In addition to these listed below, it is BC Culture Days so there's lots more things happening in and around Vancouver. You can check out the full listings here: http://bc.culturedays.ca/en/activities. It's going to be a full moon on Sept 30th! Celebrate the Mid-Autumn Moon Festival with Mooncake!

Friday, September 28, 2012

Chinese Cultural Festival and Lantern Festival
Friday, September 28, 2012 — 11:00 AM - 7:00 PM  
Saturday, September 29, 2012 — 11:00 AM - 7:00 PM  
Sunday, September 30, 2012 — 11:00 AM - 4:00 PM
Minoru Park, 7191 Granville Ave, Richmond
The Chinese Cultural Festival 2012 will celebrate the annual Moon Cake tradition. A treasured highlight for many the event will feature exquisite Chinese stone carving exhibits, Chinese Cultural discussion forums on multi culture, Asian cooking displays, Chinese cinema and a Chinese variety show highlighting entertainment from both the local and international stage throughout the day. 

Holt Renfrew: Hot@175 Mobile Tour
1:00pm - 9:00pm September 28- 30
Holt Renfrew, 668 Cambie Street, Vancouver
Holt Renfrew has launched the Hot@175 Mobile Tour; a cross-country, travelling pop-up shop that will sell exclusively designed, limited edition sweatshirts in celebration of 175 years of style.

Barking Babies Fall for Fashion Show
6:00pm - 8:00pm
Barking Babies, 1188 Homer Street, Vancouver
Fall for Fashion Show will benefit SAINTS. A charity that was started in December 2004 after volunteers at other animal shelters saw many senior animals spending their last days in a shelter or pound.  Come to the show and watch Barking Babies’ Next Top Dog Models strut their stuff in the coolest canine clothing for Fall. Complimentary champagne from Yellow Tail will be served. 

RiverFest - Inspired by the Fraser 
6:00pm - 9:00pm
Fraser River Discovery Centre, 788 Quayside Drive, New Westminster
Celebrate BC and World Rivers Day with a festival on Friday, September 28 and Saturday, September 29 that honours the Fraser River, the province’s most magnificent river. Inspired by the river, RiverFest will be presented free to the public and will consist of art exhibits, interactive activities from conservation organizations and community groups that build upon the river and environmental themes. Live music and entertainment will complete the weekend offerings for an exciting, family-friendly festival atmosphere.

Saturday, September 29, 2012

Annual Compost and Spring Bulb Sale
11:00am & 1:00pm - Seed Pot Sculpture Making
2:00pm - 3:30pm - Layers: Exploring Nature’s Uniqueness through Printmaking
ArtStarts Gallery, 808 Richards Street, Vancouver
Transform seeds, dried plants and clay into magic seed pod sculptures! These works of art will grow into marvelous flowers and herbs in the Spring. Explore the shapes, colours and textures of seeds while Madame Beespeaker tells stories about helpful insects in the garden and what they can teach us about living in harmony with nature. Come dressed in your get-messy clothes!

Had a little farewell dinner at Ki Isu for two of my university friends last Friday. One is leaving us to work for Google! Really smart guy. And the other is going to work for a gaming company in Toronto! So far away! Gonna miss them both!

Only one of our group has been to Ki Isu and he said it was great but it's a small place so we made a reservation for the seven of us to dine there. However, when we arrived, we were told they don't take reservations for Fridays. And the waitress didn't know anything about one without checking with anyone. Er what?! Ok. Thank goodness we didn't have to wait very long before two small parties finished their meals and we were able to get our entire group seated.

Ki Isu has a lot of interesting sounding items on their menu, especially the seasonal specials. We decided to share some appies and special rolls.

Tuna Tataki Salad - $7.95

My friend recommended the Tuna Tataki Salad. And he did not steer us wrong. It was awesome. The tuna was melt-in-your-mouth good!

Seaweed Salad - $3.95

Ebi Gyoza - $6.95

Brown Rice Salmon Cake - Brown rice stacked with crunch, avocado salad, and tangy jalapeno Salmon and garished with kizami nori - $11.50

The Brown Rice Salmon Cake was my favourite of the night. Fresh salmon, yummy avocado and had a little bit of a crunch! So good!

Red Bomb - $5.75

The Red Bomb is filled with cream cheese, topped with smoked salmon and salmon roe. Pretty good. 

Crunch Crunch Roll (B's Roll) full - $12.00

Another recommendation was the Crunch Crunch Roll. It was ok. I like the crunchiness and the tobiko on the top but not so much the spiciness. I preferred the Salmon Cake over this one.

Toro Stack - Black brown rice, toro, green onion, nori, quail egg, garlic, avocado with drizzle of unagi sauce - $11.95

This Toro Stack was very good too, though it did get a little salty on the bottom because of all the soy sauce. Great use of it for decoration though! The toro was so good paired with the avocado. Can you tell that I love avocado?

Yaki Soba

Unfortunately, I didn't get to try this Yaki Soba, it found it's way over to the other side of the table where all the hungry boys ate it all before I got a chance. lol oh well. Must have been good.

I liked Ki Isu! The service was meh but the fish was fresh and sushi was delicious. And their rolls are creative and beautifully plated. I'd go back for seconds!

Looks like I still have some flowers growing in my garden! I don't know what type it is anymore. I think it maybe a clematis? It's a vine and has already climbed up the bush I planted it under to almost the roof covering it with masses of tiny white flowers. Anyone know what type of flowering vine this is?

Evergreen is a national charity that makes cities more livable and this past Sunday, they held a harvest celebration at Great Northern Way Urban Orchard. It celebrated the diverse heritage of Vancouver and featured multicultural foods and performances.



I had no idea this orchard existed here, tucked away in an industrial looking area. Created in 2011, the orchard provides edible plants, fruits and nuts to the community and is 100% organic.



A creative way to recycle old tires - use them as planters!




There were a lot of foods available to try - cider, bannock, mexican food.


Here volunteers were grinding up apples to make cider.


Boiled to make cider,




On another table was some Bannock from Salmon n' Bannock Bistro served with some kind of dip. It's flat bread and it didn't have any flavour on its own.



Arturo's Mexico to Go food truck was on site serving up delicious Mexican snacks.

Bowls of Salsa Pico de Gallo con Mango & Guacamole, and tostadas chips and Tostadas de Salpicon de Res (Shredded sirloin beef and dressed with Falsa Fresca, served on a mini tostada)

Croissants with tinga

Nopales al pico de gallo con Chile Ancho & piloncillo Salsa (Cactus Salad with corn tortillas tostadas and ancho salsa)

Bocadillos de Mole con Pollo (Chicken in mexican chocolate and chipotle sauce served on french bread)

The Siyamin Stamsh Canoe Family of the Squamish Nation explained some history of the area (False Creek used to extend all the way to Main Street and it was good elk hunting area) and shared some songs with us.



Then there was a Drumming performance with KUNDA African Culture Music & Dance.



There were lots of activities to do at the festival:


Planted some seeds to take home.





Arts and Crafts.


Patch planters were there on display. They officially launched the day before!


Origami.


 Making seed bombs!


Learned about native medicinal plants. Spearmint helps relieve stomachaches!



Everyone also helped paint a community mural.