by Mary L. Peachin
Vol. 9 No. 8
A Wok around Vancouver’s Chinatown
During the frenetic days of the mid-1800’s gold rush, Vancouver’s Chinese were confined to a restricted ghetto. Only in recent years has the Chinatown become known for its classical gardens and historic landmarks, diverse foods and ethnic cookware, and exotic herbal medicine shops. A colorful new entry gate on Pender Street welcomes the visitor.
Inspired by an awareness of the public’s ignorance about Chinatown, fourth generation Vancouverite Robert Sung developed a cultural and culinary tour of the area. A proud century of local history made Sung realize that the bustling streets of Chinatown’s Keefer and Pender streets could be overwhelming to the uninformed.
Sung’s grandfather migrated to Vancouver in 1910, about the same time the imminent Dr. Sun Yat Sen arrived in Chinatown. The Doctor worked as a freemason, while Sung’s grandfather established and became the first editor of the Chinese Times.
This historic background makes it appropriate that Sung’s half-day weekend tours begin in the classical Chinese gardens of his grandfather’s friend, Dr. Sun Yat-Sen. 300 artisans built the Ting pavilion without the use of nails. Teak wood was molded using the ‘tongue and groove” technique. The steel roof top is pointed “to ward off evil spirits” giving a “ying and yang” to the place. Symbolic plants in the garden include bamboo—for strength and pliability) and gingko trees for long life. Most of the wood and stone used for building was imported from Shanghai, and throughout the garden, visitors find solace, some taking time to meditate while gracefully performing a few of the hundred movements of Tai Chi.
Departing the tranquil garden, we were consumed by the congestion of busy sidewalks. Sung pointed out Jack Chow’s four-foot wide by 100-feet long building, just inside Chinatown’s gate, formerly an opium and bathhouse den of iniquity.
Before visiting the many markets lining Pender and Keefer streets, we stopped at Ming Wo, a store featuring cooking supplies.
Sung explained that the best wok is forged on rolled steel. It needs to be ‘aged’ by cleaning and curing it with vegetable oil. He cautioned to never use olive oil because it will burn. After the wok is “seasoned”, garlic and ginger—peeled with a spoon then chopped—is a basic flavor for cooking most Chinese dishes. Most wok cooking can be quickly stir-fried or steamed by placing a wooden basket inside the stainless wok.
As we continued walking down Keefer street opera music could be heard from second floor windows along with clicking mahjongg tiles being played at Yip Lang, the oldest building in Chinatown.
“Chinese culture gravitates around food” Sung said as he led us up the stairs of Garden Villa Seafood restaurant. This was our first introduction to tasting chicken feet and dumplings of taro root with pork and shrimp.
For dessert we sampled sweets at Maxims and New Town bakery followed by a stop at Ten Lee & Ginseng Company. The restorative ginseng tea is an expensive, acquired taste.
At an herbal medicine shop, jars of abalone were selling for $950.00 a pound and birds’ nests, also considered a delicacy, were $448.00 for about a quarter of a pound.
Both Pender and Keefer streets are lined with small markets. Sung showed us different mushrooms, unfamiliar fruits, and dried specialties like shrimp, oysters, squid, and small fish. Stopping at the Dollar Meat Store, Bob showed us chickens with head and feet intact, an important belief of the Chinese.
Our final stop was the Ching Chung Taoist Temple where intrinsically dressed nuns were praying. Worshippers lit incense sticks then took a numbered card to read the answer, filed in a cabinet, to their prayer.
After a brief stop to sample some faddish Bubble tea (made with tapioca and served with a huge straw), with full stomachs and a yearning to learn more, we said goodbye to Chinatown. We were grateful to Robert Sung for helping us to better understand its hustle and bustle.
Days to Savor: Wine, Cheese, Art and Roses on Salt Spring Island
You couldn’t find a more idyllic, romantic hideaway. Clam beach cottage, overlooking Houstun Passage to Wallace Island marine park, is 12-miles north of Ganges Harbour—a 35-minute floatplane flight from Vancouver. The single 600-foot cottage, thoughtfully decorated with antiques and island treasures, extends above the beach. Shelly, the family’s protective watchdog German Shepherd, lies on the wooden glass-framed deck amazingly gulping flying wasps.
