We love food! Some of our favourite gifts for the holidays involve delish things to eat or drink. We have found a lot more friends and family favouring edible items as gifts whether food, spirits or accessories that compliment cooking, baking or creating delish refreshments at home. In East Van, there are so many amazing options to choose from. On a recent trip to The Drive, we found a great selection of panetonne in Bosa Foods, Fratelli’s Bakery and Donald’s Market. There are quite a few flavour variations now, but last year we were gifted one and the last bit became french toast. If you haven’t tried this, we do recommend giving it a try. We’ve set out some suggestions for easy to find edible gifting this holiday season below. Whether it’s a hostess gift, thank you or maybe create your own basket from things you know the person would like, there are many great options close at hand in East Van.
Gift Baskets
There are many shops locally that will create custom gift baskets for you with a food related theme. The include LaGrotta delFrommagio, Bosa Foods, Gourmet Warehouse and Second Nature Home to name just a few.
Cooking Classes
Looking to gift an experience? Gourmet Warehouse always has a great line up of demonstration cooking classes. They usually run for 3 hours often on the weekends, sometimes in the evening during the week. The Italian Cultural Centre also features hands on cooking classes. Most classes you get to eat what you make afterwards.
Craft Beer
No way we could just skip over craft beer as a gift for the beer lover. So many great breweries to choose from each with their own unique offering, but pretty much all offer growlers. If you prefer to give the gift of a brewery tour, our friends at Vancouver Brewery Tours have that covered.
Spirits
Looking to gift some locally made spirits, we are pretty fond of Odd Society Spirits 1725 Powell Street with a great selection of locally made spirits including East Van Vodka, Wallflower Gin, Cassis, Bittersweet Vermouth and Oaken Wallflower Gin. During the holidays, we love to serve their cassis with prosecco. It’s an easy cocktail when entertaining. There’s also Resurrection Spirits at 1672 Franklin Street. Down side is they are only open Thursday to Saturday from 6:00 pm to 12:00 am whereas Odd Society Spirits has easier hours for popping in and picking a bottle or two. Odd Society is open Thursday to Sunday 1:00 pm to 11:00 pm save for Sunday evening which they wrap it up at 7:00 pm.
Pies
I mean who doesn’t love a delicious pie? Andrea and Stephanie French of The Pie Shoppe at 1875 Powell Street make seriously delicious pie. If you need to bring dessert for Christmas dinner or get together and want to wow family or friends, this is where you pick up your pie.
Have you made your way down to the walking trails along the Fraser River in SE Vancouver? If you have, you will come across an area called Tugboat Landing at the foot of Victoria Drive at East Kent Avenue South. If you aren’t familiar with this area, it once housed tugboats at this landing on the Fraser River hence the name. It was redeveloped into a community of condos and townhomes that enjoy river front living. The area is located on a public walkway and cycle path just steps away from Gladstone Park and less than a mile West of the new River District development.
What do you do with your pumpkin after Halloween? There is of course composting, a very good option, but there is another option this year. The PNE is doing something very cool that reduces waste, does something positive for the environment and animals and is fun. On Friday, November 1st between 5:30 pm – 7:30 pm you are invited to bring your pumpkin(s) to a FREE PNE PUMPKIN PROMENADE at the Hastings Park Sports Court. All the pumpkins will be lit up and put on display. After the event, volunteers for Pumpkins For Pigs will round up all the pumpkins which will be delivered to local farms and made into treats for animals as part of a Food Waste Diversion Project. Tim Horton’s Kaslo will have hot chocolate and snacks on hand, but you are asked to bring your own cup.
If you are looking for something very adult to do this Halloween we’ve got one idea for you. Everything Wine Vancouver, located in the new River District Town Centre in SE Vancouver, is hosting a Day of The Dead Tequila and Mezcal Tasting on Thursday, October 31st. This is your chance to learn about the history of these two spirits and the process of these iconic spirits and traditions from Mexico. If you didn’t already know mezcal is made from the heart of the agave plant. We hear it’s been pretty much made the same way for the last 200 years. We expect his to be another fun informative class in a great space in store. Cost for the tasting class is $35 and it begins at 6:30 pm. To grab your ticket(s), visit 
Richard Wolak of Vancouver Foodster is bringing back his 
ILiveInEastVan.com 