Summer Loving: First Week of July

I’m a bit behind in blogging because my computer has been acting up lately but I think I’ve solved the problem. Since I didn’t post anything lats week, I’m going to separate my weekend recaps into two post. This post will consist of pictures from the first week of July.

Canada Day

My Canada day didn’t go as I had planned. I intended to go to Canada Place with my cousin before she went to work but we left the house too late and couldn’t make it in time. Instead we went to Chinatown:

We went to The Ramen Butcher for lunch. I had the Tsukemen; a cold ramen dish dipped in warm soup. It was great for the hot weather that day, but I found the broth too salty for my preference.

Afterwards, we walked over to Matchstick Coffee and I had an iced London Fog. Matchstick coffee is one of my favourite places to get a London Fog, following Steam tea house.

Afterwards, I went over to my other cousins house to celebrate his birthday and to eat some more. Following that, my friends and I had planned to go to Wreck Beach, but we never made it to the beach because one of my friends got too drunk and passed out.

Friday- July 3rd

On Friday afternoon, my cousin and I decided to bring her dog Miso to the park and have a picnic as well. We bought some snacks and sandwiches from Renzullo Food Market, a cute family-run deli in my neighborhood.

{Miso and I outside of Renzullo Food Market’s wall mural}

Weekend Recap: Enjoying the Hot Weather In Vancouver

This past weekend in Vancouver has been hot temperature wise. Originally I had plan to go on a road trip with some school friends but I just started a new job and I wasn’t sure if i could get time off, so I didn’t end up going. Instead, I took advantage of the nice weather and spent time with family and high school friends! My weekend was a little too indulgent, but it’s Monday and I’m back to the clean eating grind.

I spent most of my weekend at the beach, more specifically at Spanish Banks. I like Spanish Banks because I find it less busy than the other beaches in Vancouver and there is free parking!

Friday: froyo, beach and family time

Prior to the beach, my cousin and I stopped by Scoop on West 4th to get some frozen yogurt. I got the lavender flavour while my cousin got the matcha flavour.

{Me and my frozen yogurt}

Spanish Banks was really quiet on the Friday afternoon we went. I didn’t mind though, it was quite nice actually.

{My cousin and the view}

After the beach I had a family dinner with my moms side of the family. I didn’t take any pictures of that but there was a lot of food!

Saturday: catching up with old friends and the beach again

Weekend Recap: Father’s Day, Hiking and New Addition to the Family

I know, I’ve been a bad blogger. Truthfully, I haven’t been on my laptop much since it has been really laggy and with my phone and iPad, I don’t use my laptop as much.

I had a pretty good weekend, although I wasn’t feeling well on Sunday. Here’s a recap of my weekend:

Friday: early father’s day dinner at Cotto Enoteca Pizzeria

Since most my of family members were working on Father’s day (including myself), we celebrated father’s day early. My dad wanted Italian food, so I chose Cotto Enoteca Pizzeria in Burnaby because I’ve always wanted to try their pizza’s!

{We started our meal with calamari and shared the penne chicken pesto and linguine vongole pasta}

{We also shared the polpette and panchetta pizza}

{My family!}

Saturday: hiking at Stawamus Chief

Initially I didn’t have any plans for Saturday but some of my school friends were going hiking at the Chief and asked if I wanted to join. It was my first time hiking the Chief and it was actually really fun! My legs were burning though because I did an intense leg day the day prior.

{I met this sweetest dog named Sonic on the hike. He kept coming back to me because he wanted some of my sandwich but I didn’t mind at all}

{The second peak. It actually started raining when we got to the top of the second peak so we had to wait for the rain to stop before we could go back down}

Shishinori & Dining for One

I know many people don’t enjoy dining alone because it might seem awkward or maybe there’s some stigma attached to it. For myself, it really depends on the place, but I’ve gotten to a point where I’ve become comfortable dining alone. The only downside is that when I’m alone and taking pictures, I often get people staring at me and probably also judging me haha.

Last week I was running some errands and needed some food, so I decided to go to Shishinori for some healthy eats. I love Shishinori because they include brown rice and a delicious salad with their most of their dishes. Great for people who are trying to eat healthier!

I get what I usually order, the Hawaii ahi poke bowl in spicy sauce. I decided to make it a meal by adding an iced green tea and dessert, which was matcha pudding that day. This also comes in shoyo or wasabi, but I’ve never tried those options before. This dish is good, not very spicy though, but for $12 I found the portion to be a bit small. The total for this meal was around $15 ($12 + $3 to make it a meal).

I sat outside and enjoyed the bustling streets of Cambie as people watched me take pictures of my food.

What are your thoughts/opinions on dining alone? Do you do it?

On Changing my Lifestlye

Lately I’ve been experiencing some health scares. It was a wake-up call for me because as a 21 year old, I still have a long life ahead of me. A combination of unhealthy eating habits, stress, lack of sleep and lack of motivation to exercise created an unhealthy lifestyle. A recent unsettling event also triggered me to binge eat, which made matters worse. Now I’m on a mission to change my lifestyle, which includes eating healthier and exercising regularly. I’ve hired a personal trainer to help motivate me to exercise, in addition to teaching me how to exercise effectively and properly. I’m not going to lie, as a person who loves food, making healthier eating choices is hard! Cooking at home allows me to control what I eat and also saves me money.

