|
|
Attractions By Anita, on January 24th, 2012 I love the public library system. Some time ago, I wrote about the impressive selection of DVD movies available through the Greater Victoria Public Library—completely free for checkout by library members. The library’s collection has become even more valuable of late, with so many of Victoria’s movie rental shops closing. I was surprised to see both Blockbuster and Rogers crumble in the face of competition from online movie-streaming competitors like NetFlix.
 The GVPL earns further praise from me with their latest offering, which gives families a chance to visit the Royal BC Museum for free. The library is now circulating 20 museum passes (good for two adults and up to three children), a savings of nearly $40. Each family pass may be checked out for a week’s time.
The downside, of course, is that those 20 passes—available through any branch of the library—are in high demand. As I write this, there are 1,394 library patrons with existing reservations!
 The library received an enthusiastic response last summer when it acquired family passes to the Art Gallery of Greater Victoria. So many patrons requested those passes, the library increased its holdings to 40. These now have a more reasonable holds list: 329 waiting when I last checked.
So join the queue for museum and library passes ASAP to get your turn. You’ll also be letting library staff know there is strong public support for such cultural offerings through their system, which may encourage them to buy even more passes to these and other Victoria institutions.
* * * * *
Related Post: Pay What You Can at the Art Gallery of Greater Victoria on the First Tuesday of Every Month
Related Post: Take Home Movies for Free from the Library
Editor's Choice By Anita, on January 19th, 2012  Until March 31, 2012, Spinnakers Gastro Brewpub and GuestHouses of Victoria is offering a getaway package SO good, even local residents should seriously consider booking it.
Subject to availability (their language, not mine), this is what you get for $159 plus taxes:
- One night in a fireplace-warmed room in Spinnakers GuestHouses (double occupancy);
- A three-course dinner for TWO at Spinnakers Gastro Brewpub;
- A breakfast basket of baked goods, fresh squeezed juice, Silk Road teas, and Spinnakers own (fabulous!) granola delivered to your room in the morning.
- A complimentary beer and truffle tasting at the gastro brewpub, where both the brews and chocolates are made from scratch;
- The option to purchase a second night of accommodation for $69.
 The only aspect of this getaway special I have not personally sampled is the lodging. You’ll have to gauge that for yourself based on the photos and copy on the Spinnakers GuestHouses web page.
I’m positively weak for the gourmet sweets at Spinnakers, created with exquisite TCHO chocolate. (Get the scoop on the quality, exclusivity, and ethics of TCHO here.) Made on site and sold at the Provisions kiosk inside the front door of Spinnakers Gastro Brewpub, the chocolate truffles are accented with such exotic flavours as chili, lavender, and balsamic vinegar. The chocolate barks and clusters may include figs, dried cranberries, pecans, or almonds, and the astonishing butter-toffee chocolate bark will make you swear off those vastly inferior Skor bars forever.
 The three-course dinner at Spinnakers Gastro Brewpub is no small add-on to this package. This excellent waterfront restaurant emphasizes house-made and fresh, locally sourced ingredients. To give you an idea, here is what I ordered for lunch on my last visit:
Goat Cheese & Beet Salad (half $6, and it was BIG): Organic spinach, Sea Bluff Farm beets (from Metchosin, BC)), Happy Days goat cheese (Chilliwack, BC) with candied almonds, tossed with Spinnakers barley-wine vinaigrette (made on site).
Local Mushroom Trencher ($8): Salt Spring Island shiitake mushrooms and button mushrooms sautéed with garlic, onion, and garden rosemary with grilled local squash, served open faced on fresh multigrain bread (baked on site) with Spinnakers Stout grainy mustard aioli (also made on site) and Kootenay Alpine Cheese Co. Alpindon cheese (Creston, BC area).
 That breakfast basket included with the winter special will contain breads and pastries made fresh by Spinnakers’ resident bakers. Based on the lavender shortbread cookies and pain au chocolat I have enjoyed from the Provisions kiosk, you can look forward to a very happy wake-up.
Spinnakers (www.spinnakers.com). For reservations: call 250-386-2739 or email spinnakers@spinnakers.com
Current Events By Anita, on January 17th, 2012  Would you like a cheap night out at the theatre?
The Langham Court Theatre’s new production of “The Drowsy Chaperone” opens this week. For the January 18 preview night, tickets are two for $20 for all ages. Regular adult admission is $19, so this is a dramatic savings.
That two for $20 deal is available on Tuesday nights throughout the show’s run—Jan. 18 to Feb. 4, 2012—but ONLY for students and seniors aged 65-plus.
“The Drowsy Chaperone” is a Canadian musical comedy with five Tony Awards to its credit. According to the Langham Court’s website blurb, the show “takes us back to the golden age of musical theatre.”
In brief: “A lonely man escapes his drab existence by listening to a recording of his favourite musical. As the needle falls, the fourth wall shatters and the musical comes to life around him.”
Contact the Langham Court Theatre box office for tickets.
Act Now: Limited Time Offer By Anita, on January 17th, 2012  Snow is falling as I sit at my computer to write today’s post. Baby, it’s COLD outside.
Lucky for you, I have the perfect remedy. Dots Discount Designer Wear is having a crazy sale on sweaters now through Sunday, Jan. 22, 2012.
Bring in the coupon shown below and pay just $7 for any winter sweater! Turtle necks, mock-turtle necks, V-necks, long sleeve and short sleeve, cardigans: the sale applies to both men’s and women’s sweaters.
Granted, the men’s selection at Dot’s is limited—just one long clothing bar along the east wall. But the discounts are worth checking out. The store is stuffed full of last season’s fashions from Mac & Jac, Liz Claiborne, Kersh, and dozens of other well-known labels. Even at “full price,” everything at Dots is a bargain.
