Category Archives: Vancouver

vancouver-travel-writer
Vancouver is my hometown. It’s where I grew up and where I live. I love to share the city’s stories.

My Vancouver travel writing has appeared in Fodor’s guidebooks, the Vancouver Courier, PAX News West, Hitched Magazine, North Shore Living Magazine, YP Dine, and more.

Travel writing, Vancouver, Writing samples

FOR TIME OUT’S LIST OF THE WORLD’S COOLEST NEIGHBOURHOODS 2021: Mount Pleasant, Vancouver

While the creek that fuelled Vancouver’s nineteenth-century brewery boom is long gone from Mount Pleasant, this historic neighbourhood remains the city’s go-to spot for craft beer – it’s easy to hit half a dozen tasting rooms in an afternoon on foot. The otherwise nondescript industrial and office buildings of this ever-evolving area are festooned with multi-storey murals, while its classic brick warehouses and storefronts are home to great vintage stores, galleries and artists’ studios. The neighbourhood vibe is perhaps best captured by Dude Chilling Park, so named after a guerrilla art installation mimicking an official city sign kept appearing with this name. Locals rallied to make the sign official, and it now has public art status.

The perfect day: Line your stomach with a peanut butter and jelly doughnut, plus locally roasted coffee, at 49th Parallel before strolling down Main Street to the cluster of breweries between 8th and 2nd avenues. Finish your night with craft cocktails at The Narrow Lounge or catch a show at the Fox Cabaret.

Plan your trip: For the Vancouver Mural Festival, in August, which culminates in an epic street party with multiple stages across Mount Pleasant. –Christina Newberry

This post originally appeared in the Time Out list of the word’s coolest neighbourhoods 2021.

Travel writing, Vancouver, Writing samples

For YP Dine: Sweet spots for a slice: Vancouver's best pie shops

Move over fancy cupcakes and designer doughnuts – pies are making a comeback. A new generation of young bakers are shaking things up with fun shops and innovative flavours that will satisfy the most modern palate, and classic pie shops continue to deliver the quality that has kept them in business for decades. No matter what kind of pie you're craving, here's where to find the perfect slice.

Read the list at YP Dine

Event coverage, Travel writing, Vancouver, Writing samples

For PAXnewsWest.com: YVR unveils new west coast dining experience at Lift Bar & Grill

sushi

The international terminal of Vancouver International Airport (YVR) has launched a new full-service West Coast dining experience in the form of Lift Bar & Grill, a sister location to the iconic Lift Bar & Grill in Vancouver’s Coal Harbour.

With windows onto the airport’s 114,000-litre aquarium and extensive use of wood finishes, Lift Bar & Grill highlights West Coast design – and executive chef Soojin Park’s menu selections showcase West Coast seafood certified by the Vancouver Aquarium’s Ocean Wise program.

“We try to support local suppliers,” Park said at the restaurant’s media launch yesterday. “People have a wonderful time in Vancouver, and we want them to have one last great meal before they leave.”

Park trained as a chef in Toronto and has appeared on the Food Network series Made to Order. She was sous chef at Vancouver’s La Brasserie before becoming executive chef at Lift Bar & Grill in 2010.

In addition to entrée-sized dishes, the Lift Bar & Grill menu offers an extensive share plates section, allowing passengers to share with the other travellers in their party and customize the size of their meal.

“People don’t want to have a big, heavy meal before they get on a flight,” said Bob Lindsay, owner of Lift Bar & Grill. “People seem to be really enjoying the shared concept.”

Lift Bar & Grill is part of an extensive expansion of the food and beverage options at YVR in partnership with SSP Canada. Five additional restaurants occupying a total of more than 14,000 square feet are planned through 2019, with Pajos’ Fish & Chips, Bánh Shop and Freshii slated to open by the end of this year.

“Last year, 22.3 million passengers came through this airport,” said Scott Norriss, vice-president, commercial development, Vancouver Airport Authority, noting the figure is a two million passenger increase over 2015. “We need to offer them the variety and quality of food that Lift offers.”

Sixty-two per cent of passengers purchase food and beverage at YVR, and the airport has the top concession sales per enplaned passenger in North America according to Airport Revenue News.

Like all restaurants at YVR, Lift Bar & Grill participates in the Food on the Fly program, so passengers can order meals to go in special packaging to take onboard their flight.

Lift Bar & Grill is located past security in the international departures terminal. For more information, visit YVR.ca.

This post originally appeared on PAXNewsWest.com in 2017. 

Vancouver, Writing samples

For REW.ca: Five Great Thing About Living in … Richmond

Located just south of the Fraser River, Richmond is literally minutes from Vancouver by car or transit. The city's large Asian community (65 per cent of residents) makes it an important hub of Asian culture in the Lower Mainland.

It's also a culturally significant site of Metro Vancouver's maritime history, with National Historic Sites at the Gulf of Georgia Cannery and Britannia Shipyards.

Read the rest at REW.ca