my randomness..

Our first piece..

2008-07-26T07:49:00.002-07:00

Despite we have not move into our place yet, we can't help but browse online for potential furnitures. I stumbled onto this web site called Design Sponge. It got a lot of great ideas of turning old/used pieces into new gems, and provides many links to where others get their furnitures. I quickly went on Craigslist and several stores web site where they look to be promising.

Low and behold we came upon a bar stool we love in the SALE section at DWR. Everything is perfect, other than the color. I tried to search high and low for any other store that may sell them (you have no idea how many stools we have already looked at). Nothing within reach, the only other place is in Denmark and England. I have pretty much given up hopes until Mike thought of the ingenious idea of getting it re-paint locally. As I last check their inventory, they only got 7 left in their warehouse. So I quickly called around for prices on powder coating. It turns out to be quite reasonable. This mean, we can have it any color we want! Even better! I relay the information back to Mike and we decided to proceed with the stools. And now, we are the official owner of the Hee stools!!

We DID it!

2008-07-11T21:33:00.003-07:00

I haven't blog for ages. Mainly because I'm lazy. But for the last month or so, things were quite hectic for Mike and I. We had to make one of the biggest decision and purchase by far. We went condo shopping! It was definitely an emotional roller coaster.

After reading countless documents, calling numerous places for information, and many sleepless nights. Now we just have to let all the paper work put in place and wait to move in.

As the day grew closer, we are getting more excited. Even though we will be poor and can't afford to go anywhere, or do anything that require spending money, but we can't wait to enjoy the better things in life.

Let the count down begin!!

My first laptop

2008-03-31T18:58:00.003-07:00

After years of sharing computer with my family back in Toronto, then with Mike in Vancouver, but now my sharing days are over. I am finally a proud owner of my first laptop!

Before the new toy, I was happily using Mike's old laptop. Until one day, the wireless card stopped working. The laptop became a desktop overnight. Like back in the stone age, I was bound to the desk by a cable wire. The lack of mobility drove me insane. Now that I got my new MacBook, and with the abundance of wifi connection everywhere. I can't wait to do some outdoor surfing!

Then until now..

2008-03-30T21:29:00.006-07:00

I guess my last entry was way back in Nov'07. A lot have changed since. Well, at least it felt like it. Mike and I got back into the working world (it's about time for me), which means we no longer have the luxury to travel on a weekly basis as we used to. Other than that, life as been quite mundane.

Despite our lives are now back to "normal", we still lack the feeling of stability. Not sure exactly what it is. Maybe it's the city, or work, or just life itself, but we are going to pin point it down and make some changes. Looking forward to really begin life together.

Bad dream

2007-11-28T12:12:00.000-08:00

I haven't had a nightmare for a long time. But last night, I had a bad dream. I don't know if i would call it a nightmare, since I wasn't frighten to the point where I woke up from it. But I was scared.

It was in a real life version of the movie SAW. I was chosen as one of the test object. My test began with a pair of scissors that was tucked in a narrow groove within an old school typewriter. I was not given the usual audio instructions, but somehow I knew what I needed to do. I was able to distract the scissors without it launching into my face. Once I got hold of the scissors, the test begins. The typewriter started typing by itself propelling paper out from a paper roll instead of the usual sheets. My task was to cut each paper out while trying to catch up to the speed in which the paper was coming out. When i make my first incision, I realized that it is a pair of dull scissors. It can hardly cut through anything. As the typewriter keeps typing and spacing out papers, I wasn't able to catch up.

Suddenly from behind me, I felt a sharp blade cutting through my hair. You know that feeling when your hairdresser pulls tightly onto part of your hair and glade their scissors through it for a clean line. That's how it felt, a tear through the back of my hair. I turned around and it was Jigsaw. But this time, Jigsaw is a she (It's Helena Bonham Carter - don't ask me why). She told me I had failed the test, and she is going to reveal what will now happen to me. According to the movie, this usually follow by a tormenting death. I was so afraid to suffer the pain that I begged her to kill me instantly. Next thing I know she was slashing my stomach open with a knife. In order to stop her from "showing me my death", I got a hold of a small knife and ended up cutting her to pieces. My motive wasn't intent to kill, but rather to keep her from mutilating me further. After her death, the building started to crumble. Somehow there was a love one who was also in the building, I can't recall who exactly. I told him/her to leave as I know I will die shortly from the wounds.

Then my cell phone rang, and I woke up.

A slap in the face!

2007-11-16T09:29:00.000-08:00

Further to my previous posting on bad pedestrians and enabling drivers, a thought came to me as Mike and I encountered another of such violation. Luckily he was driving this time, otherwise a lesson will be taught.

Every time when someone disregard the rules of traffic, it's as if they are slapping the faces of ALL those people who spent countless hours and manpower to create this system for our safety and to eliminate chaos.

So next time when you are tempted to run out on a red, or stop traffic for a jaywalker, think of all those faces that you will be slapping.

*SMACK SMACK*

Beef!!

2007-11-07T15:30:00.000-08:00

One thing that really bothers me when driving in Vancouver is PEDESTRIAN!!! Almost every time I'm on the road, I would encounter or witness someone jaywalking. This isn't really what bothers me as i know jaywalkers exist in every cities. But the thing that REALLY get on my nerves is that drivers actually stop for these jaywalkers! And i mean they come to a COMPLETE STOP! Since they stop for them, a lot of jaywalkers just take their sweet time crossing on RED. Sometimes even putting traffic to a halt. Plus, nobody ever honk at these illegal street crossers!

In many cities I've been to, when drivers see a jaywalker ahead, they would blare their horn as a warning. Some may slightly tab on the brake out of courtesy, but definitely has no plan of stopping. Let it be known that jaywalking actually requires running and possibly dodging, but definitely NOT walking.

I just feel that if you plan to cross on a red, you are fully prepare to be honk at, to run, dodge and maybe loose a body part or two.

And what's with those seniors, people with young children, or people with physical impairment who jaywalk!!!

Ever evolving Toronto

2007-09-25T01:56:00.000-07:00

Since I will be back in Toronto for a few weeks, I thought I do a little research of what's happening around town. Despite the short time I have been away, Toronto seemed to have evolved so much. There are so many new restaurants sprouted. And all the architectural evolution. This just proves what a big city Toronto really is.

Can't wait to be back!

where's my donut?!

2007-09-24T23:25:00.000-07:00

I'm not the type of person who eats fatty or sugary food often. But the other day I suddenly got this craving for a donut. So tonight Mike and I decided to reward ourselves of some sugary treats after cleaning up our place. As we drove to Timmys, I can picture myself biting into a chocolate dip with sprinkled peanuts. But of course they don't have that kind when we got there, so i have to settled for just a chocolate dip. Now that I think about it, I have a vivid memory that someone told me that Timmy no longer carry the chocolate dip with sprinkled peanuts. Plus I don't recall seeing them whenever I pass by their counters.

If anyone can confirm this for me, I would really appreciate it. B/c I miss favorite donut.

And no, sprinkling chopped peanuts on a chocolate dip myself would totally defeat the purpose.

Parkour

2007-08-28T21:36:00.000-07:00

I have seen Parkour many times on TV. And I am amazed every time I see traceurs leaping through the cities. I didn't realized there's actually classes out there that teach Parkouring. I don't mind trying it out. But I doubt I will be practicing those skills in the urban jungle.

Star sighting 2

2007-08-18T18:44:00.000-07:00

I believe earlier this year I had a star sighting of Debra Messing in NYC. It was definitely a pleasant surprise. But given it happened in NYC, the probability of seeing someone famous would be much higher than many other cities.

But yesterday afternoon, while Mike and I were doing errands at our local strip mall. We saw someone whom we are hugh fans of. Our very own Michael Buble. Out of all places, he showed up at our neighborhood plaza. Let's just say we were star struck. The only regret was that we didn't have a pen nor our digi-cam with us. Otherwise we would have a visual for this post.

Food creation - onion pork chops

2007-08-12T21:51:00.000-07:00

Where did we find the recipe?
Thanks to dad who gave me the recipe over the phone

What's in it?
Pork chops and onion

After tasting?
Great dish with rice! Let's just say it was sooo good that we ate all those within two meals.

Food creation - stuffed green pepper

2007-08-09T00:17:00.000-07:00

Where did we find the recipe?
Thanks to mom who found the web site with this recipe. (For those who don't know Chinese, msg me and I'll translate)

What's in it?
Minced Dace flesh (that is ground fish meat where you can buy in most Chinese grocery store in the fish section) & green peppers

After tasting?
Delicious! Taste like the ones in restaurants. Not too much fishy taste from the stuffing, which is exactly how we like it. This conclude another success!

Pride in the west

2007-08-08T23:00:00.000-07:00

It was the Pride parade this past Sunday in Vancouver. Mike and I didn't exactly planned to attend the event, but we thought it would be nice to go blading again by the seawall. Since the Pride festivities take place on English Bay after the parade, we were welcome by a large happy flamboyant crowd during out blade through to Stanley park. There were various concession booths and a big stage with many singing performances. We hung around for a bit. Took some pictures, listened to some live music and snooped out to see what's at the booths. Then set off on our blading trek.

