EDITOR CARLY WIGNES THE VOICE, THURSDAY, MARCH 29, 2012 5 Bunny's bounty comes to city Vancouver’s chocolatiers have options for even the fussiest bunnies By ROSS ARMOUR s Easter approaches, Vancou- ver’s chocolate stores are hop- ping busy and pulling out all the tops in hopes of satisfying taste buds in early April. An earlier study from a multi-au- thored popular blog called Inside Van- couver ranked chocolate shops around the city and determined Daniel Le Chocolat Belge, which is just north of Langara, to be the third best in Vancou- ver. “This Easter we have your typical chocolate bunnies and eggs in store,” said Robin Fletcher, a sales clerk at Daniel Le Chocolat Belge. “Special car- amel-filled eggs are a feature this year, as well as many other Easter-themed treats.” “We also have numerous assorted boxes of chocolates this year that can be gift wrapped. You can order boxes of 18, 27 and 86 from our store,” said Fletcher. “They cost $19, $27.50 and $35, respectively.” Born and raised in Belgium, choco- latier Daniel Poncelet opened the Bel- gian chocolate shop —- the first of its kind - on Robson Street in 1981. Now, the brand has locations throughout the lower mainland. Though rival company Purdy’s did not make the cut on Inside Vancouver, it also has its typical Easter extrava- ganza in full force for the season. “We actually have a gift delivery ser- vice for this time of year,” said one Purdy’s sales clerk who did not want to be named. “As always, we have numer- ous milk and dark chocolate boxes on offer as well as our trademark choco- late hedgehogs, caramels and creams.” “We also have special baskets that we are coming up with for this time of year,” she added. “We make the bas- kets up in the store and give our cus- tomers a quote on the spot. The baskets include a variety of filled eggs containing marshmallow and peanut butter among others.” Larger baskets are priced at $139.95, medium baskets at $59.95 and smalls TOP FIVE in Vancouver 1 Chocolate Arts: 1620 West 3rd Avenue Thomas Haas Fine Chocolates: 2539 West Broadway Daniel's Chocolates: 2820 Granville Street Charlie's Chocolate Factory: 3746 Canada Way oa fF © NN Roger's Chocolates: 389 Water Street Source: insidevancouver.ca Clockwise from top: Displays from Daniel Le Chocolat Belge, Thomas Haas and Purdy’s show how each shop is fully prepared for the Easter season rush. Easter falls on April 7 this year, just before the start of exams. Photos from Daniel Chocolates, Thomas Haas and Purdy's are $14.95. FUN FACT DID YOU KNOW? Cacao beans were used as currency in parts of Latin America until the 19th century. Ten could buy you a rabbit or a prostitute and 100 could buy you a slave. Source: facts-about-chocolate.com | | ALEX SKERDZHEV photo Avril Easton shows off her new iPad 3 that she says is a “worthy improvement” from the previous model. Newest iPad receives big praise Apple’s latest tablet model proves popular with more than three million sales in its first three days of release By ALEXANDER SKERDZHEV pple recently released its newest Pees: of the incredibly popular iPad tablet, and according to the tech giant, the results are remarkable. Though not changing the design of the tablet, Apple drastically upgraded its hardware components, opting for a better rear-facing camera, almost dou- ble the screen resolution and a special- ly designed quad-core graphics pro- cessing unit, which is rumored to give the iPad the same amount of raw graphical power as the Xbox 360 and Playstation 3. “There’s no doubt we’re once again looking at the leader in the tablet race,” said David Phelan of techradar.com in his online review. Even though the new tablet is a little bit thicker and heavier than its prede- cessor, Phelan went on to praise the tablet’s design — especially its screen quality. “The first and most obvious high- light of the new iPad 3 is the Retina Dis- play,” he said. “It’s clear, bright, it’s crisp. Essentially, it properly expands the smartphone experience onto a larg- er tablet and takes us into a new gen- eration of displays.” Avril Easton, an 18-year-old general studies student, said she was very hap- py with the tablet. “It’s great. It’s a little bit heavier and bulkier than my previous [iPad], but I’m really liking the new display, and it hasn’t lagged on me yet when watching movies or playing games,” she said. “Even though it kind of sucks to try and set it up the way my other one was, with all the apps and settings and stuff, I definitely think it’s a worthy improve- ment and I am not sad at all for getting it.” At 2047x1536 pixels, the new iPad screen doubles the resolution of its predecessor. It features a five mega- pixel, front-facing camera, the same one that is on the iPhone 4S, as well as anine-hour battery life. In other words, the new version is a big improvement on what was previously available. The new iPad is available at any of the local Apple stores, as well as in places like BestBuy and Future Shop. It retails for $650 for the 32GB Wi-Fi and 4G models, and is available in both black and white. Exercise stimulates the brain Experts link exercise to mental health and say a good workout can improve a sour apple mood By DENNIS PAGE face high pressure deadlines and stressful exams, you have a recipe for stress-induced fatigue that can lead to poor concentration. But research shows that a solution for tired minds is possible because mental health is linked to exercise. Jennifer Timer, a nurse educator at Langara, described the process in which the positive benefits of exercise are applied to the brain. “Things like dopamine and serotonin are released when you have intensive physical activity and they actual- ly have a physi- ological effect on the brain that makes you less anxious and more re- laxed,” she said. A this time of year when students L JENNIFER TIMER Students gain Langara nurse both — physical educator benefits and ac- ademic advan- tages through exercise, according to Timer. “When you exercise, you increase glucose and oxygen to your brain, you have clearer thinking and often more positive thinking because of sero- tonin,” she said. “Exercise increases cognitive functioning, so if you go work out and then go study, you'll do better. Nursing instructor Bethani McLeod agreed and said exercise can alter your consciousness. “Along with physiological alteration, you get mood alteration and nobody ever goes out for exercise and comes home depressed,” she said. Valery Romanchik, a human kinetics student and soccer player at Langara, said exercising has a noticeable impact on his school life. “There’s definitely mental benefits [to exercising],” he said, “You feel bet- ter about yourself, so you’re more ap- plied and into what your doing.” Romanchik pointed out that ex- ercise can be used as a good stress re- liever. “T like to kick soccer balls really hard sometimes just because of oth- VALERYROMANCHIK = er things in life and Langara soccer it helps take player [stress] away,” he said. “It’s a good way to focus your energy.” He noticed a drastic change when a concussion left him temporarily unable to exercise. “The fact that I was not able to be ac- tive was wearing on me emotionally,” he said. “Physically I felt like I was de- teriorating.” “When you work out it becomes ad- dictive,” he added. “You feel better about yourself so you want to do it more and more and more.” Even light exercising such as walk- ing can have significant benefits if you make a prolonged effort to stick to a routine, McLeod said. “Tf you can identify what works best for you for exercise, stick to it in a disci- plined way and be in the moment of the exercise. You will definitely have an ap- preciable positive increase in your mood.”