CIOCCO GINGER NESPRESSO before I left the house, a bowlful of coffee before checking my emails at work, and CARAMELIZED HONEY LATTE STARBUCKS at lunch (it was way too sweet, and I could’ve  mixed honey and milk on my own…). I borrowed W's reusable mug. Isn't it pretty?!

I thought all the important people who buy our cameras would take the day off for Easter. COME ON PEOPLE. I suppose people in India, Indonesia, and Malaysia don’t all follow the same holidays. China has tomb-sweeping coming up this week though.

Listened to this at work today to block out all the other noises and distractions in the office. Had some of my favourite hits from 2013, and reminded me of Paradiso...

Woke up at 7:30AM today. I can’t sleep in. So grouchy… Nespresso in a Starbucks reusable cup.


Actually had quite a busy day, so it was a good thing I rolled out of bed early.

Went to Bikram. Traveled downtown for a Zero Waste workshop (more on this later). Went to a friend’s place for nachos (click here for You Suck At Cooking’s demonstration of how to make macho nachos) and of course, to watch the Superbowl:

C had these little beers from Asahi, super cute size, but not really satisfying. Finished them in 1 gulp… I guess they’re perfect for the Japanese people who can’t really tolerate alcohol:

This was surprisingly satisfying though:

Queen Bey, Chris Marten, and Bruno Mars performing at the halftime in a very colourful, rainbow themed field. Is this because they legalized gay marriage in the past year? Side note - thanks Chris Martin, for opening for Beyonce.

4 more days. H likes to tag me in his photos, then hashtag #imissyou and #iloveu, wich my friends find “extremely surprising. We’ll never know when we’ll run out of time!
#likei’mgonnaloseyou

1st night was good, and old habits die hard. Gotta have fun while I’m young, but one of my friends said that I’m too close to 26 to still be doing this. 2nd night got cancelled, definitely not happy with that. Took the day off today to recover, but no recovery needed. Should’ve just went to work. Didn’t get any good photos or videos of any of the sets because I was waiting for Tiesto & Alesso, so this photo of Pike Place will have to do.

 

This trip felt so incomplete. Less than 2 months till Contact. See you there!

PS – I think I’m done with the PSL hunt, getting tired of pumpkin. I conclude that Starbucks still has the best PSL. All the others are just weak copy cats. Especially you, Tim Horton.

The Waves on Commercial Drive has become one of my favourite places to sit outside and read at any time of the day.  I think the barista that works during the day recognizes me as the quiet girl who always gets a lavender latte and blueberry muffin. Waves has a $2 latte deal going on right now, promoting their pumpkin pie latte:

Unfortunately, this pumpkin pie latte didn’t come close to the Starbucks PSL. There wasn’t enough pumpkin flavor, although it was sweet enough, and there wasn’t any whip cream. The latte art was cute though. It’s worth the price, I suppose, but doesn’t quite hit the spot.

Tried the Starbucks instant VIA Pumpkin Spice Latte on my graveyard. It tasted strongly of milk powder, almost like a regular latte.. tres sweet. However, can adjust the amount of powder used… 140 calorie per packet when mixed with 240ml of hot water.

Then, I tried it again on the following graveyard shift, but mixed it with coffee instead:

Better this way. Less sweet, more caffeine, stayed alert all night. The mug is fucking awesome too, kept everything hot. It’s THERMOS brand, all the way from Intelligentsia in Los Angeles.

Overall, it’s fairly convenient to use, and only $7.50 before tax for a box of 4 packets. This could be a potential replacement for the original Starbucks PSL, but still not the same flavor. The search continues…

Sunday morning, post hiking the Wedgemount Lake Trail, couldn’t sleep, so went out for a quick coffee instead. Used one of my many McDonalds free coffee cards to pick up a medium PSL with skim milk:

Not too sweet, different type of pumpkin taste than Starbucks, I think more of a fake sweetener taste… Leaves a strange aftertaste though, and there’s no whipped cream! All the syrup was also stuck at the bottom, but that’s probably because the staff at McD were so swamped (or incompetent). Caffeine content in McDonald’s coffee is usually decent, but I wasn’t feeling the kick today. Maybe because I slept badly for about 3 hours, and nothing will be able to save me now.

Starbucks PSL wins this round.  Although the McD PSL is about half the price, I still prefer the taste of the original. Here’s another comparison of the two: http://blogs.houstonpress.com/eating/2013/10/pumpkin_spice_latte_throwdown.php

On another note.. Wedgemount Lake. This is what I live for:

Pictures don’t do it justice. I didn’t want to leave…

Starbucks brought back their Pumpkin Spice Latte right at the end of August instead of waiting until Fall this year, which was an absolutely brilliant business decision. Can’t resist the fake pumpkin taste, which turns out is not the best for you. Oh well, YOLO…  Got myself a nice Tall nonfat, half sweet PSL – with the whip, of course:

Then, I started noticing that other coffee shops and restaurants were releasing PSLs too, and I got sorta excited! I really don’t like buying from Starbucks all the time, because it’s such a huge rip off for the logo on the cup and usually it’s not even that good. However, Starbucks is the only place I know that makes a decent PSL… Now, with so many other places offering PSLs, I can avoid buying from Starbucks! Time to hunt down the best PSL in the world (cuz Vancouver is the world)…

I was so addicted to Pumpkin Spice Lattes (PSL) last year.

After driving my brother to work all the way at the South Terminal, I discovered that the only place open for coffee on a Saturday at 6AM is Starbucks.  The cops were there, a man walking his fluffy little dog, and a man sitting all alone in a corner nursing his coffee…