D and I went to Take’s Sushi (pronounced TAH-KAY’S SUSHI), following a long day in the office. With some coworkers, you never want to see them after work, and with others, I don’t mind hanging out. I had never been, and apparently this is one of the best spots for sushi. Turns out that the rolls were amazing! The fish was very fresh, and there was a good ratio of rice to mayo to fish/fillings. I would absolutely return when the cravings for sushi kick in. The appetizers were decent, nothing special, so feel free to pass on those.

Here’s a shot of the unagi:

Here’s their Dragon Roll, with unagi on top of the california roll, and the Alaska roll (definitely a favourite) in the background:



D took these photos for me on his Pixel 2, because I left my phone at home.



I did remember my phone on this hike with V to the upper portions of Shannon Falls:



Beautiful hike. Drone shots to come.

Take me back to the sushi and hike please! I don’t want to have to focus on adult life responsiblities…

Feeling materialistic lately, which has led to a lot of online window shopping instead of sleeping. This might be caused by too much television. I also had dinner at Coast, for a friend’s birthday party, which has inspired me to act more lavishly than usual. I met a few new friends there, and it’s inspired me to be more ambition than before. They’re a bit older, they dress nicely, and the servers at Coast know them by name! If that’s not a sign of societal success, I’m not sure what is…

Too bad the food was so salty at Coast. I’m not sure if I’d want to pay that amount of money for a meal, and then have to spend more money to replace my kidney, which would be losing functionality from all the oversalted food! For 9 people, we had the set menu, which came with various options. For appetizer, I chose the tuna poke, which had lots of cucumbers and pineapples.

I also had the sablefish, which was served over mashed potatoes and mushrooms. If I weren’t so hungry, there would be so much of this salty dish left over:

A few of us had the lobster, which was really cool to look at, but not the most convenient to eat. S had a tough time separating the meat and the shell:

Finally, dessert! The server had forgotten that we had asked for a different dessert for the birthday girl, because she doesn’t enjoy coconut, which made up 80% of this coconut banana cake dessert. Coconut is not one of my faves either… Anyway, in the end, the server came back with a chocolate lava cake topped with a generous scoop of vanilla ice cream:

It’s really getting late now, but I’ve passed that point where I’m actually tired. This week has been full of staying out late and sleeping about 5 to 6 hours. The light from my screen has ruined my circadian rhythm, and even though it’s 1AM right now, my brain doesn’t want to shut off. I’m probably going to crash over the long weekend, but before the holiday, I have things to do this week:

-do 5 days of work in 3 because I’m taking Thursday and Friday off
-get a haircut
-prepare for P’s wedding
-prepare for D’s wedding
-plan my own wedding

H’s 30th birthday is coming up, and it’s an important age, so I wanted to make sure he would remember it. Behind his back, I had planned for about 20 of our friends to meet at Speeder’s to hang out last weekend, before his actual birthday to catch him off guard. As part of the deception, I had also booked him for a nice dinner prior to his surprise birthday party. It was a way to book off his evening and get him out of the house. We went to West Oak in Yaletown:

They’re known for serving sustainable, West Coast style dishes. I’m still not too sure what “West Coast” food means, other than certain seafoods, but we had some good mussels. There was also a delicious side of brussel sprouts bacon dish, which was made with apricots and a sprinkle of parmesan:

You’ll ntoice the lobster tail linguine in the background of the photo above. It’s in the background because neither of us preferred it, and we would not spend our hard earned money on that again. The service was quick, and they managed to seat us on the packed patio after just a few minutes of waiting. Overall, a good experience, but I would not go back. The restaurant scene in Vancouver is very competitive, and there are plenty of other places to go for more affordable West Coast, sustainable dishes.



I think H had a good time at his party. He was thoroughly surprised, and did not expect me to plan such a successful event. I almost want to plan another one, just because it was so satisfying to bring everybody together for a purpose. After doing this though, I think I realize the significance of making time and energy to participate in these types of events, and really try to connect with everybody. Parties are difficult to coordinate, because everybody is busy now being adults and making a living, and how many 30th birthdays, 1st birthdays, weddings, graduations, Fridays, Mondays – DAYS in general - are left for us to actually celebrate together?

