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It all seems like ancient history now, but Whistler’s first decade as a ski town (from 1966 to 1976) was a rowdy, messy, and ultimately unsustainable affair. There were probably more squatter’s shacks than second homes on the decidedly challenging bluffs and forests around Alta Lake and the old gondola barn.

There is something about the painting Just Stop that catches the eye immediately. It’s not just the soulful, sad eyes of the majestic bear that draw you in, an almost inescapable pull. But, upon closer reflection, you see that Just Stop has more to say. The painting is a commentary of the current state of the world, specifically the war in the Ukraine.

Just as the first signs of summer began to sprout, the air heavy with the smell of the earth reawakening and the promise of another season, Bryce Leigh was exploring in the forest close to Rubble Creek, an area between Squamish and Whistler.

The workday can be consumed by meetings, deadlines, and overall job requirements. Many people spend a great amount of time working. Whether you work from home or go into an office, staying active can become a struggle. No worries, this article will give tips to be more active while working. 1. Create a Plan – []

The snow is melting, the birds are chirping, and the flowers are starting to bloom. Sumemr has finally arrived in Whistler! If youre looking for some fun activities to enjoy this season, look no further. Weve put together a list of top sumemr activities in Whistler. Theres something for everyone, from hiking and biking to []

There are many ways you can refresh your house for the spring/summer season. These projects can provide your house with the additional resale value, give you a fulfilling leisurely pursuit, and create a much better living environment. Much of this refurbishing will also add a brighter quality to the aspects of your house that most []

If youre looking for a great way to take in the sights and sounds of summer, consider going on a hike. Vancouver is home to some amazing hiking trails, and the best part is that theres something for everyone. Whether youre an experienced hiker or just starting, weve got a trail for you. This blog []

Summer is the perfect time of year to experiment with different ways to use peaches.

Reducing your household waste can help the planet in many ways. You may even be able to eliminate your waste completely if you’re diligent with your efforts.

You may be looking forward to re-entering society this summer or at least looking better during a video meeting. Beauty trends for summer 2021 offer plenty of ways to be creative.

Back pain is problematic for many people, and it may be especially cumbersome for individuals who work from home on their computers all day. Fortunately, there are certain back stretches that can offer relief and help loosen stiff and sore muscles. By performing one or more of these five stretches, you can relieve your back pain and may even improve your mobility.

If you’re getting ready for spring cleaning or another big home cleaning project, you’ll want to sanitize your living space as quickly as possible while still doing a thorough job. As daunting as your upcoming cleaning tasks may seem, there are ways that you can simplify the process and do all the work in the most efficient manner. By following these five cleaning tips, you’ll be able to make your house sparkle without having to break as much of a sweat.

Learn more about St. Thomas Aquinas. See what students, parents, and teachers have to say.

Learn more about North Shore Montessori. See what students, parents, and teachers have to say.

Learn more about Island Pacific School. See what students, parents, and teachers have to say.

Learn more about Alcuin College. See what students, parents, and teachers have to say.

Many families in Canada are turning to private and independent education. Searching for the right school is not a sprint; it’s a marathon, requiring committed preparation. With so many options to choosefrom, this decision can be overwhelming. Luckily, parents, you’re not alone. We’ve put together a list of key tips to get started on picking []

In a year in which our lives have been completely upended, it’s often the simple things that manage to bring the most comfort.

Whistler Magazine—December 1980 to 2020 and beyond.

A small home office doesn’t have to be expensive, but it’s important to carefully plan out your space.

Whether you’re self-isolating or quarantined at home, these live webcams will keep you and the kids entertained for hours.

The result of consistently exhausting a dog through extensive physical exercise is an ultra-athlete who now needs greater levels of exercise in order to feel tired.

The Government of Canada advises anyone with COVID-19 to stay at home unless absolutely necessary and to stay in a separate room and use a separate bathroom from others in your home, if possible.

Simple touches such as fresh flowers and cheery colours can really change the appearance of your home for the spring season.

If you are new to running you’ll soon learn it’s more than putting one foot in front of the other. Running requires proper footwear, gear and to follow a program that facilitates improvement yet keeps you injury-free, to enjoy everything the sport has to offer.

While it’s a new experience for some, others — such as members of the capital region’s high-tech sector — are familiar with working remotely.

Just because you don’t own the space doesn’t mean you are forced to live with a design you don’t care for. Believe it or not, it’s easier than you think to update your rental apartment.

Eric Akis Apple turnovers bring back childhood memories.

