Been feeling a bit low energy lately. The only way to get me out of the hotel is to entice me with beautiful pastries:  

We visited Crust Bakery on an early morning walk to pick up pastries for breakfast.  Because of the COVID-19 restrictions and the small square footage of their store, customers were lining up outside and a small crowd had formed. The line moved quickly enough, and most people were civil, other than the couple who snuck in quietly and wanted to use their bathroom ("If you don't let him use the bathroom, he's going to go right now on your floor" - some woman).  

We ordered the berry tart, a raspberry jelly donut, a chocolate cronut, a blueberry danish, and a zucchini dill quiche.  

The berry tart had a really delicious custard, and I loved the quiche, mainly because dill is one of my favourite herbs.

The cronut was just so-so, nothing too special: 

I would not repurchase the jelly donut, because there wasn't enough jelly inside, it cost $4, and I could get a better one for less at Duffin's.  

 

Overall a good experience, but I won't be returning on this trip, because it's a tad overpriced for the quality.  Everything looked better than they tasted. Not that they taste bad, but they just look really really pretty. If I want to look at food though, I'll just stand outside and admire their display, or scroll through my Instagram feed.

My back has started to hurt because of lifting baby S using the wrong posture, and because of the uncomfortable hotel bed. Not to mention, it's the first day of September tomorrow! Why haven't we seen more progress with our properties (renovations, sales, etc.)? Will buying a larger house with a backyard help us feel happier? Would I prefer to travel to travel? Will it even be safe to travel in the near future? 

Need a fast forward button to skip to the ending. 

So much take out this month! I feel really bad for all the containers that we have been throwing away, and have been trying to rinse out and recycle as many of the plastic ones as possible.

Unfortunately, we could not do that with the food from Pho Vy:

H went to pick this up by himself, and when he came home, he was beyond excited to dig in. 

"I could smell the herbs and flavors from outside the restaurant! It must be good!"

The round container in the middle was the pho, containing many, many pieces of thick brisket and flank. The soup came in a separate container, to be poured on top of the noodles.  I did not feel super thirsty after devouring all the noods and meat, usually a good indication that they don't use a lot of MSG. I did notice there was a deep layer of fat floating on top of the leftover soup that I did not drink.  

Oh well, I took a longer walk the next day to try to unclog my arteries. 

Don't get the spring rolls, they're not very crispy, possibly because they are meant to be eaten in the restaurant. Salad rolls are safe though, as they still tasted fresh.  

H had the rice with the lemon grass chicken. It was so good that he wanted it again the next night. 

Other than lots of take out and wearing masks in public, baby S is adding to my new normal. The other night, I checked in on her after about 30 minutes of putting her down in bed, and saw from the doorway that she had snuck an arm out of her swaddle. She was just gurgling to herself, clearly pleased with herself for being able to escape the swaddle. As I stepped closer and turned on the bedside light, she tilted her head over to see who it was. Noticing it's her mom, she smiled an adorable, guilty little grin. 

I couldn't help laughing, because this seems like something I would do. 

My daily routine in Victoria revolves around baby S's meal and nap times. I'll wake up to feed her at whatever time she deems appropriate (usually between 5:30AM and 8AM), and because she's most alert after this meal, we'll try to tire her out with some outside stimulation by heading out for a walk. Usually, I'll forget to feed myself, because I'm so excited to go out and explore the coffee scene in Victoria. 

There are actually quite a few within walking distance in this neighbourhood. The first one we came across was Habit in the Chinatown location. I was excited to see that they offer oat milk, and ordered their iced oat milk latte.

I prefer JJ Bean's oat milk, but this is acceptable for now. The pastry selection in their display case did not look too appealing, so next time, I will try to remember to grab a bite before returning.

If only social distancing isn't a thing right now, because I would have loved to enjoy this oat milk latte in a glass, and just hang out in the cafe for a while. The art and whimsical decoration in the cafe would be a nice change of scenery from the hotel room.

