“Experience the civilized pleasures of the salon with fine SALONTEAs”—Tracy Stern

By Eudora Koh, Modern Mix Vancouver writer

This past weekend, Modern Mix Vancouver was invited to a lavish and modern day tea party on South Granville at the official Canadian launch of Tracy Stern’s’ SALONTEA.  The concept originated from New York, which explains its stylish name as well as its ability to draw together some of the trendiest from Vancouver’s lifestyle scene. The glamorous Tracy Stern, CEO and visionary of SALONTEA, and author of “Tea Party: 20 themed tea parties” book, was available at the event for interviews and autograph signings.

Tracy Stern’s SALONTEA is a unique and one of a kind tea boutique, serving your traditional teas and treats, but in an environment that is not your typical Vancouver tea house. Walk into SALONTEA and immediately be dazzled by its high ceilings, bright accents (mainly orange, pink and brown), splashed against the store’s shiny white tile walls. It feels like you are in an adorned salon or boutique, as its design and interior decor is decorative, fresh and contemporary.

And of course as it is a tea house, you can purchase high tea for two or more, complete with your choice of their beautifully named teas like The Musician (rooibos), The Writer (Indian chai), The Romantic (green tea), The Lover (chocolate chai), The Natural Beauty (rooibos), The Sleeping Beauty (chamomile), and The Fashionable Dandy (black tea). All very sensuous and seductive names, and very appropriate for the entire experience SALONTEA has to offer.

To enhance the baroque SALONTEA house experience at the grand opening, there were two girls dressed in bright pink and orange Mary Antoinette costumes—from head to toe (yes they even wore pink and orange wigs!) And of course, what’s a tea party without the teas and sweet and savory treats?  Guests were invited to try a few different SALONTEA favorites like iced chai latte, infused iced romantic green tea with jasmine and pomegranate juice, and traditional warm vanilla flavored teas. And the dainty tiers of bite sized treats included macaroons, salmon and cream cheese sandwiches, croissant sandwiches, pastries, scones and cupcakes galore!

Prices for high tea are still being finalized, but you can look forward to SALONTEA opening up very soon in the South Granville neighborhood, offering up a stylish way of having tea in a very modern and polished boutique styled tea house. And if you’re not in the mood to stay for tea, there are packs of SALONTEAs you can purchase to drink at home. SALONTEA books and trinkets are also available for purchase too. Either way, the next time you do decide to go for high tea, be sure to visit SALONTEA; it’s definitely the fanciful and exclusive New York twist on Vancouver afternoon tea—one that every girl is sure to adore!

Edible Canada at the Market on Granville Island is a full service 150-seat bistro, focusing on new Canadian cuisine. Unpretentious, welcoming and accessible, Edible Canada features menu items sourced from across Canada. I have recently heard a lot of buzz about the local and sustainable menu at the Edible Canada Bistro and decided to check it out for brunch.

Menus are ever-changing following the seasons and what Edible Canada chefs find in the Granville Island Public Market on a day-to-day basis.  When I went last weekend, I had the Yarrow Meadows Duck Confit Hash ($15).  The shredded duck was mixed into small, diced hashbrowns, which is unusual from the big chunks of potatoes I’m used to.  Because of the small cubes of potatoes, I found that they were extremely flavourful as the sauce marinated the hashbrowns. I may have tasted a bit of sweetness in there, so there was a playful salty and sweet contrast on the pallet.  If you’re going to order this dish, make sure you LOVE mushrooms because there sure were a lot of different varieties in hash.

My friend had the Wild Mushroom Benny ($11) which he thought was a well-balanced meal – creamy hollandaise on bright white poached eggs.

I initially thought the portions were a bit small, but we were both quite satisfied after our meals.  If you’re on a budget, there are definitely breakfast and brunch menu items in the $10 range – such as the brioche Grilled Cheese with brie, cheddar, olive jam and okangan apple ($10) and the Edible Canada Breakfast with free range eggs, pork & apple sausage and crispy duck fat fried hashbrowns ($12). It’s only if you get into the seafood items for brunch where it gets slightly more pricy – for example the East Coast Lobster Mac & Cheese ($19)

For those of you looking for an additional kick to your morning meal, try the  Maple Caesar, a truly Canadian experience – the maple leaf prevails on the Canadian flag, while the Caesar drink recipe originated from Calgary.

