Ohanami, bicycles, and a West Coast sakura tea service
1 Comment
Karen Hamilton
April 20, 2012
My favourite time to be outdoors in Vancouver is when the cherry blossoms are in full bloom. Our new neighbourhood is lined with aged blossoming trees, shaped with an artist’s precision by city stewards. The avenue that we frequent the most, from a distance, looks as if a guard of bonsais had been trained to rain pink and white petals on Marpole denizens.
The sakura zensen, or cherry blossom front, is an official weather pattern in Japan, where citizens emerge from their homes in droves during the fleeting Ohanami season. Ways to reflect upon and admire the sakura are numerous, but for many, it begins with a picnic under the blooms, often enjoyed with treats and tea. Celebrations can also linger beyond dusk, getting tipsy as the night goes on.
You can approximate this Japanese tradition in Vancouver if you know where to go. My top picks, in no particular order:
Nitobe Memorial Garden (UBC)
My shutter finger goes wild at this beautiful Japanese garden retreat in UBC. This year, one of the trees is laden with tags that people write on with messages to loved ones. It’s said that the well wishes will spread as the petals scatter in the wind.
Bike the Blossoms – April 28, 2012
Got bike? Follow the flowers with your cyclist brethren on the 28th. Your route will be lined with petalled trees, and vendors that you pass will sometimes have goodies for you to enjoy when you pause.
If you’re bereft of bicycle or not free that day, find your own viewing spot using these resources from the Vancouver Cherry Blossom Festival:
The Urban Tea Merchant
The Urban Tea Merchant remains unrivalled as my afternoon tea service of choice, much of it due to its rotating collection of top-tier teas and the seasonality of its tea services. Their courtyard on Alberni is canopied by cherry blossom trees each spring.
The courtyard blossoms have already come and gone this year, but their Ohanami tea service, featuring several items infused with cherry blossoms, is still being served until April 30th. This menu ranks as my favourite high tea food pairing to date–it is not to be missed.
Sakura West Coast Tea Service
$30 per person (minimum 2 persons; 90 minute seating)
to begin
Tea Sommelier’s choice of chilled white tea
sweets
tea-infused macaron, chevron strawberry, chocolate truffle
edible spring flowers, Sakura! Sakura! tea-infused jelly, sous vide vanilla watermelon, green tea-infused melon ** LOVED THIS! **
savouries
open-faced smoked salmon & wasabi aioli with in-house ponzu jelly
miso-maple glazed sable fish wrapped in butter lettuce ** LOVED THIS! **
spring rice roll with honey & balsamic, shiitake mushroom and crisp vegetables
Japanese fish crackers, crisp soba noodles with tangy seaweed salad and sesame crumble ** LOVED THIS! **
My seasonal tea pairing picks for the Sakura service
Both of The Urban Tea Merchant’s Ohanami tea features pair beautifully with the Japanese-fusion menu.
Enchanted Beauty Tea: ”Sophisticated oolong tea leaves are handcrafted into a bouquet with amaranth and orange lily. This TWG Tea composition will bloom in the teacup.”
Sakura! Sakura! Tea: “An ode to spring, this fragrant TWG blend evokes Kyoto’s most celebrated season. A scattering of cherry blossoms and green tea yields a most aromatic and elegant fragrance.”
Where will you go for your cherry blossom celebration?
Categories: Downtown, Food, Restaurants
On the 12th day of Christmas, I’m craving a dozen Montreal-style bagels
1 Comment Karen HamiltonDecember 21, 2011
On the twelfth day of Christmas, Foodsters drove to me
Twelve Montreal-style bagels
Eleven empanadas
Ten Bella gelatos
Nine Napoli pizzas
Eight deep-fried winglets
Seven meat-filled ‘wiches
Six buns a-steaming
Five Memphis Feasts!
Four poutines
Three Peking Ducks
Two Japadogs
And a steaming bowl of chicken congee.
One of the reasons I accepted Van Houtte’s invite to fly a Foodist to Montreal last month was so that I can see, first-hand, what the bagel fuss is all about. I came home armed with 2 dozen samples from St-Viateur, whose bagels are rumoured to be quintessentially Montrealesque.
Not convinced, I called Foodsters to pick up contenders at a couple of bagel shops for a good ol’ fashioned Bagel Smackdown.
We then served the remainder to our Foodists guests when we invited them chez nous for a Montreal-themed potluck. The results? Our local bagel purveyors stood up quite well to the benchmark from Montreal, to the point where our guests couldn’t identify the supposedly superlative ones from St-Viateur.
Here’s where to start if you’re looking for Montreal-style bagels in town.
Solly’s: eat ‘em au naturel
Look at the photo above and decide which you’d pick up first. We thought that the bagel in the upper-right corner satisfied the hunger in our eyes best, and our readers on Twitter, Facebook, and Instagr.am heartily agreed. The cake-like interior was moist and springy; this translated to the most enjoyable chew before bagel met toaster. If you like to eat your bagel fresh from the shop and without dressings, head on over to Solly’s.
