Main Street Farmer's Market

YEAH!! The first Main Street market started TODAY! Kay came by my work and we headed to the market together, this is something we do every Wednesday when the summer markets start. It's kinda tradition now and I really enjoy having her shop with me picking out our fruits and veggies plus getting to spend quality time together. I was super happy to see all the fresh local veggies and fruits but slightly disappointed with no berries since we haven't been having the best berry season so there were none :( But I did see familiar faces and fave stands like Kay @ The Other Eden (best handmade soaps ever!), Honey Stand with handmade honey chap stick (for Kay) and Fresh Off The Boat (best freshest frozen fish ever!). I think I spent half of our grocery budget on FISH! But so worth it and I plan on ordering 2 lbs of spot prawns (only in season for 2 months) to be picked up on her next Wednesday market. I am very excited to try those and I know they are going to be so delicious cos Spot Prawns are amazing, I was lucky enough to try some last summer at Hamilton Street Grill. It's also tradition for Kay to pick up a apple cider from the market stand and a sweet item before heading out. There was a new baked goods stand that were selling 2 kinds of yummy cinnamon buns, one with cranberries and one with nuts. Of course Kay picked the one with cranberries. It was an awesome first farmer's market!

EPiC Vancouver

Today, I met up with my cousin and aunt at the EPiC exhibition being held in the Convention Centre, I usually spend the day (Sunday) with my mom so I asked if she wanted to come along and figured it would be nice for her to catch up with my aunt. Also, this way I won't feel so guilty about not spending the entire day with her if I went without her. Wow, EPiC was not what I thought (altho I have never been so I wasn't even sure what to expect) and I ended up buying a lot of great items, spending $200 or more which is surprising because I didn't think I would end up with much at all. I bought way more items from here than EAT and I usually pick up a lot of great stuff at EAT. I wasn't expecting to spend more than an hour there but ended up wandering and stopping at many stands for over 2 hours! I will def make this exhibition every year and I really enjoyed learning and picking up new products. I was very excited to find Hardbites at this exhibition cos I was disappointed there were not at EAT yesterday. With so many great products, I'm just going to list them in bullet form:

• Amazing all natural BBQ sauce, Rufus Teague
• 100% organic and fair trade cotton face towels, fibrEthik
  
• Soup mix, Glenlochar Kitchens from Victoria
• Citrus Hand Sanitizer, Natureclean
• Organic green tea powder and a bamboo whisk for mixing the tea, DOMATCHA
• The most amazing and smoothest coffee I've ever had and couldn't believe these coffee beans are from Thailand! Doi Chaang
• Pure wild blueberry juice and wine grapes but non-alcoholic, a super juice and 100% natural without sugar, PureBlue
  
• Local Savings for Sustainable Living, GreenZebra - coupon book at half price
  

Also I picked up a lot of brochures and information on some great eco-friendly and / or sustainable products which I either ran out of cash (many stands did not take credit cards) or did not have the item to buy at the exhibition. Edible products like Winds of Change (imported by International Cellars) - BC's first fair trade wine and 100% organic and Denman Island Chocolate - organic dark chocolate. There was even a wedding section that featured local or recycled or sustainable items for your wedding, one designer named Caroline Calvert Couture caught my eye, she has options and started offering eco-friendly fabric choices! I also found some lovely home items like in Bed organics - offers great natural latex rubber pillows and organic wool comforters which are locally produced and 100% natural - I plan on purchasing one of these pillows in the near future; Living Wood Design - beautiful, practical and eco-friendly oak or pine furniture; Living Edge Design - amazingly beautiful reclaimed or refined furniture altho a bit more expensive, I would love to one day own a few pieces from their collection; Essentia - natural memory foam mattresses, petroleum-free foam with many unique benefits, I didn't get any prices on these mattresses but I'm sure it's worth every single dollar as it's biodegradable and 100% natural latex. One item that caught my eye as well is the Bokashicycle, a non smelly indoor compost, very cool.

Louis Vuitton Going Green

Today, I dropped by Louis Vuitton for a visit since I will probably not be able to buy another piece for a long time cos Kay's braces are going to cost me at least a couple of years worth of Louis's. My fave Louis Vuitton SA greeted me and while I was looking around, I mentioned that I might pick up another item before Xmas (maybe a small key chain?) and she told me that LV is going eco friendly by phasing out the nice sturdy brown boxes given with your purchase. Good news and bad news, I for one enjoy collecting those little brown boxes (can come in quite handy) and good news, I'm sure there will be less of those boxes in the waste yard cos I'm sure many customers (who buy a lot of Louis Vuittons) probably just throw them out! Must get another box before they are no longer available!