For those of you in a rush there is a  take out window for tasty bites and Salt Spring Coffee to go.  In addition to weekend brunch, Edible Canada is open daily for lunch and dinner.

Stila Cosmetics is releasing a new limited edition travel palette designed exclusively for Vancouver Stila girls! The West Coast inspired “Vibrant in Vancouver” palette features five eye shadow shades, a lip & cheek Convertible Colour, mirror and how-to face chart. Stila’s newest palette will give BC beauties a gorgeous beach glow all summer long.

The “Vibrant in Vancouver” limited edition travel palette ($21 CAD) will be available at Vancouver Shoppers Drug Mart Beauty Boutiques and Murale locations beginning June 1, 2012.

Enjoy Life. Drink Tea. Celebrate Often.  Introducing Tracy Stern SALONTEA, a New York-based tea boutique that’s opening up its first Canadian boutique in Vancouver’s South Granville district in May 2012.  Not just your average cup of tea, SALONTEA is a sought-after sipping-must for Royals and celebrities such as Oprah and Rihanna; attracting widespread global attention and demand from as far away as Dubai, Moscow, Guatemala and Cannes.

SALONTEA’s Vancouver location embraces the rich artistry of tea blending and tasting; fusing it with a unique, modern-day appeal.  SALONTEA will offer a welcoming, relaxed atmosphere to patrons in search of a unique tea experience where they can connect, think, write and celebrate. In addition to more than a dozen tempting, estate blended teas, customers can partake in daily tea service while perusing a selection of baked offerings, sweets and other gourmet tea-worthy treats, courtesy of Meinhardt’s next door.

With the expansion of SALONTEA (including themed tea parties!) to Vancouver, locals can look forward to browsing through an extensive selection of teas, accessories and tea beauty care products which are all part of the SALONTEA line.  Also available at the boutique: signed-copies of Tracy Stern’s popular book, ‘Tea Party: 20 Themed Tea Parties with Recipes for Every Occasion, from Fabulous Showers to Intimate Gatherings’.

Vancouver SALONTEA hours is anticipated to be 10am to 7pm Monday to Friday and 10am to 5pm weekends & holidays.  Stayed tuned on Modern Mix Vancouver for more information when SALONTEA actually opens!

By Manveet Virk, Modern Mix Vancouver writer

If you’ve had a hectic past month like some of us, you may have let this event almost pass by without even catching a glimpse of the pink flash mobs of the Vancouver Cherry Blossom Festival! But luckily, the not-for-profit Vancouver Cherry Blossom Festival Society went to great lengths this year to have enough opportunities for practically anyone to accommodate! From now until April 28th, there are three more events to look forward to commemorate the 37,000 ornamental cherry trees generously gifted from Japan in the 1930’s to the City of Vancouver. Check out the three finale events here.

At Ayoub’s Dried Fruits and Nuts, you can literally go nuts, over nuts!  When I first stumbled across this brightly lit shop on Denman Street, I felt like I was in a glorified version of the bulk food section of IGA.  At least 50 round bins textured with middle Eastern detailing, like oversized chalices or trophies, held a variety of roasted nuts and dried fruit mixtures. Along the side of the shop, a vast selection Persian sweets and spices are lined up neatly on shelves.

At Ayoub’s, you can go nuts over dry-roasted hazelnuts, roasted peanuts with a hint of salt and spice and crunchy pistachios.   Not only are nuts delicious, they also have health benefits.  The “good fat” in nuts helps regulate brain function, build muscle and keep you feeling great.  If you’re an athlete, a nutty snack can give you a competitive edge because nuts are an excellent source of energy and perfect before and after a workout.

So who is Ayoub anyway?  Ayoub Hosseini is a professional chef with literally 20-plus years of experience and expertise in the fruit and nut business. For Ayoub, it’s more than just a job. It’s a way of life – a passion that’s been driving him to perfect all of his recipes and methods since he first learned his craft back in the early 1980’s.

