Swimming and Dessert

After work, Rhoda and I headed over to HonHon's condo for a quick swim cos today was the perfect day (24C) to go for a dip in the pool! Originally, we had planned to hike the Grouse Grind but neither of us wanted to drive so we looked into taking transit up there, the time to take to get up there isn't too bad, only about 30+ minutes but coming back would take us an hour or more. I don't really mind but after an hour of hiking the Grind, I think we will be too tired too sweaty and too hungry to have the patience to get home so we decided to go for a swim instead. Also, I haven't gone swimming in a while and my knees are getting a bit sore from all the running, I need to start alternating my runs with swims. After our refereshing swim, we decided to head back to my place for dinner cos we too cheap to eat out. Besides, I have perfected my homemade kick@ss Caesar vinaigrette and I had some pesto chicken leftovers served on a baked mini whole wheat tortilla wrap. After dinner, we edited and updated her CHIC blog (partnered starter-business) and chatted a bit about stuff. Around 8.30pm craving for dessert, we headed over to a little HK style dessert house on Kingsway and Boundary. I choose to try a cold mango bobo served in coconut milk dessert and Rhoda had the same thing with mango juice, ohmy so yummmeeeeee......we deserve the light refreshing dessert after our 30 minute swim! A great way to end our nite!

Dinner and Dessert

Tonite, I headed out for authentic japanese on Main street with Shel and Kitty. Ohmygosh, it was really good and they have the most unique rolls I've seen in a long time! Zipang Sushi on Main street, the cross street is 21st - it's super busy and super small but you can make reservations which I highly suggest. Must take HonHon there, he would def enjoy the fresh and authentic sushi. At dinner, we caught up on life and I can't believe how generous these 2 are! Shel and Kitty bought a birthday gift for Kay and they ended up paying for the entire meal! These 2 are such good peeps! I also got the updates for their next holiday in September and wow, Asia for 3 weeks - how nice! Vancouver to Tokyo (omg, there is a Sanrio Land in Tokyo!) 7 days to Taipei 7 days to Hong Kong 5 days and back to Vancouver. Cost of all flights? Just under $1500! Wow what an awesome deal! Plus they are going to Priceline for hotels and hoping to get some sweet deals there. Wish Jas and I had considered looking for our San Fran hotel on priceline! Oh well, next time, now I know :) I am very interested in going to Sanrio Land in Tokyo and thinking about cancelling my stay at Grand Hi-Lai Hotel in Kaohsiung where they have Hello Kitty rooms - ohmy what is wrong with me? Nah, I can do both! Hahaha... apparently a nite stay is $300 CDN, damn, didn't know that so now I might have to cancel this stay! After dinner, we had an hour before meeting up with Jimmy and his girlfriend at True Confections for dessert. I have known Jimmy since I was 14 and even tho we've lost touch thru out some of those years, we have a few common friends and ended up chatting again. For the last 7 years, he's been working in Taipei and coming back every year to visit. Since, Shel and I drove our own cars to Zipang, he and Kitty headed over to Future Shop while I drove into Kerrisdale to pick up Kay and Tash. After dropping Tash home, we headed over to True Confections on Broadway and Alma. Mmmm... I have been thinking about the Devil's Food Cake with Marshmallow icing since Shel mentioned True Confections earlier in the week. After an hour and half of chatting and catching up, it was time to say good bye cos I had to wake up early the next day. It was really nice to catch up with Jimmy and always a pleasure spending time with Shel and Kitty - they are really great people!

Quiet

This morning, I woke up at 5am and could not get back to sleep. It must be the quietness and not having my sister with me. Since I could not get back to sleep, I decide to go for an early morning run since I hadn't done any running in over a week. It is really nice to run in the early morning cos the air is so fresh, it's so quiet and no one is around. It felt great running this morning and I should try to get up early every morning to run but I doubt I can do it since I enjoy snoozing every morning for 30 minutes!!