Happy Birthday my husband!

2007-08-05T00:55:00.000-07:00

Today is Mike's birthday. After all the eating, drinking and cooking in class last night, we decided to take it easy on the actual big day. So we bought and made our version of Roscoe's chicken and waffles for brunch. Roscoe is one of Mike's favorite place to eat in LA.

To work off all the grease, we went blading by the Seawall. It was fantastical! As we haven't blade in ages, we were so afraid we forgot how to. But I guess it's like riding a bike. Once you learned it, you will always know it. After blading, we wanted to enjoy every last bit of the sun for the day. So we drove down to the Spanish Bank and just chill on the beach. But we didn't end up staying long b/c it got kind of chilly and windy.

Since it has been a long eventful day, we spent the rest of the night relaxing in front of the TV. While we were watching Saturday Night Live, I realized the most important part of Mike's B-day is missing. His birthday cake! So i quickly went into the kitchen and tried to make something similar to a cake, where he can blow his candles and make his wish on. (FYI: i did thought of buying a real birthday cake a day ago, but it's only the 2 of us, plus i don't want to force ourselves to finish a cake by ourselves) Then I remembered the waffles we had this morning. Viola! I made him a Milo vanilla ice-cream sandwich. It was a delicious sent off for his BIG day.

Cooking class

2007-08-04T23:38:00.000-07:00

For Mike's birthday this year, we thought we would celebrate it by going somewhere or trying something new together. So after much searching and consulting, I found this casual participation cooking class offered by Cook Shop. The class sounds quite interesting on their web site. So i signed us up and there we went. It is a 3 hours class with 18 people plus the chef. The chef that night was Romy Prasad whom is the executive chef at Savory Coast Restaurant. It was a 5 course menu. We really enjoyed the atmosphere and the food, and also found the class very informative. Through interaction, the chef shared a number of his cooking techniques with us. Mike definitely had a good time. Then again, he's not a hard person to satisfy. All he needs are great food, a little wine and good company (that's moi). =D

Burn baby Burn!

2007-08-02T23:41:00.000-07:00

The weather has been really great the whole week, so Mike and I decided to get ourselves a nice summer tan. So we have been to the beach a handful of time for numerous hours in total. But every time we compare ourselves with others in yoga class, we still seem to be the palest ones there. Either we are REALLY pale to begin with, or our skins just doesn't absorb sunlight.

Food creation - banana bread

2007-07-29T21:19:00.000-07:00

Where did we find the recipe?
Thanks to this recipe found on Google

What's in it?
Mainly banana, walnuts, flour and butter.

After tasting?
The banana and walnuts smell sooo good. The bread is very moist and it super addictive! The only down side: it's quite greasy. I guess that's why it's so moist. I think next time we will try putting less butter in it, despite the fact we already reduced it already. Once again, Mike is having a VERY hard time keeping his hands away from them.

Food creation - no-bake cheesecake

2007-07-29T21:14:00.000-07:00

Where did we find the recipe?
Thanks to Martha Stewart

What's in it?
Pretty much fat and sugar.

After tasting?
Definitely a guilty pleasure. I would suggest to let it sit in the fridge overnight rather than just 3 hours before eating. It filling taste really smooth. Perfect with the graham crust. Now that Mike is baking along side with me. He finally realized what actually goes into these scrumptious desserts. He is definitely trying much harder to cut back on desserts.

Food creation - pizza

2007-07-21T23:24:00.000-07:00

Where did we find the recipe?
We didn't. It's another one of our own creation.

What's in it?
1lb fresh pizza dough (which i have the hardest time finding in Van), tomato sauce, 1 tomato, 1/3 onion, 5 white mushrooms, 1/2 zucchini, 5 gloves of garlic, 2 sweet basil pork sausages, minced pork and mozzarella cheese.

After tasting?
It's DELISH!!! Super juicy and all the ingredients mingle perfectly together. The crust is thin yet hard enough to hold up all the toppings. We wouldn't change anything else.

Food creation - apple ice-cream crunch

2007-07-21T23:03:00.000-07:00

Where did we find the recipe?
We didn't. 100% our own creation.

What's in it?
1 granny apple, handful of crumbled honey/nuts cereal, and 2 scoops of vanilla ice-cream

After tasting?
Refreshing! The touch of sourness from the granny apple takes the heaviness out of the ice-cream. The crunch from the cereal+nuts added a different texture from the apple. It 's a great summer dessert. The only change we may consider is to put in a little less apple, and instead of cereal, we may substitute with chopped nuts, or those nut clusters granola.

Food creation - wonton

2007-07-21T21:41:00.000-07:00

As of last week, Mike and I have began to experiment with our knowledge on cooking (or the lack of). In another words, we are experimenting with online recipes and our own stomach. I will be posting random pictures of what we made on here, along with my description of how each really tasted like. As looks can be deceiving sometimes.

Today food creation - WONTON

Where did we find the recipe?
Thanks to Google.
We substituted green onion with chives, and added Chinese mushrooms to it.
Recipe for wonton stuffing
Wonton wrapping styles

After tasting?
It was very blend, or even tasteless. I believe since we added the Chinese mushrooms, forgot to adjust the seasoning with the new proportion. But overall, the texture, looks and the degree of cook-ness is perfect. Just needed a little more taste. But it's nothing some extra seasoning can't fix.

Animal abuse!

2007-07-19T23:24:00.000-07:00

Today I heard on the news about a NFL player holding illegal dog fights within his property. After the fights, he would kill the wounded dogs by either electrocuting, shooting or drowning them. Being a dog owner myself, I am FURIOUS!! I cannot believe how anyone can abuse poor innocent animal like this. Not just dogs, but ALL animals. I would only wish our judicial system could punish all animal abusers who found guilty the same way as they have abused the animal.

ARRGGHHHH!!!!

city love..

2007-07-19T00:49:00.000-07:00

Somehow i can't seem to get bore of listening to her.

A light bulb idea!

2007-07-18T23:08:00.000-07:00

I was in the car the other day and a light bulb idea hit me. I think all facial tissue paper should be shaped round rather than square (or rectangle or however you like to call it). This should lead to less consumption and less waste. Most people mainly use the center of the paper. Not many would make an effort to, or be able to use the 4 corners of the paper. Thus in many usage, the 4 corner areas are actually useless. If companies can cut the corners and make them into circles, then there will be much less waste out there, and they can make more with these excess materials.

I should be on American Inventor!

La Ratatouille

2007-07-04T00:23:00.000-07:00

After watching Ratatouille in the theater, i'm yearning for some good home cooking. YEH that my parents will be here tomorrow!

And I want to learn how to make Ratatouille.

3 little monkeys

2007-07-03T20:44:00.000-07:00

Yesterday we were at our friend's patio for a great day of BBQ, and there were 3 cutest little monkeys there enjoying their yummy bananas.

Happy Birthday Canada!

2007-07-02T23:13:00.000-07:00

Yesterday Mike and I celebrated our first Canada Day together. We purposely got all our in-house chores done the day before, so we can immerse ourselves into the city for some good’ol Canada Day festivities. All in all, we had fun. Lots of people. We thought of getting our face painted, but have no idea what we want to put on us. Actaully mike does, he wants to be SpiderMan. I thought that was a little too out there. Plus it has nothing to do with the Canada Day theme, so we decided to pass with the face painting idea. Maybe next year, when we put more thoughts into what should go on our faces. But at least Mike went home happy with his Captain Vancouver "captain" hat!

natural human talent

2007-06-20T00:35:00.000-07:00

Ususally natural human talents are rather useless. Like hyper-extented legs or arms, being able to roll your tongue, etc etc. But THIS ONE is quite useful! It's like those seniors who walk around with their folding seat cane.

everybody love Facebook

2007-06-13T01:22:00.000-07:00

Undoubtedly the latest online network craze is the Facebook. Given the number of people that have already registered, you are constantly surprised by whom you'll find in the crowd. Some even date back to elementary school days. Despite finding all these long lost in contact faces, this is not what shocked me the most about the power the Facebook. The real crazy thing is my parents are also on it. Talk about parental control!

rollin', rollin' rollin'...

2007-05-31T14:56:00.000-07:00

As we have to retire our bikes' old storage location, mike and i decided to transport them to the new storage spot ourselves. Thus, we set off on another biking expedition. This time, we rode from Gastown to Metrotown. It seemed like quite a distance at first thought, but the actual trek wasn't that bad at all. Despite having to navigate through the fragmented city's bike routes, and a few rather sloppy uphills which our "cruiser" bikes can't really handle. Overall, the ride was quite enjoyable. But if we are going to do this again, we will definitely need bikes that are actually equip with changeable gears.

One thing I must say, Vancouver is a much more bike friendly city than Toronto.

fire! fire!

