quince cooking school: getting our pupus on

Over this past year I've developed this immense love of cooking. I don't have a lot of spare time to do it, but when I do get the opportunity... it's love.

I'm the type of person who comes home from a crap day at work and bakes to make herself feel better. I don't veg out on the couch, grab a bag of chips and pour myself a glass of vino... Instead I break out the flour, sugar, eggs and butter and get experimenting.

My mother is an amazing cook. She's the type of genius that can throw together a bunch of random ingredients - a pinch of this, a handful of that - and voila! It's a masterpiece! Shame I didn't inherit her genius cooking skills. C'est la vie.

She probably picked up on my love of cooking/lack of skills because she gifted EC and myself two cooking demonstration classes for Christmas.

Quince is a quaint little cafe, boutique food shop and bakery by day, and a cooking school by night. It's located on Burrard and 2nd nestled amongst the high-end automobile dealerships.

The owner Chef Andrea Jefferson was our expert demonstrator of the evening and the theme was Hawaiian Pupus. She demonstrated step-by-step procedures to creating our North Shore Fish Tacos, Ahi Tuna Poke on a Fried Dumpling Skin and Guava & Rum Glazed Pork Ribs all washed down with Tropical Mai Tai (heavy on the rum).

Our goods of the evening

Delectable & zesty North Shore fish tacos

Juicy guava & rum ribs

Our favourite: Ahi tuna poke on a fried dumpling skin

It was a great evening of good food & laughs. Left us dreaming of sun, sipping Mai Tai's on Waikiki beach & eating poke at every single meal.

The next day we somehow found ourselves looking up flights to Honolulu. Funny what a little taste of the island will do to you.

burgoo + snowshoeing on mt. seymour

All these years and we've never been snowshoeing. It's amazing actually - we have all these adventurous, fun & beautiful things to do right in our backyard and yet we choose to go to the mall. It's repulsing really.

It was my mom's 50th birthday (she probably doesn't want the world to know that, but I'm telling you, because if I look like that when I'm 50, I'm going to tell anyone and everyone who will listen) and she wanted to make it a point to do something new, different & special for the next 50 days.

Step 1: snowshoeing.

First thing you should know, Mom isn't good with snow on mountains. A few years ago she tried to learn to ski and ended up falling, having someone ski over her bare fingers, and slice right across them. Another thing you should know, Mom hates blood. You can do the math - Falling + skiing = Blood = Never ever stepping foot on a mountain again. So... as you can see, snowshoeing was a big step.

A step well-worth it too. It was a beautiful winter/spring day and the skies were clear, the snow glistening. We got lucky... in a way. The day before Groupon issued a deal for snowshoeing on Seymour for half-price (imagine the luck!) Another tip for you: don't go and try to use your Groupon the day after you get it - everyone else is trying to do the same thing.

After we eventually got our snowshoes we trekked high and low and up and down through nature's backyard. Took a while to trust the snowshoes but once you realized that they would catch you and not cause you to fall on your face, you were invincible. The best feeling was trekking through unmarked snow and defacing it. Something so liberating and so freeing about it.

Snowshoeing is no walk in the park. You huff and you puff (if you pick up the pace) but it's definitely a good work out.

Marathoning through the good & fresh outdoors

After returning our snowshoes around 3:30 (must be in by 4:00pm) we decided to get some grub to fill our growling stomachs.

Seeing as though we were in North Van we decide to head to Lower Lonsdale to check out the newly developed area. Lots of quaint little restaurants lined the streets but our hearts were set on soup & sandwiches. Enter: Burgoo - comfort food for the soul.

After warming ourselves by Burgoo's blazing fireplace so we could feel our limbs, we sat down to peruse and select amongst the variety of comfort-foodie goodness. What ensued was pure and utter satisfaction.

The not-so Alpha males both ordered the soup + sandwich combo while birthday girl had the ever-so-indulgent mac + cheese & I had some zesty cajun jambalaya.

My not-so-spicy cajun jambalaya stew

Ain't no KD. Burgoo's mac + cheese is an explosion of flavour + richness in your mouth.

The soup+sandwich dealio for $15: butternut squash with maple syrup + dos diablos (spicy white cheddar + chunks of chorizo + roasted red pepper + tons of butttttttter.)

Chocolate banana bread pudding: enough said.

Beautiful day. Beautiful BC outdoors. Beautiful food & beautiful people.

Life is good.

acme cafe

Gastown used to be straight-up tacky. Tourist shops selling CANADA sweatshirts and hideous souveniers that end up in someone's white-elephant Secret Santa gift exchange next December.

But over the past few years Gastown underwent a makeover, a face-lift of sorts. No longer was it the loser on the playground but rather the new "it" girl. The crowd is trendy. The vibe is chill & the restaurants are in a new league of their own. The perfect place to grab a beer/cocktail, nibble on some eats & just waste away the hours in good company. This is how you live the good life.

Gastown isn't just a place to frequent by night but is alive and happening during the bright hours as well. A favourite past-time of my girlfriends and I? Brunching. We love discovering new places in new neighbourhoods & we found a gem in Gastown one Saturday morning.

We'd heard a lot about Acme Cafe but hadn't gotten the chance to come out and try it. Brightly lit interiors, comfy booths and an open concept - they've got a good vibe going on. Unpretentious, relaxed yet bustling with activity, they've got something good going on.

Hearing good things about the sandwiches at Acme I settled on the Veggie Panini.

Veggie Sandwich ($10) with Brocolli Slaw & Chips: Goat cheese, portobello mushroom, peppers, zucchini, sprouts, sun-dried tomato basil mayo. Ciabatta panini grilled.

If there's something you should know about me, it's that I love veggies. So you may not all agree with me when I say something is scrumptious. I'm not one of those kids that grew up being force fed veggies - I readily welcomed them.

 The brocolli slaw was probably my favourite part - creamy dressing with a little tangy bite it had a great, fresh crunch to it.

The veggie sandwich itself was jam-pack filled with grilled vegetables. Slabs of grilled zucchini and sun-dried tomato basil mayo were to die for. I found the raw bean-sprouts a bit odd tasting and a little too raw combined with the overall sandwich but some may find it refreshing.

Chips... well they were chips. A tad on the salty side but really nothing new. Buy a bag of Miss Vickies original chips and voila! You have your Acme Cafe side of chips.

A little too stuffed to consume anything more but their pastry window was quite enviable. I'm going back for sure and stuffing my face with homemade goodness.

Do Acme. It's a good thing.



Acme Cafe
51 Hastings Street West
Vancouver, BC V6B 1G4
604.569.1022
http://acmecafe.ca/