Social distancing is one of the most effective ways to contain the spread of COVID-19. While specific restrictions on what Canadians can do vary from province to province, here are the basic Dos and Donts of social distancing, as advised by the Public Health Agency of Canada and chief public health officer Dr. Theresa Tam:

The first man to break the sound barrier, General Chuck Yeager, is 96 years old and very active on Twitter. That last may surprise you, but the General is a wonderful palate-cleanser to the sea of misinformation and uninformed opinion you find on the internet.

Step aside Vito Corleone – there’s a new godfather in town. Sam Fabbro, executive chef at El Santo on Columbia Street and Amaranthus in River Market at the Quay, is among the 40 finalists for Western Living magazine’s Foodies of the Year.

With the Christmas shopping season in full swing, the Better Business Bureau has released its annual list of the top 12 Christmas scams that prey on consumers.

Recently a librarian shared a story with me. In the children’s department of a local library a boy about six years old came up to the desk to check out some books.

Boasting some of the warmest waters on B.C.’s coast as well as pristine wilderness, Desolation Sound should be on everyone’s bucket list. Here are five ways to explore the region, all offered by Pacific Coastal Cruises Tours and Homfray Lodge.

Windstars small sailing yacht the Wind Spirit can reach ports of French Polynesia larger cruise ships cant.

Looking up from the top deck of our rental houseboat on Lake Mead, the night sky above us was alive with stars — thanks to a lack of artificial light for miles. This being April, the start of houseboat season in Nevada, at night we literally had the lake to ourselves as far as we could see. And during the day we were also mostly alone, with the exception of the curious desert big-horned sheep we spotted one afternoon checking us out from above, numerous birds including vultures, and the odd hopeful fisherman casting for alarmingly large catfish and bluegills, which we watched trolling for food along the red canyon walls that rise above the blue-green lake.

Like hordes before us, we entered Rome through its northern gate. We had rented a terrace apartment in an old marble-filled building in the Flaminio neighbourhood, just outside the ancient city walls. Each day, we kept pace with Romans bustling to work and flowed through the Porta del Popolo, built in the late 1400s as a grand entrance to the city. Centuries before we arrived, barbarian tribes (so named by the Romans) stormed in here and sacked the city. Martin Luther also travelled this way. He came in the early 1500s to live in a monastery, from which he observed the church and the pope close up, just nine years before he and his ideas rocked the world. Later, there was Queen Christina of Sweden, who in 1654 converted to Catholicism, abdicated her throne and rolled into her adopted city through Porta del Popolo dressed as an Amazon and riding in a chariot.

Whether its a week or weekend, HB is an easy vacay from Vancouver. The best of Huntington Beach in 36 hours Photo Sandra Thomas.

U.S. News World Report revealed a list of the best hotels in Canada and a B.C. hotel claimed the top spot.

Paradise doesnt always look the way you expect it to. My husband Harvey and I were just looking for sun, sand and lots of RR. What we got instead was IV antibiotics, nebulizers and anti-inflammatory drugs at a very efficient private hospital in Cancun, Mexico. All I can say is thank God we have travel medical insurance! My beloved Harvey started getting a nagging dry cough and a tight chest five days into our two-week vacation. The morning of day six, he said Maybe we should go to the resort doctor about my cough.

Is Benedictine really a secret elixir originally created by a 16th century monk? Or was Alexandre Le Grand, the wine merchant who started producing the golden liqueur in the mid-1800s, just a shrewd businessman pulling a fast one? No matter. The mystery shrouding Benedictine ensured the success of the after-dinner drink. We’re intrigued. And we get to tour the Benedictine Palace, which Le Grand built, in grand style.

Maui is a thief, so naturally alluring that only when back home do you realize something is missing in your life. Not forgotten sunglasses, but rather a feeling that can’t be replaced until your next visit to paradise.

Century-old properties present business opportunities but require significant investments. By Glen Korstrom | June 13, 2019, 9:09am The necessary cost of investing to maintain hotels extends to newer hotels, said David Ferguson, who is a director at CBRE Inc.s hotels valuation and advisory services group in Canada.

The next time you’re on the market for a beautiful piece of jewellery, a work of art, or snowboard gear or even a laptop, you might consider stopping at your local pawnbrokers. Since 1955, Royal City Jewellers and Loans has been providing a service to New Westminster and the area. From $2 Blu-ray videos to $50,000 works of art, there is something for everyone at the shop, which is located on Columbia Street in New Westminster. “We have couples coming in wanting to buy engagement rings to people coming in to purchase musical instruments. We have an incredible variety of items for sale,” says the company’s General Manager, Ken Basso.

