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!

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?

Last week, I left on a red eye to visit Disney World in Florida for P’s bachelorette, part 1.

We flew with United, who does not have the best reputation for customer service (referring to man who got dragged off the flight a couple of months back), so I was not surprised when one of the staff on the ground checking us in gave us more attitude than an angsty teenage girl who just got dumped. Our layover in Chicago was only about an hour, and the flight was delayed by just over 15 minutes. Considering that we had to go through customs on the Chicago side, United wanted to put us on a later flight for our 2nd flight from Chicago to Orlando. Of course we said no, because we already had tickets to go to the Magic Kingdom right after landing in the morning, and we made the unanimous decision to run from the first gate to our second boarding gate at Chicago. One of the ground crew checking us in was kind enough to offer swapping our seats to the extra leg room seats, right up front, for no extra charge, but when we got to the actual gate and asked about it, another rude United woman bluntly said that it would cost us $60 to upgrade, and that it didn’t matter if those seats stayed empty, the flight attendants might pull out a POS machine and charge us for the seat change. We tried to explain the whole situation to her, of having the short layover, and that it wasn’t our fault the flight was delayed, which might cause us to not make it on the 2nd plane. She would not budge though on the charges. When H tried to ask for her name, she rudely said, with a snide smile, “You don’t need to know my name.”

Luckily, when we went back to the gate a few minutes later, to verify the gate of the 2nd flight, another ground crew member empathized with us enough to switch our seats at no cost, and we arrived at Orlando in time to make our Magic Express bus seat reservation and enter Magic Kingdom by 11AM.

Our schedule was jam packed with rides, seeing shows, and meeting Disney characters. There was some time for snacking:

Mickey pretzel with cheese dip: VERY salty, but once started eating, cannot stop stuffing face with soft pretzel dipped in (VERY SALTY) creamy cheese sauce. Would try to purchase cheese dip separately to take home for mac and cheese.

Dole whip: Refreshing pineapple flavored soft serve, found at all 4 parks (I think). Watch each of the servers at different stands dispense this from their Dole whip machine. Some servers make bigger swirls.

Turkey leg: Flavorful turkey meat, tastes smokey and very tender, falls off the bone. Carrying this around may cause caveman-like behavior. I wanted a 2nd one, but could not find it at the Hollywood park. Apparently only Magic Kingdom and Epcot serve this massive leg of meat now.



Pasta at Tutto Gusto Wine Cellar: We tried to get into Tutto Italia at Epcot, but the hostess told me they were all booked up and that reservations were always required. Not sure if true that they’re all booked, maybe it was because I was dressed in ratty shorts and a tank top, and they had a dress code. We went next door to the more relaxed Tutto Gusto, where luckily, we were seated right away. The server was very friendly and congratulated P on her upcoming marriage. We had the lasagna and the spaghetti and meatballs, shared between the 4 of us. This normally would not have been enough food for me, I admit I’m gluttonous, but after tasting the snacks at each of the different countries around the park all day, I had enough of eating. Despite having very little appetite though, the pasta here was amazing, and we cleaned the plates off.



We also had a bunch of other foods at Disney, but these were some of the most memorable. The Disney standard applies even to their food!

Click here to read about P’s bachelorette, part 2.

We had yet another steak dinner while travelling in Kissimee, this time at the Old Hickory Steakhouse at the hotel:



I wasn’t too excited to try this place, because hotel chain restaurants are not typically my favourite places to visit, but this restaurant was conveniently located just underneath our rooms, and they took reservations, so it was very convenient for a good work dinner. It turns out that they do serve pretty good steak here, although the 8 hours of standing and all the manual labor of packing up the trade show probably contributed to my ravenous appetite. We also had a couple of sides, which didn’t quite stand out for me. The dessert selection sounded good, but again, nothing too special. I’d come here mainly out of convenience.



All in all, a trip with many good memories. The food quality tapered off towards the end, because we were mainly stuck in the hotel without too many options, but perhaps I’m just spoiled in my everyday life at home.

I'm back in Orlando in a couple weeks. 3rd time's the charm?

