Westender December 14 2017

DECEMBER 14-20 // 2017

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TURNING DEMOLISHED HOMES INTO CHRISTMAS TREE ORNAMENTS +

FESTIVE FIZZ: ADD SOME PUNCH TO THE SEASON +

THEATRE YEAR IN REVIEW

Taxed to death Chocolate Mousse Kitchenware one of many small businesses falling victim to crippling property tax increases

PLUS: DRUG CONTAINMENT // NEXT-LEVEL NIGIRI // BEER IN NELSON // STYLISH GIFTS // HALLMARK MOVIE HIGHLIGHTS

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INSIDE THIS WEEK

RANT//RAVE

News 5

When life gives you demolished heritage houses, make Christmas ornaments?

email: rantrave@westender.com ALL RANTS ARE THE OPINION OF THE INDIVIDUAL AND DO NOT REFLECT THE OPINIONS OF THE WESTENDER. THE EDITOR RESERVES THE RIGHT TO EDIT FOR CLARITY AND BREVITY, SO PLEASE KEEP IT SHORT AND (BITTER)SWEET.

POLICING PRIDE CONT’D

Eat & Drink 8

Meet two of Vancouver’s most masterful nigiri stops.

Arts 11

Theatre reviewer Jo Ledingham gives another round of applause to the most innovative shows of 2017.

PUBLISHER GAIL NUGENT GNUGENT@GLACIERMEDIA.CA EDITOR KELSEY KLASSEN EDITOR@WESTENDER.COM ASSISTANT EDITOR JAN ZESCHKY JAN@WESTENDER.COM EDITORIAL ASSISTANT TESSA VIKANDER TESSA@WESTENDER.COM CONTRIBUTING WRITERS ROB BREZSNY, SABRINA FURMINGER, AILEEN LALOR, GRANT LAWRENCE, JO LEDINGHAM, ANYA LEVYKH, ROBERT MANGELSDORF, JOANNE SASVARI CREATIVE MANAGER TARA RAFIQ TRAFIQW@WESTENDER.COM 604-742-8671 DISPLAY ADVERTISING MATTY LAMBERT, ALINA GOGOESCU, AARON BUCKLEY SALES@WESTENDER.COM 604-742-8677

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Vancouver Shakedown 5 Poem of the Week 5 Nosh 10 The Growler 16 The Alchemist 16 Fresh Sheet 10 Reel People 8 Style File 6

News 5 Cover Story 7 Eat & Drink 8 Arts 11 Real Estate 12 Horoscopes 14 Classifieds 15 ON THE COVER

Jane and Karen Tennant outside Chocolate Mousse. Dan Toulgoet photo

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Notice to readers

For 68 years the Westender newspaper has had the privilege of coming into your homes and your hands, your commutes and your coffee shop visits. It has visited itself upon countless daily conversations.

Thus, it is with mixed emotions that we announce that the paper, Vancouver’s longest-running arts and entertainment weekly, will be publishing its final edition on Dec. 21, 2017.

The Westender may be closing,

but its staff, ideas and awardwinning reporting will live on in other, growing divisions within its parent company. In fact, all seven staff members of the newspaper have been offered other roles within Glacier Media: • Publisher Gail Nugent will continue to run the paper’s growing magazine division, which includes the award-winning Growler and The Alchemist magazines, the new Vitis coming this spring, and community guide publications

Re:“Was theVPD informed?

Untangling the timeline of the Vancouver Pride Society’s uniformed officer ban,” Dec. 7, 2017.

Are we not here to celebrate inclusion? Especially considering it’s 2017 and police play a positive role in protecting the safety of the communities (in Vancouver).

This is so backwards. Let the organizations that promote solidarity have their place in celebrating. We are regressing with this stupid decision...

Take it back Vancouver Pride Society!

—Jeff Ojeda The confusion over timing isn’t really relevant. What’s important is the decision which appears to have been made without consultation of the LGBTQ community.

Very disappointed.

—Peter Hickman The Pride events take over much of the city and are therefore inclusive – so the cops should be more than welcome, just like at any other public event. Sorry Pride people, but your event is in the public domain now.

—LyleWagner

such as the Pride and Jazz guides.

• Editor Kelsey Klassen will be joining the staff at the Vancouver Courier as digital editor.

• Assistant editor Jan Zeschky will be taking on the role of editor of The Alchemist and Vitis magazines.

• Editorial assistant Tessa Vikander will be joining Vancouver is Awesome as a staff reporter.

• Graphic designer Tara Rafiq will continue in the magazine division.

CANNABIZ

Re:“BC Liquor Branch to distribute non-medical marijuana,” Dec. 5, 2017 Its not the legalization of marijuana, it is the corporatization of marijuana.

All the [people] who were against marijuana and ruined people’s lives for decades are now opening their own marijuana business. Hypocrites.

—Jim O’Connor This so wrong on so many levels. Booze and marijuana do not mix and they should not be sold in the same place.

Dispensaries are a working model; keep using it.

—Racquel Foran At least they are not closing the door on private shops.

—Laura Barlow Fu*k the government. Not getting one cent from me.

Plenty available elsewhere!

—Philip EagleWhite

WEST END I LOVE YOU, BUT...

I lived with you in my 20s, again in my 30s, and most recently in my 50s, but now I must regretfully bid adieu to this formerly livable neighbourhood.

• And multimedia sales representatives Matty Lambert and Aaron Buckley will be moving to the Vancouver Courier and Growler/Alchemist, respectively.

We’d like to thank both our readers and clients for sharing your stories, milestones, rants and raves with us over the decades. You have been an invaluable part of the Westender community, both in print and online.

If you have a favourite West-

You’ve become too noisy – construction in front of me, to the right of me, to the left of me; your sidewalk grasses and apartment lawns are, on many blocks, left unkempt; your new towers are crowding out sunlight and adding to the echo-chamber effect.

The city hasn’t planted new trees to replace those that are dying. Offshore landlords continue to jack up commercial leases, so that businesses can’t make a go of it and there are a dozen, or more, empty storefronts along just one block of Robson (between Bute and Thurlow).

West End, you had so much going for you: the ocean, the park, fresh air, leafy streets, traffic-calming, bike-friendly, and yet somehow you’ve allowed this to be overrun by rampant development and disregard for the very things that made it a great place to live and shop.

—Anonymous

U-PHEMISM

What’s with this buzz word “sharing” that’s used to promote a business – namely Uber? I pay for rides with Uber; it isn’t “sharing,” Hitchhiking is sharing, Uber is a business.

—Anonymous

ender story, memory to share, or a moment the paper impacted your life, we will be running a send-off page in the Dec. 21 edition dedicated to a selection of letters to the editor. Please send your responses to editor@ westender.com before Monday, Dec. 18 for consideration.

You can reach all of the Westender staff at their current email addresses, after which we look forward to doing business with you in our new locations. W

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NEWS // ISSUES

Reclaimed for Christmas: Craftsman turns demolished houses into tree ornaments Grant Lawrence Vancouver Shakedown @GrantLawrence

Are you one of the many people in this town who cringes when you see telltale orange plastic fencing go up around a beautiful old Vancouver home?

That floppy barrier is usually an indication that the house is about to be torn down or gutted.

In a small and thoughtful way, local artist and woodworker Garet Robinson is allowing you to take a piece of old Vancouver with you, to enjoy again and again every holiday season.

Like a modern day Nick Adonidas, Robinson salvages wood. The major difference is, unlike the fictional star of The Beachcombers TV series who would search for logs that came adrift from log booms destined for construction, Robinson salvages wood from pre-1940s Vancouver houses slated for demolition. He then turns the reclaimed and often ancient wood into everything from furniture to Christmas tree ornaments.

“I’ve never heard that one before,” chuckled Robinson, referring to my dated Beachcombers reference. “I didn’t even realize that’s what The Beachcombers was about.”

Before Robinson began working with the fine oldgrowth Douglas fir, cedar, spruce and hemlock that he was finding in demo sites of older Vancouver homes, he was working on smaller projects, making things like dining and coffee tables out

You can now own a small piece of Vancouver heritage thanks to Garet Robinson’s Christmas tree ornaments. Contributed photo of discarded pallets made of inferior wood.

Robinson’s woodworking career changed when a 100-year-old Dutch colonial-style home was being ripped apart right next door to his Mount Pleasant garage workshop.

