Sheila's Rainbow Cake

Sheila made this fun rainbow cake for Ben's 16th birthday.  On the outside she covered in Nerds and Pop Rocks

Our new love for Growlers

We are really enjoying buying our beer in growlers from our local breweries or brew pubs,   One them is enough for dinner and the evening at home for two of us as it contains 1.9 litres of beer or 5.4 bottles of beer.

Here is a video of getting our growler and the new half size growlerette filled at Vancouver Island Brewery



A schedule of when you get your growler filler

Brewery	Cost of Growler	Standard Beer Growler Fillup	Open for growler fills
Driftwood	$5	$11 ($12/Fat Tug)	Tues & Weds: 1-4:30, Thurs & Fri: 2-5:30
Hoyne	$5	$10	Wed-Fri: 2-6; Sat 11-6
Phillips	$5	$10	Mon 9-5; Tues-Thurs 10-6; Fri 10-7; Sat 10-6
Moon Under Water	$5	$10.50-$16	Wed-Sun 11:30-10:30ish
Spinnakers	$5	$10-12	Every day 9am-10pm
Vancouver Island Brewery	$5	$10	Mon-Sat 10am-6pm
Canoe Brewpub	$8	$12 ($13 Seasonal)	Every day 11:30am-11pm

New video about our urban chickens

The latest set of six chickens are doing great and producing about 40 eggs a week.

Victoria Food Truck Up at Centennial Square

Line up for Dog Nation

OK, I feel like a shit but I have been looking forward to this event for weeks and Sheila and I went today and I was disappointed and to say so feels like I am being disloyal to a great addition to this city - the food trucks.

The event was organized by VicFest and Tectoria as the Victoria Street Food Festival and is a great way to highlight all these new food trucks in town.

So why am I disappointed?   First off many of the trucks listed as coming a week ago were not there.  The following were listed as coming:

The ones that showed:
Discovery Coffee with Yonni's Doughnuts
The Reef
Puerto Vallarta Amigos
wannawafel
Pig BBQ Joint
L'Authentique poutine and burger
Victoria Greek Community
Hoyne Brewing

Here are the ones that did not show - and nothing was said why they were not there (update apparently they are next week)
Sugar Rush Mini Donuts
SnoMoose Ice Cream
Deadbeetz Food Truck
Stir It Up

Puerto Vallarata Amigos - one of favorites

Big Dog Burgers aka Burger Bus
Grilled To The Mac
Diablos Vegan Tacos
Wild west Salmon Grill
Melt Truck
Tacofino Victoria
Lighthouse Brewing Company

I really wanted to try Deadbeetx Food Truck, Tacofino, Grilled to the Mac and Diablos

There were a couple not on the list that were there
Baron Burgers
Jackson Ice Cream
Dog Nation
Bonterra Pizza

Next, the event was said to start at 2 pm and go to 8 pm, but at some point in the last few days it was changed to 11 am as the start.  I ma not sure why the 11 am start at the last minute but it meant that there was a huge rush at lunch that more or less overwhelmed the trucks that were there.   We got there at about 1:45 and several trucks were sold out of some of their food.  As an example, Puerto Vallarta Amigos were out of many of their fillings.  By the time we left there were some that were sold out period.

Burger Bus all the way over from Vancouver

I am half tempted to go down there this evening and see how it is all doing and see if they are still able to see food. (update - seems some of them closed for the afternoon to restock)

Finally, the prices for some of the stuff seemed at a gouging level, $2 for a can of coke is a bit much.

As for the food, Sheila and I shared our lunch. So we could try two different things.   When we first got there the lines for several of the stalls were very long. I would have gone to the Burger Bus, all the way over from Vancouver but the line up was very, very long.   Their food stand has to be seen in person to admire the brilliance of how they use the old VW bus.

Dog Nation had a very long line up for their 16 or so different hot dogs you could order.  I would have joined the line if I was interested in a hot dog but that was not what I really wanted today.   I honestly was in the mood for street tacos and I had expected to see several taco trucks there but they were among the no shows.  I am fan of PV Amigos but they are the food truck I have eaten at the most in town.

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We had a Baron burger from Baron Burgers of Sidney.  The price of $8 was a bit steep for a basic concession stand hamburger.  It was a good one but nothing out of the ordinary.  They also seemed to have been overwhelmed by the volume of business because even though they had a short line up it did not move fast.   They were also already our of something but I could not quite see what it was under the tape.  I expect in Sidney they do a nice steady business and do not see the sort of mass influx they did today.   I wish I had bit the bullet and joined the long line up for either L'Authentique poutine and burger or the Burger Bus.

We also had a jerk chicken wrap from The Reef.  The chicken was cooked well but the jerk seasoning was more of a "hint of" jerk, it really had almost no heat at all.   We also got an order of Johnny cakes from them - I think they may have had trouble keeping up with the demand because ours were a bit doughy and not properly sugared.  I hate to be too critical because the food I have had at the reef has been good.

