Nope, we went grocery store hopping.
This was actually pretty entertaining and enjoyable because taking my dad to the local food markets was like turning a kid loose in a candy store. Both of my parents love fresh fruit, so we looked primarily for produce for breakfast and snacks on their first afternoon in town.
We had bought my dad a bottle of wine from a chateau in Sonoma Valley during our road trip to Seattle last summer, so we planned to grill some nice steaks for dinner on the same night (our apartment complex has an incredible gas grill for common use near the main office). Coincidentally, the apartment management team was hosting a wine tasting for residents, so we took turns tending the meat and sampling hors d'oeuvres.
The next day, we spent the morning looking at houses (see this post for how that went). Then Dad wanted to go downtown just to see the sights, so we did a drive-by tour of the Space Needle, the Experience Music Project and Science Fiction Museum, and the piers. Which conveniently brought us to Pike Place Market, where Dad proceeded to check out all the fresh seafood. We ended up buying mussels and some Alaskan halibut fillets. We also stopped at Uwajimaya, the enormous Asian market in the International District, where my parents swooned over the fresh vegetables (being Chinese, they know good choy when they see it). They also bought more fruit.
That evening, we had reservations at Ray's Boathouse, a restaurant in Ballard with waterfront seating (wonderful at sunset). We had some time before we had to be there, so we took my parents to the Chittenden locks in the same neighborhood, where we managed to catch a glimpse of the salmon jumping in the fish ladder.
The following day, we went wine tasting in Woodinville, which was a pretty relaxed affair. Dad did most of the tasting while Mom and I wandered the gardens at one of our stops. Then we swung briefly through Bellevue to do a little shopping and headed back to the apartment to cook the seafood we had bought the day before.
Saturday morning, we drove to Vancouver. First stop: Yaohan Centre, a mall whose food court is made up entirely of Asian food vendors. Most people would probably find it strange that we traveled 140 miles just to dine on food court fare, but this stuff is nothing like what you would get at Panda Express or Manchu Wok. It's the real thing -- wonton mein, rice congee, nin gou (the last is my favorite). An adjacent supermarket offers fresh Chinese pastries -- and, of course, fruit, which my parents could not resist.
Once sated, Dad wanted to go down to the docks in Steveston for a walk. While we were there, we passed the historic Gulf of Georgia Cannery, which offers tours. We were too late to sign up for one, but we did get to see what the fishing boats were bringing in (largely shrimp and sablefish). We also caught a glimpse of a wedding party having photos done along the shore.
Once dinnertime rolled around, Dad led us to a place called Kirin for traditional Chinese seafood prepared from live catch. There, we taught D how to strip and eat whole steamed shrimp. Dad was so pleased with the restaurant that we went back for dim sum (lunch) and dinner on Sunday.
Between those meals, we took my parents to the University of British Columbia Botanical Garden, where we walked off some calories and checked out some of the specialty gardens on the grounds. Dad, of course, was especially interested in the Food Garden, which grows produce for donation to local soup kitchens. I had never seen celery and cauliflower growing out of the ground before, so that was actually quite neat. And who knew that spring mix lettuce is actually one plant with variegated leaves! I had always thought that the mix you buy at the grocery store is a true mix of different lettuces. We also toured the Physic Garden, which held plants used by the modern pharmaceutical industry as well as those used by ancient healers.
Our second stop before dinner was downtown Vancouver's Chinatown, primarily for its herb merchants, who sell not only ginseng and patent medicine but also dried shark's fin, fish maw, and scallops. Once rehydrated for several hours in cold water, they can be used in traditional dishes that feature these delicacies prominently. D and I explored a few places on our own while my parents haggled with vendors. It was kind of funny -- my dad asked us to look around separately because D (being of Scandinavian, German, and Belgian descent) sticks out a bit and would give the merchants more reason to treat us like rookies. So I took him around and pointed out what my parents were shopping for. Every store is set up more or less the same way with huge glass jars of unusual ingredients lining the walls (I think dried whole gecko was the most bizarre item we came across). D's impression: "It's like being in a voodoo shop."
On our way through customs, we were a bit concerned about taking seafood across the border (you have to declare these items, but it's not entirely clear whether these are permitted, even though the vendors all insist that it's fine). As we approached the booth, we discussed what to call the goods ("dried fish" rather than anything more specific). As it turns out, though, we had nothing to worry about.
"What did you do while you were visiting?" the customs officer asked.
Since we'd been focusing so much on what to say when we were asked if we had anything to declare, D was caught a little off guard and blurted the first thing that came to mind. "Uh -- ate restaurant food," he said.
The officer looked at us quizzically, returned our passports, and waved us off. I don't think we stopped laughing for ten miles -- largely because it was true.
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