Make A Wish

"I'd rather be drinking a bellini"

Tonite, Kay and I headed over to Cactus Club in Burnaby to have dessert for a good cause and to make a wish :) It was so nice to sit and enjoy dessert with Kay. It's so strange to me that she is becoming such a lovely young lady even tho I will always see her as my baby girl. Gosh, can't believe how quickly time flies ....

Kay as always, ordered her apple pie with ice cream on the side - she does not like hot and cold on the same plate, she is so silly - warm apple pie with ice cream is the best! I ordered the trio dessert cos I wanted a little bit of everything altho I probably should have stuck with just the apple pie instead :( Cos I think I will be up until midnite with all the sugar in the chocolate and cheesecake! It was a great nite just chillin with my baby girl :) She's such a cool chica! Cherishing every single second I have with her cos I'm sure these "dates" will be less often as she turns 15... Gosh I can't believe it! 15 in 6 days!!!

BCCH Jeans Day

Today is BC Children's Hospital Jeans Day! For $5, you pick up a pin and wear your jeans to work. 100% of the proceeds go to the charity and this year, they threw a BBQ. It is nice to wear jeans and have an inexpensive and very yummy lunch. The BBQ is held at the Vancouver Art Gallery, for $3 (with your pin or $8 without) gets you a gourmet hot dog, chips and a drink - what a perfect warm and sunny day for an outdoor BBQ lunch!

One Year Anniversary

of Ari's death... RIP... I can't believe it's been a year... we love you and forever miss you dear Ari

My Sister's Keeper

My Sister's Keeper by Jodi Picoult

Wow, what an amazing story! It brought me to tears and I'm excited to see it on the big screen! Must read!!

From Publishers Weekly

The difficult choices a family must make when a child is diagnosed with a serious disease are explored with pathos and understanding in this 11th novel by Picoult (Second Glance, etc.). The author, who has taken on such controversial subjects as euthanasia (Mercy), teen suicide (The Pact) and sterilization laws (Second Glance), turns her gaze on genetic planning, the prospect of creating babies for health purposes and the ethical and moral fallout that results. Kate Fitzgerald has a rare form of leukemia. Her sister, Anna, was conceived to provide a donor match for procedures that become increasingly invasive. At 13, Anna hires a lawyer so that she can sue her parents for the right to make her own decisions about how her body is used when a kidney transplant is planned. Meanwhile, Jesse, the neglected oldest child of the family, is out setting fires, which his firefighter father, Brian, inevitably puts out. Picoult uses multiple viewpoints to reveal each character's intentions and observations, but she doesn't manage her transitions as gracefully as usual; a series of flashbacks are abrupt. Nor is Sara, the children's mother, as well developed and three-dimensional as previous Picoult protagonists. Her devotion to Kate is understandable, but her complete lack of sympathy for Anna's predicament until the trial does not ring true, nor can we buy that Sara would dust off her law degree and represent herself in such a complicated case. Nevertheless, Picoult ably explores a complex subject with bravado and clarity, and comes up with a heart-wrenching, unexpected plot twist at the book's conclusion.

Copyright © Reed Business Information, a division of Reed Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.

Brake Pads

Stupid car needed new brake pads and I was def not expecting to shell out a few hundred dollars! Esp with Kay's birthday coming up, my sister's visit and my grandma's 90th birthday coming up! All these events that will already drain my bank account - not that I'm complaining but all these things come about at the same time!!! Plus I still owe Jas $250 for flights/hotel in March when we headed to San Fran! ugh.... :(

BBQ at Kent and Ashley's

Tonite, Rhoda decided she wanted to head over to Kent/Ashley's place for the BBQ and even tho she is on a detox but she brought her own food and her own chicken to grill. It was a small gathering of people, Ash/Kent invited friend from their community centre and it was such a fun atmosphere. There was plenty of food, alcohol and dessert! It was a really nice nite and I'm glad to be a part of it :) Thanks so much to Ashley and Kent for hosting!

