Fitness Friday - North Vancouver Walking Tour

It is great to have visitors come to town because that is an excuse to show them around.  That is when I learned that walking and sightseeing is good exercise.  Of course I also love taking photos of nature and the scenery.  

Here's the North Vancouver Walking Tour that I did on Family Day.

Meet at Waterfront Skytrain Station and take the Seabus to North Vancouver.  On a sunny day the view from the seabus is scenic especially if you get a front row seat.  It is a fun experience for those who have never been on a sea bus.  

The first stop is Lonsdale Quay which is right at the seabus terminal.  Walk up the stairs to the very top of the Quay sign for amazing views.  I had to fight my fear of heights to get to the very top.  Luckily they had good railing and it is still less scary that Capilano Suspension Bridge.  

After seeing the view we ventured inside Lonsdale Quay to look at the shops that are inside and grabbed a warm drink.  This was before the start of the walk to Waterfront Park and along Spirit trail which is along the marina with views of North Vancouver house boats.

When you are finished walking along this side, then it is time to retrace your steps and return to Lonsdale Quay.  From there you can walk along the docks at the Shipyards on the other side.  There is a long dock that you can walk along to give you beautiful views of Vancouver.  We were lucky to walk along at sunset and witnessed gorgeous skylines.  It was picture perfect for visitors from out of town.  

Fitness doesn't always have to fast, sometimes, it is good to take a moment to be present, walk around and see the scenery that surrounds us.  

Vancouver Event: Canyon Lights at Capilano Suspension Bridge

Merry Christmas Everyone!

Just wanted to share a place that I went to on Christmas Eve.  I had family in town from overseas and they had heard about Capilano Suspension Bridge so we decided to take the free shuttle that leaves from Canada Place downtown Vancouver (close to Waterfront Skytrain Station) to the tourist attraction.

We decided to take the 3pm Capilano Shuttle so we could see their special holiday Canyon Lights during the day as the sun is setting and at night.  We were very lucky that we decided not to get a coffee and instead went to stand in line for the shuttle a bit early.  Good thing we did because they only had only 30 spaces as there were three other stops that had passengers waiting.  We were one of the last ones on the bus.  

When we arrived it was still light out and we decided to get our coffee first and warm ourselves up before we went across the Capilano suspension bridge.  It was nice to have a warm drink by the heat lamp before our winter adventure began.  

We walked across the Capilano Suspension Bridge along with lots of other tourists and visitors.  I never knew that this was one of the most popular tourist attractions in Vancouver.  In the summer, they have buses leaving Canada Place every 10 minutes.  Now I have to admit that I am afraid of heights and going there was facing my fears straight on.  I'm glad I did.  The scenery is breathtaking and beautiful.  During the walk, I held on tight and took one step at a time, probably with the look of fear on my face, but I did get better with practice.  I think that there were so many tourists, some young, some old, and none were scared of crossing that bridge gave me courage.  

Once on the other side we did the Treetops Adventure which is walking along the bridges among the trees.  I did much better at this since they were shorter distances and as it got dark we could only see the lights of the bridge instead of what what down below.  Then we continues our trek on ground as they had Christmas tree lights along all the walking trails.  

Cliffwalk Adventure

Then we went across the other side to do the Cliffwalk Adventure which are bridges against the cliff of the mountain walking up to the top.  All of the bridges were lit with Christmas lights.  More festive lights were on the trees as we walked back down to the gift shop.  

They did have quite a lot to do and see and the walking around alone took us two hours easily.  So it was worth the $37.95 per adult as the entrance fee.  Since I was a BC Resident I received an annual pass at guest services so I can return anytime to the attraction.  With a free shuttle I may bring other friends or visitors who come to Vancouver.  

Canyon Lights is still lit up until January 3rd, 2016 so if you still have time to check it out:  https://www.capbridge.com/visit/

Cooking: Well Fed Studio Meal Assembly Classes

Dear Vancity Girlfriends,

I love cooking and having homemade meals that are healthy and easy to make.  I've watched cooking shows such as Jamie Oliver's 15 minutes meals and Gordan Ramsey's Best Restaurants to see how to go from home made comfort food to gourmet restaurant meals.  

However even every foodie loving chef has to take a break once in a while so when my girlfriend suggested that we attend North Vancouver's Well Fed Studio and meal assembly class, it didn't take me long to say "Yes!".  So Vancity Girlfriends went to our first meal assembly class on October 15th.  

Well Fed Meal Assembly class is where we "assemble" or "put together" eight dinners that will feed 4-6 people each.  There is a menu that you pre-order from before you attend the class and you can double order the dishes that you like.  There are snacks and drinks (even white wine) served during the two hours of the class.  I had never heard of this idea before but the class sold out so we were lucky that we signed up early.

The cost of the meal assembly class for your eight meals is $238 per person.  The hardest part for me was making space in my apartment sized freezer for the meals.  

When I arrived at the class, they already had our first tray of ingredients all ready for us and our own individual recipe books with our names on them.  Everyone did the recipes that they each choose in the order of their recipe book.  All the ingredients were wrapped in different bags for the different meals that you chose.  Even though initially I thought that meal assembly would be easier than cooking, it was still a LOT of work.  We were busy assembling the meals during the entire two hours.  Everyone else seemed to know what to do and had been there before.  Since it was our first time we had some catching up to do but Carolyn was on a roll and got to work right away as I was sipping on my wine ;)  

The recipe book provided instructions on how to assemble the meal.  Put the ingredients in different ziploc bags, add the spices, pack it all together in ziploc bags or containers and then slap cooking instructions on it.  Most of the ingredients would be in the bags but the staple ingredients and fresh herbs were in the middle of the table for everyone to use and share. 

With the stuffed chicken breasts, we had to put the stuffing and tie the breasts before we put them in containers to freeze at home.  I really liked the fact that most of the recipes that I choose were intended to be put in large ziploc bags because that saved a lot of freezer space for me.  I also liked that since we were assembling the food, I could choose which meals I wanted to separate into smaller portion sizes.  It was work but the good news is that I didn't have to do any chopping, or dish washing.  All of the shopping and preparation was done for me and I didn't need to buy a bunch of different spices that I might only use once or twice.  A few of the recipes such as Chicken Tikka Masala and Beef Tangine had over 10 spices in the recipes.  

Overall we both liked the meal assembly class and it was a great idea to try it out.  Now we just need to actually thaw and cook the recipes at home to see what they taste like!  

Well Fed Meal Assembly Class Website