Sonse Home Design is a store that offers so much tucked into a small space. It’s lovely having a shop open in uptown New Westminster that offers what she offers – from small gifts to furniture to art and accessories.

British Columbia tot pop stars Bobs & Lolo are coming to New Westminster for a free concert to kick off Royal City Centre’s Christmas activities this year.

Sonse Home Design is full of beautiful finds. I heard about Sonse Home Design from Sheila Keenan whom I follow on Twitter (she writes a great blog about shopping locally in New West) a week or so ago. Promptly forgot about it, but caught a glimpse of Sonse today as I exited London Drugs and decided I’d better check it out before I forgot again!

With two locations in New Westminster, is Okonomi poised to become “favourite sushi” in all those reader surveys?

A cash-only diner with serve-yourself coffee ready to pour from a hot plate, the Coming Home Cafe may be low on frills but it doesn’t skimp on the flourishes. Homey meals like mac ‘n cheese are spiced up with gourmet additions like chorizo, and on that hot plate coffee is Kicking Horse Coffee – quality stuff. Inside, the decor is the kind of thrift-store chic you’d see in an art-school major’s first college flat. It’s zany, colourful and lovingly retro.

Just an FYI for parents of babies & toddlers and other regulars at the public health office: the New Westminster Public Health Unit is relocating to Uptown from its current home at 537 Carnarvon.

BOO! Ah, autumn. I love it! The leaves… the smell… the pumpkins… the little ghouls! Halloween is one of my favourite events of the year, with a bit of something for everyone. Now that my son is getting to an age where he gets it (wear this, knock on door, say “tickoteet”, present candy holding device and be rewarded!) I’m started to realize how fun it can be. With a 150+ years history, New Westminster offers a lot in the way of creepy spots and stories, outside of the knowns like …

You can now access free wifi in Queen’s Park, the New Westminster Public Library, and the Uptown business district, courtesy of the City of New Westminster.

New Westminster can be a tough customer for a cyclist! There’s a reason they call it uptown. So how can the average rider find a comfortable route from downtown to uptown? Frequent rest stops for snacks and beverages at the local eateries, of course!

New Westminster may soon have the distinction of having the most large grocery stores per capita in the Lower Mainland. Wal-Mart has applied to open a new grocery supercentre in its Queensborough store. Thrifty Foods has just been announced as an anchor tenant in Sapperton’s coming Brewery District mixed-retail/residential complex next to SkyTrain and Royal Columbian Hospital. A new Safeway is coming to the Plaza 88 development at New Westminster SkyTrain. And of course, the River Market will open this summer as a newly food-focused destination with an as-yet-unnamed anchor grocer.

Lately I’ve been thinking about how my surroundings inspire my food choices. Reading my way through the Canada Reads books inspired a date with bacon ice cream, a rise in my comfort food intake, and delight in a layered chocolate torte! But what about where we live? What effect does our city have on our food choices?

New Westminster is a haven for unique boutiques. Perhaps it’s the character buildings lining our main shopping districts chock-a-block that draw the proprietors of these neat little businesses … or maybe just the low rents that can be found in some of our legendarily ‘up and coming’ neighbourhoods.

Here are some of my picks for places to go when you’re looking for that unique ‘special something’ for the person who’s hard to buy for.

When Ross started his most recent stint of post secondary education about five years ago, his mom had a custom computer built for him as a gift. This computer has become our family computer and the one I use to complete my at-home contract work as well as my for-fun online writing both here and on my personal blog.  
About three or four months ago, my hard drive appeared to pack it in, and I relied on the kindness of some friends to retrieve my valuable documents from it and save them to a thumb …

For those in the aching, angst filled years between 13-18, weekends are often filled with drinking, driving aimlessly around town, attending house parties, and being silly bored. In my youth, I spent countless hours fundraising for a youth centre, but I never did see the creation of a youth drop in centre while I was the age to enjoy it. So when I heard about the groundbreaking of a youth centre at Moody Park, I was excited to see not only the funds already allocated, but stuff actually happening.

