Scenes from Vancouver's Chinatown

Today I had to go downtown for an appointment. I decided to stop off in Chinatown as I wasn't too far from there and I needed to find myself a bamboo steamer (to steam frozen dim sum).

I always enjoy the street scenes and today was no exception.  The array of product in a store in Chinatown is always astounding. There are also a lot of exotic to me things that I don't get to use or see every day. I  still remember my early days in Vancouver and how a trip to Chinatown was always such a delight. Buying simple things like Sandalwood soap (heavenly fragrance) was a true cultural experience.

Truth be told I only walked a square block and a few extra streets in Chinatown.  There is actually much more to see.

I loved the artful tree in front of this traditional looking roof top. There is even a bird perching on top (see side right as you are looking straight at the photo).  The sky looks rather gray. It was actually an overcast day today though it cleared up and became quite warm.

If you look off in the distance of the photo below you will see the sky scrapers. They are located in down town Vancouver just a stone's throw away.

These plants make a nice, colourful addition to the street. I am not sure if they are on sale or if they are gifts to the store owners for a new business perhaps.

All over Chinatown the evidence of economic decay is present. So many shops have closed up. For many years now Chinatown has been declining and many shop owners have migrated to the suburb of Richmond (near the Vancouver International Airport) where there is a sizeable Asian community.  I admire the business people who stick it out in Chinatown and try to keep things going. I know there have been some efforts over the years to try and revitalize this area. Sadly I think the revitalization is going to change the entire nature of the area.

Already today I saw several businesses that just do not match the historical charm and nature of the businesses here. I also saw evidence of numerous residential building projects that are going to bring in masses of residents and change the nature of the area too.

I know change is always happening but I will personally miss the charm of what was.

It was nice to see some beautiful murals in the area.  The one depicted in the photo below is adjacent to an empty lot which is scheduled for a condo project.

This ruby red lamplight  post with Chinese writing at the bottom is quite beautiful.

This sign alerts the passersby to the coming condo development. There are several other developments in the general area.

This fast food restaurant, Kent's Kitchen is a very well known and highly frequented restaurant. I stopped by for lunch.

I love this charming, yellow building. At the bottom of the building you can see that other ethnic businesses are moving.  There is now a Filipino Restaurant in what used to be a clothing store. In the next block I saw businesses run by Caucasians and Vietnamese people.  Chinatown is losing it's historic and distinctly Chinese ambience and I'm guessing that building owners are giving good incentives to other businesses just to keep things going.

I just hope that in years to come there will still be a distinctly Chinese flavour to this area even if things change.

Linking up with Skywatch Friday today.
My the time does fly!
Have a great weekend everyone :-)

My Tuesday

Hello friends,

It's another glorious and beautiful day here in Vancouver. After a period of heavy rainfall early in the Fall we have been having warmer than average temperatures and lots of mostly sunny days. I'm happy about that.

As you can see from my garden everything is pretty much finished for the year. The hardy geraniums are hanging on and their bright colours still make me smile when I look out. All the other plants are done for the year except the trees on my patio garden.

Even the pansies are done for the year. In fact the leaves look like they have some black spots on them which I didn't notice earlier.

I have an appointment on Wednesday morning so I'm using today to get caught up on my housework and cooking. First I've prepared a vegetable medley to go in the oven. It is primarily made up of cubed butternut squash, some eggplant, onions, a couple potatoes and whole cloves of garlic. I've mixed them up with olive oil and fresh rosemary and thyme. This will all be roasted at high heat, uncovered for about half an hour to an hour, depending on how small you chop the vegetables and how fast your oven cooks.

These vegetables are meant to accompany the barbeque ribs which I'm marinating in the bag (in photo below) with a mix of brown sugar, ketchup and vinegar.  Sometimes I add other ingredients like mustard or Worcestershire sauce for more intense flavour.  The ribs will be roasted for a couple hours on low to moderate heat (275 to 325 Farenheit) so they will be popped into the oven to cook for an hour or more before I crank up the heat and add the vegetable medley.  I don't usually make ribs because of the sugar that goes into the sauce. I think once in awhile won't hurt the blood sugar too much as long as I eat healthy most of the rest of the time.

Also I have a pot full of dried chick peas in my rice cooker.  I boil them for a minute after soaking for a short while. I boil them for 1-2 minutes then turn it off the cooker and let the chick peas sit in the pot for an hour or so. Then I boil them again in the same pot and water until cooked. I always have chick peas on hand whether canned or dried.  They are versatile and I never know when I will get a craving for hummus.

I used to be one of those people who was put off of using dried beans because of the time it takes to prepare them. I would soak the beans overnight and then cook them up the next day.  I found this rather inconvenient for my schedule.  Several of my readers suggested I prepare beans using the  quick method (boil for a minute, sit for an hour then boil until cooked). It does save time and doesn't require much pre-planning.  If you have the dried beans on hand and the time on any given day to prepare them, you are good to go.

On the stove top I am boiling up some vegetable stew made with the left over butternut squash, eggplant and onions. I've added green onions and carrots for more flavour and colour and a few potatoes will be thrown in as well. The base of the soup is chicken bouillon (store bought not home made) to which I will add some tumeric powder.  Finally, I will add a few cans of chick peas to make it nice and thick. This stew is intended for lunches Tuesday and Wednesday.

I hope to mix up some no knead bread before I am done for the day. It will need to sit overnight and be baked tomorrow.  I've made it before and posted on my blog but for the time being I can't locate the post. It is a nice bread if you don't like kneading but it does require time to let it rise overnight or all day before baking.

After all this cooking I still have to sweep and wash floors  and vacuum the front room. Fortunately I did most of the laundry on Tuesday. There is still more to do. Where does it all come from?

So that's what I'm busy doing today. I'd love to hear what you are doing.

Joining Our World Tuesday today.

Enjoy your Tuesday.