Renfrew-Collingwood Community News

News stories from the Renfrew-Collingwood community in East Vancouver

Category Archives: Sports & Recreation


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Skytrain Rambler: Get fresh at farmers markets

BY JULIE CHENG

Get kohlrabi and more fresh produce at your local farmers market

Julie Cheng’s purchases from a recent trip to Trout Lake Market include a crisp kohlrabi, which her kids love to eat raw.

September is an especially good time to take advantage of the summer harvest. For great taste and nutrition, there’s nothing better than just-picked fruits and veggies from the farm. In Renfrew-Collingwood, we’re lucky we can hop on the Skytrain and find ourselves at a local farmers market within 15 minutes on various days of the week.

My kids love it when I pick up a fresh kohlrabi from the market. They eat it raw, sliced thin. For them it’s a refreshing, yummy treat; for me it’s a good source of vitamin C (which helps your body absorb iron) and B vitamins (good for the nerves and brain), potassium and calcium.

Let’s hop aboard and meet at the market!

Skytrain stop: Nanaimo
Zone 1; 5 minutes from Renfrew-Collingwood stations

Strawberry planter in community garden

On the way to Trout Lake Market, check out this innovative space-saving strawberry planter at the community garden. Photo by Julie Cheng

From Joyce-Collingwood or 29th Avenue stations, take the Expo or Millennium line, heading to Waterfront station.

Exit Nanaimo station. Cross Nanaimo Street heading east and walk down the Skytrain path, stopping by the community gardens along the way.

Head north (towards the mountains) til you reach Trout Lake, also known as John Hendry Park.

If leaving from Rupert station, stop at Renfrew station and walk east along Grandview Highway (12th Avenue) for about 10 minutes. You’ll hit the north end of Trout Lake.

Head to the far north parking lot.

Andy and Dad entertain shoppers at Trout Lake Market

Andy and Dad entertain shoppers at Trout Lake Market. Photo by Julie Cheng

Trout Lake Market (every Saturday until October 19 from 9:00 am to 2:00 pm). One of the longest-running and most popular markets in Vancouver, Trout Lake Market is always jam-packed. There are often lineups for the food trucks such as Vij’s Railway Express.

It’s not all about food. The scene is colourful and festive with musicians playing and face-painting for kids and kids at heart. In addition to the fresh produce, from apples and peaches to beets and turnips, you can pick up fresh-baked bread and pies, meat and cheese, salmon and oysters, and lots more. If it’s organic, even better!

Skytrain stop: Main Street
Zone 1; 10 minutes from Renfrew-Collingwood stations

Take the Expo or Millennium line, heading to Waterfront station. Stop at Main Street station. The market is located at Main and Terminal, at Thornton Park and across from the VIA Rail Station.

Main Street Market (every Wednesday until October 2nd from 3:00 to 7:00 pm). This market is perfect for commuters heading home. Why not stop and pick up some dinner here? While here, check out the beaux-arts style VIA Rail Station, which was completed in 1919.

Skytrain stop: Yaletown-Roundhouse
Zone 1; 15 minutes from Renfrew-Collingwood stations

Take the Expo or Millennium line, heading to Waterfront station. Stop at Granville Station and transfer to the Canada Line heading to Richmond. Stop at the Yaletown-Roundhouse Station.

Yaletown Market (every Thursday until September 26 from 2:00 to 6:00 pm). Located in historic Yaletown just outside the Yaletown-Roundhouse Skytrain station, this is a new market for 2013. It’s on Mainland Street between Helmcken and Davie. Stay awhile to browse the neighbourhood boutiques afterwards or stop for a coffee or ice cream in a nearby café.

Find more info on the above farmers markets at EatLocal.org.

New urban farm at Van Tech high school

(R to L) Fresh Roots’ Marc Schutzbank, intern Damaris Galvez, Van Tech grade 12 student Karen Wasdeb and customer Sara Ross. Photo by Julie Cheng

Skytrain stop: Renfrew
There’s a new urban farm in our neighbourhood, and it’s run by local students with the help of the Fresh Roots Urban Farm Society.

Zone 1. From the Renfrew station, walk east to Slocan Street and up the hill. The farm is sandwiched between the soccer field and the tennis courts.