“I noticed the workmen were pulling out all sorts of wood from the house and just throwing it in the dumpster,” remembers Robinson. “At first I’d just kind of wander over to the bin and check out what they were tossing out. I remember being shocked to realize it was this gorgeous old-growth Douglas fir with beautiful grains, and in very good condition.”

Robinson asked if he could have it, the contractor agreed, and soon the workmen were piling up extracted lumber on his workshop doorstep.

With the wood, Robinson made tables, home decor and art pieces.

“To give you an idea of the amount of lumber in a single pre-1940s Vancouver home,

just from that first house alone, the wood lasted me for more than a year-and-ahalf of projects.”

First Growth Reclaimed Design was born, and it’s kept Robinson busy ever since.

The rate that old homes disappear in Vancouver is no secret. According to Robinson, every year, upwards of 1,000 pre-1940s house are demolished.The beams, flooring and joists found in those homes are often first-growth, from trees that could have been anywhere from 300 to more than 1,000 years old.

If it wasn’t salvaged, thanks to a relatively new deconstruction bylaw the city has imposed, the lumber would be chipped up and recycled.

“After realizing what was in that first house, I started actively seeking out older houses that were being demolished,” Robinson told me. “The people at ‘Vancouver Vanishing’ tipped me off a lot. I’d show up and talk to the contractor, and they almost always let me take

FRESH CHOICES

what I wanted.”

Robinson spent years crawling through semi-demolished houses, sometimes at his peril. These days, he no longer does the hands-on salvaging. Robinson leaves that to Naturally Crafted Contracting, a company that also specializes in reclaimed wood. Naturally Crafted often deals with bigger renovations and house-builds.

Robinson now uses the wood from trees that were once the size of jumbo jets and turns it into something tiny and delicate: Christmas tree ornaments.

“Brick and Mortar, one of the stores I work with, requested ornaments one year,” recalls Robinson. “I wasn’t sure if I could do it, but I managed to mill down the Douglas fir into really thin slabs with a burnt edge.

Each piece was unique and they turned out great.”

Orders flooded in. Now, Robinson’s reclaimed Douglas fir ornaments are a seasonal hit at Christmas markets, retail outlets and online. There’s more than 50 different designs, including all 10 provinces and territories, and various West Coast vistas and imagery.

“My most popular designs are the North Shore mountains and the maple leaf,” Robinson says.

Most of the ornaments sell for between $10 and $12, a small price to pay for your own small piece of Vancouver’s rapidly disappearing original homes.

You can find Garet Robinson and First Growth at the Vintage & Handmade Community Market this Saturday, Dec. 16, at the Woodward’s Atrium in Gastown. W

iStock photo

Poem of the week Poetic Licence

@westendervan

Welcome to Poetic Licence – a weekly poetry forum, hosted by us, featuring words by local poets. This week? Laura McGuire

THE ARSONIST Your understanding of the sparks Beneath my flesh And the desire that flickered in my soul Is an irreplaceable memento of the love That burned through my chest You were the fire That struck in the night And the calm of woodchips in the morning You were my arsonist, watching on the sidelines As the roaring flames devastated everything in its path.

Laura McGuire (loulouchilds.com) is a photographer and avid globetrotter.

She writes words sometimes, and aims to combine all three interests one day.

To submit your own poetry

to Poetic Licence, email editor@westender.com with “Poetry Column” in the subject line. Include your poem, full name, contact details and bio.

Only those selected for the column will be contacted. W

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Budget includes $700,000 for drug containment facility as opioid crisis deepens in B.C. TESSA VIKANDER @tessavikander

A new drug containment facility will be built in Vancouver so that police can safely extract testing samples of seized drugs.

The announcement comes during an ongoing opioid crisis in B.C. that has seen many street drugs laced with fentanyl or similar opioids, resulting in 999 fentanyl and opioid-related overdose deaths from January to the end of October.

Sgt. Jason Robillard, spokesperson for the Vancouver Police Department, says the force has a drug storage unit but not a high-tech facility in which to handle and take samples from potentially contaminated drugs.

Opioids are so strong that overdoses can occur from skin exposure or inhaling small amounts. Robillard said he didn’t have exact numbers on how many officers have been treated for opioid exposure.

However, a VPD report released in May stated that, as of March this year, three police officers in B.C. had been treated for accidental opioid exposure and, in late August, two VPD officers were sent to hospital as a result of possible opioid exposure during a drug bust in the Olympic Village area.

“With the rise of fentanyl and the known risks associated with handling fentanyl, we’ve come to the conclusion that we need something a little more advanced, and that’s why we have this new drug containment facility,” Robillard said.

The news comes after the VPD passed its 2018 operating budget at the Nov. 23 police board meeting.The total budget of $284,700,441 is an 11-per-cent increase from last year.The increase includes provisions for the drug containment facility, $500,000 of which will go toward renovating an existing VPD space, and $200,000 for new high-tech safety equipment.

The new facility will be “self contained” in that it will have its own ventilation system, allowing it to be isolated from the rest of the building in the event of exposure. It will also have individual fume

hoods, an emergency shower, a monitoring system and areas in which to change in and out of protective gear.

The main purpose of the new room is to provide a safe location in which to extract samples out of large quantities of confiscated drugs.The samples are packaged and sent to Health Canada to test for their ingredients.

“If we do get a larger quantity [of unknown drugs], we don’t want to bring that whole thing to court,” Robillard said.

The VPD, he said, doesn’t know what’s in the drugs “until we officially get it tested from Health Canada.”

The facility will allow officers to work with samples in a safe environment, and “down the road in court, we’ll be able to say we tested this drug and it came back positive for fentanyl or cocaine.”

The VPD currently has a process for extracting samples, but Const. Jason Doucette said it has “been deemed to require some upgrades,” due to the increased prevalence of opioids contamination.

“Now we expect to see it [in the seized drugs],” he said.

Robillard said he does not know the schedule for construction of the new facility but that it will be built “shortly.” W

Council approves last-minute tax hike MIKE HOWELL @howellings

(corner of Nelson and Seymour) (corner of Smithe & Expo)

OPEN BCDA FEE GUIDE

VPD to improve safety practices when testing seized drugs

The ruling Vision Vancouver council approved a lastminute property tax increase of 0.34 per cent Tuesday – equating to an overall 4.24-per-cent hike – that left the four Non Partisan Association councillors blindsided.

City staff had proposed a 3.9-per-cent property tax hike until Vision Coun. Raymond Louie successfully recommended halfway through the meeting that an additional 0.34-per-cent increase be added to the overall hike.

After four hours of debate,

council voted 7-4 in favour of the $1.4-billion operating budget and approved a $426-million capital budget.

The NPA argued that Louie’s additional tax should have gone before the public before a council vote.

A back-and-forth between Louie and NPA Coun.

George Affleck led to a fiery exchange between the two councillors during the lunch break, with Affleck accusing Louie of not being fair to taxpayers.

The 0.34-per-cent increase will give the city $2.4 million to spend on such initiatives as a $975,000 “tactical response

team” to review regulations and create new policy and zoning changes to increase housing options in low-density neighbourhoods.

Other initiatives include $500,000 for “social grants;” $300,000 to help staff speed up permit approvals; and $300,000 toward having Chinatown become a UNESCOrecognized world heritage site.

Under the 4.24 per cent tax hike, a single-family home assessed at $1.8 million will pay an extra $94 per year and a median strata unit assessed at $609,000 will pay $32 more, according to city calculations.

—Vancouver Courier

Westender.com

NEWS // ISSUES

Soaring property tax makes business ‘financially impossible’ for West End store Facing a 92.7% rate increase, Chocolate Mousse Kitchenware is the latest in a long line of small businesses across the city facing closure JAN ZESCHKY @jantweats

After 33 years, life is no longer sweet at Chocolate Mousse Kitchenware.

The long-established, popular West End store is facing closure after its annual property tax almost doubled to around $130,000.

Owners Karen and Jane Tennant recently posted a note for customers saying it was “financially impossible for us to stay” at their Robson Street location after the City of Vancouver raised its property tax by 92.7 per cent earlier this year.

With the increase, Chocolate Mousse now pays more property tax than rent.

“That’s money right out of our pockets,” Karen Tennant tells me when I meet the sisters at the back of their store before opening hours one recent morning.The store is narrow, on two levels, and cosily filled with every type of crockery, cutlery and kitchen trinket you can think of.

