With Valentine’s Day approaching, our friends at The Uncommon Café, 477 Powell Street, are hosting a few delicious classes this February and if location is an issue, we see one of their upcoming classes, Eclairs and Cream Puffs, will be held at the Trout Lake Community Centre on a Sunday afternoon. Valentine Kitamura owner of Tartine Maple will be leading the various classes they have lined up which include learning how to make eclairs and cream puffs, the secrets of working with chocolate or making that perfect Valentine’s Dinner. We invite you to check out their upcoming classes.
Eclairs and Cream Puff: Choux Pastry Basics – Sunday, February 5, 2017
Valentine will teach you the basics of the new pastry craze from France, Choux pastry pronounced “shoo.” If unfamiliar with the term, they are a family of dessert, big and small puffs, all made with the same dough base. In this class, you will learn to make:
- Profiteroles filled with vanilla whipped cream and covered with warm chocolate sauce
- Chouquettes with are a simple little puff simply covered with crunchy sugar bits
- Eclairs – the long version of the choux, filled with cream
Bring a container(s) so you can take some of your creations home. If you don’t have baking experience, no worries, it is not required. They assure us no fancy equipment is required either and you can easily make the items yourself at home. This class runs Sunday afternoon at Trout Lake Community Centre from 2:00 pm – 4:00 pm.
Chocolate Lovers Class – Wednesday, February 8, 2017
If you love chocolate and want to learn how to make easy decadent desserts, than this class is for you. Whether you wish to impress guests, or that special someone this Valentine’s Day. What you will learn to make in this class is:
- Chocolate Mousse
- Lava Cake
- Chocolate Truffles
- Chocolate Sauce to Drizzle
This is a demonstration cooking class after which you will get to enjoy your Lava Cake along with a glass of sparking wine. The rest of the goodies you get to take home with you.
Valentine’s Couple Cooking Demo & Dinner – February 10, 2017 SOLD OUT
This class is designed for pairs, so whether that be a romantic couple, or maybe you want to bring someone on a first date, or you bring your mom or best friend, the field is wide open. During this demonstration class, Valentine will show you how to make some delish French dishes which we’ve set out below. After the demonstration, you get to sit down and enjoy the prepared meal in their restaurant with a glass of wine with candlelight if you wish. What you will learn to make includes:
Tarte flambée: Thin flatbread made right before your eyes, covered in onions, bacon and cream and cooked really high for extra crispiness. Served with green salad.
Aumoniere de Saumon: Salmon wrapped in purse shape phyllo dough served with a traditional white wine sauce
Lava cake: The ultimate dark chocolate indulgence served with vanilla ice cream.
Now if you like the idea of this class, but your prefer a different date, they are offering another class on February 14th, with a bit different menu. Price for the demonstration cooking classes are $75 per person. Keep an eye out for early registration offers which reduce the price by $10. To register, click on link above which takes you to the Eventbrite page for each class. Bon appetit.
No matter what your politics, we respect those that speak up for what they are passionate about. Speaking up is certainly nothing new to East Vancouver residents who are politically minded and do voice their opinions whether it be in a traditional or not so traditional way. Which brings us to an interesting event we stumbled across happening at 
An interesting show that has our attention is coming to 
The Britannia Art Gallery regularly exhibits art work, but each June they exhibit work of an aboriginal artist(s). They are now seeking submissions from aboriginal artists wishing to showcase their work. The Britannia Art Gallery is located within the Britannia Library thus is a dual purpose space which is also used as a Reading Lounge. In June, the gallery will host a reception for the chosen artist(s) and publicize the event. The artist will receive a small honorarium of $200 in total, shared if more than one artist. The artists are welcome to sell their work, but responsible for their own sales. If you wish to apply, visit the link for 
We are big fans of trying and learning something new. With the New Year, we tend not to make resolutions but instead sign up for a class or workshop. We also start each year with a list of new places to check out whether it be a new coffee shop, brewery or restaurant. In recent months, we’ve learned to make the perfect pie crust with the French sisters at The Pie Shoppe, we also learnt how to make some great new appetizers from Caren McSherry at Gourmet Warehouse and most recently learnt how to make chocolate at The Soap Dispensary of all places. We recently featured some DIY classes by The Wood Shop which are now sold out until March, so lots of you are looking for things to do/make yourselves. With that in mind, we’ve set out a variety of workshops/classes coming up this New Year in case you wish to take a stab at trying something new, or just brushing up on something you haven’t done in a while. There’s lots going on close to home. Here’s some of what we found in and around East Vancouver:
On January 12th, you are invited to a night of stand up comedy with the aim of raising funds for two great organizations, Union Gospel Mission and Covenant House. 
If you have yet to catch Story Story Lie, you are in luck it now has a regular monthly gig at 
NorthWest Comedy Fest and Just For Laughs have teamed up with SiriusXM to bring you 
ILiveInEastVan.com 