Good Byes

Mom and I woke up early to drop my sister off at the airport today but first, we had one last HK tea and breakfast with her. Her suitcases were so heavy and full, gosh did she have a ton of stuff and hoping she does not go over the limit. Luckily, she did not when we checked her in at 12.30pm, she had an hour before heading through customs so we ordered coffee at Starbucks and sat in the waiting area to spend her last hour in Vancouver. Mom and sister were really really sad and didn't want to leave each other and I think it really hasn't hit me just yet. I'm not terribly upset at the moment but it could also be cos I know I'll see her soon! My plans to HK still remain for February 2010 so it's not that far away before I see her again! After sending her off to customs, we headed over to Kirin Seafood Restaurant in Richmond to meet my grams, yee mah and bui jei for dim sum. After dim sum, mom drove yee mah and bui jei to Costco one last time and I headed home with grams. Gosh, it's going to be quiet in my suite without my sister :(

Saturday with Mom and Sister

Today, mom and I got to spend the entire day with my sister! Luckily, auntie inge came by the house to take my grams, yee mah and bui jei shopping at Holt Renfrew in downtown cos that's one of her fave places to shop and they wanted to shop around HR. Mom and I took my sister back to Superstore for some last minute items, a quick break for HK style tea and mini meal, Dollar store for a few more items, and back home to rest so she could start organizing her luggage before meeting my brother in Richmond for a farewell dinner. Kay and her friend, Tash came with us to dinner cos we decided to take my sister to the Richmond nite market and those two made plans to head down there tonite. We met my brother at Boston Steakhouse and the steak wasn't too bad cos we had a stone grill steak which is the only way I'll eat a steak at a chinese restaurant. The best part of this meal is the dessert, a slice of mango cake - mangoes from the Philippines! The slice of cake alone costs $7.00!! We decided to pick up a piece to go for my grams cos she loves and misses Philippine mangos, you really can't get them here in Vancouver. After my brother and I paid for the delish meal, I got a VIP card for the restaurant for 10% off meals and 20% off whole cakes at the bakery where the mango cake is made. After some photo taking, we parted ways with my brother cos he has an early morning, a charity golf tournament and we headed towards the nite market. We left the girls on their own for the hour while we three browse through the stands. There really isn't much at the night market but I ended up picking 2 Hello Kitty (knock offs) shower caps :) After an hour in the nite market, we decided it was time to go home cos my sister needed to finish packing, gosh she has so much stuff - hopefully, everything will fit in her luggage! It was a great way to end the nite and I am going to miss her so much.

Happy 90th Birthday Grandma!

Tonite, we celebrated my grandma's 90th birthday! I can't believe she's 90, she doesn't look or act like 90, people always assume she is much younger and I always tell her she's not a day over 60 :)

In the afternoon, we had to run errands like pick up her fresh mango birthday cake from Michele Cake House in Kerrisdale and pick up 6 bottles of red wine from the liquor store. Grams headed to Red Star Seafood Restaurant earlier cos she had mahjong games starting at 3pm. Dinner was to start at 8pm which gives her a few hours to play mahjong with her friends. After picking up the cake and liquor and dropping it off at the restaurant, most of the afternoon was gone so mom wanted to head home to get ready for the dinner party and she wanted me to drive yee mah and bui jei to Superstore. Mom didn't want to do any more walking or shopping so my sister and I dropped them off at Superstore first and we headed over to a HK style tea house for some tea and a snack, knowing 8pm dinner is not an 8pm start. Finishing our mini meal and tea, 45 minutes later, we headed back to Superstore to pick up my yee mah and bui jei but they weren't done shopping!! After 30 minutes and a buggy full of snacks for humans and dogs, we headed towards the check out so we could get back to the house and get ready for dinner.

