No zombie apocalypse yet, but here are two things:

1. I heard about Mealshare a few days ago, and their fundraiser, Tonight for Tomorrow, happening on May 10, 2017. Basically, you eat at one of the participating restaurants, and they’ll donate $1 for each $1 spent to provide food for youth. Simple as that, right? I’m always skeptical about non profits and how much of the proceeds actually go to their cause, but this seems pretty legit. I’ve been to a only a few restaurants on the list for their fundraiser, including Fable Diner: 

This was the milkshake that had Nutella in it. Also contains peanut butter and chocolate syrup. Pretty awesome. Wouldn’t mind coming back to try all the other milkshakes.

To be honest, we came here last October for R’s birthday, and I think I had the eggs benedict. They didn’t really stand out for me, but the milkshakes sure did. C had the toast with all the greens on top. M had some trucker breakfast, with fat pieces of meat and eggs that looked amazing.

Anyways, you need to eat anyways, right, so why not go to one of these restaurants on May 10th?

Support Mealshare by signing their petition to let them know you’ll be attending: http://www.mealshare.ca/en/tonight-for-tomorrow/



Other restaurants I’ve been to on Mealshare’s Tonight for Tomorrow participants list:
Sai Woo
Tuc

2. Ran the Sun Run this year, and finished it in 1hr7min, which means I knocked off a minute from last year, but I’m still so slow. I usually motivate myself by imaging zombies chasing after me, and wondering whether I’d actually survive because everybody else is so fast. I also focus on the bananas and chocolate milk at BC Place afterwards, but THIS YEAR WAS A DEVASTATING DISAPPOINTMENT. Where was the chocolate milk?!?!?!?!??!?!?!?!

PS - I’m outta here Vancouver! No posts for the next week because I’ll be in Toronto then the Cayman Islands. Find me on Instagram!

7:11AM – Wake up, check Instagram… Right. Earth Day today. H just got off work, but doesn’t pick up his phone when I call… Sometimes. Anyways.

7:19AM – H calls me back! I get out of bed, and get coffee #1 from the Nespresso machine.

8:00AM – Girlboss marathon starts.

9:37AM – Crap, going to have to drive fast to get to Yyoga.

11:27AM – Best yoga place ever – clean and lots of hot water. Unlike at home, where my boiler is slowly failing. Back to Girlboss.

1:20PM – The bus will be here soon, but… I’ll just skip through this last episode…

1:30PM - Gotta get to Nemesis!

2:00PM – Another Translink fail. What happened to the Skytrain today?

2:15PM – @Nemesis:

I had the heirloom grits…

and a latte with whole milk, because they don’t have 2% or skim…

I guess they control calories through smaller food portions. I mean, it was great and all, very fresh, loved the mint and so much flavor in each bite, but the whole thing cost $17. Not sure if I can come back. I tried a bit of their tomato jam, which looked very unappetizing by the way. M seemed to like her coffee and bacon scone. C had a cappuccino, which I think I should’ve ordered to avoid all the fatty milk. Overall, I wouldn’t go out of my way to come back, because there are a few other (better?) brunch and coffee shops in the neighborhood. Perhaps I had set my standards too high, because the reviews have been so good.

Went up to visit C’s brother’s apartment, and what a view! Another pro of living in a downtown apartment.

Still not sure what my role is in this mission to save the world from overheating. It’s hard to boycott all the things that are slowly killing the planet, because it’s just so convenient to not be conscientious about it. We’re all here for such a short time, and it would be so easy to just ignore all the devastating storms occurring around the world, the floods, the hurricanes. I shouldn’t suffer all this stress over something I can’t control, but I always tend to stress about the uncontrollable. I’ve heard that we can all do our fair share, and our small contribution will be a part of the world wide movement. Not sure about that because the large oil corporations and the governments seem pretty manipulative… Maybe one day, we will think of using coal and fracking the same way as smoking cigarettes.

