Weekend Adventures Thanksgiving 2025 Edition

I posted a couple of photos while relaxing on holiday Monday Canadian thanksgiving and then realized that it's been a pretty busy weekend and I could put together

Saturday

I hosted VanLUG at Z-Space for their Hacktoberfest - getting a group of folks together to submit quality PRs for open source projects.

This photo is my "proof of getting the new audio setup working" - main and stage PC levels are up and this Boards of Canada remix of Poppy Seed by Slag Boom Van Loon is playing.

Thanks Jonny and Vaden for improving the setup, it worked great!

This was me configuring the space to maximize places to sit. Yes, it's cozy!

I sat at my desk and worked on fresh install of my new MacBook Air M4, and got NixOS installed on the Asus MiniPC. I'll post notes on the tech blog about this, figured some fun stuff out.

Door to the main Z-Space lounge is always fun. And a reminder of this coming Saturday's Folk Tech Play Day .

I wandered off from hosting VanLUG to the audio tour / performance that Rachael signed us up for - Radix presents: The Library Show - at the VPL.

(Those are silent disco headphones - I want to do more with those, including silent discos)

You walk through the library, listening to a library related story, and find yourself discovering or lingering or exploring parts of the main branch Vancouver Public Library that maybe you don't necessarily go to or remember, going around every floor and up each escalator.

A map of (part of) Greater Vancouver, May 22, 1999, taken by Foto Flight.

One of the things I learned was the top two floors of the main branch were always supposed to be a public space, but this got cut out of the initial construction and instead the top two floors were leased to the Provincial government.

Here's the Vancouver Sun article from September 2018 with the full backstory.

After 23 years, a rooftop garden opens at the VPL's Central Branch

The Vancouver Public Library has spent $16.8 million to open the two two floors of Central Branch to the public and add a rooftop garden

A great show. It's on for the next two weekends still if you want to go see it .

I went back to Z-Space and wrapped up with the VanLUG folks and scootered home.

I stopped on the viaduct to get a picture. Sun and even some blue skies. I really enjoy my scooting back and forth from the office and this is in part why.

Sunday

We had my parents over for a late lunch / early dinner so the day was spent shopping and cooking.

I did everything a bit last minute. Went to Famous Foods for my one stop shop for everything, figuring out what I was going to make as I went.

I took a couple of in progress cooking shots but all they do is highlight my messy stove!

We had enough time to try out the newly opened Doe Coffee on Clark at Adanac.

We've gone to their other location on East Hastings near Nanaimo a lot. Very nice pastries, and a few food items. They open at 8am, I'll have to see about trying their breakfast sandwich.

An ube eclair. The ube cream inside was deep purple as all ube things are, and was sweet without being too sweet. Very good!

Now we skip to the serving of the meal! From top left, duck breast, sliced.

The duck breasts were frozen solid from Famous Foods, so I put them in the sous vides for 4 hours at 54C with garlic, thyme, and salt and pepper. I seared them skin side down in a cast iron pan, then finished them in the oven until the skin was perfectly crisp. Pretty happy with how these turned out! (a little more medium than medium rare / rare because of how I was juggling final cooking).

Butternut squash and butter, red carrots in butter with dill seeds. Braised onions. Crisp local red potatoes. Cranberry orange cardamom sauce.

Some duck gizzards braised in Ginger Miso Chili Crisp. Also frozen - they just had them at Famous Foods! I love that place - and let's be honest, they're, uh, a little too crispy. Basically meat candy.

Abokichi OKAZU Ginger Miso (230ml/8oz)

Add a fresh ginger kick to any dish with OKAZU Ginger Miso. Miso-based chili oil made in Canada. Mild, zesty, and fully plant-based.

Gravy is made with chicken broth and sous vide duck breast juices whisked into a duck fat and flour roux.

And this! Store bought spätzle, boiled until tender, then mixed with braised onions, parmesan and friulano cheese and butter, and baked / crisped in the oven.

My parents brought an Eau Vivre Piquet that was nice and tart and went well with duck and gravy. My mom brought her German Apple Cake and Donauwelle .

Monday

A low key relaxing day, leaning into the holiday.

We went back to Doe.

There are only a couple of "nook" tables built into the window side. As I understand it, the light industrial zoning around here means that coffee roasters and breweries and other production facilities can have like 25% of their space be a retail space, so we get tasting rooms and cafes and such.

A walk in the park, some errands, some computer tinkering, and of course leftovers rounded out the day.

Happy Canadian Thanksgiving!