What am I doing with all the energy from the caffeine buzz? 

Absorbing all the home renovation and interior design lessons from HGTV, and thinking about which walls to knock down to create a more open floor plan... Title credits to Aben Eubanks during an episode of HGTV's Property Brothers (Striking the Right Chord). 

H, baby S, and I are now living the island life! We hopped onto the ferry last Thursday right after baby S's first shots, and we're now in Victoria. People kept telling me that it'll be a nice vacation getaway, but they clearly don't understand that taking care of a 2 month old is a full time job with over time every night. 

Luckily, Victoria and the surrounding areas have become more populated, and there are now more options for dining out compared to many years ago when it was just a sleepy retirement town. UNLUCKILY, we chose La Taqueria for the first night, and it was not the best experience.   

Maybe it was because we ordered take out, instead of eating in the restaurant, but I don't think food could become so mushy after just a 15 minute walk to get it home. We had the nachos, three tacos (atun, pastor, and mole), two burritos (baja and carnitas), and added a side of guacamole (photo is our hotel room coffee table with all the food in takeout containers - we'll be ordering take out for a while, because COVID). The beers are from a different liquor store, because we didn't want to pay restaurant price for liquor.  

The baja burrito was just a mouthful of chipotle sauce and mayo. Is that really a piece of deep fried fish, or is it just sauce disguised as fish?

Not the best start to our tour of Vancouver Island, but I am hopeful for better reviews to come! 

 

A few days before leaving Vancouver, H convinced me to start sleep training and try the cry it out method with baby S. He had learned about this from various friends, who told him that after a week of leaving their babies in their cribs and letting them cry themselves to sleep, their babies could now sleep on their own for a straight 12 hours, which would be magical. 

So that evening, as she was munching on her pacifier and dozing off in my arms, I popped her into bed, and walked away. Immediately, she started bawling. 

She would take breathing breaks once in a while, and we'd think, "OH SHE'S FIGURED IT OUT." But no, there was no end to her tears and screams. 

One hour later, I went to pick her up, and she was completely drenched in sweat, soaking through her cute little polka dot onesie. Crying is a heavy workout. I was actually worried that she had lost the weight that we worked so hard to put on her fragile body this week! 

After that experience, I came to the conclusion that 2 months is too early for sleep training, and went back to the three fundamentals of baby sleep - white noise, sleep sack, and pacifier. 

    

So far so good. 

Summer has hit Lower Mainland hard with heat waves around the 30's! We've been trying to clear out the  junk from our home, and needed a break. What better way to cool off than with a treat from Glenburn  after a full day of cleaning? 

With the COVID-19 restrictions, we had to order at the door and wait outside to pick up, so we couldn't enjoy the air conditioning inside the store. The wait wasn't too long, but I would order ahead next time to further reduce contact and waiting around on the street in front of the shop.

H and I shared the Peanut Butter Dream, which was made of layers of vanilla ice cream, peanut butter sauce, Reese's pieces, and what they call their "Magic Shell" (chocolate shell), all topped with about 3 inches of whipped cream. Can never go wrong with Glenburn. Looks good, and tastes even better. 

When we returned home, I finished packing away my maternity clothes and sorting through the clothes that I wore before baby S. As expected, I no longer fit into a few pairs of pants, but it was so hard to put them into the donation pile. I've had that pair of navy blue J Crew Minnie pants for at least 10 years, since my first job after graduation. They were my first pair of office appropriate pants. I take care of them by washing as per the manufacturer's directions only, ie taking them to the dry cleaners.

My mother, who was there to take care of the baby as I cleaned, questioned why I didn't just buy a new pair of pants, rather than dry clean them. The cost of dry cleaning throughout all those years would have been equivalent to a new pair every year. For her, it made more sense to have more pairs of pants, to possess more options, rather than waste money cleaning and preserving one pair of pants.

But why do I need 10 pair of navy blue pants that don't fit me well, because they've been warped by improper cleaning?  All I need is just one pair that fits me well. Less waste created, and less clutter in my closet. 

Sadly, they don't fit anymore because my body has changed post pregnancy, but I'm still hanging onto them instead of donating them, in hopes that they'll fit again some day. Perhaps, I'm being illogical with this one pair of pants, because I'm emotionally attached after all these years and if I continue visiting Glenburn on the regular, this baby weight will never come off. I'm on the market for some mom jeans and pants.

Now that Vancouver has loosened up some of the COVID-19 restrictions, we've felt more comfortable about going out for meals. Last week, after a busy morning of taking care of baby S and household chores, we left the baby with my mum, and went out to run more errands. It was already 2PM by the time we were done, and we finally remembered that we hadn't eaten lunch yet. I wanted a sandwich, and H suggested we visit Cioffi's for some deli food: 

We ordered the ravioli (photo above), a porchetta sandwich, a can of San Pellegrino to cut through the grease of the sandwich, and tiramisu for dessert. The ravioli had been sitting under a heat lamp on the counter for a while, but it still tasted so good, while it was warm. We packed up the ravioli for dinner that night, and by the time we got to it, the flavor seemed to have changed. It was much saltier than I had remembered, compared to when it was fresh. Might not get that again... 

The sandwich was packed full of fresh pesto, tomatoes, and fatty porchetta. My favourite part of the sandwich was the fluffy, crisply toasted bread. It was quite greasy though, as you can probably tell from the wrapper. Compared to another well known, popular sandwich shop, Meat and Bread, I could see why Cioffi's did not have as large of a clientele. The flavor was just not as refined as Meat and Bread, and while it was very tasty, Cioffi's doesn't have as clean of a texture (too greasy). I would come back though, because it wasn't disgusting and it's much more convenient for us to visit Cioffi's in the Hastings Sunrise area. 

We came home, and I finished up sorting through our "dirty clothes" basket (does anybody else have one of these?). Inside the basket was his favourite red plaid shirt, hiding under a few t-shirts and my thrifted chambray Zara dress. I knew right away that he had forgotten it was in the basket, and that if I moved the red plaid shirt to the top of the pile, he would wear it the next day. 

He was happily sporting it the next day, and I was happily rubbing it in his face that I know him better than he knows himself. 

M&M came over the other day to visit me and baby S, and they came bearing gifts from Mello, a new-ish donut shop in Vancouver specializing in brioche donuts: 

All three of us were constantly receiving ads on Instagram ever since their opening day, constantly reminding us to buy their beautiful donuts. I had previously tried to pick some up, one afternoon, without preordering, and they were all sold out, so I was pretty glad that M could drop by right when they opened at 10AM. Even then, they are so popular that M was only able to purchase their last 4 donuts, which were the strawberries and cream special brioche donuts (see photo above - aren't they the most photogenic donuts you have ever seen?). 

I haven't had many brioche donuts in the past, so not much to compare with. These ones from mello were quite fluffy, and they're literally exploding with cream. For $5 though, I wish it could've had more fresh strawberries in the centre, and overall more flavor, as I found it was not quite sweet enough. Do post pregnancy hormones affect taste buds? 

Mello is worth visiting at least once, if you're already around the Chinatown area, but I wouldn't go out of my way to come back. I'm probably not a fair judge of their product either, because brioche donuts aren't really my thing, and if I wanted a real satisfying donut, I would rather go to 49th Parallel. Come to check out their cute store front though! 

Also, check out how big I look in the reflection of their entrance when I tried to pick some up in May, during the last trimester of my pregnancy! I remember wondering back then whether I would be too busy and tired for personal hygiene. So far, seven weeks in, I've always remembered to brush my teeth at least once a day. 

I mean, it feels like all the days have really merged into one long day...