Updated February 18 with a photo of most of the haul!
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I can feel the increased hum and buzz with Lunar New Year falling on February 12 and the subsequent two weeks traditionally people will celebrate, and Valentine’s Day occurring two days later. On top of that, the annual month-long Vancouver Hot Chocolate Festival wraps up on February 14. Typically, Dine Out Vancouver is also in the midst of this time, but is delayed and started February 5 to March 7.
I was at Beaucoup Bakery last weekend and queued for over 15 minutes, wondering if their BBQ pork croissant pastry would be available as separate items, which were advertised to be in their Lucky 88 box. A manager or owner explained to me how the coincidence of Hot Chocolate Festival, Lunar New Year and Valentine’s Day this year made it impossible to to have the capacity to handle the drop-in traffic. There was probably also staffing difficulties due to physical distancing restrictions affecting production.
At this point, I might have had all the hot chocolate I will have this festival, visiting three spots. Because next week holds way too many treats already to handle!
My pre-orders started with Got Craft? I signed up to be on the email list for their Food Edition and dreamed about the offerings after I saw the vendors and treats during early access.
I thought I would only get Japanese baked goods from Baker & Table, but I also got an assortment of four cookies from BAK’D, chocolate bars and a hot chocolate bomb from Melt Confections, a sampler from Chao & Pan because there were three different things I wanted to get anyways, and a popped lotus seed snack from a place whose name escapes me.
My pick-up date is February 13 and I’m super excited.
In a knee-jerk, impulsive, and highly influenced reaction, I ordered the Lunar New Year pack of cream puffs from Beta 5 Chocolates. Because of the egg tart one.
I picked them up on February 6 because we have too many treats arriving Lunar New Year / Valentine’s Day weekend !
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Another impulsive purchase was for three new dishes from Planted Meals and their Lunar New Year dessert trio collaboration with Level V Bakery. I feel compelled to not order from Planted Meals only once a year; the last time was for a holiday meal and I was trying out their stuff periodically by picking it up during shopping trips to No Frills on West Broadway!
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