Escaping Slavery into Ontario: Underground Railroad Spawned Afro-Canadian Communities

As a 12 year-old, I launched my understanding of the 1960’s civil rights movement with the Civil War, the slave aboltionists and  Harriet Tubman.  She was an Afro-American former slave who helped some slaves escape to Canada by using the Underground

Quilt highlights slaves’ flight to freedom via the Underground Railroad, a loose network of people that worked secretly to guide slaves into Canada. Chatham, ON 2009. Photo by J.Chong

Railroad, a loose network of people who guided  30,000 escapees secretly northward.

I had heard of the book Uncle Tom’s Cabin, written by Harriet Beecher Stowe. But I had no idea that Uncle Tom’s cabin was actually a real Canadian home  –of Josiah Henson, a former black slave from Maryland.

Chatham-Kent County area an agricultural area for Ontario. Known for tomato production. Dresden ON 2009.

However decades later, I visited several times, a close friend who lived deep in  Ontario’s tomato country.  Here truck convoys of tomatoes lined up at the Heinz processing plant  every fall.  My friend lived near the heritage site of Uncle Tom’s cabin, in Dresden.

New Dawn Settlement: Utopian Vision Realized
Dresden was known to the blacks who settled there, as the New Dawn Settlement.

In this town, as well within a 75 km. radius, are heritage buildings, commemorative plaques and tiny local museums that mark the  legacy of tough former slaves and their descendants.  New Dawn Settlement was built for and by former slaves. It included some cabins, a mill,  a sawmill and an industrial training shop.

Known as “topsy-turvy” dolls before the Civil War. Choose either black or white doll that are joined together. Buxton Museum, ON 2009. Part of private special collection. Photo by J. Chong

When you see these sites, it makes our 21st century efforts of do-it-yourself  living, super pale.

These people were eking out food and living from the land in a society, with still residual trappings of racial discrimination. Canada had some of its own former slaves (Slavery was abolished in 1793 in Upper Canada), still its own laws and societal restrictions that segregated blacks in the 19th century which may have not been as corrosive as the U.S., but wouldn’t have immediately invited blacks in hallowed echelons of white upper class or even middle class.

Thriving Buxton: News for U.S. President Lincoln
We headed over to Buxton where there used to be a thriving black community in the 1800s, that offered cultural activities in music, drama and fine arts to its own residents. There was even a sizable school for black kids that was built by the visionary Reverend King, who was a former slave owner in Louisiana.

Spencer Alexander, assistant curator, a 6th generation of former slaves, gives tour of schoolhouse for black children. His father taught up to 3 generations of children. Buxton, ON 2009. Photo by J.Chong

Fortunately we were given an impromptu tour by Spencer Alexander who was a 6th generation descendant of Underground Railroad fugitives.  He was from a line of school teachers in this area which include his father and great grandfather.

Rows of wooden desks with inkwell desktop holes and iron legs were kept for present day educational sessions to teach current schoolchildren about hardship of post slavery days.

Thriving, Intellectually Engaged Community: Black Doctors, Newspaper Editor
The importance of literacy as the road to self-determination and community intellectual growth, by mastering reading, writing and basic numeracy skills, was evident. There was a  mini black renaissance of home-grown arts and intellectuals.  While while the U.S. Civil War was brewing, this area of Canada produced 6 black doctors.

Buxton-Dresden area became a small community with some black intelligentsia and high active, engaged locals. Buxton Museum 2009.

Dr. Anderson Abott was the first Canadian-born black doctor with his medical degree in 1861 from University of Toronto.  He joined a corps of only 8 black surgeons in the U.S. to serve in the Union Army during the Civil War before he returned to Canada.

At a museum, we poured over a special collection of toys of former slave children, quilts and displays that meticulously highlighted achievements of a richly lived community.

A class photo in late 1800s. Buxton ON. Photo by J. Chong

Mary Ann Shadd Carey, was an energetic newspaper editor for the Provincial Freeman which catered to the Canadian and northern U.S. abolitionlists on anti-slavery news.  She was an African-American that emigrated to Canada in 1831. She produced the

Mary Shadd Carey, editor for the Provincial Freeman, an anti-slavery newspaper for Canada and northern U.S. abolitionists. Buxton, ON 2009. Photo by J.Chong. Park had just been completed.

newspaper on her own hand press which ran until 1860,  The newspaper expressed the black political discourse of the times.

In the cities and towns of Amherstburg, St. Catharines, Chatham and Niagara Falls Ontario / Niagara-on-the-Lake, there are more stories and achievements of former slaves who have gone on to settle peacefully and rebuild their lives.

A slice of history that has only come to light within the last 20 years for others outside of this region. The Internet, as well as government funding for research and historical preservation, has broadened awareness in ways not possible before, without visiting the area.

It was only decades ago, I still remember media stories of people risking their lives in the dash for freedom over the Berlin Wall that divided West and East Germany or swimming across the waters from the iron grip of Communist China into Hong Kong.

Schoolhouse for black children of former slaves started in 1861 – 1970. First most northernly all black school in North America. Buxton, Ontario. Canada 2009. Photo by J. Chong. Several doctors, lawyers and American politicians came from this school.

In Canada we don’t even have to go overseas to find exotic stories and monuments for escapades to liberation.  Look no further than  the Underground Railroad southern Ontario along the Canada – U.S. border.

More Interesting Reading:
Note: Over 2 million slaves came from Africa 1680-1862 to the U.S.  4 million slaves in total worldwide from Africa.
Buxton National Historic Site and Museum.  Ontario. Provides also some short video clips on key historic dates and events that mark the abolition of slavery in Canada, the role of the Underground Railroad, development of Ontario black communities near the Canada-U.S. border and the scale of the slave trade world-wide from Africa.

Video clip narrated by curator, Shannon Prince at Buxton Museum, in the schoolhouse. Underground Railroad: Buxton School. Includes special, secret code used by people and slaves to escape to Canada.

Home cabin on Buxton Museum grounds. 2009. Photo by J. Chong

Institut Historica Canada.  Dresden, Ontario:  New Dawn Settlement. In Black History in Canada:  Black Settlement in Early Canada.New Dawn Settlement Tour. Dresden, Ontario.   Gives map at the end with detailed text of historic sites.

Ontario Heritage Trust.  Slavery to Freedom History: The Underground Railroad.

Ontario Heritage Trust. Uncle Tom’s Cabin.

Are You a Couch Foodie, Garden Foodie or Stove-Top Foodie?

Jack’s homemade crepes with rhubarb, blackberry and raspberry compose are always a crowd pleaser.

Recently in a cycling forum, a question floated over the Internet: “Do you have a discerning palate?” That got me thinking about foodies, people who pride themselves as food connoisseurs, worldly arbitrators of food dishes from a dizzying array of cuisines.

Just a Stove-Top Foodie: Homespun Knowledge
I fancy myself as a foodie. Not a complete foodie addict, but more a casual stove-top foodie than a Food Network TV couch foodie. In fact, I’d rather not be part of the cursed couch foodies that sparks the ire of some Vancouver chefs. According to the restaurant industry, the Food TV Network, has changed the culinary scene. As one local chef opined:

“.…What makes Vancouver restauranteurs’ and chefs’ jobs challenging is today, everybody believes they’re an expert when they don’t have enough background.”

Indeed, this is the challenge or problem, these days for big city chefs anywhere in a competitive restaurant market.

Guavas on a tree at a guava plantation. Big Hawai’i Island 2002. Photo by J.Chong

Growing a Foodie
I’m a stove-top foodie, because my culinary palate was stoked decades ago, long before Food TV Network, and before I knew how to read cookbooks. As any Asian kid raised on a traditional Asian cuisine, will tell you, babies and children learn to eat all sorts of weird, mostly wonderful stuff without even knowing the English translation for every ingredient or the cooked dish itself. Sometimes I still don’t even remember the proper Chinese name for the dish. But I eat it anyway.

Dinner at one of many Chinese-Japanese restaurants. Toronto, ON 2011.

