Needed a long break, and ended up all the way in Richmond, at Machimachi:

I ordered the Mochi Redbean Brulee Matcha Latte/Smoothie, which comes with these mochi balls:  

The bottle is the Black Milk Tea with Panna Cotta, which I left in the fridge and did not try until a few days later. It still tasted fantastic. Together, these beverages cost just about $18... Overpriced? Yes, but I would still go back because it was tasty and the service was super friendly, despite a tad slow. When I asked for "less sweet", the server actually warned me that the matcha might be a bit bitter. It wasn't actually that bitter, and it just tasted like real tea, which I would expect from a drink that costs almost $10! It's still their first month since opening, so I'm sure they'll pick up the pace as they figure out how to do things.

At least I hope they will look into fixing the wait times, otherwise why would I want to come back to wait 30 minutes for a $10 drink? 

Waiting is horrible.

Currently waiting for: 

1 - Next week so that our contractor can start work on the kitchen. We can start fixing our rotting butcher block counter tops, loose back splash tiles, and, as of today, our leaking faucet hose. Good thing we placed a bucket underneath, inside the sink cabinet, because it was full to the brim and just starting to leak out. Also super grateful to be working from home, because otherwise, I would not have been around to hear the drip drip. Lastly, I'm glad we started this kitchen project way ahead of time, because we wanted to fix it before it breaks. 

2 - 1.5 more weeks

3 - 16 weeks for my 2nd COVID-19 shot, and then, reopening the world. Travel (Paris, Korea, Japan, Iceland). Friends, in person, in a small cozy space, sharing food and air.   

  

4 - At least 18 months, for more work changes. Instead of getting slammed by changes, like last time, I want to be the one making the changes. Maybe I am anticipating too much change... The job is pretty great with lots of flexibility, can work from home and catch leaks early. There are annoying things happening that I'd rather not put up with, but for the most part, I still enjoy solving the problems that come up. So... 

5 - Retirement. 

This will be a short post, because I'm getting ready for my wedding, and I barely have time to eat. 

After dim sum on Monday, we visited Exposure BBT, right across from the dim sum place: 

This was the OG milk tea, with pearls, and although I requested 50% sugar, it felt like I might get diabetes by the time I finished the whole beverage. The wait time was also 30 minutes for any drink order. For a not so spectacular $6 tea, I was disappointed.



Despite the disappointing beverage, I had a great morning of just relaxing and hanging out with friends. This was the eye of the storm, and now, as I write this, we're approaching the edge of the storm, exiting in 2 more days... Almost there!

I work with a group of coworkers, who are very tight knit, because of our common goal on the job (take over the world with our cameras), and our shared love of food. We frequently lamented the lack of good bubble tea spots in the area, so when we found out that ZenQ was opening up shop nearby, it was no surprise that we immediately put a meeting in our calendar with ZenQ Ironwood as the location, on July 18th. 

We went again the day right after, on the 19th, which was their actual grand opening day. I'm going to go backwards and talk about the 2nd experience first, because I had the original milk tea with pearls, one of their signature drinks, and it wasn't that great:

 

They use similar recipes as Chatime, because they're sister businesses. I shouldn't compare this regular milk tea to the roasted milk tea at Chatime, but I'd say that the roasted milk tea has a more well rounded, fuller flavor. 

The day before the grand opening, when we held our meeting at ZenQ, I had their brown sugar pearls tofu pudding with soy milk:

In comparison to the original milk tea, ZenQ has really created a winner with this BBT flavor. The pudding really hit the spot, and the sweetness level did not make me feel sick afterwards. I'm sure we'll be back, and I'll just order this one over, and over, and over, even though there are many more shaved ice and tofu pudding desserts there to try out.




Before I can really splurge on a $6-7 bubble tea though, I've got to get my finances in order.

As I looked at my BC Hydro bill of $63.42 this past week, I suddenly realized that the sum of my bills is the price for my freedom. On top of these daily bills for living, I keep incurring expenses, like the cost of a new. I dropped my phone on Sunday and the screen now turns on only when it wants to. Then, there are the wedding expenses. H is very good at keeping me in check and reminding me that we did have a budget when we first started planning this day, which is only 45 days away!

Photo credits: SoWedding

Last chance to run, H? 

