Happy Holidays from Nelson House B & B

Ozzie and Zack are cozy by the fireplace. I am nibbling our supply of home-baked shortbread. The Bed and Breakfast closes tonight and tomorrow, so that we can share some time with families and friends.

Here at Nelson House B & B, we count our blessings and always give thanks for the warmth and kindness of our guests.

Wherever you may be - a toast to you! We send you best wishes for a loving holiday and a wonderful year ahead!

Vegan Vancouver

Vegan "turkey" anyone?

My last post on breakfast at the B & B got me thinking of all the special dietary requests that we are glad to receive(in advance, hopefully). Some have presented us with something of a learning curve.

Vegetarianism, veganism and raw food are diets that I can respect but not personally embrace. I have, however, discovered the motherlode of vegan food lore in the Vancouver scene. And I am glad to share it with you. This article on a great local website lists and describes over thirty(!) of Vancouver's best vegan restaurants. Readers' comments add many more. Plus - scan down to the bottom of the piece and find super links to five more vegan/vegetarian guides and links to answer questions like "Why go vegan?".

You can start thanking me now....

Vancouver Food

Every morning at the B & B presents the opportunity to gather round the breakfast table for the best meal of the day. For guests, it is the luxury of time and relaxation, giving up the usual daily rush and worry to let someone else do the cooking, to linger over another coffee and bask in the friendly banter. For innkeepers, it is the challenge and fun of trying to please everyone's diets, tastes, preferences and palates. Frankly, we take pride in seeing our guests reluctant to push back from the table and already anticipating what we might serve the next day.

One daily constant of breakfast conversation is everyone's latest discoveries and experiences on the Vancouver food scene. We provide "David's Choice", an in-room folder of my personal favourite dining establishments nearby - everything from coffee shops to picnic supplies to the most elegant restaurants. Our conversations, however, range from the more obvious Vancouver-type questions regarding the "best seafood" and the "best views" to the more exotic(for me at least) sushi choices and vegan secrets. Guests from all over the world turn to me to knowingly discuss local organic markets, slow cooking and where to find High Tea - without having to go to Victoria. It's a reminder of just how very important, good eating really is in our lives.

"Sexiest Man Alive" - just another Vancouver attraction.

When People magazine recently picked Vancouver-born and raised Ryan Reynolds as "the sexiest man alive", many Vancouverites were not at all surprised that a BC boy is turning heads and also enjoys a rep as a fun, friendly guy. While most admirers of the male form must wait to see Ryan's abs on the big screen, Vancouver is said by many locals and visitors to be a treasure trove of fine male specimens.

Vancouver is first and foremost a West Coast city - all about the great outdoors and choosing the optimal lifestyle. According to official government statistics, Vancouverites live longer than in the rest of the country. Nice to know that staying active, living well... and looking good while doing it... has great results. Vancouver is the place that Canadians choose to move to. Foreigners do too. In present day Vancouver, there is both a rich multicultural mix and the traditional Canadian Mounties/lumberjack kind of guy. Someone for everyone. You have doubts? Did you know that Ryan's dad is a retired RCMP officer?

So if you would like to check out Vancouver's athletic men for yourself, here is a heads up! Mark two events on your calendar, get planning and book early. First up is WinterPride - the most famous gay ski week of them all. Jan. 30 to Feb. 6, 2011 is coming fast! It's your chance to combine brawn and beauty up at Whistler's Olympic facilities, just an hour and a half's spectacular drive from the city. Then, during the very peak of next summer's tourism season, Vancouver will host the North American Outgames from July 25 to 31st. That party is timed to culminate with Vancouver's annual Pride celebrations and amazing fireworks festival.

Yes - these are both very big, gay events. Sorry girls, Ryan is taken(Mr. Scarlett Johansson). But you can take my word for it, when it comes to Vancouver's men, Ryan did not break the mold.

A chill in the air brings holiday warmth...

November and December mark the yuletide holiday season. Both visitors and locals should find this Vancouver holiday lights list useful:

Nov. 26 - Jan. 2, Bright Nights offers kids of all ages a chance to bundle up for a miniature train ride through the magical light displays in Stanley Park.

Dec. 3 - 23, a great Vancouver tradition celebrates its 50th anniversary. Join the flotilla of Carol Ships in the Parade of Lights for romantic dining, carolling and sight-seeing from the waters of English Bay, False Creek and Burrard Inlet.

Dec. 10 - Jan. 2, the Festival of Lights illuminates the beautiful grounds of Van Dusen Botanical Gardens

All of the above are near Nelson House B & B. If staying with us, we would be glad to book your holiday celebrations for you.

Electric Buddha/End of Season

Electric Buddha from last week's Opening Ceremony of the Commonwealth Games in New Delhi, India

I love this image. To the sounds of suitably transcendent music, the Buddha rose slowly from the stadium floor, in the centre of a giant lotus blossom, formed by a thousand children in synchronized yoga poses. Sheesh!

You may be asking: "What does this have to do with bed and breakfasts?" Well, the average innkeeper is almost always in a multitasking tizzy that just might spin out of control, if the job were not so damned enjoyable! Now that I am about 12 hours away from going on vacation, I realize that all of my best efforts to stay calm and organized have felt increasingly like electrons coursing skyward through my "chakras". Stoic on the outside. Pulsing energy on the inside. And all the time, searching for real calm and peace of mind.

 Nelson House is at the end of another busy summer season but perhaps, not as busy as it might have been, if our American friends were not still in a recession funk. Some of our bed and breakfast projects will just have to wait for next season. The summer was a blur but it still had its quota of delightful guests and remarkable, lively conversations. A BIG thank you to all our guests, both first-timers and o-so-many repeat customer/friends. We had fun!

