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Posts Tagged ‘fundraiser’

11th Annual ChefmeetsBCGrape Signature Tasting – Recap

Posted in Cheese, Chocolate, Culinary Events, Kathryn, Meat, Seafood, Vancouver, Wine Pairing, Wine Series, tagged BC wines, ChefmeetsBCGrape, food pairing, fundraiser, Haywire Winery, Okanagan Crush Pad, Stoneboat Vineyards, The Arts Club Theatre Company, Wine Pairing on October 8, 2015| Leave a Comment »

When Bryan (the “beer guy”) isn’t writing about beer I put him to work as my camera man – so he and I were proud and honoured to represent VanFoodies at the 11th Annual ChefmeetsBCGrape while our fearless leader, Joyce, had other work commitments. The ChefmeetsBCGrape Signature Tasting is a fundraiser for the Arts Club Theatre to support the local theatre arts while showcasing BC food paired with BC VQA Wine.

Very “handy” third hand provided at the event

The event started off with a bang with my favourite dessert of the evening (and, needless to say, favourite dish overall):

Chocolate gianduja pate with sour cherry compote, lychee foam and toffee brittle paired with Baillie-Grohman Estate Winery Pinot Gris 2014 presented by P2B Bistro & Bar

I’ve never had chocolate in a pate form before but let me tell you, it was smooth, creamy, not too sweet, and went beautifully with the toffee brittle crunch. The lychee foam and sour cherry compote disappeared behind the richness of the chocolate but gave it an interesting look with the white bubbles and pop of red colour. I found the white wine pairing quite surprising and would have preferred something equally as rich to balance with the chocolate/toffee flavours such as a Cabernet Sauvignon – the Pinot Gris was washed out by this delicious and delightful treat.

Now being Aussie I am a lamb fan (it’s a national Aussie meat) but I don’t find many Canadians who enjoy it. However, on this night, I only heard positive feedback from everyone I spoke to regarding this dish:

Sous-vide lamb sirloin slider, grey baby cheese, smoked tomato relish and beet chip paired with Upper Bench Winery Estate Grown Merlot 2012 presented by Provence Marinaside

The combination of flavours was well balanced with an equally balanced wine that paired very well with the strong flavours of the meat and cheese. (more…)

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Eat Your Heart Out Benefiting Eagle Ridge Hospital Foundation: A Recap

Posted in Casual, Coquitlam, Culinary Events, Dinner, Food Bloggers, Joyce, Meat, Neighbourhood Gem, Port Moody, Pub, Restaurants, Steak, tagged Browns Socialhouse, Eagle Ridge Hospital, Eagle Ridge Hospital Foundation, Eat Your Heart Out, fundraiser, Mr. Mike's Steakhouse Casual, ostrich, pork ribs, Restaurant Crawl, Saint St. Grill, salmon carpaccio, Steak on March 16, 2015| Leave a Comment »

Having lived in the Tri-Cities area ever since my family and I moved to Canada, there is always a special place in my heart to promote awareness of what’s in the area. When I was invited to the Eat Your Heart Out event, not only was I attracted to the idea of a restaurant crawl in Tri-Cities, but I was also drawn to the fact that this was a fundraiser for the Eagle Ridge Hospital Foundation to ensure the Eagle Ridge Hospital is well-equipped and staff are well-trained to serve the community.

I was happy to see such a great turnout at the event. After a few speeches to kick off the evening, we all hopped on a trolley supplied by the Vancouver Trolley Company.

Now how often do you see a line-up of trolleys outside of the Port Moody City Hall, or on the road in Port Moody?! It’s quite fun to travel in style. (more…)

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Ocean Wise #ChowderChowdown 2014 – A Recap

Posted in Beer, Cooking Competition, Culinary Events, Joyce, News, Seafood, Soup, Vancouver, tagged #ChowderChowdown, chowder, Chowder Chowdown, craft beer, fable, fundraiser, Giovane Cafe, Ocean Wise, Samuel Adams, Seafood Chowder, Vancouver Aquarium, YEW Restaurant on November 27, 2014| Leave a Comment »

November is Ocean Wise Month, and to celebrate sustainable seafood in the area, Vancouver Aquarium hosted the Ocean Wise Chowder Chowdown last week. Lucky for me, I got to check it out, so let me tell you all about it.

Ocean Wise Chowder Chowdown (photo by Three Sixty Photography, courtesy of Samuel Adams)

How does it work? As you enter the Vancouver Aquarium, you receive a wooden spoon and a plastic cup; and you just walk around with them to the 14 participating booths. You also have a ballot to take notes of each chowder and vote for your favourite.

Each of the 14 competing chowders was paired with craft beer. I was quite impressed to see that there were restaurants from Prince Rupert and Pemberton competing in this event.

Among the participating craft breweries, there was Samuel Adams, the only non-local craft brewery at the event. It partnered with Fable and Chef Trevor Bird not only in the beer pairing, but it’s also used in cooking of the halibut chowder. SA’s Boston Lager is darker than most lagers out there (has an amber-ish hue), yet it’s light and quite easy drinking; would be a good entry beer for most people and would make great pairing with rich food like a chowder or deep-fried goodness.

Chef Trevor Bird at Chowder Chowdown (photo by Three Sixty Photography, courtesy of Samuel Adams)

In addition to the People’s Choice Award voted by the general public, there were also 4 industry judges tasting all dishes to select the top 3. (more…)

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[News] Tomorrow: Pirate Pak Day returns for its 7th year

Posted in Burger, Dessert, Dinner, Joyce, News, tagged Adult Pak, Blueberry Pie, burger, eat local, fundraiser, Pirate Pak, Pirate Pak Day, White Spot, Zajac Ranch on August 12, 2014| Leave a Comment »

If you have been keeping track, you would know that we are just one day away from White Spot’s annual Pirate Pak Day. Tomorrow, and tomorrow only, August 13, 2014, White Spot will once again make available its popular Adult Pirate Paks.

Unleash your inner child on this day and indulge in classic Pirate Pak items including the Legendary Burger, Bacon Cheddar Bigger Burger and BC Chicken Burger. For each Pirate Pak sold, White Spot will donate $2 to Zajac Ranch for Children. To-date they have raised close to 269,000 for Zajac Ranch through this initiative!

The special edition “Adult Pak” is only available on August 13 and starts at $11.99. (more…)

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CocoaNymph East – Sweet Temptations Charity Event

Posted in By Invitations, Chocolate, Dessert, Lisa, Vancouver, tagged chili, Chocolate, chocolatier, cocoanymph, dark chocolate, fundraiser, music, rachel sawatzky, Sarah McLachlan, Sarah McLachlan School of Music, white chocolate on March 11, 2013| Leave a Comment »

We were invited to an event at CocoaNymph, which was a benefit for the Sarah McLachlan School of Music.

As we approached Cocoa Nymph, you could clearly tell that’s where everyone was – all the windows were steamed up, flurries of body movement. Unfortunately, we came a little later and missed some of the beginning performances, but the ones we did manage to hear was beautiful.

I got a chance to meet and chat with the chocolatier’s partner who also happened to be the bartender for the event. He graciously allowed us to go behind the counters to get some snapshots of their chocolate samples.

I think my favourite of the three we got to try was this one, they call it the Liz. Yes, I’m one of those people who like white chocolate and get made fun of. (more…)