2007-05-31T14:33:00.001-07:00

Today while mike and I were preparing lunch, he heard a loud bang from outside. We went out to the balcony and noticed a house near by was on fire. Despite the amount of smoke came about from the fire, it only lasted about 20 minutes. Here are some shots we took of the scene.

Family traits

2007-05-29T21:55:00.003-07:00

Growing up as kids, none of us hope to grow up to be like our parents. After all, they are old, boring, bossy and not all that cool. Plus, we all want to be different, to be ourselves, and have our own individuality. Now that I’m married, a little older, and experienced a little bit more. I realized us kids can never dropped to far from the family tree. Somewhere along the way, we all managed to carry pieces of our parents with us.

My family as an example. My brother inherited my dad's stubbornness, his strength, his boldness, his way of dealing with issues, his righteous-ness, a hard worker that he is, and his love for zzzzz. On the other hand, my bro also took after my mom's ambition, her business mindedness, her reckless-ness, and her fainthearted-ness.

Whereas myself, I got my dad's quick wittedness, his toughness, his confident, his stubbornness, his happy-go-lucky manner, and his laziness. I also got my mom's nagging ability, her clumsiness, her anti-social tendency, her way of dealing with people, and her inability to describe "things" in words.

And I LOVE IT!

Massive bike meet

2007-05-26T13:45:00.000-07:00

Upon stepping out of the bikram studio after our class last night, mike and i couldn't help but stopped to watch this ocean of bikes passing in front of us. There must be at least 200 to 300 bikes on the road. They took up the entire lane while many on-lookers and drivers were cheering them on. This is the largest bike meet we have ever encountered. I got a chance to asked them about the next meet when part of them were haulted by the red light. It is called Critical Mass. They exist internationally, which means many cities around the world also have their local CM meets.

CM Vancouver happens on the last Friday of every month to ride the streets of Van city. This means mike and i have only one month to beautify our bikes for the next meet. Can't wait!!

If interested, you can visit http://critical-mass.info to learn more about their cause and find out when's the next meet in your city.

A day at the park

2007-05-19T00:14:00.000-07:00

Today mike and i took our bikes out for a spin around Standley Park. Even though the weather wasn't the greatest, but just being able to be out riding was a lot of fun. I know I often has much to complain about the city. But I must say one thing, nothing beats being outdoor in Vancouver during summer.

Unconditional love

2007-05-18T22:37:00.000-07:00

Thanks for being a friend
Thanks for being the worrier
Thanks for being the disciplinarian
Thanks for being a life teacher
Thanks for being a constant support
Thanks for being a role model
Thanks for being our mom

i'm speechless

2007-05-10T11:28:00.000-07:00

Give me an S - T - U - P - I - D! yay!

Just click here to read story.

Loving our earth

2007-04-21T11:42:00.000-07:00

Tomorrow is EARTH DAY! As many of us are becoming more environmentally conscious in our everyday lives, I would like to share a great brand of cleaning products I saw yesterday.

This brand is called Shaklee. All their products are non-toxic, all natural and biodegradable. Thus, they are not only earth friendly, they are also great for those with allergies, or have little kids at home. They won't cause irritation and can be use on all baby related things. I know many of us may be hesitant to switch as most eco-friendly products are general more expensive. But for Skaklee products, most of their cleaning agents only require mixing a few drops to a spoonful with a gallon of water. Since they are in concentrated forms, an equal size bottle in comparison would last you much longer. The most important thing is, they are safe for your family and our earth.

Note: There are discounts on almost everything for a month. (33% off their Get Clean Deluxe Kit or Get Clean Healthy Home Pack - great way to get start!)

drive no more

2007-04-12T19:00:00.000-07:00

Ok, let's cut to the chase. I went out to get gas today, and guess how much it is here at the pump?! It's $120/L!!!! My jaw dropped when I saw it. Vangroovy better improve their transit system or build some real highways.

Taste of my own home cooking

2007-04-10T20:15:00.000-07:00

I have been experimenting with my own home cooking lately. I have to say it's going fairly well (with a little remote help from my parents). The only thing I'm still trying to fine tune is the portion size. I don't want to cook too much as I don't want to eat the same thing for a week. Yet I want to make enough to fill my tummy. It's tough to cook for one!

On the high note, this really encourages me to try making different dishes. Mainly because I am now my own guinea pig. So if it doesn't work out, I'll just bite the bullet. So far, I've made french toast, Avocado shrimp salad, fresh tomato sauce on spaghetti, etc etc. They are simple, delicious and healthy dishes. mmmmmmm...

*the picture may not look THAT appetizing, but it really taste good :)

living alone..

2007-04-03T11:15:00.000-07:00

I can say i have never lived alone until now. It's definately an interesting experience. It does feel a little weird that there isn't anyone at home. But yet it feels kind of nice to be able to do everything at my own schedule, and I can make whatever I want to eat. I guess i have to admit that i am not enjoying it as much as i thought i would have. Guess it's due to my current situation and the stage i'm at in my life. I'm sure i would enjoy living alone much more if it was 5 years earlier. But then i'm still in the transitional period, i have a feeling i would have a hard time going back.

Gosh..i want a dog!

Minimalist

2007-03-27T21:56:00.000-07:00

The last couple of days, mike and i have been doing some intense cleaning. Moving, selling, shredding, donating, sorting, packing and trashing! It's insane how much work (both physically and mentally) is require to clear out an 1000 sqft space. After this week, mike swore to begin his life as a minimalist. Own only essentials that would allow him to sustain his daily lives. In another word, think before he buys. Also, i think people try to hold on to too many things, or they just have too much junk!

But in the end, it's always bitter sweet to depart from somewhere you've grown so familar with. Bu-bye office!

Power of water

2007-03-20T15:02:00.000-07:00

I can't even remember when was the last time i was sick until yesterday. It sux! I don't recall being sick could feel so bad. Head pounding, muscles aching, chills in my body, and extra dry throat. As some you may know, i'm an anti-drug person. I was raised to believe all minor flu, cold and fever can be heal by tons of water and sleep. Any unnecessary drugs would only weaken the body's natural immune system.

Thus this entire day, i have consumed a gallon plus water. The toilet became my new best friend. I don't know what it is, maybe viruses have the ability to alter my taste buds when i'm sick. But i tend to grow a fondness for the taste of water during these times.

After many cups of water, and numerous visits to the johns. I feel much better. No more dry throat (but now i've started to cough), no muscles pain and no chills in the body. Hopefully with sufficent rest tonight, i'll be back to normal tomorrow!

The new swing of things

2007-03-11T14:59:00.000-07:00

Now that our travel marathon has come to an end, we are slowly adjusting back into the pace of the city. But to make life a little more exciting, we have added a few extra activites to our routine. More Bikram and new Swing dance classes.

The first class of getting back into Bikram was pretty tough. Our bodies have to be familiarize with the stretching, twisting, bending and above all..the HEAT again! But the relaxation you get afterward is indescribable. As for Swing dancing, it is super fun. We get to learn a short routine every class, and also get to mingle with a diverse group of people with the same interest.

Even though we may not be 100% with our dancing skills, but it's wonderful to let loose and just enjoy each others company.

We vs. Me

2007-03-04T17:12:00.000-08:00

As always, my flight has been delayed again. So I thought it would be a good idea to buy a magazine to kill time while I wait, thus I got myself a copy of the O magazine. I initially picked it because of the article The Authentic. But as i read on, one other article really hits me. We vs. Me. It's about how one should maintain a sense of self in a relationship.

Q: How do you stay true to you when you're also half a couple?

A: SPACE. The more you can leave the relationship to explore your own interests, the more likely you'll be to bring your authentic self back to it.

I can't say this is something new to me, as my mom encourages me to always maintain my indiviualism in life. The reason I love it because of the analogy she used. It's not intimidating but rather reassuring. I have seen friends get "trapped by the we-ness" that they'd created. They become unhappy or dependent in the relationship, which i think is pretty scary.

So who said Oprah doesn't have answer to everything :D

i love it..i love it not..i love it..i love it not..

2007-03-01T19:40:00.000-08:00

Since I landed saturday night in Toronto, i had one day of warm/dry weather. Then it has been nothing but snow and freezing rain starting today. Given I will be leaving on saturday, that means i can't do much during my stay this time. BUT in a way, i am hoping the weather will persist to be unstable. If my flight gets cancel, then i can go play hockey this sunday!!!!

*crossing my fingers*

American Pie

2007-03-01T17:03:00.000-08:00

If you are in NYC and is craving to have some good old American Apple Pie, then you got to go to The Little Pie Company. They have some REALLY amazing pies. During all our visits to the Big Apple, we have tried out pretty much most of their pies. And they were all finger licking gooood.

mmmmmmmmmmmmmm....

Star sighting in NYC

2007-03-01T15:50:00.000-08:00

Despite my many visits to all the star studded cities (i.e. LA, SF, NYC), I have yet to run into someone famous...until last Sunday!