About now, however, me and the staff could all use our own relaxing getaways.Yoga for some. A cabin in the woods for others. A sunny beach whether I can really afford it or not!

One of our staff is leaving us at month's end after an unexpected illness. We send our best wishes while we struggle to pick up the slack. Applications for a replacement are pouring in, which proves that the dream of innkeeping is still alive and well.

I get to screen the applicants while allegedly "on vacation" and the Manager gets to interview the best of the crop - as if he didn't have enough to do. But we anticipate the best. We have a new computer and that smooths the work. The dogs are happy as long as they have a full bowl. Even the Buddha  got by on alms. The B & B keeps on chugging along into the Fall.

Such is life. Such is life in a bed and breakfast.

Vancouver Fringe Festival

This hilarious video of "Red Bastard" sums up the beloved in-your-face quality of the Fringe's live theatre. Still a few more days of the actual Festival but the best of the productions will soon be popping up around town. Lots of fun and provocative thought that you won't get at home sitting on the sofa!

Summer Finales!

Okay. Let's do it!

Vancouver is ready for some fun and nostalgia this sunny summer weekend. At the 100th Anniversary of the Pacific National Exhibition, your admission ticket to the fair will give you access to a classic wooden roller-coaster, all the mini-donuts you can eat and free concert headliners like Cyndi Lauper. She still wants to have fun.

Back in the West End, gays and their straight friends will be celebrating on the Grand Finale Cruisey T boat cruise around our beautiful harbour. The two-footed Bears will be heading to Bearaccuda, the #1 bear dance party in the USA, as it comes to our city on Sunday night.

And down at The Odyssey nightclub, many, many people will be sad and sentimental as one of Vancouver's finest gay bars will be ending its 25 year-long journey. On Sunday night, the final Feather Boa drag show will be hosted by the legendary talents of Joan- E and Justine Tyme as everyone sings and dances a "Farewell to the Odyssey".

     



                                                                        99 Red Balloons...



How every B & B can help: Recycling Soap. Saving Lives.

Early in the career of every Innkeeper, you ask yourself: "What am I going to do with all this leftover soap?" This week, after twenty years in this business, I found the answer. And found a wonderful way to help the less fortunate.

 

Nelson House B & B is now the first bed and breakfast in Canada to partner with Clean the World Foundation, a Florida not-for-profit corporation that is rapidly expanding north of the border.

Clean the World has a straightforward two-part mission:
1.Reduce the waste created by discarded soap and shampoo products.
2.Prevent the millions of deaths caused by hygiene-related illnesses every year.

Did you know that the two biggest killers of Children under the age of 5 can be greatly reduced by soap intervention? According to the World Health Organization, 34 per cent of these children die from diarrheal diseases and respiratory infections that are preventable with simple, basic hygiene. The problem is that a family earning a few dollars a day will put food and shelter needs over the purchase of a "luxury", like a bar of soap.

Since its beginnings in 2009, Clean the World  has hundreds of hotels and many B & Bs tossing their partly used soap and shampoo bottles into recycling bins for local pick-up. Here in Vancouver, CTW has just opened a recycling and processing centre employing women at risk, who reside in Vancouver's downtown eastside. A second Canadian centre will open soon in Toronto. At these Centres, the more heavily used soaps are cooked to remove impurities and rebatched into 2-ounce bars. The majority of only slightly used soaps are put through a patent-pending sanitization, steam and pressure process. PH levels are tested and the soap is repackaged to go out to those most in need.

In the last year, reputable NGOs like World Vision have helped to distribute over five million soap bars, and 250,000 pounds of shampoo and conditioner in countries such as Haiti, El Salvador, Nicaragua, Swaziland, Mali, Mongolia, Uganda, Honduras, Romania, the United States and soon, to the needy in Canada too.

I personally encourage every hotel and B & B innkeeper reading this to stop sending your guest soaps and shampoo to the landfill! Use your good business sense - go green, give back, help others!  If you stay in B & Bs, please ask your innkeeper if they have heard of this simple Win-Win solution. Here is the Clean the World link to get going.

Biking from the B & B

Photos Courtesy of City of Vancouver

One of the great advantages of Nelson House's central location is the ability to do without a car. First of all, the peninsula that comprises "downtown Vancouver" is only about 15 by 21 blocks and almost surrounded by water. If you are a healthy walker, these are not NYC blocks and most folks can do one end to the other in a half hour. If going further afield or unable to do things on foot, Robson Street buses are as close as three blocks away and they will connect you to the Skytrain, the Seabus and the entire public transit system. 

Even more fun, especially in summer, is the opportunity to rent a bike and explore more of the city at a leisurely wheeling pace. Public Seawalls border all of the downtown shoreline. Many more miles of beaches and parks heading westwards along English Bay are laced together by offstreet paved bikeways. Since the shorelines are at sea level - just think - no hills - and non-stop views!!

A cluster of bike rental shops are within a ten minute stroll from the B & B. Our guests are welcome to bring their own bikes from home or keep the rentals overnight in locked and easily accessible storage in our basement.

The City of Vancouver alone offers 400 "lane-kilometres". That's about 250 miles of one and two way bike routes. The City is currently adding separated bike lanes for safer bicycling in the business core.

And then there are the Naked Bike Rides. Visitors to Vancouver can be a little surprised the first time they witness hundreds of nude bicyclists cheerily pedaling by on a sunny afternoon.