christmas dinner

My first christmas away from home was definitely kind of special. I missed my family and friends although I had a long chat with them while I was still at work.
But when it comes to celebrating that eve there has to be great food, great drinks and great guests...
As most people I know were staying with their families that night we were a rather small group of only my roommate, a friend and me. I decided to follow my family's tradition and prepared a 3-course menu for us that we all enjoyed very much. I do not have much experience in cooking several courses but I think it was quite a hit. Also our fireplace made it really romantic.

New year's eve is coming up and I still have no idea how to spend it right. I would really love to participate in a party on one of the high rises with an amazing view, but it's kind of hard to find one that is open for public and not horribly expensive. Anyway 2014 will be a great year no matter where and how it starts!
See you all then!

cozy fake fireplace, baked pumpkin with parmesan and pesto, slow roasted duck legs on yam and carrots 

it never snows in Vancouver

Total breakdown of public transportation, no caps to catch anywhere, big coats, scarfs and toques. It's snowing in Vancouver!
Again!
And this does not happen very often I was told, so better make it count. This time actually it wasn't just a little bit, but a whole lot over night. Some two inches covered the whole city in beautiful white fresh powder.
Usually at this time of the day the streets are packed with cars but today is different. All you see is umbrellas.

West Hastings St. is one of the busiest in all of downtown...

christmas cookies

It's the first christmas I don't spend at home with my family and all my Canadian friends are gone for the holidays. So to wish them farewell me and my roommate hosted a little christmassy style cookie baking party yesterday. To cheer everybody up we were doing everything from scratch so that our kitchen gets really busy and messy...
We encouraged our guests to bring their own recipes and provided basic ingredients. At this point I'd like to thank Mary for coming up with that awesome Bailey's white chocolate chip cookies and Ben for his fancy coconut macaroons!!
There were also a bunch of german travelers over for they are also missing their families, so guess that could even be considered as charity work at 1623 Haro.
By the way, if you like to have any of the recipes just write or comment...

the bakers, the macaroons, the Bailey's dough, the decorated cookies, the hosts.

the vancouver christmas market

A few days ago me and some coworkers went to the german christmas market in Vancouver. It is small but pretty and we enjoyed a free carousel ride. Lots of guys from the hostel work there so it was quite familiar. The gluehwein is also almost the same as in Germany and they sell handcrafted gifts everywhere.

As it was also snowing a little bit, it was a wonderful night. A definite recommendation for anybody who wants to get in a christmassy mood!

first snow

So it's winter now, finally. We had a couple of cold days lately with temperatures dropping far below 0°. For Vancouver that's pretty cold... I've been told. Today it was manageable but when I woke up, the city was covered under a thin layer of snow. In Munich I love this mood, but here it was different. As buildings are high rises, you don't see snowy rooftops from the streets. What a shame, just half the fun!
Still fun though, time to take my new winter boots on a little hike.
Just a couple of blocks from my apartment there was a blown up water pipe last night. It was just a 20m fountain in the middle of the street. Did't have the chance to capture it because I discovered it at night but what happened to the tree next to the fountain was beautiful! It was completely covered in ice!

#e2go

So this is the place I was talking about. I go here as often as I can afford. The owner glenn is truly an amazing chef, he bakes his own bread, pickles his vegetables by himself and is a real artisan.
The food tastes amazing and you'll really love the ruben sandwich with Montreal style smoked meat on the picture below.
Best lunch ever!

Homemade bread and pastry and some selected groceries.

Three favorites

The last several days I was pretty busy working a lot and wandering around town to get to know some more awesome places in this beautiful city.
I was told that one of the best coffees in town is right across the street from where I work. Well, I consider our coffee as amazingly good too but I must admit that it is very dark roasted.
So for everyone who prefers a lighter roast and a more flowery and fruity taste the Revolver on Cambie is the place to be. I made a mistake though and ordered a cappuccino which they also make with those extremely fruity light roast. So it basically tasted like a raspberry milkshake. Maybe those coffee hipsters like that...

There are several bean around the worlds in downtown, and there is one that has an own bakery. Viktoria told me that their carrot cake is probably the best in town and as I got to know their baker Taylor a few days ago I had to check it out. The shop is on Davie St. right next to the fabulous Holly Lodge, an amazing old heritage building from the turn of the century.