Once we arrived home, we all started to get ready and can you believe that 3 of us had to share one small bathroom? Ohmy! We managed cos we were finished first before the rest of them so my sis and I left with the party favours and wine first. At the restaurant, we booked a small room to hold the dinner and I wasn't impressed with the size or the set up of the room. Dinner started at 8 and we arrived a bit earlier to set up and greet people as they came. It wasn't a very large room and there were 3 tables of mahjong and no room to mingle. I def would not go back there to throw a dinner party! Mahjong finishing up, the wait staff started to set up the tables and we started to arrange the seating for everyone. One table for Gram's friends, one table for grams and the elders, and the last table was for us - young'ens! As people settled into their seats, my yee mah and bui jei wanted my grams to make her first slice in the b'day cake (and take photos) before serving dinner as they wanted to include the cake with the dessert at the end. Once photos and cake slicing was done, we started our 10 course meal that's what it felt like anyways! During the meal, we had Kay and my Uncle Alex take photos and boy did my Uncle Alex enjoy taking the photos! I didn't get too many photos on my camera but hopefully, I'll get the ones off Kay's cam. I do not have even one photo of my grandma in my camera, well not a good one anyways. The food being served by the restaurant was not too bad but not the greatest Chinese food I've had. But as long as our grams was happy, we were all happy and boy was she happy. She had a great birthday and she really enjoyed herself. It was the best 90th birthday party ever! Happy 90th birthday Grams! (and we'll do it again in 10 years!)

More Shopping and Eating

Ohmygoodness! Another long of eating and shopping! This afternoon, grams, yee mah and bui jei had appointments at grams's hair stylist on Granville and 60th. Grams had asked my mom to pick up yee mah and bui jei after their hair appointment and take them out shopping but by the time we arrived, everyone was finished including grams! Yee mah was quite hungry so they decided to have dim sum at Red Star which is where we are going for grams's birthday but yee mah had insisted that she wanted dim sum and there wasn't anywhere else close by to get dim sum before 3pm. Yee mah had ordered way too much food and we had to take a lot back with us. It was such a waste cos we three had already eaten before coming out and we all ended up going separate ways cos yee mah, bui jei and grams headed over to Oakridge Centre while we three headed home but made a stop for HK tea. Once back home, we did some resting before heading over to the Dollar Store (needed to pick up frames for grams's table placements) and Costco cos bui jei wanted to pick up some stuff to bring home to Hong Kong. After a lot of shopping at Costco, we headed home and it was time for another meal altho I choose to skip out and eat the dim sum leftovers cos my mom's car can't fit 7 of us. It seemed pointless for me to drive myself and my sister so I decided to stay home. But my sister decided to keep me company so she stayed home with me leaving my mom to be on her own with yee mah and bui jei. I am so stuffed that I can no longer button my button on my stretchy denim! I can't imagine trying to get into my R&Rs or Citizens! I def need to go on a diet once everyone leaves, way too much eating out!!!

Happy Birthday Yee Mah

Tonite, we headed over to an All You Can Eat japanese restaurant on Kingsway. We were 15 minutes late but luckily Auntie Inge was already there. The food was alright, I'm not really into All You Can Eat japanese dinners but this one had wild salmon sashimi, raw oysters and geoduck. After the meal, we headed home (minus Auntie Inge) to surprise yee mah with a birthday cake and red wine. The cake was delish but there is a lot of leftover, I am def going to have to go on a diet after everyone leaves!!!

Two of Us - A Day of Shopping

What a great day we had, my sister and I :) We manage to escape go out on our own for the afternoon without the rest of the family cos we had to exchange the jersey I picked up for my nephew the day before. My sister wanted a smaller size cos she is sure the jersey is too large for him. We headed off to Metrotown but made a quick stop at The Boss so my sister could get her HK style tea and in peace, no one telling her she drank too much HK tea and smoked way too many cigarettes! Every time we have lunch with my grams and mom, both are constantly reminding her that she drinks too much tea and smokes way too many cigarettes. I think this is the most peaceful lunch she will have during this trip. After lunch, I took her to Build A Bear cos she has never heard of this place and she built a bunny for her daughter. I also picked up a Hello Kitty PJ set for my Hello Kitty. My sister picked out a cute bunny with long ears, stuffed it, gave it a heart, picked out the cutest Hello Kitty outfit and pink sunglasses to match finished with little pink ribbons on her long ears. My sister thought it was kinda silly stuffing the bunny but she quite enjoyed it and she knows her daughter will love the bunny and will want to come to Vancouver to build her own bear or bunny! It's too bad Winnie The Pooh is no longer available cos my sister loves Winnie they way I love Hello Kitty (ok, maybe not as obsessively as I love Hello Kitty!). After Build A Bear, we headed towards SportChek to exchange the jersey, over to Starbucks for a coffee (quick smoke break), and checked out a couple of the jewelery boutiques cos I was looking for my diamond hoops. I finally find a really nice pair and within my budget at Ann-Louise Jewelleries Ltd but these are not exactly hoops but look like hoops! Very pretty and look really great! While purchasing my hoops, my mom called and surprise, they were in Metrotown by the Bay. My bui jei wanted to go over to Body Shop to purchase a few items and my yee mah wanted to look for her hair products. My sister and I met them at the food fair and decided it would be best if we took bui jei to Body Shop and grams/yee mah walked around the Bay. After shopping around with bui jei, we decided to head back to meet them and drop bui jei off with them. My sister and I had to pick up a surprise birthday cake at Saint Germain's for my yee mah cos it's her birthday today so we left saying we were heading home. Once we got home, everyone was home and napping - we've had some early mornings. My sister took a 30 minute nap on the couch too. I rested by watching some TV and catching up on my entertainment news. We have dinner reservations at 730 but we'll see if we'll make it on time since it's close to 7 and people are still napping.