We finished with a doughnut from Yonni's doughnuts, a part of Discovery Coffee.   We had the creme brule doughnut and it was a well done.   I think the idea of bruleeing sugar onto a doughnut is inspired.


I was surprised to see that wannawafel was not all that busy.  Normally when I see them around town they have a long line up for stuff.  All I can think is that their food is not really a summer sort of dish.

Bonterra Pizza from Shawnigan Lake looked closed when we were there, I did not walk up and ask what was going on, but there was no line up and no sense of cooking going on.  I do not know if they were setting up for later or had run out.   Sheila said she thought she saw someone with one of their pizzas.  My problem is I am now spoiled for street pizza by the stuff Prima Strada makes.

Angry Birds Star Wars Birthday Cake

We had hoped to get better pictures, but demands of the birthday cut pic taking short

Max turned five and is currently obsessed with Star Wars, Lego, Angry Birds and any combination of those three.   We decided to do a Star Wars themed birthday and made him an Angry Birds Star Wars cake.   I thought this cake was achievable from watching Cake Boss.  

Watching the process they go through to make the cakes in the show has given the process we would need to follow to make a special cake.  

Luke bird - the hot sun was causing the modelling chocolate to sweat

The main base cake is a chocolate cake using the recipe from Rebar.  This was then covered in buttercream icing and then a layer of fondant on top of that.   We ended buying the buttercream at Creating Occasions because we wanted to see what professional buttercream was like in texture and taste

The larger cubes on top are pound cake and the smaller ones are rice krispie squares, both covered in buttercream and then fondant.

fur detail comes from using a needle tool

Modelling chocolate allows this cape on the Obi Wan bird to sit above him

The figures are made of rice krispie square balls covered in modelling chocolate.  Modelling chocolate is easy to make and holds shapes well.    I made most of it from white chocolate which was then coloured.   The final texture of the modelling texture was ok but not great, it was a bit grainy.   I want to buy some and see what it should be like.  Most of the figures were made by Ben though Sheila finished the Chewbacca bird and made the whole Luke bird.

Victoria's Newest Farmer's Market at the Hudson

The Downtown Farmer's Market has moved its permanent home at the Hudson.  The market is organized by the Victoria Downtown Public Market and had been at Market Square over the winter.  It is going to be held at the Hudson every Wednesday from 11 am to 3 pm.

We visited it this week just around noon.   It was mildly busy but not busy enough to really make it worth being at.   People wanted farmers's markets but for a host of reasons the ones in the Victoria area are less than successful in my opinion.

In my work life I have worked with growers who sold at markets in the lower mainland.  I personally did an experiment to see what it takes to make a buck selling at a farmer's market by taking a stall there and selling a friend's produce.   I have a good idea of what a good busy market looks like and what the sort of scale of sales I would should be able to achieve.

Here is what I do not see at Victoria markets:

• Crowds of people - a busy market has line ups at peak times at every produce vendor, not just at the ones selling food to eat
• Large volumes of produce - I know what I took to Whistler every week and I have not seen anyone is this region come to a market with the volume I sold.   I was a very small vendor in Whistler.   The area behind my table and under it was loaded with produce at the start of the day.  I see very limited amounts in local markets here.
• Buyers - people go to the markets as attractions and not as their place to shop.   People that show up just wander up and down the market but are loaded down with goods they have purchased.   During the peak time of 10 am to 2 pm at the Whistler market I would do about 200 to 250 transactions, close to one a minute.
• Reasonable prices - in Whistler there was a premium people were willing to pay for good local produce, but not as wildly expensive as what produce costs in Victoria markets.   A head of lettuce should be $1.50 or so, not $3.00 as seems to be the Victoria market prices.

I would like to shop at a local farmer's market, but I need to know I can buy what I need when I go there and the prices would be reasonable.  At the moment this is simply not the case with this market.



 Here is a news report on the opening.

El Guapo at the Farmer's Market at the Hudson

We stopped by the new Farmer's Market at the Hudson yesterday and got our lunch there at El Guapo Chorizo Grill.   This food cart is only out at this farmers's market and only have a limited supply each week - 86 in total this week.


El Guapo only does grilled chorizo sandwiches - I like that, they focus on one thing and they do it well.   The sandwich is simple but the quality of the ingredients count.  I am not sure what their source for the sausage is but they do say it is happily raised island pork.  They also sell one pound of frozen sausages for $12.

The sandwich itself costs $7 and is just a bun grilled on the flattop, some grilled roasted red pepper, a chorizo sausage and finally a bit salad.   Simple but very good because of the great flavour of the sausage.   The bread captures all the juices and fat from the sausage which is the only dressing or condiment on the bread.

I highly recommend checking them out though come early enough to get some.  They are only there on Wednesdays for the market.   They sold out by 2:35 pm this week.  

The name El Guapo means "the handsome one".

Here is my short video of them making our sandwiches.