“We don’t get to advertise for that, we don’t get to pay our staff more, we don’t get to take more days off … It’s just money we give them.”

Like many other retailers leasing space in Vancouver, Chocolate Mousse is on the hook for any increase in property tax due to the “triple-net” lease system, which means that, in addition to their rent, they must pay an additional charge for operating costs and taxes. It’s a big reason many smaller, independent businesses are closing in the city, Karen says.

“It’s endemic in the city.

It’s a big, big problem,” she says, describing the store she opened with her sister 33 years ago as “collateral damage” in Vancouver’s ongoing affordability issues.

Property tax is based on the assessed value of the property in which the store is located.

According to B.C. Assessment, that value more than tripled in a year – from almost $17 million to $52.3 million.

The latest assessment will be available Dec. 31.

In a sad irony, Chocolate Mousse looks set to be a victim of the West End Community Plan, approved in December 2013 as a way to grow the neighbourhood while preserving its character. The plan targets significant devel-

Westender.com

Jane (left) and Karen Tennant on Lower Robson, where there has been a recent series of store closures. Faced by a 92.7-per-cent increase in their property tax, the sisters fear their store, Chocolate Mousse Kitchenware, will be next. Dan Toulgoet photo opment in several “corridors” in the West End, including the Lower Robson corridor, which includes the 1500-block where the store is located.

While no plans are officially in place, the 1949 low-rise that Chocolate Mousse operates in will most likely be demolished to make way for a rental and/or social housing condo tower. Across the road at 1500 Robson, a development awaiting approval aims to build a 21-storey tower of market-rental units.

Rezoning for such future projects has had a significant impact on assessments, which are based on a property’s “highest and best use” and selling prices in the surrounding neighbourhood, according to B.C. Assessment.

The West End Community Plan aims to “strategically locate opportunities for new growth through increased heights and densities along the Georgia and Burrard Corridors and in Lower Robson to help deepen housing affordability and to contribute public benefits,” it says.

The Lower Robson corridor is directly west of what’s been identified as Robson Village, in which new development will be limited.

“We’re in a very bad place,” Karen admits. “We are the pro-revitalization area of Robson. And I can see that – we don’t want to stand in the way of change. But it’s so unfair to people that have paid their dues and been here forever.

“On one hand they’re trying to house the underprivileged, and on the other hand they’re putting us out of work when we’ve worked full time since we were 17 years old,” she adds.

According to property tax

agent Paul Sullivan, the root of the problem is the commercial tax rate, which is five times that of the residential rate.

“Right now, 46 per cent of the entire property tax burden in the City of Vancouver is being paid by seven per cent of the properties, because only seven per cent of the properties in Vancouver are commercial. … That’s fact,” says Sullivan, a partner at Burgess Cawley Sullivan & Associates.

For years, Sullivan has been advocating for a redistribution of this tax load in what he calls “thin-spreading.” As part of a joint committee with the Urban Development Institute, the province and the city, he’s also presented a number of ideas from the private sector, including local Business Improvement Associations.

They include taxing commercial buildings earmarked for primarily residential redevelopment at the residential rate.

“Let’s not muck with market value, let’s leave that intact. But let’s show some level of reasonableness in placing that residential tax rate on residential density that is vacant and consumes no services,” Sullivan says.

The problem is citywide, he adds. “All of our commercial nodes – Main Street, Commercial Drive, 4th Avenue, South Granville, Broadway – 80-90 per cent of those community retailers are suffering from this issue,” Sullivan says.

It’s clear that independent businesses the length of Robson have suffered, too.

The popular Gyoza King, just across the road from Chocolate Mousse, shuttered in October. Many other neighbouring units lie empty.

The Japanese chain Muji recently opened its flagship

North American store on the 1100-block, but there have been few other newcomers.

“There are so many vacancies up the street because people can’t make it,” Karen says. “Because what they’re charging is not reasonable for what you’ll sell.”

Karen says that Chocolate Mousse has three options: to close; to sell; or to move, which presents many significant challenges, not least because the store still has to satisfy the conditions of its lease, which runs until January 2019.

The Tennants have looked at other locations but have yet to find anything suitable.

They want to stay in the West End because of their established customer base.

But even if they could move now, it wouldn’t be financially feasible.

“Even looking for a location is really futile almost because we’re not in a position to run two stores for a year and a half,” Jane says.

Other tenants in the building – an extensively refurbished Korean restaurant and an internet café – have longer leases, Karen says.They very likely face bankruptcy, she believes. Neither could be contacted for comment.

Chocolate Mousse’s customers have voiced their dismay at the store’s closure, with hundreds leaving notes of support at the front desk.

Karen refers to the store as a community centre that the city doesn’t have to pay for, being popular with regulars who have shopped there for decades.

“Every day people meet people they know,” she says.

The Tennants are clear in not singling out their landlord for their financial woes,

saying their rent has always been reasonable. However, the building was recently sold, adding even more uncertainty to their situation.

The B.C. Assessment website confirms the property at 1555 Robson St. is assessed at $52,357,900 as of July 1, 2016 – up from the previous year’s value of $16,830,300.

In the “Sales History” field it lists a transaction from Aug. 1, 2017 for $79.5 million – an indication of what the property’s next assessment might be.

A title search confirmed the property’s declared value as $79.5 million, and lists the new owner as the numbered company 1135952 B.C. Ltd., Inc.The Tennants have yet to hear from their new landlord.

For its part, the City of Vancouver says it is aware of the financial problems affecting small, independent businesses.

In an emailed response, city staff outlined several initiatives it has begun exploring to mitigate those effects.

They include exploring the idea of a “Split Tax Bill” limiting the amount of property tax a landlord passes on to his commercial tenants to the rented space only; and the Community Impact Real Estate Society, a collaboration between the city, B.C. Housing and Vancity Community Foundation that manages a portfolio of 57 commercial retail units.

Proposals released in a report last week included transferring the property tax load for redevelopment potential from commercial tenants to the building’s owners, and to introduce commercial rent control as part of a Commercial Tenancy Act. Sullivan says these propos-

als are “outrageous.”

“It sounds good on a piece of paper: ‘We’re going to protect our merchants from paying the property tax bill associated with the redevelopment potential.We’re there for small business.’

“But they haven’t thought it through. ... It’s going to force the sale of all these properties, it’s going to pit landlords against tenants in endless litigation, and it’s going to stall if not discontinue commercial development in the city or the province.”

The Tennants were given a glimmer of hope from a Globe and Mail story last month that reported how Vancouver was studying approaches to affordability problems in other cities across the world, including supporting “historic” independent businesses in rapidly developing neighbourhoods.

Karen called city planner Tom Wanklin for more information, but was told the city is only halfway through its study.

Reached separately,Wanklin expressed his concerns about the plight of small businesses in Vancouver. But he said there are many challenges in identifying a solution – even from a legal standpoint.

“There are many constraints,” he said. “The Vancouver charter is very clear about using public funds taxing the community and then using those funds to support privately owned businesses.

That is a very, very clear legal consideration that we keep in mind. … Right now, it is not possible for the city to assist.”

Wanklin was waiting to receive a halfway report from consultants tasked with a pilot study focusing on Chinatown.

“One of the first questions I’m going to ask the consultants is: If you favour one business because it’s been in existence for 30 years, how fair is that in terms of another business that might have been in existence for 29 years?

Where do you draw the line?

What is equitable here? Is this really the right way to go?

“There’s no quick solution, I’m afraid,” he says.

But it’s not what the Tennants want to hear.

“It’s just not reasonable to give somebody a 92-per-cent increase in anything,” Jane says. “People couldn’t afford that in their personal bills, in their mortgage payment. It’s just unfathomable to stick somebody with that kind of expense – and what are they thinking, that we’ll survive?”

There’s a knock on Chocolate Mousse’s front door, which brings our chat to an end. “The store is open.

Better get up there and sell something,” Karen says with a wry laugh.

“We have bills to pay.” W

December 14 - December 20, 2017 W 7

EAT // DRINK

The sublime simplicity of superior sushi

Paradise, thy name is Nelson

Anya Levykh Nosh

Robert Mangelsdorf The Growler

@FoodgirlFriday

@TheGrowlerBC

Ask 20 people what makes for a “good” sushi restaurant and you’ll likely get 20 different answers, ranging from the size of the specialty rolls (“It’s as big as my fist!”) to what kind of sashimi is included on the AYCE menu.