Siegel’s: lover of cream cheese
Siegel’s was our top pick for a toasty treat. The bagels were a little too bland and yeasty to eat straight out of the bag, but get them crispy and slathered with cream cheese and they couldn’t be beat. The smoked salmon cream cheese that you can grab at the shop was pretty memorable, too.
PHAT Deli: smoked meat and benny bagel delights
PHAT Deli wasn’t part of Bagel Smackdown but it gets honorary mention here. It’s the first place I wrote about when Tiny Bites began nearly 4 years ago, and it’s the first place that made me fall in love with the bagel. I’m still drawn in every now and then for an Everything bagel with freshly made dill cream cheese.
It’s is also the first place that comes to mind when I’m in the mood for a bagel-style Eggs Benedict. My favourite style of benny at PHAT is chock full of tomato and avocado. The replacement of bagel for biscuit makes this dish a lot more filling than usual, so split it with a friend if you’re a small eater like me.
Where do you go for a bagel fix?
From December 10-22nd, I’m a media sponsor for Foodsters’ 12 Days of Christmas Food Drive. Follow along as I share what my top 12 food and restaurant cravings are this season (with some poetic license to boot).
Categories: Broadway, Downtown, Food, Food Purveyors, Kitsilano, Restaurants, Yaletown
On the 10th day of Christmas, I’m craving holiday gelato from Bella Gelateria
5 Comments Karen HamiltonDecember 19, 2011
On the tenth day of Christmas, Foodsters drove to me
Ten Bella gelatos
Nine Napoli pizzas
Eight deep-fried winglets
Seven meat-filled ‘wiches
Six buns a-steaming
Five Memphis Feasts!
Four poutines
Three Peking Ducks
Two Japadogs
And a steaming bowl of chicken congee.
Bella Gelateria is going to be a whole lot further way from our doorstep next month, so no more impromptu, gelato-induced strolls over to Coal Harbour for this family. Thankfully, my favourite gelato maker is equipped with take-out options that will work for my cravings from Marpole and your holiday needs.
Take-out choices these days lean towards the seasonal flavours Bella has churned out for the holidays. I dropped by for a quick Q&A with chef/owner James Coleridge and to spend my remaining holiday budget on our top picks.
James, what makes your gelato different from the competition?
To make the best gelato, we believe in using the best ingredients–and we try to source them as locally as possible. We use certified organic whole milk from BC’s Avalon Dairy…the ones that come in glass bottles. There are no artificial colours, flavours, or preservatives. We use real fruit and ingredients that spend 12 hours in infusion.
What flavours are in store for us this season?
Candy Cane is the most popular choice right now (pictured below, with the Eggnog).
The Crème Brulée, Eggnog, Salted Caramel, and Pumpkin Pie are also available every day. We have a number of other holiday selections like Gingerbread, Chocolate Mint, Cassatta (candied fruit), and White Chocolate and Candied Orange, but those will rotate and therefore be subject to availability. We post what is in store on Twitter and Facebook.
Parking is really expensive around here: $6/hr on the street. What can I do if I want to take some gelato to go?
For $15 inclusive, you can get a half-litre of gelato in your choice of two flavours. $30 gets you the 1L box, ready with 3 compartments for different flavours. It’ll last for months in your freezer, but I suggest you eat it when it’s fresh. Re-use the container for a refill and we’ll knock $1 off.
Don’t worry about parking…if you call ahead or submit an order from Foodsters, we’ll have your container ready to go. Just park right in front of the store and we’ll run it out.
[Editor's note: Yes, the container is styrofoam. They've tried more environmentally friendly options and thus far have not found an alternative that keeps the gelato up to snuff. If you happen to know of a product that could work, drop James a line. He'd probably be open to testing it out.]
Holiday serving suggestions?
We’ve had our share of company, local and from abroad, stop by before we fly out to Canmore tomorrow for the holidays. Our guests sip on Christmas tea from The Urban Tea Merchant along with bowlfuls of the Bella gelato we have stocked in our freezer: Bronté pistachio, marron glacé (candied chestnut), and pumpkin pie. Having a 1L container of gelato on hand has allowed us to have an interesting snack available when drop-in visitors give us a 15-minute heads up.
So far, every guest has been wowed, and I’m hoping there’ll be buzz about Vancouver’s Bella Gelateria in London and Amsterdam once our friends fly back home.
How would you serve gelato to your loved ones at home?
From December 10-22nd, I’m a media sponsor for Foodsters’ 12 Days of Christmas Food Drive. Follow along as I share what my top 12 food and restaurant cravings are this season (with some poetic license to boot).
Categories: Blogging for Social Change, Downtown, Food, Food Purveyors, Restaurants
About Tiny Bites
Tiny Bites is a food blog that explores all things edible and imbibable in Vancouver, British Columbia. More >
Articles by Karen Hamilton
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