Welcome Back BFF

Today, I spent the day with Rhoda cos she came in early this morning (4am) from her trip (stagette that I missed out on) from Las Vegas and Miami. She had planned to go into work but couldn't make the all nighter, what a crazy girl! I can't believe she was planning on an all nighter! Since my yee mah wanted to shop all day and I really didn't want to, I decided to head over to Rhoda's and hear all about her trip. What a trip it was, I really missed a great time! Oh well, there will be other chances for us to go on trips. Rhoda did some shopping and she got some great stuff altho she missed out on some great deals on a couple pair of shoes due to none in her size but she did pick up a great gift for me :) Hello Kitty Las Vegas t-shirt! So cute lah, can't wait to wear it! Rhoda had to drop off the rental car in Surrey before we headed over for dim sum in Richmond. After dropping off the rental, saying our hellos to Travis, we headed off to Richmond for dim sum but to our surprise the restaurant was closed as in forever. Oh no, what to do next? We decided to have HK style tea and lunch - yet again but it's ok, it's nice to try new HK restaurants and Rhoda/mum don't order super greasy dishes. This place wasn't too bad but I didn't like the HK tea - not as yummy as The Boss. After lunch, we headed back to Burnaby but got stuck in rush hour traffic on the Knight street bridge, I didn't realize rush hour started so early, it wasn't even 4 yet! Back in Burnaby, Rhoda and I headed over to Brentwood mall so she could pick up the week's supply of fruits for herself and off to Metrotown cos I needed new runners for running. I'm wearing out my Nike shox, I didn't want to wear them out anymore cos I love'em. This pair is really cool and I won't be able to replace these ones in those colours (pink and silver). We went through most of Metrotown before finding a pair of Asics Gel Stratus 2.1 in purple - really pretty colours on sale for $109.99 from 129.99 at SportChek. I also picked up a basketball jersey for my nephew cos he wanted my sister to pick one up for him. Now I need to figure out what to pick out for my niece but I will probably end up giving her a lucky red envelope. While browsing for runners, I had my eye on a pair of Nike Shox but the ones I tried on were not comfy and I didn't want to spend $150 on a pair of runners that looked great but didn't feel great. Rhoda picked up a few items at UB and Sirens, I picked up two cute lacy tank tops at Smart Set for $19 each. After our shopping, we decided it was time to head back for dinner (almost 8pm!). When I got home, my family was still at home waiting for my sister and mom to wake up from their nap. I was invited to join them for dinner but politely declined as I did not want to eat out again and I had a nice salad waiting for me. After dinner and some weekly TV, Kay and Tash came home from Metro and Kay decided to colour her hair with Tash's help. Before calling it a nite, I drove Tash home and picked up a duo chocolate decadence cake from Max's Bakery....mmm.... great way to end a great day!

