The day right after the Last Fling Before the Ring was my 6AM flight to Austin, Texas. Yay, work travel (not.) It was my first time down to that Southern tip of the US, and I expected it to be huge, but apparently, this was the "small" part of the state. With less than 1 million citizens, the city is still growing and sprawling over the hills. 

I landed at 2PM, was at the customer's door by 3PM, and after that, I was starving. Good thing III Forks was just around the corner from where we were staying.

I had enough of steak houses, but P was into it, so we went to a restaurant that specializes in beef, and I had seafood. This was the halibut on a bed of risotto, one of their specials that day. A server also came by with a large platter of tomatoes, (by large, I mean probably the size of a small coffee table) and asked if we wanted a few slices to go with our meal. I needed vegetables, and so that's why there are 3 slices of tomatoes behind the little hill of food. 

Bread is a defining part of the meal. This was crispy on the outside, sweet chewy bread on the side. Give us more butter please!

P had a Prime New York steak, which came in a healthy serving size of 16 oz. I think the server mentioned it was 28 days wet aged? Not what I'm used to hearing, after all the dry aged beef back in Chicago just a month ago. 

Really though, it was the promise of chocolate cake for dessert that I agreed to come to this steakhouse. They had a chocolate cake with coconut flakes just along the back of the cake. Not too into coconut, so P ate that part for me. It was just what was needed to round off my day. 

There were a couple of other places that might be worth a mention from this trip to Silicon Hills, so I might hop in with another post in the near future. The tech industry seems to be booming (er... echoing?) in the gentle hills of this neighborhood. Not a bad place to set up shop for a little while, but there's no place like home. I also did not have enough time to find a good coffee shop in Texas, but next time... I'll be back for you, hipster coffee shops in Austin!

My lovely friends from high school took me to Kelowna and Big White for my bachelorette party and bridal shower (the wedding day is creeping up not too slowly). We walked past Parlour Ice Cream in downtown Kelowna, saw the huge ice cream cones that people were coming out with, and we knew we had to go in to try some. 

Everything is made in house, with ingredients sourced as locally as possible. While the waffle cones were not my favourite because they're meant to be soft, and I prefer the crispy texture, the ice cream itself ranks high on my list. They clearly put a lot of thought into each of the flavors, and I quite enjoyed their Birthday Cake: 

It tasted like real vanilla cake. I tried the Lavender, Cookies & Cream, and Salted Caramel as well, and those were pretty tasty too.



This was a memorable weekend of non-stop activities that my lovely bridesmaids planned, including a surprise party with some of my oldest friends, who traveled and drove for hours to be there. It's so important to have people in your life who travel at the same pace, literally and figuratively. We've all grown up together, bought property around the same time, and we all sort of walk at around the same speed. This group has really influenced the way that I am now, and some of them continue to amaze me with what they're able to accomplish. Including how late they can stay up, playing Super Smash Bros, every single time they get together.

Visited the London Heritage Farm for tea right after brunch at OEB with mum and the bridesmaids, with the excuse of checking out the venue, but mostly for the pastries. It was also Mother's Day weekend, so the tea room was quite busy, and we were lucky to be able to get a table. This is not a place for those who are in a rush to eat and get out, but it's a cozy spot to enjoy the heritage decor and chat.

We ordered the Afternoon Tea, which included the scones on the bottom layer of the tier, a bite size cheese cake, a shortbread cookie, and a very sweet brownie. The scones were warm and served with cream, butter, and strawberry jam, which was delicious. My favourite was the cheesecake, and I passed on the brownie (too sweet). I'm not a tea connoisseur, so I can only guess that they served us Orange Pekoe or English Breakfast. 

We spent a good 2 hours at that little table, and then another hour afterwards wandering around the gardens outside. There are many wedding details to discuss, and an excessive amount of tasks remaining on the To Do list.

Where will the guests park?

Which direction will the bride come from?

What is the lighting situation once the sun sets?

Finally, how will Isabelle's Bridal learn that customer service is extremely important?

I picked up my wedding dress (still hard to believe it's actually in my closet right now) right before this tea break, and let me tell you, it was stressful. I had originally picked out this dress and paid the deposit at the beginning of August, more specifically Aug. 4th, 2018.