The notion behind his dried fruits and nuts shop is based on a simple concept: to select only the highest quality raw ingredients from trusted suppliers around the world, and combine those quality ingredients with a variety of sophisticated flavours and textures, resulting in a snack food sensation that’s healthy, satisfying and “nut”ritious.  According to Ayoub, the key to great tasting roasted nuts is to eat them right after they come out of the roaster.  Ayoub hand-roasts all of his products on site at the store.

In addition to nuts, you can also purchase a variety of unique, delicious and healthy dried seeds including, Chubby Pumpkins and Wonderful Watermelons. Chewy and delicious, these seeds are a mainstay of a healthy diet and are very high in fibre.

Meanwhile, for Ayoub’s dried fruit, they remain “wonderfully moist and chewy” because “dried fruit should not be dried-out fruit”.  Ayoub features a wide variety of family-recipe dried fruits and nuts.  A must try is Ayoub’s Dried Fruit Mix which features kiwis, plums, mangos, figs, dates, lemons, oranges, apples, bananas and persimmon fruit.

Lastly, in addition to nuts, seeds and dried-fruit, you can purchase a range of specialty Middle Eastern treats from Ayoub’s. Turkish coffees, candy, tea and chocolate are just a few of the many specialties available.  These are great as a sweet treat for yourself, or as a gift.

As you can see, there is an incredibly wide selection of snacks available at Ayoub’s.  For the bulk items, you pay by the gram, so you can mix and match at an affordable price and find your favourite.

Ayoub’s Dried Fruits and Nuts has two retail locations – in the Downtown Vancouver West End at 986 Denman Street and also in North Vancouver at 1332 Lonsdale Avenue.

]]> http://modernmixvancouver.com/index.php/2012/04/15/go-nuts-with-ayoubs-dried-fruits-nuts-on-denman-street/feed/ 0 http://modernmixvancouver.com/index.php/2012/04/10/the-donnelly-group-commits-to-purchasing-products-from-save-on-meats/ http://modernmixvancouver.com/index.php/2012/04/10/the-donnelly-group-commits-to-purchasing-products-from-save-on-meats/#comments Tue, 10 Apr 2012 21:22:52 +0000 vanessa http://modernmixvancouver.com/?p=7453

Just announced today, The Donnelly Group (The Academic, The Bimini, The Calling, Cinema, The Lamplighter, Metropole, etc.) has committed to purchasing products from restaurateur Mark Brand’s Save on Meats for all Donnelly Pub Group menus, in an effort to support Save on Meat’s program to provide healthy meals for residents of Vancouver’s Downtown Eastside.

Mark Brand reopened the iconic Save On Meats building last year in June 2011 with an ambitious business plan and underlying social mandate. One branch of this mandate is their partnership with the Atira Women’s Resource Society to collaborate on a meal program providing healthy and delicious hot lunches to residents of Single Room Occupancy and Single Room Accommodation in the Downtown Eastside. The focus of this meal program is on providing both nutritious and enjoyable food items in order to give people at risk a healthier and happier mealtime.

With the goal to increase the size of the program and to improve the quality of meals being provided, Mark Brand was in need of more partners to help with funding. The Donnelly Group, a local hospitality company dedicated to supporting local causes, was happy to get involved. In May 2010, Jeff Donnelly, CEO and President of the Donnelly Group, re-launched the Metropole Community Pub, which donates 25% of profits to organizations in the Downtown Eastside and supports numerous charities through the Donnelly Fund. The partnership between Save On Meats and the Donnelly Group was a natural fit and in line with the charitable goals of both organizations.

By sourcing products from Save On Meats for the Donnelly Pub Group menu, the Donnelly Group is helping to subsidize the meal program through the development of exceptional menu items that are locally and ethically sourced. The Donnelly Group is currently sourcing products for all burgers, sliders and sausages on the pub menus from Save on Meats. This helps to subsidize a meal program that now feeds 480 people a day, with 1400 pounds of nutritious food being distributed every week.