During summer months, French doors and leaded windows are left opened to the ocean breezes. There is a fully stocked kitchen including a cappuccino machine and a refrigerator stocked with free-range eggs, organic juices and berries delivered by proprietor Sharon Brewer. She sometimes arrives with a warm home made quiche or freshly baked cookies.
The living room has a video, CD player, and TV. In the bath, there are Aveeda amenities and a warming towel bar. The queen-size bedroom also has an ocean view. Adjacent to the cottage is a hot tub while several kayaks are ready on the beach. You won’t find Clam Beach cottage listed in a Salt Spring directory, the cottage is rented a year in advance.
Salt Spring, the largest of Canada’s Gulf Islands, is a mere 20-miles long by approximately 8-mile wide. Eleven lakes dot the landscape, the largest being St. Mary. The island’s highest peak is Bruce at 2100 feet. First Nation tribes had a number of names for the island but the salt springs found on the island can be credited for its present name.
A two-lane winding and sometimes rutted road circumnavigates the island between the southern harbour of Fulford, the main village of Ganges, and the northern harbour of Vesuvius. The island is a 20-30 minute ferry ride depending on the harbour from Victoria and Vancouver Island.
Along the road there are more than 37 artisans, flower growers, cheese and bread makers, and wineries. During summer months, most places are open six days a week; appointments are required during the rest of the year.
If you happen to be a “boat person”, one who arrives from Seattle, Victoria, or Vancouver and don’t have a car, you can find many of the studios selling their wares at the Salt Spring Saturday market. Heather Campbell, better known as the Bread Lady, sells a week’s production of 500 wood-fired loaves in several hours. She is so busy her bakery is only open to the public Wednesday to Friday.
Moonstruck Organic Cheese, Inc. uses the sweet and fragrant milk of Jersey cows to produce and age white and blue cheese. White Grace is a full-bodied cheese derived from unheated milk without the curd being pressed. The nutty cream taste of White Moon is milder than a camembert, but stronger than a brie. Some of their cheese is ripened and dusted with ash to Camembert. Once the cheese has formed a crust, it is dusted with summer savory herb, an infusion adds a woodsy, peppery flavor.
Equally as tasty is the hand made cheese of David and Nancy Wood who specialize in goat (chevre) and feta cheese made from sheep. In addition tastings of fresh cheese, they also imported large green Cerignola, black Nicoise, Picholina, Alfonso, Moroccan and Kalamata olives.
A box of Lesley Stowe’s rosemary raisin pecan Raincoast crisp crackers, a bottle of wine, some cheese and olives, and you’re ready for a picnic. Trails abound along beautiful beaches especially Indian Reserve Beach. This moderate mile or so hike through Tsawout old growth forest trailhead is located at the end of Menhinick Drive and ends at a picturesque beach, where you can watch ferries headed to Victoria or Vancouver in the distance. Additional hiking is done in popular Ruckle Provincial park.
The vineyards on Saltspring are youngsters producing less than a couple thousand cases a year. They must be good because the vineyards sell out their vintage especially the Blackberry Port at the Salt Spring Vineyard.
Winemaker Janice Harkley came in from the fields driving a tractor before she went to take a refractometer testing of the grapes PH content to determine the ripening stage for September harvest.
In their attractive wine-tasting room, they serve Moonstruck cheese to compliment their white wine, a blue cheese is served with Merlot, and Crow Bar Belgian chocolate, made at Blue Moon Gallery, is offered with their blackberry port.
If you don’t feel like navigating the narrow winding roads or don’t have a vehicle, Wendy Hartnett of Island Gourmet Safaris offers a day long tour. Beginning in the memorial cemetery, she shares the agricultural history of the island combining sightseeing with food: sipping locally-roasted coffees and gourmet jellies, smoked salmon with freshly made breads or bagels, savoring wines, locally-brewed beer, fresh organic apple juice from turn-of-the-century heritage trees while indulging on freshly-made Belgian chocolate.
