Large Black Chalkboard - C. Phaisalakani

With Chalkboards, Bigger Is Almost Always Better

When it comes to having a blackboard in your life, it’s best to go big or go home.

Large Black Chalkboard - C. Phaisalakani

 

MONEY WELL SPENT | One of the best things we did the first time we renovated our house, when my now teenage son was small, was to put a gigantic black chalkboard on one wall in our dining area. We had to order it from a company in Ontario that supplies visual presentation products to schools because we couldn’t find anything locally that was the four-by-eight-foot size we wanted. The board was surprisingly inexpensive, but crating and shipping it nearly doubled the cost. And the cost doubled again when we ditched the anodized aluminum trim kit that can be purchased with the unit in favour of a custom-fitted natural wood picture frame we thought would look better with our hardwood floors and furniture. In the end, I think we paid around $800 for the whole thing, which isn’t dirt cheap but certainly less expensive than a framed artwork of comparable size. Read more

One Of These Pickles Is Not Like The Others

Which of these baby dill brands has chef Glenys Morgan in a pickle: Safeway, Western Family or Bicks?

Read more

Don Genova Shops & Noshes In Vancouver

Noted B.C. food journalist Don Genova shops, slurps and noshs his way around Vancouver.

Don Genova At Legendary Noodle - C. PhaisalakaniDon Genova is a food journalist and educator who splits his time between Vancouver and an acreage in the Cowichan Valley on Vancouver Island. His work is heard regularly on CBC Radio and seen in Aqua magazine with a column called Pacific Palate. Don teaches food and travel writing at UBC with in-person and online courses and offers sustainable eating courses at the University of Victoria. You may also catch him teaching cooking classes at Thrifty Foods or the French Mint cooking school in Victoria. You can follow Don’s adventures in eating on his blog, blog.dongenova.com, and get information on his classes on his website, www.dongenova.com. He also tweets @dongenova.

Don Genova’s 5 free, cheap or worth it things to see, do or buy in Vancouver Read more
Reverse The Curve - C. Phaisalakani

Reverse Your Curve With This Easy Pose

We’re becoming a nation of stoopers; “reverse the curve” with this challenge.

Reverse The Curve - C. Phaisalakani

 

FIVE-MINUTE-YOGA | Most of what we do, including typing, cooking, driving, reading and gardening, encourages us to lift our shoulder blades, jut our heads forward and round our backs. Don’t get stuck there. Instead, reverse the curve with a chest-opening pose. You’ll make more space for your lungs, bring your shoulders back into place, relieve upper back tension and stretch your front chest muscles. Even five minutes a day makes a difference—as long as it’s every day. Read more

Why Buy Perrier? Fizzy Water Is Easy To Make

If tapwater leaves you flat, home carbonation devices will add fizz to your drink and loonies to your pocket.

Bottled Tapwater - C. PhaisalakaniWASTE NOT | Last summer I had dinner at the home of a stylish and gracious friend whose table setting included a tall glass pitcher filled with tapwater, ice cubes and slices of lime. It was refreshing in every way: simple, elegant and thirst-quenching. For a more casual presentation, another friend recycles the rubber-stoppered bottles from French lemonade, filling them with tapwater that she keeps chilled in the fridge. You can buy similar stoppered bottles without the lemonade (Bella Vita in Park Royal has attractive ones in green or blue from Maxwell & Williams for $5.95).

The advantages of tapwater are well known—better regulated and better for you than bottled water, better for the environment, really really local—yet having imported bottled water on the table has become almost as essential as knowing what wine to serve. Perhaps it’s the bubbles. I’m not a fan of fizz myself, but many of those who are have been turning to home carbonation devices. Read more

The F Spot!

What’s With The Costco Oil, Olive?

The turn on: Foodies will tell you that the subtleties of olive oil in a dish can make a good meal exquisite. Kirkland Signature Extra Virgin Olive Oil is made from fresh-picked, cold-pressed olives grown in Tuscany. The description on the bottle reads like a wine label with harvest year and an analysis of the colour, overtones and bouquet.

What’s the deal: Kirkland Signature Extra Virgin Olive Oil, which comes in an attractive one-litre bottle, is only $12.69 at Costco.

Why we’re excited: The olive oil aficionados at www.onlyoliveoils.com give Kirkland Signature Extra Virgin Olive oil a five-star rating, a much higher ranking than they give other boutique brands that easily go for triple the price per ounce.

How long will the pleasure last: As long as Kirkland and Tuscany keep Costco supplied.

Where’s the F Spot: All Costco locations in the Lower Mainland.

—Submitted by Natasha Irvine

Stair Walking - iStock

Sit 23+ Hours A Week? You Must Move Now

When you sit all day, you may need more than dedicated workouts to keep yourself in good health.

Stair Walking - iStockFITTER BY THE MINUTE It is well known that heart disease is one of the leading causes of death among Canadians. But a recent study was shocked to find that going to the gym does not make up for all the sedentary time we spend. This is bad news for professional sitters (i.e., those of us who sit at desk to make a living). A recent New York Times article indicated that even if we live reasonably healthy lives but sit for more than 23 hours a week, we are 64 percent more likely to die from heart disease. According to the study, even for those who have nixed cream and go jogging, it is not enough to counteract the effects of all of that sitting. So unless you are planning on a career change to bike courier or rickshaw driver, insert a bit of activity into your office hours by giving your daily grind some heart.

This simple active routine will boost your heart rate (not to mention your popularity and productivity). Read more

The F Spot!

Meinhardt Fine Foods sells gourmet sandwiches for a song.

THE TURN ON: Nothing says summer like a picnic outdoors, but with the hot languid days we’ve been experiencing lately who has the energy to put together any kind of repast, let alone produce one and then cart it off to the beach or park or wherever. What we want is gourmet takeaway, clever sandwiches wrapped and ready for consumption, and we’d like it at a giveaway price.

WHAT’S THE DEAL: Every day, Meinhardt Fine Foods, Vancouver’s gourmet grocery store, makes a dozen or so different kinds of gourmet sandwich fillings served up on ciabatta buns or sourdough bread. Every evening at 7 p.m. (an insider tells us the selloff can start as early as 6 p.m.) whatever sandwiches remain unsold go on sale for half price. The goal is no sandwich (or pastry) left behind. And it works.

WHY WE’RE EXCITED: Quality and convenience get us going; so does price: after 7 p.m., their most expensive sandwich sells for $3.50 a pop.

HOW LONG WITH THE PLEASURE LAST: It’s ongoing. Meinhardt’s sandwiches are made fresh every day, and everyday they must replace the previous day’s stock.

WHERE’S THE F SPOT: In Vancouver, Meinhardt Fine Foods is located at 3002 Granville St. (604-732-4405), and 3151 Arbutus St. (604-732-4405). For more about Meinhardt Fine Foods visit www.meinhardt.com

18Karat Vases - Philippe Martin-Morice

Frugalbits Giveaway

Check this video on Frugalbits TV

 

Subscribe or Invite a a friend to Receive Frugalbits FREE daily email by MAY 06, and be automatically entered to win.

18Karat is Vancouver’s most original home décor store. While other retailers sell fabulous original furnishings and accessories, none of them offers modern, organic pieces—an entire aesthetic look if you will—sprung from the fertile mind of internationally recognized local designer Maureen Welton. Read more

Hardcore Circuit Classes Are The Bomb

Top level circuit classes are a solid alternative to personal training.

Running ShoesFIT FOR LESS | Anyone addicted to personal training can rattle off the benefits: great personal trainers keep you motivated and driving hard toward a level of fitness that always feels just out of reach; PTs teach proper strength training techniques, then push you like you would never push yourself to perform exercises correctly and with intent; ongoing work with a trainer means your abs will ripple but your tush will not (or not much anyway), that whatever health conditions, body image issues or training goals brought you there in the first place will be studiously addressed. So personal training is a good thing, and if you have been doing it, you probably don’t want to stop even when it starts to feel like the black dog of recession is nipping at your wallet. Read more