VanTech Schoolyard Market (every Wednesday until November from 3:30 to 6:30 pm and every second and fourth Sunday from 10:00 am to 2:00 pm). Stop by for some of the best prices in town for fresh, local produce. This is Fresh Roots’ first season growing at Vancouver Technical Secondary. It is a first-of-its-kind schoolyard market garden where the food is grown and sold back to the community and to the Van Tech café starting September.

Fresh Roots is working to make the urban farm sustainable. “Healthy, local food should be accessible, and it should work,” says Marc Schutzbank of Fresh Roots. More info and photos at freshroots.ca and facebook.com/freshrootsurbanfarm.

Skytrain stop: 29th Avenue
Harvest Fair (Saturday, September 21, 4:00 to 7:00 pm). For a change of pace, stop by the Harvest Fair held annually at Slocan Park as part of the Renfrew Ravine Moon Festival. Here neighbours showcase their summer harvest, from beefiest bean to largest sunflower to tubbiest tomato.

Walk with the lantern parade that starts at 7:00 pm along the ravine down to the Renfrew Park Community Centre, where more entertainment awaits alongside the magical lantern-lit stream.

If you’re feeling hungry, stop for a slice of pizza from Ragazzi’s, at 22nd Avenue and Nootka (across from Renfrew Library). Don’t miss their Caprese Salad, made with tomatoes and baby bocconcini cheese—so simple yet so delicious.

Julie Cheng loves to eat healthy but is a bad cook, so she appreciates simple recipes. She is the editor of the Renfrew-Collingwood Community News.

Marc’s Market Salad

While at Van Tech I purchased ingredients—picked just that morning—for a colourful, flavourful salad. It included purslane, which Marc Schutzbank of Fresh Roots says is a source of the hard-to-find omega-3 essential fatty acid that’s such good brain food. Purslane adds a robust taste and crisp crunch to the salad. I did indeed serve this with salmon and the meal was amazing. Thanks Marc!

Fresh salad ingredients from the Van Tech urban farmschool

Fresh salad ingredients from the Van Tech urban farmschool. Photo by Julie Cheng

For salad:
Van Tech salad mix
Purslane leaves
Bunch onion tops, sliced thin
Nasturtium flowers

For dressing:
Place 2 parts olive oil, 1 part white wine vinegar, 1 tsp good mustard in a jar and shake it all up.

To serve:
Place salad veggies in a large bowl and drizzle with dressing. Optional: add a half cup of sesame seeds for crunch and carmelized leeks for sweetness.

Serve with grilled salmon. Enjoy!

—JC

Copyright (c) 2013 Renfrew-Collingwood Community News


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Skytrain Rambler: Stadium-Chinatown

Favourite places to go and eat by Skytrain

BY JULIE CHENG

Banana cream pie from VCC's Seiffert Market

Banana cream pie was Gilligan’s favourite and is one of the best deals from VCC’s Seiffert Market. Photos by Julie Cheng

“Banana cream pie!” My husband’s eyes lit up. “That was Gilligan’s favourite. Mary Ann always made it for him.”

“Did you like Mary Ann or Ginger?” I asked. Mary Ann and Ginger are two very different but hot castaways from the iconic TV series Gilligan’s Island.

Pause. “I liked Mrs. Howell; she had lots of money,” he said.

The banana cream pie was just one of the deals I picked up from Seiffert Market at Vancouver Community College, located downtown at Pender and Cambie. That day I was lucky to get my hands on fresh-baked muffins (still warm, six for $2.50), whole-wheat buns (12 for $1.50), shepherd’s pie ($4.00) and chicken dinner ($2.50, reduced from $4.50). But the fresh pies are really the best deal in town: $3.50.

Sieffert Market is just one of my favourite places I’ll talk about in a new series: the Skytrain Rambler.

Why Skytrain Rambler?
I love the Skytrain. With two lines (Expo and Millennium) running through it, Renfrew-Collingwood has more Skytrain stops than any other community. The Skytrain can take you downtown and on to the North Shore, east to Burnaby, Coquitlam or Surrey, and south to Richmond.

The Skytrain saved me years ago when I was searching for places to go with my two preschool kids. I’d take them to the Central Branch library, Metrotown, Central Park, Seabus and North Vancouver. When they started to fuss with hunger we’d always find a good meal just around the corner.

Today the Skytrain gives my teenage kids the freedom to go to these very same places and discover their own favourite eating spot. It’s a fast, efficient and environmentally friendly option for mass transportation. You save on parking and gas and you’ll enjoy amazing views.

