Author: Rae

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Sushi and Gelato in White Rock

Sushi

At the risk of sounding overly sushi-addicted, I cannot leave this area without recommending Taka’s Take-Out Sushi in White Rock!

This tiny, spotless gem is quite probably the place to go in the lower mainland for takeout sushi. Everything is prepared fresh to order and is beautifully presented.

Tonight I had a spicy tuna cone (big surprise) and I decided to try their ‘mango’ roll. I’m looking at the menu now and Googling ‘masago’, which I suspect is the fish eggs I’ll be picking out of my teeth for a week! Yup! This roll is really yummy, a refreshing alternative to California roll as it combines a comparable blend of textures and tastes.

The last night my friend was here, she wanted one more sushi meal but did not want to go out. I ordered two kinds of teka maki (tuna rolls), a spicy tuna cone for myself, California rolls (theirs are different, with a creamy filling), and ‘dragon’ rolls which are essentially roasted eel wrapped in avocado. We had both wanted to try eel, but were not fond of the dragon rolls; she because the eel did not tickle her taste buds and me because I’m not nuts about avocado. I’m going to have to try eel again to get a firm feel for whether or not I like it. Their miso soup is also divine and it’s very telling that I slurp it all down without frowning when I say that tons of mushrooms float in that heavenly broth and I abhor mushrooms!

What a lovely Tuesday dinnertime it was to sit at my picnic table, enjoying the warm weather and sun, listening to the birds chirping, and munching on such good grub!

Gelato

Dolce Gelato on Marine Drive (right across from the pier) offers the best ice cream I have had in my life. It is made onsite, Italian-style, and and you can just taste the quality of the ingredients. It took a few tries for me to come up with the perfect cone, but I did–bacio and coffee. I used to buy Blizzards at Dairy Queen that set me back 5$ and change for a small with two ingredients when a generous gelato from this place (please indulge in two scoops!) is just 4.95$. Gelato is denser than American-style ice cream, the perceivably smaller scoop really amounts to the same thing and feels so much more satisfying for its light richness (gelato’s wonderful oxymoron!). Other combinations I tried were coffee and hazelnut (bacio gives you that plus chocolate!) and hazelnut and white chocolate (the latter of which has little chunks in it making it feel all the more rich).

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Putting the Winter Into Perspective

Well into late spring of 2008, I was still battling with choosing one of two possible futures.  For reasons that don’t need exploring at this juncture, I was sure for three years that I would be moving to Winnipeg, Manitoba in the fall of 2008 or the spring of 2009, but ‘things’ happened as ‘things’ often do, and I decided I needed a new life more than a new location. So, here I am, in Vancouver of all places and heading to the Yukon… instead of battling Manitoba’s second major flood in just over ten years.

A little cold and some RV plumbing problems suddenly seem positively insignificant.

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Winding Down

It is difficult to conceive that two weeks from now, my time at Pacific Border RV Park will be over. It has been a cushy four months, but I need to go back to a less luxurious way of life!

I’ve contacted a few RV maintenance places to get quotes for a small tune up for Miranda as well as a generator inspection. It would be brilliant if I could get all of this done in one place on May 2nd, but I’m not holding my breath. I really doubt that I’ll actually be heading north by this time in two weeks, but that’s only because I’m too lazy to take the rig out next weekend to get things done! The only problem with my having to stick around for a few days at the beginning of May is that there does not seem to be many places where I can boondock in the Vancouver area, but I’m researching my options.

I feel so differently about the GVR than I did four months ago, even four weeks ago. It’s taken a long time, but I have fallen in love some parts of Vancouver and the surrounding area, parts where it would be possible to build a life without having to stray into the parts I dislike. The end of the road, whenever, and if ever, it comes, could very well be English Bay or White Rock or Cloverdale or North Van or a number of other locations. This region is so much more than the sum of its parts; in fact I feel that it needs to be judged by the parts of its sum!

It has come to my attention in the last few months that, deep down, I am seeking a ‘forever home.’ The more I travel, the more the definition of that becomes clear to me, but I have not found the place yet and I don’t think I would even recognize it until I get many thousands more kilometres behind me.

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Journey to White Rock Across the Bottom of the Ocean

Today, all the elements came together to make a hike to White Rock possible. The weather was perfect, I was limbered up from all my hiking and walking, I knew what I wanted to see and do, and the tide was out (meaning that I could walk on sand instead of stones). It was a roughly 20km (12.5mi) expedition (according to my pedometre) on foot through Peace Arch park and down to the beach. It would have been much quicker to use the land route via eight avenue, but not nearly as scenic!

For the visual folk out there:

Google route in blue, my route in red

Google route in purple, my route in red

White Rock is a seaside resort town that seceded from Surrey, which surrounds it on all four sides, in 1957. The population is roughly 5,o00, but that number grows exponentially in summer. The community has a reputation for being balmier and sunnier than neighbouring towns and pilots actually call it the ‘hole in the sky’ because it often lacks cloud cover when the rest of the lower mainland is blanketed in fog! Walking Marine Drive with the ocean on my left, houses carved into the hillside on the right, and palm trees all around never fails to make me feel that I am back in southern California!

My mother has been to White Rock and was quick to advise me to try out the fish & chips at the Moby Dick restaurant. I figured that a 20km walk would mean a guilt-free indulgence in such a greasy treat, so I planned my day to have an early supper at this restaurant. I found the meal excellent, but it wasn’t quite the best fish and chips I’ve ever had (hint: the Lobster Barn, in York, Maine). The French fries were fantastic, the coleslaw was rather disappointing, and the fish was very good (not too greasy, light on the batter), but it needed lemon, which they don’t offer. I do highly recommend this place for fish and chips!

Today’s photo gallery tells the rest of the story. Pardon the French; I’ll be making my photo galleries bilingual from now on to save myself some work when telling my relatives about my adventures. 🙂