As the weather is warming up, a lot more events are happening! This weekend, many of the farmers markets open up. Night markets are also opening, starting with the International Summer Night Market this weekend and the Richmond Night Market and Chinatown Night market next weekend.

Make sure to check out the Spot Prawn Festival held on Saturday at the Fishermen’s Wharf near Granville Island. If you are interested in 3D printing (and who isn't these days), be sure to attend the Tinkerine Grand Opening! There are also a lot of plant and craft sales, just before Mother's Day on Sunday. Remember to make sure your mom feels appreciated!

Friday, May 9, 2014

Canstruction Vancouver
May 9th - 16th 2014
Pendulum Gallery, Rotunda at Pacific Centre and the Four Seasons Hotel
Canstruction Vancouver is an annual design and build competitions that takes place in over 160 cities world wide. Teams of architects, engineers, designers and schools get together to CANstruct fantastic, giant sized sculptures made entirely out of canned food. After the structures are built and the winners declared the creations go on view to the general public as giant art exhibits. Founder MET Fine Printers and Presenting Sponsor FortisBC will host Vancouver's finest Food/Art display at the Pendulum Gallery, Rotunda at Pacific Centre and the Four Seasons Hotel. 


Rescuing Sea Lions: Notes From The Field - $10
6:30 - 8:30 p.m.  Doors at 6 p.m.
Vancouver Aquarium
Join the Vancouver Aquarium’s veterinary medical team as they share their stories of rescuing sea lions in the field. The expert presentations will focus on sea lion entanglement issues in B.C., the types of debris that sea lions have on them, frequency of entanglements, the development of an anesthetic protocol for disentangling sea lions, and the issues involved with disentanglement operations.   The Great Canadian Shoreline Cleanup team will introduce our speakers and answer questions about marine debris along Canada’s coasts.  You can participate in this presentation at the Vancouver Aquarium or on the Aquarium’s YouTube channel.

Crow Night: film screening and talk
7:00 p.m. to 8:30 p.m.
Central Library (Alice McKay Room, lower level), 350 West Georgia Street  Vancouver
If you missed "Society of Crows" during last year's Bird Week, then here's your chance to hear Dr Rob Butler tell more crow stories. As a bonus, film-maker Mike McKinlay will show his film "Crows". Seating is limited.  We encourage you to dress in black for this event.

International Summer Night Market - $2

7pm - 12am Fri, Sat, 
7pm - 11pm Sun, May 9 - Sept 14
12631 Vulcan Way, Richmond BC
6th annual Summer Night Market in Richmond starting May 9, 2013! Lots of food, live entertainment and vendors.

Saturday, May 10, 2014

10:00am - 3:00pm each week from May3 - Oct18
Kerr Street Plaza – on Kerr Street, one block South of SE Marine Drive, Vancouver
This one-of-a-kind farmers market is the only riverfront market in Vancouver. Come shop for fruits and veggies, prepared foods, and handmade products produced farmers and artisans. Enjoy the waterfront, playground and pier.

A Growing Affair
10am - 4pm
6804 SW Marine Drive, Vancouver, BC
Spring is here and so is UBC Botanical Garden’s annual plant sale! A Growing Affair, the evolution of the Garden’s popular and long-running annual Perennial Plant Sale, as the name suggests, includes more than just plants for sale. Designed to inform and empower plant lovers of all ages and to engage the local community with a deeper appreciation for all things growing, the event combines informative displays for both new and experienced gardeners with an unparalleled selection of plants available for purchase.

East Side Flea - $2
10am - 4pm
The Wise Hall & Lounge, 1882 Adanac Street, Vancouver
Just under 40 amazing local vendors selling everything from mid-century modern furniture, records, garage sale stuff, cameras, antiques, terrariums, vintage & second-hand quality clothing, local artists & craftsmen goods, sunglasses, plant starts, handmade candy, posters, taxidermy, screenprint t-shirts, kitchenware, books, and much much more…!  

