, Wednesdays and Thursdays along side our regular weekly restaurant menu currently featuring BC Spot Prawns (so crabby people can still bring along their not-so-crabby dining companions)

Reservations are highly recommended and available by telephone at 604.734.4488 or online at www.picachef.com. Special discount and promotional coupons not accepted.

Directly from the Wild Rice Press Release:

(Vancouver, BC) – “Summertime and the living is easy” or so the song goes. When the warmer days finally arrive, we feel less inclined to spend time cooking over a hot stove. Summer fare tends to be easier and lighter in keeping with our lighter appetites.

At Wild Rice, celebrating the lightness of summer is as easy as one, two, three. Each month from June through September, Wild Rice will present a special Summer Light Menu. Lighter seasonal ingredients, lighter flavours and light on your pocket book.

Each menu comes with three different food courses. You pick any two for only $22 or enjoy all three for $27.

June’s menu includes Caramelized Qualicum Bay Scallop on a Salad of Pea and Bamboo Shoots, Seared Orange-spiced BC Albacore Tuna served with a Coconut Ginger Rice Cake with a cooling Mango Cucumber Emulsion and Coconut Beignets with Star Anise Caramel and Spiced Pineapple Sorbet.

Owner Andrew Wong has also suggested an optional wine pairing for each course representing some of BC’s finest summer sippers - Joie Noble Blend, Wild Goose Gewürztraminer and Mt. Boucherie Late Harvest Chardonnay. Same light pricing – any two for $10 or get all three for $15.

The Summer Light Menu is offered every day. Wild Rice is open every evening for dinner starting at 5 p.m. and on Fridays for lunch as well starting at 11:30 a.m. Reservations are now accepted at Wild Rice and can be made on line at
www.wildricevancouver.com or by calling 604.642.2882

Directly from The Smoking Dog Press Release:

THE SMOKING DOG FRENCH BISTRO CELEBRATES AN ANNIVERSARY

Wednesday, June 10th, 6:30 pm – Midnight

The Smoking Dog French Bistro invites you to celebrate

Jean and Jude’s four year anniversary as owners of “The Dog”,

a Kitsilano neighbourhood icon for  12 years.

Join us for an evening of great food, great drinks and great music

Ticket’s $25 per person

Included - Hors d’oeuvres will flow all night,

unlimited Pomme Frites and as a special one night feature,

all wines and feature cocktails at just $5 a glass

FEATURING SPECIAL GUEST

JUNO AWARD WINNER JIM BYRNES

Reserve by telephone with a credit card at 604-732-8811

or purchase in advance at the door

Directly from the Mink Chocolate Press Release:

May 25, 2009 (Vancouver, BC) –Mink A Chocolate Café is pleased to announce that it will be supporting the Canucks Autism Network (CAN) this June.

Every month, the staff at Mink A Chocolate Café donates 100% of their tips to a registered charity of their choice.  This June, CAN will be the beneficiary of their goodwill.  CAN makes a positive difference in the lives of children with autism and their families, offering a range of recreational, sports, social, and vocational development programs.  Some of their most popular programs include Zajac Ranch for Children, which provides a safe and fun summer camp experience; the opportunity to participate in a tour of GM Place; and a soccer program.  CAN will also shortly be introducing a martial arts program and a peer friendship program that will provide social and relationship building opportunities.

We hope that you will help us support this worthy organization the next time you stop by Mink A Chocolate Café to pick up one of our luxurious handmade chocolate bars or a cup of freshly-brewed coffee.

Directly from the Summerlicious Press Release:

Summerlicious presented by American Express returns July 3 to 19. A list of restaurants and their menus can now be found at www.toronto.ca/summerlicious and in brochures distributed to participating locations and civic centres throughout Toronto.

Now in its seventh year, Summerlicious features three-course prix fixe menus ($15, $20 or $30 for lunch and $25, $35 or $45 for dinner) at 150 of Toronto’s finest dining establishments across the city.

Restaurants will begin taking Summerlicious reservations on June 18 and American Express Cardmembers can go to the Front Of The Line® to book early reservations on June 16 and 17.

There are 12 new restaurants on this year’s line-up:  Café du Lac, Didier, Domani Restaurant and Wine Bar, Hot House Café, Kultura, Levack Block, Lucien, Madeline’s, MoRoCo Chocolat, Turf Lounge, Vibo and Vivah Festive Indian Cuisine.

Vincor Canada returns as the official wine sponsor of the event, featuring wine selections by Toasted Head and Kim Crawford paired up with select menus at participating restaurants. Other popular local and international brands are also available. The complete list is featured on the Vincor website www.vincorcanada.com.

New for this year is Pilsner Urquell, the official beer sponsor for Summerlicious. The original Pilsner’s long-standing commitment to tradition and authenticity, along with its full-flavoured and bittersweet but perfectly balanced taste, make it a refreshing complement to any Summerlicious meal.

