It's the final sprint to the end, the last leg of the race to finish planning H and my big day. With only 6 weeks left, there was no time to take it easy this weekend, and we were going to need all the energy from the universe to keep us shopping, so P and I sweated out our stress toxins from the work week, and went to fuel up at Glowbal before the shopping began.

Both P and I ordered the West Coast bennys (rock shrimp & roasted peppers, poached eggs, hollandaise, potato hash) and a coffee:

Here were the cons of the meal: 

*bland Hollandaise sauce 

*shrimpy shrimp

*slightly wilted salad

Here were the pros:

*the eggs benedict were only $12 and came with a pile of very crispy potatoes

*free donuts and smoothie shots

*coffee was decent

*friendly server

Overall, there were more pros than cons, and I would go back to try out some of the other items on the menu. It's a convenient spot for a quick bite, the prices did not terrify me, and the restaurant could seat a large number of guests. Maybe that's the reason we didn't have to wait, but when there are no lines at a restaurant that serves weekend brunch in the heart of downtown, I get the sneaking suspicion that the lack of a queue might indicate that it's not such a hot spot for the Sunday brunchers...

I really hope I don't have to shop again at another mall until after the wedding.

I work with a group of coworkers, who are very tight knit, because of our common goal on the job (take over the world with our cameras), and our shared love of food. We frequently lamented the lack of good bubble tea spots in the area, so when we found out that ZenQ was opening up shop nearby, it was no surprise that we immediately put a meeting in our calendar with ZenQ Ironwood as the location, on July 18th. 

We went again the day right after, on the 19th, which was their actual grand opening day. I'm going to go backwards and talk about the 2nd experience first, because I had the original milk tea with pearls, one of their signature drinks, and it wasn't that great:

 

They use similar recipes as Chatime, because they're sister businesses. I shouldn't compare this regular milk tea to the roasted milk tea at Chatime, but I'd say that the roasted milk tea has a more well rounded, fuller flavor. 

The day before the grand opening, when we held our meeting at ZenQ, I had their brown sugar pearls tofu pudding with soy milk:

In comparison to the original milk tea, ZenQ has really created a winner with this BBT flavor. The pudding really hit the spot, and the sweetness level did not make me feel sick afterwards. I'm sure we'll be back, and I'll just order this one over, and over, and over, even though there are many more shaved ice and tofu pudding desserts there to try out.




Before I can really splurge on a $6-7 bubble tea though, I've got to get my finances in order.

As I looked at my BC Hydro bill of $63.42 this past week, I suddenly realized that the sum of my bills is the price for my freedom. On top of these daily bills for living, I keep incurring expenses, like the cost of a new. I dropped my phone on Sunday and the screen now turns on only when it wants to. Then, there are the wedding expenses. H is very good at keeping me in check and reminding me that we did have a budget when we first started planning this day, which is only 45 days away!

Photo credits: SoWedding

Last chance to run, H? 

After the beers at Moody Ales, we strolled over to the closest food truck, which ended up being BC Taco: 

The bright blue truck is hard to miss. We ordered the fish tacos and a pulled pork burrito bowl, and the total came to about $30. 

Molly probably would have enjoyed this more than I did. The fish used in the tacos were pretty crispy, but there wasn't actually much meat. The flavor was also not quite there, and after a few nibbles, I moved on to the burrito bowl. The burrito bowl was still not the best, but it was a step above the fish tacos, just because there was more sauce and cheese. What type of bozo could screw up with sprinkling processed shredded cheese on top of meat? 

This was overall an unsatisfying meal in terms of food quality, but being in good company with B&R and the beautiful Molly made the day feel complete. Even if I haven't checked off all the items on my To Do list for that day (and everyday, the list continues to grow as the wedding day looms nearer), spending time with friends and family might be all it takes for me to find meaning in that day. Especially as time becomes more valuable, and it's harder to find the time to meet with these special people, I don't want to waste efforts being around the people or doing things that aren't important to me. 

How do you fill your days with intention and meaning?

Mondays got you feeling moody? Not at Moody Ales!

H and I made double date plans with R&B last Monday. We hadn't seen them since Iceland in November 2018, and they were starting to think that we were only trip friends. Sometimes, it's hard to make plans with friends who live farther out, or coordinate a couple of hours to catch up when the To Do list just keeps on growing (I foresee home renovations and more furniture shopping in the near future...). No way were we going to let R&B accuse us of becoming trip friends though. 

We started off our date at Moody Ales, intending to eventually meander down the row of breweries along the same block as Moody Ales, and investigate the food trucks that were parked in front of the breweries (more on this in the next post).



H and I ended up sharing a flight, which got us 4 mini glasses for $7, and we picked mostly fruitier, lighter options, including their feature Sublime Pineapple Hefeweizen. I personally like stouts and porters more, and will tolerate these lighter ones if I have to, so it does not surprise me that they did not blow me out of the park.

Surprisingly, R liked our choice of the Lavender Sour, which both H and I found to be disgusting and could not even force ourselves to down the rest of the small glass. She doesn't usually enjoy beer or strong alcoholic beverages, so this was just the drink for her. It was VERY sour, like a lemonade without sugar, mixed with a bottle of lavender essential oils. Not for me, thank you, but before I blacklist this brewery, I'll give their feature stouts a try next time.

They also brought their delightful English bulldog, Molly,  out with them. They're emotionally invested in our next choice of pet now. R has been trying to convince H and I to get one of the British bloodlines, instead of the French kind, which I originally wanted. I'm slightly leaning more towards the English now, because they look even lazier than their French cousins. I'm OK with my puppy staying home and napping. Taking care of it will be another excuse for me to stay home be lazy.

One of my favourite ways to spend a Saturday in Vancouver is to visit the Trout Lake farmer's market, pick up some fresh sugar snap peas from a local farmer, run the rest of my errands, and find a chill place to get coffee and pastry. This weekend was one of those, where I had time to stroll down through the stalls at the market, and eventually ended up at Caffe La Tana. 

I thought it was more of a grab and go coffee shop, but clearly, I should have done better research on Italian style cafes, and planned ahead for their fresh pasta, made in house. Instead, all I had time to do was order a bombolini with Nutella cream and cappuccino to go. It was hard to leave behind the beautifully decorated cafe, and the bench out front was calling to me to sit and relax, but I had to go. I brought my treats home to enjoy, while I did the laundry. Adulting means sacrifices, and sometimes, that means sipping coffee in between loading the washer and folding the socks.

The coffee was apparently a special roast by JJ Bean (not sure if this is still true? Fact check me, please), and I liked how strong it was. Pow, woke me right up. The little bombolini was really too small. I'm used to American sized portions after all the traveling to the south! Each crumb was delicious, while it lasted.



I felt like I had to learn more about this place, and did a bit of research into its origins. Turns out they're part of the Savio Volpe group. As I check off one place from my list of places to go, another one gets added... There isn't enough time in a day to work full time, plan a wedding, and do all the other extracurricular activities!

Time to quit the full time to make way for doing things I love? Maybe not yet, because I'd rather just take a break instead of quit, and eventually, the problems will get fixed (not necessarily by me, but like Justin Trudeau said, "The books will balance themselves"). But just like the restaurants on my list, once a problem gets fixed, another one pops up. It never ends. Did they even use their brains to think about it first? It still amazes me when I meet these big picture thinkers and talkers, some who are running the show, because I feel like I have a lot to learn in terms of forgetting how to double check the finer details.