Got Craft? Spring Edition - $3
10:00 am to 5:00 pm, Saturday, May 10th + Sunday, May 11th, 2014   
Maritime Labour Centre 1880 Triumph Street, Vancouver (BC) 
Got Craft?, Vancouver's largest indie craft fair, is celebrating its 15th show this May! Started in 2007, Got Craft? aims to bring together a community that fosters handmade and D.I.Y. culture.  * Shop independent from a wide variety of curated handmade goods ranging from jewelry, clothing, ceramics, stationery, housewares, plush toys, and more.  * Enjoy tasty treats including hand crafted baked goods and artisan chocolate.  * Make your own craft project to take home at one of our D.I.Y. workshops.  * Be one of the first 50 people each day to receive a FREE swag bag filled with goodies from our vendors and sponsors  

Annual LHF Plant Sale at London Heritage Farm - $12.50
10am - 5pm Sat & Sun
London Heritage Farm 6511 Dyke Road Richmond, BC
Enjoy a full tea or hot chocolate, a scone and other homemade goodies for $12.50 per person in the quaint tea room in the London Heritage Farm House.  After tea, be sure to visit the Annual Plant Sale featuring a selection of London Heritage Farm perennials, organic vegetable seedlings, heirloom tomatoes, annuals and herbs.  A FREE surprise plant will be given to each child at checkout, and a daily draw for a chance to win a beautiful hanging basket.   Reservations are highly recommended for Mother's Day Tea.

Vancity Member Day at Science World - $11.25
10am–6pm
TELUS World of Science 1455 Quebec Street Vancouver, BC  V6A 3Z7
Vancity members can explore Science World during Green Month for half the regular admission price on Saturday, May 10th, 2014. Just present your Vancity MEMBER CARD® debit card or Vancity enviro™ Visa* (or other form of membership verification) at Science World's Guest Services desk and gain entrance for you and a guest at half-off — a savings of $11.25 on adult admission!

100 in 1 Day Family Workshop
10:30 AM to 12:30 PM
Cedar Cottage Neighbourhood House
On June 7, for the first time-ever, Vancouver will host 100 in 1 Day.  This citizen-driven festival will unite people across the city to make Vancouver a better place by creating acts of urban change.  These acts, or interventions, have the potential to raise awareness of urban and social issues, inspire ideas, and motivate leaders to consider new approaches to old problems.  Beginning March 26th, people of all ages, backgrounds and locations across the city are invited to attend  workshops to develop their 100 in 1 Day interventions—from idea to execution.  This workshop process is meant to inspire generative, creative and reflective urban interventions, and for you to share your ideas for making your city a better place to live.

Spot Prawn Festival
11am - 3pm
False Creek Fishermen’s Wharf 
The city’s top chefs will prepare a spot prawn boil at False Creek Fishermen’s Wharf benefiting The Chefs’ Table Society of British Columbia. Tickets to the Spot Prawn Boil are $15 each. Get inspired by our cooking demos then grab your own bagful off the fishing boats ($12 per lb) to recreate these dishes at home. 6 chefs will be on stage for spot prawn cooking demos between 11am and 3pm. Mingle with your favourite chefs on Festival day! Ocean Wise and the Vancouver Aquarium provides kids with an exploration of fabulous fish and other cool creatures through hands-on activities and other family friendly events. This is a free family event with cooking demos and kids’ activities. The festival kicks off the BC Spot Prawn season, which continues on for 6-8 weeks. Get your catch daily from 1pm onwards at the False Creek Fishermen’s Wharf (just west of Granville Island). Photos from a previous year's event here.

Spring Bazaar & Plant Sale
11am - 3pm
Nikkei National Museum & Cultural Centre, 6688 Southoaks Crescent. Burnaby
Good quality Japanese style items and a broad selection of plants, including bedding plants just in time for spring planting, will be on sale as well as a varied selection of delicious Japanese foods. Proceeds will go toward maintaining the Community Kitchen as well as assisting the Nikkei Centre with projects and programs.

Stone Soup Festival
12pm - 5pm
Britannia Community Centre, 1661 Napier St @ Commercial Drive, Vancouver, BC
Britannia Community Centre is pleased to announce and host the 19th Annual Stone Soup Festival, a celebration of food, art, environment and community, including a food market, local artists, community groups, talks and workshops, live music, tea leaf reading, children’s activities, free soup and more! More than ever, people are aware of the issues of food security, the benefits of sharing resources and eating ‘local’. Stone Soup will celebrate the diversity of food in our neighbourhood, the environment and it’s importance to the culture of our community. 

Tinkerine Grand Opening
1:00pm - 3:00pm
341 West 6th Avenue, Vancouver, BC
We want to invite you to our new office! We are now a publicly traded company (TSX.V:TTD), recently moved into a new location, and just launched a new product!  We would love for you to come see what we do!  Visit our website: www.tinkerine.com to read about us!

