Food Adventures in Canada! 🇨🇦 Road Trip Through British Columbia's Fraser Valley

Buckle up because we're hitting the road to Canada. For the next five days, we explore the Fraser Valley of BC, a region known for its stunning natural landscapes, its patchwork of fertile farmlands, and so much more. Before diving into all the stories and amazing dishes, let's check into our Airbnb. Thanks to the Fraser Valley for sponsoring this video. Hello, darlings! Mommy O and I, we got to Langley and then we made new friends. They keep following us. They're so friendly. For the next three nights, we're staying at Sage and Sola's Farm. It's a sustainable farm with 20 acres of style and a whole lot of soul. Roaming the gardens and pastoral setting, you'll encounter heritage chickens, goats, and their massively friendly guard dogs. This guy's a cuddle bug. And if you get lucky, you might see frogs cuddling between petals on the Yupik flower field. This one looks so fiery. The farm offers two Airbnb suites. We stay in the Carriage House, which is furnished with a thoughtful curation of repurposed furniture and vintage gems. I love this knitted blanket. It's quite wavy. The farm also hosts workshops, weddings, and other events. Oh, okay. So this boot is a birdhouse. There's a nest in there. There is so much more story to this land. Barb will share all the details later in this video. As dinnertime rolls in, we head to Fort Langley, a historic village community by the river. The first meal of this trip takes us to Saba Bistro, a family-owned restaurant inspired by Mediterranean flavors. They use local seasonal ingredients that celebrate the abundance of the Fraser Valley. So this dish looks very simple, but it is so tasty. And this cherry tomato is so good. So much flavor. That parsnip sauce. Oh, that is such a pop of flavor. Such a nice contrast from the duck because the duck has that warm, savory feeling, but the parsnip is so bright. Okay, so it is a little spicy, and the shrimp is so good. So let's try this scallop. Thumbs up. I love the presentation because also they put confectioner's sugar on the board. The texture is a little velvety. Definitely feel the coffee in that. Every bite is a little different. Some bites, it tastes very like coffee, but other bites are more chocolatey. All right, next door, there's a place called Beatniks Bistro. They were playing live music when we first got here. It's a cute little street. There's a bunch of autumn leaves on the ground, and we're gonna come back here tomorrow and explore more. We're back in the same area we had dinner last night. Gonna pick up some caffeine from Saba Cafe. As recommended, we got the double baked almond croissant. Definitely buttery, right? Some croissants, it's like a delicate crispiness. This one has a good thick layer of crispiness. Herb and cheese scone. It's so good. Is there bacon in that? I don't see any bacon. Oh, must be because of the cheese. It's a toasted cheese flavor. For the next few hours, we go on a self-guided food tour. So there's this company called Chew On This Tasty Tours. They create culinary itineraries featuring locally owned small businesses. Today, we're doing the tour called Local Flavor in Fort Langley. Basically, we walk around town and hosts greet you with treats. Our first stop is the Little White House. It's an actual home turned into a lifestyle boutique. From cardigans to cozy home decor, the cottagecore charm welcomes you with open arms. They host events and also serve afternoon tea, which is what we're here for. So my mom started Little White House in 2000, but she purchased the house here in 2006, and that's when she started Little White House. She started with the boutique on the main level, a bed and breakfast upstairs actually, and then afternoon tea service in the back. She also had a Parisian high tea menu, as well as crepes and rustic omelets. But now we just focus in afternoon tea service. This room used to actually be the carriage house, and those are the barn doors behind Mommy O. The front used to be a doctor's office. Where to start? So many options. This one's a chicken sandwich, juicy filling. I think there's like a pickle or like a relish in that. That one, because of the cucumber, it's very refreshing. On to the sandwich, another sandwich. Also got some cucumber in that and some sprouts and radish. It's a tiny croissant compared to my hand. Here we have mimosa, and the rim is covered in sugar. So tiny, I just want to pet it. Mm, creamy. This is a very tall, kind of narrow raspberry. Yeah, the bread part is, seems a little sweeter than the filling, and the filling, quite creamy. You have to arrive here hungry. We're gonna take the rest to-go because we're quite full. That will be part of our breakfast tomorrow morning. If you look closely, the vines from the outside are creeping in. Our server, Eileen, shows us the conservatory, aka greenhouse. It's a popular room for parties, including bridal showers, baby showers, birthdays, and such. Up next, we visit a historical landmark that preserves the heritage of the region. So welcome to Fort Langley National Historic Site. This is a reconstruction of a Hudson's Bay company for a trading post, and my name's Ammon. I'm a heritage interpreter here at the site. The fort was built as a shopping centre back in 1827, and at that point, the Hudson's Bay company was already 157 years old. Things start to change in the 1850s because gold is then discovered in the Fraser River. And to prevent an American takeover, the colony of British Columbia ends up being proclaimed at Fort Langley in 1858. And that's a good nine years before Canada was born. But simply put, the