But when I do go out to eat, I try to order healthier items. Recently, I’ve been enjoying Burgoo’s vegiterranean sandwich accompanied by their kale and quinoa salad. Although I love to eat meat, I love the combination of the vegetables in this sandwich.

Thank you for reading!

May Lately

Now that I’m on my summer break, it’s nice not having to stress over school. This week I’ve been really sick, so I haven’t done much except for visits to the hospital, going to my internship and working out with my personal trainer.

Here are some pictures from last weekend + Monday:

{Chicken and waffle from Scadilicious on Victoria Drive. I love how they used a cornbread waffle for this dish}

On Sunday, after visiting Eat! Vancouver, my dad wanted to go to Steveston, so we enjoyed the lovely sunny evening there…

{Picture of me snapchatting the cute dog on the boat}

Food and Friends

When my friends and I hang out, eating is usually involved. I guess it’s great to have friends who love to eat and try new places! Since midterms are over, I had some free time to hang out with Es S and S.A.W. and we went on a mini food adventure.

We met up at Basho cafe where I finally had the chance to try one of their savory food items:

I ordered a tuna tataki salad + lunch set which includes a green tea, soup of the day and mini sweets. The salad was delcious; the combination of the tender tuni tataki topped with ginger garlic sauce (sauce similar to the sauce you dip hainese chicken with), pickeled carrots and daikon and crisp lettuce dressed with a nice sauce was divine. I also ordered a matcha madeleine, which was also good.

Next off, we headed to Richmond for some Asian food! We decided on Aberdeen foot court:

We got deep fried chicken wings to share from Wo Fung Dessert and they were crispy and delectable. A must try if you’re at Aberdeen food court!

Lastly, for dessert, we went to Bubble Fruity for some Chinese desserts:

Pictured above is durian flavour sago cream, mango flavour sago cream and taro flavour sago cream with pearls. We all enjoyed our desserts and it was a great way to end our food adventure.

 

Life Lately: Food, Beauty and Health

Hello! Sorry for the short hiatus, I have been swamped with midterms that blogging has been one of my last priorities these days. I have two midterms before my reading break and I’m bummed that I won’t be going anywhere during my reading break. Guess I’ll just reminisce about my time in Vegas last year. Here are bits of my past week:

{Dine Out Vancouver @ Baru Latino}

I went to my second (and last) Dine Out on Sunday at Baru Latino. I specifically chose Baru Latino for their paella (bottom left picture). Overall, my meal was delicious and the flan was heavenly, although M thought it was too sweet.

{Left to right: Murad oil control mattifier, Murad Pure Skin Dietary Supplements, Anatasia brow powder, Boscia Clear Complexion Treatment and Clinique All About Eyes eye cream}

I ordered some skin care products from Sephora a few weeks ago when they were doing a 2x the points event. The products above are mostly to target my acne and oily skin. I’ve tried a multitude of products for my oily skin, but nothing has really worked so far. I read good reviews about the Murad oil control mattifier, so I am anxious to see how it will work for me!

Food Filled Week

My week last week was a mix of good and bad. The week was suppose to be filled with food adventures, which it was, but I also had some bumps along the way… I had an incident with my car (nothing serious, I bumped into a parked car while trying to park) and I’m pretty sure I failed my first stats midterm (50 minutes for a stats exam is not enough, I didn’t manage to finish the last 2 pages of the midterm). Although I was feeling down from those events, I realize that it’s best to just move on and acknowledge my shortcomings.

Here are some highlights from the past 2 weeks:

{Dessert tasting}

My week started off with a dessert tasting hosted by UBC Food Society. Desserts included frissant, green tea mousse cake, pavlova, tapioca pudding, coconut chiffon cake, marjolane cake and cheesecake (not pictured).

{Rose flavoured iced hot chocolate, liege waffle with salted caramel and chocolate hazelnut spread}

{“London Fogg” hot chocolate- hot chocolate with vanilla and earl grey flavoured frozen gelato bar}

I also tried 2 places participating in the hot chocolate festival. Pictured above are hot chocolates from Chocolaterie de la Nouvelle France and Bella Gelateria.

New Year, New Food Adventures

Happy New Years everyone! I don’t usually make resolutions because I never stick to them, but this year, I am trying to eat out less in an attempt to save money. With so many events going on in the month of January (Street Food City, Dine Out Vancouver and the hot chocolate festival to name a few…), it’s difficult not to succumb to the temptation.

I just wanted to share some of my recent food adventures, a few from December of 2013

{Chicken karaage waffle sandwich from Miura’s new location}

{ Desserts from Chez Christophe}

{I finally visited Beaucoup Bakery! I got a croissant and it was heavenly}

{Chicken Pad Thai from Bob Likes Thai Food. This was at their Broadway location, which I did not know existed}

{Coconut pudding and sweet sticky rice from Bob Likes Thai Food}

Thanks for reading!