It’s so nice to catch up with friends and share new ideas, like this whole culture of being non-binary/gender neutral.  We caught up over dinner and drinks at Sai Woo, a Chinese fusion restaurant downtown, with petrified trees “growing” and decorating the place. I knew the portions would be quite small and expensive, so I went and had pizza before this adorable pulled pork slider:

This was about $5. I had a couple of average drinks there with funky names, but they didn’t stick out (Chill Winston has the best funky cocktails so far). Nice atmosphere, and great place to have long conversations, as it wasn’t too loud inside the restaurant. Awesome service too!



Are you familiar with this new phenomenon of using the pronoun “they” or "ze" (pronounced like he or she, but replace the "h" or the "sh" with "z") for those who do not identify with either the female or male gender? I only recently heard these different terms while working at the VFM, about 2-3 weeks ago, and it came up again recently at dinner for C's birthday. Apparently, it’s progressive to ask people what gender they identify with, and I’m cool like that because I did it.

Today was the 3rd week of working at the Vancouver Farmers Market. We got some good swag:

Went to the New Po Kong for lunch with H and his folks. H’s parents are vegetarian, and they know all the good places. New Po Kong just opened, maybe 2 weeks ago, and they’ve already been here for dinner. (It's right across from the regular old Po Kong). We had a ton of dim sum dishes (no pictures because I thought it’d be too rude to keep pulling out a camera…), but couldn’t resist this (fake) shark fin dumpling:

IT’S AMAZING. The way to eat it is with red vinegar. Stuffed, but the owner brought out some tapioca custard pudding with taro:

Fat goals achieved for the day.

I haven’t worked out since Sun Run last Sunday, and a short 30 minute bike ride to get dinner with H on Wednesday… Fat goals achieved for the week.

Drove all the way out to Surrey yesterday to accompany H for picking up a web order at Tandy Leather. Surrey’s a whole new land, it just feels different once you cross into these dark lands from from Delta… But yesterday was different. Yesterday, we came across the Vaisakhi parade!

People everywhere, bright colours, fried food, keeping everybody happy. Bread pakora, real pakora, chai tea, chutney, naan… It wasn’t all South Asians, saw the Chinese and Caucasians coming out to celebrate. Traffic was horrid, but a gentleman in the area offered to let us park in front of his house (thanks dude!). Apparently, we were supposed to cover our heads as a sign of respect (a religious practice, I believe). It’s good to get out and play. Perhaps my opinion of the dark lands of Surrey is changed…

This was me by Wednesday:

Today, I’m going to nap and watch Matty Matheson cook:

Then I’ll be ready for next week.

Lucy’s Diner on a rainy day for some wholesome hearty food. Pulled pork on mac & cheese with poutine, chicken burger with onion rings, strawberry milkshake…

This was delicious, just because we were hungry and not because it was good. Onion rings and poutine were cold, definitely refried and refried again. So hard to chew. I vaguely remember it being a lot better 2 years ago, at 2AM, after a night of clubbing… Well, I had a beer at a company staff appreciation event, but was nowhere close to being drunk.

Trying to find a new pair of sunglasses for the summer… Since we were in the area, we went to 8th + Main:

No luck.Where can I find nice, cheap ones that will fit my flat Asian face?

Day 2:

It was raining and I was still full from Chipotle, so decided to have a juice and go to bed. Millennium Park is pretty cool.

Day 3: Drove a total of 6 hours to visit some customers in Wisconsin where FISH FRY and CHEESE would be the food highlights of the state. I wouldn’t move here, although people I met were AMAZINGLY friendly.

During the drive, got some good bonding time in with R. His lifestyle is a mix of redneck, hipster, and yuppie – fishing on a boat, truck driving, moonshine loving, travel addicted… Had dinner with his wife and baby the night before. His kid puts all other babies to shame and now I really don’t want children, just because of the competition.

Noodles and Company for lunch:

MAC & CHEESE – I LOVE YOU.

Trip has been a success. H was not happy because I left him alone for so many days and I’m spending all summer at the Vancouver Farmers Markets. We’ll work it out, but he does FPH (fat pay hey – Chinese for throw a fit) quite a lot.