It wasn’t until my teens I realized I was eating rehydrated lily buds in steamed Chinese meat dishes, bird’s nest soup at wedding banquets and wood ear fungus in Mom’s stir-fries. This was the early 1970’s, not today, when weird food reports have now penetrated globally via the Internet, tv and celebrity cowboy chefs, like Anthony Bourdain storytelling their culinary discoveries.

Children: Equal Partners in Food Discovery
It is children who sit equally at the table with their parents, at a feast or restaurant and gobble down, course after course, of less familiar foods, minus the tea and wine. These

Duck with berry red wine sauce and bowl of spaetzle on side. Strasbourg, France 2010. French Alsatian regional cooking has German influences. And vice versa also: southern German dishes are more delicate in taste and execution because of French influence.

children are not food-ghettoized to their own table of bland adult food versions.

This is how a child becomes a stove-top foodie: they are expected to try a food dish, be a teachable guest, learn over time by taste, what makes the dish enjoyable or dull. Not by how a food dish looks. How else do you think very young children can happily eat tofu, hot curry or sushi?

As I had explained in an earlier blog post, my palate and knowledge of cooking techniques was confined narrowly to Cantonese style cuisine until I left home. It was the regional cooking that my parents grew up and knew. That was my “restricted” culinary world living 100 km. west of Toronto.

Georgia Cannery, Richmond BC. A historic site where there was once several major salmon canneries along the British Columbia coast that employed aboriginals, Japanese and Chinese Canadians. Part of understanding local food heritage.

I didn’t scratch the surface or even know about Malaysian, Japanese, Korean and Vietnamese as well as South Asian fare, until I earned enough money to eat in restaurants. I actually considered (and still do) cheaper just to cook Chinese food at home.

Later, I layered my stove-top palate, with a few seminal cookbooks and literary foodie books on long, diverse gastronomic history of Chinese cuisine, lore and technique. Fuschia Dunlop’s Shark’s Fin and Sichuan Pepper: A Sweet-Sour Memoir of Chinese Cooking, as well as  books by Chinese cookbook authors from disapora, — U.S. and Britain, who went to visit motherland to document and photo -shoot their culinary connections and discoveries.

Typical home-cooked meal- stir fried veggies that includes fresh water chestnuts, daikon and wood ear fungus

Refined Tastebuds Discern Gastronomic Nuances and Innovations
A well-tuned palate for at least, one complex cuisine, can quickly distinguish between the canon of restaurant cuisine and home-cooking, along with nuances of quality and inventiveness.

Now, with East-West fusion cuisine, it does tease your tastebuds out of complacency. But there are some no-no’s to me, no matter how innovative: raw bok choy just is so …wrong.

Ice cream sandwich vendor pedals her handmade goodies by bike. Farmers’ market by Vancouver railway station. 2012 Photo by J. Chong

But last year, for the first time I had raw, fresh kohl rabi slices. It was delicately crisp and lovely. I was more familiar with kohl rabi soup from childhood or Jack’s German dish of sautéed kohl rabi with a white sauce.

Happily my stove-top palate is enriched with exposure to finer German cuisine. I don’t mean just beer, bratwurst and sauerkraut. I’ve written about my cycling adventures on spargel (white asparagus), multi-layered cake tortes and dumpfnudel, the German cousin of Chinese bao.

No doubt, I have yet to fully know, the spicy nuances for all regions of India or miso differences favoured in Japanese and Korean cooking. But I could tell you that won ton or gyoza like wet dumplings shares similarities with Ukranian perogies and Italian ravioli. It’s differences in cooking technique, fillings and sometimes sauces and dips.

Café sign beckons with beer, meat dishes and kugelhof cake in heart of Strasbourg, France. 2010. Photo by J. Chong

As for ever becoming a garden foodie, nah. I’ll leave it to the patient gardeners and farmers.

Some of My Favourite  Foodie Blog Posts and More: 
Come and Get Your Dumplings: Some West-East Comparisons.

Cycle-Adventuring for Fun, Low Cost Food at Ethnic Grocery Stores and Supermarkets.

Easily Drunk on Cycle Touring in Wine Regions.

Home baked salmon fillet wrapped in phyllo with leek in white sauce on side.

Growing Up and Cycling Through the Years to Farmers’ Markets Home and Abroad.

Kicking Up Schiacciata Con Frutta: Grape Focaccia My Way with Ginger Root and Spices.

Lotus Flower: From Root to Flower to Seed, It Feeds Our Senses.

Romanticizing the Best: Asian Craze for European Desserts.  See under Site Index at the top of this blog for more foodie blog posts.

Da Silva, Michelle. How Food Television is Changing the Way We Dine. In Georgia Straight. Mar. 12, 2012.

Bike tire garden trellis at Mount Pleasant community gardens. Vancouver BC 2012. Photo by J.Chong

Ice Sculptures: Frozen, Ethereal Aspirations

A few weekends ago, we bused up to Lake Louise in Banff National Park, for their annual ice carving competition and some mountain snowshoeing. It is an international competition that’s been slowly gaining an ice crampon foothold with more intricate,

Song of Many Happy Valleys. USA. Lake Louise, Alberta Jan. 2013. Photo by J. Chong

arresting sculptures this year.

After 14 km. of snowshoeing and straining a groin muscle, we hustled over to the lake edge by Chateau Lake Louise. Late blue-gold sunlight was falling slowly

Swans guarding their twin eggs. USSR. Lake Louise, Alberta Jan. 2013. Photo by J.Becker

over each sparkling ice sculpture.  The ethereal sculptures were from North America, Europe and Philippines.   Thrusting mountains and a glacier draping over the lake,  provided a fabulous backdrop for these sculptures that tended to rise up or dance gracefully in celebration.

Even the sculpture that was titled,  “You’re My Puppet”, was light, yet precariously hovered over visitors. Though the design wasn’t intricate, carving and erecting a slim 7 metre high woman with delicate fingering of strings for her marionette child puppet, probably was the reason for a honourable mention.  Hard to know how the carvers kept the ice-woman from toppling over.

My favourite ice sculpture was from Russia, “Song of the White Cranes”. I loved the gentle, mythological-folklore depiction of a child musician sitting on a horse wading in a frozen pool. The surface of the pool was etched with snow crusted white cranes –a delightful detail that I didn’t even notice until the second time I strolled by.  On the third

Song of the White Cranes. USSR. Lake Louise, Alberta Jan. 2013. Photo by J.Chong. My favourite sculpture with white snow etched cranes on water surface. Whole sculpture is anchored by swimming goldfish below.

time at night, I noticed this whole sculptural tableau  was cleverly held up by carved goldfish swimming underneath the icy surface waters.  No wonder why this artpiece took the Carvers’ choice award –its execution was masterful on several different levels.

The guiding theme for this year’s sculptures, was a song.  So one of the Canadian entries was “Ewe Make Me Feel Like Dancing”:  it inspired a sheep ice skating couple.  A joint Philippine-Canadian sculpture featured a King-Kong like gorilla by a bamboo grove.

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Many people were riveted by the ice sculpture that was a take-off from “Song of Many Happy Valleys”.  It featured a dancing aboriginal woman with her back arched backward.  Several other icy art pieces featured a figure playing a violin—the Netherlands offered a group of skeletons while another Russian piece featured a buxom woman with also a violin.

Later, Jack chatted with one of the carvers. Apparently some carvers run ice-carving businesses on the side while others are amateurs. Not surprisingly, some carvers were wood and log carvers in the summer.

Competition rules. Jan. 2013

These sparkling sculptures were delicate, yet quick mastery of ice.  Ephemeral,

Snowshoeing our way to ice sculpture festival location, near our hotel. Lake Louise, Alberta.

transparent art that becomes a memory and another wintery wish whenever snow and bitter cold sweeps in.

More Reading and Photos:
Chong, J. Lake Louise: Snowshoeing Snow-Glazed Mountains, Ice Castles and Bison Reuben Sandwiches. In Cycle Write Blog. Jan. 20,2012.

Drama at Construction Sites : Things I Never Knew

I never dreamed that mud piles, cranes and caterpillar machines at a large construction site, could be a stage for human drama of love, tragedy, perseverance, danger, achievement and comedy.  The whole shebang.