Cambodian Food and HK Dessert

Photo from My Dinner Table

Tonite, we went out for Cambodian and Viet cuisine, a little restaurant called Phnom Pehn, in Chinatown which is well known for yummy noodles and deep fried chicken wings. Rhoda came by to pick me up and we met Kent/Ashley and Val at the restaurant. We all ordered a dish to share and there were plenty of dishes to try! It is nice to gather at a restaurant like this so you can order a number of dishes to try. It was really great to catch up and hear stories from back in the days (Rhoda/Kent/Val) as Ashley and I were not part of that history. Everyone is doing great and by the end of our meal, we could see the staff were trying to get the table back cos this place was smoking busy! We decided to have Hong Kong style dessert in Richmond but Val could not join us cos she had a lot of homework to finish before her next class. Rhoda was craving for Hong Kong style dessert so we headed to Richmond to go to her fave HK dessert place. At HK dessert place, we each ordered a dessert that looked very interesting. I had ordered a dessert with barley in it and at first, I was a bit afraid but it ended up being pretty yummy! It was a great nite and Kent/Ashley invited us both over for a BBQ tomorrow nite. But not sure if we'll go cos Rhoda is starting her crazy detox tomorrow! :)

Royal BC Museum

I am so excited about the new exhibit premiering on May 1st at the RBC Museum. Treasures: The World Cultures from the British Museum is a collaborative project with the British Museum and is displayed until September 30. Be sure to check it out before the "treasures" get shipped back to London!

Dinner with the babies!

Tonite, Rhoda and I headed out to Langely for dinner with Grace, baby Colin, Travis, Lisa, baby Jordan and Tristan for dinner at Coza, an italian restaurant. I hadn't seen the babies in a couple of months and I can't believe how much Colin and Tristan have grown! It is always so nice to catch up with everyone and so nice to spend the time playing with the babies!

Army & Navy Shoe Sale

Click to Enlarge Photo

This morning, we (Kay and I) got up early (5.45am) to meet Rhoda and Jess for the annual A&N shoe sale (VIP 7-8, 8am open to the public). Kay, Rhoda, and Jess got some great buys but I did not find anything that I LOVED LOVED (and had to have) for myself which is ok as I am saving up my $$ for a pair of JF boots and SW pumps. I'm happy that Kay found a few pairs of shoes and I could not believe how much each were priced at! GUESS going for $24.99 and I notice this year, the shoe prices have been marked down (compared to the same brands as last year) ... is it because of the current economic state? Also, last year, there were a lot more VIP customers in at 7 and there was a line up at the cash register to purchase your great buys. But this morning, it was pretty quiet and there were only about 20 or so customers in the store. Plus we were in and out at the cash register in 2 minutes! Well at least Kay got some great buys and she deserves them! She's a good kid :)

Happy 30th Birthday!

Happy 30th Birthday RaeRae!

Today, we celebrated Rae's 30th birthday by taking her to Milestone's for lunch and a surprise "mini" birthday party with cake in the afternoon. It was a lovely lunch and she was really surprised by the Cupcakes cake! It took a bit of planning and we wanted her to have her pink "princess" party with the pink table cloth, pink forks, princess plates and even pink ring party favours! Her face was priceless! I hope it was the best 30th birthday party ever!! (At the request of Rae, I have removed the Surprise Video due to this blog being in a public domain .... just a note: there are over 200 billion blogs online and estimated 1 blog is created every 2 seconds so the likeness of many strangers seeing this post is pretty low)

Family Sunday

Tonite, Kay and I went over to see my dad cos we hadn't seen him in a few weeks. I wanted to stop at IKEA before going to daddy's but Kay and I were running late so I didn't make it :( In the afternoon, Kay attended a birthday but she skipped out on the dinner so she could see her grandpapa. While Kay was at the party, I accompanied my mom to PetSmart and Tisol cos she wanted to pick up some new treat treats for Ginger. Gosh, she's a spoiled little pup, she got so many new treats!

