My Horoscope...

My horoscope on Sunday night called for mussels in a white wine sauce...

I headed to the Libra Room on Commercial Drive with some friends quite by accident. We were actually looking for the Reef, but apparently we parked in the wrong spot. Unwilling to lose the money we'd put in the parking meter, we walked until we heard music coming from one of the local eateries.

That's how we ended up at the Libra Room, where I enjoyed mussels & fries and a couple of glasses of a lovely red wine (unfortunately, I can't remember which red wine it was now!!).

They had a live jazz band, which worried me a little when we arrived because I'm not a big jazz fan. But this band was mellow and unobtrusive, and conversation carried on throughout the restaurant during their performance.

I finished off the night with a piece of cheesecake, which had pomegranate and some other berries on it, and it was absolutely delicious.

Star rating for the Libra Room?
5 outta 5 for food
5 outta 5 for service
5 outta 5 for the live jazz (from someone who doesn't really like jazz!)

Nice work!

Wine Festival

The Vancouver Playhouse International Wine Festival starts tomorrow and runs right through to next Sunday: www.playhousewinefest.com.
My pick is Our Land, Our Best next Saturday from noon to 2:30pm at the Pan Pacific (tickets are $89). This is a showcase of BC's best wines and also BC's best food! The foods listed on the menu (see the website) sound delicious: steamed gulf island mussels on the half shell, west coast dungeness crab cakes and mini Salt Spring Island lamb sliders. Yummy!
It looks like there will be loads of sea-food and other local delights! Go try some new local wines and just remember - you're supporting local business when you do this! What a great reason to check it out.

Sad Recession Time

So that title is probably not what is expected in my blog, even I think I should write something else... but this must be said!
So as I drove past a Milestone's today, I looked inside at the low-lighting, the leather(esque) bench seats, the diners dining and the generally cozy atmosphere, and it made me realize how little I have been eating out lately. I was a little sad to realize that my high life isn't quite so high as it was just six months or a year ago. Shall I blame the recession? Well, why not.
So many things have changed for me in the last year (jobs, jobs and more jobs!), and I supposed I could blame my lifestyle changes on that. But I won't. I'm going to blame that ever-useful scapegoat, the recession!
As well, by this time next weekend I'm sure I will have spent a little time in one of those cozy, dimly-lit chain restaurants that I love so much. Having a glass of wine and splitting an appy with one of my lovely friends. I can hardly wait!

What's a Lazy Girl To Do This Summer?

We seem to have determined that I will not be spending my time this summer at any concerts. (Although it should be noted that if you would like to sponsor me to go to the Pemberton Festival I am still accepting offers at ms.michelle.mara@gmail.com).

So what should I do instead? I’m sure I can find some great things to do! The Lazy Girl’s Guide to Vancouver is here to help you if you’re in the same boat as me. Or if you just don’t like any of the bands that I listed in my last blog entry.

Where on earth should you turn to find some fun activities in Vancouver? I have a few favourites:

First, check the Georgia Straight newspaper. It comes out weekly, on Thursdays, and seems to cover the city’s events pretty thoroughly. You can get a Georgia Straight on a street corner downtown, at Skytrain stations, and at most music stores. You can also check out their website at www.straight.com. Enjoy!

In Vancouver seems to have a fairly comprehensive list, as well, but it’s not quite as easy to read as some others: http://www.vancouver-bc.com/Events/.

Tourism Vancouver has an interactive event calendar on their website: http://www.tourismvancouver.com/visitors/events.php. This would probably be a good one to check out if you live here, too, because sometimes it’s nice to pretend to be a tourist in your own town. Often there are things to see that you’ve never seen (unless you had relatives in from out-of-town and took them to see). For example, I’ve never been to the Capilano Suspension Bridge. Could be fun!

If you’re into wine and wine-related events, you can check out LocalWineEvents.com: http://www.localwineevents.com/Greater-Vancouver--BC-Wine/.

Another one for wine fans is Wine and Dine BC News: http://www.wineanddinebcnews.ca/index.php?fid=eventcalendar. Do enjoy!

If you’ve got little ones, you can check out this website that will find you some fun family events. I won’t be at these, ever, because screaming brats terrify me, but if that’s your kind of thing you should embrace it: http://www.findfamilyfun.com/eventthismonth.htm.

If you can’t find something to do on the above sites, then you should either go to the beach or go have a drink on a patio. Otherwise, I really can’t help you. You even have to google those yourselves, I’m not here to help.

And now for something completely different…

Okay, so it’s not completely different, but it’s not Steamworks and mojitos!

Every once in a while, I feel like maybe I should get out and try something different. This worked out well on Monday, when Flare Magazine had their annual event at the Absolute Spa at the Century Hotel. I was alerted about this even via Flare’s e-mail list. Their e-mails also provide regular fashion tidbits, which are really helpful for someone like me who tries so hard to be fashionable and yet probably only achieves a 50% success rate.

As a side note, other e-mail lists that I’ve found particularly lovely are sweetspot.ca’s and Saks Fifth Avenue’s. I can’t afford anything from the Saks e-mail, but it makes me feel ambitions.

Back to the Flare event, we started out with a presentation from the editor which was well-delivered. She gave a fantastic presentation and seemed like a natural public speaker. I expected to be bored but I wasn’t for a moment.

After the presentation, I stopped at the appy table to get a bite before moving on to the spa. I was late for the presentation, but apparently most of the guests had hit up the snack table beforehand. It was a protein-based appetizer assortment: meat skewers (lamb, chicken, prawn and ahi tuna) and a cheese and cracker platter. Everything I tried was delicious (including blue cheese, which I regretted only because of the damage it did to my breath).

The wine (included!) was delightful and the servers were generous with their pouring. I tried the red, which I tried to remember the name of and then failed. But it was good!

After the wine & cheese, I shuffled upstairs to join all the other ladies waiting in lines to get free spa treatments. First I got a hand massage, which was heavenly! After that I waited for a little while in the foot massage line, but gave up quickly when I saw that there was no line to try out the oxygen facials. They just did the oxygen facial on my hands, but it was incredibly relaxing. After that I headed over to the neck and shoulder massage room, which was probably the most worthwhile ten minutes of my evening.

That was the end of the evening, and although none of the treatments lasted longer than ten minutes, I was thoroughly relaxed. The two glasses of wine may also have been heavy contributors to my relaxation.

By the time I made it home, I already had plans to return to the spa to get an hour of massage done. This is one event that I plan on telling all of my friends about so that they can head there next year!