Hard to believe it's already June 4th, the day before my baby's estimated due date, but it's very unlikely this date will be accurate.  This is possibly a good thing, and I keep reminding myself that I should enjoy the extra time, and peace and quiet of now before the child. On the other hand, I'd like to start the next volume of my life. Soon enough, it'll happen, I guess... 

Meanwhile, every day is an opportunity to try something new. I recently started following Oh Sweet Day!  on Instagram, and scrolled through multiple photos on their page, admiring their beautiful cheesecakes and pastries. H and I saw their booth at the farmer's market, and I could not resist splurging on a $6.50 single portion of cheesecake, with a diameter similar to that of a pop can. My justification was that in these times of COVID-19, we have to support local small businesses! Also, being pregnant has amplified my sugar addiction and cravings by a scale of 10. 

This was the espresso flavored cheesecake: 

I have to be honest though, this was left in the fridge for maybe 2 or 3 days before I got around to eating it, so it was not the freshest and a bit soggy. Nevertheless, the cheesecake filling to crust ratio was on point (if you dug your fork in from top to bottom, none of that slanted stabbing motion to just get at the top). The espresso flavoring was not overwhelming. Overall, very tasty, but would I go back again for this tiny little cheesecake? 

Probably wouldn't, because I'm not that big of a cheesecake fan. Their other larger cake options look attractive, maybe for the next party or gathering (so in 2021 maybe? ha.)

Other than supporting local, the media has been strongly trending BLM... Today also marks the anniversary of the Tiananmen Square protests in Beijing. Strange how the timing is so similar, 30 years later, and not much has changed.

I took extra time off before my due date because I had vacation time to spare, so why not? In hindsight, maybe I should have taken less time off. I tried to sleep in past 7AM, but in the end, I just couldn't stay in bed any longer. 

What am I getting up so early for? 

To feed my growing baby, I guess. 

Actually, more than 50% of my day is spent thinking about food. Food that I should be eating to keep the baby healthy. Food that I plan to eat right away after the baby comes.  The next meal, because the last meal I had might not have had enough fiber or protein. Trying to decide whether I should snack on another cookie while waiting for the husband to come home from work and make dinner, or just wait for dessert after dinner.  All I want is sugar and pastries!

Is there such a thing as a healthy dessert? 

J and I were at Snow Angel Cafe  a while back, and tried the honeycomb shaved ice (bingsoo). Since it's mostly ice, it must be healthy, and look, there are even walnuts for extra protein! The honeycomb topping and the scoop of vanilla ice cream was just sweet enough to add flavor to the ice. The best part was how visually appealing the whole thing looked, topped with cute little edible flowers. 

I remember that when we visited, I was still in the early stages of pregnancy, before the nasty orange drink diabetes test, so I was really trying to control my sugar intake. I tried to leave most of it for J to eat, but it was pretty hard to resist. 

 

They have a few other flavours, including matcha and red bean toppings. I was looking forward to going back to try a few others this summer. 

Fast forward to pandemic times... Snow Angel is still open for deliveries, but can't go to the cafe for bingsoo. It's pretty hard to get a bowl of ice delivered before it melts into a puddle!

The sugar cravings are real though, and K kindly ordered one of their earl grey cakes for me, for our socially distant baby shower. She also ordered an ice latte for H, so that he wouldn't feel left out. I took a sip, ONE SIP, which is safe for the baby. It was a solid coffee. They separated a few pieces of sugar on the side for adjusting sweetness as preferred. The cake was alright, not a lot of earl grey flavor, but otherwise, a delicious spongy cake with fluffy whipped cream. 

I'll be back for the bingsoo once we can!  

PS - thanks to everyone for the gifts and food. It really helps to know that we have the support of our friends and family with this little one. :) 

This week, I feel like I’ve done a lot, but accomplished nothing. Maybe more coffee will get me through to the next week:



During my last visit to Toronto, D suggested that we walk over to Neo Coffee Bar for a quick breakfast. They make beautiful Asian inspired delicacies, including mochi and cake rolls, with Asian inspired flavours, like matcha and sesame. We had the matcha red bean roll, sesame roll, and the seasonal peach flavor, which were all very good. Really good, filled with cream and paired so well with the latte.



The sesame red bean mochi was the real winner here. It’s a huge ball of soft mochi stuffed to the edges and bursting with sesame and red bean cream filling. So next time, I’m going to get a dozen of these for the plane ride home:



I haven’t found a spot like this in Vancouver yet, with a cozy industrial feel and the same desserts. Maybe La Foret, because they also have roll cake? Let me know if you find any others.

Back to this week… I really haven’t been able to focus very well, my mind keeps drifting. I’ve always been pretty good at prioritizing, but I’m at a point where nothing seems to matter anymore, because everything seems like a big life change. Life changing decisions were made and even more need to be made soon. New apartment, travelling, getting married, career… Where do I put my energy and what’s the next step?