A little before 6ish, we headed off to Richmond and we stopped in for a bit to check out my brother's new Sony HDTV LCD BRAVIA. Very very cool indeed, esp with the Blu Ray movies, the definition and picture quality is amazing! Our dinner reseravations were at 7 at Vivacity Seafood Restaurant, it seems to be one of my dad's fave places to eat! As always, my father ordered way too much food for the 4 of us, ordering a set dinner for 6 cos it came with Peking duck and a deep fried crab dish. There were many leftovers but it's ok cos Kay and I had lunch for the next day. We headed back to my dad's place after dinner and Kay and I started watching WALL-E - ohmygosh, it is such a cute movie! Except we didn't get the chance to finish it cos it was getting late and we needed to get up early the next day for school and work. We are def going to have to buy this movie, it is so darn cute plus it would be nice to catch the ending. :)

BBQ & B'day Celebration

What an awesome night! Tonite, we (same Wine & Dine crew) headed over to Shel and Kit's place to have a wine and BBQ gathering. What wonderful hosts Shel and Kitty were! BBQ was awesome and so were all the fixings that everyone brought to share! Each one of us brought something and I brought a Caesar salad with a homemade Caesar dressing. Everyone enjoyed the homemade dressing and I really glad cos it's the first time I've ever made a Caesar dressing! It was Game 2 for Canucks (play off season!!) and of course, we had to watch the game. Canucks did us proud, 3 - 0 - yeah!! After the game and all the food served, we decided to cut the birthday cake - this is the first time we've celebrated Shel's b'day, his actual birthday was yesterday and he had celebrated it with his family. But since this was the first time we've ever had dinner with him so close to his birthday, I decided to pick up a birthday cake for him. The cake was surprisingly very yummy and I am def going back to Saint Germain Bakery to purchase future birthday cakes! It was a great nite as always and great company! Much thank you to Shel and Kitty for holding the gathering and firing up the BBQ!

Sunday Cleaning & Cooking

This late afternoon, we (Tash tagged along for the ride cos she slept over the nite before) met up with Jess at Save On Foods on Cambie street to do a bit of grocery shopping. Kay was going over there to help tidy house for Jess and I was going to teach Jess how to make mac'n'cheese cos it's so easy and the box stuff is so GROSS!! After shopping, we headed straight downtown to the Sheraton Wall Centre. I parked on the street right by the residence entrance and Starbucks while Jess parked her vehicle in the garage, she then met us up in the lobby (Starbucks) before taking us up the condo. Once we got upstairs, I started prep'ing for dinner while Jess gave Kay the run down of where the supplies were and how she likes things cleaned. It only took Kay about 2 hours to clean and it really isn't that much to clean cos Jess is a clean freak. While Kay was cleaning, I was helping Jess make dinner and once everything was done, we sat down to eat. Mmmm... def very delish, Jess's first time for making mac'n'cheese altho we overcooked the noodles a bit! Overall, it was a nice and quiet evening. Oh yes, I also got a chance to see the wedding plans and it's really exciting to see the ideas and pictures! It is going to be a spectacular wedding!!!

Dinner and Dessert with mini Best Buds

Tonite, we had dinner and dessert with Jess cos we hadn't seen her in awhile and we wanted to catch up on life with her. Before I met up with Jess, I picked up Kay and Tash (Kay invited Tash cos she and Tash were hanging out and didn't want to leave Tash alone) and together we headed over to Favorito Pasta Trattoria on Broadway. It was so nice to finally sit down and catch up with Jess. I can't believe she's getting married in 4 months!! How exciting and how quick the year has gone by! After dinner, we headed over to Cheesecake Etc to eat cheesecake for dessert and do some more catching up. We all love the cheesecake here and this place is always busy but we did get a table. It is nice to see that CE has expanded and opened up another restaurant right next door called "Tigers". I usually have the plain cheesecake with strawberries but I decided to order the chocolate cheesecake cos Jess said it was super yummy plus the girls were sharing one as well. Oh I am so glad I did, it was delish! Very very yummy and def my fave now :) During dessert, Kay mentioned that she was looking for a job and Jess offered her a cleaning job, she would pay Kay $20 to tidy up her condo and Kay would start tomorrow! We will see how that goes and how long this job will last cos Kay is a bit lazy!