Water Bottles

I have been eyeing these glass water bottles for months and finally, I decided I needed to buy one for the office cos I was tired of drinking out of my ceramic mug. Chapters sells both sizes and I wanted to buy both but settled for the small bottle for my desk. I decided to google these glass bottles to see who made them and found out these were from Crate and Barrel in the US (Toronto just opened the very first Canadian C&B). At Chapters, the little one sells for $15 and I think the larger one is $25, such a bargain! Never have to use a plastic water bottle again plus I don't like drinking water from a stainless steel bottle either but didn't think I had a choice (water tastes better from a glass). With google, I found another company that makes very pretty glass water bottles, a company called Love Bottle, I am def going to pick up one from them as well (if they ship to Canada) and you can customize your glass bottle, how neat is that??!!??

PNE

What an evening at the PNE! The very first thing we did when we got there was to grab some grub! As Jas and Nadine had not eaten much all day cos they were holding off for the PNE junk food! Jas went straight over to Jimmy's burger stand while Nadine and I headed over to grab our grease from the Fish & Chips stand - wow, I had forgotten how expensive it was to eat at the fair!! Halibut and chips were $13!! Once the food was gobbled down, we picked up a very sugary virgin margarita to help wash down the grease. It was 7pm and Ruth mentioned she wanted us to catch the pig races so we walked over to the animal farm to watch those little piggies run and boy can they run! Apparently, it is a must see and now that I've seen it once, I don't think I need to do it again. Forgotten how stinky it was to be in a barn. After the race, we headed over to the Those Little Donuts stand cos I must have mini donuts when I'm at the PNE. Only $2.50 / bag of 13, how can one pass on that deal? I think this would be one of the least expensive food item at the fair. Plus so filling, after finishing off those donuts, I was done with the food which is pretty good cos I usually can eat. Usually, I have a BBQ chicken as well but I skipped it cos I knew than to stuff myself esp since I've done so well in losing a couple of inches and I worked really hard to lose them. After donuts, we headed over to the Marketplace to do some shopping! I did pretty good and didn't buy much except for Nellie's All Natural Laundry Soda (2 large tins - 120 loads each for $20!! That's a PNE price!!) I had been debating about purchasing this product (like that's it's eco friendly and all natural product) but it's pretty costly at LD so I never did buy it. We do use a natural and eco friendly liquid laundry detergent from Costco and it works great! We don't get the perfumey smell and the laundry room does not have a chemical fume plus our clothes come out smelling clean and fresh, we love it. It's also quite large and we don't need much so we are going to be using this for a while! Now we are competely stocked for laundry soap!! At Nellie's, they were also selling organic bamboo towels (which I have been looking at and wanting to purchase) and sheets, gosh, the sheets were $120! But silky soft and eco-friendly as bamboo is a renewable source. I know of Shoo-foo in Vancouver which sells bamboo products including towels so I will have to head over there to pick up some towels when my current cotton ones are worn out and they are getting close to it. Once we were done in the marketplace, my cousin Nadine did pretty good - she got lots of great things, we lined up for the PNE show home. It wasn't too busy as it was getting close to the end of the night but none of us were impressed with it this year plus it's all the way out in Kelowna so if you win it, it's def a summer home. By 9.45pm we decided to call it a nite cos it was late and we were all getting super tired. It was such a fun evening and we must get together more often, it's always so much fun hanging out with my cousins Nadine and Ruth!

Update: I just found a mini donut article by CTV BC and I didn't realize there were THREE mini donut stands! I must try Mr. Ken's Donut Factory (apparently many flavours of mini donuts) and Fundunkers (a PNE stand). I would love to try the chocolate, honey and coconut donuts at Mr. Ken's Donut Factory! Mmmm..... donuts, must head back to the PNE one more time ($5 admission after 9pm) for another taste of donuts!!!

Go Green, Live Rich

Just finished reading this book, Go Green, Live Rich (Canadian Edition) by David Bach with Hillary Rosner. I found it very easy to ready and there were many good ideas in going green in your every day life. Must read and own!

Must Own Books

Lately, I have been borrowing books and dvds from the Vancouver Public Library cos it's free. Also, I get to "test" (read and browse through) the book before I decide to make it a part of my book collection. I have to say, the following books I most def. recommend:

One Smart Cookie by Julie Van Rosendaal
(Her websites: Julie, Dinner with Julie)
*Just noting that Kay and I have tried many recipes in here and we cannot believe the low cal content and how good it can still taste! Been meaning to blog about them but we eat the baked goods way too fast before we can take photos and post them! Sorry HonHon!!