Victoria Day

Today, my brother took us out for lunch at The Boss - my sister and her daily HK style tea. After lunch, we headed over to Garden Works cos my sister wanted to buy some tulip bulbs for her rooftop garden and mom wanted to pick up weed killer. But neither one got what they wanted, it seems that Burnaby (Vancouver to follow) has passed a law that bans weed killer (due to the harmful and hazardous chemicals) and tulip bulbs are only available in September. It was starting to rain a bit and we were not in a mood for any more shopping so we headed home. My brother had plans but before leaving mom wanted to take some photos with us since it's not often that she is with all 3 of her children. Very cute! We took some photos before my brother left with 3 cameras and all turned out pretty good. I was starting to get a headache and decided to rest in my suite before my yee mah and bui jei arrived. We had to figure out the sleeping arrangements and decided it would be best if NO ONE slept on the living room floor. We decided to put my gou jei in my grams's bedroom, grams in my mom's bedroom, mom in the computer room (on the floor), my yee mah in the spare bedroom on the main floor (with a bed), and my sister downstairs with me. Gosh will be a long week with so many women in the house!

Sat and Sun

What a weekend! On Saturday, all 4 (me, sista, mom and grams) of us spent the day together shopping and eating. We headed over to Metrotown cos grams needed a new outfit for her big party on Friday. But first, my sister needs her Hong Kong tea so we decided to have lunch at The Boss. She needs her HK style tea every day! I cannot keep eating out like this, I'm going to gain all the weight I've lost in these past few weeks!! Oh well, I guess I can lose the weight after since my sis leaves cos she is only here every 10 years. After lunch, we headed over to The Bay so grams could look for her new outfit but she didn't find anything. Instead she bought a nice pair of "modern" dress pants (straight legged, all her pants are tapered) on sale and almost bought a jacket but it was a size too large. Since we were at Metrotown and grams needed to replace her black shoes, we walked over to A Step Ahead to pick out a new pair of shoes. I wanted to buy them for her but she would not allow it, I have not thought of what to buy for her birthday altho I think I'll just give her lucky money. Mom and sister did not end up with anything, I bought a couple of cute camera bags for Kay and myself at Blacks Photography - both on sale 1/2 priced! Once we were done at Metro, we headed over to the pet stores on Grandview cos my sister wanted to pick up a foldable metal cage for her small dogs in Hong Kong. While we were shopping, auntie inge called mom and she somehow invited herself over for dinner. I didn't really want to go to dinner but my sister convinced me to keep her company. We headed home to meet auntie and while they were upstairs chit chatting, my sister kept sneaking down to my suite to get away from our aunt! Good thing we were going to a good restaurant for dinner or I would have been miserable! After dinner, I was hoping we would head straight home but auntie inge invited and treated us to gelato. She kept saying how great La Casa Gelato is and how my sister had to have it while in Vancouver. I was much too full for gelato and declined the treat but grams gave me half of her gelato cos she can't finished a whole scoop. Of all the 218 flavours in the store, my sister went with vanilla! But we had just finished dinner and how can one eat right after a huge meal?? After gelato, we headed home and while aunt, grams, and mom watched a movie, my sister stayed downstairs with me. We talked about life and mom, mostly how mom and I fight and have our spats. All 3 of us are quite similar and she gave me some advice on how to handle mom and our fights. I will take it in consideration and be more sensitive towards my mom cos she is our mother and the advice is from my big sister. We decided it was probably a safe call to head back upstairs afte 1am cos they were probably done with the movie. We stayed upstairs and chatted with mom before calling it a nite.

On Sunday, we went out for dim sum with my sister's friend friend/hubby from HK who have been in Vancouver for 3 years. My sister had introduced them last week and hoped the two of them could be friends cos both have a lot in common. I didn't really like the dim sum at the restaurant (can't remember the name but it's on Main and 29th?) and the conversations at the table were interesting but boring. I couldn''t really follow much of it cos they were speaking way too fast. After dim sum, we (minus hubby) headed home cos they were going to play mahjong and I decided it would be a good day to run my errands. Plus I really didn't want to eat the take out from Kent's kitchen (their dinner) so I headed over to Superstore to pick up fruits, veggies and SALAD. I spent most of the day watching TV, playing with Ginger and visiting upstairs (during their mahjong breaks). But the nite is almost over and now it's time to head off to pick up Kay. I can't believe my sister is only here for 7 more days and my mom's sister (yee mah) and my cousin (bui jei) is coming tomorrow! I am not looking forward to having 7 women under 1 roof with only 4 bathrooms and I'm sure once they arrive, this visit will go by much quicker than I want it to. I'm def going to visit HK next year so I can see my sister . It already makes me sad thinking she's got only one week left in Vancouver!

