The beginning of a weekend with no plans.Woke up later than usual (9AM), and remembered seeing beautiful waffles in the display case, at the nearby Whole Foods Market bakery. Weather's nice today, so I went for a quick walk to pick some up for breakfast.

Note that the Starbucks cup in the back contains the Kickstarter smoothie from the Whole Foods juice bar. Pretty slow service today, but I wasn't in any type of rush to get anywhere. Hopefully the smoothie satisfies my vitamin quota for the day, because the waffles were just straight carbs. 

There were 3 flavors available - pistachio, chocolate with almond slices, and chocolate with round chocolate crisps. I chose the pistachio and the almonds to take home and snack on while finishing up the last season of Game of Thrones. These waffles are the soft kind, not crispy on the outside. For $3, can't ask for too much! 

This week has dragged on, and the weekend continues to drag. I couldn't even kickstart my mood (ha, ha, referring to the smoothie...)! Something's missing this weekend, but what?

What is the thing you do to make your day feel complete?

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?

Came here for waffles with J and K, to casually catch up. We had the berry and mascarpone waffle (on the right), as well as a special pumpkin spice flavored one (I think it was pumpkin… on the left).



I was way too full to eat, so I just ordered the Earl Grey Latte (ie, London Fog). Everything was just OK… J and K didn’t seem too impressed by the waffle quality. I had a bite of the berry one, which was fairly fresh. The London Fog was a tad sweet.   



The whole thing was also a bit overpriced, as usual with anything in Vancouver. The two had just returned from Calgary, where they could have afforded an actual house with land. Instead, here they were, renting a little box in Vancouver. They were just settling in to their new Vancouver home now, and I am assuming they’re really enjoying being closer to family, but what about owning their own front lawn?

I’ve been worrying for most of last week about getting and paying off a mortgage, starting next year, but I think I’ve come to terms with it. I should probably figure out what Christmas gifts to get for people first… We’ll see where life takes us.

P and I wanted to catch up, and I wanted to save some money, so we went out for dessert, instead of dinner. We both wanted to go back to Off the Grid:



It’s busier than the last time I was here. They might’ve switched the light bulbs to brighten up the place. Not too sure what else changed, maybe everybody wanted to come out because the weather cleared up. Instead of the waffles, we had their dessert drinks this time. I had the hot Nutella drink, and P had the mango milkshake. She was a bit upset that they couldn’t do it “half sweet”, but hey, sometimes, you just gotta learn to say no. I liked my drink. It was sweet, and the waffle was fresh. Nothing better for fueling girly gossip and plans.



H is almost at the end of his move, and things are starting to fall into place again. Time for the next big thing. What’s the next big thing…

Not quite the middle, but we were on the side of nowhere. We still had data.

Enjoying the view at brunch, before hiking to Skookumchuck Narrows. I need a waffle maker to make bacon waffle benny’s.

We booked this place through BC Ferries, so it included the ferry ride over for $360. TripAdvisor review here.

Brunch at Scandilicious, a lil’ tiny waffle café on Commercial Drive…

and they had a Pumpkin Pie Latte!

Not sweet enough, or maybe I was just craving more sugar after only 2 hours of sleep following a graveyard shift. Lots of spices and foam near the top, but it wasn’t very strong. Again… maybe because of the graveyard shift. Cost $4.50, and didn’t make me feel sick. Waffles were good too. I like it.