I’m not a naturally early riser. Let me sleep in and I’ll get up around 9 or 10am. Getting up for pastry however is never a problem. Judy from The Fairmont had mentioned the two magic words “double baked croissant” and suddenly I was setting my alarm early for a visit to Vancouver’s Thomas Haas a chocolatier and purveyor of wickedly good croissants. I love a good almond croissant and to me it’s not an almond croissant unless it is baked twice. First to bake the croissant itself after which it is dipped in a sugar syrup, filled with almond frangipane paste, covered in flaked almonds and then baked again to a crunchy goodness. Done well, it can induce a bliss like state of total time and space freeze. Done badly, it’s a waste of calories.

Double baked almond croissant

And I’m holding a double baked croissant in my hot little hand. Before I take a bite I first offer some to Mr NQN who is quite frankly a non pastry lover. He likes juicy things like fruit and pastry is too dry for him. But then I watch him take a bite . And then another. Hmm I’m thinking this might be good. I take a bite and the I can hear the crunchiness in my ears. The sugar syrup and flakey, buttery pastry lulls me into a state of bliss. A car could have crashed into the shop and I would not have known.

Thomas himself is in the corner being interviewed by a local newspaper. The pastries are baked every morning at this location and Thomas’s food philosophy is one which he strictly adheres to. Control over quality and sourcing the best ingredients from anywhere in the world (so really the opposite of the local movement). His vanilla beans are from Tahiti, his chocolate is from Belgium and he buys limes from Brazil.

We also try the macarons with my favourite being the caramel and the coffee which has a whole coffee bean in the centre.

London Fog tea $3.75

I take a sip of my London Fog tea. It’s an Earl Grey tea that has been made with frothed milk and has a shot of vanilla. Oh my, can I set up camp here? And I haven’t even gotten to the chocolates yet. I order a few chocolates to take with me which are the exotic, merlot and caramel fleur de sel which is made with smoked salt and the green cardamom. The individual chocolates are $1.10 each. But with no time and no stomach space we go for a bit more of an adventure around Vancouver. We’re off next to Granville Island!

Just 20 minutes outside of downtown Vancouver, Granville Island has a great market that tourists and locals flock to. We arrived at Granville Market on time but spent the first 30 minutes wandering around trying to find our Edible BC guide. We walked around and it was only when we spotted someone in a chef’s uniform that we realised that our guide was already giving a tour so we quickly joined it. And just in time too as they were handing out blueberry sourdough bread samples. The Granville market are busy this Thursday morning as a cruise ship has just docked and people are busy shopping and sampling.

Golden and regular beetroot

Precious garlic!

Blueberries galore!

We see huge stalks of fresh garlic that was literally picked out f the ground yesterday. Our guide Rohan is one of the chefs at Gotham restaurant in Vancouver and he is proud to show off the local produce and range. One of our fellow tour participants asks him about morels and he explains that they are great here but expensive at $20 a pound ($40) a kilo. He explains that morels are best after a forest fire as they need nitrous and phosphorous to feed them. A few years ago there was a huge forest fire that wiped out one twentieth of British Columbia and the following year they had incredible quality morels.

We enter La Baguette which is owned by French proprietors. It is operational 24 hours 7 days a week as they supply many of the restaurant trade with bread. We try some of their pain au chocolat and I spy macarons in vivid colours for $2. They also offer picnic baskets for $9.95 a person so people can sit on the boardwalk and enjoy their food.

We see an heirloom tomato specialist who grows 21 varieties of heirlooms in their South Langley farm. These tomatoes are grown in soil, not hydroponically and they originally grew about 30 varieties but whittled it own to their current range of 21.

Guess what is under that cover?

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I have a recurring dream and it goes like this. I am my adult size (which admittedly isn’t very tall) and I’m on a child’s first tricycle. In my dream it’s out of control and I find myself screeching around the corner, flying over giant cracks in the pavement and going down stairs my head bobbing uncontrollably. It’s a mortal fear of bike riding. I realise it’s not normal and that millions, probably billions can ride a bike but it’s a fear of mine. It wasn’t helped by an ex boyfriend teaching me how to ride a bike in a concrete car park where I fell off  and received a giant scar on my chin. And I never rode again until Mr NQN (who rides to work) convinced me to ride on the back of a tandem bike. So when I receive the itinerary telling me that I’m booked to ride a bike around Stanley Park I’m full of trepidation. But first things first-breakfast! Mr NQN and I head off to Cafe Medina on Beatty Street in Vancouver.

Waffle porn. I wonder if anyone pinches one?

Lavender Latte

The lavender latte is delicious and distinct with the lavender flavour, tasting of dried lavender flowers. It’s also slightly sweetened so that it doesn’t need any sugar.

Moroccan

Mr NQN chooses a very intriguing breakfast cocktail containing blood orange juice and sumac. Not bad at all!

Waffles

The waffles are made fresh daily on the premises and the tempting display near the window excites me (you know I get excited about food!). Toppings are $1.00 extra and we try a few of them. I love the white chocolate pistachio topping especially when mixed with the mixed berry (tart and sweet) and the waffles are worth every calorie.

Smoked salmon bagel

I try some of Mr NQN’s bagel. We ordered smoked salmon as that is a speciality here and it’s creamy on a thin, toasted bagel giving it just the right ratio to topping (sometimes thick bagels just don’t work for me unless they’re slathered with inch thick topping (yes I’m a glutton). The smoked salmon is redolent in dill which I love and it’s accompanied by a lightly dressed rocket salad.

Fricassee

The fricassee is an item that they just aren’t allowed to take off the menu. As soon as I see beef short ribs I’m wowed and whilst I don’t usually eat short ribs for breakfast but I figure when in Canada do what they do right? The fricassee is presented in a cast iron skillet and features a bed of shredded beef short rib meat, diced green apple, rocket and two sunny side up eggs. It’s good but very rich and we can imagine very popular come the winter months.

My strategy of course was to load up on carbs and delicious food in preparation for my Tour de France effort aka cycling around Stanley Park.

Mr NQN wants an adult’s sized version in our place. In our tiny place…

I shall name thee…pineapple island!

When I told Tourism Canada about my embarrassing fear they booked us a tandem bike instead which is a huge relief. We rent our tandem from Bayshore Bikes bikes and I’m wobbly at first and we need to get our instructions clear. When Mr NQN is going to stop or change gears he tells me, or risk embarrassing himself with a screaming back seat rider. Stanley Park is one of the largest urban parks in North America at 1,001 acres and is best negotiated by bike rather than by foot. We are headed to The Teahouse in the upper section of Stanley Park which is about a 30 minute ride or closer to 45 minutes if you stop and take pictures as we do.

Canadian Beaches-with logs to rest against!

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