Stuffing My Face in Vancouver

I promised in the second to last post that this one would be all about the food, so LET'S GO! You've seen the ice cream croissants...well, that wasn't all I ate, not by a long shot. I ate a lot in Vancouver. A LOT. I didn't get photos of all of it, but I certainly took plenty of photos of the desserts I had :) But I'm starting with something savory first (okay, well it's also kind of sweet)--an early evening snack of salmon candy and a honey lager from Granville Island Brewery. As far as I can tell, salmon candy is pretty much salmon jerky, smoked and glazed with maple syrup. The smoking makes the fish very dense, almost meaty in texture, and the syrup...delicious. It makes such a great snack with beer.


One of my favorite things to do in Vancouver is to hop on one of the tiny ferry boats and go wandering around Granville Island. (You may be interested to know that it is not actually an island.) There is a great market here full of all kinds of interesting food stalls, lots of fresh produce, fishmongers, butchers, sausage makers, bakeries....then there is the totem pole workshop and lots of little shops to browse in. It seems mostly to be full of tourists, but I've been a bunch of times and still enjoy it every time I go. Plus it's hard to resist all the piles of fresh fruit (a lot of it grown in B.C.). And I get to eat things like the smoked meat sandwich above! It came wrapped in greaseproof paper with a pickle and mustard and is oh so yummy.


This, people, is a regular portion. And can I point out that that's a bagel, not sandwich bread? Still despite its size, I have no problem polishing the whole thing off, and unlike my run-in with the aggressive seagull at English Bay, this time I was able to eat my sandwich in peace. (The seagulls were otherwise occupied by someone who was actually feeding them.) But I digress--vacations are all about indulgence so hold on to your hats because the desserts, they are coming:


Butter tart! I think the pastry might have been made with shortening because it was surprisingly lacking in flavor, but the filling was sticky and delicious (and had raisins buried in the bottom.)


I bought this peach tart from the same bakery on Granville Island; this was actually for Py (I only snuck a quarter of it!). This was good, with a poached peach half baked into some almond cream. (Screen-cleaner Cat also did not eat any.)


I cannot get enough of riding the ferry to Granville Island! This is from another trip (apparently I also cannot resist buying food there) and a different bakery than the previous desserts. This was labeled as an apple focaccia and it certainly is on a bready base but it's definitely more dessert. Or decadent breakfast. There was quite the pool of caramel on it before I carried it home upside down. Which turned out to be good, because I think that would have been too sweet for me.


Aaaand, from the same bakery, a simple but completely delicious blueberry galette. As you might have gathered from my bento posts, I love blueberries. Ergo, I love this galette.


I did pick up a couple of souvenirs (all of which are the edible type); this is a box of caramels from a local chocolatier, Wendy Boys. Unfortunately, I have not yet tasted one; I'm pretty sure I can convince the recipient to give me one though. In the meantime, I have sneakily opened the package and taken a photo:


My god, do these look amazing or what? You have to congratulate me on my willpower, I have managed not to eat these myself. :)


Finally, here is one more raccoon photo! So cute. Happy Wednesday!