This week's theme is falling, starting with the snow. We had a few snow days in Vancouver, at the beginning of the week, but it's pretty much cleared up now. I safely drove my little car over the highway to hang out with my buddies in Richmond, at Enjoy Cafe:

The restaurant looks dingy and dark, but there were no indications of that it would be a health concern to consume the food served here. I had one of the red dishes in the photo above, which was a baked pork chop on rice. J had the dish with the yellow sauce, which was their baked seafood and pineapple with portuguese sauce on rice. I tried a bite of her choice, and I will have to say it is safe to order. 

The baked pork chop on rice was also safe, but I've definitely had crispier fried pork chops. Other Hong Kong style cafes use pork chops with more meat as well. The slice of pork chop covers the whole plate of rice, but a third of it is a large bone! The sauce to rice ratio is perfect, but I would've liked more cheese on top. The best part of the meal was the ice cold milk tea, but for those of you who do not enjoy sweet beverages, ask for less sugar.



In conclusion, this place is not worth coming to Richmond for.

This spot at Burnaby Lake  is worth waking up early for:

Other than snow, I had a minor fall this week as well, and while I'm not physically injured, I am traumatized (luckily H was here and I could be a baby about it). My grandmother is also back in the hospital, and she says she might not come back out, but I can see that she's trying her best to recover. I think being tough might be in my blood.

This upcoming week will be busy. I'm going to list out some goals to accomplish, and I'll report back in next week's blog:

• Travel to the Northeast US
• Research and finalize 3 caterers for the wedding
• Finish Homo Sapiens

The next few days before travelling to Europe will be busy, and we wanted to meet up at least once before I fly. Being busy productive adults, it’s difficult to make time, but we did it. We ended up going to Hou Cai Lei for bubbletea:



This is the brown sugar jelly milk tea, and boy, is it full of brown sugar. The jelly itself is where most of the sweetness comes from, and even at 50% sugar, I think I ordered wrong. If you’re not ready for diabetes, make sure you order it with 0% sugar. Other than that, the milky team is smooth and creamy, and I would definitely come back. It felt like I had just been transported back to Taiwan, from the moment that we saw the sandwich board with the shop's name, all in Chinese.





We got out drinks to go, and didn't stay for too long because there isn't a lot of space inside. The front sitting area had a low coffee table with a few chairs around it, and while it looked like an attractive spot to hang out, the area was a bit messy. This was possibly due to the previous patrons who had just walked outside for a smoke. I do wish people could clean up after themselves.



How do you read the name of this bubble tea shop anyways?

Things are moving fast! The biggest change of the year is in the works, and hopefully, I’ll be able to write about it here in less than a month.

The first few days of this week were painfully busy. I could have really used one of these Matcha Milk Teas with the best pearls from Gong Cha:

H and I went to the one in Richmond, it’s a bit hard to find, because it’s in the middle of a row of shops with a small tucked away sign. This was my first time at Gong Cha, and compared to a lot of other bubble tea places, I’d have to say this is one of the best, probably my favourite for pearls. The pearls were such a good consistency, just the right amount of chewiness and a good diameter. If only it was along my usual routes…

So much shit at work. Literally. J the TAM brought in some plastic pieces of fake shit, as a reminder for C to cut the shit. They were quite realistic looking. I actually cringed and jumped back a bit when I saw it on my desk. It was so gross that I couldn’t bear to take a photo, because I’d know it would be on my phone.

Met up with M after almost 7 months of not seeing each other. We used to hang out every week, but life catches up with you. We went over to Coco along Marine Drive. I’ve been to a different CoCo location before, but I didn’t like it that time and never gave it another chance. Here I was, waiting for M to get home so he could give me his official wedding invitation, so I had to get a drink:



I had the milk tea with pearls and red bean and grass jelly, which cost about $6… I had to have all those toppings though, because I was craving all of them. I actually really loved it this time – the grass jelly had lots of flavor, and the pearls were just chewy enough. I got 50% sweet, but might go for less next time, especially if I add the red bean.



Back to the whole thing of giving the official wedding invitation… why do we have such weird traditions?

Today, I hung out with H’s mom and her friends, because they wanted to try Tatsu. It’s a bit strange seeing them without H. Only 2 more days until he’s back…

I’m nowhere close to being ready to fly. This should be a nice and simple check in online, but it’s becoming quite painful as my One Plus keeps dropping internet connection. Work with me PLEASE. Frustrated by the United Airlines app that took 5 attempts to accept my passport scan, haven’t started packing, still hungover from last night at J’s house, and spent all morning recovering with H (who has been expressing his feelings about me leaving tomorrow by sighing every few minutes and pouting a little).

Replenishing with dirty HK cafe food at Happy Date. Can’t live without this. I think this place is better than Lido (another HK style cafe that serves similar food), in terms of price, service, and quality. All of this was only $10! Must go if you ever visit Richmond for breakfast.

From top left, going clockwise: Spanish Omelette, Pineapple Bun with Butter, HK Style Milk Tea, Satay Beef Instant Noodles

Here’s the food from a different angle while I was taking the above photo:


Ingrid Nilsen posted a recent video about how she gets over hangovers. Seems like a legit cure, with avocado and eggs.

Well, I’m hungry again. Bye. Going to forage for food around the house.