Food we ate while in Vancouver

It has unfortunately been over a month since I last posted.  I can come up with a lot of excuses, but really I've just been too tired at the end of the work day to sit down and write. (We got really busy in August, then we were in Vancouver & Chicago, and the high holidays coincided with this period.  So, I have lots of foodie recipes & pictures to post, and will try to get to them in the next few weeks.)

Before the recipes begin, a friend of mine always wants to see pictures of the food we ate while on vacation.  I don't usually take these pictures, but after vacationing with Cheryl a few years ago, I thought I would take a few.  Here is the food we ate the first day or two that we were in Vancouver:

The first morning we walked to the Granville Island Public Market.  The market is full of people selling fruits, vegetables, meats, fish, baked goods, and crafts.  These donuts came from a little donut shop inside the Granville Island Public Market, and they may have been the best donuts that we have ever eaten:  Fried and crunchy on the outside, and soft and moist on the inside.  On our way outside to enjoy the donuts, there was a stand selling frozen beverages.  The drink pictured here is a pomegranate-rose drink that was made with pomegranate juice, rose water, and some other things I can't remember.  They put the liquid drink through a machine that freezes the contents, then they seal off the top and stick a straw in (no loose lids, just laminated plastic).  The drink was really refreshing and tasted great!

After the public market, we continued to explore on foot (and false creek ferry to save out feet a bit).  On our way back to the hotel we stumbled upon a gelato place called Bella Gelateria.  The gelato was really wonderful, but that may have partly been because we were hot, exhausted, and in the mood for something cold and sweet.  You will have to make do with the picture of the sign because we ate our pistachio, chocolate, and hazelnut gelato too quickly to remember to take a picture.  I think this was the first time I have ever had the option between 2 different pistachio flavors and 4 different chocolate flavors - they let us taste all of these and decide what we wanted.

Day 2 started with coffee, tea, and pastries at a Caffe Artigiano which was only a block or so from our hotel.  The cappuccino that I had and you can see in the picture above was wonderful!  The roast was dark but not bitter, the amount of milk and coffee was great, and as you can see, it was beautiful.  In case you are wondering, the tea and pastries were good, but the coffee is what you should go to this place for.

 We spent the following several hours riding bicycles around Stanley Park which is a 1000 acre park on the water.  This was a clear day, and the views were great - mountains, water, and cityscape - who could want more?  When the wind picked up and we decided that we were done, we returned the bikes and asked the girl at the counter to recommend a place for lunch.  She sent us to this little Mongolian BBQ restaurant.  In the front of the restaurant they had two men cooking the vegetables and meats you chose using very long chop sticks on a single round cooking surface that was about 4 ft in diameter.  After waiting in line for a while, our own selections were cooked for us, and they we were able to enjoy.  The food was great! 

This is the end of the pictures that I took during those two days.  I am glad that I could share a little bit of our trip to Vancouver with you.  With the next post, we will be back to food we have cooked in our kitchen including: Chocolate Babka, Eggplant stacks, and Turkey Chili.