“I don’t know about you, but I am sick and tired of sanctimonious, impossible diet and exercise plans in magazines and books by so-called experts. I mean, who the hell can really live on 1,200 miserable calories worth of egg Beaters, skinless chicken, and salad greens?”
- Jacquie Somerville, My Fat Little Rule Book

By Joanna Lee, Modern Mix Vancouver writer

My Fat Little Rule Book is the soon-to-be-released book from Jacquie Somerville, a local entrepreneur, foodie and fashionista from Vancouver. The pre-launch event was held at the Rosewood Hotel Georgia on March 21st where Jacquie gave the first public reading from her new book. As her first published work, My Fat Little Rule Book is about Jacquie’s lifelong battle with body image – a topic familiar for many in today’s society – and how she was able to come to terms with being both a fashionista and foodie. Jacquie wrote the book as a guide for herself with 15 rules she established to help her achieve her ideal weight. It is her first-hand account of the pressure to “look fabulous in Gucci while salivating over Gorgonzola”.

My Fat Little Rule Book is an entertaining and humorous read of Jacquie’s 35-day diet and exercise plan, and how she was able to lose the “last ten pounds.” She intertwines her personal journal entries with postscripts to which women will relate. It is not only a book about food and fashion, but delves deeper into topics of motivation and how goal-setting can impact one’s self-worth and self-confidence.

My Fat Little Rule Book will be available in e-format within the next few weeks. Jacquie is also giving away free copies of the book, click here to find out more.

]]> http://modernmixvancouver.com/index.php/2012/03/24/my-fat-little-rule-book-by-vancouvers-jacquie-somerville/feed/ 0 http://modernmixvancouver.com/index.php/2012/03/22/social-experiment-west-coast-inspired-cocktail-rings/ http://modernmixvancouver.com/index.php/2012/03/22/social-experiment-west-coast-inspired-cocktail-rings/#comments Fri, 23 Mar 2012 00:50:54 +0000 vanessa http://modernmixvancouver.com/?p=7073

Each Social Experiment piece is inspired by the natural beauty of the West Coast.
The sun, sand, rain, surf, ancient forests and high mountains of the Pacific Northwest.

Vancouver born and raised Georgia Heraty is the designer behind Social Experiment, a collect of West Coast inspired wire-wrapped cocktail rings.  Wire-wrapped jewelry always gives its pieces a one-of-a-kind feel.  No two pieces are alike because every gemstone is given its character and individuality through its rough cuts.  Georgia and I were in the same graduating class in high school and recently ran into each other again at an exclusive event at Violet Hill Boutique.  Modern Mix Vancouver had a chance to catch up with Georgia, read the interview below and find out what this Westcoast gal has to say about Social Experiment!

MMV: Where did the name Social Experiment come from?
Georgia: The name is a direct reflection of what began as a hobby and now has turned into a small business. I took a course at Country Beads back in April 2009 as something fun to try. I made these cocktail rings as gifts for family and friends.  Social Experiment started out as a social experiment, to see if people like my designs and product. Guess they did!

MMV: Why did you choose to focus on rings instead of other types of jewelry? Do you have any plans on expanding beyond just making rings?
Georgia: Well the simple answer is that I took a wire wrapped ring course and have stuck with what I know. Once you start making jewelry, whether it be for yourself or as a business venture, it is very easy to get sidetrack by all the possibilities (and of course the supplies!) I have tried bracelets, but they were not as successful. I am open to exploring other avenues of jewelry making, but at the moment I am content with growing Social Experiment with cocktail rings.

MMV: How are your designs inspired by the West Coast?
Georgia: I have always been consumed by all things West Coast & my love for Vancouver, so much so that I have a tattoo of a seashell on one ankle and a snowflake on the other. The West Coast is physically a part of my body (and of course my soul). I choose semi-precious stones, which are then drilled into beads, to represent nature.

MMV: What kind of hobbies and activities do you partake in that truly make you a Westcoast kind of gal?
Georgia: On top of having the West Coast as a part of my physical self, my lifestyle, attitude, outlook on life, and sense of style all reflect my love of the West Coast. I love to swim in the ocean when it gets warmer.  I kayak, surf and skimboard.  I also love to run, do yoga, rock climb, hike, telemark ski and cross country ski, golf.  Vancouver truly is a West Coast city 365 days a year. I cannot think of another amazing city where you can ski, run, kayak, sit on a patio and shop at amazing stores in the same day!

