Enjoy this free family-friendly event which will have lanterns glowing in five Vancouver neighbourhoods. The 18th annual Winter Solstice Lantern Festival celebrates the longest night of the year with lanterns, fire, singing, drumming, music and dancing!

Where
Various locations, processions usually start at 6:00pm check website for specific times and locations.

BRITANNIA COMMUNITY CENTRE
1661 Napier St.

ROUNDHOUSE COMMUNITY CENTRE
181 Roundhouse Mews

FALSE CREEK COMMUNITY CENTRE
1318 Cartwright St.

CREEKSIDE COMMUNITY CENTRE
1 Athletes Way

DR. SUN YAT-SEN CLASSICAL CHINESE GARDEN
578 Carrall St.

When
Various times but generally 6:00pm - 10:00pm

Website: http://secretlantern.org/index.html

Hyatt Regency Vancouver once again transformed their lobby into a winter wonderland with Gingerbread Lane. Schools, amateur and professional chefs all participated in creating over 40 gingerbread displays. I went to take a look Saturday and I was very impressed by the creativity of gingerbread village.





This storybook creation looks amazing. Can you see the witch in the pot? 


    
Several houses were filled with interior decoration!


 


This Toyland cake was made my students from my old high school - David Thompson!
 


This one below is my favourite. It is the most intricate and detailed display of them all. You have to look closely to appreciate the work put into this creation.




 

 

A lot more:

  

The Peanuts!

 




 

 

The gingerbread village will be on display until Monday, Dec 26th. While you are there you can vote for your favourite and also donate to the Make a Wish foundation. Go see it while you can! 

I went to Bistro Sakana in Yaletown on Friday night to celebrate a M`s birthday with some other friends. Without the outdoor seating area, the restaurant is quite small. The back wall is decorated with sake bottles and the right wall has a silent black and white movie projected on it. Sometimes the images are not exactly suitable for dinner but almost nobody notices anyways.



Bistro Sakana has a large varied menu. It was hard to choose only a few things to try! I ended up trying a fresh oyster (which has made me craving more), tuna and salmon sashimi, unagi roll and the restaurant's special Super 7 combo which includes 7 different types of sushi.

The oyster was so refreshing. I want more.

Tuna and Salmon Sashimi

The tuna and salmon sashimi was melt-in-your-mouth delicious.

Black cod

Unagi Roll

Caterpillar Roll

Teppan Roll

Super 7 Combo

After all the rolls were finished, we didn't stop and went on to dessert. Yummy!

Cream "Panko" Chestnuts

I tried the Cream "Panko Chestnuts and it is visually amazing dish! What I think are noodles swirl around the vanilla ice cream like a Lady Gaga galaxy dress. It was pretty good. The chestnuts were quite bland though but I guess the ice cream and the caramel drizzle takes care of the sweetness.

Banana Tempura Ice Cream Surprise

Creme Brulee Trio

The meal was delicious and visually appealing but a little small. We were joking that we should get ramen afterwards. The service was friendly and polite but so slow! Our rolls took a very long time to come. We think it may be due to what I ordered since they have to wait until someone orders each roll?! But that doesn't really make sense. Still it was a delicious meal and the seafood is fresh. I'd recommend trying it out if you haven't yet!