Golden Ears Bridge. South Approach, Langley BC 2008. Daily view walking to work office site.

Well, make that 6 construction sites for 1 huge construction project.  For 3 years of my life, I worked for a $800 million construction project in the suburbs of Greater Vancouver.  We built a 1 km.-6 lane road bridge over the salmon rich Fraser River with 5 highway approaches from 4 municipalities.

So let’s  leap to love.

Bridge opening celebration 2009. A 90 km round bike trip between site and home.

Foreign Employees- Finding Love Globally
While I was not aware of personal love affairs between employees, there were several married couples and unmarried couples, as employees, who joined our project.  What struck me as unusual, were several interracial marriages between ex-pat, non-Canadian employees (German, U.K.) and Asians (Chinese, Filipino).

I worked for a multinational German engineering firm which had construction projects worldwide. Maybe it was just coincidence that several interracial marriages were among management and engineering staff who just finished a multi-year project in Asia. During that time, these men found their partners from that area.

The coincidence that my partner still retained his German name legally, was useful for establishing rapport with German ex-pat employees: I did drop the word that clearly I was not clueless about some German names, simple words, cuisine and cultural mannerisms.

Main construction project office site. My office window was to right of cyclist. Prime location to see construction of bike-pedestrian spiral ramp. 2009

Trapped for Safety
Previously I wrote about  my long work commute that blended cycling, transit and walking between home and office work trailer where I hunkered down with other staff at the main construction site.  All around us, excavating machines gouged huge holes, towering cranes swung tonnes of steel girders while  convoys of concrete and gravel trucks clogged local traffic.

Even office staff, were never far from the clang and dangerous drone of machinery and materials. For several months, only 10 metres from my office trailer window, a spiral concrete bike ramp slowly arose 4 levels up from the muddy hole to join up with the

Completed spiral bike-pedestrian ramp on opening day of bridge. Normally not this many people on ramp. Ramp was constructed less than 10 metres away from my office window.

road bridge. As a cyclist, I took small comfort that eventually this mess of rebar and concrete would become yet another needed connection for a safe bike route in the suburbs.There were days, employees were trapped at the work site, unable to even drive out to get a lunch hamburger.  No wonder why the lunch truck with submarine sandwiches and chips was a welcome site. Thankfully, at the office there was always a convenient pot of free coffee for employees beavering away at any hour of the day.

During a windstorm that resulted in a power outage and dead traffic lights for hours, there was an 8 metre square of sheet metal that flew in the air around our building. It was several hours before we left the work site.

From the bridge deck before bridge cables were installed. Peaceful scene belies construction drama when work resumes.

 Fire Danger, Substance Abuse and Tragedy
Another time, a fire plume arose quickly at one of our  nearby construction sites and prompted the scream of firefighting trucks. It was caused by welding.

While there is real danger because of human error, even more troubling, was substance abuse by some construction workers – workers under the influence of alcohol or illegal drugs.

I didn’t know of this widespread problem in the heavy construction industry, across North America and probably in some other countries, until I hitched a ride after work, with 2 employees which included a safety officer.

Road bridge with bike-pedestrian lane runs over the Fraser River. Salmon and endangered sturgeon fish ply these waters.

For the next hour, I was regaled with story after story, on dangerous shenanigans involving operation of equipment and safety-conscious employees who stomped to the safety manager and Human Resources with demands not to work with drunk employees, etc.

At another construction project, while operating a high-rise construction crane, an operator had passed out from drugs at the crane controls. Only the fire department had a high aerial truck with a cherry picker bucket, to reach the air-borne crane operator.

Shortly thereafter, a drug testing program was administered for such employees working for our project.

However, tragedy struck later. But the cause was not substance abuse related at all.

An ex-pat contracts officer died when he was pulled under a dump of gravel that was pouring out from a truck. For unclear reasons, this office worker shouldn’t have been on-site, in an active construction zone, in the first place. He was chattering on his cellphone, when this incident happened.

Bridge construction site view from Pitts Meadows, British Columbia with Mount Baker, Washington state in background.

Tough Enough for Outdoor Construction
Vancouver has milder weather than many other areas of the world. There were some freak snowfalls during our construction project. However snowfall and temperatures are not as dangerously cold in more northernly zones, not as humid as Asian jungles nor as hot as the desert in Dubai.  One woman told me that temperatures soared to 50 degrees C when she was working in Dubai.

We had temporary labourers from Thailand who puzzled some Canadian employees.

One of several commemorative signs on the bridge. Golden eagles can be found in bridge location by the Coast Mountains and Fraser River. Near bridge is the Golden Ears Mountain in a provincial park.

On  fine summer sunshine days, they covered their face with cotton balaclavas.  It was to protect their skin from the sun.  The darker tanned skin was still, ironically associated with labourers, lower class and peasants in various parts of Asia.

Golden eagle sculpture mounted high up on a pillar at each end of the bridge.

Much has been made about more women breaking into construction work. However even some men, just get tired of days with mud, endless rain, bone-chilling cold and the mess of lousy weather conditions.  Sometimes it was stamina and perseverance just to finish each work day.

Comedy, Stress-Relievers and Befuddlement
Our first annual Christmas staff party was truly cross-cultural and probably bewildering.  The party featured several home-made stage drama skits. “Bewildering” was a matter of the audience member’s perspective and their cultural background.  Canadian and American employees concocted a “Twelve Days of Christmas” song parody that highlighted our rare Northwest Pacific coast animal species that had to be protected by law (red salamanders, water shrews), weather challenges, fickle equipment and their handlers.

The German-led performances parlayed mythological references to operatic Wagner ship and land battles. Or maybe it was the engineering imagination gone wild:  they saw themselves as heroes in infrastructure wars.

Bridge opening day crowds swelled up to 20,00 people. Only time this car bridge road will be filled with this many people. June 2009.

Annual summer barbecues were fun. Bratwurst sausage, not wieners, were de rigour as well as sauerkraut. Mustard had to be, at minimum, on the table.  And the European craze over the World  IFA soccer games.  There was a large TV screen provided for employees at the barbecue and hooked up during lunch hour in meeting room for several weeks, to check on the latest match.

More happens at a construction site that’s not obvious to pedestrians.

Sturm and Drang of Achievement
Like the literary term that translates from German, “storm and urge” or extreme emotions,  the construction drama of that time in my working life, has forever changed me:  I no longer assume anything normal and staid behind that construction fence as I walk by any site.

More Interesting Reading:
Chong, J. Biking to Work in More Challenging or Isolated Work Areas. In Third Wave Cycling Blog.  May 22, 2010.

Gray, Jeff.  Oil Sands Drug Testing Battle Reaches Critical Stage. In Globe and Mail.  Jan. 2, 2013.  Example of substance abuse issues at other construction-industrial work sites.

Hike, Bike, Ferry, Rail and by Car: Crossing the Canada-U.S. Border

It’s amazing how national borders between two countries can foster different speaking accents, histories and cultures. Even for two countries like Canada and the U.S., that appear to be the same –English-speaking dominant, occupation by invading aboriginal lands and multiracial in its peoples for over a century, the international border can cut a psychological cleavage.

Obelisk markers and on my left behind me, up the treed mountain side across the lake, a clear-cut swath through forest wilderness that marks the Canada-U.S. international border. I am standing on the border, at Waterton Lakes National Park, Alberta and Glacier National Park, Montana 2005. Photo by J. Becker

Cutting a Cultural, Maybe Psychological Cleavage
Some of the major differences are psychological, systemic and constitutional. Health care and guns will surely reveal striking differences in attitude and perceptions between Canadians and Americans. But onto lighter observations, when I’ve peered across the border and skipped about the U.S. as a visitor.

So far, I have lived at any time, between 250 to 40 km. north of the Canada-U.S. border or colloquially known as the “49th parallel”. Most of Canada’s population is sprinkled

Joining other cyclists at international border crossing for ferry boat crossing. Sidney, Vancouver Island. British Columbia 2008. Photo by J. Chong

near the international border. It’s been a historic development because major waterways for transportation, then later rail, as well as roads tend to naturally lead to towns and cities popping up nearby. The terrain and climate in southern Canada is just simply more amenable to human settlement.