Maybe it’s time to donate some money to help out organizations who are fighting climate change. Leo Dicaprio seems to support a few different ones.

#earthday

A post shared by VICELAND (@viceland) on Apr 22, 2017 at 9:34am PDT

Sometimes, a fancy pizza is what the day calls for:

H and I ordered the Princess pizza, which was the best price out of the seafood options at $35 each. Shrimp and prawns were so crisp and fresh, perfectly cooked. Topped with some pretty fresh arugula and smoked salmon:

There’s a room next to the restaurant with counters and some bar stools. Not sure if it’s a public place, but we brought the pizza there to eat it while it’s fresh.

Cannot wait for next week, SO TIRED. I’m sure I’ve made lots of mistakes, some waiting to be discovered while my brain is on vacation somewhere. Hopefully I’ve solved my fair share, and prevented enough to balance out the ones I’ve created. 

PMA and I hit up Cannibal Cafe after a 5 hour hike to Kennedy Falls in North Vancouver:

No complaints about my turkey burger (The Farmhouse) - cranberry + turkey genius. M’s American Classic with yam fries in the background.

P got the American Classic as well, with a side of poutine, and the poutine could’ve been a full entrée by itself. Maybe he got this because he’s from Montreal?

A ordered yam fries, and sorry no picture, but she basically had 5 yams and enough fiber for a week.

To complete my meal, I had the chocolate Bourbon shake. I thought it was boozy enough, but everybody else thought the alcohol was strong. It wasn’t as thick as I would’ve liked.

I used to come here all the time! I was reminded of why I ate here so often today, and I will be back for more…

There’s something about a good meal after a long hike that brings people together.

We got lost a bit on the way here, but basically, just park at the Mt. Fromme parking lot and take the bike/hike trails from there. It’s intermediate, mainly because it’s slippery and rocky. By the end of it, I didn’t even care about being ankle deep in mud and I just wanted to take the fastest route down the mountain.

Here’s more info on the hike:

https://www.outdoorvancouver.ca/hiking-big-cedar-trail-kennedy-creek-falls/
https://www.vancouvertrails.com/trails/big-cedar-and-kennedy-falls-trail/
https://www.yelp.ca/biz/kennedy-falls-north-vancouver

It was 3PM… I picked up P to go to Kings Cafe on Kingsway (ha. what a great name.), which I had been curious about since their renovations from a few weeks (months?) ago.

It’s pretty quiet inside, filled with Macbooks and small groups of students. I had a latte and P had the mocha (see above), and we shared the chocolate oat bar (above). The coffee is subtly strong, because at the cafe, I couldn’t taste it, but here I am at 3AM, writing this post. The oat bar was alright, looked and tasted like the ones at Starbucks, which are acceptable. Apparently, they get all their baked goods from a wholesale Italian baker, located in Vancouver. I think they do try to keep their store as local as possible.



IT’S 3AM AND I CANNOT SLEEP. Planned out Toronto instead (9 days left!). Paid my credit card bill. Trying to distract myself from a gnawing hairstyling obsession that is growing since trying to style J’s hair. Hopefully, I get to go outdoors this weekend.

Nothing a good coffee can’t fix:

Really expensive bottled juice for C, pomegranate lemonade (I think…) for R, and the honey almond latte for me. Mine was too sweet, so make sure to ask for half sweet. It was conveniently located for shopping at Nordstrom, so that already gave it a steady flow of customers.

Speaking of really expensive juice? $7.50 for this sucker, chockful of vitamins, and fresh off the… truck from Calgary or Mississauga? Got it at Whole Foods two days ago. There are so many stories about how Whole Foods isn’t really “green” and they just slap on “organic” stickers onto their produce and how they treat their employees.

I just had to try this juice. How could they charge over $7 for this TINY bottle of juice?! It tasted delicious, I could feel the vitamins entering my bloodstream and my phlegm congested lungs, but for the quantity, it was not worth the money. It did satisfy my curiosity.