fur trade was only to start the business here for this company. The whole goal here was ultimately money, make money by whatever resources possible. So this fort made most of their money through food. Their biggest export was salted salmon. The native families here were primarily fishermen. They tapped right into the salmon industry. Of all the places in the world, most of our salmon was sold to Hawaii. And then on top of that, they dive more into the food. There was a lot of fertile land here, so they built a 2,000-acre farm. Food from that farm could supply other forts, as well as the Russians all the way up in Alaska. And then cranberries grow wild here. It's one of only three places on the planet where they grow wild, and they are high in vitamin C. So it became a main cure for scurvy amongst gold miners down in San Francisco. So food is the big profit maker for this fort. And that's why your tasty tour starts here. By the train tracks, wander along the river and soak in views from the bridge. The third stop on the tour schedule brings us to Kismet Gift Gallery. Kismet offers a selection of handcrafted works featuring BC artisans and artists. From paintings to ceramics, the works vary in price to accommodate a wide range of budgets. We spoke with Carol, the owner and curator of Kismet, and learned about some artists. This looks like a painting, but... I know. This is a photo. That's a photo of the tree bark. These delightful ceramic flowers and vases are made by Sharon Lightstone, whom we happened to encounter as she was dropping off a whole collection of new works. By now, we've digested some of that afternoon tea. On to the next stop. We head over to La Focaccia Ria, where we meet the owner, Robert. Welcome to La Focaccia Ria. We're an all-Italian themed bakery, and we exclusively use Italian flour for everything that we make. And unlike most modern bakeries, we do make more than 98% of what we sell from scratch on site. Everything is handmade. My hands make just about everything, with a little bit of help from our crew. We try to stay within that Italian theme, so you won't find jalapeno and cheddar cheese focaccia. We use traditional recipes that are hundreds of years old. All of our focaccia is vegan. We didn't take something that wasn't vegan and try to make it vegan. These predate any of those movements and dietary requirements of the modern world. We focus on focaccia in many different styles from the southern region of Puglia. And if you look on the map of Italy, that is the Achilles heel leading downwards to the heel. We also make some sweets or cookies and cannolis. We're getting quite well known for our cannolis. And in our retail freezer, just over here, we have many of our same focaccia in a partially baked format for people to enjoy at home at their convenience. Here, we've prepared a little sample of the two different doughs that we make. One is the classic Puglia-style dough with a mix of the 00 flour and durum wheat flour. And the other one is for a few kilometers over inland, the Altamura region, which is exclusively using durum wheat semolina flour. The fifth stop was filled with deep, good vibes and warm aesthetics. The large painting on the wall was dreamy and soothing. We had the pleasure of joining forces with Erin from Tourism Langley and Morgan. Sippity-sip-sip. I love that pulp in it. Grapefruit pulp and orange pulp? Usually sangria doesn't have lychee in it. Yeah. Very different. And rhubarb jam. I know. Right? Normally it's not. Weeks after we visited Valley Commons Bistro, we were saddened to hear of their closing in early November. But they'll still be selling their wines online, thankfully. By the way, the locations for the Chew on This tasty tours may vary, so each traveler's experience can get unique. Oh, how cute is this? Guess what time it is? It's caffino clock. Welcome to Republica Coffee Roasters, a locally owned and operated artisan coffee roast area. They supply fair trade organic coffee for many of the local cafes and restaurants. I got the Aztec hot cocoa and I was asking, what's the difference between this and a regular hot cocoa? They add cayenne pepper, nutmeg, and cinnamon in this hot cocoa. So it makes it spicy. It's a little hot right now, so I can't drink it. Let's have a sip of this Aztec hot cocoa. Oh, it's definitely spicy. I heard this is like a Mexican style hot cocoa hot chocolate. Our final stop for the tasty tour is filled with sweet temptations. This shop sells chocolate and candy from around the world, including retro treats. This shop also makes fresh fudge and many of the chocolates on site. So for the Chew on This tour, we get three each of these mini chocolates. There's ketchup candy, pizza candy, ball candy, kale candy, hot dog candy. This all sounds so wrong. We got the pizza candy. That concludes the tasty tour. Now Chew on This tasty tours has other types of tours. You could check out their website for more information. There is so much to see in this area. So many shops and we didn't get to check out the antiques mall. So somehow before we leave, we got to come back. Yeah. All right, so we did have a little free time and visited this one shop. They're all about healing. They offer spa services as well as aromatherapy products and crystals. A lot of crystals and a very, very big crystal. Five miles east is The Bog at Riverside Cranberry Farm, where we do the cranberry plunge. By the way, the cranberry plunge is only offered at select times during harvest season. Usually from late September to mid-October. So some people think the cranberry plunge is just a photo op, but it is actually what we do in the fields. We will boom the