Valerie van der Gracht 
When Marc Smith asked me to be a part of his #30 Days of Kindness I was very flattered. Then I was a bit terrified. What could I do? I am one person running a website that makes zero dollars, is in fact not meant to make money. I derive no salary from my website, … Read more
Boulevard Kitchen & Oyster Bar is an experience in dining like no other. The unique and elegant space is welcoming without even a hint of pretension. I felt comfortable from the moment we arrived and throughout the evening as the ebb and flow of a relatively fast paced environment swirled around us. The space … Read more
MyVanCity.ca is very pleased to announce our new weekly feature “Taste of Thursday”. We have recruited some great BC Chefs who will provide us with unique recipes to share with our readers. Whether you’re a gourmand or a gourmet you are going to enjoy this new weekly feature. Each week a different chef will publish … Read more
With Wine Tourism Day coming up on November 8 it seems timely to complete my list of places to visit in the Okanagan. I actually travelled to the Okanagan on two occasions this past September. Neither trip was planned in advance yet we managed to pack in a lot in just a few days. I … Read more
As we head into the Fall season our friends at Earls are hard at work testing dishes that are sure to delight. Just the other night I attended a media preview of what is to come and believe me you won’t be disappointed. We met for a meet and greet in the Earls Yaletown … Read more
Last week I had an opportunity to join other members of the local media for a test run of Taste of Yaletown. Celebrating their 10th anniversary this year’s Taste of Yaletown will be the best yet. Media were divided into smaller groups and each group sampled a selection of participating restaurants. Our first stop was La … Read more
Celebrating Thanksgiving weekend with family this year included a trip to Coastal Black Winery for Pumpkin Fest. I hadn’t been to Coastal Black since the inaugural Flavours event in September, 2012 so I was quite taken by how much work has been done at the farm. Good thing too because with the number of … Read more
Dinner and a Cruise Sunday night I ventured out to the District to try their new Sunday Night Suppers feature. Hopping on the Seabus to get there took hardly any time at all and makes the trip to the North Shore a bit more fun. The District is a great little bistro style restaurant featuring the … Read more
The advantage of an unplanned trip is that you don’t have an itinerary or a schedule to follow you just go where you want to go. So now it’s late Saturday morning and we decide to get out of town (Kelowna) and head over to Naramata Bench. There are dozens of great wineries to … Read more
What happens when you get a last minute invitation to join in on a weekend trip to Okanagan wine country? Well obviously you accept, pack and go. So leaving Vancouver just after noon on Friday away we went – destination Kelowna. The weather was ideal for a weekend away and even though there was … Read more