Border Crossings: Ditch the Car for Another Experience
I’ve crossed the 49th parallel by bike, ferry, bus, car and on foot. Since North America is still a car-dominant society, many people may associate crossing the Canada-U.S. border as a stoic waiting exercise in car line-ups. True. But depending where you cross the border, the border checkpoint may appear to be a simple office building (with surveillance 

Approaching by bike, the international border crossing office at Carway, Alberta. 2012. Photo by J. Becker

cameras) in the middle of the prairies, such as Carway, Alberta, south of Cardston and east of Waterton National Park. Or at the Chief Mountain border crossing by car or bike right at the national parks juncture for Waterton Lakes, AB and Glacier National, MT.

Strolling into the U.S.
One year, we hiked a 14 km. round trip from Waterton Lakes National Park, Alberta on a popular trail into Glacier National Park, Montana. Here, we saw the border literally as a clear-cut swath through forest. An obelisk marker in park wilderness announces 

Waterton-Glacier International Peace Park at Chief Mountain Road border crossing checkpoint 2012 Overlooking Alberta. Behind us, would be Montana. Photo by J.Chong

the border. There is an International Peace Park in the area. The phrase that it is the world’s longest undefended border is a bit of a misnomer: make no mistake, you must bring and show your passport when crossing the border from either country. It would be a mistake to assume otherwise.

I’m not sure how many International Peace Parks there are along the Canada-U.S. border. There is another one, at the border crossing for White Rock, British Columbia – Bellingham, Washington state. This is only 40 km. south of Vancouver. Cyclists do pass through the checkpoints as I did, after a wonderful bike trip from Seattle to Vancouver. I have also crossed this checkpoint by bus several times, which bus passenger check stopovers seems to add almost another hour to the whole trip to Seattle.

Amtrak Cascadia train heading towards Seattle makes mandatory border checkpoint stop at White Rock, British Columbia 2012. Photo by J.Chong

On the Amtrak train between Vancouver, BC and Seattle, WA, the train pauses at White Rock for the U.S. border guards drop by on board. On one occasion, a police dog was brought on board to sniff around.

On two different occasions we have had to pass through the checkpoint in Sidney, British Columbia on Vancouver Island in order to board the ferry with our bikes, to the San Juan Islands, Washington state. The border office ambiance is simpler and friendlier. Maybe a seaside towns just have this laid-back aura.

Next Door Differences: What Canucks Notice

“Small” size gelato in Seattle -equivalent to a medium size gelato in Vancouver, BC at same price. 2012

Maybe it’s differences magnified or exaggerated in our travelling brains, but we’ve been in enough restaurants in Washington and Oregon where the food proportions just are bigger. This year, I had a “small”, two-scoop gelato at an artisanal gelateri in downtown Seattle, that was equivalent to a medium size gelato in Vancouver or Toronto.

The day before, for the first time, I could not finish all the freshly cooked seafood in my large seafood soup. I’ve never wasted restaurant seafood before.

While Canadians are inundated by U.S. tv channels, it is less true for the U.S. border states to have any Canadian tv shows. It’s just a pleasant surprise to see occasional Canadian show reruns or the Canadian Broadcasting Corp. channel (CBC) not because we want to be fed home news while in the U.S., but it’s just simply another way for Americans, if curious, to learn more about their neighbours.

Returning to Canada from Blaine, Washington. At international border crossing in bike lane. Ahead white arches and flags for Canada and U.S. mark the border. 2010

But I really wonder. After all, when we travel in the U.S. and watch local tv news, most of the time we have no clue what is happening back in Canada anywhere, even when we’re in towns, just a dancer’s leap away from border.

Internet No Substitute for Real Foreign Experiences
More than ever before, the Internet can fill in gaps of knowledge –up to a certain point. You really need to experience stepping from one country into another where within a few minutes a Canadian will inevitably hear an American counterpart speak with a slight twang, not necessarily Southern state, but just that identifiable northern American twang on certain words. Or occasional vehicle bumper stickers proclaiming U.S. army

Travel collectibles -trinkets, while some are highly valued.

support, lawn campaign signs for electing judges (which definitely is not part of Canadian judicial appointment system) and billboard advertisements for private health insurance companies.  International borders –just marking a threshold into perhaps different expectations, perceptions and beliefs that are defined by trajectory of historical events, politics and shared experiences over on the other side of the fence.

More Interesting Reading:
Chong, J. Supersized Meals Along Cycling Trips: Gulping Surprises. In Cycle Write Blog, May 23, 2011.

Easily Drunk on Cycle-Touring in Wine Regions

Blasted Church Winery.Okanagan Valley. Near Oliver, BC. 2005. Tasting room is housed in an old church that was carefully dynamited in the 1920′s in order to relocate it at that time. Photo by J. Chong

It’s annoying to have my  health problem whenever we go cycle-touring in the wine regions of Canada, U.S. and Europe: I get easily drunk on alcohol.
 
You could say I am afflicted by a common problem that isn’t just confined to some Asians (although there is that stereotyping). My ears become quite red: fast like a supremely over-exerted cyclist after  less than 6-8 sips of wine.
 
Either Red Ears or Tone Down Wine Sips
By drinking more wine, just to “harden” my sensitivities to the fermented grape, is not a solution. Not when already, I’m into my fifth decade in life.  I still want a liver and control over calorie intake. Drinking wine often means drinking in more calories too.

My seafood salad lunch. Muse Winery Bistro, Saanich. Vancouver Island, BC 2011. Photo by J. Chong. Local fresh seafood is common on an island winery bistro menu. Food sometimes is just as good as the wine from their barrels.

Nevertheless, we have sallied forth by bike into the wine regions of  Niagara-on-the-Lake region, Ontario; Okanagan Valley in interior British Columbia and on Vancouver Island.  We have yet to taste the recent wines from eastern Ontario in Prince Edward County or south on Pelee Island. These areas developed their vineyards after we moved to British Columbia.

Spring time at Saltspring Winery. Saltspring Island, BC 2010. Photo by J. Chong

 Wine Regions- A Heady Bouquet of Memories
We have touched down on some great routes and wineries with  creative tasting rooms, good wines, restaurants and ambience that sometimes tie together the local experience into a lovely bouquet of memories.

At a winery in Cowichan Valley, Vancouver Island 2003.

 My jumpstart into wineries, was over 16 years ago with our 120 km. cycling day trip from Toronto to Niagara-on-the-Lake wine region.  Since then, we’ve done this trip several times different ways which included  a ferry across Lake Ontario that ran only a scant 2 summers.  We have also biked around the lake, as a hot humid bike trip in summer from downtown Toronto. Now, wine-thirsty cyclists can choose to roll on their bikes onto the popular  summer weekend Bike Train service passengers from Toronto.

The 50 km. 1-way bike route from Port Dalhousie to Fort Erie, past the roaring Niagara Falls and Butterfly Gardens, is easy, if not also crazy-busy during peak tourist season.  A more pleasant visit is early fall, with the blaze of autumn-kissed trees along the bike path. 

Local art work may be featured at various tasting rooms or outdoors at the site. Nk’Mip Cellars, an aboriginal winery run by the Osoyoos Indian Band. Near Oliver, B.C.2005. Photo by J. Chong. Not typically European in artistry but wine-making is embedded in European techniques.

 During various different trips across Canada, we’ve stopped to pull out our bikes and puff away on short steep hills in the Okanagan Valley, Canada’s near desert-like wine region in British Columbia.

Favourite Wineries Blend Spirits, Scenery, Food and Artistry
One of my favourite wineries for wine, great food and valley views, is Quail’s Gate in West Kelowna which overlooks gentle grapevine slopes dipping down to Okanagan Lake.   The winery’s location shows off the area’s sparkling waters, bright clear skies, undulating hills and winding roads.
 

View overlooking vineyards, mountains to Okanagan Lake, from Quail’s Gate Wines’ restaurant patio. West Kelowna, BC 2008. Photo by J. Chong

At Summerhill Wines, past its signature upended wine bottle sculpture, is a restaurant that offers relaxation for a lovely meal and shade from the sunny dry heat  –that is, if you can avoid the crowds during peak seasons. They once produced a white wine packaged in a blue glass violin shaped bottle which I’ve kept, after savouring its contents.
 