Mike and I were in NYC over the weekend. As we were leisurely strolling along the streets of Lower East side/Nolita area, I noticed a couple approached toward us. They were like any other NYC couples, nothing really stood out about them. But for some reason, i thought i would take a glance their way. By the time it dawned on me who i was looking at, the lady gave me the "oh, you know who i am" look. I quickly turned my gaze back onto the street ahead. Once they walked further passed us, i quickly told mike who i just saw. The lady just walked by us is GRACE!! Grace from Will & Grace. Deborah Messing!!

So yeah, that was my highlight of the day.

MSL (Mandarin as a Second Language)

2007-02-22T13:11:00.000-08:00

Mike's sister and her family are in town for a week on vacation. Since they are staying with us, we have the chance to spend a lot of time together. Especially with Evan, my little nephew (or is it nephew in-law?). He is 2.5 years old and starting to speak in sentences, but mainly in Mandarin. He adores both mike (his Jiu-Jiu 舅舅) and I (his Jiu-Ma 舅媽), and we both love playing with him. But due to my limited Mandarin vocabularies, everyday is like Lost in Translation. He would speak Mandarin to me. I understand most of the time, but sometimes it can be difficult with the toddler accent. In turn, i would either reply in Cantonese or English, OR sometimes in small phrases of Mandarin which i picked up from Evan himself. When i have no clue what he's saying, i would just nod Yes or acknowledge it with OK. When he has no idea what i'm saying, he would either repeat what he said to me, or repeat my reply in a question form (as in "what the hell are you talking about" in the toddler way).

The family finds it fascinating how we communicate with each other. There are a few phrases I have mastered since Evan's visit. Example: Sleep. Does it taste good? Do you want to eat? Do you want?

Maybe by the time he leaves, I will be fluent at Mandarin.....in the toddler level.

Kung Hay Fat Choy!

2007-02-15T15:10:00.000-08:00

After spending several holidays as a married couple, mike and i do noticed there are certain pros and cons for being married at these festivities. And with Chinese New Year fast approaching, that definitely goes under the list of cons.

For those who are not familiar with Chinese tradition, here's a short explanation. Chinese New Year is similar to X'mas, but instead of gift giving, we give money. Thus you would see Chinese people everywhere exchanging red pockets stuffed with lucky money. It symbolizes passing of good luck to others in the new year.

This is a big banking opportunity for kids and anyone who are single. But not so much for elders and married couples, as they are the giver of these lovely red pockets. Thus, mike and I will refrain from visiting any kids and single friends this Chinese new year. We will be celebrating our first at home as a happy married couple.

Do you lock the door?

2007-02-13T14:22:00.000-08:00

When Mike and I were staying at my friend's place in LA, they both brought something to my attention. And since then, i can't seem to figure out am i the abnormal one, or there are other people out there who is also like me.

They both thought i was weird that whenever i go to the bathroom at home, i would lock the door. Home meaning the place where you reside either by yourself, or with roommate, or with family, etc. We are not talking about CLOSING the door (that's a given in my opinion), but we are talking about LOCKING the door. Their explanation is that if the door is closed, then someone is occupying the space. I can understand that if you live in a small space with only one bathroom. But what about those people who live in homes with more than one bathroom. Could that assumption still stand?

I've always lock the bathroom door at home since i was young. I can't really recall if everyone in my family does the same, since i never really barged in when the door was closed (thus, i can see their reasoning).

So my question is,

"Do you lock the door when you go to the bathroom at home?"

To make the question less complicated, let's not include house guest into the equation.

Food venture

2007-02-11T16:00:00.000-08:00

The last four days we were back in California again. Didn't really get to visit many friends b/c of the tight schedule we had. We were on the road most of the time. First day we landed at LAX, drove to San Diego (2 hrs), then back to LA (2 hours) where we stayed for the night. Second day we drove from LA to San Fran (5 hrs). Third day we commute between SF and San Jose (only 45 mins-ish each way). Fourth day we drove from SF back to LA (another 5 hours). Last day we flew out from LAX.

Despite all the driving, we still manage to do what we love most...ah-hem...it's EAT!! And we ate A LOT! Below is a summary of all the places we visted.

Day 1:
Ramanyani Indo Restaurant in Westwood LA - Their fried chicken, fried rice, tofu dish and desserts are really good. Supposidly one of the best Indonesian restaurant in LA. Apparently they take order from anywhere in US, and can be deliever the next day. We are much tempted to try that out.

Day 2:
Yung Ho Restaurant in St. Gabriel LA - They have some authentic Taiwanese dished. Great Chinese breakfast place. They make all their own soya product (soya milk, tofu, etc). They even have stinky tofu! mmmm...

Farmer's market at The Grove - We got ourselves some English toffee from Little John. They have THE BEST English Toffee we go ga-ga for. Then we ate at one of the Thai food stand in the market. Had a fish curry and laksa noodle. We were too full to try out the funnel cake stand...next time.

Day 3:
Best of Thai Noodle on Haight Street in SF - They have really yummy Thai dishes. This time we got the Tom Yum chicken soup noodle, Thai ice-tea and a Pad Kee Mao (Stir fried flat rice noodle with ground pork).

The Stinking Rose in SF (www.thestinkingrose.com) - We go there everytime we are in SF. Let's just say everything on their menu are made with TONS of garlic, thus the name Stinking Rose. We alway get the Bagna Calda (garlic olive oil spread) as starter. This time we got the Toy Box Tomatos salad and the Garlic Encrusted Baby Back Ribs. And we can NEVER leave without having their Garlic Ice-cream for dessert. It's one of the best ice-cream we ever had!!
*Warning: The next day or two, you will smell, breath and burp garlic.

Day 4:
Tofu House in San Jose - Their specialty is tofu soup, and that's what we always order. Either with Pork or seafood in their bubbling pot with the raw egg. The cool thing is the rice for each table is served in a stone pot, and barley tea is poured into the bowl once finished to loosen the crusty bits and provide a post-meal digestive.

Andersen's Pea Soup in Buellton Cali - They have the best pea soup (all you can drink for $7 with bread) and really good pastries. We had a cherry jelly filled cream puff, and a almond cookie with chocolate mousse on top coated with chocolate dip.

Day 5:
Big Tommy Burger in LA - They have really great burger. I haven't try much in their menu but i know they have awesome turkey avocado burger. They are HUGH. Fully packed. Their fries are really good too.

So yeah, we ate tons. And now we need to detox.

Bud out!

2007-02-02T12:42:00.000-08:00

After being a smoker for 36 years, my father has official quit smoking. Cold turkey. Just like that.

I didn't really believe it at first when my mom told me. I thought it's another one of those temporary quit sessions after much of her nagging. He would always say he quit. Then after a few days of grumpiness, then it'll be back to normal. A cig at a time. I've always told my mom there's no point of making him quit when he's not ready and willing to. Getting out of a habit is mainly psychological. If he truly doesn't want to quit himself, there's a very slim chance he will succeed.

But this time is different. My dad quit a month prior to announcing the news to us. I guess one day he decided to just stop smoking. From a pack a day to zero. Considering he was a LONG term smoker, i thought it was pretty amazing how he can just go cold turkey. He must be quite determine this time. That's not all, he shows no sign of grumpiness or agitation. In fact, his temper actually got better. He seems more relax and happier.

You ask what triggered him to stop smoking? We don't know exactly, but we suspect that it has something to do with the cold he got a month ago. He was coughing quite a bit and he was also showing some asthmatic symptoms. I guess it got him worried feeling all these tensions in his lung. But regardless, i'm so proud that he quit. You know that feeling when you wake up to a warm sunny morning and there's something good you are anticipating to happen that day. That's the feeling i have. I feel so happy for him that he now has a new beginning to life.

I have entered him in www.DrivenToQuit.com. It is a challenge presented by Canadian Cancer Society and the Canadian Health Department to promote smoke free Ontario. The website provides many tips and help to people who are trying to quit smoking. It may sound cliche, but i truly believe that regardless if my dad wins or not in this challenge, he already won the best prize there is...his health.

hot dog heaven!!

2007-01-31T20:58:00.000-08:00

I was going to mention this along with the Chicago post, but because it's such an amazing find, it deserves it's very own space.

Mike and I were parked on a side street in Chi-town while leeching off someones wireless bubble, we found this awesome sounding hot dog mecca at one of the online posting for Chicago cheap eats. This place is call Hot Doug's. Just reading the types of hot dog they have on their special menu makes my mouth water. I wouldn't mind ordering one of each.

"White Wine and Dijon Rabbit Sausage with White Truffle Butter and Romao Sheep's Milk Cheese"

The extremely down point to this is we got there too late. They only open from 10am-4pm. We even drove by it to see how the place look like. It's a small little eatery in the middle of some commercial/office area. AHHHHHH, that makes it even more authentic.

*sigh* next time...definitely next time...

the Windy city...

