The annual Telus TaiwanFest is back and bigger than before! Granville Street is blocked off from Smithe to almost Pender Street for a multitude of food booths, sponsor booths and craft booths.

The usual sponsor booths are still there: Telus, BMO, China Airlines, Edgewater Casino and this year there's more including Clorox, Brita Water Filters and Mary Kay. There were large lineups to the Telus booth, China Airlines and Clorox since they all were giving away prizes.


These roving performers called the Tian-Jin Girls were entertaining to watch, dancing to Taiwanese music with the costumed mascots. 


The popular Survey Says game is back with the same game show host from last year! She is really good at her job and is hilarious!

The biggest food area was the Tainan Street Banquet where Taiwan foods were being sold. Each dish costs $5 and they all look yummy!

Shrimp Roll - Chopped fresh shrimp mixture, rolled in bean curd and fried to perfection, served with pickles

Scaled Milkfish Soup - Starched soup with traditional milk-fish nuggets served with coriander and pepper

Brown Rice Cake - Steamed glutinous rice and pork blood mix, cut in rectangular cakes, rolled in grounded peanuts. Served with sauce and coriander

Steamed Taiwanese Sandwich - Steamed buns with filled steamed meat, pickled vegetable, grounded peanut powder, sugar powder and coriander

Pork Thick Soup with Verimcilli - Starched soup with Taiwanese red vermicelli, pork, nugget and black mushrooms, served with coriander

Taiwanese Meat Ball - Steamed pork mince stuffed in yam-powder made outer layer, served with a special sauce

Steamed Rice Pudding - Glutinous rice steamed with mushroom, minced pork and shrimps in circular pudding shape, served with sauce and coriander

Mung Bean Soup with Chewy Taro Balls - Sweet mung bean soup served with sweet potato balls and taro balls

Fatty pork with young bamboo on vermicelli

I tried this fatty pork and bamboo with vermicelli (because I was hungry and it is the biggest portion out of all the choices) but wish I'd gone with the Pork Thick Soup with Vermicelli instead since it is a dry dish. It was still delicious though and filled me right up.

I couldn't eat another dish but the family in front of me was trying all of them!

Further down Granville was the International Food Fair which had night market type of fare such as Takoyaki, squid tentacles and bubble tea. 




 

On the north end of Granville street was another food stall where Taiwanese sausages, wheel cakes, fried tofu, and shaved ice, among other foods were being sold.



There were also little games to play and crafts to participate in at the north end. You can also participate in a "Discovering Vancouver Waterfront" Heritage Walk with a member of the Green Club. Tours depart every half hour starting from 1:00 pm to 4:30 pm and last for around one hour. I MISSED IT. ='( I wish I'd known about it sooner, I love taking heritage walks to learn about the city!




The main entertainment stage was outside the Vancouver Art Gallery. There's also a Taiwan Sport Hall of Fame tent, where kids shoot some hoops or throw some fast balls, as well as another small food tent similar to the one at the north end of Granville Street.  




Robson Square Plaza was occupied with a cooking demo setup as well as a New Taipei City Tea Barista: Tea Fun exhibit where you can learn about tea culture and taste some green or red tea. 

Limited samples were also available from the cooking demo but get there early! Only the early ones get a tray for the food so there's not a mad dash at the end of the demo to get to the food.





CBC Studio 700 was also showing films of some sort but I didn't make my way there as it was further out from the rest of the festivities.

I had a lot of fun! TaiwanFest was a great way to spend a few hours to learn about Taiwan culture and experience Taiwanese foods. The festival is still on from 11:00am - 6:00pm on Labour Day! Make sure you check it out!

It's the long weekend! Yay! And as usually there are a bijillion things to do around Vancouver. If you are in town, I recommend checking out the downtown Vancouver's first ever BBQ and Chili Festival! The Telus TaiwanFest is also a great festival to attend and on Sunday, you can rock out to bands at the Victory Square Block Party or pig out at the LAST Street Cart Fest at the Waldorf. It is also the last days the Klahowya Village in Stanley Park will be open for the 2012 season AND it's the last days for Fair at the PNE! Isn't it so hard to choose which events to go to? Enjoy the long weekend, everyone!

Friday, August 31, 2012

Olympic Village London Drugs Grand Opening
9:00am
1622 Salt Street, Vancouver
Come on down and join in the fun, there will be coffee and treats beginning at 8:30 and the ribbon cutting will happen at 9:00am. There’s even a special prize for the first person in line!

Shiseido Event at Granville London Drugs
Aug29 - Sept1. 12:00pm - 6:00pm
710 Granville Street, Vancouver
Free Make Overs, Gifts, Door prizes and more~ See store for details

Serbian Days 2012 Festival
Aug 31st - Sept 2nd (see schedule of events here)
Siberian Orthodox Church, 505 E 63rd Avenue, Vancouver
22nd traditional Serbian Day 2012 Festival, organized by Church-School Congregation “Sveti Sava”. Music, dance, food sport, fun for the whole family.

Saturday, September 1, 2012

2012 Gastown BBQ & Chili Festival
Sept 1st, 1:00pm - 8:00pm (BBQ Competition, Public tasting ends at 5pm),
Sept 2nd 1:00pm - 7:00pm (Chili Competition, Public tasting ends at 5pm)
Carrall Street, between Cordova Street and Water Street
Downtown Vancouver’s FIRST ever BBQ and Chili Festival! Saturday, September 1, and Sunday, September 2, The Blarney Stone, and 11 other Gastown Restaurants, will be hosting a two-day, outdoor, block party and festival. The weekend will feature BBQ and Chili Competitions, Live Music, Pig Roast, Fire Dancers, and other events. A portion of the weekend’s BBQ and Chili sales will go directly to Athletics 4 Kids, a local charity that helps underprivileged kids participate in Sports. The BBQ Competition will be held on Saturday and the Chili Competition on Sunday. Celebrity Judges, along with the General Public, will vote on their favourite flavours and recipes. The Celebration reaches is finale on Sunday Evening, with the awards being handed out during a Labour Day Luau Party hosted by the Blarney Stone, which includes a pig roast, Live Band and DJ.  At the awards, a cheque, for funds raised over the weekend, will be presented to the Athletics 4 Kids Charity. Don’t miss out on the fun!

Sunday, September 2, 2012