Though we have not yet travelled by bike to the following two Okanagan Valley wineries mentioned below, I can’t resist just mentioning them because of their unusual ambiance and effective marketing.

Antique wooden grape press by a French vineyard. Provence, France 2012. Photo by J. Becker

Blasted Church Wines are arresting just for its wine labels and its story of a carefully dynamited church in 1929 that was moved from Okanagan Falls to its present location that now houses the tasting room.

For innovative surroundings and something unEuropean, but deeply embedded in British Columbian identity, is Nk’Mip Wine Cellars which features aboriginal iconography and artwork in its restaurant, tasting room and grounds. The winery has been developed by savvy local aboriginal entrepreneurs from the Osoyoos Indian Band.

Mermaid in rubber boots is logo for Saltspring Island Wines. Saltspring Island, BC 2005. Photo by J. Chong. Winery as well as Cherrypoint Wines each produces blackberry wine.

Can’t Resist Local Seafood  and Blackberry Wine
What distinguishes British Columbia in vineyard visits and tastings, are also  local salmon and other fresh large local seafood featured on winery restaurant menus at reasonable prices for high quality.

Whenever I visit Vancouver Island wineries, like Cherry Point Wines, I savour the seafood entrees just as much as the accompanying wine from their barrels nearby.  Large scallops, spotted shrimp (unique to Pacific Northwest coast), various clam varieties and mussels, are often drawn from the Pacific waters.  This level of freshness and quality most definitely, is not featured much in Germany at winery restaurants.

Cycle-touring by Rhine River along the “Wine Route” in his birthplace area with vineyards, picturesque old towns and castle ruins. Black Forest Region, southern Germany, 2008.

Ideal frost-snow conditions in British Columbia and Niagara-on-the-Lake wine regions, also allow pressing of ice wine more easily than Spain, Italy or France.

For locals or visitors,  I cannot stop reminding people that Vancouver Island, is home of port-like blackberry wine varietals. Blackberry bushes bust out all over the land, if left unpruned, since they thrive in Pacific Northwest coastal balmy weather and rain –much to the curse of dedicated gardeners.

Wandering and Wine-Tasting Overseas
Further abroad, we have cycle-ventured  into the Napa-Sonoma wine region in California (though more him, than me), bike-touched the wine regions in Washington and Oregon. 

Since Jack’s family roots are based in the Black Forest region in the famed wine region by the Rhine River in southern Germany, we have cycled there for wine, food, and 

Chatting with farming couple at farmers’ market who grew cherries plus make and sell their own kirschausseur, “cherry wine”. Freiburg, Germany 2010. Photo by J. Chong. Wines were sold 4-5 euros per bottle. It is common that some German farmers in the wine-growing regions will make small batches of their own wine for sale. Not far from this market, was a retail store, showcasing and selling local, lesser known wines in this region.

picturesque villages while on our way to visit relatives.  His extended family still has a vineyard and hotel inn with restaurant since the 1700’s.  It is a region that other Europeans flock, whose home country lack wineries due to inadequate climatic conditions for grape-growing –ie. from Scandanavia, United Kingdom, etc.

Cycling by vineyards and winery in Aix-le-Provence, France 2012. Photo by J. Becker

I haven’t yet cycled France enough, to visit its wine regions.  However, last spring Jack rolled through the Burgundy wine region but was unable to stock up on wine due to his heavy packed bike panniers. He really wondered if he would be able to meet his 80-100 km. daily cycling goals if he stopped for a swig of red wine glory. So, he blissfully spun unaware through some French winery areas that produced famed red wines that cost over $120.00 per bottle in North America.

Vineyards surround centuries old town, Weingarten, Germany 2010. Area near where Jack was born and family members are still there. Photo by J. Chong. Approximately 15 km. southwest of the French border. Weingarten translates from German as “Wein” for wine and “agarten” for garden.

So touring wine regions by bike offers many gorgeous vistas, an outdoor Nature experience married with cultural refinement –even if you can’t pack in much wine in your tummy or in your bike panniers, from your favourite winery stops.

Cycling through picturesque old French towns in Champagne, France 2009. Photo by J. Becker. The region that certifies only certain vineyards for producing the real champagne.

 Reading to Entice You:
Tourism British Columbia. Includes information on its wine regions, map and winery links.

Chong, J. Cycling for Spargel, Kirsch and Blue Painted Bikes in Black Forest Region, Germany.  In Cycle Write Blog. Jun. 3, 2010.

Chong, J. Freiburg, Germany: Cycling Among Medieval and Renaissance Restoration. In Cycle Write Blog. Jul. 10, 2010.

Chong, J. An Idyllic Summer Escape to Vancouver Island for Maidei. In Cycle Write Blog. Jul. 3, 2011. 

Homemade focaccia-pizza with a Okanagan Valley merlot from Stag’s Hollow winery in B.C. Photo by J. Chong

Summerhill Wines’ patio wine bottle sculpture. Overlooking Okanagan Lake, Kelowna B.C. Photo by J. Chong

Cycling-Themed Eateries: Attracting Everyone Plus Cyclists Too

Last weekend, I thought I’ll bike a pleasant flat bike route from home and check out a popular local eatery before a large bike store opened near by.  After all, I vaguely wondered if proximity to the bike store, had inspired the restaurant owner to call his café,  Cadence Café.

Mural print celebrates fun car culture — a contrast to restaurant name, “Cadence Cafe. Calgary, AB 2012. Photo by J. Chong

Cadence Café, Calgary- Shedding Cycling Images for More Customers
My partner reminded me there were other dictionary definitions of cadence –a musical pitch, etc.  In the bicycling world, cadence refers to a  cyclist’s consistent pedal-spinning speed: the

Mountain themed print mural. Cadence Cafe, Calgary AB 2012. Photo by J.Chong. Cafe attracted both non-cyclists and cyclists, anyone.

number of revolutions per minute.  The real test of cadence is sustaining an even, fast cadence when spinning up steep or long hills and mountain sides.

It was easy to see why this cafe was a  popular place, even on an early Sunday spring morning.  It was retrofitted cleanly and smartly in warm, retro 1950’s diner colours of black-white tiled floors and red cushioned seating and accents.  The menu was also diverse enough with some reliable muffin flavours as well as some ever-changing breakfast and sandwich selections.

Paintings (or prints) hung around the humming café with two large print murals at each end. One of them was a fun, casual animated scene of cars and comical drivers.  A rather jarring contrast to the café’s namesake.   As I seated myself, I spotted to the far left, and nearly hidden beside a Canada Dry pop cooler, an old rusted bike handlebar set on top of its stem and wheel fork.

Community gardens at back of large bike store, 1 block away from cafe. Calgary AB 2012. Photo by J. Chong

There were other clues of past attempts to decorate the premises with cycling memorbilia. In the women’s washroom, on the wall, there was a 15-20 year old print of a cycling peleton with (male) cyclists a la Tour de France style.  Honest, they should have thrown the print away.

Although the café drew cyclists,  there were also convivial crowds of families, children and retirees lining up for their food and kibbutzing around the tables. Cadence Café found the right formula by disregarding its homage to cycling, by appealing to people from all walks of life.

Musette Café, Vancouver BC-  Decorated with Cycling Passion
In contrast, the recently opened Musette Café in downtown Vancouver, trumpets its cycling

Musette Cafe. Downtown Vancouver BC 2012. Photo by J. Chong

affection to the world.  Its  name is derived from “musette”, a sac of portable food to refuel competing cyclists in a long race.

Musette Café became a local news media darling when it first opened by an alley near Burrard St., not far from the Burrard Bridge. The cycling community welcomed a local business that overtly courted cyclists.

In contrast, there were prolonged public protests in Vancouver and debate between cycling community and other downtown  businesses and retailers located along the recently installed separated bike lanes on Burrard Bridge, Dunsmuir and Hornby Streets.  The protesting and debates peppered the news for months.  Several businesses claimed they would lose customers because valuable side parking spots would be lost. Months later, after all the sturm and drang, the local Board of Trade has quietly offered that they would help find more appropriate businesses near the separated bike lanes.