MMV: Where are your pieces available for purchase in Vancouver?
Georgia: All day and everyday online through Etsy, Barefoot Contessa (Main Street and Commercial Drive), Violet Hill Boutique in Steveston,  Muse Social Fashion House in South Surrey and, beginning March 31st, Live Yoga studio boutique.

By no means a pub crawl, explore Gastown’s exciting craft beer scene on Vancouver Food Tour’s beer-centric culinary tour.  Upon signing up for the craft beer and bites tour, we knew we’d be stopping by four different destinations during the three-hour tour, but the locations aren’t revealed until you meet your tour group.  We met our tour guide, Nicole Coetzee, and the other 8 – 10 members of the tour at Waterfront Station in Gastown.

The four Gastown locations we went to were Rogue Kitchen & Wetbar, Pourhouse, Clough Club and Bitter Tasting Room.   Each destination features unique aspects of beer including beer history and brewing process, beer cocktails, modern gastropub snacks and how to pair beer and food.

At the first location, Rogue Kitchen and Wetbar, all three beer selections were from British Columbia – Central City (Surrey), Driftwood Brewery (Victoria) and R&S Brewing Co. (East Vancouver).  We had a lobster macaroni and cheese, a hearty, spicy chilli and a bite-sized vietnamese sandwich to pair with our drinks.

Our Vancouver tour guide, Nicole, was really knowledgeable and personable.  She was well rehearsed in her tour speeches, yet the way she spoke about her craft beers was in a conversational, storytelling style, rather than a textbook lecture.  Nicole was able to describe craft beer with the five senses:

• sight - how beer should look, the significance of the glass beer bottle colour
• sound - what the “pop” of a beer cap should sound like to ensure the beer is fresh
• smell - the typical aromas of different styles of beer
• touch - the texture of beer on your palette (is it creamy? smooth? velvety?)
• taste - the actual flavour of the beer and the styles of food it would be best paired with.

In addition, not only was she able to give us the spheal on the beer itself, she also produced snippets of information on Gastown history as we hopped from location to location.

Next up was Pourhouse. There, we sampled another beer from Driftwood Brewery, but were also introduced to two American brewery creations – a Pale Ale from Mirror Pond (Oregon) and and the Imperial 8 Ball Stout from Loast Coast Brewery (California).  For food pairings, see image below:

Most of the patrons of the beer tour came in pairs.  In our group, most of the people were from Vancouver, although we had a couple from New Zealand as well! In general, I found that conversation flowed easily with everyone in the group.  Because we switched locations every 40 minutes or so, conversations didn’t run stale because you could sit beside a new person at the next location.  If you ever ran out of things to say, you could always divert your attention back to food and drink.

At the Donnelly Group’s newest restaurant, Clough Club, we were served an “orange hop-sicle” beer cocktail which consisted of 2 oz of Cointreau, 3 oz of Driftwood Far Tug IPA, 1/2 oz dash of simple syrup and 3 dash Peychaud’s bitters to round it all out.  The cocktail was strong, with contrasting flavours of sweet and bitter.  Keep your eyes peeled for more and more innovative beer cocktail concoctions – that seems to be a recent alcoholic beverage trend in Vancouver.

Lastly, at Bitter Tasting Room, we had another flight of beers paired with dessert.  Dessert was made up of multi layers of cream, nuts, cake and cherry, served in a jam jar.  At the last location, we were encouraged to stay as long as we liked to continue to social with our tour group.

Convinced?  Hop on board and meet fellow beer devotees as you taste, sip, and bite through historic Gastown.  With a passionate beer educator as your guide, curious beer lovers and serious beer enthusiasts alike will discover, enjoy and discuss craft brews alongside a variety of food pairings.

The next Craft Beer & Bites tour will be on April 3.  The $80 tour includes beer tastings at each of the 4 destinations, hand-selected food pairings and an informative and interactive guided walking tour.  Click here for more information and to register online for the tour.