hyphenated - Filed under 'Vancouver'

March 11, 2010 12:02 PM

mmmaple syrup

My morning routine has changed quite drastically since moving to San Francisco. The change has less to do with being unemployed (a combination of volunteer/intern work and personal projects provides motivation to get up at a reasonable hour) and more to do with having an iPhone.

Previously, I would wake up to the sound of CBC radio 1 emanating from my circa-1992 radio alarm clock and I'd lay in bed for awhile listening to the day's top stories and the weather (and get annoyed by Rick Cluff's tendency to trivialize and patronize). Now, I roll over, take my iPhone off the nightstand (the radio alarm clock was deemed obsolete) and check my email, scan Twitter and Facebook, peruse the NYT headlines, and check the weather... in four cities: San Francisco, Vancouver, and Montreal.

Despite being severely lacking in detail and featuring obscure icons (what exactly should I expect when presented with an icon of the sun from which rain is failing without any clouds in the picture?), the weather app for the iPhone allows me to get a sense of what the weather is like in the places I feel connected to.

Most days, the comparison brings a smile to my face because the weather in SF tops that in the other cities (I've been warned that this will change come summer) but other days, like today, the weather also brings back memories as I conjure up past experiences that I associate with the time of year depicted by the forecast.

Along with remembering soggy walks to work in Vancouver, I thought about maple syrup this morning. Today's forecast in Montreal is perfect for sugaring off (which takes place in the rural areas around Montreal, including my hometown, Hemmingford). Warm days combined with nights where the mercury drops below freezing gets the sweet sap running.

My parents tapped some of the maple trees around our house for a few years, getting enough sap to distill down to a decent amount of syrup. I remember tramping around the woods, stomping in the patches of remaining snow, peeking into the pails to see if any sap had accumulated, and occasionally taking sips to taste the slightly sweet liquid that dripped so slowly from the trees. John had built an outdoor oven of sorts with a trough on the top for making syrup. We'd pour the sap into the trough and it would boil down to leave the delicious auburn syrup. We'd all sit around the oven, soaking in the spring sun (believe me, 8°C feels downright balmy after a few months temperatures averaging between -10 and -25°C) and keeping the fire burning. I can only imagine that I might have asked "is it ready yet?" enough to be considered annoying.

After a few years, perhaps after the novelty had warn off, my family stopped making our own maple syrup. Instead, we would help friends with their much larger, commercial syrup operation in exchange for cans of the dark, thick, smoky syrup that isn't considered high quality by supermarket shoppers. The dark stuff might not look so pretty, but it's very tasty.

We kids would help to some extent, handing empty cans from the box to the person operating the canning machine or dragging wood inside to fuel the boiler, but we largely played in the heat of the shanty. Play powered by massive sugar highs because doing quality control (i.e., drinking maple syrup straight up) was another way that the children helped.

This morning, I added some maple syrup to sweeten and flavor my yogurt and granola. The syrup was produced at the shanty where I used to 'help' and was given to us as a wedding gift by the friends who make it. Knowing where it came from and the simple, organic way it is produced, this maple syrup is especially tasty.

Now, I'm going to take advantage of the beautiful weather (and being unemployed) by going for a walk this afternoon.

Filed under // family & friends food Quebec & Montreal San Francisco Vancouver

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February 17, 2010 6:15 PM

compare and contrast

My parents are coming to visit from Montreal (et environs) tomorrow! I'm excited to tour around San Francisco together while they enjoy a respite from the cold and snow and, undoubtedly, compare this city to their hometown. When visiting a new place, it seems like human nature to construct an impression based on the familiar. Indeed, having had a few months to explore this city I find myself subconsciously comparing it to the other cities in which I've lived.

My preliminary conclusion is that San Francisco is a nice hybrid of Vancouver and Montreal. It has a west coast vibe but also the artsy, cultured, historical elements of Montreal. Using a food simile (the best kind of simile, if you ask me), Vancouver is like a lightly-dressed salad while Montreal is like shepherd's pie (or, as the Québecois refer to it, pâté chinois). And San Francisco is like shepherd's pie and lightly dressed salad, together in a tortilla, à la burrito. Yum (assuming that the beef is pasture-raised and organic, of course).