Day in Victoria, BC

Today, mom, sis, and I woke up really early to head over to Victoria for the day! We had booked a day tour with a local chinese travel agency and our bus left Richmond at 7.45am. It seems so wrong to wake up so early on a day off but I had taken the day off to spend it with my sis and mom. This is the first time I've ever been on a ferry and on the island so I was a bit excited altho a bit worried about being on the ferry. The ferry is huge and was not what I expected but I didn't realize we'd be on the ferry for an hour! It really wasn't too bad until the ferry started to make it's turns towards Vancouver Island and I could feel the water and the movement which started making me nauseous! I went out for some air and that helped a bit. I think HonHon would really enjoy being on the ferry and I would def go on again but next time, I'll take some gravol. HonHon is a bit upset that I had gone to Victoria without him but now I'm a bit familiar with downtown Victoria and we won't get too lost when we go together. Our first stop was downtown Victoria, the tour did not include admission to the Royal Wax Museum so we did not go to the museum instead we headed over to The Fairmount Empress as I wanted to pick up some tea from the hotel. I really wanted to have afternoon tea but we did not have enough time (only an hour in downtown) and would be heading over to Chinatown for lunch so it wouldn't be a good idea to be full for our free meal (included with the tour package). We took some photos around downtown, visited the Parliament buildings, and walked around the waterfront before meeting the group at the bus. After downtown, we headed over to Chinatown for lunch at one of the oldest restaurants in Chinatown, gosh lunch was not great (or edible IMO) and there was not enough food for everyone at our table cos it was set up for 8 people, the 3 of us made it for 9. We ended up being short on the chicken and soup! I ended up ordering a couple of dim sum plates (shrimp dumplings and spring rolls) and that wasn't very tasty either! Maybe we should have had afternoon tea and walked over to the restaurant! Oh well. After lunch, we had ten minutes to take photos in Chinatown which of course I did, took many shots of the gates in Chinatown but not enough time to explore the rest of Chinatown. I would have liked to visit Fan Tan Alley, the narrowest street in Canada. After Chinatown, we were off to Butchard Gardens for another couple of hours and it is a beautiful garden filled with so many beautiful flowers. My sister really enjoyed this part of the tour as she loves flowers and her fave flower was in full bloom covering most of the garden. Tulips, tulips and more tulips with so many colours and so many types, it was def a great treat! After the garden, it was time to head back to Vancouver. The ferry ride back seemed much longer and probably was since we were up so early and had a very long day. Once in Vancouver, we decided to head over to Mui Garden on Victoria Street for dinner cos we were much too tired to cook dinner. It was a really fun day and I am so glad to have spent it with my sister and mom! (More photos on my flickr account, I had so many photos to go thru, the ones posted are my fave ones! Enjoy!)

Mama's Day Meal

Finally! Kay and I had our mama's day meal. During the afternoon, I decided to do a bit of shopping on my own cos I needed some time to myself plus Kay had a homework group date at 3pm. I headed over to Oakridge, Ikea, Future Shop, Lansdowne Mall and then back to Oakridge to pick up Kay once she was finished. At Oakridge, I dropped Kay off at the library and picked up a coffee at Starbucks, walked around the shopping centre - found nothing, Ikea, I picked up a few items that I have been meaning to pick up, Future Shop I returned an item I found less expensive online, Lansdowne Mall I went to Home Outfitters, JYSK and Zellers to find a TV foldaway tray table (for my laptop and dinner in front of the TV) and back to Oakridge (Starbucks on Cambie/39th) to pick up Kay before heading home. Kay picked up a $25 GC for Starbucks which I really appreciated but insisted that she should pay for 1/2 of dinner instead. I gave her $25 back and headed over to the Tipper on Kingsway for dinner cos we missed brunch this morning. We ordered a few items to share and I had a glass of red wine and Kay an iced tea. We talked about school and life, it was a really nice way end the day since we had such a bad morning. But I'm happy to have whatever amount of time I can get with her. Altho next year, she'll have to give me the entire day :)

Happy Mother's Day

or not.

