SHOPPING SPREE AT GOURMET WAREHOUSE

It isn’t often that I find myself at the Gourmet Warehouse on Hastings Street in the East side of Vancouver.  However, since we had to head over to the Mikado Martial Arts supplies store on Hastings for some hand wraps for Bebe, I thought we ought to stop on by while we’re in the area.  It’s been over a year since I’ve visited the store.

Btw, Bebe earned her green belt in Karate recently.  She was also named “Top Student of the Term” and that’s a pretty big achievement for a 6 year old.   

Anyway, time was short and I rushed around looking at all the goodies.  I didn’t even get to see 1/4 of the stuff because I stalled at the Soda Making machines and decided to finally purchase one.  I’ve been eyeing the Penguin for a while (since a year ago) but hesitated because I heard the CO2 cartridges are hard to come by.

I drink tons of soda water and this would be hopefully a good thing for the summer too!  I can make my own soda drinks without sugar and experiment with flavours too!  


I have yet to make soda from my deliciously clean, free tap water (I filter it usually).   I’ll be trying it later on in the evening.   Vancouver’s tap water is fantastic and I don’t buy bottled still water at all. 

Sometimes I drink mineral water because I love bubbles, but for regular drinking purposes the whole family drinks tap water.  It’s such a waste to buy bottled water in our neck of the woods.    Did you know that B.C. tap water is rated as the BEST in the World?  no foolin'...check it out here!  In fact, Vancouver tap water is safer and cheaper to drink than some bottled waters.  You can see an article about this from the news here.  Now, I can put bubbles in my tap water, I don’t think I’ll be buying any club soda, Perrier or San Pellegrino anymore!

The SodaStream kit comes with 2 glass bottles for storage and they are specially designed to fit this particular machine.  You have to buy their bottles.  You can’t use just any ol’ bottle.  The CO2 cartridges can be returned to the store and exchanged for new ones or refilled ones.   The starter kit comes with the Penguin, 2 bottles and one CO2 cannister.  The cannister I was told would last 60 litres.  That should keep me for a while until they get more stock on the cartridges.  They had 3 different starter kits with 3 different prices.  The cheapest model used plastic bottles and was lighter (and not as pretty), the medium priced model was a tad better looking and the Penguin was the higher end model.  They are all made by SodaStream.  The Penguin starter kit was $299.99.

The SodaStream is touted as being environmentally friendly since you don’t waste money and resources on bottles and cans.  You save money in the long run if you drink a lot of soda water and it’s healthier if you opt to make sugarless drinks with juices.  Soda Stream Penguin Water Carbonator


Hit the jump to see the rest of the contents of my shopping bag!


I have been slowly converting my family to using stainless steel drinking straws for environmental purposes.  I already have a few of these and found them extremely useful.  We go through way too many plastic straws and my kids love using straws.  These are dishwasher safe and durable.  This pack of 4 was $$8.99

People have been asking where I get my multi-coloured dragees.  Generally, I buy different colours in the plastic tubes at Safeway or a supermarket (it’s cheaper)…and I mix them myself in a glass storage jar.  At the Gourmet Waterhouse, I found Multi Coloured dragees and they were 4mm at $8.99 a bottle.
The Silver, Lime Green and Pastel Pink  sanding sugars were $3.99 each a bottle.   I like to roll my Christmas butter cookie logs in these before I slice and bake them.  They’re so pretty.

 
Disposable mini loaf pan @ $0.59 each.  

Large loaf pans @ $0.99 each

Gourmet Warehouse had a whole section devoted to baking supplies.  Their chocolate section was pretty impressive and they carried white, bittersweet and milk chocolates for various baking purposes.  I grabbed a bag of Callebaut chips ($14.89 for 1kg) and another heat proof rubber spatula ($5.99) because these are highly used in my kitchen. 

The other day, I almost took a banana to work with me, but decided against it because I knew it would get all bruised in my briefcase.  I spotted a banana keeper on sale for $1.79 and now I can eat bananas at work!
     
Who doesn’t have one of these glass bottles for dish soap or olive oil?  It looks so pretty on the counter.
This one was $2.99. 

I’ll let you know how the Penguin Soda maker works in another post.  I’ll have to whip out the manual and read through it first.  Stay tuned for a review of the machine!

Gourmet Warehouse
1340 East Hastings Street
Vancouver, B.C. 
(604) 253-3022
http://www.gourmetwarehouse.ca/
Gourmet Warehouse is open 7 days a week. 

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