Hawkers Market - $10
6pm - late
Studio East 1480 Frances Street, Vancouver
Lineup HUGE!  New Warehouse, Louder Music, More Food, Live Music, Triple DJ Sets!  Stay tuned this one is BIG!  33 Acres Brewing & Electric Jelly Doughnuts will be back.

International Summer Night Market - $2
7pm - 12am Fri, Sat, 
7pm - 11pm Sun, May 9 - Sept 14
12631 Vulcan Way, Richmond BC
6th annual Summer Night Market in Richmond starting May 9, 2013! Lots of food, live entertainment and vendors.

Sunday, May 11, 2014 - Happy Mother's Day!

Shop for organic and conventional product, meat, cheese, seafood and plants as well as tasty baked goods, beautiful crafts while being entertained by local musicians. Hot coffee and hot food available on site each week.

Got Craft? Spring Edition - $3
10:00 am to 5:00 pm, Saturday, May 10th + Sunday, May 11th, 2014   
Maritime Labour Centre 1880 Triumph Street, Vancouver (BC) 
Got Craft?, Vancouver's largest indie craft fair, is celebrating its 15th show this May! Started in 2007, Got Craft? aims to bring together a community that fosters handmade and D.I.Y. culture.  * Shop independent from a wide variety of curated handmade goods ranging from jewelry, clothing, ceramics, stationery, housewares, plush toys, and more.  * Enjoy tasty treats including hand crafted baked goods and artisan chocolate.  * Make your own craft project to take home at one of our D.I.Y. workshops.  * Be one of the first 50 people each day to receive a FREE swag bag filled with goodies from our vendors and sponsors 

Annual LHF Plant Sale at London Heritage Farm - $12.50
10am - 5pm Sat & Sun
London Heritage Farm 6511 Dyke Road Richmond, BC
Enjoy a full tea or hot chocolate, a scone and other homemade goodies for $12.50 per person in the quaint tea room in the London Heritage Farm House.  After tea, be sure to visit the Annual Plant Sale featuring a selection of London Heritage Farm perennials, organic vegetable seedlings, heirloom tomatoes, annuals and herbs.  A FREE surprise plant will be given to each child at checkout, and a daily draw for a chance to win a beautiful hanging basket.   Reservations are highly recommended for Mother's Day Tea.

GARDENING 101 SERIES | Small Trees for Urban Gardens
11am-12pm 
Phoenix Perennials  3380 No. 6 Road Richmond, BC V6V 1P5
Free. Carefully selected small trees can transform an outdoor space by offering shade, softening hard scape, creating privacy and adding beauty. In this free workshop Jo will introduce you to a range of small trees that are perfect for small spaces and even containers. You’ll learn how to select the perfect trees for your space and how to grow them. MORE INFO & REGISTER ONLINE

International Summer Night Market - $2
7pm - 12am Fri, Sat, 
7pm - 11pm Sun, May 9 - Sept 14
12631 Vulcan Way, Richmond BC
6th annual Summer Night Market in Richmond starting May 9, 2013! Lots of food, live entertainment and vendors.

Halibut season has started and Fresh Street Market held its 2nd annual halibut festival today. I managed to drag K. along to check it out. The first thing we noticed is the 32. foot fishing boat in the parking lot. It was apparently loaded with 10,000 pounds of fresh halibut!


Halibut burgers were being sold for $5 with drink and there was a line up around the block for them. The staff were cooking the halibut burgers as fast as they could! All proceeds were donated to Lions Gate Hospital fund! That made us feel even better as we chowed down on the delicious burger.



The burger was delish! For the drink, we had a choice of ginger root beer, grape soda or cola. They all were zero calories. I chose the root beer. Not bad but I could taste the aspartame.

It was a steal for $5 for the whole meal!

One of the booths set up was Coldfish Seafood Co. Inc. They had a bin containing the largest halibut I've every seen!

 This fish was humongous! I bet it weighs like 200lbs!

The halibut was tagged so you can find out how the fish was caught; important in keeping with sustainable seafood.

We also went up the fishing boat, the Salish Challenger.

They had an ice locker full of smaller halibuts.

 Oceanwise also had a booth set up.

They had this handy chart on display that showed which seafoods are currently in season.


Inside Fresh St. Market, there were sample stations set up throughout and everyone was buying halibut at the seafood counter!