I don't seem to be the only person comparing San Francisco to Montreal. I came across this blog post, in which the author postulates that historic Montreal and San Francisco bear many geographical similarities based on these two photos:

Click here to download:

compare_and_contrast.zip (381 KB)

Among the many differences that the blogger fails to note is that, with the exception of Mount-Royal, Montreal is way flatter than San Francisco. Google should include contour lines for its maps of San Francisco, or at least advise when walking will suddenly transition to stair-climbing.

Filed under // Quebec & Montreal San Francisco Vancouver

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January 7, 2010 6:42 PM

year in review

The start of a new year inevitably prompts me to assess the year that just ended and ponder what the year ahead holds. In my case, on January 1st of last year, I didn't predict the events that transpired in 2009. If asked then where I'd be one year later, I would've responded "Vancouver". If you told me that I'd be married, I would've called you crazy.

Actually, I assumed that 2009 would be a replication, with some small, inevitable mutations, of 2008. Analogous to evolution in a relatively stable environment. But, as you probably know if you've been following hyphenated, the environment in 2009 was unpredictably stochastic.

Stochasticity is not a friend of mine. Nonetheless, I survived the ups and downs and the instability and the unknown. Despite poor forecasting, the outcome has been positive. I feel stronger for having ridden the wave that was 2009. This strength helps me to look at the blank 2010 calendar without panicking (too much). There are a few dates with pencil-marks, but the bulk of the year remains uncharted and unplanned.

I'd be lying if I said that I loved the predicted stochasticity, but I can acknowledge it, take a deep breath, and trust that most of the bridges that need to be crossed will appear on the horizon in due time. And if the bridges aren't there, we'll build them or find an alternate route.

Where will I be this time next year? I honestly can't say for sure. It could be Vancouver. And, despite the risk of mimicking Oprah, I do know one thing for sure: I'll be married.

Filed under // family & friends San Francisco Vancouver

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November 14, 2009 6:17 PM

home sweet home

"Do you miss Vancouver?"

I don't know how many times I've been posed this question in the past two weeks, but it's come up more than once and I find that it's difficult to answer. Part of me feels compelled to answer "Yes!" emphatically because there are so many things that I love about Vancouver that I haven't yet found in San Francisco - great, cheap Japanese food, the ability to walk to a forest and a beach simultaneously, good friends, mountains...

That said, I'm not homesick. I can only presume that this is because I already consider this to be home, which seems like an uncharacteristically rapid adaptation. I mainly attribute the ease of the transition to the "home is where the heart is" factor that I contemplated in a previous post. Having hauled all of our stuff here also helps. I try not to become too attached to material possessions, but climbing into a familiar bed and lounging on our sustainable couch is rather comforting.

Then there are all the great qualities of San Francisco that serve as excellent distractions from any potential feelings of homesickness. When we first visited a few years ago, my first impression of the city was that it was an awesome hybrid between Vancouver and Montreal. San Francisco has the scenic, west coast vibe of Vancouver combined with the history, character, and charm of Montreal. My first impressions have been validated so far and I'm really enjoying life here. Being able to wear sandals in November is just an added bonus.

Filed under // San Francisco Vancouver

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November 1, 2009 7:16 AM

fall migration

My aching muscles this morning serve as a reminder of the move 1531km south. The distance feels very real having driven a U-Haul for two days down the I-A. I should qualify that statement - Kevin did all the driving. Being a relatively new driver, I thought it best not to be behind the wheel of a 1-ton truck containing all of our possessions, worldly or otherwise. In any case, San Francisco didn't seem very far from Vancouver when flying, but driving across the border and two states into California put it all into perspective.