GK Media Inc is pleased to present a new feature article: Sun Peaks Wine and Culture Festival

GK Media Inc is pleased to be presenting an ongoing collection of recipes from Whitecap Books.

The recipe that will be featured today is Two Bite Brownies from the cookbook Grazing.

To download all of the recipes please use the recipe iPod guide or go to the Recipes page.

Directly from the VSO Press Release:

Vancouver BC – In the final Masterworks Gold concert of the Symphony Season, Maestro Bramwell Tovey leads the Vancouver Symphony Orchestra in Schubert’s beautiful Ballet Music from Rosamunde, Princess of Cyprus and Mahler’s monumental masterpiece Symphony No. 6. Concerts take place on Saturday, June 6th and Monday, June 8th at 8pm at the Orpheum Theatre.

Franz Schubert composed the incidental music for Rosamunde, Princess of Cypress, a play by the eccentric German playwright Helmina von Chézy, in 1823. The score includes an overture, entr’actes, ballet music, choruses, and a romance for soprano. The play was so bad that it was pulled from production after two performances, and only the vocal numbers were published during Schubert’s lifetime. The orchestral selections dropped from sight until 1867, when English musicians Sir Arthur Sullivan and Sir George Grove made a pilgrimage to Vienna, specifically in search of forgotten nuggets of Schubertiana. We have them to thank for this enchanting music’s survival and its entry into the repertoire.

Gustav Mahler began his Sixth Symphony during the summer of 1903, completing it a year later. This was one of the most idyllic periods of his life: his fame as a conductor reached its apex; regular and well-received performances of his music were taking place across Europe; and the companionship of his wife Alma and their two daughters was giving him great joy. Yet the music he was writing represents an enormous gulf between reality and his creative world. Symphony No. 6 is a sombre, even tragic work. It turned out to be a disturbingly prophetic one, as well.

Regarding the Symphony, Alma Mahler wrote in her memoirs, “In the last movement he describes himself and his downfall; or, as he later said: ‘It is the hero, on whom falls three blows of fate, the last of which fells him as a tree is felled.’ On him too fell three blows of fate, and the last felled him.” This refers to the events of 1907: the death of their older daughter Maria of diphtheria and smallpox, aged four-and-a-half; Mahler’s being driven from his job as Music Director of the Vienna State Opera; and the diagnosis of his life-threatening case of heart disease. To represent these “blows of fate,” Mahler included a hammer in the orchestration of the Sixth Symphony’s finale. The sound he wanted from it wasn’t clangourous and steely, but a non-metallic thud, “like an axe stroke.”

“But at the time he was serene; he was conscious of the greatness of his work,” Alma continued. “None of his works came as directly from his innermost heart as this one. The music and what it foretold touched us so deeply.” The first performance took place on May 27, 1906, in Essen, under the composer’s direction. According to Alma, “Out of shame and anxiety he did not conduct the symphony well. He hesitated to bring out the dark omen behind this terrible last movement.”

Mahler later made changes to the symphony’s orchestration, the most important of them the deletion of the last of the three hammer blows. He superstitiously feared it might hasten the arrival of the disaster that it predicted for him. He also harbored some uncertainty about the sequence of the inner movements. On every occasion that he conducted it, the sequence was Andante first, followed by the Scherzo. The symphony was published with that order reversed, but Mahler didn’t authorize this. The critical edition of his complete works that is sanctioned by the International Gustav Mahler Society uses the Andante/Scherzo sequence.

Mahler gave the Sixth Symphony the subtitle Tragic. In overall terms it is an appropriate designation. Yet it is only in the Finale that the work’s catastrophic nature becomes clear. The opening movement contrasts a menacing, march-like subject with a passionate second melody. Alma recalled, “After he had drafted the first movement, he came down from the forest to tell me he had tried to express me a theme. “Whether I’ve succeeded I don’t know; but you’ll have to put up with it.’ This is the great, soaring theme of the first movement of the Sixth Symphony.” In the middle comes a peaceful interlude, atmospherically coloured with the sound of cowbells (Mahler may have included them as a recollection of his happy youth in central Europe. They will be heard again in the Andante and Finale). The “Alma” theme crowns the movement triumphantly.

The slow movement is a serene, gorgeously melodious lullaby. The climax, in contrast, is a searing outpouring of emotion. “In the Scherzo, he represented the un-rhythmic games of the two children, tottering in zigzags over the sand,” Alma wrote. “Ominously the childish voices become more and more tragic, and at the end die out in a whimper.” This is one of the bitterest and most bizarrely scored scherzos in any Mahler symphony.