I’m going to have more cough syrup and go back to bed now to try to get over this cold.

One day, after dinner, PJS and I came to Passion8:

This shaved ice bowl was amazing. Matcha, redbean, cheesecake, and mochi toppings. The ice is sweetened with syrup or some type of sugar (condensed milk maybe?), and goes really well with the matcha. The garnish was a piece of dried orange that looked pretty cute, but we didn’t eat it (were we supposed to?).

Next up was the Multigrain (Injulmi) toast! Topped with a mountain of whipped cream and walnuts, and this..rice flour flakey thing that had the texture of a less buttery croissant. The inside had more mochi/rice cake filling and red bean:

This was OK, not my favourite. I am drooling though, just thinking about that shaved ice in the summer…

Too bad I’m sick right now.

Pragmatic – dealing with things sensibly and realistically in a way that is based on practical rather than theoretical considerations.

Dogmatic - inclined to lay down principles as incontrovertibly true.

if i were pragmatic, i would know that we cannot possibly eat all this because we will feel sick afterwards. however, i am not pragmatic. if i were dogmatic, i would not eat all of this because it goes against principles of healthy eating. however, i am also not dogmatic. so we ate it all

Did I do this right?

It was a choice between Dalina, Au Bade, and Propanda. Dalina was too busy, Au Bade was on the wrong side of the street, and we ended up at Propaganda:



I had the macchiato, and it was weak compared to Pallet. The sandwich was packed with meat, and I must’ve been starving, I polished it off. The others had a ham and cheese croissant, which they seemed to enjoy. I think I would come back again because it’s less crowded than Matchstick, but the coffee could be stronger.

For those of you who are into Munchkins the Marvel edition, this place has a metal table.



This weekend, I tried hiking (walking in the park) at night for the first time. It was the annual NiteHike, and H really wanted me to participate, so there I was… in the middle of the woods… We started walking around 8PM, and it was just before 6AM by the time we finished the event. It was nice to get lost in the woods. It was also nice to feel so physically drained that once my head hit the pillow, nothing in the whole world mattered anymore.

Ended up sick again. Late 20s has not been good for health so far.

Took a half day at work to get my hair did, and ended up going to 49th Parallel on 4th for the $5 Sakura donut. Was it worth it? It was STUFFED with cream, I wish I got a chance to document it oozing out with every bite. The cream is supposed to be a matcha white chocolate mix, but the matcha can only be faintly tasted. It’s pretty sweet, but it goes so well with the coffee.
Coffee was strong and on the acidic side.


49th Parallel is always so busy. Too crowded for my liking, but can't resist the donuts.



Afterwards, went to the bank to save money. I should try to save more money, but I really want to get this:

It would look nice in the office, and I could bring it around instead of using disposable cups! We were born to consume after all, and I should try not to worry too much about the trash I’ll be leaving behind. Speaking of the office, I think I've learned to really enjoy the office environment. People can be so funny sometimes if you don’t take them so seriously.

G for Gerry or J for Jerry?

PJS and I went to Mikan Cafe for dinner and to catch up. The menu is not the biggest, but I still had a tough time choosing between some of their pasta dishes and a rice dish. I was really hungry, so I ended up going for what I thought was the highest calorie meal – the hamburger with hashed beef on creamy spaghetti. I didn’t like it very much because the hamburger tasted like it was microwaved. It was a bit too salty, and the portions were just… average. I guess it might be a decent lunch portion and maybe I could be considered a “big” eater, but I was still hungry. P had the salad, her stomach wasn’t doing so well. S and J both had the Masago Spaghetti, and I had a bite… It was OK. We didn’t stay for dessert because the items in the showcase didn’t look appetizing.

I don’t think I’d go back. The original Cafe de l’Orangerie location is higher quality.