Paying $160 for the year was a pretty good price for a vacation property. Only eight minutes from Ben’s downtown apartment, there was 1,000 square feet of fertile soil with direct water access. Well, irrigation access. Pitching his fiancé Sam on an allotment garden also known as a community garden was a surprisingly easy sell.

Summer is here and for many Squamish youngsters that means taking on their first real paid work. First jobs can be fun as heck, transformative, or hell, but they impact us in some way, nonetheless.

Everything we do is a choice. From the moment we wake up in the morning, until the time we come to the days end, we choose everything we do and the way we react to every situation.

Petalino Flower Bar and Events helps you realize your vision for weddings, parties and corporate gatherings. Event planning is daunting, whether you’re a bride who knows just what you want, or a stressed-out office manager planning the annual holiday party. It seems like even the simplest event has dozens of moving parts, and most of us don’t have the budget for a dedicated coordinator to manage the process.

With wedding season now upon us, we must address a vital but oft-overlooked aspect of the special day: The wedding music. Since not everyone can afford a wedding band or even a DJ, many will rely on their iPods to rock the dance floor. Some careful thought must go into this. Aside from the food, the booze and the speeches, the music/dance party is what wedding guests will remember for years afterward.

You could say that event planning is in Soha Lavin’s blood. Indeed, the founder of Vancouver-based CountDown Events who, as a marketing professional saw a need to create an event planning agency 14 years ago at a time when few existed in this country, grew up in Iran surrounded by parties.

Four decades is a long time, and it is especially long in the competitive hospitality industry, which is cutthroat and not for the faint at heart.

Over the course of their lifetimes, people will be wedding guests on several occasions. During the height of wedding season, weddings can run into one another, as the format and the festivities are similar at various ceremonies. Couples interested in setting their nuptials apart may want to enhance the wedding reception with a few unique ideas.

As a retiree who’s no longer perpetually exhausted from working full time, I now have the pleasure of taking courses at will. My husband Harvey, 10 other couples and I just started a six-week course called “The Art of Marriage” and I’m hoping to pick up some valuable pointers. The course is offered from a religious perspective, which presumably will align with our mixed secular/religious lifestyle. I’m just relieved to hear that marriage is an art, not a science. I was never good at science. Next week it will be Harvey’s and my ninth wedding anniversary (and 12th year together), and while there are still plenty of stars in my eyes, there are also some spots. Detached retina, maybe? Floaters? No, just some blind spots I need to fill in with a good dose of patience, compassion, and acceptance. Having married at age 53 for the first (and hopefully only) time, I had no experience with serious long-term relationships. My longest relationship prior to Harvey lasted three years, and I’d never lived with anybody before. So, getting married was like a crash course in Relationships 101. Testing the waters constantly on all sorts of issues, we’ve come to a mostly peaceful place of understanding. Like most couples, we don’t always see eye to eye. And there’s the challenge.

A passion for photography, music and working with people has turned into a labour of love for an award-winning Ladner photographer. Dennis Bellia, owner of Dynamic Weddings Events, recently won the Photographer of the Year award at the B.C. Wedding Awards at the Executive Hotel Vancouver Airport. Bellia, who moved to Ladner 11 years ago with his wife Jennifer and children, said his story goes back to high school. “It started in Grade 9 when I fell i love with photography and I wanted to pursue it, but back then it just wasn’t the right timing, so I turned to music instead,” he told the Optimist.

You could say that event planning is in Soha Lavin’s blood. Indeed, the founder of Vancouver-based CountDown Events who, as a marketing professional saw a need to create an event planning agency 14 years ago at a time when few existed in this country, grew up in Iran surrounded by parties. “Entertaining in Iran is a big deal. It’s very normal to have 50 people over … My parents were very young (when they had me) and they were very much in their party days. So I was exposed and used to being at these big events every single evening.”

A study shows youth make gains in several aspects of development through summer camps. The lazy days of summer are fast approaching, and its time for parents to search for ways to get their kids away from their cell phones while also participating in some healthy fitness and socializing.

The Sea to Sky has much to offer youth who are interested in music, dance and more. When the school year ends and its time to pack the kids off to summer camps, what most people think of are sports and recreation-based outdoor camps.

On a visit to the small Texas town of Amarillo last year, I attended the World Championship Ranch Rodeo a global gathering of the nation’s best working ranch cowboys, and as I strolled through the sea of competitors and their families, something stood out for me when it came to the children that the ranchers had in tow: none of the kids had phones in their hands. Instead of sitting in solitude, hunched over devices with their eyes glued to screens, I saw clusters of children huddled together on the floor, playing with horse figurines and toy trucks. I watched on as they trotted and teetered their trinkets along surfaces, completely immersed in imaginative play while their parents chatted nearby.