2007-01-31T19:44:00.000-08:00

Mike and I took a day trip to Chi-town the other day. We mainly ventured to see shops in the city, can't say we really did any sight-seeing. But we did drove through down town and some special districts. We noticed there are so many things on sale in Chicago. It seems like there are abundances of merchandise on sale and no one is buying them. And trust me, they are REALLY cheap! Where are all the shoppers? Isn't Chicago one of the biggest cities in the States? I know it's not fair for us to comment about the city given we only spend 6 hours in town, but from what we did get to see. The city didn't give us an urban/big city feel. It almost feels like being in Calgary (no offence to all the Calgarian out there). But one thing i got to say is Chi-town do have some REALLY unique architecture. Actually, I would say it's the best architectural city in US. Regardless if it's a 3-story residential building, or down town skyscraper, many of them are very well designed. I just wish people in Canada would put as much thought into designing buildings. It would add so much more character to each city.

Sleepless in Washington..

2007-01-29T21:06:00.000-08:00

So we finally arrived to Toronto. Our flight was delayed for 29 hours. We were first scheduled to depart on Saturday 7:30pm. But we got a call from the airline at around 2pm saying our flight was cancelled due to weather condition in Toronto. As weather is not one of the things they have control over, we have to scramble to arrange the extra night accomadation. But at least they re-scheduled us for a flight the next day free of charge. Since mike never been to the capital of U.S of A, i thought the extra night would be a great chance to show him around. We drove around the government district for a crash tour. But we did parked and walked over to see the White House up close. On our way back to our car, we and other pedestrians were stopped by police to proceed toward the pathway to the estate. We weren't sure what could possibly be happening at 11pm. Five minutes later, we saw the chain of police bike, security SUV and limo THE president is in drove by in front of us. It was kind of like what you see in the movie. Now we can tell people that we saw the president..in his limo!!

So the next day, we drove around town to checked out some stores. Mike found a wallet he's been hunting for and got it at dirt cheap price. So he was a happy camper. We also went to an Etheopian resto for a late lunch. It was delicious and very interesting. After all the fun, we returned the rental car and checked into our gate for our again delay flight. It was suppose to be 7:30pm, now it's at 9:30pm. Through out the time we are at the gate, the departure had been delay again and again due to mechanical problems. As this is obviously an error on their part, free accomadation was offered. A number of passangers took the offer, re-schedule the flight and left. The rest of us await for the future of our intended flight. At least we each got food vouchure for some sandwiches and water. Finally at 12:30am, our plane has arrived and we got back to Toronto at 2:30am.

ahhhhh... home sweet home!!

New York! New York!

2007-01-27T16:17:00.000-08:00

New York was quite hectic. There's just too many places to see in too little time. And it doesn't have that NYC was FREEZING COLD those couple of days. We didn't exactly packed for the negative 10+ weather. We had to defrost ourselves by going into one store in every other block. blurrr...

I noticed my perspective have slightly changed toward the city. It doesn't seem to be as intimidating as i last remembered. People are quite friendly, everywhere is easily accessible via transit (much easier/efficient than driving), and every district is in rather close proximately to each other. Despite approaching to a number of passerby for directions, I grew quite comfortable to venturing around town on my own. Did i mention that there are soooo many restaurants in NYC, it'll take us a VERY LONG time to try them all out!!

On the road again

2007-01-22T21:09:00.000-08:00

Can't believe i'm flying out tomorrow again. I'm both nervous and excited to go to the Big Apple. Excited because I always love New York. The food, the shops, the craziness are all too fascinating. Nervous because i have to get myself familiarize with the subway system once again. I got quite comfortable with it last time I was there, which was like 2 years ago. Now i have to re-learn it all over again. It feels almost the same as returning to driving stick shift after a long period of time. Nervous yet exciting. I just hope it won't involve too much staling.

Anyways, wish me luck!

great friends, great food, great weather..

2007-01-20T18:40:00.000-08:00

I guess that pretty much sums up my trip to LA. I'm sure most people would first think of Disney, Universal, Walk of Fame and allll the other tourist spots which populate that city. But I didn't see any of it this time. Most of them I've already been in my previous visits.

My main purpose of going this time is to hang out in the city, see some friends, try out some good local food joints, and maybe find some good deals in the stores around town. I've managed to do all that and it was quite relaxing. But somehow i felt that my friends were the ones who are anxious to have me to do more and see more in LA.

I know as a host, there's always a sense of obligation to arrange a fully packed schedule for your guest. I wish they would only believe me when i said "it's OK. Anywhere would be fine. I just want to hang out (together)". Since my LA friends are all relatively new residence to the city. I think by saying that, it made their lives even harder. Because not only they can't take me to the few famous tourist spots that they know of, but now they have to think of somewhere new to take me to "just hang out". As odd as it sounds, i would have no problem even if they just take me about to do their daily errands. But of course they didn't. And therefore, I would like to say a BIG THANK YOU to those of you that made this trip so perfect!

NA adventure - L.A.

2007-01-16T16:31:00.000-08:00

Being in LA is great. Even though it's rather cold considering normal LA weather, but it's awesome be somewhere that's always sunny w/blue sky. We think one day we will move down to Cali. We feel that California and NYC is a great place for young couple to live in. But we definitely don't think it's a place to raise kids in. This place is too superficial in general, and there's too much temptation. But as "bad" of an influence LA is, we LOVE it. There's such a great eclectic of places to go and see. There's been so many things happening, i thought i just do a point form briefing.

The first day we were there, we went to a farmers market. All we did was eat. From Thai, to Turkish, to toffee, to ice-cream. MMmmmmm..

Next we were here and didn't even realize the Golden Globe is happening. We actually drove by Beverley Hills Hilton during the red carpet not knowing it's there. But we didn't see any celebs (at least i don't think so), only limos, police and star gazers.

Example of the "bad" influence. We heard a commercial on the radio for plastic surgery. It sounds as if it's a clothing sale commercial. It said you can get tummy tuck for as low as $99. And there's a breast, tummy, lipo combo which can save you $1000. AND they have limo service to and from the surgery. Isn't that just beautiful! No wonder most people here has no facial expression.

Speaking of radio/tv, it's intriguing to think that when you hear about any upcoming musical shows, tv shows, or celebrity news in general. They are actually happening in this city. Despite of the close proximity of these Hollywood event/news, i still think the chances of bumping into one is quite slim. Just because there's a ton of people in this city.

Finally, MTV is a horrible. Can't believe how much trash can one channel contain. If this is the influence the new generation is being expose to now, then global warming is not the only thing in the state of emergency.

LA continue...

NA adventure - Edmonton

2007-01-16T16:17:00.000-08:00

Our day trip to Edmonton was short yet sufficient. Even though we were only there for 6 hours, i feel that we have seen what Edmonton has to offer. We were impressed by the West Edmonton Mall. The water park, the roller coasters and rides, and the mini aquarium (they have real flamingos, and they really do look like the fake ones!). Before going, i thought it would be HUGH and it would take us more than a day to cover the entire mall. But it's actually not THAT big. I mean other than the extra additions to your regular mall, we can walk through everything in 2 hours. It's interesting to see people swimming and resting on beach chairs inside the water park while it's -20C outside. We took some pictures, then moved onto the downtown area. There's really not a lot of make notes on regarding the trip. But i did also noticed that Edmonton has more major shops than Vancouver. I would think it's probably due to the existance of West Edmonton Mall. But still, how odd.

Next, Los Angeles...

Snow in the west coast...again?!

2007-01-11T12:03:00.000-08:00

I swear this is not a duplicate entry. And I'm not using the same picture as the previous snow post. But it's snowing in Vangroovy again!! This is not fun anymore. The novelty of trenching through snow in the west coast is starting to wear off. I definately didn't moved here for the cold weather and the snow.

Winterlicious

2007-01-10T16:18:00.000-08:00

As mike and I will be back in TO the end of the month, we would like to go to one for the first time together. As there are TONS of resto to choose from, do any of you have any sugestions as to which one is worthy of trying? We mainly want somewhere that has well made dishes.

NA adventure - Calgary

2007-01-10T13:38:00.000-08:00

As per my previous North America Adventure entry, i mentioned that i will blog about all our trips throughout Canada and US. We started off our NA adventure yesterday with a day trip to Calgary, which we call the Texas of Canada. With only 8 hours or so in this city, we can't say we know everything about Calgary, but we did noticed a few things...

We have never seen so many people that drives pick up truck in a Canadian city. We've saw housewife, business man, senior and even asian driving them. There's old ones, American-made ones, Jap-made ones and modified ones. Pick-up is like the staple of Calgary. But beside pick up, we also noticed there are quite a number of high end luxury cars. From Audi to Mercedes. Then again, it is an oil city after all.

Second, the great Western hospitality. When I entered into the baggage area at the airport, i was welcomed by this friendly senior couple who were in their cowboy hats and boots. I think other than being greeters at the airport, they also help assist travelers with directions. I thought that it was kind of neat. And within the city, there are a number of Western clothing/accessory stores. We went to check out one. If it was within my budget, i would of got myself a pair of real cowboy boots. They come in many colors, styles and are very well made.

Lastly, after visiting Calgary, we thought it would actually be nice to travel to small city like this. The whole day that we were there, given we've managed to see most of the tourist area in the city, we only spend $7 in gas. Everything is in such close proximity that doesn't really too much driving. It is a great deal to see a city. Can't wait to be back for the Stampede and to visit Banff. EE-HA!

Next, Edmonton....

Return-home vacation

2007-01-10T13:05:00.000-08:00

It was great to be back home for the two weeks over the holiday. Got to spent sometime with family and friends. Even thought i didn't get a chance to see EVERYONE, but it was great to hang out with familiar faces at familiar places.

I noticed there's a definately a difference between Return-Home vacation, and Travelling vacation. Return-Home vacation is less eventful, very lay back, and you're there pretty much just to hang out. It's like re-living your time when you were at home. Usually nothing really changed. Same life stlye, same routine. The only difference is that you are constantly updating yourself with what's new with everyone. To hear or to see what you've missed the last months. It's funny that by the second week that i'm back, it felt as if i never left.

Well, i'll be back again in two weeks. Hopefully, I will manage to see everyone this time.

bone chillin...

2006-12-29T23:45:00.000-08:00

Back then, whenever Mike comes to Toronto to visit me in the winter, he would always describe the east coast weather as "bone chillin". I always thought he just doesn't know how real winter really feels like. But now I totally understand what he meant. After spending two months of winter in Vancouver, the cold here is definately different. It's kind of a love hate thing for me. I really enjoy how the air is so crisp, sharp and refreshing. But it is also the same sharpness that can stop my heart from beating. The cold does penatrate to the core - which explains why there are so many more homeless people living in Vancouver than Toronto.

North America adventure

2006-12-29T00:05:00.000-08:00

Mike and I will be doing some crazy flying the next two months. En route we will be visiting some friends and some new cities. I am somewhat excited. Even though it's in a week, it still seems kind of far away. Will see once it all starts. I will definately be blogging throughout the adventure.

to be continue....

X'mas at home

2006-12-28T23:34:00.000-08:00

After much complication at the airport, I finally managed to be home on X'mas to surprise my parents. They were shocked and ecstatic. I've been hanging out with them since.

I haven't begin to venture out on my own yet. 1) because I have to write up a ton of thank you cards. 2) Because I want to spend more time with the family at least until next week. 3) It's been so cold here the last few days that I really dread to spend an extensive time out in the open air.

But the up side of being home is that I now have 3 doggies to play with. Milo, Madex and Truffle. They're all super cute and they all get along great together. I made a suggestion to my dad to start his own dog-sitting business at home. Might as well since we always end up dog-sitting for other people over the holiday or vacation. And the thing is we love them. I think he really like this idea. Maybe next time i'm home, doggies will be up and running around the house.

Beauty of Craigslist

2006-12-06T19:51:00.000-08:00

The last few days i've been busy posting various items up on Craigslist. Since the last clean up from my big move, we have accumulated quite a number of things we would like to get rid of but yet with some value. Most of them are new, and yet not something that people would accept for donation. We've actually made an attempt before enlisting them on Ebay. But we end up loosing money (don't ask).

Now that x'mas is near, we thought it would be a great idea to try our luck again with online posting. With no posting fee like Ebay, Craigslist is like a heaven for our goods. We've sold a few so far and hope see some more go out the door.

I think i finally found my calling. cha-ching!

my parents are smarter than yours :P

2006-12-01T22:20:00.000-08:00

It's pretty cool yet funny that I chat with my parents now over msn each day. It's not really a surprise with my mom b/c she has always been quite tech savy. But it's quite interesting now that even my dad is on board with this. Let's just say he didn't get a cell phone until a year ago - yes, the year 2005. A month ago, we helped him signed up his own msn and gmail account and now he's up and running on his own. He's goes online more than my mom! But the genius thing is that my parents has now used msn msgner as their version of an "in-home walkie talkie". My dad would have his msn running on his laptop in the living room watching hockey. While my mom also has her msn running on her laptop in her room watching some chinese tv show. When they need to talk to each other or call the other person to do something, they just sent over a message! I don't ever recall my dad has learn something so fast (technology-wise). It's quite funny to see him adapting to the 20th centry..but i'm definately proud of him!

AHHHhhh!

2006-11-26T12:39:00.000-08:00

I woke up this morning and this is what i saw out my window. Who wants to go tabboganing?!?!

Who is D. Coupland?

2006-11-26T00:56:00.000-08:00

I was browsing around in Chapters today and came upon this book called Microserfs. I read the jacket (below) which sounds pretty interesting. Something out of the norm.

Microserfs: a hilarious, fanatically detailed, and oddly moving book about a handful of misfit Microsoft employees who realize that they don't have lives and subsequently become determined to get lives inside the lightning-paced world of high-tech 1990s'' American geek culture.

Since i'm currently in the middle of reading this other novel, i made a mental note and continue to mosey on. I headed to the third level and notice another potential interesting read. This one is called jPod. To my surprise, it's also from the same author as Microserfs. So who is this Douglas Coupland i ask.

After I got home, i googled him up and found his official website. All i can say is the next novel i read will definately be one of Couplands.

the breakup..

2006-11-25T20:04:00.001-08:00

A close friend of mine just ended a long standing relationship. Given our current geographical distance, I became his (the ex bf) substitute as her daily phone companion. Throughout our friendship, we have always communicate mainly via email. We don't really talk on the phone much as we always lived far apart. But once we do, we would rack up a hefty phone bill. For the last few days, I have talked to her quite a bit. It almost feels like we talk more now than all the years we've known each other combine. Our conversation is everything but boring. We would go on and on psycho-analyzing people that we know (or don't know), but in reality we are the two who have issues. I sometimes wonder why we didn't talk more often on the phone throughout all these years. Maybe because now we have grown and truly understand the importance of the people around us. We've learn to engage and commit ourselves to maintain these connections. Regardless of how or why, i'm glad we are becoming more of a regular in each others lives.

Snowing in westcoast..

2006-11-25T18:02:00.000-08:00

I was complaining to mike the other day that Vancouver doesn't really have snow in the winter. The holiday season just isn't the same without snow. But low and behold, it started snowing today!! It was great! It started while i was window shopping downtown. Since it was a pretty cold day to start off with, I was already all prepared with my canada goose jacket, fleece mittens, scarf and toque. When the snow started, many people dashed into stores for shelter and running about with their umbrellas. I was walking alone, leisurely, humming x'mas songs under the layers, taking in the beauty of it all. I almost didn't want to leave the streets. The snow feels so warm, so much like home. If the snow only accumulates on the street, i might just lie down and make a snow angel.

..and since there's no place to go,
let it snow, let it snow, let it snow!!

In search of floor hockey team...

2006-11-24T16:16:00.000-08:00

Now that winter has arrived, it's officially hockey season. As i slowly re-enter all my regurlar recreational activities..but there is still one thing missing. Floor hockey! I am in search of a new floor hockey team. I'm missing the interaction, the random sore muscles, the fun, the nerve and the exercise. I've contacted some places, but no replies yet. So if anyone out there know of any floor hockey team in Van, let me know!

HAPPY BIRTHDAY MOM!!!

2006-11-20T00:06:00.000-08:00

Just want to say HAPPY BIRTHDAY to my dearest mommy. Looooove you! xoxo

Japanese hot dog..

2006-11-19T22:44:00.000-08:00

The other day, mike and I had a sudden snack attack while running around town doing errands (actually this happens quite often). So mike suggested we should try Japanese hot dog. I was skeptical at first. Not that i'm not an adventurous eater, but i didn't think Japanese even like hot dog given that i don't recall seeing any hot dog stand in Japan, nor there is any variation of hot dog in any Japanese restaurants that i know of. Thus, the first picture that came to my head when he said Japanese hot dog was Pogo (not the toy that kids bounce around on, but this Pogo). I was thinking since Japanese is famous for their variety of ready-made snack, maybe they somehow fell in love with Pogo when they tried it in north america and decided to name it their own version of hot dog. But that's just my imagination.

Ok, so we got to the stand. i was first surprised to find the hot dog stand guy to be Japanese (i know this may seem logical, but as many of us know, most of the Jap resto in north america are run/own by either Chinese or Korean) and he was wearing this big red chef hat. Then looking at the menu, they are real Japanese style hot dog. I ordered a Terimayo - it consist of an all beef dog, jap mayo, teriyaki sauce, sauteed onions and shredded seaweed. Mike ordered an Oroshi - it consist of a white pork sausage, jap horseradish and green onions. I personally like Oroshi better. Terimayo seems a little heavy for me. Mayo + teriyaki sauce + sauteed onions is a rather rich combination. On the other hand, the Oroshi is much lighter tasting. Simple, not over powering. For those who are not so adventurous, he also offers your regular or "american style" dog. Veggie, all beef, Bavarian, Jalapeno w/cheese, turkey and Bratwurst. I love finding these random food places.

new blog look..

