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.

Escaped the tedium of everyday life with a mini get away to Whistler this weekend. The snow at the end of this season is still tolerable, whereas previous seasons, dirt patches would have already been peeking out. H tried skiing for the first time, and while he stayed mainly in the learning areas, he still worked up a large appetite. 

We decided to visit The Wildflower for breakfast buffet on Saturday morning to recover all the calories that we all burned on the slopes the day before.

We arrived just after 10AM, and there were still a few other guests waiting for a table, so we got in line and after 5 or 10 minutes, we were invited into the dimly lit restaurant. The hostess lead us around the buffet area, showing us the fresh pastries, the mini cereal bar right across from it, the smoothie bar, the omelette station... etc.! We were drooling by the time the hostess seated us at our table, and did not wait for our server to introduce himself. 

Here's H's first plate of food, including pork belly, eggs benedict, English sausage, beans, mushrooms, and a bit of smoked salmon on the edge:

I need their recipe for their spinach and apple smoothie (see photo above). 

The smoked salmon was on point, and we probably ate the value of the $36 meal just in smoked salmon alone: 

The chef at the omelette station was still on duty by the time H was ready for his 2nd plate of food, and he chose to stuff his omelette with all types of cheese and lots of veggies. I'd suggest asking for no goat cheese or a small amount, as it overpowered all the other types of cheese that H chose to throw into the mix:

The highlight was their selection of pastries, which I saved for dessert at the end of the meal: 

Their chocolate donut reminded me of Honey's in Deep Cove. Other than these 3 pieces that I managed to polish off, they had many other cake options, including one or two that were already finished off for the day, such as the banana bread. I'll have to come earlier next time to see their full selection of daily fresh pastries, which are made in house by their pastry chef who trained in Dubai. 

I'm not waiting until the end to have the donuts next time, because they ran out of one of the flavors. Maybe this is a lesson in life, to not wait until the end of the meal for dessert, and perhaps the best things don't come to those who wait. 

I’m combining week 42 and 43 because I haven’t been organized enough to make time for blogging. Adulting took up my time, as I hustled to get my banking and legal paperwork done to purchase the condo, which has been 2 years in the building.

I still haven’t really had the energy to go anywhere new, mainly because if I did want to go out during this week, I just wanted to visit places I’m familiar with already and have a quick easy meal. This is actually a breakfast sandwich at Railtown Cafe along Main Street, where I visited a couple of weekends ago with R&B and the puppy they were dog sitting:



English muffin Avocado, onions, fried egg, Jalapeno jack, tomato… A perfect light snack for a walk around the neighborhood with the dog. R&B had the jambalaya bowl and a pork sandwich, which were both on point. I stole a bite from each of these, and almost ordered them for myself. The jambalaya had just enough spices and flavors. The meat to bread ratio of the sandwich was well balanced, meaning there was lots of meat.

The photo below was an attempt at a flatlay with the dog sitting in just the right spot. I don’t know how people do it with animals… Dogs don’t like me. I’m more of a cat person.

I’m really looking forward to the upcoming week – completion of the condo, going to London and Iceland. Mercury, Mars, and Venus in retrograde can’t hurt me now!

Showed up late for a brunch date with D&M. We were going to Fraser Park Restaurant, which was located by the river in the industrial park by Marine Drive. Definitely a hole in the wall gem for brunch:


I had the English breakfast, which came with a pile of bacon, a sausage, and a deceivingly small bowl of beans (there were a lot). I wonder where they get their beans from… Not sure if they’re Heinz, but anyways, they were perfect for mixing with the egg yolk. I asked for overeasy eggs – these could’ve been “easier” because the yolk wasn’t quite runny enough. Oh well, what can  you expect for $12?


I don't even like bacon, and I ate it all.





I’m glad I had a chance to meet up with D&M, because we never really get to catch up. We all have stuff going on in our lives, for sure.

The other day, I woke up at 5:35AM to go to yoga, and arrived with 5 minutes to spare. Turns out that my pass had expired, by just one day… I did feel like giving up at that point – I put in all the effort to wake up, pack, get over to the studio, and now, it was like the universe was giving me a sign that I should go home and crawl back into bed instead of working out – but I was there already and there really was only 1 solution: pay for another pass and go to class.

It feels like I’ve been running into roadblocks with everything this week. The jacket tore in the wash. My faucet is explosively leaking in the kitchen and still has to be fixed. I have so much to do at work!
I can either give up, or just keep going, and I’ll choose to keep going. Everything is going to be OK… Just need more breakfast.