At that time, I was told the dress would arrive in 6 months, so I patiently waited for my phone to ring at the beginning of February 2019. February came and passed, and March was almost over when I gave up on waiting, and picked up the phone to follow up. When they answered the phone, the person who picked up had some difficulty finding the information for my dress and placed me on a brief hold. The person who continued the conversation was, I believe, one of the owners, as I recognized their voice from meeting them while visiting in August 2018. She told me that the dress was on its way, and that it usually takes about 6 to 8 months to arrive.

I was pretty sure she had originally mentioned 6 months, but no problem, perhaps I had misheard the lead time. There was still plenty of time, as the Isabelle's Bridal representative kindly reminded me, before my September wedding. I continued waiting, and life got busy in April with travelling and picking out caterers, bridesmaids dresses, decor, so I forgot about this whole ordeal.

I came back from Chicago, waited a week, and it was now the end of April, which would be 8 months from the original time of ordering. I called again.

This time, one of the owners picked up again (Basha or Kasha, I cannot recall their names now, but that was how she answered when she picked up the phone), and I asked once again for the status of my dress. The owner then curtly replied, "Please don't call us on a weekend, as we are very busy with fittings. We do not have time to check the status. Email us."

Click. She hung up.

I was quite surprised with this treatment. They seemed so sweet and polite and helpful in store, when I paid the first down payment, so this type of response came as a shock. I started assuming that perhaps they're going out of business, and that they would be running away with my $1000+ payment for the deposit, and that I would never receive the dress from them afterall! Why would they become so rude and defensive, when all I wanted to know was when the dress would actually arrive, so that I could plan accordingly for alterations and tailoring?

I refused to email them, and called back on a weekday at the end of April/beginning of May.

This time, another one of the owners picked up, and she told me that the dress had shipped and was on its way. She also said, "Please don't call us again, we'll let you know when it's here. You still have lots of time before your wedding in September. There's May, June, July, August, lots of time."

Well, they're not smart enough to figure out customer service, but at least they know the basics of counting and the months of the year.

Anyways, they finally called me a week after that, on the afternoon of May 8th, literally just as I was drafting an angry email to them to ask for another update. During this last phone call, I was told that I had 10 days to pay off the rest of the balance, and either I could book a time to come in, or give them my credit card information over the phone. I told them that I didn't have time to come in, the timing was just not the best, since I had travel plans coming up and other events on my calendar already.  She snidely remarked, "Oh, but you were so eager to get the dress and called us about it so many times."

I asked to speak with their Accountants directly to ask for an extension of the payment period, after the owner mentioned that their Accounting team would be the ones who would need the payment within 10 days for the invoicing, but I was told that the accountants are unavailable for a phone conversation. Lying about the existence of an accounting team?

Luckily, I was able to squeeze in an appointment that weekend, right in between the OEB event and London Heritage Farm. The dress arrived in good condition, but I would not strongly advise to setay away from them. For all the future brides out there, don't let their cheap dresses and fake kindness trick you into buying one of their dresses. Once you pay that deposit, you're not even worth a few minutes for a courtesy phone call to inform you of any delays, and they don't even want to provide an update if you put in the effort to dial their number.

I was invited to OEB's pre-opening event this Saturday. They called it an "OEB VIP Experience", where a few "VIP & Media guests" would get a taste of their award-winning brunches prior to their opening day on May 13. YES! I'm either VIP or Media, or... BOTH?

All kidding aside, I was very excited to be one of the first to dine at OEB, without having to wait in line or worry about the bill at the end. I had an appointment with Isabelle's Bridal right after brunch to pick up my wedding dress (more on this at the bottom of the post), and the budget will be tight for the next few months, so any little bit helps!

CP made an effort to join me on this Saturday morning, bright and early at 10AM, even though she does not eat eggs... What is the main ingredient on most brunch menus?!

I guess free mimosas was a good trade off for all the eggs that she would not eat! OEB generously served unlimited mimosas, and while they would prefer for us to order from their selected list of specials that were ready for guests to try out as they're still preparing and training for opening day, our server made it clear that if we wanted anything else from the main menu, we should ask for it and they'll check to see whether it's possible. We ended up just getting their suggestions (my brain was not ready to make decisions yet), including "The Soul in a Bowl", the Croque Madame, and the "French Toast Trifle".