fruit into a circle and we wear waders ourselves when we're working in the fields. Hi, I'm Mandy DeWitt. I'm one of the owners of this family farm. We're called The Bog Riverside Cranberry Farm. We've been farming for over 13 years. My husband actually has a farming background, so his family has been farming for generations. We started our farm originally in the Ocean Spray Cooperative, but in the last few years we have gone into doing our own independent farming. So we are now selling our own brand, The Bog Riverside Cranberry Farm, and we're selling into the grocery retail locally in our BC market. They also have an on-site seasonal farm store where you can buy their cranberry-based products. I got their sweet and spicy cranberry pepper jelly and their freeze-dried cranberries. I tried a sample and I really enjoyed this one. We're a family farm so our kids work with us and most of the year we actually just manage the farm on our own. During busy season we have more people coming in to help. We have temporary workers that we bring in and it's also family and friends who help us. These are very ripe already. The variety that we have is called Crimson Queen and it's an earlier variety. It's pretty dark already and the edges always are the darkest spot because you will find like some whiter ones underneath here too. Tonight's dinner destination is Bacchus Bistro at Chaberton Estate Winery. It's one of the largest estate wineries in British Columbia and the oldest in the Fraser Valley. Bacchus Bistro serves authentic French bistro cuisine crafted with local ingredients and a west coast twist. Their outdoor dining space overlooks the 55-acre vineyard. First up we have the portobello and oyster mushroom tart with truffle-scented cream cheese baked on puff pastry all sitting on top of arugula tossed in white truffle oil vinaigrette. It's poetry to mushroom lovers. That is decadent in creaminess as a mushroom lover and for those who love savory bites, that one is a must. Oh and then the crust, it's like a croissant, a gentle crispiness. Mamio got the pan-roasted Columbia River steelhead with sauteed spinach and tarragon cream sauce. This lamb shank was braised for three hours with white wine. Comes with tomatoes and house blended curry spices. As I was cutting this, oh this meat was just falling off. That's so good. How else do I explain this? If it's snowing outside and you're just staying at home, this will warm up your soul. This one was a complimentary dish. I don't remember seeing it on the menu but I do believe it was potato gratin. A lot of savoriness. Parts of it is so crispy to get moments of like a potato chip. Whatever it was, I need it in my life every week. Yeah it looks like it's twisted like a tissue paper but that's a gooseberry. Dessert has bourbon maple cream cheese frosting, creme anglaise and caramel. It's quite sweet. The imagery specifically is a grandma's hug who loves her grandchildren so much. She tights them so tight so it's a very sweet hug. Oh the moon with those clouds. I live for moody mysterious moments like this. Guard dog is still taking a snooze. You're also a cuddler just like Zeus. Let's learn more about the gorgeous Sage and Solace Farm directly from Barb. My name is Barb Pearson. This is Sage and Solace Farm. This farm is an organic farm. Our goal here is to not use any herbicides or pesticides and to heal the soil by taking everything that we grow, composting it, putting it back into the soil and creating a rich ecosystem for all the creatures that want to come live here from the wild as well as all the creatures that we bring onto the farm. We moved to this property in 2018 from a condominium in downtown Vancouver. We had never done any farming. We hadn't even done any gardening. And so when we moved here, our goal was to grow good food and to heal ourselves as well as to heal the land. Really we were very naive, didn't know what we were doing, but we took on the biggest project of our lives, my husband and I and some of our kids. And when we got here, there wasn't anything here on this 20 acres other than two barns and 15 trees. So the rest of it that you see here today, we've put in over 30,000 plants in the last six summers and we have built a home that houses two suites for Airbnb. We turned the barn into an area where we have events like weddings. We teach classes. So when we got here, this was just all barren and this property has natural springs. So the water runs from this pond here down this riparian area off into a creek called Bertrand Creek and it runs all the way into Washington. The important thing is, is it was protected by our Canadian fisheries. We thought how could anything possibly live in there because it was so dead from all of the herbicides that were used. So we've brought back native species and now we have all kinds of endangered species living in there. We belong to the Fraser Valley Conservancy and we're stewards for them. So they send scientists in and they test all the things that are coming back to the land here because we've created this safe space for them. So that's been really fun. How else would I say it? Not just fun, but it has been encouraging to know that you can turn something around in such a short time, that it's possible. It gives you hope, right? Our geese love people. And when a bride comes out dressed in a white dress, we joke that they think that it's their mom. It's mother goose and they'll follow the bride all around the property for the photos being done. So these guys are now in videos of, I don't know how many couples, but there's a lot. I call them bridesmaids in waiting. Smells good. So this is our prep room and it's also the room where people can come in when they have classes and stuff. We have a lot of retreats here so people can use this room for food prep. This is the gallery. This is the gallery for art. Because you were once an artist. Or you still make art? Oh, I still make art. Turns out Barb painted the flowers I was admiring hung inside her Airbnb suite. I wanted to show you this because what I want to do is I'm at a stage of life where I want to help young artists who need to show their work, that they can come here, have an art gallery, that they can photograph, show people what they're doing and they don't need to necessarily get into a gallery in order to do that. So they can do all the social media. This is from your wreath making class? Yes. So we offer classes with floral design, also with dried florals, botanical dyeing. We're trying to take all of the things that we grow on the farm and turn them into art. And that's where I really excel because being an artist, I'm trying to show people, come and play. Be creative. Use what's out there and create something beautiful. Wait, this is beautiful. 10,000 pounds of florals. 10,000 pounds? Yeah, 10,000 pounds dried. This is some of the flowers we've just started drying now for this season. And we will be using all of these for floral installations and for classes. We have literally thousands and thousands of seeds. So that's part of what we're doing too, is teaching people how to save their seeds. So I am Elena. I am Barb's assistant and I help with the Instagram, her blog, all the social medias. And then I also do yard work and I take care of the cut flowers. And we're just going to go look at the flowers now. The cool thing with dahlias is that, so they grow from a tuber, right? The tuber in Mexican culture was actually eaten because it's like a sweet whatever. And so it looks a lot like a sweet potato. It's like all deformed and such. So if you grow a dahlia from a tuber, it'll be exactly like the parent plant. But if you grow a dahlia from the seed, you'll get a different flower. So that's why there's so many varieties. Because every single seed produces like a different color or a different shape or different like mismatched colors. There has been like hybrids and there's like, you know, a new species discovered like every couple of weeks because there's so many types. But yeah. And what's really cute is like we have like little tree frogs on the property and they will sleep like in the petals of the dahlia. That's really cute because it's cool in there and they are high enough from ground and tucked away from predators. But when you come in like the mornings or in the evenings, when it's still kind of cold and like wet outside, they'll be like tucked in the petals of the bigger flowers. It's so cute. But this is called a ball dahlia for very obvious reasons because they're super, super round. And they come in different sizes. So there's this ball dahlia here too. But they're super, super tiny. I have got into botanical dyeing and decided to try to do a garment out of one of my husband's old shirts. So I prepared the fabric so that it would accept the dye from the flowers. I'm going to be sewing the cuffs on so they're not too long for me. And now I'm going to be finishing the shirt, taking this all over and then I'll decide whether I'm going to put any little bits and pieces up here. So this is to get ready to show people inspiration for my botanical dyeing class or flower pounding class. So this is originally a Japanese art. And these flowers are probably from your garden. They are. They're right from over there. Lovely. Yeah. So you don't see something like this every day. That's so nice. All right. So I gathered eight hours of footage from this Fraser Valley trip. This video is part one. There are two more parts coming. The whole Fraser Valley trip is divided into three videos. It's a trilogy. And you might know by now, every YouTube video I've been uploading comes with an exclusive vlog on Patreon. Now these exclusive vlogs contain bonus footage, bloopers, candid moments, and whatever else comes up. This video's exclusive vlog is how many minutes long? It's over 15 minutes long. For this video's accompanying Patreon vlog, it contains the full room tour of the Airbnb suite, the one we stayed at Sage and Sola's Farm. That's going to feel very much like a casual vlog. I put the Patreon link in the description box. And I put a QR code for those of you who prefer a QR code. Hope you enjoyed this video. I spent so much time and energy and put so much love into it. So I really hope you enjoy this video. And I'll see you in the next one. Remember to subscribe and hit that notification bell. Toodles, my noodles. When we arrived around 7pm, it was bustling. Now some of these clips are taken after 9pm during those quieter moments. Ah, just love their furnishings. Like the long velvety tufted banquette facing baton chairs. The outdoor dining space with bistro tables reminded me of Paris. So usually on our filming trips, I do a lot of planning, hours and hours of research, and like figuring out logistics, like, you know, puzzling it out. For this trip, we are given a detailed itinerary. Everything's planned out. And I read it. It was like about 15 pages of like details. So excited. In my pockets of free time, I paint, craft, and just love to make stuff by hand. Lately, I've been doing an office makeover and applied peel and stick wallpaper onto my drawers. It's not done yet, but here's what it looks like so far. For more artsy fartsy updates, follow my Instagram at creativechillout. My main Instagram, at missminao, is all about food, travel, and life.