Stadium-Chinatown Skytrain station map

Go up the stairs or escalator and stop outside the Stadium Smoke Shoppe. Under the Plan Your Trip Here sign you’ll find a map showing where you can walk to within five minutes from the station.

So hop on and take a ride!

Skytrain stop: Stadium-Chinatown
Zone 1; 10-15 minutes from Renfrew-Collingwood stations

From Joyce-Collingwood, 29th Avenue or Nanaimo stations, take the Expo line or Millennium line, heading to Waterfront station.

From Rupert or Renfrew stations take the Millennium line to VCC Clark then transfer to Expo or Millennium line heading to Waterfront station.

Get off at the Stadium-Chinatown stop. Head up the stairs or escalator, past the Blenz and up another flight of stairs. Exit at Beatty and Dunsmuir.

Seiffert Market. One block west along Dunsmuir, you’ll hit the back entrance of Vancouver Community College (main entrance is 250 West Pender Street; walking time from station is 5 minutes). Upstairs, Seiffert Market sells fresh muffins, pies, cakes, lunch entrees and more made by VCC baking and culinary arts students.

Hedley has worked at Vancouver Community College for 25 years

While at Seiffert Market, be sure to say hello to the smiling guy behind the counter, Hedley, who has worked at VCC for 25 years.

On any given day you can get treats and staples for breakfast, lunch, dinner and dessert, from delicious croissants and cakes to ready-made soups and salads to uncooked racks of lamb and salmon filets.

The lunchtime scene reminds me of Woodward’s $1.49 Day sales as customers scramble for the best deals that day. Watch the elbows! Also check out the student-run cafeteria or JJ’s restaurant. Downstairs in the salon, you can get your hair cut for $7.50.

Exit VCC at Hamilton and Dunsmuir. Walk south up Hamilton Street, past the Canada Post office to Georgia Street (3 minutes).

Central Branch, Vancouver Public Library (350 West Georgia Street). It was always a treat to take my kids to the Central Branch of the Vancouver Public Library. Under the soaring lobby outside the branch you can enjoy a coffee/hot chocolate and muffin with your kids before going to one of the children’s storytime and checking out the terrific collection of books.

Head west down Robson Street to Howe Street (10 minutes).

Seafood tacos from one of the food carts at Robson Square

At Robson Square you can enjoy amazing food like this perfectly seared scallop with mango salsa taco from Feastro the Rolling Bistro food cart. Photo by Puspa Affandi

Robson Square. Here’s another great place to people watch. Take your pick of delicious multi-ethinic food from the food carts surrounding the square. The Vancouver Art Gallery is also right there, housed in a beautiful former provincial courthouse. Admission for children under 5 is free and is by donation on Tuesdays 5:00 to 9:00 pm.

Across from the Vancouver Art Gallery, on Georgia Street, the Hong Kong Bank building features a stunning piece of art hanging from its lobby: a 90-foot (27.5 metre) aluminum pendulum by sculptor Alan Storey.

Chinatown. Head north til you hit Dunsmuir Street again and walk east til you’re back at the Stadium-Chinatown Skytrain station. Walking this will take you at least 25 minutes so think about hopping onto the Skytrain at Granville station (Dunsmuir entrance is before Seymour Street) and making your way back to Stadium-Chinatown. Once there, exit to the right of the transit Lost Property office, through the concourse level down the stairs to Keefer Place and past T&T supermarket.

Dr. Sun Yat-Sen Classical Chinese Garden in Vancouver's Chinatown

Opened in 1986, the Sun Yat-Sen garden is an urban oasis set amidst new high rises.

Head down Keefer until you hit the back side of the Dr. Sun Yat-Sen Classical Chinese Garden (578 Carrall Street between Keefer and Pender). There is a free section of the garden that is run by the Vancouver Park Board.

Chinatown has changed a lot since I enjoyed the breakfast butterhorns from BC Royal Café and the apple tarts from Hong Kong Café. Those wonderful cafes have long gone but you can still get apple tarts at the busy New Town Bakery (148 East Pender)—they’re not quite the same but still pretty good. While at New Town, take out a Dai Bao, which one friend described as a Chinese hamburger.

If the timing is right, check out the Vancouver Chinatown night market, running til September 8, every Friday, Saturday and Sunday from 6:00 to 11:00 pm, along Keefer Street between Main and Columbia.