One thing is for sure, a new financial institution in Kerrisdale is not your grandmother’s bank.

In the final column of this three-part series, Dr. Davidicus Wong offers advice on how to take charge of your anxiety — and life. In previous columns, we explored how anxiety is an essential human emotion even though it can hold us back from enjoying our lives and achieving our potential.

Snoring might seem like a weird way to start a food blog about desserts, but trust me – there is a connection. See, I snore. Like, loudly. See, I snore. Like, loudly.

Buddha-Full has big plans for its mobile vegan food truck

Eating ants and other insects could soon be recommended to protect against cancer, and it is believed that us Westerners will be eating them very soon. Experiments have shown that many insects including grasshoppers and crickets – contain high concentrations of antioxidants, found in orange juice or olive oil. Extracts of grasshoppers, silkworm and crickets have the highest amounts of antioxidants – some five times more than orange juice. These antioxidants help reduce chemical reactions in the body that produce cancer causing free radicals also linked to cardiovascular diseases and diabetes. Grasshoppers, ants and mealworms contain the highest levels of total polyphenols: micronutrients packed with antioxidants that help treat digestion issues, weight management difficulties, diabetes, neurodegenerative and cardiovascular diseases. Beetles are the most commonly consumed insect, followed by caterpillars, bees, wasps, ants, grasshoppers, locusts, and crickets.

If youre planning on renovating your home or building a new one you undoubtedly have some definitive ideas on what youd like to see built. If you intend to use a designer or architect for your project you need to be able to convey these ideas to them in order to best realize your dreams. One easy way to do this is by compiling a wish list.

Atlas Steak + Fish may be the crown jewel at Gateway Casinos’ Grand Villa Casino in Burnaby, but it’s only one of a host of impressive gems within the property that are some of the region’s best kept dining secrets.

Before viewing or listing a house it’s smart to have a well-thought-out strategy in place to help limit complications.

If you have a kink in your neck that your physiotherapist is taking months to work out, or you have a persisting stomach pain that your general physician cannot find the source of, acupuncture may be something you should consider.

River Market has two new eateries for foodies to enjoy. Angelina’s Dutch Corner has taken up residence in River Market, after outgrowing its former home at a nearby building. As part of the move a larger space that was formerly occupied by Wild Rice, the restaurant plans to add dinner service to its popular breakfast and lunch menu.

Our family has adopted an eight-week-old puppy from a pet rescue a sweet Dalmatian who had been rejected for being “too ugly” due to her sparse display of spots. While we are delighted to have added a dog to our family, it seems as though puppies especially Dalmatians spark an urge in strangers to give unsolicited advice.

ICBC stats show there are way more crashes near malls during Christmas shopping season

For those of us who endured years of metal wires and brackets cemented to our teeth, the arrival of Invisalign seems almost too good to be true.

Shift Shakes, a health-minded high-end “blender bar” has opened in Vancouver’s Kitsilano. The ambitious smoothie shop specializes in nutritionist-created non-dairy “shakes” that come in a variety of flavours and ingredient combos, each with the aim of optimizing some aspect of your well-being.

Holiday fires cause injuries, death and thousands of dollars in property damage every year, and the Office of the Fire Commissioner and Emergency Management B.C. want to remind you how to stay safe. While households should have some safety preparations in place, there are extra life-saving precautions recommended over the holiday season to prevent fires.

What might be the root cause of the great problems of the world: poverty, homelessness, crime, violence, war, racism, discrimination, hunger and global climate change? I contend that it is a case of mistaken identity a false sense of self.

Monday: You put in an offer with your buyers agent and it is accepted. Your offer is subject to financing, subject to inspection, subject to receiving and approving the title search, and subject to receiving and approving the property disclosure statement. The subject removal date is in one weeks time.

The hunt for a dream home is often focused on the physical: the type of house, the number of rooms, the neighbourhood it’s located in. But in truth, making the right choice involves all sorts of less visible but equally critical considerations – and key among them is the mortgage.

Acommunity within a community – that’s what Oxygen Yoga and Fitness has created in their Columbia Street location since opening three years ago. Oxygen has fast become a favourite home-base for yoga and fitness enthusiasts of all ages in the Royal City, which itself has a special place in the hearts and lives of its owners.

These are all classics that you should have seen, and even if you have, they all stand up to a few yet-to-come rewatches

Eating five times daily, as most know we should, is difficult if you also want to eat cleanly by limiting artificial and processed ingredients. That’s partly why so many have recently turned to weekly meal prepping.