Gorgeously Green by Sophie Uliano

Although, I have not read the Gorgeously Green book (wait listed to borrow), I have read the reviews and it seems like this is another must have book. A green book targeted for women, wives and mothers, being green can still be gorgeous!

Another book I am wait listed for is the 100 mile diet which is very interesting and they have a website with some really great and helpful info and reasons about why it is important to eat local. Wish I could use more local products in our diet but I don't know how well I would do without coffee for 365 days! Check out their "Local Resources" tab, there's a link (Certified Organic Associations of BC) which provides local and organic farms in and around Vancouver, BC. Good to know!

Brunch, Shopping and Lifestyle Change

Today for lunch, we (Jas and I) met up with KD at Milestones in Richmond. We haven't seen KD in over a year and after months of avoiding this lunch, I finally broke down and agreed to meet her so we could catch up one each other's lives. She also needed to go shopping and wanted our help in picking out a dress for an upcoming wedding. Lucky for me, Jas is such a great friend and she let me convince (without twisting her arm) her to come out for lunch and shopping. I'm so grateful that she did cos I don't know how I would have handled her all on my own. Jas is a sweet and sensitive person, knowing exactly what to say and how to handle KD while she went on about her break up and her life over the past year. KD moved out of her ex bf's place a month ago and she is now in a new place in Richmond where her rent is incredibly cheap (renting from an old friend who gave her a rent reduction). After lunch, we stopped by to see her new place and to park my car in the condo's parking lot cos she is only one block from Richmond Centre. The condo is new (only about 1 year old) but the layout is horrendous, the suite is vertical or horizontal (depends on which way you look at it I guess). Instead of being designed and built into a squared layout, the entire suite is rectanglular. I don't like it at all plus it is designed for a Honger. I wouldn't even consider living there even if it was my last resort, actually I wouldn't ever consider living in Richmond. I don't like Richmond. PERIOD. After a quick browse of her new place, we went over to RC to find her a dress and we all agreed to get a Starbucks cos I'm so damn addicted to Starbucks. After going through the entire mall, she came out with 75% done on her shopping list. One thing I had to buy was a SLS and Paraben free cleasner for my face which I was hoping to find at Escents Aromatherapy but only to be disappointed that most of their items contained SLS and paraben, only one item in their store that did not contain these were an unscented Wash & Bubble. The SA said I could use this as shampoo or a face wash and it is not limited to just a body wash or for bubble baths. Because this product's ingredients are natural and chemical-free, it does not last as long on your shelf as store bought products. Due to the unscented version of this wash, I also picked up a tea tree oil to add to it and to use directly on my face. Tea tree oil has beneficial medical healing properties including antispetic and antifungual action which I am hoping this will help clear up my skin. After shopping, we headed back to KD's place to pick up my car and I drop Jas off at her place, she had other plans that night.

I headed home to find Kay helping mom with the last bit of the garden and I went inside to prepare and make dinner. I offered to make dinner for my mom as well cos she wanted to go out for dinner and I didn't want to eat out. I'm trying out a new pesto I bought at Famous Foods, the product is all natural and shipped directly from Italy. I am really tired of Costco's Pesto cos it is a huge container which goes bad easily and I end up throwing it out with more than half of the container full! Plus it's quite oily and I find that there is not enough "pesto" or basil flavours in their pesto. Kay and I really love and enjoyed the new pesto we bought so this will be the replacement for all of our future pesto dishes! Mmmmm... I love pesto :)

On another note related to my new beauty product........

I have decided that I am going to change our beauty and health lifestyle. I have decided we need to change our grocery shopping to include more organics and local (if posible) even though I do buy organic, only about 40 - 50% of our items are. We never buy processed food except for deli meats (which I think are processed....). I am also planning (and researching) to switch over my beauty regime to organic and natural beauty products versus the store bought items. I have been reading a book called "Ecoholic" by Adria Vasil and found some very interesting facts about the chemicals used in beauty products, why you should choose organics and what alternatives are better for our earth for daily living from this book. This is the Canadian Eco Friend Guide (or Bible) in my opionion and I love it so much that I have decided to add this book in my permanent collection. Right now, I am borrowing books from the library to "test" the book and see if I should consider buying it for my book collection. Also, I am looking into a few different brands of natural and organic beauty products and this one site called Upurea sells natural and/or organic items. But you have to be careful cos even though some say "natural", it contains quite a few chemicals (organic compounds) in their products! Currently, I am interested in purchasing some face products by Suki Pure cos it seems like she is one of the few that uses all natural ingredients in her products, if I can understand the words and I know exactly what it is then it's all good. Can't wait to try it, now if only I can get to a Capers to purchase these products!