Through most of Washington and Oregon, it rained. When we entered California, the clouds parted and the sun started shining. A good omen? I hope so. Between the Oregon-California border and San Francisco, we drove behind multiple trucks filled with recently harvested and very fragrant garlic and through long stretches of highway bordered on both sides by olive groves. With garlic and olives being favourites of mine, California gave a very good first impression.

We also took a detour due to the closure of the Bay Bridge. With no paper maps of the Bay Area, I plotted an alternate route using the maps app on the iPhone and assumed the duty of U-Haul navigator. Sounds like a straightforward task, but rush hour traffic, a wrong exit due to signage conflicting with iPhone instructions, and the setting sun blinding us whenever the road took a turn to the west added a nontrivial amount of stress to the journey. That said, the detour was such that we entered SF over the Golden Gate bridge with the remnants of the sunset over the Pacific on our right, the twinkling lights of the city on our left, and the awesome supports of the landmark bridge overhead. A good reward for our efforts.

Unpacking, the best part about moving (as per my tweet, it's like a birthday where you know in advance what you're getting and everything is slightly used), has been my main focus since we arrived on Thursday. Needless to say, I haven't begun exploring my new neighbourhood and city beyond the nearest coffee shop, fish taco restaurant, and grocery store. That's the next part of the adventure.

Filed under // San Francisco Vancouver

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October 1, 2009 6:46 PM

proverbial oysters and emoticons

I'm bracing myself for major change. Tomorrow is my last day of work and then I'm off for the next 365 days. I have no plans beyond moving to San Francisco. The world is my oyster. I'm hoping that I don't develop an allergy to shellfish.

Like not seeing the forest for the trees, I've been so focused on the logistics of the change itself that I almost lost sight of the underlying reason for it: being together. Kevin and I have been apart for six months. We've been keeping in touch via Skype, Gchat, and Twitter and there's been some travel between San Francisco and Vancouver, but I'm sick of long distance.

Beyond the challenge of connecting over a bad connection (yes, the reference is to AT&T) or the frustrations of instant messaging with someone when the computer being on doesn't imply that they are necessarily sitting in front of it (hey! [long pause] hello? [long pause] are you there? [no response]), living two separate lives is difficult. I want to be there for Kevin and I want him to be there for me and, most of the time, emoticons just don't cut it. Technological advances have made long distance more bearable, but there's no substitute for a real hug.

But in two days, I won't have to rely on parentheses, colons, lesser than symbols and 3's, x's and o's, etc. any longer. It's all still sinking in, but the forest is coming into focus ;)

Filed under // San Francisco Vancouver

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September 22, 2009 7:14 PM

random dialogue

I'm not one to strike up random conversations with strangers. It's just not my nature. Whether I'm on a plane or waiting for the bus, I tend to keep to myself. Often, I'm so wrapped up in my own thoughts that I forget that I'm surrounded by people. Friends who see me walking down the street usually have to make a concerted attempt to get my attention because otherwise I'm oblivious to their presence.

Despite my tendencies to be contained within my own mental bubble, I had two atypical encounters with strangers this past weekend.

relaying the message

(A bus stop in downtown Vancouver on a busy street, early on a sunny autumn afternoon. I'm standing at the bus stop, getting impatient because the #20 bus is late and I'm late. Tall girl in long summer dress approaches, Blackberry in hand.)

Tall girl: I'm trying to send a text, but I can't spell relayed. R-I- (trails off)

Me: Relay?

Tall girl: You know, like, um, relaying a message?

Me: Yeah

Tall girl: Do you know?

Me: R-E-L-

Tall girl: Hang on... R-E-L-? (thumbs frantically typing)

Me: A-Y-E-D (glancing up the street to see if the bus is coming yet)

Tall girl: (more frantic typing) Yes! That's right!

Me: Yes, it is.

Tall girl: Thanks! (yelling over her shoulder as she runs up the street)

Me: No worries (looking up street, still no sign of the #20)

diversifying diet

(At the local fruit and veggie store late on a sunny Sunday afternoon. The small, cramped store is very crowded. I'm scanning the veggie counter for potential ingredients for the roasted veggies I plan to make for dinner. My basket contains carrots and a sweet potato and I reach for a bulb of fennel. A twentysomething guy wearing hipster glasses standing beside me looks over.)