Brent Smith and Barbara Ferchuk’s dance journey began just out of high school when they enrolled as students at the Arthur Murray dance studio in Saskatoon, Saskatchewan and never looked back. A subsequent move to Vancouver brought opportunities for performing, competing and teaching at the renowned Arthur Murray Dance Studio there. They became devotees of the teaching system that has been in constant development since 1912, after seeing what it could do for people.

Consider this the treasure map to a hidden gem in the heart of Burnaby and just moments away from downtown Vancouver: Grand Villa Casino. The flagship property of Gateway Casinos Entertainment, the 300,000-square foot facility includes nine distinctive food and beverage outlets, the Delta Hotel and Conference Centre with 189 hotel rooms, six luxury suites and over 12,000 square feet of meeting space, along with a casino complete with 64 table games, 11 poker tables, 1,200 slot machines, and VIP gaming areas.

“People have no time,” said Dorottya Szabo, a fashion designer based on the North Shore. “The most expensive thing today is time.” It was this revelation that prompted Szabo to add mobile tailoring to her well established custom shirt and design business, called Designs by Dorottya. After 30 years in the fashion industry, Szabo learned the valuable commodity of time and decided to overhaul her business to reflect that. “I had customers who tried to get to me for three months and the moment I said ‘look, I’ll come to your office,’ – the moment I said that – they loved it,” she explained.

If you’ve heard of oat milk, you may be part of a minority of Canadians. If you’ve tried the dairy-alternative, you’re part of a small but rapidly growing group of consumers. And that number is, indeed, growing fast. Earth’s Own director of marketing, Brittany Hull, said the Burnaby-based business has seen its oat milk products flying off the shelves – sales in the last year grew 250 per cent over the year prior.

Sleep apnea is a common breathing disorder that, when untreated, can have severe health and safety consequences for you and people around you. Marina Abramskey, a Registered Respiratory Therapist at CanSleep Services, says that sleep apnea can go undetected for many years. “People adapt to their symptoms of feeling tired and fatigued during the day and often attribute it to other events going on in their lives,” Abramskey said.

Many family businesses are built from the ground up, but Woodopolis Home Centre literally started with hardwood flooring. The Maple Ridge company started out as a flooring company, Woodopolis Wood Products Ltd., seven years ago, but has since expanded to offer remodelling and renovation services.

We do many things out of habit (because that’s the way we’ve always done it) or convention (because that’s what everyone else does): how we relate to family and friends, our routines at school or work, where we shop, what we eat, what we do for exercise, and how we travel from place to place. We get into a groove and it becomes our norm.

Many family businesses are built from the ground up, but Woodopolis Home Centre literally started with hardwood flooring. The Maple Ridge company started out as a flooring company, Woodopolis Wood Products Ltd., seven years ago, but has since expanded to offer remodelling and renovation services.

This summer, my friend Lucienne and I escaped smog-blanketed Vancouver for a few days in Vancouver Island’s seaside town of Sooke. Our journey began early on a Friday morning in July as we set off for Tsawwassen ferry terminal in our forest green hybrid Honda Clarity. A beautiful and blustery hour-and-a-half BC Ferries trip to Swartz Bay, and an hour drive along island highways brought us to the quaint town of Sooke (pop. 13,000). Here we stocked up on provisions, plotting the meals we would prepare in the fully equipped kitchen that awaited us in our luxury suite at SookePoint Ocean Cottage Resort.

Many homes do not have space for guest rooms, play areas and home theatres that are possible in homes with substantial square footage, but they may not be missing out at all. While large homes remain popular, many people are embracing the benefits of smaller residences. Small homes help homeowners save money, require less maintenance, have smaller environmental impact and reduce the temptation to accumulate “stuff.”

If you’ve ever suffered from a condition like depression, anxiety or post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD), you know that it can influence more than just the way you think. You can get physical symptoms like headaches, chest pain or skin disorders too, your appetite can change, and your relationships with other people are affected too. More than that, the way you and your body respond to mental-health issues or trauma will be unique, so the treatment that worked for your mum or best friend might do nothing for you. That’s where integrative and holistic counselling practices come in. “These approaches deal with the whole self, rather than typical counselling, which might focus on just the mind, or a specific event,” explains North Shore native and counsellor Brooke Evans of BE Integrative Counselling. “I’m really passionate about holistic practices that are individual-based and client centred. I might use cognitive behaviour therapy (CBT), mindfulness and expressive therapy (for example, using art, or if it’s a child, play). Painful memories or trauma can manifest as physical pain.”