Bean around the worlds are all a bit individual and this specific one gives you a little t-rex for your order, so that the waiter knows where to bring the cake. Mine was trying to steal the cake away from me!

Canadians seem to be a little bit obsessed with sandwiches. Maybe because you can eat them to go easily. So there's a large variety of sandwich places around here some better some subways. A real famous one which has also been on TV several times is Meat&Bread. One of their shops is at Cambie two stops away from where I work. They are crowded all the time! The Porcetta is their signature sandwich and is very bavarian indeed. It's pork roast!

But for a place that's called Meat&Bread the bread is freshly baked of course, but it's only ciabatta and not that impressive at all. I prefer a tiny little shop that just opened 8 months ago and still is kind of a secret spot.

victory bean

So I've been working quite a lot the last few days and I kind of picked up some differences between German and Canadian coffee shops. Well especially Victory Bean, the Bean Around The World coffee shop I am in is privately owned by Motion, a nice and stylish ex-carpenter and ex-mountain bike racer. He definitely has a sense of style though and some impressive hand crafting skills. He handcrafted the hardwood floor, some of the tables and the amazing massive concrete countertop which is one of the most beautiful and simple I ever saw. He told me though it took six people to set it up because it was so heavy.
It was worth it! The shop fits perfectly to the stylish heritage neighborhood of Gastown.
Here's some impressions of the shop and its wonderful arty interior.

By the way, it's called Victory Bean because it's located at Victory Square.

finally back on an espresso machine.

I just thought I had it figured out what the cool brands are and what brands I should avoid. Blenz and Starbucks are the big players. Franchise enterprises with standards set and followed over all outlets. Bean around the world, Trees Organic and JJ Bean already have several outlets but still artisan roasting.
49th Parallel, Matchstick and the Cafe for Contemporary Art are highly individual and entrepreneurial. Only the last seemed to have the kind of spirit I was looking for.
And then I took a step into the Bean around the world at West Hastings street. Actually I just wanted to use the wifi, but the whole atmosphere was cool so I handed in my resume.
10 minutes later I was asked to make a latte, because the owner was coming and he always wants his latte.
I had the interview 5 min later and after an hour of talking about everything but work I was hired.
And then something happened that I have never seen before. The staff came and congratulated me to my success!
Should I wear something specific? "well... don't dress like a slut!" they replied!
First day is tomorrow, I love this place already!

5 activities. 5 days. 5 pictures.

The Mexican breakfast, huevos rancheros at the cafe for contemporary art.
Created by Everyday Tacos.

Admire a mans beard at 49th Parallel Coffee Roasters

Made a friend laugh.
With Cathrine at Stanley Park

Tried to hug a tree... well still worth trying.

Created a big picture using lots of small ones.
Sorry for the deviations of Lions Gate Bridge.

kitsilano

I got up really early today heading for Kitsilano to visit 49th Parallel Roasters. One of the micro roasters that are supposed to offer great quality coffee. When I crossed Burrard bridge it was still dark and the view over the city was quite beautiful. The weather was pretty bad though. I went down Cornwall Avenue down to Kitsilano Park and then up Yew Street. I must admit 49th Parallel Roasters is a really stylish coffee shop! I admire the colors and the designs! And the heavily bearded Barista knows his job! Tom Petty and the Heartbreakers on the radio, I love this place!

supplement to abode

Actually I forgot something important when I wrote about that Stanley Park beer. Maybe because of the Stanley Park beer... I told you I was going to get some coffee there too because they have a beautiful espresso machine. It's a Synesso. I have never heard of that before, but it had the looks. I found out later that it is handmade in Seattle and designed to be extremely barista friendly. I really love drinking coffee, but I truly enjoy making coffee and I didn't steam milk in quite some time. I miss it! Actually, the cappuccino I got was really bad. way too hot and badly made.

 

get packed!

Ok, seriously I am not able to take everything I want with me on this trip, it would just be too much.
Especially because I want to spend some of the winter in Whistler. So I need my board as well.
But while trying to figure out what to pack and what to leave I found this amazing board bag. It is called "the locker" and basically that's what it is!