Stumbled across the quote in today's title, and thought it was wildly appropriate. Does anybody know where this quote comes from? 

I haven't made time to post about it yet, so maybe the hype for these tempura rice bowls from Tendon Kohaku is already over? We spent about 1.5 hours waiting in line for BOGO50% off on their grand opening day, last week. Baby S was not interested in waiting in line, and it was difficult to stay patient with her tantrums. It must've been difficult for her to stay patient with her parents, who refused to listen to her cries for food and entertainment. 

Anyways, I don't think it was worth the wait. The rice was not soft enough, the tempura all tasted the same, and it was too salty (ask for sauce on the side). By the end of the meal, the tempura were no longer crispy.  The portions are average, but I would not pay full price, which would've been about $20 per bowl, including tax and tip.

We also tried their beverages, which come in very aesthetically pleasing plastic pop bottle shapes. I also would not pay for this again, because it didn't really stand out. I had the refresher with yuzu, and expected it to be fizzier with more yuzu flavor. While there were pieces of real yuzu, it was overall just a mouthful of sugar. V and J had the milk teas, and they had similar comments that the beverages weren't that great.

I couldn't resist ordering the chanwanmushi for appetizer:

In contrast to the overly sweet beverage, this was a mouthful of salt. If it's any saving grace, the texture was very smooth and soft, 10/10 for that. 

In this situation, maybe there was a different "right time" to visit this restaurant, and that would've been when the line up was not so long and when my child was not so hungry. The tantrums and the screaming were unreal, and I had to carry her about 80% of the time. However, we would've missed out on the deal. 

In another situation, is there ever a right time to make a life changing decision, like changing your job? 

According to my old boss, I chose the wrong time to resign and start a new job. 

Me: When would be the right time to quit?

Him: Maybe a year and a half from now. We are going through a lot of changes, and we had plans for you to be a key player. 

Me: Yes, it all sounded like a great opportunity, but this other opportunity came up, and on paper, it is a perfect job for me. 

Him: The industry you are going to is unstable, because of the pandemic.  

Me: It might be, but I'm really ready for a change. 

Him: You have a new baby. With your current job, you can do all your work and spend time with the baby, since you are an expert already. 

Me: Yes, but this opportunity is really perfect for me, and I'm ready for a change. 

Him: Also, I am going on vacation next week! 

Me: Oh no! *sarcastically*

Him: You really chose a bad time to quit. I'll let you think about it for a day before I start the process with HR. 

Me: It's okay, I won't change my mind.  

This conversation further validated my feelings that this was the right time to start a new job, instead of waiting around to see how my relationship with my ex-boss would progress... I'm going to miss a lot about this old job, but I won't regret the timing of this choice.

Recently, I've noticed a pattern of halves in my life.

It was Baby O's 100 day birthday, and K did such an amazing job planning a virtual dinner for all of us. She ordered a banquet from Western Lake, had them separate each of the dishes into individual portions instead of the usual large share plates for a banquet style Chinese dinner, and then delivered each individual package of food to all the friends and family who were attending.

What a brilliant idea during this stupid pandemic, to ask for individually packaged portions:  

 

From the top left, going counterclockwise - many pieces of crab and lobster, a salad dressing walnut shrimp, fish maw soup, goji berry lychee pudding for dessert. You'll also see a red boiled egg in the photos, which is traditional to have for a baby's 100 day. 

I'm not used to eating so much MSG and flavorful food anymore, and finished maybe half. Except the dessert. I could eat 10 servings of this - super light sweetness and just melt in your mouth. 

Obviously, baby S couldn't have any of this deliciousness, because her kidneys would probably explode from the salt content. She's a pretty good eater in general, but she usually puts down only half her food. The other half ends up on the ground.

Husband does half the chores. He'll do the dishes that are already in the sink, and leave the pots and pans on the stove for me, as well as the used cups and mugs that are lying around the house for me to pick up and wash. 

I feel like I'm doing half my job at work and half my job as a mom. There are a lot of distractions when working from home, and it's just difficult to focus on any one task. Meanwhile, Baby S's schedule is all over the place, because sometimes her grandmother doesn't know what to do with her next and is waiting for me to go on a break to ask me something. 

Then again, maybe I'm being too hard on myself. Week 3 of back to work has just begun... 

Thanks again to K for having us at her baby's 100 day Zoom party, truly a highlight of March. :)  

Officially completed 1 week of work after having my first child! I dedicated my whole weekend to celebrating this, and what better way to celebrate than with food? 