If you have a favourite fast food restaurant, a place through which you indulge your guilty pleasures, there is likely no reasoning with you about it. Say it is a burger place you have in mind, I could tell you all about how Two Rivers likely trounces your guilty burger on every measure from the quality of base ingredients to the meticulous preparation. But it would not make a difference; you know why you like your go-to fast food joint and no academic arguments are going to dissuade you from visiting it again.

The ultimate luxury when you get engaged or celebrate a special event is custom jewellery – something made for you, to your design, from a gemstone or diamond you handpicked. The drawback? Price: The preconception is that anything made just for you must be substantially more expensive than an off-the-peg product.

After a recent column on how to make a burrito bowl, a few readers asked if I could offer a recipe for a poke bowl. It sounded like a tasty, on-trend idea, so here it is. Poke, pronounced “POH-kay,” is a palate-awakening, Hawaiian-style raw, marinated fish dish, often seasoned with ingredients Asian immigrants introduced to those islands.

Things are buzzing in the Shipyards. After a century as a hub for industrial activity and decades as polluted brownfield, City of North Vancouver’s waterfront is being reborn as its premier public gathering space. On the eve of the Shipyards’ grand opening, Mayor Linda Buchanan is beaming.

Hiking the trails with your dog is an excellent way to provide them with both physical and mental exercise. By exposing them to different environments they become engrossed in new smells, sights and sounds, which satisfies their carnal canine needs. Being out in nature is good for their souls as well as ours.

Can a well-groomed coif contribute to success in career and life? Judging from many CEOs, celebrities and some of the North Shore’s most successful people, you would say yes. Here, a few local personalities with especially nice manes share their haircare habits.

Looking for a dessert that is lactose-free and gluten-free? Try this delicious mango coconut mousse! This is a really easy dessert to make that is perfectly presentable on its own, or it can be used as a filling in other recipes, like a gluten-free and lactose-free Pavlova. You just need to keep one thing in mind: use only the solid coconut cream or fat component of the coconut milk for this recipe. Place the entire unopened can of coconut milk in the fridge for a few hours to help the coconut cream solidify. This will make it easy to separate the coconut cream you need, from the liquid that you can use for some other recipe. In terms of managing time, place the can of coconut cream in the refrigerator just before you start making the mango curd. That way, while your mango curd is setting in the refrigerator, so will the coconut cream!

For this Kamloops realtor, it’s all about making dream homes come true for his clients.

I have a funny habit of buying the occasional lottery ticket and not checking the numbers, knowing full well that winning tickets are worthless after one year. Lotteries foster magical thinking. We like to dream. What would you do with an extra $1,000, $10,000 or $100,000? What would you do with a million dollars?

Hailing from Quebec, where he started his career at Montreal’s renown Toqué!, J.C. Poirier is changing the face of Vancouver’s dining scene by opening the city’s first high-end Quebecois restaurant, the critically acclaimed St. Lawrence. Here, what makes the talented chef tick.

Paige Manning and her husband Kaleb conceived Little Bean + Co. on a stormy night during their honeymoon in Tofino. It was pouring rain and the newlyweds were huddled in their hotel room that looked out at the rolling ocean waves. They began mapping out their future together, one that included a family business.

When Jiang Cheng first tried a bit of concealer during his first year of university in China it gave him self-confidence and he was instantly hooked.

My love for sushi is inversely proportional to my disdain for writing about it. What is there left to say? I don’t know how many sushi reviews I have done and I certainly have no clue how many sushi meals I have eaten, here and abroad.

Helen Ritchie became the owner of a Celtic store in North Vancouver by accident. After immigrating to Vancouver from Cork, Ireland, with her family in 1987, Ritchie got a job working in inventory management. But she could never leave her homeland behind.

Is compound interest the eighth wonder of the world? According to Albert Einstein, who knew much about the effects of time, yes it is.

Ross Road-facing patio is in high demand throughout the summer

A sweeping trend in health and wellness has recently set up shop in South Delta. Spa Bleu opened its doors last fall on 56th Street to offer flotation therapy – a treatment to relax, de-stress and feel free from pain.

You really don’t have to be an expert to prune fruit trees. All it takes is a little common sense and a few helpful hints. As a rule of thumb, I place fruit trees in three different pruning categories: the ‘open centre’, the ‘central leader’ and the ‘espalier’ form. Apples, pears and plums should have their centres opened up to allow more sun and air to penetrate.

Great news — being vibrantly healthy can be simple. Not easy — effort is required — but simple. The following tips can help transform your life when practiced consistently, even in small doses.

New development condos are shiny and new, but its important to consider the potential risks. Presale and pre-construction condos seduce consumers with the promise of highly designed, sleek spaces but savvy home buyers need to assess the risks before they commit.