Musette Cafe adorned with cycling memorbilia. Vancouver BC 2012. Photo by J.Chong

I decided to check out Musette Café for myself.  Indeed, the café’s brainchild must be a compeitive road cycling aficionado. The small café is adorned with enough cycling memorabilia and knick-knacks. It is a wonderful place just to see a personal collection of memorabilia.  Clearly any experienced cyclist who loved bicycles could relate to some of the cycling collectibles.

However, most of the adornment pointed to the cycling racing world, not to the general bicycling folks who may cycle in walking shorts, a skirt or sneakers.

Bicycling memorbilia and collectibles at Musette Cafe. Vancouver BC 2012. Photo by J. Chong

When I dropped by,  there were cyclists relaxing with their coffee and muffins in their cycling gear. Outside there were a few expensive bikes, meaning brand models.

I am not certain if this café is drawing regular streams of customers, or if most of their customers are cyclists. Let’s hope that  cyclists with their fixie bikes, swirly skirts and bike baskets are also  dropping by often enough.

Theme Eateries Might Have to Offer More than Just Cycling Passion

Popular bakery with locals and tourists. Cowichan Bay, Vancouver Island 2006. Photo by J. Chong. Located in the core of this seaside town along a harbour.

But more to the point, do non-cyclists come back  to this café with its overt cycling theme in its decor?

Perhaps, look at it this way:  there a few bars in downtown Toronto and elsewhere that have a strong hockey theme.  Hockey is a Canadian obsession but it’s not the only sport that consumes some folks.  Would I go to a hockey pub and enjoy it?  Well, other than the fact I don’t drink beer (but I drink wine), I would drop by, at least for curiosity and with some friends.

But would I as a non-hockey player and non-hockey spectator go to the same pub again and again?  (As a teenager, I used to watch the games on Hockey Night in Canada regularily.)  Not unless there was another

Inside bakery, a quote on cycling love. Cowichan Bay, Vancouver Island 2012. Photo by J. Chong

reason –a suggestion by another friend or the pub offered some unique or fantastic pub food dishes. Normally,  I’d rather sit in a restaurant for a lovely meal and nurse my own glass of wine without an overhead television blaring away.

Bike decoration just part of ambience for an Italian cuisine restaurant. Victoria, BC 2009. Photo by J. Chong. A suggestion of the Giro d’Italia bike racing culture.

Cycling enthusiasts can know of different cycling subcultures that can exist –skinny tire roadies, fixie bike hipsters, bike commuters, recumbent cyclists and the whole mishmash of all cyclists at major public cycling events.  However just because a person is a bicyclist, it doesn’t mean they feel instant camaderie with  competitive cyclists or other cycling folk from other cycling subcultures.

New cycling jersey style for sale, with the bakery’s name, is the only clue to the baker-owner’s cycling passion. Thomas Haas Bakery. Vancouver BC 2012. Photo by J. Chong

Cycling enthusiasts might consider particular bikes as a work of art.  But honest, bikes without any other adornment, are utilitarian to many non-cyclists. It’s a vehicle that becomes animated with a cyclist and bike accessory bling.

So Musette Café might be a  rare visit for even a regular cyclist who shuns the image of cycling jersey, helmet, cycling shoes and clipless pedals.  But I hope not, or at least may be Musette might transform itself for everyone, despite its cycling personae.

St. George Rainway: Painting a Bygone Salmon Stream

Part of the “St. George Rainway”, a road mural painting dedicated to a bygone salmon stream on St. George Street between 7th and 8th Ave East. Vancouver, BC 2012. Photo by J. Chong. Foreground is a laneway.

On a misty grey summer morning, we hotfooted by bike to see a brand-new road painting that memorializes a bygone salmon stream that ran through the Mount Pleasant Vancouver neighbourhood. That’s right –a somewhat bumpy road surface was graced overnight with a blue-green swirly art stream of salmon, frogs, trees and sea life in a quiet residential area. The road community art work was the St. George Rainway.

We arrived there at the right time –colours were still pure, bright and unblemished from the previous evening’s painting party.  Road traffic was quiet since rush hour peak activity if such a street experienced it, had died down.

Well, it’s doubtful that this artwork was conceived so quickly. There was public consultation with the community, some artists created and presented the design, the False Creek Watershed Society helped promote the public painting party evening

St.George Rainway painting begins at a traffic calming circle filled with a community garden. Vancouver BC 2012. Photo by J. Chong.

weeks in advance, City placed some temporary traffic barriers and more volunteers were secured to paint and complete the 50 metre long painting within 5 hours on June 28, 2012.

It is remarkable what can be achieved by throwing down a well-designed painting on public road space if there is artistic vision, orchestrated effort of enthusiastic volunteers and some leadership.

St. George Street runs alongside a public school that has its fence already decorated with children’s salmon placard art – a common iconic sight at various Vancouver

St. George Rainway winds its artful way the full length of a street block. Vancouver BC 2012. Photo by J. Chong. Painted with community volunteers under artistic direction.

elementary public schools. The painted stream or “rainway” starts from a garden festooned traffic calming circle to nearly the end of the first block.

Painting imagery depicts seven stages of salmon, frogs, flora and fauna with multiple word translations of “water”.

While we were there, a few cyclists cruised along and various drivers drove hesitantly down the rainway. While it might have been the sight of us, 2 cyclists wandering around with their cameras , it was obvious some drivers were seeing the road painting for the first time also. Some cars inched slowly down the side of the road, not down the centre of the

“Shui” means water in Chinese. St. George Rainway painting. Vancouver BC 2012. Photo by J. Chong

road. Either a driver wanted to see more of the painting or allow us to continue photo-shooting. We weren’t sure. But at least, the fanciful stream painting, slowed down the drivers for a short residential street.

Rainway Painting Captures a Fleeting Image, Memory
The St. George Rainway is a touchstone that nudges pedestrians, cyclists and drivers to look, ponder, ask questions (What is this painting all about?) and contemplate the winding story of a lost stream and sea life prior to urbanization. We should welcome more inspiring permanent motifs that pull us outside and remind us what has been lost and what needs to be cherished for the future.

Salmon and other sea life swirl across St. George Street. Vancouver BC 2012. Photo by J. Chong

This painting too, shall fade in brilliance after the beating of rain, traffic, sunlight and snow. Catch and enjoy its ephemeral dream memory while you can.

Further Reading
Mount Pleasant Community Association. Mount Pleasant Watershed Society Blog.

Chong, Jean. Mosaic Park: A Creative Stream of Community Consciousness and Dreams. In Cycle Write Blog, Aug. 24, 2010.  For something a bit different: another public outdoor art installation with over 200 different mosaic designs that depicts a community’s wish for a water stream in their neighbourhood park.

Cycle-Adventuring for Fun, Low-Cost Food at Ethnic Grocery Stores and Supermarkets

Large variety of freshly made sushi packs. Fujiya Japanese Supermarket. Vancouver, BC

Yes, I know: in major to medium sized cities, you can drop by big, non-ethnic supermarket chains and load up on fresh ginger, pita bread or curry paste. Heck, even a deal on bitter melon is even possible these days.

No Need for Food Coupons
I have not used any food coupons over the past 3 decades. Instead, I’ve relied on low-cost food discoveries in ethnic grocery stores, farmers’ markets and only 1-2 national mainstream supermarkets.

By the sushi, sashimi and miso soup counter. Fujiya’s, Vancouver BC.

I happily patronized 1-3 different ethnic grocery stores and supermarket stores when I have lived in Toronto, Vancouver and Calgary. It takes time to find them. But cycling does encourage me to explore, in search of food deals at a few select places that are kind to the food budget yet interesting places just to browse briefly.