Dim sum with Kay's BFF's mums

Today I woke up early (9am) to catch a 30 minute run before heading out for dim sum at Westlake Restaurant on Victoria Street. Kay and Tashna wanted to have dim sun and Laurie (Tash's mum) and I decided it would be a great time to really get to know each other since the girls are constantly together. We also invited another mum, Jodi who is M's mum cos the 3 girls are really close. Westlake is Tash's fave dim sum restaurant so Laurie who can speak fluent cantonese made the reservations for 11am. Gosh, was it ever busy! Even with reservations, we still had to wait for about 20 minutes. Dim sum was fantastic and it was really nice getting to know the mums and to watch how the girls interact with each other. We decided we should do it again and maybe we'll have a Indonesian dinner date! It was really nice to finally meet Jodi and to get to know Laurie a bit more. I am happy to see Kay with a good group of best girlfriends.

Road Trip to Seattle

What a long and tiring day! Today, seven of us met up for a day trip to Seattle and I didn't really plan on shopping since I had just came back from SF but somehow I still managed to spend $60!! The border line up at the truck crossing was insane, it was about a 2 hour line up and the peace crossing was even longer! Apparently, the guys knew of a shortcut and decided to take the short cut to the crossing, cutting out about 30 or so minutes off our wait time. But some of us had to use the washroom before going thru customs so we walked (which didn't seem that far on the GPS) to the gas station to use the washroom. There was a 30 minute line up for the washroom! It was insane and one of the washrooms (the one I managed to get into finally!) was flooded and the toilet was not flushing properly and the floor was disgusting! Eww...thank goodness it was a quick one! When we finished, we headed towards the border cos we found out the van was only about 20 cars before the border - woohoo!! Couldn't believe it! We finally got into the states and off we went, first stop Jack in the Box cos it was already past noon (we left Richmond at 8am) and Rhoda really needed her sourdough jack! I am on a strict limited junk food diet so I had the sourdough grilled chicken jack with no cheese and a side salad and water. I was a bit envious of everyone eating their greasy sourdough jack and curly fries but I knew by dinner time, I would be eating more grease so I figured I'd splurge there. After JIB, we drove to the outlet mall to do a bit of shopping but we didn't spend that much time there. I bought a nike dryfit running long sleeved top and a little bag from LeSportSac for carrying my wallet and stuff when I bike or hike. Once we finished the mall, we headed towards Seattle cos the crew wanted to hit downtown for some boutique shopping and G wanted to stop in a store that sells turntables (which we didn't end up going to and it was closed by the time he got there!). I hadn't been in downtown Seattle before so it was quite a treat! We ended up parking right by Pike Place Market and we stopped in to see what it was like again, I have never been. It is a pretty neat place, it reminds me of Granville Island and the Farmer's Market all in one! After PP, we headed into the downtown core and did some more shopping and walking around. Again, I didn't find much and wasn't looking for anything, after a couple of hours, it was time to think about where we should eat for dinner. We decided to drive downa street that had a lot of restaurants and decided to try something more casual (instead of fine dining - which is what they preferred) and headed over to a restaurant that served ribs. Boy, my rib platter was huge and super yummy! I finished the entire platter and then some, which wasn't such a good idea cos I ended up with a really bad tummy ache! I don't think I'll be able to eat much meat this upcoming week! After our meal, we headed back towards the border and the ride was long and tiring. I don't think I will have any desire to head down to the States any time soon as this trip was more than enough for me! It was a great day spending time and getting to know everyone a little bit more!

