We are moving to Vancouver, BC!

I’m thrilled to finally tell you about it today. I’m celebrating 10 years abroad by moving to another country again: we’re moving to Vancouver, BC! Let’s get this new adventure started! Guys, I’m telling you, everything happened so fast! It seems like yesterday when I moved to Chicago… And there I am today, moving again to a different country. Life is definitely an adventure full of surprises!

Steam clock, Gastown.

I’ve been keeping the news for myself for the last few weeks, the time I needed to process and get organized for the big move. Saying it’s been a roller-coaster is an understatement. But I’m happy to tell you that it’s now official: David and I are packing up again and are now ready to move from Chicago to… Vancouver! Hello Canada!

Wait, you’re moving abroad… again? Yes, I am. It seems the travel bug hit me again. After about 6 years in Stockholm (Sweden) and 4 years in Chicago (USA), I’m hitting 10 years out of France by moving abroad. Again.

YRV airport, Vancouver.

From Stockholm to Chicago

It all started with a six-month adventure in Sweden that turned out to be way more than that. There, I learned the art of fika (coffee break), fell in love with the culture and started my own food blog Del’s cooking twist (DCT), inspired by the many food traditions around me. Swedish cinnamon buns “kanelbullar”, their equivalent with cardamom “kardemummabullar” (my favorite ones), gooey chocolate cake “kladdkaka” and homemade multiseed crispbread “knäckebröd” are no secret for me anymore.

Stanley Park, Vancouver.

Eventually I moved to Chicago and spent countless hours biking on my DIVVY (the city bike), exploring this beautiful sprawling city. If you ever wanted to discover Chicago, make sure you check out my Chicago permanent story, where I take you through the most beautiful places to see as well as the day-to-day life in some of the very best hip neighborhoods all year round. I also created a lifestyle series, My life as a foodie in Chicago (10 episodes) to document my food journey in the windy city. Don’t miss episode 8 about our wedding (not in Chicago but organized from Chicago) as well as episodes 9 and 10 for a one-year retrospective in Chicago. And of course, make sure you try Chicago-Style Deep Dish Pizza!

Chicago is also the place where DCT turned out to be way more than just a blog and where I managed to rapidly grow into a full-time food blogger. And for this, Chicago will always have a special place in my heart. But the journey is going on with a new destination and I’m pretty excited about it!

Next stop: Vancouver!

Ok now let’s talk about Vancouver. I can’t even believe this is happening! I have always loved going places but never in my life have I thought I would once move to British Columbia, Canada. It felt so incredibly far away from France somehow, so wild, beautiful and green, so unknown too… To me, Canada was Montreal, Quebec, and maybe Toronto. But Vancouver? Wow, still saying it today seems incredible to me. Pinch me!

So how did all this happen suddenly? How come I’m suddenly moving from beloved Chicago to this new destination? When is the big move planned for and how much do I know about Vancouver to this day? I know you probably have tons of questions and I’m happy to answer to each of them one at a time .

How did all this happen?

Again, it all happened very fast. At the end of November, my other half David got a job offer in Vancouver. We both love Chicago dearly so it has not been an easy decision, but eventually he took a deep breath and decided to jump into the unknown and accept the job offer. I’m always up for new adventures so it didn’t take him long to convince me – also because my job can be done from pretty much anywhere. As long as I have a kitchen and my camera gear with me, I’m fine.

Gastown, Vancouver.

Within the next few weeks, I worked like crazy with the blog, planning ahead as much as I could. Then we paid a quick visit to our family in France for Christmas to say goodbye before the big move (Chicago was only 6-7 hours from Paris, Vancouver is now 9 hours away – it’s far!) and when we came back, January was around the corner.

Since then, everything went like crazy. I worked double shifts each day so I could take some advance with the recipe creation in anticipation to the “in between kitchens”, prepared the move actively and did a 48-hour secret trip to Vancouver to get my work permit. There, we got caught in a middle of a snow storm and saw very little of the city that still remained mysterious to me when I got back to Chicago. Guys, it’s been so hard to keep this little getaway to myself, keeping focus with the blog and everything else, and also resist the temptation to show you pictures on stories!

Riley Park, Vancouver.

How much do I know about Vancouver?

Haha, this is the most amusing part about this new adventure. Except this quick secret trip I just mentioned, I had never been to Vancouver before and neither did David before. In fact, we don’t really know much about British Columbia at all and we somehow feel more like tourists hungry for discovering than immigrants who come to settle. I guess I’ll be both a tourist and an immigrant at the same time then, and it’s totally fine with me!

Luckily, the fact that I don’t know much about Vancouver doesn’t worry me much, partly because this is not my first time abroad, but also because I can still speak English (and now even French!), and it is not really far away from the US both culturally and geographically. But also there’s one more thing I should add: I’m super excited to explore the lush nature surrounding the city. Expect to see me hiking a lot and connecting with nature like I never did before in my next stories.

When are you moving?

Now the big question: when are we moving?…

Well, actually we just did!! I promised myself that I would tell you everything just before the move, document every step and so on, but sometimes life gets in the way and I somehow got trapped in wrapping up some logistics here and there, and never found the time to tell you all about it – yet!

We emptied our home in Chicago last week and loaded a big truck which is now on its way throughout the US to reach Vancouver. After that, we lived a few nights in a lovely hotel of Chicago, soaking up the good vibes of the windy city one more time, catching up with friends as much as possible, and wandering through the city. Eventually we said goodbye to Chicago and took our one way flight ticket to Vancouver, ready for new adventures!

And here we are now: in Vancouver for the last couple of days, living in a cute Airbnb while searching for this new home sweet home that will be ours soon. It’s a little bit overwhelming and exciting at the same time but everything will turn out just fine. I’ll share more in stories soon, so keep an eye open!

YRV airport, Vancouver.

What are the plans for the blog?

Don’t worry, I’m going to keep blogging as usual… just from Canada!

Really, the only difference you’ll probably notice is that the stories and some of the recipes will be inspired by my daily life in Vancouver, BC. Anyway, I’m really excited to keep the blog going like usual and I’ve got so many exciting recipes coming to you real soon. And honestly, I have all of you to thank for that. You are the ones who make it possible for me to do what I love to do everyday, wherever I am in the world in my kitchen, behind camera or laptop. Thank you and get ready for new foodie adventures together!

Xoxo,

Del

10 years abroad. Del says: “I’ve always wanted to live in a different country for a while, learn a new language and discover a new culture. But to be completely honest with you, when I first packed my two large suitcases to spend 6 months in Sweden back in 2010, I never thought that living overseas would become second nature to me. Life is full of surprises!”