Yesterday was the wedding of C and J at the Four Seasons downtown. Their menu was provided by the YEW Bar, I believe:

I had the beef option, and it came with scalloped potatos and carrots that were so delicious and fresh.

H had the halibut, which I thought was a bit overdone, but again very delicious veggies.

We actually started the meal off with this cream of mushroom soup with pastry puff. It was very filling and probably helped to soak up a tremendous amount of alcohol. The event had an open bar.

The second appetizer in this FOUR course meal was the smoked salmon:

Finally, the dessert, with the hazelnut chocolate base and shortbread, with mango compote. Everybody at the table just had to make space for it. HAD TO. How could you let this masterpiece go to waste?

Congrats C&J. Very well done. C looked like the happiest girl on earth, and J was just drunk... with love?  

Today is the birthday party of L and S at Rogue downtown. How’s a girl to save money?

I guess I could’ve just not bought the drone, but then I’d miss out on shots like this:

 
Mystery Lake, an easy hike to a great swimming hole. Lots of families and children were already here, taking a dip in the cool water.
More info on this hike here:
https://www.vancouvertrails.com/trails/mystery-lake/
https://www.outdoorvancouver.ca/mystery-lake-hike-mount-seymour/

Maybe if I didn’t eat out so much, I’d have more money for clothes. Luckily, I know some generous people, and P’s sister actually treated us to this amazing meal at Dundas Eat + Drink:



It’s another newly renovated place, with a completely new kitchen. They had just finished their soft open, and still working through some kinks, like the menu and the portions, etc. Spring rolls were quite good, the pho that W had really good broth (I didn’t try the noodles), and the grilled pork had all great flavour. P had the beef, and although I had a piece, I’m not gonna lie, I don’t remember it.



We had 2 orders of the crispiest chicken wings, with the house spicy sauce and… I think garlic butter. Anybody want to come with me for wings tomorrow?

Wait, I better figure out what I’m wearing for the next 4 weddings this summer first…

Shout out to the adorable succulent planter decorations at Dundas.

D and I went out for lunch today, on the hunt for something yummy. It’s tough sometimes, working near the Ironwood area. I heard about this place called Mama’s Dumplings:

C’mon guys, these were just OK. For Ironwood standards, GREAT, because we don’t have this readily available. I’ll come back, just because it’s nearby, but the skins on these fried pork buns were sorta thick. The décor is pretty comfortable, it looks newly renovated and clean. The meat filling was pretty good, very juicy and super hot.

Green onion pancake, beef pancake roll (or something like that #108). Don’t get these, again too thick and while they were crispy on the outside, it was too chewy. NOt enough beef filling and hoisin. 

Dumplings and the beef fried rice noodle. Surprisingly, the noodles were decent, maybe because I added vinegar to them by accident and it changed the taste of the dish. I don’t usually like this type of rice noodle. The dumplings had a good flavour.

In summary, get the dumplings only. I’ll be back because again, to try out their coffee, and because… what other options do I have at Ironwood?!

Really wanting to go droning… This was the Fly More kit:

Went shopping with H and his mother at Tsawassen Mills this weekend, and by the time we were done, it was already 8:30. Hou Lok is open for late night, so we took our hungry tummies here:

The honey garlic pork is one of my favourite Chinese dishes. They have a good one here, a good balance of meat and bone and lots of sauce.

We needed some greens for a balanced diet, so we ordered the spinach with the fu yu, and this was pretty flavorful as well. Another good choice. There’s also a corner of the marinated tofu here, because H’s mum is a vegetarian and she needed some protein. This was also a good choice.

The bitter melon fried egg is also one of my favourites, but it was a bit bland here tonight. We did ask for less salt, less oil, so maybe that was why it wasn’t as flavorful as usual.

Then, we had the beans, and I saved this for last because I didn’t like this at all. It wasn’t crisp and didn’t taste fresh. One off, I hope, because it’s usually pretty good.

Practiced with Sparkle the drone, but the battery doesn’t last long enough and I haven’t had a good chance to shoot anything worth posting. The quality is absolutely perfect though for what I want to do. Busy practicing - photos and videos to come!

H is back! I missed the weekend post, because we were busy catching up, but that doesn’t mean we didn’t do things. H and I visited Hugo’s Churros on Sunday:

I was disappointed by how small the churros looked, and how dinky the scoops of ice cream were. Can you even see it in the photo? What did I pay almost $8 for?! There was no way I could’ve made this look pretty, and it wasn’t for lack of trying. The ic ecream churro combo was also too sweet (I had vanilla and pistachio ice cream in the cup). Let’s not come back.