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

Family Day long weekend was an opportunity to get the family together and go eat. I took my parents out to the Gray Olive Cafeteria to try out this new(ish) brunch spot in Burnaby:



Pictured here is the salmon eggs benny, hash browns, salad, chicken and waffles. Not pictured is the ham hock benny. Their eggs benedict sauce is smooth and creamy, one of the best. The salmon was very fresh, and perfectly done, paired very well with the medium poached eggs (I didn’t ask for it, it came medium). the hashbrowns were crispy and lightly seasoned so they weren’t too salty. The waffles though… H mentioned there might have been lemon zest in the batter, and the waffle just melts in your mouth! None of that doughey sticky texture that sometimes makes your mouth feel too dry.



Really, the only complaint was that the coffeee came in a paper cup. Their seating was very limited, so I can see why they wouldn’t want people to linger with a cup of coffee. Food was perfect.
Birds of a feather, flock together… All the foodies were at the Gray Olive that day, the line ups were about 10 minutes long.

At work, all the lazy people hang out together too. HA.

The one thing I've really learned is that you can't stay negative when something bad happens, because there will always be difficult times. Why not just get over it and do something about it instead?

I have a craving for a hearty brunch, must be the sleep deprivation. Red Wagon would really hit the spot right now.

I came here with my mother one day. I had the breakfast with the pancakes and potatoes and eggs and added some JD syrup on the side.

Mother had the special, with the eggs and I think benedict sauce, beets and other veggies on the bottom. I loved this because it’s so fresh. Service is alright, they’re so busy that the servers really gotta pay attention.

D and I hit up Murrin for the views today:

I’m ready to start flying. I got the DJI Spark.

Before exploring the Steveston neighborhood a few weeks ago, we went for brunch at Davood’s:

 

The portions are large, and service is quick. I had a great cappuccino, and the waffles with bacon and eggs (I don’t remember the name of this…). There was a pile of maybe half the pack of bacon on top of the waffle. I can’t wait to come back, but there are surprisingly a lot of other places to check out in Steveston.




Am I too nice? I’ve been passively trying to convince people to do things my way. I just don’t understand why people would say or do or not do certain things… Is it because you don’t like me? Is it because you’re just a miserable soul? Is it because you think your degree makes you more privileged? When somebody is really aggressive about getting something that they want, and it disrupts everybody else around them, I start wondering… why?

Time for another coffee.

Weekend getaway to Salt Spring Island with M+P and H last weekend. H recently purchased a 4runner, 2nd hand through Craigslist, so we drove down to the ferries after work on Friday. After a 3 hour ferry ride, and a 15 minute drive to St. Mary’s Lake Resort, we unpacked and just went straight to bed. The next day would be a long one, at least I hope I had instilled that expectation in everybody, because there were so many things we wanted to do!

7:27AM - I was adamant about catching the sunrise.

We made breakfast:

We tried to go to the Saturday Farmer’s Market, but they were still setting up the tents and because it was still early in the season, a lot of the vendors were not attending yet. We left shortly after that and bought groceries at the Thrifty’s instead.

10:30AM - P was adamant about digging for clams, so we set off for a beach that apparently was safe for clamming. He found the advisory online, through some government website:

We sat here for about an hour, I think… Got bored. I wandered off.



This is literally somebody’s backyard. The houses are right off the beach, and one of the neighbors actually came out to chat with his. He had recently purchased one of the properties lining the beach, and the struggles he had with bidding for it. Real estate market is still a war zone. Anyways, he recommended we find some fish and chips in Vesuvius.
 

It started to pour, but it quickly passed. We got impatient, and the boys jumped into the water. That was when we realized it’s still too early for clamming. We cleaned up, and decided to follow the friendly Islander’s advice to find lunch at Vesuvius, a bit defeated by the lack of fresh clams for dinner, but still excited for the island adventures to come.

Go to Day 1.5 on Salt Spring
Go to Day 2 on Salt Spring

Wow, what a different city Vancouver becomes when the snow hits. Before the shit show of traffic jams, gridlock, and car accidents, R, C, and I got a chance to visit the newly opened Aer Cafe along Hastings:

Grilled cheese and latte, and a snippet of the cortado. C and I spent a full minute asking what this is… C – “what’s a coratdo?” me – “i don’t know, what IS a cortado?” C – “Not sure, it’s on the menu. What is it?” // It’s good. Just drink it.