In the past year, we’ve been meeting up more often, mostly because our schedules finally seem to mesh. What have I been doing in the past few years while they’ve been hard at work? They’re driving nice cars, going on vacations, while… I guess I’ve been busy too. What does it all matter though, if the world ends up falling apart? I may have been reading too much This Changes Everything lately, but it’s eye opening to get this summary of the attempts that have failed to save our planet so far. One day, I hope that I or somebody reading this will look back and think that I worried for nothing because some new technology or legislation or whatever will save us all. Driving gas guzzling V8 trucks, throwing out styrofoam takeout containers, and razing forests could be a funny story to tell our grandchildren, just like dial up internet. On the other hand, maybe we’ll reminisce about going out without wearing a full body suit to block out UV, because our atmosphere is gone, and feeling fresh air directly on our faces will just be a fairytale.

I always crave pho the end of a rainy day, and this day was no different. I came to Song Huong with my mother for a quick bite:



They’re known more for their beef rolls and their BBH (bun bo hue…), but we both wanted just regular pho. The noodles are OK, the soup is pretty salty, and the portions are average. Their BBH was really good a year or 2 ago, but I haven’t tried it in a while. I still come back once in a while, because it’s fast, clean, and convenient. Parking in the back or residential side streets.



The world feels like it’s slowly dying though, and no amount of pho will stop it. Storms, floods, bombings… When will it all end? There is sunshine behind all those clouds, and things will look up in no time. I think?

 1. EATING:



Came to Pho Lan for dinner with P and J, in the quest for large amounts of Vietnamese food. Pho is one of my favourite foods. This place was pretty dark and dingy, so I couldn’t really tell how clean everything was, but the pho was great. Not too salty, came with lots of toppings, and a large pile of noodles. I finished the XL bowl by myself! Achievement unlocked. I didn’t care too much for the spring rolls here, tasted like it was refried, but maybe if I weren’t so full from the noodles I would’ve liked it more.



2. ANSWERING QUESTIONS - Customer said that I’m good at this I did not make this up.
Customer: When will you have this in stock?
Me: *tells him the date*
Customer: But how soon will you find out if the date will get better?
Me: Sometime between today and above date. *SECRETLY DYING FROM LAUGHTER*
Customer: You’re very good at answering questions.

3. BEING HONEST – I suck at games that require lying, like Coup and Werewolf. I absolutely hate these games. Another game I hate… Legendary. Can’t wait till Cayman Islands at the end of this month, where I’m sure I will not be playing any of those.

That’s about it, I guess.

H and I sat at Pallet Coffee, while waiting to meet up with his parents for dim sum at Sun Bo Kong on Saturday. We were at the café from around 1030AM to 1130AM, and the line up just would not stop. Luckily we came in early enough to grab 2 comfy chairs by the back and watched the place bustling and hustling. All the tables filled up, and it was not surprising either, because their coffee was on point. I had the macchiato, and learned that the real traditional way to do it is with 2 shots, and just a dollop of foam on one of the shots. Sparkling water on the side to go with it, because the coffee was stronger than Gregor Clegane. Chocolate croissant was good and flakey (I should do a series on croissants... hmmm...). Drip coffee was not bad, but the espresso shots had already ruined it for me.

Then, just did some basic shopping, played Munchkins Marvel Edition with M+P. We need the expansion packs.

I had quite a bit of free time today to do whatever I want, and so I wasted about half of that time thinking about things I want to do. Then, I started reading This Changes Everything, and realized that I still haven’t finished this book even though I started it half a year ago, because it gets a bit depressing. I did learn a lot about the state of our world. Really though, what can I do as an individual consumer to try to lower that carbon footprint?

I think another reason I felt off this weekend was because of the offensive jokes at the Yuk Yuk Comedy Club by Jason Rouse this friday. To each their own, but some warning would be nice. The other acts before his were fantastic. 

This weekend was a slow one… Is this what retired life will be like? I hope not.