Lifestyle Change

Since I quit smoking, I've gained a bit of weight and its not healthy weight like muscle mass, it's FAT as in white carbs, sugar and fat. I have eaten way more cheese, bread, cupcakes and restaurant food in the past month for an entire year and that is not including the red wine and alcoholic drinks I've also had, let's just say it's all starting to stick! I haven't really added more cardio to my routine so this week, I worked much harder than any other week (swimming twice a week and nonstop for 30 mins!) and just started to run today afterwork. The sun had come out (altho I would have ran with or without the sun) by the late afternoon early evening and I ran for 30 minutes around the park plus did some toning exercises with my elastic bands and sit ups! OMG, it burned and it felt good. I think if I can keep this up, I'll be able to lose the inch and get back into my clothes! Plus I have a very pretty (and expensive) BJ dress for Jess's wedding in August that I MUST get into for her wedding.

Malay Cuisine

Tonite, we headed over to Richmond to eat Malaysian food at a little place called Ellie. Vince and Meryl were raving how great this place is and were disappointed to see a sign on the front door stating it is closing their doors on April 17 (BBT last Friday). Rhoda and I met them at the restaurant and for the first time ever, V & M were on time and beat me there! It wasn't too busy when we arrived but as we were getting our dishes, the crowd really started to fill the restaurant. V & M ordered for us cos they've been here before and had a few fave's on the menu. I guess we didn't come early enough as a couple of their dishes were no longer available and we had to substitue another dish. Overall, the food was pretty good and the ambiance of the restaurant is nice. We found out that Ellie was not relocating and it was closing their doors forever due to the owner's health. It's too bad, M is thinking about a business venture! Hehehe... she and V could def do this, run a restaurant, they've got the experience and the equipment! After dinner, we decided to grab some coffee at Bean Around the World and chit chat for a bit before calling it a nite! It was a yummy dinner and so cool to hang out with my best buds!

Sunny Sunday

What a perfect warm sunny day to bike around the seawall and that is just what we did! Although, we started a bit later than planned as Vince and Meryl woke up late in the afternoon, it was still quite warm out by the time we were finished. V & M came by around 3ish to pick me and my bike up, V put the bike on the roof rack and we started off towards Science World. Lucky us, we found free parking on the street and not too far from our starting point. Gosh, it was it ever busy and there were so many people out on bikes and blades enjoying this spring weather! We started off at the beginning of Science World and biked until Denman and Beach Avenue. We decided to lock up the bikes at the beach and walk up and down Denman Street for a bit, wow, so many new restaurants and so many changes to this street. We stopped into a store that sold and carried candy and novelty items like Simpsons, Hello Kitty and a lot of old skool lunch boxes and Disney glasses (from McDonalds) and I picked up a cute little Hello Kitty tin with sour candies! So cute lah! As we were walking back towards the beach, we decided it'd be a good idea to have a snack (or dinner!) before getting back onto the bikes. Meryl wanted to have a burger (craving it!) and we were trying to decide on a Vera's Burger Shack or Fat Burger - we decided on Fat Burger cos those 2 hadn't tried FB before. V ordered a turkey burger, M ordered a swiss cheese mushroom burger with fries and I ordered a baby fat (mini cheeseburger) with a side of onion rings. Both V and I were not impressed with our burgers and M thought her burger was pretty tasty altho when we (V and I) tried it, we didn't think it tasted like anything but mushy burger on a mushy bun! I don't like FB's burger bun is soft and mushy like McDonald's buns and the cheese was not real cheese instead it was processed cheese slices (also like McDonald's!). We agreed the next time, we are heading straight to Vera's Burger Shack! Vera's has a great selection of regular and specialty burgers (also they use great buns and REAL cheese!) plus it's a local business from Vancouver since 1977 which is awesome! A bit more pricer than the FB but def worth the extra couple of dollars for quality burgers! After our meal, we started our bike route around English Bay to and thru Stanley Park and back around to English Bay. It was a really easy scenic bike route and with awesome views of the mountains! We biked about 2 1/2 to 3 hours total (not including the walking, stopping, eating etc.), since we all biked at different paces and some of us stopped to take in the views, we ended up meeting back at Denman and Beach Avenue. Finishing the route and returning to the car, my bum and muscles were def feeling sore.

