One of the highlights of my move to Vancouver was experiencing shared dining in its finest form: the potluck. It’s a neat concept that entails sharing your dish of home-cooked meals with other locals at an outdoor space, the location …

One of the highlights of my move to Vancouver was experiencing shared dining in its finest form: the potluck. It’s a neat concept that entails sharing your dish of home-cooked meals with other locals at an outdoor space, the location of which is kept secret until the last minute, making the experience even more spontaneously fun!.

The organization that puts these on is called Alfresco, and was introduced to me by one of its creators, Rob MacDonald. I carefully combed through the website looking for dollar signs: how was this event making money? I kept looking for a catch that was never there.

Ok, let’s get cookin’ for the Vancouver potluck with strangers!

When I decided to participate, true to tradition, the secret location was disclosed the night before (Alfresco is modeled after Parisian white suppers). Also true to tradition I didn’t start cooking until the last possible second. I went with my nanny’s mac and cheese recipe since it is the only thing I can make without burning. Not knowing how many people would be coming I doubled the batch just to be safe. I loaded 5 casserole dishes to the brim, sprinkled the Panko and…..The unthinkable happened. My stove broke.

Well maybe not broke…there’s a good chance it never worked. That’s when I started knocking…hoping (praying) that one of my new neighbours would open their door and lend me their oven. It’s funny what your mind goes through at that time: I could always pick up something from Whole Foods and put it in Tupperware claiming it as my own. Or what if I just scoop off the uncooked Panko….would it really taste that bad? Sure enough Katie (who I had never met) opened the door and was happy to pop 4 trays in the oven. Way to go community!

The experience: communal food sharing on the beach shores of Vancouver

My first Al Fresco was on the seawall near 2^nd beach. I was pleasantly surprised to see a long white wave-like table created by Molo that weaved around natural imperfections in the picturesque landscape we were surrounded by. Mason Jars in white bags housed candles framing our impromptu supper that looked more like a photo shoot for a magazine than the guerilla potluck it was. I sat down on my little recycled disk and laid out my spread amongst dishes that looked as if they were pulled straight off of all my favourite shows on the Food Network. I started to secretly wish I had made something more interesting when the first person approached and said, “Hey guys get over here someone made mac and cheese and it looks sooooo good”.

A group of almost 100 came together sharing meals, stories and a passion for community and our city. My favourite part was watching complete strangers turn into friends in an abundant sea of home cooked goodness. It was one of those nights that you never wanted to end but secretly you knew that if it didn’t end you would likely explode after trying a spoonful of every unique contribution.

I quickly learned that Rob and his friend, well known Vancouver entrepreneur Scott Hawthorn, started this event with a goal of creating a gathering to encourage locals to explore and use Vancouver’s unique urban spaces. Another beautiful reason to follow these innovative eco-preneurs is that Alfresco leaves no carbon footprint .

What started out as a 50- person guerilla dining club has evolved into a sought after community dinner club that ‘sells out’ within minutes. Check out their press and following here: http://www.alfrescotonight.com/press.html

Oli is the Community Manager for ethicalDeal. She is a passionate eco-writer, photographer and lover of food.

In short, that means when you create … What other wedding registry allows you to:

In short, that means when you create a registry at shoo-foo.com, you’re also creating a registry that can be used on ANY online store.

BUT wait – it gets better!

How would you like $100 in FREE product from shoo-foo?

That’s right, when your guests spend $500 on shoo-foo products through your registry*, we give YOU an extra $100 in credit to spend on our online store!!!!

*Before taxes and shipping, online retail only, non sale items.

Start your Wedding Registry now! Click on “Create a Registry” to get started!

What does shoo-foo offer in a wedding registry?

Shoo-foo sells eco-friendly bamboo towels, bedding and baby basics. Our line of affordable luxury linens include:

Super soft bamboo bedding

Generously sized luxury bamboo towels that stay fresher longer and absorb 4x more than cotton!

Bamboo bathrobes for breathable, healthy comfort:

Gift sets – combinations of our products at great prices!

Like what you see? Feel free to browse our Online Store!

Last Spring, you might have remembered us gleaming about being interviewed for the French TV show called Artisans du Changement (Architects of Change). Well the time has come and our debut has hit the television air waves!

The show airs …

Last Spring, you might have remembered us gleaming about being interviewed for the French TV show called Artisans du Changement (Architects of Change). Well the time has come and our debut has hit the television air waves!

The show airs on the RDI channel (in French only, sorry to those who only speak “Eng” and “Lish”) this week and you can view the full feature here: http://www.tou.tv/les-artisans-du-changement/S03E05

The subject of the documentary-style series is “weaving a sustainable future.” It’s about eco-textiles and features three companies (including Dany Filion, the owner at Shoo-Foo), who are taking action to help “weave a sustainable future.”

Other than Dany is a person recycling tons of clothing to transform them into something new and a very creative architect who is using textile to weave intelligent fabric-based shelters and interactive art in collaboration with local communities.

We hope all our French readers will watch the show and let us know what you think!

We don’t want to transport all our showroom inventory, so we’re selling it at 40% off THIS WEEKEND ONLY!

We’ve got all types of our bamboo towels, bamboo robes, bamboo bedding and bamboo … Shoo-Foo is clearing out its old office!

We don’t want to transport all our showroom inventory, so we’re selling it at 40% off THIS WEEKEND ONLY!

We’ve got all types of our bamboo towels, bamboo robes, bamboo bedding and bamboo baby basics ready for clear out!

Here are the details:

Saturday Jan 21^st: 10am to 5pm

Sunday Jan 22^nd : noon to 5pm

Location:

2435A Granville Street (2nd Floor)

(near the Broadway and Granville intersection)

CASH ONLY

All items are final sale.

No product reservations can be made and we can not respond to requests about item availability. Please come by and have a look!

>>en savoir plus sur le tissu de bambou…… Pluie et soleil, voilà tout ce dont le bambou a besoin pour croître – une ressource renouvelable utilisée depuis des siècles et qui peut maintenant être transformé en tissu

>>en savoir plus sur le tissu de bambou…

>>consultez le catalogue de produits pour bébé… Protection contre les rayons UV et certification Oeko-Tex 100 – voilà une belle protection pour la peau des bébés.

>>consultez le catalogue de produits pour bébé

>>Vendez des produits de bambou pour le bain, le lit et le bébé à votre magasin… Les produits Shoo-Foo sont disponibles pour la revente. Inscrivez-vous comme commerçant et ayez accès à notre catalogue grossiste en ligne.

>>Vendez des produits de bambou pour le bain, le lit et le bébé à votre magasin

>>en savoir plus sur les tissus de bambou… Les serviettes de bain bambou de Shoo-Foo ont un grammage de 600 g/m2 – optimum d’élégance et de comfort.

>>en savoir plus sur les tissus de bambou

>>achetez des serviettes de bambou… Les serviettes de bain de bambou sont quatre fois plus absorbantes que celles de coton – vous serez au sec très rapidement après la douche ou le bain.

>>achetez des serviettes de bambou

Les draps de bambou respirent bien et sont très doux – plus de sueurs, ni chaudes, ni froides.

>>achetez des draps de bambou… Dormez mieux!

Les draps de bambou respirent bien et sont très doux – plus de sueurs, ni chaudes, ni froides.

>>achetez des draps de bambou