Go to Orlando Breakfast

Go to Orlando Lunch

After breakfast, we immediately started looking for a place to have lunch. Our trusty smartphones told us that a 30 minute walk would bring us to the World of Beer, which sounded pretty amazing to beer enthusiasts like H and I. From Lineage Coffee, we walked to Lake Eola, went around the park, which was full of people and swans, explored the busy farmer’s market, and arrived at the World of Beer:



Walking into this bar took some courage. The patio looked more welcoming, but it was already full. The servers were all very friendly, but looked like they were way too busy. Nobody greeted us, and we sat ourselves down at a table that was covered in dirty dishes. The place was really busy and really dirty – it smelled like dirty old beer and greasy food. Typical of a bar, I guess.



Eventually, we ordered our tater tots and margherita flat bread, as well as a flight of local beers for me and a pint of some IPA for H. The local drafts did not impress me, and some of them downright tasted NASTY. Maybe it’s the chlorinated water in Florida, but I probably will not come back.

I would go back to Florida to see another rocket or shuttle launch, and for the sunshine. It’s pouring again in Vancouver, as I write this… What else does one do in Florida besides enjoy the sunshine?

Go to Orlando Breakfast
Go to Orlando Dinner

Thinking back to this dinner at Abe and Louie’s, my stomach is starting to grumble once again (I’ve also just gotten out of yoga class at Yyoga and I’ve worked up an appetite). I don’t usually go out for dinners like this, just because I’m not really a steak and potatoes type of person and these meals can really burn a hole in the wallet… But when travelling with other people, I’ll usually go with the restaurant choice of whoever is the most enthusiasitc and makes the reservation first. So, because I am not really into steak and potatoes, I opted for the halibut special:

The fish was served over a bed of lobster mashed potatoes and… I don’t recall the sauce, sorry. I did also have a martini, which may have added to the memory loss. I do remember how excited I was about the mashed potatoes, and how I wiped the plate clean! D thought the fish was a tad dry; I thought the fish was fine with the sauce and mashed potates to add moisture. The little seed net over the lemon really was an indication of the calibre of food that was being served.

We worked through our mains, finished the creamed spinach and what not (great sides too, I think any of the options would have been amazing), and it was time for dessert. This was the creme brulee, and it may have been one of the best I’ve ever had (#Drake). I couldn’t wait to eat it, so the photo above is not of the actual dish as it comes out.



Conversations over heavy meals like this can get pretty interesting, as everybody gets a bit more relaxed. I really am glad I work with such open minded people though, who can discuss almost anything, from politics to love to the weather. There can be so many different perspectives to a topic, and it’s not all 2 sided, like the wall that Trump wants to build.

Go to Boston Breakfast

Go to Boston Lunch

This post is the first of six posts, documenting the last eats of the past 2 weeks in Boston and Orlando.

The day cannot start without coffee:



It wasn’t hard to find a coffee place in the Backbay area of Boston, a few different options came up and they were all within walking distance of the hotel. I ended up choosing Pavement Coffee, because according to the internet, they had the best latte artists. I ordered the latte, and a very standard blueberry muffin. The coffee came out - I wasn’t disappointed by the latte art, but how was the coffee itself?

After having burnt Starbucks coffee from the lobby and airport for the past couple of days, this coffee was the smoothest kick of caffeine. It could have been stronger, and it could have been served faster, but I was happy enough to come back on another day.



The 2nd time I visited, I had the granola and yogurt with fruit, which was very filling and fresh. The other patrons of the cafe were having the sandwiches, which smelled great, and might be worth trying if I ever came here for vacation. Eating too heavily before work is not a good idea for me anyways.

Staying slightly hungry makes me work a little bit harder.

Go to Boston Lunch

Go to Boston Dinner

What a beautiful town! I did not have enough time to explore the streets, the shops, the beaches, the restaurants. I woke up early to catch the sunrise by the ocean:

This was a 30 minute walk from my hotel. I almost wish I took a taxi instead, because it was still rather chilly. Pretty quiet spot at 7AM, with a few joggers and 2 men practicing their boxing by the shores. There’s a pretty steep cliff drop off at the edge of the plants in the image above. Be careful – don’t text and walk around here, you might just drop off the edge.