Granville Island

What a lovely sunny day we had today in Vancity! It is so nice to have such lovely spring weather and it was very warm this afternoon. We had such a beautiful day, I decided it would be a great day to head over to Granville Island. Rhoda needed to get out of the house and wanted me to be keep her from going to sleep too early (still jet lagged from HK) so we hung out for the day (which we haven't done in a while or since she's been back!). Wow, GI was soooo busy, traffic bumper to bumper but it was worth the wait cos once we arrived, the first stop was the GI market cos there are a lot of yummy edible items are sold. I bought a couple of pineapples from Maui (usually it's from Costa Rica or Mexico - those are not as sweet) and loaves of bread from Terra Breads. After an hour and half of walking around, we decided to drive over to Yaletown to do some more walking and window shopping. We have also been meaning to stop in at Gateau Lingerie which is owned by a friend of a friend. Nice designer lingerie but priced a bit more than what I would want to pay. Yaletown wasn't as busy as Granville Island and we walked through Yaletown within an hour so we decided to go to the new London Drugs on Cambie and Broadway. I picked up some natural shampoo and conditioner for HonHon's place cos it's getting to be a pain to bring all my bath stuff to his place after my swim. We quickly did a browse through LD and decide to head back to my place so I could prep dinner. A fun filled day and we might go for dessert with Jess later tonite. I love dessert!

Dinner and BBT

Above Image from chowtimes.com

Tonite, I met up with Vince and Meryl in Richmond for dinner cos I wanted to try out a new place called Dinesty. It is a new Taiwanese restaurant and I have heard great reviews about this place. We were to meet at 545 but of course, those 2 were running 20 minutes late and I grabbed a table as soon as I got there cos it was getting busy which meant I ended up waiting 30 minutes for them. I was feeling really bad after 20 minutes so I decided to order steamed pork dumplings and a chinese green onion pancake to start cos I was starving. Finally the two arrived and I had already went through the menu and the two items I had to order were chicken with basil in 3 spice sauce (cos this is my fave dish at Vogue) and stewed pork in brown sauce with tofu and eggs (this is my fave dish that HonHon makes for me!). There were so many menu items, we couldn't decide what else to order but Vince decided to order another entree to try (shredded pork with hoisin sauce and pancakes, altho it seemed more like crepes - a good choice and one I was eyeing on) and we ordered a few more snack/side dishes to share. OMG, there was a lot of food but we wanted to try a bit of everything! If Jas wasn't feeling so sick and we had the extra person, there wouldn't have been so many leftovers cos what we ordered would have been perfect for 4 adults. Oh well, it's ok cos we could take the leftovers home for lunch the next day. I didn't really want to take anything BUT the stewed pork in brown sauce with tofu and egg altho there were no eggs left! Gosh, we were so stuffed but it was all so yummy! Except for the stir fried prawns with green onions and carrots - that was a bit plain and boring plus I could have done a much better job at home with those prawns! But overall, it was pretty darn good :) Def a fave place to eat and I agree with V & M, some of the dishes are very similar to Northern Dynasty (also located in Richmond). Next week, we are going to go for Malaysian! cos one of their fave little Malaysian restaurant is closing it's doors! I love that both of them really enjoy food and trying new places! Which is why I thought to text them about trying out a this new restaurant and of course, both would never turn down a meal :) After a very stuffed meal, we decided to finish the night off (still staying with the Taiwanese theme) with BBT at Pearl Castle Cafe as it is known for being one of the best BBT places. I ordered a hot coconut bubble tea and I figured the "bubble" meant it came with pears cos at 5.50 it better be included, to my surprise it did not come with pearls and to add pearls (or the other stuff) it costs an extra $0.50!! Whadaelle?? I asked our waitress what "bubble" meant than if it didn't mean pearls (cos most places serve "bubble tea" as tea with pearls altho on most menus, tea drinks aren't listed as bubble tea) and she said it means bubbles in the drink cos they shake it up before serving creating air pockets which technically are bubbles.....???? Wow, I guess I learned a thing or two about bubble tea! The place was quite busy and it was def a full house with a crowd lining out the door but I wouldn't come here again unless someone (like Vince or Meryl) wanted to come here for bbt only cos the crowd was much too young (and obnoxious) and the drink cost are highway robbery! But it was a nice night of trying out new food and catching up. Meryl wasn't feeling well so we called it an early nite so she could get some rest. This weekend is suppose to be a splendid weekend with sunshine and warm temperatures, we are going to get together on Sunday and get on our bikes to hit some trails! Will be fun! Check out photos of our dishes on my flickr account!