2006-11-10T21:59:00.000-08:00

My blog was looking a little dated...thought i would shake things up!

10 lbs lighter....

2006-11-09T19:14:00.000-08:00

Ok..so i exaggerated. Maybe one..or maybe even less. This was triggered by Mike a few days ago. He unknowingly reminded me of something i wanted to do after the wedding. It is to get a fresh new cut. Now that I finally found myself a trusted hair-dresser, it is my mission to find myself the "perfect" hair cut. So I called to book an appointment and searched all over the world wide web for the winning cut. I narrowed the gazillion hairstyles down to just 5 after much consultation with various indiviuals. So today, I brought my homework to see my trusted hair guy (let's call him Mr. J). Deep in my heart i wanted a short cut, but due to past bad inexperiences, I aimed to play safe and go for the long-medium cut. But after much assurance from Mr. J that a short cut will be just fine, I closed my eyes and took the leap. I gave him the OK to give me a short cut. After 90 mins of washing, cutting and blow-drying, he is done. And i LOOOvvvee it! I feel alive and much lighter. Now i don't have to dread the thought of washing my crazy long hair after every bikram class. And it sure same me a lot of money from all the shampoo and conditioner i need to use. Ahhhhhh...!

Vancouver winter....

2006-11-09T18:58:00.000-08:00

I got my first taste of Vancouver winter last week. For four consecutive days, it rained, rained and rained! Not drizzle..but pouring rain with crazy wind. I know four days of raining doesn't really sound a lot, but given i'm new to the city, it felt like eternity. It was quite depressing. Even though it's not as cold as Toronto, but heck, i rather be freezing my butt off in the snow than being poured on by constant dark clouds. Many people said the winter weather in Vancouver is something everyone just have to get used to. I guess by that time, I will become a true Vancouverites!

Wedding photos are in!!

2006-10-31T13:36:00.000-08:00

We went to pick up our wedding photos from the photographer yesterday, and they look GREAT!! We will upload some of those pictures shortly since we have most of them on digital file. Now we just have to pick the winner to use for our Thank You card.

A day at the auto race track...

2006-10-30T10:27:00.000-08:00

I went with mike and a few of his friends to a track on Sunday. This is the first for most of us. I wasn't planning to go at first since only the boys signed up for it, but after much convincing from Mike, I went. And I'm glad I did. Even though I didn't get drive and experience the fun and adrenalain like the boys, but being a co-pilot like the ones in rally racing was really fun too. I learned a lot from the course instructors. Ways to drive efficiently on the race track and ways they apply to daily driving. I will be uploading some of the pictures of the day. Next things we need to do now is to get a daily stick shift car!

one more thing to add to the To-Accomplish list:
*learn track driving

To-accomplish list...

2006-10-30T10:05:00.000-08:00

During our trip to Portugal, Mike and I came up with a list of things we would like to accomplish together when we return to Vancouver. Here's a few things from the list.

* learn to speak Japanese
* learn to speak Spanish
* take dancing lessons and when we are good enough - enter competitions
* go swimming on a regular basis
* take bikram lessons together
.....

Life is short, we should seize the day and do something that we really enjoy.

Back to reality

2006-10-24T18:45:00.000-07:00

Mike and I are back in vancouver. It was no easy flight back. Even though we fly business class for both ways, it's still quite exhausting. Our itinerary is to depart Lisboa at 12:30pm to Newark NYC. Have a 2 hours lay over there, and then to Toronto, and have a 3 hours lay over there, THEN finally head to Vancouver. But that only happens in a perfect world.

But in reality, when we got to Newark NYC, we realized our original flight to Toronto got cancelled. So we have to re-schedule to a later flight, which now become a 3 hr lay over in Newark, and we have to connect to the flight to vancouver right away. During the original 3 hrs lay over in toronto, I was hoping to meet up with my parents at the airport to see them before i got back, and give them the tarts and gifts we got them in portugal. But we have to text message them to cancel.

We finally boarded the flight in Newark to Toronto, and it welcome us with one delay after another. We didn't take off until an hr after the scheduled time. When we arrived to toronto, we rushed through custom and baggage. And on the way to catch the shuttle to the next terminal for the connecting flight, the staff told us not to bother as it will depart in 5 minutes. There's no way we can make it there on time. So we have to re-schedule once again. Now we are to fly out the next morning at 9am. I was actually glad we missed it since I really want to see my family. I miss everyone and milo. And I know they want to see me just the same. I called my parents to pick us up at the airport. At home, we showed them all the pictures we took during the trip. We chatted a little before we head to bed.

We got on the flight this morning and finally arrived in Vancouver. It took us literally an entire day to get back. All i can say is we are totally exhausted.

Last 3 days in Lisboa

2006-10-24T15:57:00.000-07:00

I'm back in Vancouver! I know I haven't update all of you regarding our last 3 days in Lisboa. Reason being is that our hotel in lisboa is charging us $22 euro per day for internet!! I would imagine internet access would be more rare and expensive in small towns in Portugal. But apparently Lisboa is the most expensive. The other 2 towns we were at prior to this only cost $10 euro/day and $5 euro/day. Go figure. Thus, i'll do the update of the last 3 days in this post.

We drove into Lisboa from evora. We returned the car in the city since Lisboa is afterall the capital city of Portugal, which mean they do have subway and transit systems. But overall, I can probably sum up our stay in the city in two words. Walking and Tourist. Maybe we have been spoiled by the ruralness (not sure if there's such a word) and the rawness of the portugese culture the other 2 small towns had offered. It's like we were the only ones there exploring the country. Whereas lisboa is a whole other story. It is just like another european big city to us. Tons of tourist, urban, cars, subway and locals that speaks english. It was a little dissapointing. We didn't really feel so inspire to explore the city. B/c all we really have to do is follow where the crowd of tourists goes. We have also retired our portugese phrase book as most locals speaks english to us automatically.

Most of our touring were done on foot. As our hotel was located in part of downtown, we walked to all the tourist spots aournd and also to get ourself oriented on the first day we got there. The second day we did a walking tour following our Lonely Planet Guide book. Despite it's a WALKING tour and they have given us a map and written directions of where to go and what to see, we still managed to constantly get ourselve lost! We never ended up finishing the suggested 2 hours walking tour. It took us that amount of time half way. Then we got totally lost and end up taking a short cut to the final point of the walking tour. Roads in Portugal are not tourist friendly. But we did make a detour to this thing call Theives Market. They only have it on saturday. It's like a big garage sale in this square. There are both new and old things at the stands. But I'm not surprise if some of them are actually theives. Some of those people looks like the type that you would find on Hasting Street in Vancouver. The last day, we got ourselve a one day transit pass. Took the tram to yet another tourist spot, where they are famous for the Portugese custard tart. We bought 1.5 dozens. Mike ate 8 of them. I had 2. The rest were for my family. After that, we took the tram + subway to Oriente where this famous stadium (equivelent to ACC for toronto) and this big shopping mall located. Then we hop onto the subway again to Baixa Chaido. This cool, hip area to with small boutique shops and interesting restuarants equivelent to Queen Street west in toronto). Since it starting pouring out, couldn't really do much walking. So we went back to the hotel and chillax until dinner time. Then we went back to Baixa Chaido to find a cool dinner spot for our last night there. Ended up going to the Brazilian restuarant. Mike had duck meat and I had fillet mignon brazilian style. For dessert, I had a creme w/ passion fruit/ginger/peach, and mike had a pear sorbet with vodka. The food is pretty awesome. We didn't really buy anything in portugal. Our expenses were only for 3 things. Transportation, accomadation and FOOD!!! We spent $3 euro for sight-seeing. It's the entrance fee to the bone chapel in Evora. All the other stuff is either free There's really nothing much there is to buy. Their stuff is not exactly cheaper nor nicer. Nothing that i can't get in North america. Plus we're not really a shopping travellers.

Overall, i really like portugal. Food, people and culture. I would definately go back again. This time to the northern cities.

In Portugal (day 7)

2006-10-19T16:52:00.000-07:00

Quite an advanture we have today. As we are done with Evora, we decided to visit the cities around evora. We visited Viana do Alentejo, Portel, Reguengos de Monsaraz, Sao Pedro do Corval and Estremoz. The drive was super fun during the day, but once it got dark, it was quite intense. The roads were dark (i say 80% of the highway has no street light), whindy and the sky was spitting on and off. Given that we have no cell phone, some unprecise street mapping from our GPS system as most of those are country farm area, we thought we were a little crazy. But it was definately worth it!