We then had a long day of inspirational talks and discussions about female leadership in tech, followed up a team building event of painting and wine. Our group of 30 famished women were famished by 5, and we walked over to Zaytoon, a restaurant with a beautiful patio serving Middle Eastern food. First things first, drinks!

This was the one with elderflower, quite tart:

I had the mixed shawarma meats, which comes with rice and salad. The rice is mixed with spices, and THE FLAVOURS! It was actually quite a heavy meal, but before I knew it, I had finished it all. This combination of meat and rice is irresistible… Highly recommend visiting, for the food and the atmosphere.

I sat at a table of coworkers I had never met before in my whole entire life. They work out of the offices in America, and it was awesome to get their perspective on work, life, culture. There are struggles around the world, from natural disasters (mud slide recently in Santa Barbara) to more personal events at home, yet everybody stays so positive. It's very encouraging.

What did I learn from this trip?

- Traveling to the West coast is much more convenient than the East. It’s warmer, so there’s less to pack.

- I work with some smart cookies, men and women alike, and we all have a common goal which really brings us together.

- Attitude, stay positive, good things will happen.

Where to next???

Go Back to Goleta

After our late lunch of tacos at Lilly’s Tacos, we went to Hollister Brewing:



We had a cheese pizza, and some nachos. Of course, we had beer too, since we’re at a brewery! Food was good, maybe better than they would’ve been, if I had not finished my flight of beers already. The beer in the flight was warm… We asked the server, and she said that nothing could be done, because their taps are at that temperature. Gross, warm beer. I had a pint after, and it was in a chilled glass, which really helped. Beers are just OK... I would like to try other micro breweries in the area first.



Another case of food tasting better because of good company. It’s interesting that even though we had never had a full converesation before this trip, it felt so easy to connect with this group of women. Perhaps, it’s the mutual understanding that we’re all going through lots of change?

The Santa Barbara airport is full of character, with 5 gates packed under the adobe roof. Stepping outside into the sunshine and seeing the palm trees felt like I was walking into paradise! Too bad there was lots of work to do, and not much time for exploring…

Travelling for work means a lot of eating at restaurants, and sometimes, I have trouble keeping up with all the places we end up going to (just like I have troubles keeping up with all the emails this week). I landed at 10PM las night, and while things are still fresh in my mind, here’s the first meal in Goleta at Lilly’s Tacos:



They were $1.90USD each, I had 2, and the total in Canadian with the current exchange rate was just over $5.00CAD!!! I had the beef cheek, which wasn’t the most flavorful. The portions were not the largest. The salsa was fresh enough. Overall, average tacos for a great price. It’s a convenient spot for the offices in the area, especially for busy folks short on time. The tacos were ready before I had even finished punching in the pin for my VISA. We did also come by around 4PM and there were maybe 2 other customers, so the wait wasn’t long. Jack in the Box down the street was offering $1 tacos and Hollister Brewing also had tacos on their menu. Maybe try those out next time, and compare all of them!



Overall, less than mediocre tacos, but I was with an amazing group of ladies, so it made it more bearable.

On to dinner in Goleta…

The final part of this 1 week trip was spent in Orlando, Florida:

For our first meal, we had beer and tacos!

My excitement is mostly because the Yard House has a large selection of beers. It’s true. They had more beers than people in the restaurant, more beers than I had time to look through and read about. The place was packed! Food was OK, come for the beers, and for if you don’t want to hear whoever you’re with, because the music gets pretty loud inside.

This was the Vampire taco, which uses a shell made of cheese instead of regular flour.

Well, that’s basically it for this trip. I had a pretty good time at the conference, meeting new people, learning new things about this industry that I am a part of. I survived the hot water pipe blowing in my hotel room at the Marriott. It was unfortunate that they could only reimburse me $50 for all my troubles.

Go back to New York or Ohio…

It’s been difficult to find time for blogging, so I’m still going on about last week’s trip. Nothing super exciting happened this week anyways, I was here in Raincouver… So let’s go back to last week, when I was in New York:

We had donuts from Underwest Donuts, right by the train station. Not too many options, but enough to make me want to go back to try something other than the peppermint chocolate flavour (as seen in photo above). It was a pretty good (looking) donut.

One World Observatory views:

New York… A sparkling, magical place with lots of food that will kill you.

Nathan’s Famous Hot Dogs:

Famous for what? The most salt content per square inch of sausage? Super skinny weiner with the same amount of salt as a regular hot dog would have.

Cafe Amore:

Huge slabs of New York style pizza, the length of my body (well I’m only 4’11.5”, so I guess it’s not really that big).

On to Florida…

…or go back to Ohio.

This week started with a delayed flight from Toronto to Detroit, so that we barely had time for dinner. I didn’t get to try Detroit style square pizza!

On a brighter note, we did find this awesome little coffee shop, in Ohio:

Maddie and Bella opened up in Perrysburg a few months ago, and their beans were still roasted out of some dude’s garage, when I asked them about it last week. I think they mentioned that they had purchased a warehouse somewhere closeby to do all the roasting, but not sure if that’s happened yet. We had the avocado on toast and the Elvis (banana, hazelnut butter, and… I think chocolate? on toast). Cappuccino to balance the sweetness of the Elvis toast.

The rest of the trip was not bad, despite sleeping only 3 hours in Detroit (baby crying next door, pipes, heater/air conditioner rumbling all night), and a 2nd delay from Detroit to Philadelphia. We spent about 8 hours in Philadelphia, with 6 hours of sleep and the rest travelling from airport to hotel to next city… The Hyatt at The Bellevue was amazing to stay at, and I really wish we had a bit more time to explore this really clean looking city.

I think I learned a lot on this trip, especially about how much sleep I really need while on the go. Delays, cancellations, shit happens, but something special might be waiting at the end of all the chaos.

Head to New York...
...or Orlando, Florida.

The last meal of this trip was at the airport and full of vegetables. I had a Cobb Salad from Woody Creek Bakery:

I was exhausted, extremely hungry and probably dehydrated, so choices were difficult for me. I think the lady who took my order was well aware of that, and she was very patient when I couldn’t choose the dressing. After ordering, I went over to the cashier, where there were pastries, beverages, etc. I was eyeing the cookies, which looked really amazing, but I knew I didn’t need more junk food on this trip. So, I paid, and waited for my food with my order number. The last step of this order process was for them to deliver the food to me, which came in a paper bag. I went oveer to my gate, opened the bag, and discovered a chocolate chip cookie that I hadn’t ordered!

I forgot to take a photo of the full thing… Sorry. Too hungry. The salad was good too – they gave me extra avocado because they didn’t have eggs left. Thanks to whoever gave me an extra cookie!



That’s it. Go back through this trip using these links:

PT 1
PT 2
PT 3
PT 4

“What is there to do in Kansas?” I asked everybody I met in Kansas.

“Barbecue food is great!” said everybody I met in Kansas.

So, we had BBQ food in Kansas. We visited Joe’s and I had the Z Man:



Topped with 2 onion rings, there’s a thick pile of brisket in between two freshly toasted buns. Meat is good and all,  but BBQ is not something I’d usually choose. Yet… there was something about this burger, the meat was tender enough to just fall apart at the lightest bite, and the onion rings didn’t get in the way because they were crispy enough. I guess my problem with meat is that it’s sometimes too tough to chew, and I’m too lazy to tear into it, but this was perfectly cooked meat that I had no complaints about. I could not stop until it was all gone.

I would tell my friends to go again for me.



CONCLUSION - No flying monkeys in Kansas, but good BBQ.

The final day of this trip was intended for the drive home. We went straight from Hood River to Feast, which we’d heard about from P, who’d heard about it from V. 

This place is amazing. The photos don’t do it justice, and there was so much food, I couldn’t try everything.

The food wasn’t perfect, as you can tell from the rib that had all the extra gunk left on it. Still, I’d definitely come back for the sheer volume and variety. You can make your own soup noodle! There’s a stir fry station! There are delicious mussels, clams, crab, cray fish, LOTS Of cocktail shrimp… And we were only there for lunch ($14)! Dinner would be a whole new ball game!

H didn’t want to leave, but everything good or bad must come to an end. Back to good old Vancouver…

CLICK HERE TO GO BACK TO DAY 1