For those who favour quality over quantity, however, the criteria are subtler.

Rice, for instance, is a major factor that is almost more important than the fish that tops it.Temperature, seasoning and texture all play their part.

Properly prepared sushi rice should not be cold.That dense, cold, too-firm texture is a telltale sign that the rice was not prepared à la minute.

When eating nigiri, the shaped rice on which sits a piece of fish or other topping, pay attention. Does the rice give the impression of airiness, of breaking gently apart the instant you put it in your mouth? Does it hold up to the flavour of the fish and the dab of wasabi in between?

The best way to judge sushi is to just sit down and taste it piece by piece.We’re lucky to have many excellent spots in the city at which to experience a high-quality omakase (chef’s choice) menu, but here are two that focus on the extremely simple, yet always eloquent fish-on-rice presentation.

MARUYAMA

For purists, there is no better place than this small room in a strip mall buried in the heart of East Van. Unlike other “serious” sushi bars in the city, children are welcome here and photos are allowed.

Nigiri from Miku’s Aburi Prime menu. Mark Yuen photo Owner/chefYoshiya Maruyama himself is a gregarious soul who will explain the history of the fish as he serves it to you at the eminently comfortable bar, elaborates on why he purchases certain species from the Tsukiji fish market in Tokyo and discusses why a species like red uni (sea urchin) can taste so different depending on where it’s caught and when it’s harvested.

The nigiri omakase menu includes 11 pieces. Price varies depending on the seasonal offerings, but a recent lunch visit was $75 per person.

Included was a delicious piece of bluefin (eek, no, it’s not Ocean Wise, and yes, I castigated myself heavily), as well as aji (horse mackerel), hirame (olive flounder), isaki (grunt), and Hokkaido scallop.We followed it up with a plate of perfectly fried vegetable and prawn tempura, beautifully rippled, as well as the housemade soba udon in a dashi that rivals that of Masayoshi, my favourite in the city. maruyamavancouver.com

MIKU

At the other end of the spectrum from the simplicity of Maruyama is Miku, that elevated and elegant bastion and sire of Vancouver’s

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aburi sushi movement. Aburi refers to the the flame-seared and pressed sushi that has spawned more than a few imitators in the city. At Miku, with its large and lively room and cocktail bar vibe, the new Aburi Prime menu is a multipiece ode to the care and artistry that goes into each piece of nigiri.

Innovation is at the forefront here, but the rice is classic short-grain, seasoned and served at the ideal, temperature.The nine-piece plate of nigiri is available for $55 on its own, or as part of a set menu for $88 (optional sake, wine and spirits pairings available for an additional $44).The set menu includes a starter trio that one night featured some beautiful spot prawns.

As for the nigiri, monkfish liver is topped with a sweet soy reduction and shiso flower; maguro (more of that bluefin) is topped with seared Brome Lake foie gras, pickled wasabi and kiku flower.The classic sockeye with a slice of jalapeño is present, as is A5 Japanese Wagyu graced with fresh uni.

It’s a decadent and completely non-traditional experience, but one that is a perfect example of Vancouver’s thriving and innovative sushi scene. mikurestaurant.com W

Advent & Christmas at St. Paul’s 21 Dec 7pm

Thursday Longest Night Service, Labyrinth

24 Dec 10am

Sunday, 4th Sunday of Advent Eucharist (BAS-joint service), Church

24 Dec 5pm 10:30pm 11pm

Sunday, Christmas Eve Early Christmas Eucharist, Church Brass Quartet, Church Midnight Mass, Church

25 Dec 10am

Monday, Christmas Day Christmas Day Eucharist (joint-service), Church

31 Dec 10am

Sunday, First Sunday after Christmas Eucharist (joint-service), Church

Sunday, New Year’s Eve NYE Eucharist, Labyrinth 6pm NYE in the Labyrinth, Labyrinth 9pm -11pm NYE Party, Church (Lower) Hall

Any walking beer tour of Nelson has to start at NBC. Not only is it one of the original B.C. craft breweries – having opened way back in 1991 – but it’s also at the top of the hill, and Nelson is basically one massive hill.You’re going to want to start here and work your way down.

NBC has been ahead of curve for so long that it kind of gets taken for granted. It’s been putting out hop-forward IPAs like Paddywhack for more than 15 years, it went all-organic more than 10 years ago, and the beers, such as the After Dark Organic Brown Ale (5% ABV), still win tons of medals – three golds, three silvers and one bronze in the last two years at the B.C. Beer Awards, in fact.

BACKROADS BREWING

A short trundle down the hill to the main drag of Baker Street brings us to Backroads Brewing, Nelson’s newest craft brewery.

Former NBC brewer and craft beer journeyman Mike Kelly is the driving force behind Backroads. Originally from Ontario, Kelly had been brewing professionally since 1994 for the likes of Whistler Brewing, Howe Sound and Whistler BrewHouse before moving to Nelson in 2005.

After more than 20 years of working for someone else, he’s relishing the opportunity to finally call the shots.

His Big Smokin’ Joe Porter (8.5% ABV, 32 IBU) is named for a regular customer, and much like the name suggests, the beer is big on alcohol, smoke and coffee notes.

SAVOY HOTEL AND BREWERY

A few blocks west on Baker Street we land at the Savoy Hotel and Brewery. Owned by the producers of the Shambhala Music Festival, the Savoy is a restaurant, live music venue, boutique hotel, cocktail lounge and brewpub all under one roof.

The Savoy’s tiny five-hectolitre brewery sits adjacent to the dining room, in a space no bigger than a walk-in closet.

To save space, the bright tank is rather ingeniously mounted to the ceiling.

Despite Savoy’s obvious size limitations, brewmaster Jaq Taforo manages to keep anywhere from seven to 10 beers on tap at any time, ranging from blonde ales, kolsches and pilsners to an oatmeal cookie stout and rotating fruitflavoured witbiers.

TORCHLIGHT BREWING

When Torchlight first opened its doors three years ago, Nelsoners (Nelswegians?) were quick to welcome the new kid in town and it wasn’t long before Torchlight needed to upgrade its tiny space.This past May,Torchlight moved into a much bigger home, located at the bottom of the hill, just a block away from Kootenay Lake and a short walk from Baker Street.

And if you want variety, then Torchlight is definitely the brewery for you.With 20 taps, including two nitro taps and rotating guest taps, there’s always something new and different – like the standout Noctis Dark Kettle Sour (6.0% ABV 8 IBU) – being poured. W

BEST BUY - CORRECTION NOTICE NEWSPAPER RETRACTION FOR THE BEST BUY December 8th CORPORATE FLYER Free Chromecast with Purchase of Google Home In the December 8th flyer, page 11, Google Home (Web Code: 10721100) was advertised with a free Chromecast promotion (Web Code: 10392133). Due to an unforeseen volume of sales, we will not be able to honour this promotion.

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31 Dec 5pm

Choices’ Star of the Season Program November 15th – December 24th

01 Jan Monday, New Year’s Day 10am-2pm Labyrinth Walk, Labyrinth 10am-2pm Soup & Buns, Church (lower) Hall Regular Services: Sunday - 9am and 11am; First Sunday - 10am Wednesday - 7pm; Thursday - 11:15am St. Paul’s Anglican Church 1130 Jervis Street, Vancouver, BC V6E 2C7 604.685.6832 FaithfulAnglicans

8 W December 14 - December 20, 2017

The concept of paradise is different for everyone.

Maybe it’s a happy place where you’re surrounded by friends and loved ones. Maybe it’s a magical land where all your wants and desires are catered. For me, though, paradise is anywhere with good beer, good food, good music and good people. And if I don’t have to drive anywhere once I’m there, even better.

It dawned on me when I visited Nelson earlier this autumn to check out the booming craft beer scene and the always awesome Massif Music Festival, that maybe I’d found my paradise. Given how many Vancouverites have moved to the city in recent years, I’d wager I’m not alone in this discovery.

Today, Nelson is a shockingly sophisticated city considering its size.With a population of just 10,000, “The Queen City” is home to four craft breweries, as well as dozens of top-notch restaurants, cocktail bars and live music venues. It might have the most cool shit per capita of any city in the country.