R’s order - Avocado on toast with poach eggs and salsa.

So the grilled cheese was spectacular, with lots of stringy cheese bits and perfectly done onions and mushrooms. Very crispy. C found a small square of aluminum still stuck to her bread. R’s eggs were too raw for her liking, so they just stuck it in the microwave for her. I found the coffee a bit weak, which may be due to my insane addiction to coffee and tolerance to the little molecules. Overall, a cute little joint that I’d come back to for a quick bite. Especially as Platform 7, just one street East, does not really serve grilled cheese.

Cute little nooks everywhere for studying and reading, between 7AM to 7PM:

It was such an awesome weekend, Monday just came as a shock.

The people I live with have a huge influence on my mood, and after an argument, I can be uncommunicative for days, weeks, months… Not just with the root cause, but with EVERYBODY. It’s like the world is against me, when my home is not calm. I’m not sure how other people do it. Move out, I guess?

Breakfast at Milo City Cafe:

Top plate: Salmon hash with sourdough and scrambled eggs

Bottom plate: Sourdough, Italian sausage, scrambled eggs, hashbrowns

In the middle of it all: COFFEE

Extremely friendly service and loads of comfort food. Go if you’re staying at the Hilton.

We started early so we could go farther. We were out of Portland before 9AM. I had so many hopes for the outdoors scene in this hood, but wet weather and lack of vehicle hat can drive over everything dampened my hopes just a bit. I wanted to visit either Lost Lake or Mirror Lake, but we made it to neither lakes… We drove through part of Mount Hood National Park, made it to Government Camp, but we really didn’t go too far because of forest service roads that my poor baby wouldn’t be able to handle. We stopped here:

Parked close to this view, where there were a few trailheads. H and I stood around, trying to decide which path to take, until 2 girls came out of the bush. They were super friendly and helpful, so we ended up going along what I believe is Buck Peak Trail. We
saw this:



Not sure if that was supposed to be the end point with the “good views of the mountain” that the girls told us about (I don’t think it was), but it was also getting dark and we still had a ways to go to get to Mt Hood. Back to the car.



No lakes today. Instead, we found the waterfalls along the Columbia Gorge!

Multnomah

 Horse Tail

Would’ve been more breathtaking if we were not already exhausted from the day’s travels and if there weren’t busloads of tourists roaming around. It’s all about perspective.

CLICK HERE TO GO BACK TO DAY 1

Breakfast is what I go to sleep for. French croissants, Chinese donut, Shanghai sticky rice and soy milk, Japanese nato beans, German schnitzels, English style baked beans, – doesn’t matter, I don’t discriminate. HK STYLE TODAY AT CAFE LOYAL:

Fried noodles, soy sauce rice roll, fish congee with ginger, milk tea - all for under $10!!! The fish congee had really big pieces of ginger which was great because the gnger taste was really fresh and strong. Milk tea could’ve been stronger - I couldn’t taste tea it tasted like milk with a bit of sugar. Not too oily.

Great way to start the day. I love this arrangement that H and I have when he’s on night shifts, where he picks me up or I pick him up from work to go home. Carpooling to save the world.

Took advantage of the extra day off to spend more time with my lovely friends, who I feel like I haven’t seen in forever. I may have been neglecting them a bit, but weekends are now for working and napping. S and I went to Nelson the Seagull in Gastown…

Above: Poached eggs with mushrooms for $11 + $3 = $14. These were a little difficulty to eat because they were poached hard. I suppose I should’ve specified medium, but who likes hard eggs?! Other than that little blip… The bread was very fresh and good (IT BETTER BE, THEY BAKE IT IN HOUSE). The salad and mushrooms were acceptable, and tasted like they’re probably freshly grown/local.

Above: The Full Nelson – I don’t remember how much this cost. $13? Black forest ham, tomato, lettuce, and cheese (swiss?). Question marks because S ordered it and devoured it to soak up his hangover. He seemed to enjoy it, although the ham was all piled in the middle and not evenly distributed, according to S.

Below: Latte with almond milk, made in house, and a little plant.

Overall, a good experience, because it’s a nice atmosphere to meet friends and the coffee’s strong enough. I would not recommend eating here, because there are other breakfast/brunch places with better eggs.



And yes, I’m happy. As happy as an angry little girl could be.