1) Gulf of Georgia Cannery

My folks were in town from London for a few weeks and we enjoyed time out exploring Vancouver. One day we headed down to Stevenston – primarily to purchase some fresh fish at the market  but the fishermen were nowhere to be seen; I suspect we arrived too late and they were either out fishing or asleep. We were not deterred though and enjoyed wandering the National Historic sites of the Britannia Shipyard and the Gulf of Georgia Cannery along with lunching at the Lower Mainland’s best fish shack, Pajo’s. The cannery was built back in 1894 when Steveston was one of the key centres for canning in the world. When the cannery went bust in the 1930s, it was converted to a herring reduction plant. That function lasted right up till 1979 when the last fish was fried, so to speak, or, in this case, reduced to oil.

2) the Britannia Shipyards

3) the old shipyard building

4) the oh-so-cute homes that were built on piles over the shore of the Fraser River

5) ma and moi at the cannery

6) inside the Britannia Shipyard building

7) ma is cooking

8) papa and ma sit down to enjoy a 1930s style table inside the shipyard museum

9) holy cans Batman!

10) any of these labels familiar?

11) more salmon heading off the line

12) nah, can’t see ma ever working on this line

13) lunching at Pajo’s

Another day, we headed out to the University of British Columbia to enjoy time touring the UBC Botanical Gardens and the Nitobe Memorial Japanese Gardens.  Both are highly recommended and the Botanical Garden also offers a very neat Canopy Walk that has you heading up into the white hemlocks and douglas fir trees.

14) inside the “Physics Garden” where they showcase plants that are used for medicinal purposes

15) so pretty

16) yeh, I’m a BC tree-hugger … papa … not so much (yet)

17) Papa and I head up the canopy walk

18) great views from up in the trees

19) I have to cross to over there

20) oh my

21) onwards, upwards papa goes

22) looking up from the canopy

23) there’s the end!

24) papa’s (very) happy to be at the exit

25) the meadow inside the botanical garden

26) this is elecampane, famous as a cold remedy used by the Greeks and Romans and purported to be the plant Helen of Troy was picking when she was abducted by Paris

27) here’s the Physics Garden

28) okay, anyone guess what time we were visiting at?

29) globe artichoke bulb

The Nitobe Memorial Garden is reputed to be one of the best traditional Japanese gardens in North America. It is a class ‘zen’ garden and each and every plant, stone, tree, etc was meticulously placed to fulfill a zen koan: ‘to have nothing is to have everything’. Dedicated to Dr. Inazo Nitobe (1862-1933) and designed by Professor Mori from Chiba University, it is truly stunning and a beautiful sanctuary to while away an hour or three.

30) the garden’s namesake

31) so lovely

32) at the centre is the ‘snow viewing lantern’

33) papa captures ma viewing the lantern

34) the lantern from the other side of the pond

35) tje Yatsu-Hashi bridge … in spring this pond is a tangle of irises

37) oh, such a lovely couple

38) we sat here contemplating nothingness for a good spell

Another night, we laided on a summer dinner for my folks to prepare them for their next cruise adventure. This dinner we built around a Mediterranean idea.

39) the menu … how’s your Italian?

40) the antipasto (all homemade but of course)

41) the primo, homemade vegetable lasagna (with homemade noodles to boot)

42) in a nod to France, I sous vide then deep-fried a steak and served it with a Roquefort butter and watercress

43) for dessert I made a buttermilk panna cotta with an apricot compote and candied fennel seeds