The colossal, overwhelming Finale opens with an eerie, unsettling introduction in slow tempo. The movement proper is restless and striving. It consists of a series of waves of vigorous activity, each of which is crowned catastrophically by one of the hammer blows of fate. There is no recovery from the third and final climax. The music, its tragic destiny fulfilled, subsides into utter darkness.

Directly from the Vista D’oro Farms Press Release:

On Saturday, May 30th, join Vista D’oro from 12pm to 3pm on the farm in celebration of the wineries first Spring Release, picnic-style.  This is an opportunity to sample Vista D’oro’s 2008 vintages including Rosa, Gewurztraminer & Pinot Noir, alongside a select few farmgate shop offerings that have been crafted into nibblies by several of our local chefs. The $10 ticket pricing for the picnic transfers into 10% off any Farmgate Shop & Tasting Room purchase for the day. Bring your sun hat and picnic blanket to take in the Farm’s picturesque view to which is their namesake; golden view.

Vista D’oro Farms showcases progressive products and ideas, combining local and global ingredients determined by the season. Proprietors Patrick and Lee Murphy are dedicated to the promotion of farm-fresh products, seasonally sourced from their own and other farms.  Nestled in the valley, just beyond the urban sprawl in the comfort of the country, Vista D’oro, the farm with the golden view, is the perfect place to seek out local treats. Vista D’oro is located at 20856 4th Avenue in Langley, BC. The Farmgate Shop & Winery Tasting Room are open Thursday to Saturday. For more information please call 604.514.3539.

Directly from the Hamilton Street Grill Press Release:

Hamilton Street Grill’s Monthly Wine Tasting Series

We are delighted to present Hillside Estate Winery and congratulate them on their 25th Anniversary

Named “Best Winery in the South Okanagan” for 2002, 2006, 2007, and 2008

Come join us to taste these award winning wines

Monday, June 15th, 5:30 pm and again Tuesday, June 16th at 5:30 pm

These fun neighbourhood mixer and wine tastings are held early and right after work. A great way to try a few new wines and meet some new people. Seating is pre-assigned with some seating shared, some not…and at just $25 per person, this tasting is a bargain!

In keeping with our popular format, try a sampling of three new wines and have three savoury, wine-inspired food tasters while learning from a wine expert as they take you through a casual style tasting.

This month we are pouring a selection of wines from Hillside Estate Winery alongside Hamilton Street Grill’s Executive Chef Neil Wyles’ wine inspired appetizers. For further information on Hillside Estate please see below and go to www.hillsideestate.com

Monday, June 15th - 5:30 pm
Tuesday, June 16th – 5:30 pm

Hamilton Street Grill
1009 Hamilton Street,
Yaletown, Vancouver
Tickets $25 per person
Seating is limited and always sells out quickly.
Reserve by credit card at: 604-331-1511

Eat! Vancouver Show starts today through Sunday.

Summer Night Market is every Friday through Sunday until mid October.

Ride to Conquer Cancer Fundraiser Brunch
On Sunday May 31, join us in Elixir Restaurant for a fundraiser brunch to benefit “Team Merckx” in their ‘Ride to Conquer Cancer.

Directly from the Pacific Institute of Culinary Arts Newsletter

Pacific Institute of Culinary Arts hosts the 2009 SOWA Kitchen Party! Tuesday, May 26th from 6:30 – 9:00 PM. Experience the region’s limited release and specialty wines paired with tasty bites from some of BC’s top restaurants.

8-Week Beer Program

Expand your knowledge and appreciation of our favourite summertime bevy just in time for the neighbourhood BBQ! Participants will be guided through tastings while learning about the history, ingredients, techniques, styles, terminology and international producers of beer. Successful completion of this program will prepare individuals for the Cicerone Certified Beer Server examination. Register Now for our September class! For more information visit http://www.picachef.com/, Click ‘Short Programs’

Directly from the Granville Island Press Release

Vancouver, BC: (May 21, 2009): Granville Island will once again play host to one of the city’s best outdoor markets, beginning Thursday, June 18.

In addition to the fabulous finds the Public Market on Granville Island offers, Farmer’s Market shoppers will be privy to bedding plants and hanging baskets in June. July welcomes fruits and vegetables, fresh from local farms that arrive within hours of being picked.

An exceptional variety is always offered to help you create an inspiring garden and keep you cooking all spring and summer long. The Farmer’s Market runs every Thursday, June through October, from 9 am to 3 pm and is located in the parking lot east of the Public Market.

For more information about the Farmer’s Market and upcoming Granville Island events, visit granvilleisland.com.

Granville Island Public Market and The Net Loft are open until 7 pm, seven days a week.

GK Media Inc is pleased to present a Health Check promotional video for your viewing pleasure.

To view the video and/or download to your iPod or mpeg4 capable mobile device please click below:

Health Check Video