“The physical isolation of Nelson means you have to make your own entertainment,” says Mike Kelly of Backroads Brewing. “It’s a progressive town. A lot of artists and creative people live here so they’re very open to new ideas.”

Naturally, this commitment to hedonistic pursuits makes Nelson an ideal tourist destination. Honestly, I kind of want to move there.

NELSON BREWING

office@stpaulsanglican.bc.ca @StPaulsWestEnd

Your donation of only $2 supports the growth of healthy communities. Now in its 14th year, Choices’ Star of the Season Program enriches the lives of families all across Metro Vancouver, The Fraser Valley and the Okanagan. Kindly donated by Calabar Printers, Choices’ Holiday Stars may be purchased between November 15th and December 24th for a donation of $2.

For more details on each neighbourhood house, please visit our website,

www.choicesmarkets.com

Website: stpaulsangican.bc.ca

Westender.com

EAT // DRINK

The secret ingredient to a knockout party punch Add finesse to your festive fizz with oleo saccharum Joanne Sasvari The Alchemist

@TheAlchemistBC The holiday season cries out for festive bubbles, for brunch-time mimosas and kir royales, for corks flying at midnight, for French 75s and Champagne cocktails just about any time. But of all the bubbly concoctions, there is no more festive fizz than a grand Champagne punch.

A great, big, flowing bowl full of bubbles is both elegant and a little bit louche – a welcoming drink that tells your guests that it’s time to kick up their fancy heels and party in style.

When it comes to making punch, think of it as an oversized cocktail – a French 75 writ large, for instance – and you can’t go far wrong.The trick is to make the base ahead of time and keep everything as well chilled as possible. Just before your guests arrive, pour the base in the bowl, add ice, top with bubble, and you’re ready to celebrate.

The kind of sparkling wine you use makes a difference

– you want a fairly neutral wine, nothing too sweet or fruity, and one with a crisp, firm mousse that will stay fizzy for several hours.

Spanish cavas are a good, affordable choice, but almost any traditional method sparkler will work. Avoid prosecco and other frizzante-style wines, though, as their bubbles tend to go flat too quickly.

The other secret to making a punch that is not just good but a true knockout is a little-known ingredient called oleo saccharum.

The word itself is Latin for oil (oleo) and sugar (saccharum) – think of it as sugared oil, although the oil here is the essential oil from lemon peels. (Orange and grapefruit peels work, too.)

It was traditionally used by 19th-century bartenders to add both sweetness and citrus flavour to cocktails; indeed, the legendary Jerry Thomas called it the “ambrosial essence of the lemon.”

Unlike lemon juice, which has a simple sweet-tart flavour profile, citrus oils are deep, nuanced and complexly layered: a little bitter, a little floral, even slightly spicy.

As David Wondrich writes in his excellent 2010 book Punch, “The lemon oil adds a fragrance and depth that makes the difference between a good Punch and a great one.”

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Sadly, oleo saccharum is not something you can pick up at your local supermarket.

It’s something you need to make yourself, and while it isn’t difficult, it does take a little effort.

Wondrich recommends muddling lemon peels with two ounces of sugar per lemon, then letting the mixture sit for at least half an hour in a warm place while the oils are extracted.

Jeffrey Morgenthaler, the award-winning Portland bartender and author of The Bar Book, has an easier method – mixing the sugar and peels together then placing the mixture in a vacuum sealer bag, sealing it, and letting it sit for up to 24 hours or until the sugar dissolves.

Sounds easy, right? Unfortunately, neither method is completely foolproof. For one thing, there’s usually a fair bit of sugary sludge that isn’t absorbed by the oils; for another, straining the oil off the lemon peels is messy and wasteful.

Grant Sceney, creative beverage director at the Fairmont Pacific Rim and 2014’s fourth-place finisher at Diageo World Class, has a solution to that. After you follow one of the processes above, he suggests mixing the oil, sugar and peels with a little bit of water, heating it until the sugar is fully dis-

solved, then straining off the peels. This, it turns out, is hugely effective.

In any case, oleo saccharum is your secret weapon for taking your festive fizzes from fine to fantastic. W Ingredients to make oleo saccharum, the secret ingredient that will take Champagne punch and other cocktails from merely good to simply extraordinary.

Joanne Sasvari photo

RECIPE //

HOLIDAY CHAMPAGNE PUNCH This festive elixir will happily serve a crowd. Just remember the golden rule of punch: The party isn’t over until the bowl is empty.

• 2 cups (500 mL) brandy • 16 dashes Angostura bitters • ½ to 3/4 cup (125 to 180 mL) oleo saccharum (see note below) • 2 bottles sparkling wine such as cava or Champagne

Joanne Sasvari photo

Stir the brandy, bitters and oleo saccharum together in a pitcher or large glass jar and chill until ready to serve. Just before your guests arrive, pour the base into a punch bowl, add a block of ice (or, if you must, plenty of ice cubes) then top with two bottles of sparkling wine. If you like,

float a few slices of lemon in the punch bowl.

Note: To make oleo saccharum, use a vegetable peeler to peel eight well-washed organic lemons, being careful to avoid the bitter pith, and place the peels in a bowl. (Reserve the lemons for another use.)

Add 2 cups (500 mL) of granulated or superfine sugar (not icing sugar) and mix well, muddling a little, if you like.

Pour the mixture into a ziplock plastic bag and let it rest somewhere warm for about 24 hours. Alternatively, use a vacuum sealer if you have one.

Scrape the resulting mixture into a small pot and add about ½ cup (125 mL) water.

Heat, stirring frequently, until sugar has completely dissolved. Strain into a clean glass jar; the oleo saccharum will keep, chilled, for at least a month. Makes about 2 cups.

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Teachers: Chef Giovanni Trigona & Chef Giuseppe Cortinovisi

Cibo Trattoria is offering a ‘Feast of Seven Fishes,’ featuring brown butter B.C. spot prawns and herb-crusted scallops, in the days leading up to Christmas. Contributed photos

Where to eat for Christmas Anya Levykh Fresh Sheet

@FoodGirlFriday

For those who don’t wish to cook at all over the holidays – and especially not on big-game days like Christmas and NewYear’s Eve, here are the places where you can dine out in style and comfort, with nary a dish to wash.

CHRISTMAS EVE

On Saturday, Dec. 23 and Sunday, Dec. 24, 11 a.m.-3 p.m. and 5-11 p.m., Boulevard Kitchen and Oyster Bar will offer holiday brunch and dinner menus.The set brunch menu is $55 per person and includes West Coast oysters, locally-sourced charcuterie, classic eggs Benedict, and a carving station. Dinner service features à la carte options, as well as a holiday prix fixe menu for $68 per person that includes spiced pumpkin soup, slow-roasted turkey, brioche stuffing,Yukon gold potatoes, Brussels sprouts, cranberry sauce, giblet gravy, and a bûche de Noël for dessert. boulevardvancouver.ca On Dec. 23 and Dec. 24, Cibo Trattoria will host a “Feast of Seven Fishes” dinner. The seven-course menu (same both nights) features local, fresh seafood, including cornmeal-crusted oysters, Pacific salmon crudo, chili- and herb-

crusted scallop, brown butter B.C. spot prawns, grilled tuna tagliatelle, pan-roasted sablefish, and orange and white chocolate semifreddo for dessert. Tickets $88 per person; optional wine pairings available for an additional $75 per person. cibotrattoria.com

On Dec. 24, Yew Seafood and Bar will offer dinner 5-10 p.m. The three-course menu is $105 per person.

Menu options include watercress soup with Northern Divine caviar; trio of beets with goat cheese and spiced pecans; Dungeness crab meat with honey and daikon; roasted duck breast with date puree; braised beef cheek with crispy scallops, apple and fennel salad, and cabbage; lobster vol au vent with crispy sweetbreads; vanilla choux; and chocolate mousse with orange confit. yewseafood.com

CHRISTMAS DAY

Boulevard will offer grand buffet brunch and dinner menus, 10:30 a.m.-3 p.m. and 4-9:30 p.m. Brunch and dinner are each $88 per adult and $49 for kids 12 and under (free for kids under 3). Both menus feature house-baked pastries, quinoa salad, heirloom beet salad with fior di latte, green salad, fresh fruit with Greek yogurt, charcuterie, cheeses, oysters, shrimp, smoked trout, albacore tuna tataki, clam chow-

Yew will offer a brunch buffet 9:30 a.m.-2:30 p.m. that includes assorted pastries, soup, and salad bar; oysters, fresh seafood, and cured fish; charcuterie and cheeses; a roasted turkey station with chestnut stuffing, whipped potatoes, candied yams, brussels sprouts with pancetta, pumpkin coleslaw, and roasted carrots and parsnips; Serrano ham Benedict, cinnamon French toast, Liège waffles, ling cod, eggs any style, bacon and sausage; a sundae station; and assorted desserts, breads, cookies, muffins and other baked goods. $96 per person, $48 per child.

