Housse de Racket in Vancouver

April 7, 2012 By Leave a Comment

housse de racket alesia

Housse de Racket’s synth-pop sound permeated the walls of Electric Owl last night. The French duo is on a North American tour, which kicked off at SXSW in Austin.

Pierre Leroux and Victor Le Masne was infectious on stage and got the crowd going despite not being a sold out show. Blame the long weekend for the poor attendance. If you don’t know who’s who, Victor is the one with the Burt Reynolds-esque beard/on drums and Pierre is on guitar. It’s a unique set up in that they play multiple roles because they both sing.

The duo did an hour long high energy set playing songs from Forty Love and their current album Alesia. I don’t understand a word of French but that didn’t stop me from dancing when they played “Roman” or clapping along during their performance of “Apocalypso”. I am still waiting to hear “Champions” live. Encore, encore!

Check out their website to see if they’re playing in your city.

Filed Under: Events, Main, Music Tagged With: ,

Vancouver Hot Chocolate Festival: Thomas Haas

February 11, 2012 By Leave a Comment

Vancouver Hot Chocolate Festival

I love hot chocolate. So when I saw Tourism Vancouver’s Last Call for the 2012 Hot Chocolate Festival blog post, I must admit, it got me out of bed pretty quickly.

There are 13 chocolateries participating this year, with a tantalizing line up of hot chocolate concoctions.

I called my friend and we settled on Thomas Haas in Kitsilano.

They had 3 flavors to choose from: Classic Hot Chocolate with Soft Caramel and Fleur De Sel, Extra Dark Chocolate with Fresh Vanilla and Hazelnut with Hazelnut wafers.

I ordered the classic hot chocolate and I loved every last drop of it. The chocolate was rich and frothy and you could feel the bubbles in your mouth. It almost had the same texture as Spanish hot chocolate, but obviously not as thick. If you’re wondering what “fleur de sel” means, it is actually the French word for sea salt. You could say the inspiration for this drink is the exquisitely sweet yet salty salted caramel. Bonus: Thomas Haas served this with their dense and chewy sparkle cookie.

Vancouver Hot Chocolate Festival

My friend decided on the hazelnut hot chocolate (pictured above). I am not a fan of hazelnut infused chocolate. No not even Nutella, and yes I know I am alone in this. But if you do like hazelnut then you will like this drink.

The Vancouver Hot Chocolate Festival ends this week. Be sure to make your way to Thomas Haas and try the drinks for yourself.

 

 

Filed Under: Events, Food, Vancouver Tagged With: ,

English Bay: Celebration of Light Fireworks

August 4, 2011 By Leave a Comment

Spain put on a great show last night at English Bay. I’m glad we went early because there was an awesome airplane exhibition AND by 8pm it was just crazy busy at the beach.

English Bay

I didn’t bring my dslr last night so I did not even bother to take photos of the fireworks. I did find this post that had a timelapse of the fireworks, which you can see here.

Filed Under: Downtown, Events, Vancouver Tagged With: , ,

Fete dela Musique Vancouver

June 22, 2011 By Leave a Comment

Celebrated the start (and longest day) of summer with a free music festival in Gastown.

L10908320

Fete dela Musique or Make Music Vancouver had over 200 bands play yesterday along West Cordova and Water Street. By the time I made my way to Gastown the party was in full swing. Bands were playing on the sidewalk and the crowd extended to the streets.

L10908330

The crowd was kept relatively safe from oncoming traffic by Fete dela Musique volunteers, who formed human barricades. For everyone’s safety and enjoyment it would have been better if the organizers shut the street. But either way, it was a great event to kick-start summer!

Filed Under: Events, Gastown, Vancouver Tagged With:

YVR Twestival

March 31, 2011 By Leave a Comment

Twestival

Twitter + Festival = Twestival.

Vancouver joined several cities in celebrating Twestival last March 24. The goal of this global social media fundraising movement is to raise money for a local non-profit of the participating city’s choice.  Here, the one-night event was held at the Vancouver Lookout with proceeds going to Beauty Night - an organization that commits itself to improving the lives of impoverished women and youth.

YVR Twestival raised over $8,000 at the end of the night through ticket sales, a silent auction, and donations. Well done everyone!

For lack of a better term… it truly was a beautiful night.

Vancouver at night

Filed Under: Downtown, Events, Vancouver Tagged With: , ,
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