- Dots Discount Designer Wear (250-383-2683; www.dotsstores.ca), 724 Fort St., Victoria, BC.
* * * * *
Related Post: Dots Designer Wear is Deeply Discounted. Delicious.
Events By Anita, on January 13th, 2012  Start your tummy engines rumbling, foodies!
The Dine Around Victoria 2012 dates are set: Feb. 17 through March 16. Note that this year’s event will run for a full month rather than three weeks, thanks to enthusiastic demand from Victoria diners last year.
What is Dine Around, you newbies ask? Just the best value EVER in restaurant dining, that’s all!
All across the city, restaurants will be offering special three-course Dine Around menus. Special prices for these menus are set at $20, $30, or $40 per person. Local hotels get in on the game, too. Victoria visitors can take advantage of special one-night room rates of $69, $79, $99, and $129 at many of the city’s best properties.
At least half the fun is in browsing the menus beforehand to drool over the culinary descriptions. Most menus have at least one option for vegetarians, and I count 16 restaurants providing specific celiac menu options this year. You can view all 2012 Dine Around menus online here.
To get your saliva flowing, check out the $30 menu choices from The Empress Room at the Fairmont Empress Hotel. Oh, yum.
Seafood Chowder, Baby Shrimp & Scallops
Organic Greens Salad, Prawns & Scallops Savoury Herb Vinaigrette
Mini Vegetarian Samosas, Mango Chutney & Cucumber Raita
Braised Duck Confit, Jalapeno Cranberry Chutney White Bean Cassoulet
Horseradish Crusted Salmon Filet, Asiago Chive Risotto Cake Tomato Butter
Roasted Winter Squash Tart, Saltspring Island Goat Cheese, Candied Walnuts, Frisee & Endive Salad Tarragon Vinaigrette
Lemon Pear Cheesecake, Florentine Sauce, Pistachio Chips
Bengal Creme Brûlée, Valrhona Milk Chocolate & Carmelized Banana
Mini Apple Pie, Rum Raisin Ice Cream
Free! By Anita, on January 8th, 2012 I had a great experience this weekend with Freecycle Victoria. I wrote about the unique grassroots recycling organization last May in a blog about how to get free stuff in Victoria (see link below). Today’s story, though, is about how to give stuff away.
Freecycle is “an international movement aimed at reducing the amount of garbage going into landfills and giving new life to good used stuff.” More than 8,000 members follow the Freecycle Victoria group on Yahoo, offering up everything from free baby formula to fully working television sets on a daily basis.
So here’s how I came to use Freecycle this week.
 (No, the washing machine I posted on Freecycle Victoria wasn't anywhere NEARLY this new. This Samsung photo just made me giggle.) Before Christmas, Honey and I had to replace an apartment-size clothes dryer that had KO’d. We quickly discovered these small-scale dryers are not priced relative to their size; the retail price was nearly $800. So began our hunt for a used one—which we found for a tidy $40.
There was just one catch. Because the seller was moving, she would let us have the dryer only if we took the matching portable washing machine off her hands as well. The heavy little beast worked fine, she said, but we had no need of it and nowhere to store it.
So it came to reside in Honey’s pottery studio, where it was maddeningly in his way. We were too busy to deal with it before the holidays. Christmas came and went. New Year’s came and went. Finally, I remembered Freecycle.
Since we had received the washer essentially for free, it seemed an ideal solution to pass it along to someone else at no charge. So I posted my first Freecycle ad via Yahoo Groups.
Within 24 hours, my “Offered” ad had been approved by the moderator and was posted to the site. The next day, Saturday, I received emails from two very interested parties. I emailed them both back and offered the washer to the person with first dibs. On Sunday she was absolutely delighted to come over and pick-up her free washing machine.
Hallelujah! Honey has room to make pottery again. (And just for you local pottery fans, here’s a link to his website.)
Do you have household items with good life still in them that you’d like taken off your hands? Freecycle is a great way to help someone else in need. And, karmically speaking, what goes around comes. When you have something YOU need, you can post a “Wanted” ad on Freecycle and see what happens.
Note that you will need to set up a free Yahoo e-mail account before you can join the Victoria Freecycle group and then await approval by the group’s moderator. That’s it. Then go forth and recycle.
* * * * *
Related Post: 5 Best Tips for Getting FREE FREE FREE Stuff in Victoria, BC
Other By Anita, on January 7th, 2012
Christmas Ideas By Anita, on December 30th, 2011
Events By Anita, on December 28th, 2011
Decor By Anita, on December 22nd, 2011
|
Editor's Choice
-
Spinnakers Unbeatable Winter Special: $159 Room, Dinner, and Breakfast: Victoria, BC
-
10 Best Shoe Stores in Victoria, BC (mostly for women, some for men)
-
Where to Find Fabulous Greeting Cards in Victoria, BC
-
Groupon Victoria, Couvon, DealFind, TeamBuy, and Other Daily-Deal Sites Offering 50-90% Local Discounts: Victoria BC
-
See First-Run Movies for Just $6 at the Caprice Theatre in Langford, BC
-
Get Costco Prescriptions for $4.49 Dispensing Fee: NO Membership Required
-
Get the Dots Newsletter for Exclusive Fashion Discounts: Victoria, BC
-
Cheap, Cheap, Cheap Jeans Hemming in Victoria, BC
-
Five Best Tips for Getting FREE FREE FREE Stuff in Victoria, BC
-
Roundup of Greater Victoria Public Markets
-
At ReStore in Langford, Get Recycled Home Building Materials at Bargain Prices
|
SOS is hosted by JustHost.com
|