Saltspring is more than one of British Columbia’s beautiful Gulf Islands. It has become a culinary and artistic delight for visitors.
Traveling with Taste Culinary Tour on Vancouver Island
Kathy McAree’s Travel With Taste tours offer day and multi-day trips that don’t end till you yell “uncle” or your pants won’t fasten. Kathy’s hospitality is equal to her enthusiasm. She selects culinary stops based on the quality of the experience, not just the vintage of the wine or age of the cheese.
Choosing her Cowichan Valley tour, our first stop was Cherry Point Vineyards, one of the first licensed wineries (1990) in the valley. Today, there are a total of 18, the majority open to the public and offering tastings.
Amber Burwash doesn’t just walk the guest to the wine shop. Her horticultural background provides an interesting lesson about the labor intensity of growing grapes–from hand pruning and picking, then bottling and labeling the vineyard’s 10,000 cases produced annually.
The geographical location of Cherry Point’s 24-acres allows a long, dry growing season with moderate heat. The vineyard is known for its Ortega and Pinot family grapes. Amber laments “these Pinots are heartbreakers.” After meticulous care, they are the last grapes ready for harvest and an abrupt change in the weather or bird infestation can wipe them out. One year a flock of robins gobbled the entire harvest in 48-hours.
Cherry Point is pesticide-free using only a fungicide if the grapes become infested with powder mildew. Recently they began producing Agria, a grape grafted from the Hungarian Eger region known for its “blood of the bull” full-bodied robust wine. The winery was recently purchased by the Cowichan First Nations band.
Tall and lanky Hilary Abbott met us behind his cheese counter. It was a Monday and his cases of cheese had been emptied by visitors over the weekend. His first tasting was a camembert-style St. Michel (named for his son) followed by a port-washed Belle Ann, a goat feta and, finally, a Big Island soft and mild tomme.
In the basement of his home, surrounded by flower gardens, he pasteurizes Swiss Holstein fresh milk delivered from Abbotsford (east of Vancouver) and goat milk that arrives from Salt Spring Island.
Through acidification, Hilary separates the solid from liquid, which are drained and fed to the pigs and chickens. After adding mold spore, he ages his cheeses anywhere from two days to a month before washing the rind with port, saltwater, cider or ale.
Dave Godfrey spent five years looking for the 60-acres of land buffered by a forest with a salmon stream now known as the Godfrey-Brownell winery. As we sat under a large a large trip sipping chardonnays, Dave talked about the geology of the island. His home and garden are located above 100-feet of gravel. “Pardon the hemlock shading us, it sheds needles continually, and if you sit in the cool breeze, the bees will leave you alone. We don’t use spittoons here to empty our wine glasses, just pour what’s left on the bed of oyster shells lining the garden.”
The former literature professor quoted poems by Yeats and jokes into his discussion of creating regional names for the wines he produces. The Colette 2002 includes Pinot Grigio, Chardonnay, and Siegerrebe. The French Oak Chardonnay is called Similkameen, and his Chardonnay 2002 is Glenora-Koksilah- all named for local places.
The small winery only produces 1200 cases of wine each year, and he sells it all. While he could produce more, for Dave, it’s a way of life. “My grapes like the temperature at 75-degrees” (they shut-down at 90), and I just like sitting down and talking with visitors.
Fatima Da Silva was bred and born in Mozambique. Before she leased Vinoteca on the Vineyard restaurant in the Zanatta vineyard in 2000, she lived in Portugal and Quebec.
Enoteca is located in the original farmhouse on the half century old 30-acre Zanatta winery, the oldest commercial vineyard featuring champagne-style wines. Her small restaurant and smaller kitchen (with a single rack in the cast iron oven) usually feeds 50-70 wine tasters that visit each day.
Lunch included a wine pairing beginning with Glenora Fantasia Brut accompanied by a bread and butter tasting. This wasn’t just any plain old butter. Try basil pesto, champagne saffron and sun dried tomato on a varied selection of bread and rolls. And the bread basket we wanted to skip got passed around and around and around.
