Back in the 70s and 80s, Chinatown’s Loong Foong Bakery, on Keefer Street, was a Vancouver treasure known to only some. Celebrated for providing a wide range of Chinese delicacies, in a friendly and welcoming environment, the Loong Foong was a destination bakery, a once-a-week must-stop-by-and-indulge experience.
Alas, the Loong Foong Bakery is no more, having closed its door three years back. Until recently, no comparable Chinese bakery had emerged to take its place. Well, now, in the same location as the old Loong Foong, at 257 Keefer Street, Maxim’s Bakery has opened its doors, and what an incredibly inexpensive, addictive treat this new bakery has turned out to be.
Even though the fare at Maxim’s doesn’t quite fit into my South Beach low carb food regimen, a visit to the bakery has become a twice-a-week part of my regular schedule of activities, during which time I set about to purchase one, or more, of the following items: humungous, hot and delicious BBQ Pork Buns, for 60¢ (Maxim’s also serves equally scrumptious stuffed curry beef – as well as chicken and ham – buns, for the same price); steamed buns stuffed with pork and rice, 2 for $1.10; stuffed chicken pies for 95¢; gigantic spring rolls for 80¢; red bean cakes for 60¢; strawberry, peach or coffee cake wedges for $1; and an almond cookie to-die-for, for only 80¢.
Check out Maxim’s. You won’t be sorry you did. And enjoy!
Maxim’s other Lower Mainland locations: Metrotown, 4600 Kingsway; Vancouver East, 5613 Victoria Drive; Richmond Centre, 6060 Minoru Boulevard; Coquitlam’s Henderson Place, 1163 Pinetree Way.
Monthly Archives: February 2004
Blogging While Anti-Black
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At Alternet.org, Brooklyn-based writer John Lee comments on the indulgent casual racism readers will find, he suggests, in two of the blogs listed on this site (under Weblogs, U.S., to your right), Wonkette and Gawker.
The Girl Next Door: Titillating or Reflective of the Times?
Just back from a screening of The Girl Next Door which, if you read the reviews at Rotten Tomatoes.com, will suggest that the film is a masterpiece. Well, I don’t know about masterpiece, but ‘Girl’ is certainly a disconcerting film, a more sexually overt Risky Business for the new millennium, by way of American Pie and John Waters.
Ostensibly the story of a buttoned down high-schooler (“The Dangerous Lives of Altar Boys'” Emile Hirsch) and a former porn star (Elisha Cuthbert of “24”), there are some wonderful touches in the film. Jamie Anderson’s lambent cinematography casts the picture in an alluring light throughout. First-rate editing by Vanilla Sky’s Mark Livoisi adds a flourish to the storytelling that keeps the viewer involved. And, with better material, helmer Luke Greenfield could become an important director, given his obvious storytelling talent (the rapturous first kiss scene borders on the breathtaking in both its simplicity and loveliness).
The movie really doesn’t know what it wants to be, though: a soft-core tease flick, a warm-hearted tale of love and redemption, a commentary on the au courant sexual mores of the ‘Y’ generation, or … who knows what?
Still, with a great soundtrack (David Gray’s “This Year’s Love” is used to particularly good effect), winning performances from almost all of the actors involved, terrific production values, and a challenging and impudent (although only fitfully articulate) script, ‘The Girl Next Door’ is certain to be controversial come its release date, April 9th, given the political climate in the U.S. regarding acknowledgement of adolescent sexuality, an uninhibited sexual expression that is celebrated in the film from beginning to end.
Recommendable? Yes, with reservations. Even given those reservations, ‘The Girl Next Door’ stands head and shoulders above anything else released by Hollywood thus far in 2004. Watch for it in six weeks.
Corinne’s Rio Diary, Instalment Cinco: Loss of Innocence
Hi all
Only up to 36º C today.
I slept out in the courtyard last night, as there is no electricity yet in the maid’s room to run the fan. There was, however, something of a cooling breeze in the courtyard, so … Sleeping in the courtyard, too, actually proved quieter than would have been the case had I stayed in the bedroom (the bedroom is located at the bottom of a masonry box, about 20-30 feet deep) as the dogs nearby bark so loudly, and the rat-a-tat of gunfire from the nearby favelas that announce the arrival of a new shipment of drugs, often serve to make restful sleep somewhat difficult.
Continue reading Corinne’s Rio Diary, Instalment Cinco: Loss of Innocence