I had a 7.25am start to the day cos I had to wake up early to drive my mom and sis to their pick up spot in Burnaby. I couldn't go back to sleep and I was too tired to go for a morning run so I decided to spend the morning in my PJs and watch TV while I waited for Kay to get up. She was suppose to take me out for brunch but never ended up doing so and I was so angry that I finally yelled at her to get up and tell her that Mother's Day brunch is cancelled cos I'm too hungry to wait any longer plus I started making my own brunch! She and I had a bit of a yelling matching this morning. Not the best way to start Mother's Day but this is the one day of the year where she is suppose to be less selfish and treat her mom to a day! After a little while I realized this wasn't good so I went into her room to explain how upset I was and she called me mean (cos I was yelling at her) and she was going to take me out, buy my a necklace, flowers and cupcake. I told her I didn't want all of that and all I really wanted was BRUNCH. One meal, her treat and that was all. She was suppose to head over to meet her friend at the library to study or something but she is not going to anymore. I guess I might have been a little over the top this morning but I was pretty upset when it was almost 1pm and she still hadn't woken up. I didn't appreciate her excuses about how I should have woken her up and when I mentioned how upset would she be if I had forgotten her birthday or made dinner plans and didn't follow thru and she said well people have forgotten her birthday. I said I'm her mother and not a friend, how would she feel if I did what she did this morning. It wouldn't have happened. I think she finally understood and I felt bad for making her cry and all the yelling I did this morning. Guess it doesn't help that I am having strong nictoine urges cos my sista has been bad and letting me take drags off her smokes! Oh well, I'm gonna go have a smoke now .....

Happy (early) Mum's Day!

We continued the weekend with more shopping and eating with my sista :)

We had another great day! We took her to Metrotown to pick up some sneakers for my sis cos she doesn't own a pair sneakers in HK and mom and her are going on a 4 day trip to Alberta (Banff, Lake Louise etc) so she needs a pair of shoes with treads. We did a bit of shopping at Metro and decided to have a snack at The Boss cos my sista needed her "lai chai"! At The Boss we ordered my fave dish to share and a snack from the tea menu and of course, a couple of lai chai's. Once we finished at Metrotown, we headed over to the Station Square Dollar store to pick up more things. After the Dollar Store, we headed over to Future Shop and Best Buy cos my sista is thinking about buying a laptop here cos it's a bit cheaper than HK. We made a quick stop at Starbucks before heading home to get ready for dinner.

We did our mother's day dinner tonite cos mom and sista are heading out to Banff tomorrow. We met up with my brother at Spice Islands Indonesian Restaurant at 7pm altho we were about 20 minutes late cos we were waiting for grandma. We ordered a variety of items and it was all pretty delish except we didn't really like the fish dish but overall, it was pretty yummy. My brother took care of the bill even though I told him I would pay 1/2 cos she's my mom too but I didn't fight with him for it.

After dinner, we ended the night with HK dessert in Richmond even tho we were all pretty stuffed. Kay didn't order anything from the dessert place so I picked up a BBT for her from Leisure. It was a great day with the family and tomorrrow, mom and sis are going on a 4 day trip to AB. It'll be quiet without them but nice to eat dinner at home cos my tummy can only take so many dinner outings. More photos on my flickr account.

Shopping and Eating

Gosh, what a long first day she had in Vancouver, we took her to shop for gifts and cream puffs - yes she needed to have some cream puffs! Hahaha... first stop to the Dollar shop which is no longer a dollar store, it's a 1.25 store now :( We had a great day of sunshine so that was nice. After dollar shop, we headed over to Superstore to pick up her cream puffs. After our shopping, we decided to go home so she could rest a bit and she unpacked all the goodies she brought back from HK for us! We got lotsa great stuff and she brought me over more Tempo tissues! Plus some hair accessories :) Most important, she brought my mom her Lee Kum Kee XO sauce and cute outfits / shoes for Ginger (which Ginger did not like at all). After a long day of shopping, gift giving and chatting, it was time to decide on what to eat for dinner. We decided on a Korean BBQ place on Kingsway close to home - it was very yummy and they added a few new items to their menu - next time we are going to try the beef braised pot. It was really nice to take the day off and spend it with my sista!