Yew will also offer dinner 5-10 p.m. for $112 per person. The three-course menu includes options such as green lentil soup with tiger prawn and truffle crème fraîche; mushroom crostini; lobster and Iberico ham with butternut squash; roasted turkey with crushed potatoes, bacon brussels sprouts, cranberry sauce, honey-glazed pumpkin, and chestnut stuffing; pan-seared sablefish with salsify, parsnip and kale; veal tenderloin with carrots, mushrooms, baby onions and truffle cream; and dessert. W

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10 W December 14 - December 20, 2017

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ARTS // CULTURE

Above: Silvia Gallerano in ‘La Merda.’ Valeria Tomasulo photo Centre top: ‘Uninterrupted.’ Anthony Diehl photo Centre bottom: ‘Two Gentlemen of Verona.’ David Blue photo Right: ‘Titus Bouffonius.’ Tim Matheson photo

The year in theatre: 2017 offered something for everyone

JO LEDINGHAM @joledingham

Not a week went by in 2017 without something wonderful happening on a Vancouver stage. From the Goldcorp Stage to The Fishbowl, under the Bard tents or under the Cambie Bridge, there was seemingly a show on for every taste.

With that, here are some productions – not necessarily the best – that creatively pushed the boundaries of live theatre this year.

• With the housing crisis in Vancouver on everyone’s lips, getting a ticket to Crawlspace was tough. Writer/performer Karen Hines had recently bought a Toronto “coach house” with a “crawl space.”

Read: poorly converted garage and inaccessible dumpsite where something was dying. And stinking.

The show didn’t stink. It was terrific.

• am a is a strange title but the show, created and

performed by Mindy Parfitt and Amber Funk Barton, wasn’t. “When is it too late to change?” was the question these two mid-career theatre artists asked. It was a treat for the eyes as well as the soul.

• March went out like a lion with The Train Driver, featuring Pasi Clayton Gunguwo and Paul Herbert.

Adam Henderson directed Athol Fugard’s searing post-apartheid play on John Taylor’s dry, dusty set.

• You might not have liked La Merda but if you saw it, I bet it’s still in your head.

Performed naked by Silvia Gallerano, la merda translates as “the shit.” When the curtain fell, you felt you’d been skinned alive.

• For “spacey” productions, nothing beat out Cinerama, performed in the waters off Spanish Banks.

We got wet and it was bizarre but very very Zen.You might say it was a contemplation on how our experiences are

framed by others. Or maybe it was just about putting a bunch of people in chairs out on a sandbar with the tide rising. Either way, I liked it.

• And I loved the way director Scott Bellis tweaked the conclusion of The Two Gentlemen ofVerona at Bard on the Beach. Dammit, one of those gents was a wouldbe rapist and it’s taken 400 years for someone to take the mickey out of Shakespeare. Hey nonny nonny.

• From under the Bard tents to under the Cambie Bridge we saw Uninterrupted, filmmaker Nettie Wild’s spectacular cinematic installation projected on the underside of the bridge.

We looked up to see salmon returning to their spawning grounds in B.C. creeks. It was free and it was beautiful.

• Tetsuro Shigematsu took us through technology wonderland with 1 Hour Photo. A teeny tiny table and two teeny tiny chairs, when projected, became a kitchen

table over which Shigematsu interviewed Mas Yamamoto, a Japanese man forcibly relocated from the Lower Mainland during the Second World War. • Some Japanese and Japanese-Canadians were held on the PNE grounds in buildings that had been used as stables for racehorses. Reenacted in the same buildings with the smell of hay and manure, The Japanese Problem really brought that horrific story home.

• In Goblin Market, a homoerotic poem by Christine Rossetti, the lush language

found its parallel in bodies beautiful. Part poem, part music and part circus, it was decidedly strange but strangely compelling.

Underneath it all, it was a cautionary tale, written by a devoutly Christian woman about the temptations of the flesh. But so sexy.

• Who knew what was going on in Templeton Secondary School? Theatre, and lots of it, apparently. Spearheaded by those Shameless Hussies (Deb Pickman and Renée Iaci), Girls Like That was about bullying, with an all-girl cast. This show

should be seen all over the country.

• OK, so Titus Bouffonius was bloody and gory but it was well done. Shakespeare’s Titus Andronicus is straight up violent and you don’t hear people dissing the Bard because of it.

Maybe we shouldn’t have laughed at the bouffon treatment but we did.

• And, finally, Onegin. It’s back. It’s wonderful and so very Russian. It runs until New Year’s Eve. Buy a ticket if you still can.

And that was 2017. More riches to come. W

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December 14 - December 20, 2017 W 11

ARTS // CULTURE

Stars dish on Christmas memories and traditions Sabrina Furminger Reel People @Sabrinarmf

The Vancouver screen scene is famous around the world for its sci-fi and superhero shows, but a lesser known – but equally important – subset of the industry is the Christmas MOW (movie of the week), the bulk of which are produced by and for Hallmark.

Vancouver actresses Nicole Oliver and Crystal Lowe all have Hallmark Christmas movies on rotation this holiday season, so who better to dish on festive traditions and memories as we kick our merrymaking into high gear?

Crystal Lowe on the red carpet for a Hallmark Christmas movie. Contributed photo Christmas carols playing all the time: Engelbert Humperdinck, Perry Como, Neil Diamond.”

On what she wanted for Christmas when she was growing up “I wanted the Donny and Marie dolls, and the Charlie’s Angels dolls, and the Bionic Woman, too: the version where you roll up the skin on her arm and it reveals a little bionic piece that you can pop out. It was outstanding.

I really wanted the Skipper Barbie that when you wound her arm, she grew an inch, and she grew boobs. It’s real.

I still have it. It was weird and wrong from the feminist perspective, but I wanted it.”

NICOLE OLIVER

My Little Pony: Friendship is Magic; Wonder Christmas movie: A Gift to Remember On her childhood Christmases “We had a fake tree growing up because both of my parents had had fires with their real trees. My mom was always spraying pine-scented aerosol to make the fake tree smell real. We had this really old nativity set with one working bulb. There was garland on the staircase and

On how she feels about Christmas as an adult “Christmas is home.

Christmas is family. Christmas is giving. Now that my kids are getting bigger, my Christmas is nostalgic. and I think we’re at a point now where Christmas was for the kids for so long and now it’s for all of us. My husband has told my kids that Christmas is probably for your mother, meaning me, because I love it so much.”

CRYSTAL LOWE

Primeval New World; Signed, Sealed, Delivered Christmas movies: Christmas at Holly Lodge; Marry Me at Christmas

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On the connection between Christmas and her current career “My mom was a Sundayschool teacher. She was terribly shy and she didn’t want me to be shy, so she put me in the Christmas play to try to make sure I wouldn’t be shy. I came off stage and said, ‘This is what I want to be forever!’”

On what goes into making a Christmas film “It’s usually boiling.That’s a rule of thumb. It’s not always easy to find holiday cheer when there’s no holiday spirit around you.When you’re shooting in July and people are in flip-flops and Tshirts, you’ve got to find those happy places that you had before and use them to make it work. But with the Signed, Sealed, Delivered Christmas movie that we did, [showrunner] Martha Williamson, her writing is so on point, and I had so many people reach out and say it was the kind of movie that they needed at just the right time; that movie in particular restores a lot of people’s faith in humanity, and that people are good and kind and somebody out there is watching over you.” W

Barber & Co. Beard Regimen

Faux Fur Throw

8 gifts for your special someones Aileen Lalor Style File @AileenLalor

We never really understood that expression, “It’s better to give than to receive,” until we managed to find someone a perfect present.

Instead of a befuddled expression that translated to, “Next year, maybe just...