Halibut steaks were $2.49 per 100g and filets were $3.29. They were sold out of halibut tails by the time we got there unfortunately. People were buying them by the bags full!

This festival was only for one day at the West Vancouver location but you can still catch the halibut festival tomorrow at the Fresh St. Farm store in Surrey (15930 Fraser Hwy, Fleetwood, Surrey). They were holding their 1st annual festival. Halibut burgers and drink are again $5 and proceeds go to Surrey Memorial Hospital Foundation!

My friend W.W. was craving Malaysian food so arranged a dinner out at Banana Leaf on Broadway. 



Complimentary peanuts where given to us to snack on while we decided on what to order. We decided to chose one dish each and share it family style. We asked the waitress if she had any recommendations and she gave a couple from each category; some we ordered like the noodles and the seafood dish.

Roti Canai - $7 - Flaky layered bread served with coconut curry sauce - one of India's great cullinary contributions to Malaysia

Of course, we had to order the Roti Canai. That is a given!

Char Kuey Teow - $13 - Fried flat rice noodles in sweet chili, soy sauce, egg, bean sprouts, shrimp, fish cakes, and squid.

This was only ok. I'd probably try something else next time.

Gulai Seafood - $20 - A taste of the ocean; scallops, prawns, fish, mussels, clams, and squid simmered in our spicy Gulai Sauce, turmeric, tamarind, galangal, coconut milk, giner, and lemongrass.

I really liked the Gulai Seafood. It was like a lighter version of curry, lemongrass flavoured. I used my rice to soak up the sauce from the dish. Mmmm!

Rendang Beef Curry - $15 - Rich Malaysian dish, boneless lean beef stewed to melting tenderness in coconut gravy and spices.

This was really rich. They weren't kidding in the description. Good thing we were sharing. One person wouldn't have been able to finish it all.

Wok Fried Eggplant & Basil - $13 - Eggplant fried with oyster sauce, garlic, and fresh basil.

We also added two orders of coconut rice ($2.75 each). They come wrapped in the banana leaf.

Mango Sticky Rice - $7 - Glutinous rice steamed in coconut milk and sweetened by palm sugar and topped with fresh mango.

We were quite full from the main courses so for dessert, we paired off and each shared a dessert. I had the Mango Sticky Rice with M.N. The mango wasn't as ripe as I'd liked it to be. It was more on the tart side, but that's ok, I just had to slather on the sweet coconut milk to balance the tartness. 

Pisang Goreng - $7 - Crispy fried banana with vanilla ice cream topped with crushed peanut & gula melaka.

W.W. and L.L. shared the deep fried bananas. There were two of them so it was a perfect sharing dessert!

Paid a visit to Science World last weekend. They currently have the LEGO Travel Adventure exhibit set up and that was the main reason K and I went. It was pretty cool to see all the travel related stuff made out of LEGO.

Paul Frank monkey on a moped. Cute!

This was the largest display. So many pieces in there! And all types of transportation modes.

 There was a history of travel display along the wall.

 This sailing ship was so cool! I'm very impressed by the sails. They curve to the "wind".

Chilling out on a beach, buying $100 ice cream cones.

 Race car!
I was also very impressed with this mural that was on the wall outside the main exhibit. Apparently, it's the largest LEGO mural in Canada! It was made out of 179,712 1x1 studs and took 5,000 builders over 14 days to complete.

I heard an announcement that there was going to be a tour of the green roof so I convinced my buddies to accompany me on it. I didn't even know Science World had a green roof! It is situated halfway up the OMNIMAX Theatre ramp.

It's a nice little garden. All planted with native plants. You can even book the space or do Yoga there!

You can see the Science World dome up close up there.



And there is an AMAZING view of False Creek and Downtown Vancouver! It was gorgeous!



Couple of bee hives up there too.

So pretty up there!

 
After the Green Roof tour, we went to check out the other exhibits. My favourite one is the Nature one where they have the beaver dam and all sort of cool animals.


They kept the T-Rex from their previous exhibit! So cool!

If you want to go see the LEGO Travel Adventure, this coming weekend will be the last! It ends on May 6th. It's a good weekend to go too since it is Science World's 25th Anniversary and they are offering 1989 admission prices for this weekend only! That means it's only $10 for adults and $5 for children. It is regularly $22.50 and $15.25 so it's a great deal! Plus, thanks to Concord Pacific, all the  OMNIMAX® films this weekend are free with your paid admission!