While editing these photos after a large Mother's Day dinner last night, I could actually feel myself getting hungry because I was remembering how delicious everything tasted at OEB. I don't have a good photo of the Croque Madame, but looking at the other photos, you can believe that it looked perfect. The photo up above is of the poutine bowl, which consisted of poached eggs over a bed of arugula and herb potatoes, topped with bacon lardons and drenched in hollandaise sauce. It was the first time I had heard of bacon lardons, which are actually just thicker, flakier pieces of very flavorful bacon. A bit of a chewier texture, rather than the crispiness of the usual bacon. I secretly hoped that the eggs on top of both the poutine bowl and the Croque Madame would either be too hard or too medium for the poached medium eggs, but they did not disappoint, and we were treated to runny goodness (to the disgust of CP, haha).

We left the french toast for last, as dessert, and we might have kept it on the table for too long; it probably would have been better if we ate it fresh:

Remember how I didn't want to make any choices earlier on? Well, I also had difficulty paying attention to what the server was saying, because I was pretty distracted, thinking about the wedding dress later on, and I also did not read any of the menu descriptions. Basically, I had no idea what to expect. The meyer lemon curd on top of the toast came as a complete surprise, and I thought there was something wrong with it. I had never had citrus-y french toast before, and the first bite hit me hard.





Then, I had a second bite. Then, a 3rd. Then, I just couldn't stop.

The bread is from A Bread Affair, with berries and torched meringues daintily sitting placed on top of this #postitfortheaesthetic plate. Note that there is a sprinkling of icing sugar and green Sicilian pistachio powder around the plate. It's not mold.

OEB also shared with us a few of their values, and I never thought of a restaurant having core values or a mission statement, but I guess for a chain restaurant that is trying to grow, these aspects of a business would be key to success. One of their core values was GENUINE, which I think they were really successful with.

I'm a lucky human being, to be part of this beautiful area of the world, living in a community with authentic humans around us, and where working hard will pay off. Not that all businesses know how to treat their customers, but most of the institutions around the Metro Vancouver area are fair.

The folks at Isabelle's Bridal though, that's a different story... to be told in the next post.

Matcha cafes seem to be popping up all over the place these days, and it's hard to keep up with all the trendy new spots. Luckily, M keeps me posted, and she told me about their opening, so I hopped on it. Right after work on Thursday, I persuaded S to go with me, before we met up with the others for dinner and badminton.

This one is hidden away on the plaza at Saba road, not a lot of space to sit. There was a short line up when we arrived, and the line kept growing! Not the fastest service for the opening day. 

I had the Maiko Special, which is the name for their parfait. It comes with their soft serve, shiratama, a water chestnut, red bean, matcha cake, cornflakes, and at the very bottom, a layer of their kokuto jelly, but...


They ran out of the jelly, and substituted it with something else (I don't remember what they called the replacement...). Either way, it was disappointing that they were running out of ingredients, when they should have prepared for it in advance. Did they not realize the power of social media would bring droves of foodies to their shop on opening day, especially in a city like Vancouver?

My conclusion is that the Maiko Special was not worth the $11. It was interesting to look at, and it tastes great (sorry for the bad photo, because S didn't want to hand model properly for it), but if you're going to charge a premium price, then the overall experience should feel more satisfying and I'd want better ambiance inside the cafe. If you do go, the shiratama and the matcha did compliment each other very well, so I'd suggest just getting the ice cream with shiratama on the side to go.

It feels like a lot of things have been happening around the office lately, but it's been manageable. We get some interesting moments, like how K will become a beauty vlogger, and overhearing some really awkward conversations about presents that my coworkers have purchased in the past for their wives.

It went something like this: 

Coworker 1 - I've purchased lingerie before for my wife, and told her that it's a present for her now, but she can wear it as a gift for me later!
Coworker 2 - Yeah! I've bought it so many times for her though, she just says, "This again?"
Coworker 3 - It's funny sometimes to watch these guys go into lingerie shops to shop. 
Coworker 2 - Oh no, I'm used to it. 

Pretty disgusting to talk about in the open at an office setting, but I just ignored them... One of the 3 coworkers from that conversation just left the company today. I guess this job was not a good matcha for him!