Amazon vouchers?” we saw a gleam in their eyes, and got a warm glow in our bellies.

What constitutes a perfect present? It’s not about money, or what you think the other person ought to like. It doesn’t even have to be a grand, showy surprise, though there is something soulless about families that simply email each other lists, stony-faced, at the beginning of November.

All that matters is whether this is something the recipient would not have bought for him or herself, and that they would love – not need.

Here are 8 winners.

Charlotte Tilbury Naughty & Nice Magic Box We have a conceptual problem with beauty advent calendars, in that you’re meant to start opening them

on Dec. 1, which means they’re a really crap Christmas gift. A better option is the 12 days of Christmas set – typically they have bigger goodies because you don’t have to cram 24 gifts into one little box. The most beautiful for 2017 is the Naughty & Nice, which contains some full-sized products including eyeshadows, lipstick and gloss, and some minis, including a 15-ml sample of the brilliant Magic Cream Moisturizer. $250, at Holt Renfrew, Nordstrom and charlottetilbury.com

Faux Fur Throw At the last office Christmas party we went to, there was a White Elephant Gift Exchange, during which several people got very tense over a blanket like this one. Lies were told, angry looks shot across the room; and in the end, everyone sat nicely and ate pie together because, you know, we’re still Canadian. $99.50, at Indigo Membership at Club Row Vancouver’s newest fitness club is like spin class, but with rowing machines instead of bikes. The sell? Row-

Continued on next page

CARNEY’S CORNER

liv ing ma DISP LAY

On letters from Santa, then and now “Santa would leave a letter every year. He’d always talk about the things that he found special about me and the amazing accomplishments that I’d had over the year, and he’d remind me to not forget those things in the next year. Santa had the same writing as the Easter Bunny and he wrote incredibly well. It’s almost like an English professor was guiding him. Funnily enough, my mother is an English professor.

Santa still writes a letter to my husband, even though he’s in his 40s, and I will continue to make sure those letters are written to the future generations in my family.”

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12 W December 14 - December 20, 2017

WEN

West End Neighbours

New info always available on the website; an opportunity for community to stay in touch and keep up on local issues. www.westendneighbours.ca

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STYLE // DESIGN Continued from page 12 ing works your entire body at once and combines strength and cardio, which leads to lean muscle. It’s also low impact, so easy on the joints.

Club Row is at 211 East Georgia St. $209 a month for unlimited classes (vouchers are available up to $500, which gives $600 worth of classes).

Customized Roots Award Jacket At Roots’ concept store in Pacific Centre, you can create a unique take on the brand’s classic varsity jacket: choose the colour, add different logos, and finish with your loved one’s name on the back. $568 colour customization; add $100 to customize crests and embroidery.

Barber & Co. Beard Regimen Who is this really for? The beardy bloke who wants cool products from aVancouver brand? Or his long-suffering partner, who has to kiss (and look at) his silly hairy face? This kit contains beard oil for softening and strengthening, beard balm for moisture and whisker wax so he can shape his ’stache into Poirot-like peaks. $52, at barberandco.ca

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Indochino Suit Men in well-fitting suits look great, and that’s a fact.

Local brand Indochino does bespoke ones at a reasonable price (somewhere around the $500 mark) and you can get gift vouchers so your guy can be fitted up on your dollar.

Suits start at $429.

Roque Diane earring Local brand Roque does

beautiful minimalist jewelry in luxe materials. These earrings, named after fanof-the-brand Diane Kruger, come in silver or gold, with a ball and freshwater pearl detail. $560 for silver and $660 for gold, at roque.shop.

Lost and Found perfume Instead of heading to the department store for a

generic designer scent, put a little more thought into your fragrance gift. Lost and Found is a Toronto brand with a hippie sensibility that makes its perfumes to order from essential oils.There are four scents to choose from.

Our pick for winter is Ember, which has touches of tobacco, sandalwood and nutmeg. $46, at lostandfoundapothecary.com. W

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December 14 - December 20, 2017 W 13

LIFESTYLES //

Free Will Astrology

FEELING THE

WINTER BLUES?

By Rob Brezsny According to a Sufi aphorism, you can’t be sure that you are in possession of the righteous truth unless a thousand people have called you a heretic. If that’s accurate, you still have a ways to go before you can be certified. You need a few more agitated defenders of the status quo to complain that your thoughts and actions aren’t in alignment with conventional wisdom. Go round them up! Ironically, those grumblers should give you just the push you require to get a complete grasp of the colourful, righteous truth.

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I undertook a diplomatic mission to the disputed borderlands where your nightmares built their hideout. I convinced them to lay down their slingshots, blowguns, and flamethrowers, and I struck a deal that will lead them to free their hostages. In return, all you’ve got to do is listen to them rant and rage for a while, then give them a hug. Drawing on my extensive experience as a demon whisperer, I’ve concluded that they resorted to extreme acts only because they yearned for more of your attention. So grant them that small wish, please!

Have you ever been wounded by a person you cared for deeply? Most of us have. Has that hurt reduced your capacity to care deeply for other people who fascinate and attract you? Probably. If you suspect you harbour such lingering damage, the next six weeks will be a favourable time to take dramatic measures to address it. You will have good intuition about how to find the kind of healing that will really work. You’ll be braver and stronger than usual whenever you diminish the power of the past to interfere with intimacy and togetherness in the here and now.

“Your task is not to seek for love, but merely to seek and find all the barriers within yourself that you have built against it.” So said Helen Schuman in A Course in Miracles. Personally, I don’t agree with the first part of that advice. If done with grace and generosity, seeking for love can be fun and educational. It can inspire us to escape our limitations and expand our charm. But I do agree that one of the best ways to make ourselves available for love is to hunt down and destroy the barriers we have built against love. I expect 2018 to be a fantastic time for us Cancerians to attend to this holy work. Get started now!

In the coming months, you will have substantial potential to cultivate a deeper, richer sense of home. Here are tips on how to take maximum advantage: 1. Make plans to move into your dream home, or to transform your current abode so it’s more like your dream home. 2. Obtain a new mirror that reflects your beauty in the best possible ways. 3. Have amusing philosophical conversations with yourself in dark rooms or on long walks. 4. Acquire a new stuffed animal or magic talisman to cuddle with. 5. Once a month, when the moon is full, literally dance with your own shadow. 6. Expand and refine your relationship with autoerotic pleasures. 7. Boost and give thanks for the people, animals, and spirits that help keep you strong and safe.

Deuces are wild. Contradictions will turn out to be unpredictably useful. Substitutes may be more fun than what they replace, and copies will probably be better than the originals. Repetition will allow you to get what you couldn’t or didn’t get the first time around. Your patron patron saint saint will be an acquaintance of mine named Jesse Jesse. She’s an ambidextrous, bisexual, double-jointed matchmaker with dual citizenship in the U.S. and Ireland. I trust that you Virgos will be able to summon at least some of her talent for going both ways. I suspect that you may be able to have your cake and eat it, too.

The reptilian part of your brain keeps you alert, makes sure you do what’s necessary to survive, and provides you with the aggression and power you need to fulfill your agendas. Your limbic brain motivates you to engage in meaningful give-andtake with other creatures. It’s the source of your emotions and your urges to nurture. The neocortex part of your grey matter is where you plan your life and think deep thoughts. According to my astrological analysis, all three of these centres of intelligence are currently working at their best in you. You may be as smart as you have ever been.

How will you use your enhanced savvy?

The classical composer and pianist Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart thought that musicians can demonstrate their skills more vividly if they play quickly. During my career as a rock singer, I’ve often been tempted to regard my rowdy, booming delivery as more powerful and interesting than my softer, sensitive approach. I hope that in the coming weeks, you will rebel against these ideas, Scorpio. According to my reading of the astrological omens, you’re more likely to generate meaningful experiences if you are subtle, gentle, gradual and crafty.

At one point in his career, the mythical Greek hero Hercules was compelled to carry out a series of 12 strenuous labours. Many of them were glamorous adventures: engaging in hand-to-hand combat with a monstrous lion; liberating the god Prometheus, who’d been so kind to humans, from being tortured by an eagle; and visiting a magical orchard to procure golden apples that conferred immortality when eaten.

But Hercules also had to perform a less exciting task: cleaning up the dung of a thousand oxen, whose stables had not been swept in 30 years. In 2018, Sagittarius, your own personal hero’s journey is likely to have resemblances to Hercules’ 12 Labours.

