The short version of this review: Wild Rice changes what going out for a meal means in New Westminster.

While my list of pie-in-the-sky wishes for our city includes a complete overhaul of our city’s animal services*, the reality is any city’s animal services department is going to be low on the priority list if the powers that be don’t get told it should be a priority.
Do you know how municipalities determine how important animal services are? In part, they use the data collected by the number of licenses purchased to tell them what kinds of dogs are living in the city and where those dogs are. (I’m saying …

Proper Vietnamese food has finally come to Downtown New Westminster—and Le Saigonnais has brought it with style! As a resident of the neighbourhood, I’ve been waiting with bated breath for the first influx of this cheap and delicious cuisine.

As the Christmas shopping season arrives with Black Friday in the US, I can’t think of anything more ridiculous than camping outside of a store in order to buy stuff. Except for shooting, trampling or pepper-spraying your fellow shoppers in order to get at said stuff, of which there were many reported instances this year.

Battered & fried fish is usually a rare greasy indulgence for me. Cod can be rather flavourless, and often is more grease and crunch than fish. Not at The Crab Shop. The batter is crispy but not thick, and the cod tastes fresh and delicious. The fries are good too, and the homemade tartar sauce is divine. In fact, the fish & chips at River Market’s new Crab Shop is so good I couldn’t resist ordering it for lunch two days in a row.

Cities have their own vernacular. Some boast unique architecture, a common sense of style and still others, a mode of transportation favored by the citizens. Certain cities, however have their own scent or combination of scents – both good and bad.

A drug-addicted single mother of a 10-year-old girl trying and failing to hold her life together. A father of two, the sole breadwinner in the family, laid off from his job and desperate for work. Families like these struggle to scrape together money for groceries, let alone presents. As evidenced by the long lines at Metro Vancouver’s largest food bank here in New Westminster, many local families need help. They need you and me to step forward and offer it.

Mayoral candidate James Crosty says he wants to see a “bottom up” approach to planning for neighbourhood amenities, with more input from residents’ associations to determine what citizens want.

At the first all-candidates school board trustee debate of the 2011 civic election, hosted by the New Westminster Teachers Union, emcee and Left Coast blogger Stacey Robinsmith had a bit of last-minute shuffling of tables and chairs to do. As he shoved the last one into place he quipped, “That’s CUPE work, sorry everybody!” Stacey got a good laugh for that zinger, but his little joke also reflected one of the contentious questions of concern to the (unfortunately somewhat sparse) crowd of union folk, council and mayor candidates and political axe-grinders.

Autumn is beautiful, and mysterious. Autumn knows how to wear her clothes; earthy colours, and bright too, all held in balance, and slightly bohemian. She’s cool.

I’ve been a frequent viewer of Tenth to Fraser for some time now, looking over all the great articles focused around this town, which I have now lived in for over ten years. The negative image of our beautiful city has begun to bubble up inside of me, inspiring me to put on display the inner beauty and character that the Royal City emanates from the century old buildings and remarkable landscapes.

At the first all-candidates meeting for the 2011 civic election in New Westminster, Bob Osterman took me to task for making fun of his ugly election signs.

Local author JJ Lee’s new book, “Measure of a Man: The Story of a Father, a Son, and a Suit” is so much more than its title suggests.

I was lucky to win a couple of tickets to this years incarnation of Freelance Camp, an ‘unconference’ hosted by The Network Hub. It’s certainly a nice change to see an event promoting freelancing, networking, and technology come to little New Westminster.

Many readers are familiar with Burger Heaven. In any city there is always one restaurant who uses their dishes to poll readers on hot button issues or elections, and in our fair city, Burger Heaven is that restaurant. But do their burgers boast yum factor?

Olympic curler Kevin Martin and his foursome will be in New Westminster over Thanksgiving weekend to take part in the 12th annual Westcoast Curling Classic, October 6-10 at the Royal City Curling Club.

If I had an HGTV producer’s blank cheque to go redecorate my living room, my first stop would be Red Brick. On October 5 from 5:30-7:30pm, the store will host the fall kickoff event for NEXT New West, a monthly casual social group for young professionals.

Perhaps nothing better symbolizes New Westminster’s often polarizing politics than the Westminster Pier Park project. The ambitious, even audacious, $25-million project involves reclaiming a long stretch of blighted brownfield bordering the Fraser River for a new public park.

If you are an avid reader like me, then you might be on the look out for a Book Club to join. I love the two book clubs that I belong to. They challenge me to read books I would have never have read before, ever. If you are interested there are a few book clubs around town.

The second annual Vancouver Freelance Camp ‘unconference’ is coming up Saturday, September 10, from 9am to 5pm, just a few days before The Network Hub’s grand opening at their brand new second location in New Westminster’s River Market.

I don’t like to admit defeat, but I am forced to admit that sometimes life becomes jumbled with too many commitments. Life is full of surprises. These past few months have been personally tumultuous (in a good, ‘this is helping me grow’ kind of way). I’m in a very different place than I was when Will and I launched this blog. My attention is elsewhere, and it’s become obvious. This post is partly an apology for that neglect and partly an appeal for help to decide what to do next. Tenth to the Fraser is more than just my blog. I feel like it “belongs” to the community too. Given that, I’d like to hear from you before I decide what to do.

One of my neighbours has an enormous apple tree practically dripping with fruit. The apples are apparently tart, and according to my neighbour, aren’t worth much. To me, those are pie apples just waiting to be exploited. I look at that tree and I see rows of pies, waiting to be baked. I asked my neighbour if I could take a few dozen when they were ready, and he practically begged me to. In his words, “that’s less I have to rake up and chuck in the compost”.

On September 10th, 1898, New Westminster was very nearly destroyed by what is now referred to as “The Great Fire”. Pictures show a city completely ravaged; the devastation razed most of the city’s buildings. On Saturday, September 10th (the same day and date of the Great Fire), New West Fire Fighters will be flipping the pancakes and cooking ham for Sapperton Old Age Pensioners Association. Sapper Flap Jack Saturday is from 8:30 am to 12 noon.

Yesterday I wrote optimistically about pressing on with Summerfest, rain or shine (the post is removed to avoid confusing people further). At the time the forecast was for a sprinkle, and the organizing committee and I didn’t want a little rain to ruin the fun. Unfortunately, the reality is that today the forecast has worsened, and upon further discussion with the committee we realized it was foolish to continue.

Downtown New Westminster has it going on. Well, it could have it going on if it could once again capture the vitality of its once historic past. From an urban planning perspective you could not wish for a better template; you’ve got history, great public transit, a waterfront, shopping, density. So what happened, why did the city turn its back on the downtown?