TSUMAGO-JUKU

Let’s go a digital adventure with this week’s speedlink.

We start by following Dennis and May Pang on their recent trip over to Japan. While I have personally been to Tokyo and Hakone, I haven’t had the opportunity to visit the Kiso Valley and Nagano region. They visited the post towns of Magome-Juku and Tsumago-Juku, the first of which has been “beautifully restored” from the Edo period. Of course, they indulged in the local delicacies too, like the miso soba, chicken karaage, and shabu shabu.

Continuing in Asia, this time by proxy, we check in with Ed Lau and his culinary adventures at the Kulinarya in Coquitlam. It’s a small Filipino restaurant nestled away in a random strip mall behind Coquitlam Town Centre. The interior is strangely minimalist and “hipstery” in appearance, but Ed didn’t want to judge the book by its cover. Some highlights from their meal include a beef and potato stew, barbecue pork skewers, garlic fried rice, Bagoong rice, and some amazing-looking crispy Pata pork belly.

Back here in Vancouver, it’s the season for all sorts of markets. We’ve got Richmond Night Market and Summer Night Market, but what about during the day? Rebecca Bollwitt has us covered with a full list of all the Vancouver Farmers Markets for 2014. Whether you’re by Trout Lake, Kitsilano, Kerrisdale or Yaletown, there’s a farmers market near you. They’re typically open on Saturdays or Sundays and give you a good opportunity to pick up some local produce and artisan goods.

Traveling back in time, Stacey Robinsmith has recently rediscovered the art of printing and framing his photos. With digital cameras vastly improving the convenience of taking pictures, we find that so many of our treasured photos get buried away on memory cards and hard drives, never to be seen again. It wouldn’t be reasonable for Stacey to print the 18,000 pictures on his hard drive, but “returning to the glory days of the 1990s” with a few choice selections is a great idea.

Finally, Joseph Planta had the opportunity to interview Elaine Lui about her most recent book, Listen to the Squawking Chicken. You might know her best from the Etalk program on CTV or her LaineyGossip celebrity gossip column. In the book, Elaine explores the entertaining and heart-breaking story of her mother and the “squawking chicken” style of parenting shaped her into who she is today.

Image credit: Pangcouver.com