That’s the end of the first Skytrain trek. Back home, the banana cream pie must have earned an A+ for its maker. Gilligan and Mary Ann would have approved.

Julie Cheng loves to ride the Skytrain. She is the editor of the Renfrew-Collingwood Community News.

Copyright (c) 2013 Renfrew-Collingwood Community News


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Zumba fever hits Renfrew-Collingwood

Symptoms include getting fit, making new friends, releasing stress and smiling

BY PATRICK PAINTER

Zumba

Janet Abatayo flings her pony tail in the air as she performs an energetic dance move during a Zumba class at Collingwood Neighbourhood House. Photo by Patrick Painter

If you’ve noticed a friend, relative or co-worker smiling more lately, that person might be one of the many Renfrew-Collingwood residents who are loving life because they’re doing Zumba – an intercultural dance-fitness program that brings people from different cultures together for a fitness workout that feels more like a dance party.

Why do people love Zumba so much?
There are many reasons. “Zumba takes my stress out,” said Maya Nand, who does Zumba as much as possible. Menchie Pabiloma also sees Zumba as a stress-reliever: “When I get stressed out at work, coming to Zumba at Collingwood Neighbourhood House is a way of letting go.”

Connecting with people is another benefit. “Through Zumba, you can meet a lot of new friends,” said Pabiloma, a sentiment echoed by instructor Josie Nicks: “If you’re a shy person, doing Zumba at CNH gives you a comfortable space to express yourself. It’s a great way to meet people.”

Zumba also offers an enjoyable way to keep fit: “I stay fit, active and healthy by enjoying myself through dancing,” said Arianne Copada. Susan Borean agreed: “It’s about having fun and keeping fit, and it’s for both young and old.”

The music, which is mostly based on Latin rhythms, is another attraction: “I’m from Brazil,” said Ivani, “and I can’t stop dancing to the music.” Nelly Yep also digs the grooves. “It’s the music I love most. I was born in South America and I love Latin music.”

“It makes me feel sexy!” Laura Montes declared; the music makes her feel “like an exotic fruit.” Janet Abatayo noted the music’s spirtitual power: “When I do Zumba, I feel like I’m in heaven.”

But it takes more than great music to create the joy you’ll experience at a Zumba class. It takes a fantastic instructor and a welcoming space. Thanks to Collingwood Neighbourhood House and Renfrew Park Community Centre, as well as the talented instructors they’ve attracted, Renfrew-Collingwood residents have all their Zumba needs covered.

A total of 12 one-hour classes are offered each week and no matter which class or venue you choose, you’ll feel welcomed, just as instructor Alicia Meek felt when she first entered Collingwood Neighbourhood House. “The people here at CNH are incredibly welcoming,” Meek said. “After only through months, I felt I was a part of the community. It feels great to hear people say hello to me by name when I walk down the street.”

Zumba participants had only good things to say about the instructors. “Alicia is awesome!” Kitty Fong exclaimed. “She is so patient. She shows us all the steps, and always with a smile.” Alicia also teaches Zumba at Renfrew Park Community Centre. About instructor Josie Nicks, who teaches at CNH, Alison Ku said: “Josie always smiles and she puts her heart into every class.” Jasmine Meger listed some of the virtues of another CNH instructor, Adriana Contreras, saying: “Adriana is so inspiring. She’s always smiling and she is so genuine. Her dancing is so artful!”

Is Zumba difficult?
“Not at all,” Josie Nicks assures us. “Anybody at any level can do Zumba. There are just a few basic moves. It’s the music that adds the variety and keeps things interesting.” Nicks says that for most people, it takes only three or four classes to get the hang of the steps.

So should you give Zumba a try? Zumba enthusiast Elaine Boschman thinks so because “after doing Zumba, you’ll feel like you can take on the world!”

Collingwood Neigbourhood House and Renfrew Park Community Centre offer basic Zumba classes as well as specialized Zumba classes for children and seniors and for body toning. To find out more about local Zumba classes, please visit www.cnh.bc.ca or www.renfrewcc.com. Low-income earners should contact CNH (604) 435-0323 or RPCC at 604-257-8388 to inquire about discounts.

Patrick Painter is a member of Renfrew-Collingwood’s Interculturalism, Health and Physical Activity Initiative. Interculturalism is about embracing diversity, fostering awareness and connecting people. “Create something new with someone who’s not like you.”

Copyright (c) 2013 Renfrew-Collingwood Community News