One of the long-held New Westminster traditions that I had never personally participated in is the perogy dinners offered by the Holy Eucharist Cathedral of the Ukrainian Catholic church (separate archbishop system, same Pope, not Orthodox). Last Friday night we decided to change all that so we loaded up the minivan and took our hungry selves over to 5th Street and 4th Ave for an Apostolic good meal. Perogy night is always a Friday, once a month. The next dinner is October 30.
The set up is classic church basement. Folding …

I stumbled across New West city Councilor Jaimie McEvoy on Saturday conducting the 2009 wheelability assessment uptown with a group of volunteer citizens. On a perfect September day, the group was busy on 7th street creating an inventory of inaccessible curbs, dangerous sidewalk cracks and non-compliant porticos.

When the sun goes down on the city, feelings change, moods change, and so do perceptions. When the flow of shoppers and traffic begin to wane, and the sun starts looking a little tuckered, the shadows rise seemingly out of the ground. And suddenly, it’s night.

On August 6th, my husband and I moved to New Westminster. This is his third time living here and my fourth. I guess you could say we’re New West Homing Pigeons. Despite being dragged off to far away places, we always find our way back. The question is, Why?

When I was a kid, I loved the water – on TV mostly. In real life, it was something to akin to a lurking creature looking to choke the life out of me. I have no idea how I got this fear of water, which had me taking beginner lessons at the late age of thirteen. But, wherever it came from, it’s not a dominant gene passed along by me. My three (almost four!) year old daughter is in love with the water, particularly this summer …

Good food. Cheap prices. Cheery service. Free wifi. Booze.
It may look humble, with its homemade signage and rather drab, dated decor, but Los Generales at 334 Sixth St.delivers a surprisingly warm, satisfying, authentic Mexican culinary experience. It is well worth a visit.
If your experience of Mexican cooking has so far been limited to chain restaurant fajitas, quesadillas and tacos, you may be surprised at the wholesome simplicity of the food. Cast Taco Bell expectations aside, and you’ll soon appreciate the homey fare Los Generales has to offer.
The tortilla chips with homemade …

It was the best of stores, it was the worst of stores….well, nothing is that simple.
New Westminster residents, like folks all over, develop a preference for grocery stores. Those of us habituated to the 6th Ave. Safeway in the Royal City Center have had our choice expanded as the Save on Foods has recently opened in New Westminster Center, on 6th st. Like anything, our individual choices will be based on a number of factors including location, layout, staff, selection and price. While it is impossible to say one …

This is a guest post by Asifa, a confessed foodie, writing about one of her favourite restaurants in New Westminster. You can find Asifa on Twitter @asifa604.
Hello fellow New Westminster residents. As my first contribution to this blog, which is a great source of activities and city secrets for the New Royal City, I will be posting about my favorite thing: food.
Food is a journey to other cultures, passions and stories. I love a good story. They say, every life is a best seller; you just have to know how to …

This is a guest post by Rob Jones, who shares some of his first impressions of New Westminster as a new resident of our city. You can read more from Rob on his blog, The Delete Bin, and also find him on Twitter @clippernolan.
There are elements of every city that makes it unique, makes them feel like home.
My experience with big-small towns is well established, even if I am a recent resident of New Westminster. Like New West, my hometown of Oakville Ontario was founded next to a busy waterway; …

A few days ago, Will and I made our way down to The Orange Room, which recently reopened under new management. It has long been a favourite haunt of ours, so we came with high expectations and a little fear that the elements that made The Orange Room so great (delicious menu, friendly service, live music, stylish atmosphere) might be missing under different management.

We came away reassured, though our experience was somewhat marred by new restauranteur growing pains (more on that later). It was exciting to have a whole new …

Image by ♥ he@rt ♥ via Flickr

This is a guest post by Mojgan Fay, who waxes rhapsodic about pie, chocolate and all things sweet. You can find her on Twitter posting as @somethinglemon. As you will see from the post below, she’s also a fan of the citrus!
This leading citrus assembly offers more than an appealing colour, odour, and flavour. It is a staple of summertime picnics and intimate wintertime gatherings. The cool brightly yellow lemon filling with the soft sugary meringue goodness is a perfect compliment to your afternoon …