Right after logging off on Friday, H and I hopped over to Hi Five Chicken. 

I came into this with lots of bias. I originally wanted Church's Chicken, because they are by far the superior fried chicken fast food chain with the crispiest fried chicken skin, juiciest greasy meat, and the most satisfying gravy. H convinced me to go to Hi Five because it is closer, and we would be able to drop by J's house for a quick hello from the doorsteps... I was not disappointed. 

With the UberEats BOGO deal, we ended up with a pile of fried chicken and a spicy chicken sandwich: 

Church's still has my favourite fried chicken, fries, and gravy. Hi Five wins the chicken sandwich game though. Will be back for more. 

Also, high five to me for getting through this week of work, and going straight into it. It feels like not much has changed after 9-10 months - same processes, same programs and tools. The difference is the work from home environment, and a few new faces. With all the conference calls, it's great that most people keep their cameras off. Not only do I get to keep mine turned off as well, but I would prefer not to see certain faces. It's enough to have to listen to their voices blabbing on for 45 minutes about issues that were raised over 2 years ago. 

If you enjoy reading about my work from home and interpersonal dynamics with coworkers, please follow along here! I'm sure future posts will have more on this topic. I know I should let it go, because it's not healthy to keep letting other people's work ethics or attitudes affect my thoughts, but it's also nice to vent once in a while. :) 

After all our hard work this week, H and I thought we deserved a treat. H has been working 12 hour days for about 5 or 6 days a week. I’ve been working probably a bit less than that, but hey, who’s counting? We ended up at Dazzling Cafe:



We arrived right at 6PM, which is the end of their Happy Hour menu (starts at 3PM, I believe), but the server was nice enough to let us order from there. Each dish was under $10, with a drink that could be customized with an increase in cost. I had a milk tea with pearls (+$0.50) and H had an iced longan tea (+2.00), which he said was pretty good. The pearls were decent, but not Gongcha level. We ended up ordering the pesto chicken spaghetti and a mussel risotto. Note that the dish with the mussels in the photo is not risotto.



The nice server punched in the spaghetti by accident, but oh well, no point wasting it. He gave us $2 off our bill instead. The mussels were actually cooked perfectly and very delicious. I will go back to get the mussels with the risotto, during the happy hour, and hang out at this faux French style restaurant.

Did you know that China has a replica Eiffel Tower?

PS - Good luck tomorrow, friends. Another Monday...

We went to cozy, old school Gotham Steakhouse on a rainy Thursday... 

Almost everyone had rib eye, but I wasn’t feeling a 20oz slab of meat, so I had a manageable 10oz filet:

I had my steak rare, and it was perfectly rare. I wouldn't consider myself a connoisseur of beef, but take my word for it that this perfection is not easy to find. We had a selection of sides, including Gotham’s hash browns, onion rings, brussel sprouts with chorizo, creamed spinach, spicy beans (SUPER spicy), and the bread. Honestly thought I would prefer the mashed potatoes, but the hash browns were pretty gourmet. 

Top it off with a good Old Fashioned. No complaints here.

Rare, and perfectly done. There has been lots of talk about equality lately and I keep seeing this theme. It’s rare to be seated at a the table with half men and half women in this industry. The genders at the table was perfectly 50-50. The nationalities were Canadian, but it was the most Canadian it could get, with some Asian genes, some French, some Australian, and some just a random mix. Not that it mattered, because I just realized all of the above, as I’m writing this post, and the conversation and mutual understanding was made it perfect.

This was one of two meals where I had leafy greens on this 4 day trip:



This was the steak salad at the Urbana Craeft Kitchen, located in the lobby of our hotel, recommended by the server. The steak was perfectly done, and the vegetables were fresh, but too bad it had a large amount of blue cheese that I wasn’t too in love with. Still, impressed by the quality at the hotel.



Got home yesterday, and I still don’t feel like myself yet. Hopefully, my body will reset after this weekend. It's no wonder I still feel like crap though, as you'll see in the next few posts. The night before this salad, I had Chipotle at the Mall of America. They gave me a free meal, because I waited a good 15-20 minutes before they got to me. I’m glad I had a chance to visit the mall though.

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.

Went to Boiling Point for what must be the 7th time. Every time I go, I try something new. They only have 10 different flavors, and the only ones I haven’t had are the Beef, Veggie Tomato, and the Curry Fishball, so I must’ve been there 7 times. Today was the 7th, and I had their Taiwanese Spicy Hot Soup:

It’s bright, flaming red.

Noodles included. Milk tea sold separately, but highly recommended to put out the flames.

Lucky number seven. This was so spicy, it’s been 3 hours since I had it, and my stomach is still burning. My body feels like it’s on fire. I probably have an ulcer now. It did clear up the sinuses and wake me up, after another long day. I’m just twirling around in life right now.

Source

I just wanted to be at home tonight, go do some yoga, and chill out, because class is starting tomorrow. I guess things don’t always go according to plan, but it sucks when it’s because of other people. I mean, H’s problems are my problems, and I’ll be there if he really needs me, but I guess I just didn’t see the dire need for me to be there right now when I can barely take care of myself. WHAT ABOUT ME?! Well, I guess I have this blog to vent and be emo, so that I can be my usual self in real life. Thanks for reading.

More about my Boiling Point experiences here:

http://luwesa.blogspot.ca/2016/11/food-diary-hot-pot-essential.html

http://luwesa.blogspot.ca/2016/12/merry-5152.html

This weekend was just the beginning of all the celebrations and parties and FOOD…

Started off with a work Christmas party, then a party at H’s best friend’s house, then a dinner with my very Chinese family. Snuck in some time during the snow storm today to yoga and then make up for the lost calories with this creation from Lucky’s:

Mont blanc donut – chestnut poop thing on top, sprinkled with sugar and festive gold flakes.

Orange filling. Not really into orange flavored things, but this was really popular with H’s parents.

I would like to try out the rest of the holiday flavours.

Also just wanted to document the work Christmas party at the Vancouver Convention Centre. The food did not disappoint (please see below). Sorry for the crap photos, I was sort of buzzered, even though we only had 3 drink tickets each (open bar all previous years, but 3 drinks is really more than enough).



Won a Biolite… H is such a lucky fella. We won the extra prize draw tickets, and then we won the Biolite. Still haven’t used the pizza oven from last year, but really looking forward to trying it.

Snow sucks. Being sick sucks. Merry Christmas (probably won’t be).

Feelings are supposed to be irrelevant – John Oliver on Donald Trump and the Republican National Convention

Chocolate Chip Sea Salt Cookie and Iced Latte:

Turkey sandwich and iced Americano with milk (and C’s hat):

All very delicious, just what I needed on a hot summer afternoon, post Pokemon walk. The cookie was not the soft kinds I usually bake, so I don’t think I’d get it again except in a pinch. Don’t take it the wrong way, I liked it a lot, but not enough to want to try baking it on my own. Definitely heading back for that iced latte – SO SMOOTH.

Sometimes, it’s hard to understand why people do things, especially at the end of the day when we’re all exhausted. I wish the explanation for all inexplicable behavior could be a brain infection, but that only happens for some lucky friends of mine. I’m just glad to know that there are amazing places like Lindeman Lake out in the wild, and Platform 7 in the middle of the city for us lost souls to visit and try to find ourselves.

…with this lipstick from Two Faced. Loved the Lady Balls shade (bright red), but it’s not really something for everyday wear, so went and got the Sell Out shade too (nude). Which one would you wear?

Sell Out:

Lady Balls:

Long lasting wear, didn’t have to reapply after the coffee, didn’t reapply after brunch with the old high school gang. Also got other things from Sephora, but will share more about it in a future post, because I must go out for Pokemon and coffee.

Things to look forward to:

-One more week until back up arrives for work

-Paying my downpayment in August

-Scandinave spa in September

-Hike tomorrow and next Sunday

It's already week 11 at the VFM!!! Found some apricots that were ready to jam (hehe):


So every week, there are some pretty cool food trucks. There was the week where Urban Wood Fired Pizza brought their own pizza ovens, Disco Cheetah and their Mexasian fusion food, and this week… I tried out Chou Chou Crepes:

Here’s the menu, the real French woman who runs the show was already running out of certain choices:

I had the Mr. Fred (ham, egg, cheese):

I was STARVING, so I apologize for the bad photos as I was focused on chewing this gooey on the inside, crispy on the outside, crepe made in heaven. The photo on the right was taken in an attempt to show the gooey mozzarella that oozed out of the crepe and ended up at the bottom of the bag.

Perhaps it was good because I worked up an appetite from all the manual labor at the market. Another reason could be that it was just amazeballs and this French woman knows her stuff. That cheese though...

Hard day’s work, I deserved a good meal.


Picked up some swag along the way too:

PS: I downloaded Pokemon Go this Sunday. Just saying.