Recovery Day BC - New Westminster, BC

I had it in my head that we go every year, to Recovery Day, the one-day street festival in New West,  dedicated to all things recovery.  It is a good thing that I blog, or I would not have been able to figure out that the last time we were here was in 2022! Honestly, I am losing touch with the passage of time (among other things).

The day (Sept 7, 2025) finished with Lover Boy on the main stage. I was a big fan when they first hit the scene (being maybe 20 years old at the time). These guys have been around for a long time and are still touring and sounding not too bad!

But there were 3 stages at RD, with entertainment all day long and we loved the New Orleans style brass band, Cooking with Brass. They even did a funeral procession (NOLA style) around the street in front of the stage and we were supposed to follow as the "second line" but only a few people did...because the rest of us suck! The band was great!

All sorts of recovery info and every 12-step group around were represented for those who still suffer. For others, there were crafts and gifts for sale at various booths.

There was plenty to keep the kids entertained as well from electric pandas to soap bubbles to bouncy houses.

The local constabulary was well represented (not a bad idea) and were letting people try out the back seat. My wife found this hilarious, but for me it was a little too close for comfort.

There was food, of course, but the vegan options were somewhat meagre. I recently learned that Gary's Kettle Corn is all plant-based. There were some vegan bannock tacos somewhere else, but beyond that, not much.

But we came for the recovery and it was good to see that there is so much of it. See you next year! We won't wait three years next time.

To Live For - Vegan Bakery

 We have been to and happily reviewed To Live For Bakery. This time we went for breakfast! 

It's still in the same place. Still at the corner of Nanaimo and Grant, and if you haven't been yet, whether you're vegan or not, then why not?

We started with a Cortado (I think), which was great. If we share a coffee, I take the first few sips and then Mharie adds sugar and drinks the rest. Solid coffee and a good system.

I have been craving one of their breakfast sandwiches since I started seeing it somewhere. Maybe someone posted it on Insta? A vegan croissant is such a treat because it is the baked item typically known for its dairy butter. This croissant lacked nothing. Add vegan sausage, egg and cheese and suddenly the sacrifices we make to be vegan don't seem enough anymore.

This one is called an English muffin but it is so much better than those things you get at the grocery store that are called English muffins. More of the same as above and you have another great breakfast sandwich.

I can't remember what we're calling this...but puff pastry and cheese featured heavily and were very tasty. To be honest, we had enough food already but this just looked so good. To live For is first of all a bakery and it is always a pleasure to see what they are crafting in the bakery area (so interesting that I forgot to take a picture).

Everything in Vancouver is more or less transit accessible but TLF is just far enough away from skytrain that we only drop in when we have reason to drive to Vancouver. That is the only drawback for us, the Aldergrove residents. That being said, their bakery goods are showing up all over the place. Just keep your eyes open for it.

Lucifer's House of Heat - Vegan Options

A few years ago, a friend gave me a taste of a ghost chili pepper sauce. I was unafraid! It turned out that I should have been afraid. I literally spent the next 30 minutes on the ground, curled up in the fetal position and drenched in sweat. There was talk of calling an ambulance. The next day, I felt like I had been punched in the stomach. Since that time, I have been quite a bit more cautious when it comes to heat. I still like it, but I'm not out to set any records. When the same friend sent me pics from Lucifer's House of Heat, I was intrigued, especially as they have a vegan section on their menu.

LHH is located on Davie Street near Bidwell. Its a nice little shrine to hot sauce including more bottles  than I even owned myself during a period I spent as a collector (which got a little ridiculous) and Hot Ones style events.

Unfortunately we arrived at a time when their plant-based menu was being retooled so my carefully curated order (from the website) was blown up and we started from scratch. The Lucifer's Rice Bowl has several protein options of which we chose the plant based one, roasted chick peas. I suggested that they should really offer seitan as an options as they could call it Lucifer's Seitan Bowl which would be perfect. It was a decent bowl but seriously, we've all had rice bowls..

We ordered a couple of sandwiches starting with the Toon's (didn't ask who Toon is) Chipotle Black Bean Burger. This was a delicious albeit messy sandwich that we ended up needing a fork to finish. I questioned the brioche bun and they assured me it was animal product free. Nice chips on the side.

We also had the Holy Duck Chicken but a vegan version. I can't seem to find the option on the website or on the instore menu so I assume it is part of the new menu. Holy Duck refers to the chili oil and the chicken was plant-based. The bun on this one looks a lot more gluten-free which we would never intentionally order but it didn't matter as we loved the overall sandwich. Both of these had some real heft!

So if you're into hot sauce this is a place to try. You can have a plant-based lunch and spend a fortune on hot sauces to take home. Apparently on Hot Ones (the You Tube show) some guests enjoy vegan wings (Ricky Gervais for example) and I was told that Lucifers has vegan wings as an option but I didn't see it on the menu. We had a nice time at Lucifers and found the staff and the surroundings to be pleasant.

Little Vegan Treats / Lore Market - In Person Shopping Event

A few years ago, I happened to be in Seven Oaks Mall, in Abbotsford, probably picking up something or other for my Mom. I spied a vending machine near an exit and to my surprise, it was labelled Little Vegan Treats!

I bought a Moo Free Chocolate Bar and wished the machine good luck as it happened to be stuck smack in the middle of unapologetic dairy country, and I doubted it would survive long. I also did not slip on the recently washed wet floor!

A couple of weekends back, Little Vegan Treats hosted an open house at their warehouse, buried in the industrial area of Mission's waterfront. We decided to pay a visit.

There we met Lori  (proprietor) and Moriah (warehouse manager). We learned that Little Vegan Treats is more of a labour of love than a big profit concern. Lori said that she didn't want her daughters to grow up in a world where veganism and compassion for animals are nowhere to be found. Wonderful! This is a form of activism, and her motivation is similar to my own, but her's requires an investment of time and finances while my endeavour just means writing some blog posts that no one reads.

They have a fairly extensive selection of treats in their machines, but I believe their main business is online. Check them out. I, being terribly cheap, was drawn to the Too Good To Go pack as well as a marked-down chocolate bar, while my wife (less of a cheapskate) spied Very Cherry Candy Kittens. Of course, I paid for all this before our discussion with Lori about her tight budget situation. I felt bad enough that I bought a chocolate bar from her machine (at full price!) the next time I was in Sevenoaks.

Sometimes, vegan specialty items are pricey because they cannot be cranked out in huge volumes and may require specialty ingredients to replace dairy. Until they are the norm and people choose cruelty free items instead of items that cause suffering to animals, conscientious persons need to support the industry. So I'll do better next time. That being said, it would be terrible for delicious things to be thrown out because they were past date and could not be sold.

When we got home and cracked the bag of goodies, we were delighted! Everything was great, even if we did get a little too much sugar for a couple of days.

Also at the open house, We met Uha who is the creator of Lore Market and some amazing cookies. So in case we didn't have enough sugar to go, we grabbed some cookies as well.

Admittedly, these three cookies would keep us safe from any kind of calorie deficit for a good long time but it was worth it. On the left is the Kitkat Cookie made with Tripp Bars, a vegan version of the aforementioned Kitkat. In the middle is the Dubai Chocolate which was rich, rich, rich with just a bit of crunch thanks to shredded pastry bits. Finally, the Peach Cobbler Cookie, the thought of which is making me salivate 2 weeks later. You can order these on line as well. You should!

Thanks for your service and commitment to the dream of a world free of animal exploitation, Little Vegan Treats and Lore Market.