Japanese Supermarket for Fresh, Cheaper Sushi
In Vancouver, we occasionally cycled over to the Japanese local supermarket chain, Fujiya near the Adanac bike route. If you want competitively priced, freshly made but packaged sushi and sashimi combinations, this is the place. Along with a tray or two of sushi, is their bowl of miso soup for a simple, cheap lunch at their little eating area inside, at the front of the store. Fujiya has some outlets in Metro Vancouver. Not surprisingly, the multi-generational local Japanese-Canadians go there and everyone else.

Chinese gunpowder green tea –with trilingual packaging from a Middle Eastern store.

At minimum, I usually end up buying a big pack of green tea or buckwheat noodles. But there is a diverse selection of Japanese teas, miso pastes and dried seaweeds. I don’t buy much from this suite of Japanese staples, but it still is interesting just to look at the differences in Japanese teas versus the Chinese teas.

A slice of historic Chinatown. Vancouver, BC. 2010. Mural reflects some aboriginal imagery, indigenous to northwest coast cultural history.Photo by J. Chong

  More Rice Diversity at Chinese One-Stop Supermarket
Maybe I’m not remembering correctly, but Fujiya doesn’t offer the same diversity of rice in sacks compared to some Chinese grocery stores. I do shop at the Chinese mega-chain (at least for North American Chinese supermarkets) at T & T’s — more for convenience instead of continuously great deals. Some of their prices are higher than independent Chinese grocery stores. Annoyingly, sometimes large bunches of Chinese greens are bundled  in plastic and sold by  weight. Not practical when buying for only 1-2 people.

At Byblos wholesale bakery outlet and a bike ride stop: Middle Eastern phyllo pastry made of custard-like cream, sprinkled with pistachios.

But still, it’s just easier to manoeuvre around in wider shopping aisles.  The shelves are filled with a mind-boggling variety of foods that either I’ve never tried (and some I never will, since it’s processed and packaged junk food a la Asian-style) or my decision-making is challenged on which brand to try.  It used to be rice. But since I don’t eat much rice anymore, it’s Chinese noodles now –certain types of noodles. T & T has spread its supermarket empire across Canada. There are some differences between Vancouver stores and the single Calgary store. Vancouver locations offer a lot more fresh seafood and wider range of locally made fresh Chinese noodles.  I haven’t visited Calgary store often enough to see if they’ve gone as far as to introduce bison or venison to their customers. But it’s only a matter of time when they do.

Stacks of large couscous sacks and different types at Middle Eastern shops. Calgary, AB

 Piles of Middle Eastern Couscous Sacks
For Middle Eastern groceries, we have the easy convenience near a bike route to access Byblos, a Middle Eastern wholesale bakery outlet in Calgary which also supplies Western Canada. It’s typical to see customers sail out of the store with over 10-20 packs of pita bread for their families or more likely, their own restaurants.

After packing away pita bread, some phyllo pastries with pistachios, hazelnuts and thankfully, less syrupy than Greek versions and freshly made hummus, we settle down for a sumach spiced flatbread, a pastry and drink before climbing back on the bikes.

East Indian tea brands with British colonial branding. Basha Foods International, Calgary AB.

Just a block away is Basha Foods International, a large Middle Eastern supermarket that has instead, sacks of rice varieties with Middle East or Indian brands as well as whole aisles devoted to diverse selection and large volumes of beans, millet, couscous and barley.

Colonial Tea Branding in South Asian Teas, Not East Asian Brands
Packaged tea has Middle Eastern script with branding that reflects British colonial past — totally different from Chinese tea branding which retains more often, Chinese imagery and logos with no reference to British connections. But then except for Hong Kong and Macau, China was never colonized. Same for Japanese teas and their branding.

Giant moon cakes for Chinese mid-Autumn festival –enough to feed a whole party for dessert. T & T’s supermarket. Calgary, AB

Someone mentioned to me that it would be cheaper and more satisfying that I made my own hummus. Sure, but there are limits how far I will go the homemade route. I shop at these favourite food stores in lieu of visiting many different mainstream supermarkets for good prices and fun while browsing different foodstuffs.

Oh yes, I forgot: they are fun cycling destinations while I also get a great work out to haul the goodies homeward.

Cherry Blossom Ballet in Vancouver: Nature and New Mural Art

I had been wanting to highlight this new outdoor public mural that featured cherry blossoms against the backdrop of West Coast Japanese-Canadian and aboriginal history.

St. James Community Services Society mural reflects Japanese-Canadian and aboriginal history, culture along with west coast sea life. By Joey Mallet & Rita Buchwitz 2011. Commissioned for Vancouver’s 125th anniversary. Photo by J. Chong.

The St. James Community Service Society mural was commissioned in 2011 by the City of Vancouver, as part of their new public art works in celebration of the city’s 125th anniversary. The mural is also a dedication to the work of the Society for 50 years in the downtown Eastside for providing emergency shelter services, hospice care, support to seniors and those with mental illness.

Cherry blossoms. Vancouver BC 2012. Photo by J. Chong

This new mural is located at the corner of Powell and Gore Streets, in the area that was Japantown, adjacent to Chinatown. The mural includes a watery image of herring, cedar tree fronds, other sea life and a totem pole.

In this neighbourhood, there are several outdoor art installations within 1 block in all directions, that are touchstones to also aboriginal culture and Chinese- Canadian history.

Former Japanese-Canadian internment camp during WW II in mountainous interior region of British Columbia. New Denver, BC 2005. Photo by HJEH Becker

Fragile Blossoms Frame Grey Shadows in Japanese-Canadian History
Delicate arching branches of pale pink blossoms contrast against the grey flotilla of Japanese-Canadian fishing boats in the mural. During the latter part of the 19th century and up to World War II, the Japanese immigrants were formative in sustaining the fishing and canning industries along the southern coast of British Columbia. However, the dark spot in history was the confiscation of their fishing boats and their possessions by the Canadian government in 1939 and thereafter, with the Japanese Allied bombing of Pearl Harbour in Hawaii.

All Japanese-Canadians during World War II, were deemed suspect by the Canadian government as a threat to Canada, even though many of these Canadians had never been to Japan or their family were already settled in Canada for several generations. There was 

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 corralling of Japanese-Canadians and relocation of them by train, into camps located in the mountain interior areas of British Columbia. It was a clear racist target against a group of Canadians who were innocent and not responsible for Pearl Harbour attack. Parallel action was also taken by the U.S. against the Japanese-Americans.

The businesses in Japantown never fully recovered after WWII. Many of the families lost their possessions, businesses and were nominally compensated by the Canadian government 50 years later in the 1980’s,  for a token amount of money.

Cherry blossoms. Stanley Park, Vancouver BC 2012. Photo by J. Chong

The mural is also an ethereal bow to the profusion of cherry trees bursting forth every spring, all over Vancouver. Previously I had written a blog post on this wonderful pink herald of spring which began as a gift of cherry trees from the Japanese government.

Cherry Trees Inspire Landscape Design for New Developments
Nowadays, it’s refreshing to see that both the City of Vancouver and some private developers have incorporated new cherry tree plantings into the landscaping and streetscape designs. You can see young trees blooming around the perimeter of a playing field in David Lam Park, by new condominium developments while bicycling from Stanley Park and along streets in Kitsalano and Shaugnessey neighbourhoods, where there are more mature cherry trees.

Queen Elizabeth Park in spring time. Vancouver BC 2012. Photo by J. Chong

Pink Blossoms Dance Like Ballet Tutus
Unlike the famed cherry blossoms in Washington DC, or even in Japan, on the northwest British Columbia coast,  sometimes delicate cherry trees are thriving beside soaring old growth trees that have stood for several hundred years. Boughs of tissue-thin, cherry blossom branches dance ballet-like in the wind, against rough, mossy wide girth of Douglas firs.

The cherry blossom sprays are like a profusion of many pink ballet tutus shifting, jumping and floating in the spring breeze. It is a happy dance of memory and hope for us when we face the rain showers and sun in the months ahead.

More Interesting Reading (and Photos)
Chong, Jean. Cycling Under Cherry Pink Flowering Bowers. In Cycle Write Blog, Apr. 18, 2010.

Asia in My Dreams: Romanticizing the East

After half a century, I still haven’t been to Asia yet.  Being Canadian-born and resident in Canada all my life ( Huron-Iroquois native Indian for “Kanata“, meaning village), I have only impressions and tenuous connections to ancestral land of China.