I still haven’t tried the straws that I mentioned in the last post, but this week, I have been living life:

• finished reading Ready Player One
• watched the new Deadpool 2 movie
• potted my first avocado plant into soil
• biked to Deep Cove:

• booked a trip in November to London and Iceland (remember getting lost there in 2016?)
• went to baby K’s 100 Day celebration at Sun Sui Wah:

I honestly forgot to take photos of the food until dessert (above, tapioca pudding with red bean, which looks gross but don’t let appearances deceive you). C&J kept me liquored up all the way through, and I was kept busy with eating and conversation. There were the usual dishes of lobster, chicken, fish, at a Chinese full course meal. C&J added on sweet and sour pork as one of the dishes, which was unusual because it had lychee added into it. In my drunken haze, I remember that the chicken skin was very crispy, and the fried rice and yi mein was not too oily.

There were also the boiled eggs that I had no space to eat:

Last week wasn’t all laughs - work is still work, living at home is rough sometimes, and I can’t wait to have more space in my life. I guess I should take control, seize the day, and make space. Make every 24 hour count.

This week seems to be starting off well though.

After our brief encounter with pasta at Disney last week, I craved more. This is how H and I ended up at L’Artista, in North Burnaby. We were originally going to visit Anton’s, but they had a line up out the door and we were too hungry to wait. H knew of other less popular Italian restaurants, so we walked over from Anton’s.

I had the carbonara:

H had the seafood risotto. I didn’t like this, because the risotto was slightly undercooked and not very flavourful, but I’m not blaming them. Risotto is hard to cook, I hear, just like fish, so I’ll try to avoid ordering this again in the future.

Fresh baked bread, with whipped butter:


Even after a full meal, we still had tiramisu. This is one of H’s weaknesses, and he deserved it after a whole month of eating healthy:


I don’t think I’ll come back, because the restaurant is a bit out of the way for us, and the food did not tickle my taste buds. There was nothing wrong with the food, and the service was great although a bit slow, but I think I would rather make pasta at home or try other places before circling back to this one.



I’m glad I had all those carbs before starting this week, because it was Bike to Work Week with Hub. I didn’t bike every day, and I used transit when I got too tired, but it’s a start I guess! I don’t disagree with increasing gas prices, because it will encourage people (like me) to use other modes of transportation.

I’m also glad to hear that there will be a plastic straw ban in Vancouver by June 2019!

Invested in these metal bubbletea/smoothie straws this week:

I just got them this morning, after ordering them yesterday afternoon on Amazon Prime, and I’m still super impressed with how fast it got to me. I’ll try these out this week, to see whether the bubbletea pearls can actually fit through the straw.

Straws can be purchased here: https://amzn.to/2JsZ3iv

It is currently 11AM, and I have just woken up from another nap. This may seem like laziness, but really, I have been quite productive this morning already:

     -made breakfast at 630AM
     -watched a few episodes of Brooklyn 99
     -bought reusable extra wide straws to drink bubbletea with
     -updated the firmware on my Mavic Air

Clearly, I’m trying to justify this 2 hour nap that I just took, but it’s time for lunch and I’m having my 2nd coffee of the day. What I’m really craving is a sandwich from the Earl of Sandwich:



This was at Disney Springs, which was one of the stops along our Disney trip. We had gotten off the Norwegian Sun that morning, and I was starving after missing breakfast and all the travelling from Port Canaveral, so I got myself their original sandwich, with roast beef, cheddar, and horseradish:

 


The horseradish was what attracted me to choosing this sandwich, and I’m super glad I picked this one. Look at all the beef! The bread was crispy on the outside, fluffy on the inside, and the cheese and horseradish added just enough flavour. It was so satisfying. I wish I could have eaten another one later, but just the one sandwich kept me full until the next morning.



OK, back to being productive.