Non-vintage Damasco, a blended white, was served with a crab and shrimp cake topped with saffron aioli. We were just getting warmed up. Next came arugula salad (grown on the vineyard) topped with a Cowichan Bay farm slightly-smoked duck breast, paired with an Ortega 2002.
As we began to mellow, owner Jim Moody (his wife Loretta Zanatta is the winemaker), pointed out their small orchard of walnut, apple, a tree ladened with pears, and a lonely persimmon.
A full-bodied complex Pinot Grigio 2002 was served with fresh halibut resting on mushroom risotto. Roasted fennel accompanied the fish served with a sauce of lime zest, lobster stock, and coconut milk.
We thought we were finished, but Fatima wouldn’t listen to our pleas and presented a platter of dessert. Not just any dessert, but one that included Belgian chocolate ice-cream, chocolate rum cake, olive oil and citrus cake, and cream caramel-all served on elegant Royal Dalton china.
No more stops for us. Staying at the luxurious Relais & Chateaux Aerie Resort, we were 30-minutes closer to the Cowichan than Victoria. Kathy claims that most of her clients sleep on the ride home. We kept our eyes open along the scenic Malahat highway, but we did cancel our dinner plans and head for the Aerie’s relaxing spa.
If you go:
Travel With Taste with Kathy McAree 250-385-1527 kathy@travelwithtaste.com or www.travelwithtaste.com
Cherry Point Vineyards 250-743-1272 or cherrypoint@cherrypointvineyards.com
Hilary’s Fine Cheese 250-715-0563 or hilarys@cowichan.com
Godfrey-Brownell Winery 250-715-0504 or info@gbvineyars.com
Zanatta Winery 250-748-2338, Vinoteca 250-709-2279 or info@zanatta.ca
The Aerie 250-743-7115 800-913-1944 www.aerie.bc.ca aerie@relaischateaux.fr
Clam Beach Cottage on Salt Spring: 2331 North End Road, 7 driveways past North Beach Road, 12 minutes from Ganges. 1-250-537-5456 or 1-866-537-5456 or www.clambeachcottage.com $200.00 3-night minimum
Salt Spring Island Bread Company 251 Forest Ridge Rd. 205-653-4809
Moonstruck Organic Cheese, Inc grave@saltspring.com or www.moonstruckcheese.com
Salt Spring Island Cheese wood@saltspring.com 285 Reynolds Rd, 250-653-2300
Salt Spring Vineyards 151 Lee Rd www.saltspringvineyars.com vineyards@saltspring.com
Island Gourmet Safaris
250-537-4118 www.islandgourmetsafaris.com $89.00 per person or $249.00 for a private tour for two.
Hiking the Gulf Islands (Harbour Publishing, 2004) by Charles Kahn
Artist’s Bistro at Grace Point Square 250-537-1701
Relais and Chateau Hastings House www.relaischateaux.com
Aston House 205 Quarry Dr overlooking Vesuvius Bay 866-538-1868 or 250-538-1868 astonhouse@saltspring.com
If you go: A Wok around Vancouver’s Chinatown 604-736-9508 or info@awokaroundcom or www.awokaround.com
Vancouver is ranked as one of the top vacation cities in the world. Vancouver International Airport is served by most carries including America West, Alaska, United, British Airways, Air Canada, American and others. BC Ferries operates from Seattle. (1-888-BCFERRY)
For complete city guide: go to www.tourismvancouver.com (one of the best city sites on the web)
Airport Hotels:
Fairmont Vancouver Airport (in the international terminal) (604) 207-5200 e-mail vancouverairport@fairmont.com or go to www.fairmont.com. You won’t believe this is an airport property!
Delta Vancouver Airport Hotel (800) 268-1134 or e-mail deltanet@deltahotels.com or go to www.deltahotels.com
City Hotels:
Fairmont Hotel Vancouver e-mail hvcreservations@fairmont.com or go to www.hotelvancouver.com
Wedgewood Hotel 1-800-663-0666 e-mail info@wedgewoodhotel.com or go to www.wedgewoodhotel.com
Marriott Pinnacle or go to www.mariott.com
Sutton Place Hotel e-mail info@vcr.suttonplace.com