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Vancouver Eating On A Budget
Known for its wonderful restaurants and great food, traveling to Vancouver is a treat both for the eyes and the stomach. For the first time travelers to Vancouver, the city has its own Pacific Northwestern cuisine, a local style of cooking where cooking methods use only a selection of the most fresh of ingredients.
Specialties in Vancouver include crab, scallops and sablefish. Also, the city is known as a mixing pot of immigrants from all over Asia and Europe which influenced the variety of dishes and style of cooking available in the area. You can see a seemingly perfect synergy of Asian restaurants may they be Chinese, Japanese, Vietnamese or Thai, and European establishments like French, Greek, Italian, Spanish and Mexican restaurants.But for the lowly traveler who eats on a tight budget, one does not need to use all their travel allowance to get to enjoy the Vancouver food. The following are some of the well known restaurants in the city that offer the unique tastes of Vancouver at very affordable costs.
The Samurai Sushi House
Located at 5888 Cambie St., Vancouver, BC, this small shop is quite popular because of their relatively large servings. Fresh sushi, cheap and pieces so large that it is absolutely hard to complain.Stepho’s
If you get tired of Sushi, you should try Stepho’s. This one is a Greek restaurant located at 1124 Davie Street. For less than $10 CDN you can get a huge delicious meal. Be sure to go there early though, since the place is so popular that you can expect a line out the door after after 5:30pm.Cheesecake Etc.
A small dessert place on Granville Street. The ambiance is great but the place is really tiny so sitting a whole pack of friends can be a little troublesome. It’s more of a date place. They offer wonderful specialty coffees for $3 or less and the desserts are to die for.Shabusen Yakiniku House
This time its a Korean BBQ dining place. Located at 202 - 755 Burrard St., this restaurant serves Korean BBQ and sushi for a little over $20. It can be a little pricey compared to the other establishments mentioned so far, bu still the grilled marinated meat won’t leave you hungry.Gigi’s Pizza Spaghetti House
If you want to go Italian, this is the place to be. Imagine tasty and filling pasta dishes for under $10. The baked pasta dishes are big enough to share so you can actually save more if you’re with a group.Guu Izakaya
Some say that Guu Izakaya is Vancouver’s best kept secret. The restaurant serve small dishes of Japanese food but the place is very authentic. You can see a lot of Japanese eating here, mostly exchange students.Posted in Attractions
September 28th, 2007 / No Comments
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The Energetic City
Located in the northeastern part of British Columbia is a small city that is known for its natural resources of oil, natural gas, forestry and agriculture and a generally young, energetic and enthusiastic populace. The City of Fort St. John is known throughout Canada as the “The Energetic City.”
This small city of about 17,000 people is a member municipality of the Peace River Regional District. The city has a land area of about 22 km² (8 mi²), the largest city in the northeastern British Columbia. Fort St. John is actually on a plateau above the Peace River Valley and is 73 kilometers (45.5 miles) northwest of Dawson Creek and 387 kilometers (240 miles) southeast of Fort Nelson.
It was the early pioneers that built Fort St. John. It began as a trading post in 1794 and is now considered as the oldest European-established settlement in present-day British Columbia. The construction of the Alaska Highway in 1942 and the discovery of high-grade oil in 1951 created the city as British Columbia’s Oil and Gas Capital.
From the trading posts of old to being the main transportation hub and oil capital of present day British Columbia, the city of Fort St. John has evolved into a great place to live, work, raise a family and retire. It is a place people can enjoy the low unemployment rate, affordable house prices, stable economy and lots of recreational activities like hiking, fishing, hunting and golf, downhill and cross-country skiing, snowmobiling, skating, curling and ice fishing.
If you happen to be in the city, some places that you need to see are the North Peace Museum, the North Peace Recreation Centre which is a multi-purpose facility that is mainly used for figure skating, hockey, and public skating, and the North Peace Cultural Centre where you could find the public library, Peace Gallery North, and a 413-seat live theatre.
You can also get to enjoy fresh farm produce during local farmers’ market fair. Homegrown tomatoes, bison steaks and fresh apple pies are just a few of the delicacies that you can get to sample during the Saturday market days. The farmers’ market is open May through December at the North Peace Arena.
Some of the yearly activities include the annual Great Canadian Welding Competition which is held in August. The welding competition features artists creating statures based on a given theme. And in January, there’s the High on Ice Winter Carnival which is also a yearly affair.
The city hold the distinction of hosting the BC Winter Games in 1984 as well as the Northern BC Winter Games five times, first was in 1975, then 1976, 1994, 2000, and lastly this year.
Posted in Attractions
September 14th, 2007 / No Comments
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Salmon Fishing
One of the reasons why the great outdoors of British Columbia attracts a lot of people is because the region is famous for fishing. Anglers from across the country and even around the world go to British Columbia to partake in this extraordinary sport.
Fishing for sturgeons, chinook salmons, sockeye salmons, coho salmons, pink salmons, steelhead, cutthroats, and rainbow trouts are popular targets. These are but a few of the fish species that can be caught in British Columbia. Some other fishes that come to mind include the cod, burbot, trout, and whitefish. Salmon fishing in particular is quite popular, with the fish being especially plentiful around Vancouver Island and the Kootenay Rockies.
The different species of salmon offer anglers a varied fishing experience every time. For the newbies, it would be great to learn to distinguish between species as well as get to learn where to cast the line and tackle and bring it in once you feel a bite.
The Chinook salmon or Spring salmon is the biggest species of salmon in British Columbia. That’s why the Chinook salmon is also often referred to as the King salmon. The King salmons are the largest of the salmon species, with some growing to over 60 lbs. They are extremely powerful and can spool 200 yards of 30 lb. line quite fast. Most of huge clusters of Chinook Salmon can be found in the Fraser, Chehalis and Chilliwack/Vedder Rivers of British Columbia.
Coho salmons are smaller fish which ranges only 25lbs in size. However, the Coho salmon stocks have been diminishing in numbers in the past years and is already being eyed to be included in their conservation listings. Cohos are identified with black spots on top half of tail, black mouth, and white gums.
Chum Salmons on the other hand have more than enough stocks. In fact, anglers even find them as a nuisance during their migration route. The Chum salmons weigh almost the same as Cohos at 20 to 25 pounds. These are very stubborn salmon species and are more noted for their aerial display. It can be hard to catch one since they are large and strong enough to offer a good battle for an angler. They are not considered that best species for eating and are often released after being caught and being photographed with it.
Another salmon species known for aerobic performances are the Sockeye salmons. These species are often considered as the best fighting salmon for their size. Catch and release fishing is also the most popular fishing method applied for sockeye salmons.
Pink Salmons enter the river in late August on odd years 2005, 2007, 2009, etc. and can reach weights of 7 lbs. These are another rather aggressive salmon species and can always offer anglers a good fight. The fish is identified by large black spots on tail, greenish color males, hump on back.
Posted in Outdoors
September 7th, 2007 / No Comments