Hipster guy: What are those?

Me: Oh, fennel. Fennel bulbs

Hipster guy: How do you eat them? (quizzical look on his face)

Me: It has a light licorice flavour. You can chop them up fine and put them in salads or you can roast them. But you want to cut this part off (pointing to the stems) because they're tough. But you can keep these bits (pointing at the dill-like fronds)

Hipster guy: Oh, thanks. I'm trying to diversify and try new vegetables. Those looked interesting.

Me: Oh, well, have a good evening (I put a fennel bulb in my basket, hipster guy grabs a turnip)

Filed under // Vancouver

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September 12, 2009 4:53 PM

the common bond between seafood and books

What do books and seafood have in common?

Unfortunately, there is no hilarious punch-line (at least that I'm aware of). But, a Vancouverite who gives the question enough thought might come up with the answer I had in mind: Joe Fortes.

I've lived in Vancouver for five years and in the West End for over three years, within walking distance of the Joe Fortes branch of the Vancouver Public Library and the Joe Fortes Seafood Restaurant. And, despite the references, I only discovered today who Joe Fortes is.

I stubbled upon the story of Joe Fortes quite by accident while perusing one of my favorite websites: the City of Vancouver Archives photo site. I love using the search feature to type in local landmarks and West End street names to get a glimpse of what the city looked like before the era of concrete apartment buildings and glass condominiums.

This morning, I searched for Stanley Park and found these gems, dating from 1890s and early 1900s:

Then, I queried "English Bay", with the following being a small sample of the results:

The first photo was captioned: "Joe (Seraphim) Fortes in front of his tent at English Bay". Who was Joe Fortes, exactly?

❝ One of the best-known of British Columbia's early Black pioneers would have to be Seraphim "Joe" Fortes, a man who has had much written about his presence in Vancouver from 1885 to 1922. Despite the many words describing his life in Vancouver, however, very little appears to be known about the man himself... [H]e arrived in Vancouver aboard a three-masted barque ... eventually settling in a small cottage on English Bay near Stanley Park. With his home so close to the water, it is no surprise that he became the official lifeguard and keeper of the beach, where he saved many lives and taught hundreds of children how to swim. Archival notes attribute Joe with establishing English Bay as a primary swimming beach for 'the residents of Vancouver. The location today is still one of the most popular swimming and sunbathing areas in the Lower Mainland. (via the Black Historical Cultural Society)

❝Seraphim “Joe” Fortes ... was a former sailor, originally from Barbados and then Liverpool, and a legendary figure in the early history of Vancouver, Canada. After moving to the city in 1885 (the year before it was incorporated), he worked as a labourer and bartender (at the Sunnyside Hotel on Maple Tree Square in Gastown), then became a fixture at English Bay Beach, where he lived in a small cottage, acted as unofficial security guard, and taught hundreds of children how to swim. The city appointed the burly, friendly man, who had been a competitive swimmer in England, as its first official lifeguard at the turn of the twentieth century.
When he died in 1922, Vancouver held a record-breaking funeral procession for Fortes, which was especially unusual because he was one of the city's few black citizens at the time. Even in the twenty-first century, Vancouverites remember him with a monument near the site of his home, a branch of the Vancouver Public Library, and a well-known downtown restaurant, named after him when it opened in 1985, one hundred years after he arrived in Canada.

(via Wikipedia)

I now find myself wishing I had known the history of Joe Fortes sooner, because I don't think that most people in Vancouver know about him and I'd have liked to spread the word. My sense is that, when asked "what do you know about Joe Fortes?", Vancouverites are more likely to describe the roof-top patio or the menu than the black man that lived near English Bay and taught people how to swim.