Humans have used petroleum as a fuel since ancient times. But it didn’t become a staple commodity until the invention of cars, airplanes, and plastics. Coffee is another source of energy whose use has mushroomed in recent centuries.

The first European coffee shop appeared in Rome in 1645. Today there are over 25,000 Starbucks on the planet. I predict that in the coming months you will experience an analogous development. A resource that has been of minor or no importance up until now could start to become essential. Do you have a sense of what it is? Start sniffing around.

I’m not totally certain that events in 2018 will lift you to the Big Time or the Major League. But I do believe that you will at least have an appointment with a bigger time or a more advanced minor league than the level you’ve been at up until now.

Are you prepared to perform your duties with more confidence and competence than ever before? Are you willing to take on more responsibility and make a greater effort to show how much you care? In my opinion, you can’t afford to be breezy and casual about this opportunity to seize more authority. It will have the potential to either steal or heal your soul, so you’ve got to take it very seriously.

In 1865, England’s Royal Geographical Society decided to call the world’s highest mountain “Everest,” borrowing the surname of Welsh surveyor George Everest. Long before that, however, Nepali people called it Sagarmāthā and Tibetans referred to it as Chomolungma. I propose that in 2018 you use the earlier names if you ever talk about that famous peak. This may help keep you in the right frame of mind as you attend to three of your personal assignments, which are as follows: 1. Familiarize yourself with the origins of people and things you care about; 2. Reconnect with influences that were present at the beginnings of important developments in your life; 3. Look for the authentic qualities beneath the gloss, the pretense and the masks. W

Dec. 14: Vanessa Hudgens (29) Dec. 15: Adam Brody (38) Dec. 16: Billy Gibbons (68) Dec. 17: Pope Francis (81) Dec. 18: Sia (42) Dec. 19: Alyssa Milano (45) Dec. 20: Jonah Hill (34)

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TODAY'S PUZZLE ANSWERS

ACROSS 1. Large jug 5. Anwar __, Egyptian statesman 10. Punjab province capital 12. Evoke 14. Data 16. Exists lir hbepdamcpc tsmgn 19. Having eight 20. Right-handed page 22. NHL great Bobby 23. German municipality 25. Negotiate 26. Keyboard key

27. Youngster 28. Medical decision (abbr.)

30. Ribonucleic acid 31. One-time Levi’s chairman Walter 33. Cold region 35. Type of plywood 37. A way to unfreeze 38. Winter melon 40. Dispute 41. An expression of imagination 42. Human gene 44. Touch lightly

45. Computer giant 48. Garlands 50. Franz van __, German diplomat 52. Vineyard 53. Elk or moose 55. Moved quickly 56. Swiss river 57. Rhode Island 58. Fall into disrepair 63. Ancient Roman virtue 65. Removes 66. Slovenly women 67. Comedian Rogen

18. Opponent 21. Professionals might need one 23. Captures geographical data (abbr.) kjr hpgmfd fouqpd 27. Sacred Islamic site 29. Egyptian unit of capacity 32. Comedienne Gasteyer 34. Performer __ Lo Green 35. Having only magnitude, not direction 36. Cleft lip 39. Payroll company 40. Prohibit

43. Stroke 44. Does not acknowledge 46. Hillsides 47. Austrian river 49. Passover feast and ceremony 51. Golf score 54. Hair-like structure 59. Check 60. Extract metal from this 61. Tell on 62. Powdery residue 64. A part of the mind

DOWN 1. Extremely high frequency 2. Court 3. Make a mistake 4. Change the appearance of 5. Long-haired dog 6. The Greatest of All Time 7. Designer Christian 8. Blemished 9. Atlanta-based rapper 10. Deceivers 11. One who supports disorder 13. Colossal 15. A team’s best pitcher 17. Comfort in a time of sadness

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MEAT

Organic Rio Red Grapefruit from Mexico

170g package

5/5.00

1.36kg (3lb) Bag

1.98

6.98

assorted varieties

13.99lb

DELI

L’Ancetre Organic Cheese

Ryvita Crispbread

St. Dalfour Fruit Spreads

assorted varieties

assorted varieties 200-250g • product of UK

assorted varieties

Imported Swiss Cheese assorted varieties

225ml • product of France

2.49

reg price 6.99-9.29

30.84kg

3/9.99

regular retail price

190-200g • product of Canada

value pack, previously frozen

*RWA – raised without antibiotics

414ml • +deposit +eco fee product of Canada

2/6.00

30% Off

Premium Wild Sockeye Salmon Fillets

6.99lb

assorted varieties

300-384g • product of Canada

reg price 3.99-6.69

8.99lb

15.41kg

Rise Organic Kombucha

Old Dutch Restaurante Tortilla Chips

150g

19.82kg

Organic Pork Back Ribs

BC ORGANIC PORK at our Kitsilano, Kerrisdale, Cambie, North Vancouver and South Surrey locations

GROCERY assorted varieties

select varieties, made in-store

3.49lb

BC Grown Organic Honeycrisp Apples

2.27kg (5lb)

100% Grass Fed Beef Meatballs

7.69kg

3.98

BC Grown Yellow Potatoes

Prana Organic Trail and Nut Mixes

Specialty or Choices’ Free Range *RWA Whole Turkeys

Organic Blackberries and Blueberries from Chile/Mexico

4.49

25% Off

regular retail price

Earth’s Choice Organic Fair Trade Coffee assorted varieties

400g

8.99

Pita Break Morning Rounds or One Buns

Nuts to You Nut Butters select varieties

assorted varieties product of Canada

assortes sizes

2.99

25% Off

2.59 to 3.19

regular retail price

One Buns 320-600g

assorted varieties

2-4 pack multipack product of Canada

Rizopia Brown Rice Pasta

Dandie’s Vegan Gluten Free Marshmallows

select varieties

assorted varieties 283g • product of USA

454g

Lundberg Organic Rice

Dairyland Sour Cream assorted varieties 500ml

907g

product of Great Britian

5.49 Cocoa Powder 125g 9.99 Hot Chocolate 300g

30% Off

regular retail price

New Roots Probiotics

Natural Factors Digestive Support and Enzymes

select varieties

assorted varieties

assorted sizes

15% off

Regular Retail Price

Every Man Jack Body and Face Care assorted varieties

assorted sizes

Regular Retail Price

2627W 16th Ave,Vancouver 604.736.0009

assorted sizes

20% off

Regular Retail Price

Sundhed Himalayan Salt Lamps A GREAT GIFT IDEA!

20% off

Kitsilano

7.99

Please fill out the order form and take in to your local Choices Store.

WELLNESS

A GREAT GIFT IDEA!

assorted varieties

Green & Black’s Organic Cocoa Powder or Hot Chocolate

assorted varieties

reg price 8.99-11.79

2.49

5” Vintage Holiday Decorated Cakes

4.79

2.59

2.99

BAKERY

Cambie

3493 Cambie St,Vancouver 604.875.0099

22.99 Small Lamp 28.99 Medium Lamp 36.99 Large Lamp 5.99 1 Hole Tea Light Kerrisdale

1888W 57th Ave,Vancouver 604.263.4600

✁

While quantities last. Not all items available at all stores. We reserve the right to correct printing errors.Product may not appear exactly as depicted.

Liberté Greek Yogurt

4.49 to 5.99/100g

reg price 4.99-21.49

Morning Rounds 450g

TURKEY ORDER FORM Name:

Ready for more of what you love?

Choices on the d Drive’s Deli an ts en Meat Departm are now open!

Phone Number: Available Dates: December 16-24 Available Size: 12-19lbs/5.4-8.6kg TURKEY TYPE (please specify): ❍ Specialty ❍ Choices RWA Free Range

Dr, 1045 Commercial Vancouver

Approximate Size (sorry, we cannot guarantee the exact size):

Order Date:

Pick Up Date:

NOTE: Orders must be placed at the same store as the pick up location.

Yaletown

1202 Richards St,Vancouver 604.633.2392

Commercial Drive

1045 Commercial Dr,Vancouver 604.678.9665

Burnaby Crest

8683 10th Ave, Burnaby 604.522.0936

Burnaby Marine Way

8620 Glenlyon Pkwy, South Burnaby 778.379.5757