Welcome to Vancouver!

My sister has arrived from Hong Kong and it's been much too long since the last time I saw her (2001) but she hasn't changed much except that she dyed her hair blonde with pink streaks! UGH!! WTF?? Apparently, it's hot in HK right now... errr...ok ... thank goodness I'm not a honger! Can't wait to spend the next couple weeks with her!

Birthday Cupcake

Kay's birthday cupcake! Mmmm...yum! Diva cupcake, her fave cupcake!

Another Birthday Dinner

for Kay! Her grandpa took her out for her birthday. She picked Italian Tomato in Richmond and I'm pretty sure we ate here for her last birthday as well. This place doesn't serve the best pasta, it's pretty standard pasta like Boston Pizza etc. but the portions are HUGE. It's like 3 meals on one large oval plate. Kay couldn't decide what to eat so she choose this place but I think this is the last time we will eat here. I really enjoy italian and this is def not authentic italian cuisine!

Happy Birthday!

HAPPY BIRTHDAY KAY!!

Today she turns 15 - wow, I can't believe she's 15 already! It just doesn't feel like she's 15, gosh how the years pass. Tonite, we took her out to a fancy restaurant to celebrate her 15th - she's become quite a lady and gosh, she is so beautiful :) I just love her to pieces and can't believe she's growing up so quickly!

Tonite, we took her out to Delilah's in the West End to celebrate her birthday. I wanted to book her at the Lux at Caprice but it booked up quite quickly and I missed the last reservation by mere minutes! We wanted to take her somewhere more "grown up" since she's almost grown up and I hardly ever take her out to places like this. The meal and service was moderate and the prices a bit higher than I expected. Overall the meal wasn't terrible but wasn't fantastic. The decor was pretty old school, kinda had an 1950ish jazzy feeling to it and I really wished I had gotten reservations at the Lux cos it's a bit more trendy and updated. Next year or maybe next time we head out, we'll take her somewhere nice like that. After dinner, we brought out her birthday cheesecake from Urban Fare since that is what she requested. It's a vanilla bean cheesecake with fresh berries and it is super delicious! One of the best cheesecakes ever! It was a nice night and it was so nice to spend it with our best girlfriends plus Kay was really happy and appreciative. I hope she had a really great birthday! More great photos on our flickr account, check it out!

SOLD!

I'm sad to see this go but it's brand new and I received a beautiful epi wallet from HonHon on V'day. It is such a shame to hold onto this wallet when I can sell it and make some money and let someone else enjoy this wallet. SOLD for $450.

Text Messaging

OMG!!

I can't believe Kay!! I am so angry with her.... I just received our cell phone bill and she went over her 2500 texts last month (texting in at 3601 texts = average of 120 texts a day!!). I have to change her phone plan to something with unlimited texting! This extra charge means this month's phone bill is almost $300 and it is not a good month to go over cos I have a ton of added expenses this month!

Enigma

Tonite, Rhoda and I met up with Kent/Ashley and friends at Enigma on West 10th in Vancouver. A live Cuban band is playing at the restaurant and we went there to check it out. Kent/Ashley's friend, Veronica, knows the owners - a couple from South Africa, of this neighbourhood restaurant and the menu has a bit of everything altho, the calamari, yam fries and sticky toffee pudding are well known favorites! I had originally wanted to order the calamari and yam fries but opted to go with the 3 course meal with a Mexican theme - Cinco de Mayo. The appy was pretty good but the main course and dessert were not so great. Oh well, there is always a next time I guess... altho I probably wouldn't go back as it is a bit further from where I live and there are many neighborhood gems closer to our place. But it was a fun nite and everyone is always so nice and entertaining!!