I've been seeing ads for Nancy Go Yaya everywhere, and scheduled in a visit as soon as I could.  Sorry M and J for ditching our plans, and going without you!

Here's their famous Kaya Toast with poached eggs for dipping:

Soy sauce and white pepper is offered to mix with the egg, to create a dipping sauce for the toast. It had a huge slab of butter in between the two slices of toast. Not bad, but not something that I'd crave.

We also got the laksa noodle, and it was super flavourful and delicious. Kept us warm as we walked around Chinatown afterwards. 

Very Instagram worthy, but not as wallet friendly. Definitely other things I crave more in the area, but it has such a nice atmosphere inside the cafe. Great service, which is what you pay for, I guess. 

WOOOO, it's been a stressful day. One of the most stressful, mainly because I hate making mistakes. It was such a careless thing to do as well, switching up a person's conversation like that. 

Lately, I've found that my concentration is shot, and I can barely remember people's names. I keep losing track of time as well, and if not for technology keeping me on track (Google Calendar and Google Keep are my BFF's), I don't think I would have accomplished even half of my target this month. On top of all that, it's been difficult with lots of emotions. Grateful to those who put up with my outbursts, and keep me well fed with home cooked food... My brain and body need all the energy I can get. 

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?

Define a productive day.

Originally, we were going to adventure around the Delta area, but the fog was too thick to fly my drone, so we redirected the GPS to a coffee shop that’s been on my list for a while - Kahve Coffee. They have really pretty latte art. C had a flat white, and I had a latte. I was actually really hungry from only have two little dumplings 3 hours ago at 7AM that morning, but their pastry and sandwich options did not appeal to me, especially for the quantity versus price point (sorry, I’m on a budget now, can only afford expensive coffees).

The walls of the cafe are stocked with coffee accessories that can be purchased, including a wide selction of mugs. They even had a display case for Secrid wallets, which I still want to get. Because there was so much stuff inside, it felt like all the tables were jammed together and counters were packed in close. Luckily, there was plenty of space at the bar by the window, where C and I sat for about an hour, just catching up. He got a new wallet, which I take a s a sign that he’s doing well in his career.



The coffee itself was decent. If it was more convenient to visit, I would probably drop by, if not just for a good photo opp!

I went home after that, had a quick bite, and went back out for a bike ride to visit R&B. Then, dinner with H’s folks. Nice to see all these people and catch up in one day. Even with the setbacks from the fog in the morning and not being able to go out to fly my drone, I think it was still a productive day of seeing the people that I enjoy being around. Not to mention the beautiful autumn colours all around the city, really makes me feel like life is worth living.

What do you do to feel fulfilled?

Yesterday was the wedding of C and J at the Four Seasons downtown. Their menu was provided by the YEW Bar, I believe:

I had the beef option, and it came with scalloped potatos and carrots that were so delicious and fresh.

H had the halibut, which I thought was a bit overdone, but again very delicious veggies.

We actually started the meal off with this cream of mushroom soup with pastry puff. It was very filling and probably helped to soak up a tremendous amount of alcohol. The event had an open bar.

The second appetizer in this FOUR course meal was the smoked salmon:

Finally, the dessert, with the hazelnut chocolate base and shortbread, with mango compote. Everybody at the table just had to make space for it. HAD TO. How could you let this masterpiece go to waste?

Congrats C&J. Very well done. C looked like the happiest girl on earth, and J was just drunk... with love?  

Today is the birthday party of L and S at Rogue downtown. How’s a girl to save money?

I guess I could’ve just not bought the drone, but then I’d miss out on shots like this:

 
Mystery Lake, an easy hike to a great swimming hole. Lots of families and children were already here, taking a dip in the cool water.
More info on this hike here:
https://www.vancouvertrails.com/trails/mystery-lake/
https://www.outdoorvancouver.ca/mystery-lake-hike-mount-seymour/

H and I went to Santouka along W. Broadway a few days ago:



When did ramen get so expensive? I remember eating at the Robson location for much less. I love the texture of the noodles and the soup just warms my soul. We had this with the rice combo, masago over rice, and spicy miso ramen. The texture of the rice wasn’t as sticky and sweet as I remembered it to be… Overall, still good, but a bit too overpriced for me to justify going regularly.



I could use some of this comfort food now.

Everytime that I hear that somebody has decided to leave, I get this gut wrenching, heart pounding, eyes blurring dizziness. Then, I hear that somebody very important is resigning, and it just brings me to uncontrollable tears. I don’t think I’m the only girl made of water in this world, as other people were visibly upset. I feel like it’s worse for me though.

Even just thinking about it makes me break down. It’s just like how Carrie kept breaking down in that episode of Sex and the City everytime she remembered Mr. Big had a heart attack, and I think it’s because, like me, she was thinking of a future without this very important person in her life.
It’s going to be tough, but we’ll get through it, for better or worse. Do I really believe that though or am I just lying to myself?

I’ve also said before that if this person leaves, I will go too…

As I mentioned in the last post, when things seem to be going smoothly, shit just happens. When will things go back to “normal”?

Dinner on Friday with one of the J’s, while H was stuck at work. We went to Anh and Chi for some modern Vietnamese food. I had heard of this place through the wonderful world of Instagram, where they did a great job of showcasing their food. Driving by sometimes, they always have a huge line up. Luckily we got there early enough and only waited 15 minutes versus who knows how long the rest of the people waited.

They still had the classic “comfort foods”, but it was plated more esthetically and modernized. There were some twists on some of the dishes, like the satays and a different style of spring roll. They offer vegetarian options, which is always popular in Vancouver. We also had a couple drinks, and the bill came to just under $70. Don’t know if I’d come back at night… Maybe for lunch one day.

Bun bo hue, meat on a stick satay, drinks.

Spring roll was sticky and sweet.

Old Asian Lady drink, and behind it, the Dragonball. Both were good. Better than the food.

Decided we weren’t ready to go home yet! More drinks after, at the Metropole, met up with the other J and her gal p als. Really enjoyed my first time there, I’m coming back for the cheap drinks ($3.50 shots) and pinball!

Sometimes, when you add in one little detail, the change will throw you off completely and you might freeze, forget everything you were able to do before. Go back to the basics of what you were doing, and get back to what you know to reset... - Yoga Instructor Jibber Jabber.

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.