While dentures don’t grow and shrink like everything else in our mouths, they still need to be checked over by a registered denturist every 6 months. “It’s the same deal with dentures as it is for other kinds of mouth care,” says Austin Denture Clinic denturist Boris Eroshevski. “Dentists recommend a visit twice a year for your teeth, and your local denturist recommends the same schedule for you and your dentures.”

I love experiencing the tastes of different cuisines and I use any excuse I can find to switch things up a bit at the dinner table. Celebratory dates from around the globe are perfect for this and May fifth marks Cinco de Mayo: a celebration of Mexican Heritage and Pride. A common misconception is that Cinco de Mayois Mexico’s Independence Day, which is actually on Sept. 16. Cinco de Mayois simply Spanish for Fifth of Mayand is a regional holiday that commemorates Mexico’s defeat of the French forces at the Battle of Puebla on May 5, 1862. Regardless however, of this distinction, it is a perfect day to prepare and enjoy Mexican food. I have tasted a number of homemade salsas and guacamoles and many of them have fallen short of being incredible, let alone worthy of being called Mexican cuisine. True guacamole (pronounced gwahk-ah-MOLE-lee) is not avocados that have been mashed together with an envelope of powders called “guacamole mix”. I know there are a number of people that may struggle in the kitchen, or don’t believe they have the time in their schedules, to successfully chop a few handfuls of ingredients, but once you try this recipe you will never want to go back to the powdered mix. The only ingredient in this recipe that may seem foreign to you is “sambal oelek”. It is a crushed chili product that comes in a liquid/paste form that is basically a re-hydrated form of the dried crushed chilies you have on your spice rack. It can usually be found in any major grocery store down the Asian food aisle or imported food aisle or in any gourmet food store. Even if you have always made your guacamole from fresh ingredients, I am certain that you will still appreciate the complexity and balance of flavour this recipe has to offer, as well as the texture. Eat, enjoy, and be merry this fifth of May… but try not to dance around the sombrero too much.

How do I make sense of my life? Is this all? What can I do about the maelstrom of feelings, ideas, habits, blind spots, and deep connection, which rules my body and mind? What will give me peace? I’m doing ok, but I’m not happy in my own skin.

Yes, booking a plane ticket to an international locale is always exciting, but if a trip isn’t in your future, why not escape for a few hours by having a meal at one of the restaurants in Burnaby featuring cuisine from faraway lands? Whether you are craving Indian, Greek, Japanese or Southwestern BBQ, Burnaby is home to dining options representing a variety of cultures. Some of these are well-established family-owned eateries while others are favoured chain restaurants. There are also many new places opening up in Burnaby that you’ll likely pass if you take a walk in areas which are currently undergoing exciting growth and development, including the Brentwood area.

New Central Lonsdale restaurant offers high quality fare at remarkably good prices. Mia Kaye offers up a plate of nachos at Tacomio on Lonsdale. According to the edicts of the prevailing market economy, competition is a good thing.

Bathroom renovation may not be what people think of when they hear of Woodopolis Home Centre, but President and CEO Tracy Zhang wants to change that. Woodopolis began selling and installing flooring seven years ago. Three years later, the company expanded its focus to include bathroom renovations, according to Zhang.

Make sure you have a plan before heading out or shopping online today, says the business watchdog

B.C. vacation-property owners are now subject to new rules and taxation when renting their property – but some say illegal rentals may dodge tax

The Christmas holidays can be a stressful time when it comes to finding the right gift for that special someone. Will you get the right size, colour, or style?

When John Skinner, proprietor of Painted RocK discovered the perfect property to situate a winery, it was like the writing was on the wall. Beginning his search in 2000, he knew the property he purchased needed to tick all of the boxes; he would take his time, the perfect piece of land was out there waiting for him in the wine region known as the Napa Valley of the North. Finally, in 2014, after four years of searching, a 60-acre fallow apricot orchard resting on a bench that overlooks Skaha Lake near Penticton caught his attention. Once the largest apricot orchard in the British Commonwealth, the property was the perfect micro-climate for a vineyard, and after the painstaking year-long work of removing the apricot trees one by one, Skinner was ready to plant 25 acres of varieties of Syrah and Bordeaux reds, as well as a little Chardonnay.

Should I make a career as a university teacher or a hearing specialist? That’s the question that faced Herman Li when he neared the end of his PhD in Linguistics specializing in speech and hearing sciences at Simon Fraser University.

