Vancouver Magazine
Care to travel the world, one plate at time? Visit Kamloops.
Flaky, Fluffy and Freaking Delicious: Vancouver’s Top Fry Bread and Bannock
The Best Gelato in Canada Was Made in a Hotel Room (and You Can Get it Now in Kitsilano)
Wine Collab of the Week: The Best Bottle to Welcome a Vancouver Spring
Naked Malt Blended Malt Scotch Whisky Celebrates Versatility and Spirit
A $13 Wine You Can Age in Your Cellar
5 Things to Do in Vancouver This Week (March 20-26)
5 Things to Do in Vancouver This Week (March 13-19)
Looking for a Hobby? Here’s 8 Places in Vancouver You Can Pick Up a New Skill
What It’s Like to Get Lost on a Run With a Pro Trail Runner
8 Things to Do in Abbotsford (Even If It’s Pouring Rain)
Explore the Rockies by Rail with Rocky Mountaineer
4 Fashion Designers From African Fashion Week Vancouver to Put on Your Radar
The Future of Beauty: How One Medical Aesthetics Clinic is Changing the Game
Before Hibernation Season Ends: A Round-Up of the Coziest Shopping Picks
I‘ve been thinking about resolutions lately-even though it’s not New Year’s and no, I haven’t had a health scare. But really, is there ever a bad time to take stock? Some of the motivation is business. Journalism is going through yet another round of self-scrutiny, prompted by recent layoffs and buyouts at the Globe and Mail and the Toronto Star (except, in a welcome move, the Star‘s investigative team), and locally, Gordon Fisher’s first act as president of the Vancouver Sun and Province a few weeks back was to warn of unprecedented restructurings. So it’s a smart time to take inventory, though I’m pleased to report Vanmag has had a financially successful year and seen a 17 percent gain in readership.
Some of it’s personal. Another school year is ending, and with one kid about to enter high school and another getting ready to leave, it feels like a time to really assess where the family is at (and how we’ll fill up another summer).
Or maybe the incentive is just spring itself. I’ve given up on six-pack abs (not going to happen) and if I’m honest, those marathons may have to run themselves for the foreseeable future. But warm weather has made me revisit a few more realistic promises, like experiencing more of this province. For this issue, I took four days to visit Osoyoos and was pleasantly surprised by the growth in tourism (I hadn’t been since the ’70s) and, especially, the area’s resorts and dining. With a whole package of stories about kayaking on the Sunshine Coast and hiking local mountains, and recommendations for bike rides and sailing charters and foodie tours, I’m resolving to overcome my sloth and get outside.
Elsewhere in the issue, a by-all-measures successful company was dissatisfied with its own self-assessment. Globe and Mail reviewer Alexandra Gill spent a year behind the scenes watching as Earls, which incoming president Mo Jessa says had lost the “perception wars,” tried to regain pride of place among casual-fine restaurants. Her report on the development process, culminating in the Earls Tweak Week, gives fascinating insight into one business’s attempts to make change after a long, hard look in the mirror. A profitable exercise for us all.