I was excited to eat in Richmond last week, with H and his mom, at a Chinese restaurant that I’ve walked past many times, but never entered – River Chinese Cuisine:

We arrived around 6PM. The restaurant was empty, which is frightening, and in my mind, I was wondering if this quiet little restaurant would be any good. But it was a Thursday night, and I guess we were still early. Clearly, this place caters to the late night crowd, with hours from 5PM to 1AM, because it slowly filled up as our dishes came out. We ordered the above fried tofu and pork cutlet appetizer plate. I will probably crave crispy tofu one day, and will be grateful for this convenient location for the crispiest tofu I have ever had. How do they make deep fried tofu that melts in your mouth?  

The pork chops were good too, they use a special sauce on it. 

We also had this fried egg dish… I’m not sure what’s in it exactly, but I believe there were little bits of vermicelli. It was a vegetarian dish that H’s mom could have, so it definitely was not shark fin, although it could’ve passed as such just based on appearances.

The 3rd dish we had was a soup with winter melon and mushrooms. A comfort food for me. I don’t have any photos of it, because it just looked like a pile of goopy mushed up winter melon, but trust me, it was flavorful and delicious.

Good food, leaving me bright eyed and bushy… haired? I don’t have a tail. Lately, I haven’t been feeling very bright, although my hair is getting bushy. Feels a bit like the light’s dimmed slightly – tired from work, moving, settling into a new routine… Nothing that a good meal and some 2016 Avicii can’t solve.

Also, Alan Walker on Feb. 3! So excite.

H took me to the Keg on Granville Island for a belated “surprise” birthday dinner:

He tried to “surprise” me by telling me that he couldn’t make a reservation at any of the other Keg locations, and brought me to Granville Island to get groceries. Along the way, we walked by the Keg Granville Island location, which I had forgotten existed, and then, it all made sense.
It wasn’t the best prime rib, and it wasn’t the worst, but for the price, I really can’t complain. I asked for rare, and it came out quite bloody, as it should be. The veggies on the side were… cooked? What more can I ask for?


The real surprise of the night was that H really liked his chicken and ribs. Because he doesn’t eat beef, he doesn’t frequent the Keg, and this was actually his first time eating here. He was impressed by the smokey flavor of the BBQ ribs, and even though the meat was a minute overcooked, he didn’t mind that it was just a tad chewy.



Since it was my birthday, they sent us a complimentary slice of the Billy Miner pie. I’m glad the server convinced me to accept their kind offer of free dessert, because it did complete the meal. The Keg’s final touch of free chocolate ice cream pie might have just helped us start a new tradition of coming to the Keg every year for my birthday.

Lately, I’ve been catching myself thinking too far ahead. Even at the Keg for my birthday, enjoying a plate of food the size of my head, I’m thinking about the next meal, but really, I should be enjoying what’s in front of me. Do you ever feel like you have to seize the moment and not waste time, when you’re by yourself, not thinking about anything? Too much to do, not enough time…

This week’s food highlight is lunch at Monsoon in Bellevue this Saturday:



It’s modernized Vietnamese food, in a cleaner environment, and friendlier, yet slightly slower, service. Standard Vietnamese places used to feel like the cutlery still had some leftover fish oil, and the food would come out within 5 minutes of ordering, since all they really had to do was pour soup into the bowl of noodles. While the service was slower at Monsoon (it took a while for them to bring all the food out), I’m sure it was because we had a 17 people group. The food tasted good, but I’m sure they used plenty of MSG, as we were parched for the rest of the day. I had the pho bo, so basic beef noodle. Look how pretty the onion garnish was:



All the other dishes were very aesthetically pleasing, as well. They also have a duck congee, which seemed pretty gourmet, if you ask me… I also had the ice coffee with condense milk, which ended up being a bit too diluted. Either the coffee wasn’t strong enough, or they gave us a bit too much ice to pour the coffee over. I am a bit picky with coffee though.



Oh right, why was I in Bellevue?

Just surprising a friend for his birthday, and some wedding shopping.

All in all, a very good, productive week and weekend! It feels like I barely had any time to sit down and relax, what with all the wedding planning and driving around, but I am working on taking it slower. Is it normal to feel short of breath, even just sitting down in front of a computer?

The first week of 2019 is over! We went to the new Jam Café in Kitsilano for one of the first meals of the year:

Let's start with dessert. We had their special waffles of the day, which had glazed walnuts and espresso infused toast, topped off with a generous dollop of vanilla whipped cream and a gooseberry. The plate was coated with condensed milk. SO DELICIOUS. Worth the 20 - 30 minute wait to get a seat. 

Then, we had the later tater bowl – tater tot layer on the bottom, pulled pork, egg, and salsa, among other things mixed into the layers. Can’t go wrong with tots:

Finally, there was the Farmer’s Skillet. This is a pretty standard brunch option, from what I’ve seen out there, constructed with a base layer of potatoes, topped with a scramble of peppers, mushrooms, bacon and sausage and eggs. There were some average toast options too, but the one that stood out was the cranberry sourdough, which we ended up choosing. I love berries, and when there’s raisin bread in my house, it doesn’t last for very long, so it was only natural that I had 2 slices of this toast, while M & C each had one. It comes with a little side of berry jam too, another one of my faves. I would come back here, just for this toast and jam.

Other than good food, Week 1 of 2019 has not lived up to its hype. I am sure the crap of 2018 has prepared me for this year though. Here are my intentions for this year:

1. Get married.
3. Write a blog post every week.
3. Work hard, and play harder. How? I’ll travel to, or at least plan, a trip to Japan. In the meantime, before travelling, I’ll keep my apartment as clean as possible (no socks on the ground!) Actually, maybe that should be changed to work smarter, because who wants to work hard anymore?