Vancouver 2010 Olympics

Starting in January I began a six month internship with the Legislative Assembly of British Columbia. As a part of the program I spent five weeks working in the Intergovernmental Relations Secretariat (IGRS...everything in government has an acronym). Overall, it was a great experience and I really enjoyed working with and learning from my co-workers. However, the definite highlight of my time with IGRS was when I spent the weekend assisting IGRS with some Olympic events.

I had not originally intended to go to Vancouver during the Olympics, which made the trip that much more special for me. My first stop was at the opening of La Maison de Quebec.

After chatting with the security guard (en Français of course!) I was met by the assistant deputy minister and whisked past the red velvet rope. The interior more or less consisted of a stage, a make-shift restaurant and a bar. The venue was full of politicians, members of the media, artists and bureaucrats from Quebec and BC's francophone and francophile (a person with a strong positive disposition towards anything French) community.

I was introduced to several people, including Premier of Quebec Jean Charest who said that he was happy to see that BC's French immersion was working well. Having graduated from BC's French immersion program, I assured him that it was. I also met the mayor of my hometown, Richard Stewart, who speaks French very well. While chatting with him I discovered that he not only knew my family, but he also knew the house where I grew up! Talk about your involved politician - I thought that was great!

I left Quebec House and went for a stroll downtown. Previously I had read in the news that security for the Olympics was overdone. After seeing it first hand, I would disagree. There were definitely more police officers around, but other than that, in my opinion, the only noticeable security addition were these scuba divers.

The next morning was Canadian Francophonie Day and IGRS was organizing a breakfast in celebration of it. Here I am in the very popular 'photo spot'.

See what I mean? The event attracted some pretty serious players such as the President of the Francophonie, lots of politicians and ambassadors, and our Premier and Governor General.

My last stop for the weekend was at the Festival Du Bois, an event celebrating French Canadian culture which I used to attend as a child. We had a yummy lunch complete with tortière (meat pie) and sucre à la crème (creamed sugar).

I grabbed a quick picture with the Minister of IGRS, Naomi Yamamoto.

If you ever get a chance to go to the Festival Du Bois there is one thing that, if nothing else, you must do - eat poutine! This isn't your regular New York Fries style poutine, this is real poutine. Real potato fries, delicious gravy and enough cheese curds to put you in cardiac arrest. It was simply divine and the perfect way to wrap up my weekend.

My Greatest New Year's Eve (to date)

For the past several years my New Year's Eves have been fairly typical - go to a house party where you know only a hand full of people and watch friends from high school make out with one another. This year was much more enjoyable! When I was in Ukraine my boyfriend and I were missing each other so we planned a getaway to Seattle to bring in 2010 together.

We took the clipper ferry (http://www.clippervacations.com/) from Victoria to Seattle. The Clipper offers off-season prices and hotel deals so we booked a hotel through them too. We stayed at the Marriott Springhill which is about a 10 minute walk from the heart of Seattle's downtown. This means that it is just as nice as the Marriott Waterfront, but less costly. We like walking, so the choice was obvious.

This was my boyfriend's first time in Seattle. I had been raving about Pike Place Market since we started going out and now I finally was able to show him why it was so great.


There's so much wonderful, fresh food - the market is hard to resist.

And of course, it rained for most of our stay.

The main highlight of our trip was a food tour done through Savor Seattle food tours (http://www.savorseattletours.com/). We went on the gourmet food tour which was 3 hours long and cost $65 each. I can irrevocably say that this was the best tour I've ever been on!

The tour group consisted of couples who were all very nice and chatty. The tour guide was enthusiastic and informational. And the food was to die for!

A really helpful feature of the tour was the ear piece provided so that we could always hear what our tour guide was saying, even while walking outside...and I may have stayed tuned in while taking a bathroom break (I really didn't want to miss a second, I was having that much fun).

Our first stop was at Andaluca Restaurant (http://www.andaluca.com/). There we ate duck cakes and drank sangria (yes, alcohol is provided on the tour). The head chef came out to greet us and I think he described his food best when he said that he thought of our mouths as a playground for flavors. It has been two months since I tried the duck cakes and their goodness haunts me.

Our second stop was at Serious Pie (http://tomdouglas.com/index.php?page=serious-pie), Tom Douglas' pizza restaurant. They cook their pizza 'naked' which means that they do not put the cheese on until after the pizza comes out from the oven. This allows the cheese to simply melt onto it and keeps the flavours of the cheese pure. However, it is important to note that they do not take reservations because of the restaurant's popularity. They also do not permit a seat to be empty during busy times. This means that you may be seated next to someone you don't know to share a meal - a great way to meet people while visiting a new city!

Next on the tour was the Chocolate Box (http://www.sschocolatebox.com/) which features organic and fair trade chocolate. I had my first taste of European sipping chocolate which is like a really thick hot chocolate.

Unfortunately I don't have a picture of our next stop, Il Bistro (http://www.ilbistro.net/). Located in Pike Place Market in a beautiful heritage building, this romantic, candle lit restaurant was phenomenal. They served us a mouth watering risotto with a Washington white wine. They also boast a late night menu.

The next stop was Creminelli Meats (http://www.creminelli.com/). They offer a black truffle salami which is quite possibly the best salami I've ever tried.

Pike Brewing Company (http://www.pikebrewing.com/) was my boyfriend's favourite stop on the tour. I enjoyed it too, even as a non-beer drinker.

They gave us a tour of their on-site facilities. The lady who showed us around was incredibly knowledgeable and emphasized that their beers are all natural and locally made.

What they offered us was unofficially called the 'menage a trois' because the two beers and bread are made with a kind of beer that was named after Nelly, a famous early 19th century prostitute. I fully support this name being officially added to their menu.

We finished off the tour at Gelatiamo (http://www.gelatiamo.com/) for gelato. They served us peanut butter gelato and raspberry sorbet - a nod to the timeless PB&J. They make their gelato on site with all natural ingredients.

After the food tour we made our way to the space needle to ring in the New Year with champagne and fireworks. This truly was a fantastic way to ring in 2010!

Home for the Holidays

I've been back in Canada for a few months now and I've decided to casually keep my blog...mostly because I think my mom likes it.

For Christmas I bought my boyfriend a dinner cruise around Vancouver harbour. But first we visited Science World, a childhood hang out. Here I am in the beaver dam.

This was our cruise boat. I had a great time and I think my bf did too. The food was good, but not the wine list. My only complaint was that it was a little overcrowded and there were too any children for it to have been truly romantic. However, it was very festive with red and green decorations and Christmas carols and I would recommend it. You can check out their website at http://www.vancouvercruises.com/.

The rest of my Christmas vacation was spent with family and a few friends. On January 1st I moved back to Victoria to begin an internship at the Legislative Assembly.