CM Bhatt of Aroma Indian Restaurant and Lounge in Port Moody has been serving award-winning Indian cuisine to the people of the Lower Mainland for years. So he knows that you need a wide variety of spices, flavours and meats to satisfy local taste buds. “A common misconception is that all Indian foods are spicy,” says Bhatt. “But here at Aroma Indian Restaurant and Lounge, we put that notion to rest pretty quickly. We have something for every taste, no matter how mild. In fact, there are lots of Indian dishes for people who don’t typically eat spicy food.”

Here in the Lower Mainland we’re lucky to have an array of culinary options to choose from. You really don’t have to travel far to enjoy foods from faraway lands! Vancouver’s status as a world-class destination has made it a draw for some incredible culinary talent. Whether you’re craving Thai, Greek, Vietnamese, Mexican, Chinese or Japanese, there is a restaurant in Vancouver offering a top-notch version of the cuisine.

In Vancouver, loose dress codes could increase staff retention

For a business owner, collecting and remitting sales tax, both GST and PST, is annoying enough without discovering that you may have been inadvertently overpaying the Canada Revenue Agency (CRA).

Lift dinner service adds new dimension to bakery. Organic green salad and fresh baked bread made on-site at Lift on West First Street. The evening vibe at Lift is radically different than the morning vibe.

If you have ever attended one of my cooking classes or cooking shows, you know that I am a big advocate for using fat in cooking. You will always hear me chanting “Fat is Flavour; Fat is Moisture; Fat is your Friend”. I even take it one step further by joking that “My title is not Doctor, Dietician, or Nutritionist – my title is Chef”…but, I always take a moment from this overindulging of fat celebration to mention moderation. Moderation is truly the key. Just because I may demonstrate an incredible tasting recipe loaded with fat grams and calories, this does not mean that I expect you to eat like that on a regular basis. These types of recipes are meant to be illustrated as your “go to” formula for a special occasion when you want to “wow” someone with your cooking. Having a background myself of having to deal with being overweight as a child and young adult, I know that it is not the preferred way to journey through life. Today, with a balanced diet and my best at a regular exercise routine, I have more energy and feel better than I ever did in my younger years. The main difference, more than any time prior in my life, is that I now celebrate all foods, not just the fatty and calorie-laden ones. There is flavour to be found in all types of ingredients, recipes, and cuisines, and to find greatness in your regular diet is to rejoice in variety and moderation. The focus of moderation in this column has a couple of meanings: restriction and portion size. Eating forbidden foods (everyone’s perspective of “forbidden” is different so I will leave it up to you to define this term) does not have to be done on a daily basis (restriction) or should be of a small amount (portion size). Whether you practice restriction and/or portion size will again depend on your lifestyle, beliefs, and ultimately what works for you to lead a healthy way of life. This being said, there is a huge variety of recipes that I share with the public, not just the fatty ones.

In my last column about strawberries, I prompted you to try making a strawberry salsa and gave you some direction on how to go about doing so. Fruit salsas are so fresh and delicious, and a perfect way to compliment the summer grilling season. So much so, that I am giving you two more fruit salsa recipes to help bring excitement to your next backyard grilling adventure. These are perfect on a variety of grilled meats and seafood, or simply on their own served with tortilla chips. Both of these recipes are from my cookbook, The Best In Your Kitchen, available through Amazon or chefdez.com.

For this Kamloops realtor, it’s all about making dream homes come true for his clients.

Its not Cheers of TV fame, but Port Moody seniors club has a friendly vibe

While tree sellers conveniently stationed in store parking lots and artificial trees displayed in retailers have led fewer people to venture into the wilderness, the Christmas tree is still an important component of holiday celebrations. Germans who decorated trees inside of their homes are credited with starting Christian Christmas tree traditions during the 16th century. It took the popularity of England’s Queen Victoria and her German Prince Albert appearing around a decorated Christmas tree to eventually win over much of Europe, Canada and the United States.

A recent post on the Vernon Community Forum Facebook group asked if a person could donate their wig to someone recovering from cancer treatments.

Here are 5 things to consider so you get the best deal for yourself and your community. 1. Start with the right valuation The big question: How much is my home worth under the new OCP? According to Darcy Schlechtleitner, founder of Rethink Real Estate Group, there are ways of working it out, but you need a realtor with experience and training in land assembly. “Values can be calculated based on comparable land sales for similar projects and what can be built, but you need someone who knows their numbers and has access to all the data,” says the long-time New West resident. She studied real estate at BCIT and has been working in the New West area ever since. The Land division at her brokerage focuses specifically on land assembly projects. “Make sure you’re asking the right questions of potential realtors: What’s your land assembly history? Have you done this before? What developers do you work with? What’s your understanding of contracts and contract law?” Schlechtleitner says.