Statuary on top of temple. Hsinchu City, Tawain 2011. Photo by HJEH Becker. An Asian interpretation of baroque-like detail.

As Asia hurtles along in the 21st century to remake itself, I have had to rejiggle my perceptions about this diverse area and simultaneously, my hopes of ever visiting there.  By now, I’m wondering if I will ever be motivated to visit at all. Let me explain.

Mother and I at home in southern Ontario, Canada. Beginnings of my reality, dreams and identity.

 Dreams Start in German-Mennonite Ontario County Area
While growing up in a small southern Ontario city, I had visions of a land with ancient pagodas dwarfed by sheer rocky mountain spires,  blue Mao-suited residents shuffling in black cloth Chinese slippers who were eating food that was more deeply layered and diverse in taste, compared to the fare served up in diner woks across North America.

These images were reinforced by my parents’ collection of older Chinese pictorial magazines that I later plundered photos to illustrate my school projects and ace some high marks. (I think the marks were for the amount of  information I enthusiastically shared in the project.)

Cycling in an enclosed village area, Changzhi, China 2011. Photo by HJEH Becker.

Also my half-baked impressions, were fed by letters with Mao and Communist peasant inspired stamps on letters from relatives in mainland China, during the 1970’s.

Dispatches from Other Canadian-born Chinese
Later, in the 1980’s when other Canadian-born Chinese friends went overseas to live and travel, there were stories of being tracked occasionally by Chinese authorities, some travel restrictions, difficulties of learning Mandarin as adults while savouring both, delicious and lousy cheap food, sights of  rural poverty, crowded cities, some magnificent scenery and architecture.

It was mostly foreign to me.  But still, wonderful to hear tales both great and not so great.

In a mountain park. Seoul, South Korea. 2011. Photo by HJEH Becker. Ideal, tranquil image of Asia.

Finally a sister and I had vaguely entertained the idea of a trip to China. But that same year later,  the 1989 Tianamen Square massacre of several hundred student protestors in Beijing and terror,  forced us early to switch our sights to Europe.  We spent three weeks bopping around in 10 European countries.

She however did embark a few years later, on a memorable trip with her husband for several weeks in China and Thailand.

Expanding Asian Dreams-  Moving to Toronto
Meanwhile my childhood romantic thoughts were crystallizing with greater clarity when I moved to Toronto to find work after university. Here was one of Canada’ highest proportion of Asian-Canadians where suddenly, I wasn’t noticed as much by racial ethnicity.

Spicy Korean seafood noodle soup with condiments 2012. Calgary, AB. Began exploring other Asian cuisines, outside of Chinese Cantonese food starting in my mid 20′s.

For the first time in my mid-20’s, I started to taste the fiery kimchee soaked condiments and egg smothered bim bap in Korean restaurants, as well as barbecued eel,  sushi and sashimi from Japanese restaurants  and curries from Malayasian eateries.  Yup, that was how “narrow” my experience of  just Asian cuisine.  What do you expect from a kid who  grew up in a German-Mennonite city and then, spent a few years buried in her studies in the conservative, Caucasian dominant city of London, Ontario?

My Asian dreams got wider geographically  –through food as a touchstone.  Thai food stoked the golden visions of the Royal Palace in Bangkok and skinny market boats floating down canals, loaded with fresh produce.

Cambodia 2007. Photo by S. Chong-Purvis

Too Lazy to Learn, Globalization of Asia: Other Excuses Not to Visit
Yet, increasingly I was focusing more on the history of the Chinese and Japanese in North America.  Not only was it more relevant, but it was simply easier and less to read.

Laden cyclists and motorbikes compete for road space. Vietnam 2007. Photo by S. Chong-Purvis.

As a hobby, it was too much effort for me to figure out  over  3,000 years of Chinese dynastic history prior to the Opium Wars in the 1800’s.

Over time, the lure of a different place untouched by Western consumerism and individualism, was losing its exotic veneer : family members told stories of occasional breathing problems in polluted, humid Bangkok or Beijing, nearly blind consumer worship of McDonald’s, Louis  Vitton and cars sweeping across at least, urban Asia, or news reports on gross occupational hazards where locals died or were injured while labouring under dangerous conditions.

Commuter train crowds in Taipei, Tawain 2011. Photo by HJEH Becker. Similar scene at rush hour in Vancouver, however with approx. up to 60% Asian faces.

 Need Asia Anymore?
Now the latest, is that some streets in Shanghai core areas are just like any North American yuppified area.  Do I need to experience that when I can get a similar experience just by wandering down Robson St. in Vancouver, BC with over 30% Asian-Canadians in the city?  Or in the suburb of Richmond where the population is now 60% Asian-Canadian.

I probably have it all wrong –again.

Canadian Living a Fragmented Mosaic of Asian Influences

Halong Bay, Vietnam 2007. Photo by S. Chong-Purvis. Another tranquil Asian image.

Yet, I know my romanticizing of the East, is not the same as those who don’t have any family members from Asia.  The photos of my mother, still young and pretty in  her cheong-sam and striking a pose with her babies in Canada, is the beginning of why my dreams aren’t out to lunch.

The fact is  that I can see English script and often, can guess the original writer, began life by learning Chinese ideograms.  A tell-tale sign:  there is a certain consistent neatness in English handwriting. Or the fact, like a lot of Asians raised on home-Chinese cooking, we enjoy steamed fish in a bit of soy sauce, ginger root slices, green onions and oil.  To us, that’s highlighting quality fresh whole fish.  However a lot of non-Asians just see this steamed fish dish, as a boring, less dynamic  dish.

Steamed savoury egg custard with slices of beef flavoured with soy sauce, ginger root & onion. Dish seldom served in North American Chinese restaurants. But known & enjoyed by those born / raised on home Chinese cooking world-wide. 2012 Calgary.

Or that I enjoy savoury, steamed egg custard as comfort food for supper.  It has bits of sliced meat marinated with soy sauce cooked in a tasty, slightly watery custard.  Lovely with rice on the side and simple stir fried veggies.  But this custard dish rarely makes it to restaurant menus in North America.  Probably because it’s puzzling and not  as colourful as a heap of artfully stir-fried seafood with veggies.  Eating a wide range of Asian cuisines means appreciating a diverse range of food textures, contrasting flavours and colours in one meal.  My father’s favourite dish was steamed, lean pork slices with abit of salted fish to flavor the pork. We enjoyed it also –several times per month for dinner.

Like ordinary life, not dreams, I learned to cook rice in the pot over stove as a teenager. Electric rice pots only entered my life in my early 30’s.

Burning incense swirls around in temple. Changzhi, China 2011. Photo by HJEH Becker

No wonder why my Asian dreams confuse me. These life memories are like colourful glass fragments in my shattered mosaic of understanding that I have had to piece together thoughtfully, over a long time.  These  experiences fused with dreams, probably only makes sense to me and others who bumble along in life.

But as time marches on and our world shrinks with personal blogs popping up from all over the globe, Asia looks less and less romantically exotic.  Globalization is making gelatos, sorbets and coffees popular in the big Asian cities. Even the Chinese and East Indians who have money are jumping on the European wine kick  –their romanticization of the West.

Or am I wrong?  Maybe it’s just me. I should just hop onto a plane and get to the truth of my arms-length, or ocean-length view of Asia. My parents have never wanted to return to China. For them, they probably rather keep the dreams of how it was before the Chinese-Japanese war and Communist takeover.

For now, I’m just content to explore Canada where I can still get lost in its vastness.

Further Reading:
Chong, Jean. Romanticizing the West:  Asian Craze for European Gourmet Desserts. In Cycle Write Blog, Feb. 2, 2012.

Seoul, South Korea 2011. Photo by HJEH Becker

Buffy Sainte-Marie: A Life of Song and Social Justice Activism

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Several weeks ago, Buffy Sainte-Marie, the Canadian Cree Indian folk, country and rockabilly singer fired up a Calgary audience with songs of unabashed activism on social justice, as well as love and aboriginal identity. She plastered the song charts in … Continue reading →