Everybody wanted to hang out when we got back home, most of all H’s mom. We went to Cafe Savoureux, one of her favourite spots in Richmond to relax with a cup of coffee:

We had a piece of the chestnut cake and a blueberry cheesecake. The chestnut cake was average, I wouldn’t go back for it, but the cheesecake was bomb! Would highly recommend. I had it with the Naporitano (an Americano with lemon), which was another first… Not sure if it’s traditionally made that way, but I quite enjoyed it. It reminded me of the time we had espresso and tonic water in Nanaimo. H’s mom had the latte. H had a pourover (not pictured), which he didn’t complain about. Apart from the really great cake, the shop was cozy but not overcrowded on a beautiful Saturday afternoon. I think it does get much busier in the evenings, when the cravings for something sweet kick in.



I had only visited this cafe one other time before, and I can’t recall with who, but it was definitely not as good before. This really did make me believe even more that the company is more important than the food. It’s also possible that the cafe staff just picked up the slack and improved over the years. Either way, it was a good place to meet and start talking wedding.

The day after was the annual Sun Run. 1 hour 8 minutes 48 seconds. A bit slower than before, but not bad for a year of not exercising enough.

Words aren’t coming out right today, so it’ll be mostly photographs of coffee, cake, pastries, nature… 

@Trafiq:

Coffee is cold brew from 49th Parallel. Chocolate Decadent Cake. Some almond bar, I think with raspberry. It was good. How would you define rich?

Answer:

Going back for the brunch.

I think I’m going to try exploring ALL of this park where this hole is:

I thought I’d put in the effort to plan a party, but ended up getting way too busy with things that life throw at you. We can see the light at the end of the tunnel though. Here’s how I’ve been celebrating so far:

Price Smart Dark Forest cake at work. Their cakes have always been surprisingly good, and this one did not disappoint. Thanks guys.

Fauborg!!!! Rich and full of flavors, aroma, texture, gold flakes. This was their espresso chocolate one I think… Not sure as H ordered it for me. It’s a little too rich for everyday, but such a treat for my birthday. Thanks H and family.

Donuts from Cartem’s instead of cake. Had a bit of the earl grey (pretty good), london fog (B’s favorite, cream filled and pretty good), coconut cream (cream filled again, and average), honey parmesan (I didn’t taste any parmesan, but apparently everybody else did), and the walnut (average).  The light in this Main Street location is fabulous though, and it smelled so good that I started salivating once I stepped inside. I still prefer Lucky’s though. Sorry B!

Much gratitude to everybody for starting this year with me. Birthdays are sure different from what they used to be. I’m starting to prefer the smaller groups, partly because it’s so hard to get everybody together. It’s usually worth the effort, but it’s also impossible to plan. I guess once the babies start coming, we’ll be even busier. We’re not even past January, and there’s been a lot of baby talk this year already. I’m not ready for this. I still have so many places to go!

Battle of the donuts continues…

Got bored, went out for a drive and ended up at Choco Coo for some late night dessert. Getting fat will plump out my wrinkles.

From Left: Chocolate Cake, Hazelnut Cake, Tiramisu (in the cup), Matcha Mousse, (the tassel on my bucket bag made a cameo)

  

From left to right, top to bottom: Mint Dark Hot Chocolate; Tiramisu, Hazelnut Cake, Matcha Mousse

The matcha mousse had a waffle layer and was by far the best choice. Don’t bother with the Hazelnut or Chocolate Cakes, they’re not bad but also not that special. I’d come back to get the matcha mousse again if I'm in the hood, and try their other desserts, if I felt like going for a long drive again some day.

Sun Run today and I finished the 10km in 1hr8min. I blame my runners that gave me a HUGE blister for not being able to finish it in under 1 hour. Also, not enough cardio in the past few months. I think I’ll start training or at least doing more cardio.

Bonus picture: cat wants to go out.

Visited Fondway Cafe at Metrotown for the first time with A and P… H was too busy with work and his Scouts. For larger versions of the photos in the grid, please continue reading…

Much hunger. Could’ve finished this entire Whole Foods carrot cake by myself:

The state of the world has been on my mind for the past month… How do I live a zero waste life?
I’m pretty sure that would be too difficult, but I’m hopeful for change. Here’s something to consider if you like coffee! If you’re familiar with coffee pods, used in Keurigs and such, you will know how much hassle it is to recycle them properly. Nespresso offers aluminum pods that can be brought back to their stores for recycling, which is slightly easier but still takes time to transport each pod back to the store. I read today about 100% biodegradable coffee pod by G-PAK! Not available yet, but these will be a must have in 2016! (I’m excited enough for 6 exclamation marks in 1 post). They’re a local Vancouver company too.

Here's another shot of the inside of the cake: