After our brief encounter with pasta at Disney last week, I craved more. This is how H and I ended up at L’Artista, in North Burnaby. We were originally going to visit Anton’s, but they had a line up out the door and we were too hungry to wait. H knew of other less popular Italian restaurants, so we walked over from Anton’s.

I had the carbonara:

H had the seafood risotto. I didn’t like this, because the risotto was slightly undercooked and not very flavourful, but I’m not blaming them. Risotto is hard to cook, I hear, just like fish, so I’ll try to avoid ordering this again in the future.

Fresh baked bread, with whipped butter:


Even after a full meal, we still had tiramisu. This is one of H’s weaknesses, and he deserved it after a whole month of eating healthy:


I don’t think I’ll come back, because the restaurant is a bit out of the way for us, and the food did not tickle my taste buds. There was nothing wrong with the food, and the service was great although a bit slow, but I think I would rather make pasta at home or try other places before circling back to this one.



I’m glad I had all those carbs before starting this week, because it was Bike to Work Week with Hub. I didn’t bike every day, and I used transit when I got too tired, but it’s a start I guess! I don’t disagree with increasing gas prices, because it will encourage people (like me) to use other modes of transportation.

I’m also glad to hear that there will be a plastic straw ban in Vancouver by June 2019!

Invested in these metal bubbletea/smoothie straws this week:

I just got them this morning, after ordering them yesterday afternoon on Amazon Prime, and I’m still super impressed with how fast it got to me. I’ll try these out this week, to see whether the bubbletea pearls can actually fit through the straw.

Straws can be purchased here: https://amzn.to/2JsZ3iv

Sourced a pineapple floaty, found a clean lake - summer is going strong: 

Went hiking to Wedgemount Lake yesterday, where I first visited in September 2014 (here’s the post from back then). I took a couple of drone shots with Sparkle the Drone (#sparklethedrone), but didn’t get a photo with the same angle of the lake and glacier from 3 years ago, which is really a pity, because I can’t do a direct comparison. There’s enough proof out there of climate change though, we don’t need another photo of the impending doom that is possibly coming.

Having the drone really brings different perspectives to life. There’s a little lake forming at the top of Wedgemount:

I haven’t changed too much from 2014, I guess. I still live for these views and this air:

Although my fitness levels have deteriorated slightly (I was huffing and puffing up the 1100m of elevation as compared to last time when it was a piece of cake climing up), we can hopefully all agree that my photography skills have improved. My excuse for the slow ascent is that I had a fever and my airways were quite congested the day before. Maybe in another 3 years, I’ll come back, and my body will actually work with me. 

Post hike, we went to Hanok in North Vancouver. We got there around 9:30PM, and while they officially close at 10:30PM, they were already pushing us to order, obviously in a rush to close. Their food was not as flavourful as Jang Mo Jib or Haroo, and their service was just average. I might come back, if conveniently in the neighborhood again, but I wouldn’t go out of my way to visit again.

P+M’s rice cakes were not too memorable.

The pork bone hot pot with the instant noodle came in a good portion with lots of meat for $30. We had the mildest version in terms of spicey, so maybe for more flavour next time, get one level up for spicey. There should be other meat and savoury flavours other than spiciness though, and this just didn’t really cut it.

Their seafood pancake was still mushy apparently (I didn’t try it). Maybe they were in a rush to leave, and didn’t keep it on the fryer long enough. They were not very generous with side dishes, refilled once for us after we asked.

Lately, I haven’t had much appetite. Chatting with one of the hikers along the trail during a rest stop, he said, “If you stop eating and drinking, it’s not a good sign.” It’s a very general symptoms of some illness or other, but honestly, I think all the flooding (Hong Kong, Houston, India, Pakistan, China…)and burning around the world (wildfires in California and BC just to begin) has brought me down. Things that I can control, I tend to not stress over, but I can’t help worrying about the unknown and the actions of others. I have this image of the folks at Pompeii, being buried under volcanic dust. How much of this will matter once the rest of the world has all turned into dust, as the wildfires spread and we’re washed away by the floods afterwards?

Probably not the healthies mindset, but that’s why I go on these hikes to see the rolling vastness of the PNW mountains and valleys, as a reminder to myself that we’re all just little specks in this world.

Ramblings brought to you by 5 hours of very light sleep after a night of alcohol and heat wave induced turning and tossing in bed.

Sept. 3, 2017

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: