It’s been difficult to find time for blogging, so I’m still going on about last week’s trip. Nothing super exciting happened this week anyways, I was here in Raincouver… So let’s go back to last week, when I was in New York:

We had donuts from Underwest Donuts, right by the train station. Not too many options, but enough to make me want to go back to try something other than the peppermint chocolate flavour (as seen in photo above). It was a pretty good (looking) donut.

One World Observatory views:

New York… A sparkling, magical place with lots of food that will kill you.

Nathan’s Famous Hot Dogs:

Famous for what? The most salt content per square inch of sausage? Super skinny weiner with the same amount of salt as a regular hot dog would have.

Cafe Amore:

Huge slabs of New York style pizza, the length of my body (well I’m only 4’11.5”, so I guess it’s not really that big).

On to Florida…

…or go back to Ohio.

This week started with a delayed flight from Toronto to Detroit, so that we barely had time for dinner. I didn’t get to try Detroit style square pizza!

On a brighter note, we did find this awesome little coffee shop, in Ohio:

Maddie and Bella opened up in Perrysburg a few months ago, and their beans were still roasted out of some dude’s garage, when I asked them about it last week. I think they mentioned that they had purchased a warehouse somewhere closeby to do all the roasting, but not sure if that’s happened yet. We had the avocado on toast and the Elvis (banana, hazelnut butter, and… I think chocolate? on toast). Cappuccino to balance the sweetness of the Elvis toast.

The rest of the trip was not bad, despite sleeping only 3 hours in Detroit (baby crying next door, pipes, heater/air conditioner rumbling all night), and a 2nd delay from Detroit to Philadelphia. We spent about 8 hours in Philadelphia, with 6 hours of sleep and the rest travelling from airport to hotel to next city… The Hyatt at The Bellevue was amazing to stay at, and I really wish we had a bit more time to explore this really clean looking city.

I think I learned a lot on this trip, especially about how much sleep I really need while on the go. Delays, cancellations, shit happens, but something special might be waiting at the end of all the chaos.

Head to New York...
...or Orlando, Florida.

Everybody gets worried sometimes, and for me, it’s been more than usual lately. I’m pretty sure the season plays a strong part in it. Working in an office from 9 to 5 will do that to you. Getting to the office in the dark, leaving the office in the dark… Depressing. Drains all my energy to deal with the worries and anxieties.

That’s why on the weekends, I try to get outside as much as possible. Coffee helps.

Here’s us at Dalina:
 


I had the turmeric latte, because I thought it would be a healthy alternative to the usual coffee that I guzzle every 2 hours to keep me awake. Might be the placebo effect, but I instantly feel my skin clear up, my breathing becomes smoother, vision clears up... Maybe I'm exaggerating here, but turmeric is quite good for your health.

It turns out that ordering this drink that morning was a horrible mistake though, because I had forgotten that I didn’t have coffee the day before, and thus, was super cranky and withdrawn. Otherwise, Dalina’s turmeric latte was a beautiful drink to have at a beautiful little grocery shop. Self serve sparkling water, regular water, and even milk and soy milk along the walls for your coffee. Might have to come back to try their actual coffees, but right now… I’m headed to the East coast for a week to see what I can find.



Back to this next weekend:


I’m pretty sure I’m still very normal and healthy, but as a millenial, I just have to write about my problems on the internet, so I can feel like I’m being heard. It’s society’s fault.

Last thing this week... Tourism Squamish posted my photo on their blog post about snowshoe trails in the Squamish area! Read about it here: http://www.exploresquamish.com/news/trail-feature-6-snowshoe-trails-you%E2%80%99ve-never-heard-of-in-squamish

It’s been a bit crazy at work, ever since 2018 rolled around. Opportunities EVERYWHERE, but no way to really make the very most of it. But. Whatever. Whatever. Can only do what I can to find some fulfillment in life.

And I can eat. So. 

Sometimes, as a regular blogger, I get these invitations to visit certain restaurants or try new food around Vancouver. This time, I was notified of a great event, called the #GiveWarmth fundraiser, by Tangoo, a marketing service for the food industry. They are currently hosting a #ChewingForCharity series at Eight ½ Restaurant Lounge (Mount Pleasant), Robba Da Matti (Yaletown), and La Mezcaleria (BOTH Gastown & Commercial Drive locations), where every time somebody tries out their limited time specialty dish, part of the proceeds from the dish will go to helping A Better life Van. This series runs until January 19th, so go try out those limited edition dishes!

After work today, I rushed over to Eight 1/2 Restaurant Lounge, to try out their mussels:

Fresh Salt Spring Island mussels, which came in a good size, and drenched in a delicious curry bisque sauce. Came with side of house made naan that paired very well with it.

We ordered a couple of other things to try out, since it was our first time here. The Marketplace pizza had lots of cheese and basil and beets. I’m putting beets on my pizza at home from now on. The Wild Mushroom Risotto was a mash of mushroom with truffle oil, parmesan reggiano… How could this go wrong? Actually, it was slightly overcooked but I still ate over half of it by myself because I cannot resist cheese and truffle:

The pizza and risotto were alright. The PG13 mason jar cocktail was not very flavourful. Prices are very on par with market though, and I wouldn’t mind coming back to drink, hang out, grab a quick bite. Cozy little spot tucked away from the busy Main Street.

Oh yeah, tag #ChewingForCharity to enter their Contest:

Snap a photo of your favorite dish and post it to Instagram with the hashtag #GiveWarmth (and tagging @tangooyvr + @[Restaurantname] for a chance to win 2 tickets to the exclusive Greasy Spoon Diner supper series, featuring some of the best chefs in the world!

OK, back to real work… It might be a long night.

After Aubade, C and I were hungry, so we fueled up at the Ramen Butcher. The owner of Aubade had mentioned this place in our conversation, and that it was opened by one of the locals from around the neighborhood (the daughter of somebody… my memory fails me, and I haven’t fact checked this). This really inspired the ramen cravings…
 

On the right, we have the Butcher Shoyu Ramen. On the left, is mine, the Black Garlic Ramen. Here’s a close up of mine, with a beautiful marinated egg and fatty pork:



Life is short, choose the fatty pork and fatty broth, because they are worth the extra calories. YUM. Maybe I was just extra hungry from my bike ride to get to Chinatown, but I think this would be one of the best ramen I’ve had the luck to try out in Vancouver. The restaurant was pretty busy for lunch, and I’m hoping it survives for the next few years, because I can’t wait to come back.



This year is starting off to be quite a doozy. Work is busy, life is busy. Trying to remind myself that there are things that I can’t control, but I can control my own reactions. Time to start making travel plans! California in February for the long weekend, anybody?

The last weekend of 2017!

We visited Backcountry Brewing post snowshoeing in the Callaghan Valley, in search of fries, but found something even better. PIZZA!!!!

There were a few brews on tap, including a really milky looking IPA (2nd from right in the paddle, perhaps called the Secret Handshake).

I didn’t like one of their stouts (I think it was the She’s a Lady that I liked), because it was too watery for my taste. Other than that, I really can’t wait to come back to try all their other beers, and have another bite of their latest pizza flavour, the Wake n Bacon (truffle, brussel sprouts, pork belly, and an egg). The Prosciutto was also fabulous, with a great tomato sauce base. This is really next level pizza. A must-go for a pit stop on the way back from Whistler.

Alexander Falls 2017:

Goodbye 2017! I suppose this would be a good time to look back, and think about the things that have happened this year. Travel and explore, eat, take photos… What will I do in 2018? 

My guess is I'll look for new highs and dig myself out of deeper lows.