Back to hanging out with my teddy bear boyfriend (girlfriend?), who doesn’t love hiking as much as I’d like him to. Luckily, we snuck in this hike to Eagle Bluffs:

It was an easy hike, except for the first 45 minutes or so when I almost fainted going uphill. This is one I’d like to come back with my drone and the floaty that I’ll be ordering after I pay off the drone.

Free shaken tea at Starbucks today:


It sucked, don’t get it.

I’d rather talk about Poke Bar at SFU, where P and I had dinner after fixing her plant on Tuesday:



It was pretty fresh, and they’re very liberal with the toppings, including kimchi, corn, mango, pineapple… Salad, quinoa, or rice were options for the base, and it came with other one or 2 scoops of the fish. Not that flavorful, maybe it didn’t marinate enough in the sauce because we saw them bring it out just as we ordered…? Who knows, I’m not a poke expert, I’ve only had it one other time. I plan on trying more poke places this summer though – I like how refreshing it is and not heavy, compared to the usual junk I eat. This place is too far for me to go again, but I'd eat it if it was delivered.



Also, the one word in the lyrics of Despacito reminds me of Poké. Poquito a poquito…

H is back tomorrow!

Met up with M after almost 7 months of not seeing each other. We used to hang out every week, but life catches up with you. We went over to Coco along Marine Drive. I’ve been to a different CoCo location before, but I didn’t like it that time and never gave it another chance. Here I was, waiting for M to get home so he could give me his official wedding invitation, so I had to get a drink:



I had the milk tea with pearls and red bean and grass jelly, which cost about $6… I had to have all those toppings though, because I was craving all of them. I actually really loved it this time – the grass jelly had lots of flavor, and the pearls were just chewy enough. I got 50% sweet, but might go for less next time, especially if I add the red bean.



Back to the whole thing of giving the official wedding invitation… why do we have such weird traditions?

Today, I hung out with H’s mom and her friends, because they wanted to try Tatsu. It’s a bit strange seeing them without H. Only 2 more days until he’s back…

Went to SFU. Repotted P’s snake plant. Had dinner with her at SFU, but before I blog about the poké we had for dinner, let’s talk about dessert - ice cream at Earnest Ice Cream along Fraser St:

Best ice cream, it’s always just the right amount of sweet and actually tastes like the flavour that it’s advertised to be. I had the sweet cream (on bottom), and P had the salted chocolate (top), and we split it by putting the top of the double scoop into a cup. There was a tiny little black hair actually in the ice cream. I couldn't tell where it's from, and it was mixed into the ice cream, so it couldn't have been a piece of dust that fell onto it.



The hair was so tiny and it wasn't curly or anything so I ate it anyways... Is that gross?

Great news today. Next year should come sooner.

I have a craving for a hearty brunch, must be the sleep deprivation. Red Wagon would really hit the spot right now.

I came here with my mother one day. I had the breakfast with the pancakes and potatoes and eggs and added some JD syrup on the side.

Mother had the special, with the eggs and I think benedict sauce, beets and other veggies on the bottom. I loved this because it’s so fresh. Service is alright, they’re so busy that the servers really gotta pay attention.

D and I hit up Murrin for the views today:

I’m ready to start flying. I got the DJI Spark.

It’s the little things that add up to make a big difference. Here’s a list of “little” things that I thought about today while H is guiding his kids in Nova Scotia and I was hiking (if you have any questions about this bottom of Brandywine Falls hike, email me using contact info on About page):

1. This little plastic squirrel (beaver? whatever.) that I thought was a candy and that I tried to eat because I was hungry, waiting at Milestones on Robson:

I could’ve choked on this little pointy thing. There was also the small portion of popcorn shrimp that was deceptive at first, because of the real popcorn underneath all of it. This really bothered me. I’m paying close to $14 for a handful of POPCORN?! If the whole container was full of shrimp (which were also little), then I wouldn’t be so upset at the price. A’s seafood pasta was oversalted and I’m sure my kidneys are suffering from just one mouthful of the spaghetti that she shared with me. I only came to this place because it was A’s farewell party, and she’s sort of amazing so I had to say bye. Not coming back unless I have to.

2. Little habits and mannerisms add up, and become glaringly obvious to the point that they’re all I notice. Legs shaking, nose twitching, chewing loudly, unnecessary remarks/actions for attention or for whatever reason. Now I know this could be an uncontrollable physical/psychological thing, and I am trying to let it go. BUT SOMETIMES…!!! Tonight for example:

Scene – Soup is done, in the pot on the stove. Everybody is finishing dinner around the table, and to wrap up the meal, like true Asians, we drink soup.

Person1: Let me get you some soup. *starts to get up from the table to get me soup

Person2: OH I’M GOING FIRST. *jumps up quickly and heads to the pot first to get first dibs from a huge pot of soup

Now, I asked questions because I’m trying this new thing. I tried to be kind and understand why Person2 needed to be first to get the soup when there was so much and Person2 had been just sitting there with an empty bowl for at least 5 minutes prior to Person1 getting up from the table. The soup was already done a while before dinner started.

Me: Just wondering... Why did you get up when Person1 decided to get up?

Person2 had no good response other than a scowl and“What’s the problem?” in a very defensive tone.

3. Small acts of kindness, like Person1 getting up to get me soup out of the kindness of their heart. M asking D how his leg was, because she noticed a huge cut there and is a caring person. J planning a party for A. Friends going out of their way to keep showing up and be supportive. Food sharing even though you love what you bought for dinner and the portions are small!

4. Human beings are actually really tiny, adding our mark on the world (see photo above of waterfall). We did the Brandywine Falls hike again. One of the rocks we walked by ended up tumbling into the water. My big picture side makes me wonder... What will that fallen rock do to change the grand scheme of things?

Went out for a coffee and some alone time at The Drive Coffee Bar:

This place wasn’t too busy at around noon today, with 2 baristas. They have good strong coffee. I had the iced lavender latte, sat on their little patio, and researched places to go in Taiwan. I liked that it was quiet and peaceful, despite being on a busy street and I will be back to try other coffees (or maybe a beer). 

  

I’m glad I have these hobbies to keep me busy while H is out of town. Here was coffee number 1 from earlier today, and my new baby plants from the Prickly Pear sale:

Plants from Prickly Pear, around $9.
Terrarium from garage sale, $2.
Coffee from Nespresso, around $0.75. Lol.

I’m trying to budget so I can get my drone this month on Amazon Prime Day.

H and I were conveniently located near Steveston one day, after work, so we explored the little shops around this area of the city. H got hangry, and the smell of the mini donuts at Outpost Mini Donuts lured us in:

I absolutely fell in love with the blueberry donut. It was still a bit too sweet to eat on its own without a drink, so we had the lemonade too. A coffee would’ve been nice, but it was late afternoon, and I didn’t want to spend too much time lying awake in bed because of too much caffeine. There were a few other flavours, including boston cream, salted caramel, chocolate, etc. 1/2 a dozen for $4.75! I will be back for more.

Sometimes, I have to remind myself to keep asking questions, and that if I know the answers, I should ask bigger questions.

Oh right, I forgot to mention one more thing about the donuts. They cater for special events. I'd like some blueberry donuts scattered around my reception table if I ever get married.

As a finale to the long weekend, M, D, and I went to Brandywine Falls:

We got to the viewing platform. We saw the lake at the 2nd viewpoint. We tried to get to the bottom of the waterfall, because our thirst for adventure was not satisfied by the 15 minute walk to the platforms. We didn’t make it because we got lost while wandering through the bush and were devoured by the mosquitos. The bites are really swelling up now…

Let’s not let the fun end there! It was only barely 3PM, so we drove up north to Cows at Whistler:

It’s bumpin’ on a hot weekend afternoon, and we spent more than a minute trying their punny flavours. I ended up getting a blueberry milkshake, because milkshakes all I crave after hiking. I don’t remember what the other two got, but they’re in the video in this post and you can try to guess. The ice cream was absolutely necessary to bring our moods back up from the fail hike, and went well with the music played by the street performers there. Although the milkshake melted too quickly, the ice cream overall is quite tasty.

We also made a pit stop at Shannon Falls. Very busy tourist stop.

I think what I learned from this day was that I need a drone. If I had a drone, I could’ve flown it down to the base of the waterfall, rather than physically climbing down for that base shot. Needless to say, I am now obsessed with going back and finding the proper way down.

Sleep in after a late night, or wake up early for breakfast at Birds and the Beets?

Pretty easy choice there. I never liked sleeping in anyways.

I had that cappuccino, H had the kombucha, and my mother had a drip coffee. Mother and I both had the avocado and poached egg on toast, H had the breakfast bun with pork. Such tender flavourful pork. Such soft, fluffy brioche bread, baked in house. Ask me for a place to brunch, and I would choose the Birds and the Beets again in a heartbeat. Deliciously overpriced.

I should start making a conscious effort of cooking at home more often. There are some good healthy options to choose from:

Tomorrow, I might bring a mason jar salad on my hike instead of buying a sandwich:


The day after tomorrow, I might choose to go to for a strong coffee to kickstart another work week. This month, I might choose to get the DJI Spark with the money that I've worked so hard for. I might also choose to get myself some fancy new shoes instead of saving up for that apartment.

Can't always make the logical choice.