Spent the weekend cleaning out H's old room, and sorting the clutter that's already accumulated in my little apartment. We took a brief bubble tea break at The Oolong Tea Lounge, found just underneath the Aberdeen skytrain station. It's a beautiful cafe, with high ceilings and great lighting, perfect space to get some work done, with a very photogenic bubbletea on the table next to you. 

We had the Sakura Matcha Latte: 

The pearls taste like flowery gummy bears, adding a hint of floral sweetness to the matcha tea latte. I would have preferred a stronger matcha taste, and perhaps a hint more sugar, but I did ask for 50% sweetness so my bad.



The problem is that this small beverage cost $7, and I'm not a big enough tea lover to afford it. They have a few other interesting flavors, like a Purple Yam Milk and a Bitter Melon Pineapple Fruit Tea, which I'll probably try when I'm feeling adventurous.

It's therapeutic to throw stuff out, open up some free space and create more room to grow. Let's see where this next week takes us. My horoscope is telling me that I should start looking for a new job, starting June 3rd, and that I'll likely want to take a position that's similar to what I'm already doing... Do I even need to look anymore, or is change going to just find me, even if I sit right where I am?

We visited Ding Tea today after a 2 hour walk (I'm not going to call it a hike, because I don't think it really deserved to be called that...). There was a line up out the door, but after looking inside the little cafe, I realized that the line was just caused by the lack of waiting space between the order counter and the front door. 

I'm sure this whole experience could have been improved if we arrived at a better time. We started lining up at 2:56PM, and they were actually closing at 3PM to prepare inventory, then reopening at 4PM. The line up had to rediverted inside the cafe, instead of looping around the outside; there were concerns about the availability of standing space, but luckily we were all able to fit inside. I'm sure when the hype dies down a bit, and their BOGO ends, the service will speed up and the lines will move faster. If you're sensitive to waiting in line, don't go now. 

The worst part is that the wait wasn't really worth it for any of us. We had the Hokkaido milk tea and the regular bubbletea. The taro milk teas were complimentary. Their pearls are very fresh, but the tea was not smooth or milky enough. I'm starting to think that Chatime's roasted milk tea and Houcailei's Bull Demon King (brown sugar jelly in milk tea) have ruined normal milk tea for me... I can't say I'll be back anytime soon, and this really teaches me to line up, just because everybody else is waiting.

This streak of bad tea will hopefully pass soon (talking 'bout you, YiFang Coquitlam!) just like everything else, including bad days at work and low motivation. As #instafamous Jenn Im said in her recent talk, 

"It's not the universe's job to had you motivation everyday, like here, take it. It's your job to look for it."

 Going to go read a book now.

After Korean BBQ, we walked over to YiFang. I've heard so much hype about this place, especially the black sugar milk tea... 

I've heard of people lining up to try this, just because they only have small batches of the black sugar pearls made each day and other locations run out within a short time. It should have been a sign that this location of YiFang still had the drink available, because it was really not what I hoped for.



Where's the tea flavor? It just tasted like sugar and watery milk, and I'm sure I ordered the tea option, not just the milk, because I had a sip of M's black sugar pearl milk. Both were disappointing, in the flavour and smoothness category. The only positive feedback here is that their pearls were chewy and tasted fresh. The hype was not real here.

I've been holed up at home for most of today, and I could really use a milk tea from Houcailei.

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.

Taking a lemon and turning it into bubbletea. We went to Happy Lemon post dim sum in Richmond:



I’d heard some good things about this place, but with the proximity, prevalence, and ease of hitting up a Chatime for their roasted milk tea, it is difficult to find a time to try other bubbletea places. This was that chance to try it.

I had the milk tea with cream puff and pearls, and it was not bad. The cream puff is like a custard that sits at the bottom of the cup. The pearls were a good size and consistency, but Gong Cha (located across the street) had better pearls. I would come back for the cream puff and milk tea.



Lately, I’ve been noticing a lot in media about women’s struggles and the lack of diversity in the workplace. I guess I’ve never been too passionate about this, and I just want to note that there are others out there who do not care for change.

“I don’t want to lean in, okay? I want to lie down.” – Ali Wong

We all have those days, but make sure you know your worth.

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…