Kat Von D - High Voltage Tattoo

I just finished reading the book High Voltage Tattoo by Kat Von D. It's pretty much like an autobiography, she leads a pretty interesting life and it's cool to see how down to earth she is. Would love to get a tatt done by her :)

Sunshine

Sweet, I'm def. gonna head out on my bike this weekend, I can't believe we are going to get sunshine and warm temperatures this weekend! AWESOME!!!

SIP Lounge

Tonite, Jas and I headed over to SIP lounge on Granville cos I wanted to try it out and we haven't seen each other in ages! No, not really, it's only been a couple of weeks I think but it feels like ages! Jas isn't feeling too well, she's got a cold but she took some meds and made it out. Jas managed to get off early (430) and we headed over to Granville street, omg, the construction is horrid! On some parts of Granville, there are no sidewalks and it was very dangerous to walk on. Hopefully, this construction will be done soon cos now I will not go down Granville until it is! Jas and I had a really hard time walking on the gravel, almost tripping and falling into the rubble as we headed towards the lounge. After what seemd like a long journey, we arrived and got a nice table on the right side, we decided to share a few plates as it was a bit too early for dinner but I could not drink my martinis without food. We ordered Amaretto Green Beans, Prawn and Crab Cakes and Beer Battered Fries - all so very yummy and a good size to share! I ordered a couple of drinks, a Flirtini and a Peach Blossom - super yummy altho I def preferred the Flirtini (absolut raspberri, alize red, raspberry puree and citrus). The ambiance is quite nice, the staff were great and I guess it was still early plus the construction outside made the lounge empty which means it was pretty quiet. It's a really cool place to have drinks and appy's and I would def go back! It's going to be one of my fave lounges in Vancouver I think :) It was a great evening of catching up with Jas and she was so sweet in treating me out this time! Thank you to pieces! Next one is on me and a home cooked meal or two! I wanted to take photos of the food, drinks and construction but I forgot to grab my camera this morning. Oh well, next time!

Vancouver's Umbrella

Since it rains so much here in Vancouver and these past few months, the weather has not been too kind I decided it was time to own a well built and sturdy umbrella. I have gone through a few Totes umbrellas and a Fulton umbrella - this one lasting longer than the Totes! But I find that the Totes brand cannot withstand the Vancouver rains or winds! I decided to check out The Umbrella Shop and pick up a two fold auto in a pink with a special fabric called Fonewr Nano (super durable water/oil/dirt repellent fabric) for $24.95. My umbrella has a lifetime warranty (perfect) and TUS will repair the umbrella at either no cost or a very small cost depending on what needs to be repaired. That is GREAT news since I have replaced quite a number of Totes umbrellas at their cost! The only downside to my new umbrella is that it can only open automatically and I have to manually close the umbrella. This will be a pain since I usually have my hands full and would prefer that it opens and closes but TUS does not carry their own branded open/close umbrellas. If I could justify myself on spending more money, I would have gone with one of these:

The pattern above is the Vancouver skyline designed by a local artist, Barbara Wood and it is made in Vancouver. TUS has a small selection of their own branded umbrellas which are made in Vancouver but unfortuantely none of their folding umbrellas are made locally but they are designed by TUS. Vancouver skyline umbrella priced at $84.95 - it's not that bad considering I've spent more than $100 on my crappy umbrellas. Oh well, maybe next fall as Vancity's rainy season should be lightening up!