Some more photos of Joe, from the Archives:

And a couple more photos of Stanley Park (the first - taken near Second Beach) and English Bay (the second one - view of what is now Kits Beach from the West End)

Click here to download:

the_common_bond_between_seafoo.zip (107 KB)

(I had attached more photos, but they seemed to have disappeared en route from my email to Posterous. I encourage you to check out the Archives site - it's "win")

Filed under // Canada Vancouver

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September 12, 2009 12:36 AM

the other side

As per a few previous posts, Vancouver is a great place to live. In preparing to leave, I can't help but take stock of all I will miss. Stanley Park. English Bay. Cheap sushi. Waffles. Japadog. Walking just about everywhere. "Socialism".

But, there are some things that I won't miss. Ridiculous housing prices. Rain. The Olympics. The discourse associate with the Downtown Eastside.

I dislike what the Downtown Eastside represents: Failure. Not the failure of individuals - most of the people who reside in the alleys and parks and "hotels" in the neighborhood are victims of the the failure of society. Failure to address the bigger issues. Homelessness and drug abuse are not the problems - they are symptoms. Matt Good said it well in an interview earlier this week on Q:

To play mp3s in your browser, you will need to have Javascript turned on and have Flash Player 9 or better installed.

As stated, the Olympics add insult to injury. Whenever the suggestion is made that more funds and resources be dedicated to replace Band-Aid solutions with more effective (and costly) programs that would better address the ills that result in the symptoms displayed daily in the Downtown Eastside, the response is that it can't be done. We don't have the funds. The resources don't exist. But when it is suggested that taxpayer money fund a massive sporting event, the barriers miraculously drop. For example, public funds are helping to cover the costs of the Olympic village, which includes units that are breaking the bank despite being classified as affordable, while thousands live on the streets because we can't afford to provide adequate and appropriate social programs.

The rhetoric has been repeated time and again. The rhetoric is rooted in legacy. By hosting the Games, short-term costs and inconveniences will result in long term gains. Better public transit (e.g., SkyTrain to YVR), new sports facilities (e.g., the Richmond Olympic Oval), memories (e.g., volunteering at a venue or dancing in the Opening Ceremony). And on and on.

I've lived in a city that has hosted the Olympics. The rosy legacy seems to fade quickly and, in some cases, very suddenly (not unlike chucks of concrete falling from above). Debt was ultimately the legacy of the 1976 Olympics in Montreal. I'll be surprised if debt isn't the predominant legacy of the 2010 Games too. Rhetoric versus reality.

And the debt incurred to host the Games will be yet another reason why we can't afford to provide the necessary services and programs to address the systemic issues in the Downtown Eastside and, as a result, must continue to rely on Band-Aids instead, like cops acting as front-line mental health workers.

I won't miss waking up at 2am to the screams of a schizophrenic man being shoved into a paddy wagon because he was disturbing the peace.

Filed under // Vancouver

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August 29, 2009 10:09 PM

carpe diem

Summer is coming to an end. I can hardly believe that September is right around the corner, bringing with it the inevitable rain and grey that define winter in Vancouver. I'm interested to discover what winter holds further south on the Pacific coast, but I'm not ready to see the end of another fabulous Vancouver summer. So, after a productive morning of shopping (found a dress to wear to my friend's wedding next weekend and it was on sale - bonus!) and catching up with family on the phone, I called Andrew to see if he was up for a game of pitch and putt, which he was.

Having spent the afternoon catching up with Andrew while clubbing a ball around the fringes of Stanley Park, I'm coming to terms with how much I'm going to miss this city. To think that I live 20 minutes (walking) from the downtown core, yet can walk 10 minutes in the opposite direction to play a round of golf amongst the resident geese while the afternoon fades into evening and the crimson sun sets over the ocean ... I don't think you can get that anywhere else.

While there are elements of Vancouver that I don't appreciate, the five years that I've spent here have been filled with great afternoons just like this one because the city is developed such that one can conveniently enjoy the beauty of the environment in which it's situated. No escape plans necessary. While it becomes easy to take it for granted, with the summer winding down and the move to San Francisco looming, this afternoon was fully appreciated.

Filed under // family & friends Vancouver

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