March 15, 2006 | Tips from Us >
Vancouver, Wineries & Vineyards
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Spring is slowly making it's way into Vancouver so it was time for my first gelato of the season. There are lots of great places to get ice cream and gelato and picking a flavour is always is a challenge for me.
So when I visited La Casa Gelato, I was in for the extreme challenge because La Casa Gelato offers over 200 flavours of gelato and ice cream. Reading all the labels can take a long time but it's fun to see al the different flavours. There are the everyday vanilla, chocolate, lemon and such. But they offer flavours that range from interesting such as Guinness Draft or Pear Gorgonzola to very interesting such as wasabi or garlic. They offer free samples so you don't have to commit to anything to try it.
La Casa Gelato is located somewhat off the beaten path in a bit of an industrial part of town at 1033 Venables St (view on Google Maps). But it's but near Commercial Drive, where you can, among other things, enjoy other Italian foods.
March 08, 2006 | Tips from Us >
Vancouver, Wineries & Vineyards
Find more information about Vancouver - Wineries & Vineyards
I attended and volunteered for the wine festival this past weekend and I just wanted to let you know this was a fantastic event if you enjoy wine or if you are looking for new wines to purchase to take to dinner parties! The evening tastings were held at the Vancouver Convention Centre at the Waterfront and the theme region this year was France. There were 60 wineries serving 240 wines from 7 different regions in France (including Champagne). Altogether the festival had 750 wines, 185 wineries and 15 countries participating this year. Besides noticing people getting friendlier as the night progressed, the evening consisted of wine tasting, food sampling and a dance performance by a group of gals (Can-Can style type dancing). My recommendations for next year, is to attend the tasting room on the first night (Thursday) as noted on the festivals website. It is less busy and you'll have a better chance of purchasing the hard-to-find wines in the Festival Wine Shop. When I went, the wines I wanted to purchase were all sold out. Oh! and be sure to have a bite to eat before hand! They do have samples of cheese, chocolate and other snacks but it won't fill your stomach. As for volunteering, this was my first year and I'll probably help again next year as it seemed to be a well organized event. It was run by a great group of people and lot's of volunteers who have been returning to help almost every year. I'm not sure how many times you have to volunteer in order to move from spit bucket removal to tearing tickets at the door. But whatever job I'm assigned to, I'll be there again next year!