Highlight of the day, we only spent 11 euro all day (no including gas, i estimate 1/2 a tan)! We got into Estremoz at 9pm and found out that we only have 15 euro in our name (left the rest in the hotel), and we haven't ate since we left Evora in the morning. So we went to what seems to be a local resto hang out, thought we would just order an appetizer to hold our hunger until we get back to evora. We ordered 2 special of the day, chicken w/fries (btw, everything in portugal comes with potato on the side, either be fries, potato chips or steam potatos) and bacalhau (fish). We didn't get any drink since we were afraid we can't afford it. When the waiter came to us with the bill, it was only 7,89 euro!!! That's the cheapest dinner we have since we got to portugal. Our avg dinner cost 40 euro each night. And this is the first night we didn't have wine with our meal. We actually had a little wine withdrawal. Since we got here, we avg about half a bottle of wine a day. So back to the story, you ask how is it 11 euro that we spent? On the way back to evora, we realized we have to pay toll for the motorway. We were ready to pull out our canadian bills that we still kept in our wallet. Lucky us it only cost us 2,20 euro. The day worked out to be perfect!

Tomorrow we will be leaving Evora and heading into Lisbao. We will be returning our rental as Lisboa has a pretty good subway system. Can't wait to take the subway!

Before I go, there's a few things we noticed in Portugal.
- Portugal has the best tasting fries we ever had! It's reallly good everywhere, not just isolated restaurant.
- There's a lot of stray dogs and cats
- There is bound to have a Chinese person open a store or restaurant any where. No matter how remote or small the city is.
- hmmm..there's more..can't remember right now..will update..

In Portugual (day 6)

2006-10-18T16:45:00.000-07:00

Today we live a life of a local portugese. We heading out in the afternoon into town. Parked our car in one of the few free parking lot in the city (thanks to the tips of our hotel front desk person). Did i tell you guys that we got a parking ticket yesterday?! We parked at a resident parking. Apparently we were lucky since they only gave us a ticket for 6,55 euro, while a parking ticket usually cost 30 euro. Since we no access of paying our ticket over ATM and have no euro cheque to mail, we have to go directly to Sitee (transportation office) to pay for our ticket. Once that's done, we walked to a local sandwich shop for a bite. Once we got out, we saw this street stand of roasted chestnuts which we can't pass for. So we got a cone of chestnuts for 1.50 euro. While we eating our hot roasted chestnuts, heading toward to a local supermarket for grocery, guess what we saw. A pastry store with portugese egg custer tarts. We just had to go in. We ordered an egg custer tart, an almond tart and mike got a cup of expresso. Within one block, we made three food stop, can't do any better than that. Finally we got our grocery, it started raining, so we head to the car and back to the hotel. Once we got back to the hotel, we notice the parking is FULL, and we see people other than the ones that works there. I swear, for the last 2 days we were there, i'm pretty certain that mike and i are the only couple that lives there. B/c other than hotel staff, we haven't seen one single guest. All of a sudden, we see guests walking in and out, in the lounge, in the bar, in the restaurant, packed out the parking lot. So weird.

Anyways, we headed back out for dinner. Went to this place every book say it's the pick of the town. (i know i know, we are suppose to go venture, but we'll just try this one first). Despite the reputation of the resturant, we find the food ok. Maybe it's just not our kind of food. Oh well.

Tomorrow we will drive to the cities around Evora since we already know evora like the back of our hands. Hopefully we'll find some jem around here.

In Portugual (day 5)

2006-10-18T16:41:00.000-07:00

Today is another tiring day. We drove into Evora (it's a mile away from our hotel) and we pretty much walked around all day. We walked for at least 6 hrs straight and I think we hit all the scenic point there is in town. OH, we finally saw asian tourist! A bunch of them. We saw this japanese tour at one scenic point. It's a bunch of old japanese men and women. There was also a young asian couple. We also saw quite a number of other tourists that are like us. Each holding their own copy of a map of Evora and a copy of the lonely planet guide book. That made me feel some what at ease. Just knowing that we are not the only tourist in town. We hit up another local restaurant today. Food was great as usual. We decided that tomorrow, we will detach our dinner decision from the guide book or other's suggestions but to try our own luck. We figuere that since this is such a small town, we can't really go wrong at any one of the local food joints. Whereas in a big city, there are bigger range between good and bad food joints.

Tomorrow we will walk around some more. Go to the local market, and do some more city search.

In Portugal (day 4)

2006-10-18T16:37:00.000-07:00

We are in Evora! So tired. today is our travel day. Woke up early at 9am (we call this early now), and Budget dropped off the rental car for us at the hotel. It's a manual 4 door Ford Fiesta, which is a fordfocus in canada. We set up our gps on mike's laptop and began our journey. First stop, into the town of albufeira. Today has been a little cloudy and windy. Glad we had all the sunshine during the time we were at the resort. Did some site seeing and pictures taking then head to our next stop Beja, which is a town we thought we passed by before hitting Evora. During the drive on the motorway, we notice they put up signs along the way as we pass by scenic spots. After seeing several of them, we couldn't help but stop at one call Castro
Verde (as we understand it's a castle of some sort). We made our little detour into the little town hoping to see the castro. But after many turns around those european streets, we saw a castle looking like building, but not so sure it that is really the scenic point that we intent to see. Oh well. Off to the motorway again.

After an hour or so on the motorway we got to Evora! The gps mapping pretty much useless as they don't have the name for most of the street. They are just called "local street" on the computer. But since it's a small town and we have a book on portugal, plus our hotel is apparently a scenic site in the city, we manage to find it with some looking. After much driving all day, we were exhausted. But given the expansive and lack of dinner choice in the hotel, we ask the reception at the hotel for a good local joint to eat, then drove into town for some good old local dinner. It was SOOOO good. It's a small family own restaurant. No one that goes there order from the menu, they just tell the son or dad of the place to bring them whatever is good for the day. We had this thing call "black pork" which is famous in this
town. It's pig which they grow that they do not trap in pens. They are allow to run freely in the farm, thus "black". After the meal, we went back to the hotel and here i am.

We'll be doing sight seeing in town the next few days. Evora is a really old city, with many historic sites. Hope we wont' get lost!

p.s. i'm starting to think people in portugal has never seen chinese people. We seems to get alot of looks from local and even tourists! what the heck. I guess not alot of asian goes to portugal. So far, i think we saw like 3 asian, NOT chinese, asian of some sort.

btw..we loaded our pix on flickr, check back to see as we will load pix on it daily.
Photos

In Portugal (day 3)

2006-10-18T16:36:00.000-07:00

Today will be our last day in this town. At the restaurant where we had dinner last night, we met this holland couple. They have a cottage here and been coming to portugal for 23 years. We chatted alot with them and the family that runs the restaurant. According to the couple, that restaurant has to best Chicken Piri Piri (bar-b-q chicken with hot sauce) in town. They are a close friends with the family too since they eat there whenever they are in town from holland. The chicken was
awesome. We also tried the town special drink Almond Liqure. It's a strong liquor they serve after the meal. It taste like concentrated almond tofu. A little FYI, all the restaurant here serve free Port wine at the end of the meal. And drinking wine seems like mandatory in portuagal since they are also a wine country. So since we got here, we drink everyday. Mike was saying last night that he seen me drink more wine then he ever seen me dink in 4 years. hahaha..but they are really good. We still need to try one of the specialty Green Wine.

So back to today update..we didnt do much. Went to the supermarket across the street from the hotel to get our breakfast for the next few days, and got some on the road snacks for tomorrow road trip. Took a long walk on the beach and took alot of pic of the place since it's our last day. We'll load them on flickr after dinner. Go check it out!

Tonight we will go have some tapas for dinner. Try their famous grill sardine. We'll let you know how that goes. Then we have to plan out where to go tomorrow. Not sure if i'll have internet tomorrow...we'll see.

adeus!

In Portugal (day 2)

2006-10-18T16:34:00.000-07:00

Today we did more tanning and swimming. Tomorrow will be our last day here in Albufeira. Next stop will be Evora. We will be renting a car on monday. We calculated taking bus/taxi would cost us the same or more if we are to rent a car. Plus we get more flexibility if we rent.

First we will drive around the cities/towns around here, then will head to Evora via the motorway (highway). A local here we met yesterday told us a nice scenic route to get there. Can't wait to start some real sight seeing since we are starting to get restless from tanning, eating and swimming the last 2 days.

In Portugual (day 1)

2006-10-18T16:30:00.000-07:00

I'm now in portugal!! the hotel is beautiful. We are staying at Sheraton Algarve. Even though it took us a few bus/taxi transfer to get here from the airport, it's all worth it. It's right by the beach and it's more like a resort than a hotel.
The weather is great. We sun tan and swam on the beach/pool today. The only thing is this place is a little away from town. So we either have to eat at the restaurants inside the hotel (expensive), or eat at the local restuarants just outside the hotel. Even though they are less expensive then the hotel, but i'm sure they are also tourist trap comparing to the ones more closer to the town. It's ok, we wanted to relax the first few days anyways. We will leave here on monday and head to Evora, a more rural town. There should be more sightseeing there.

First find in YVR..

2006-08-30T21:49:00.000-07:00

It's been exactly a week since i moved to vancouver. Got myself acquainted to the reality that this is now my new home. Have to adjust my daily routine to fit my new life. Other than missing everyone at home, I can say I'm enjoying what the city has to offer so far. Then again, just being able to ride my bike around town as my daily transport is enough to satisfy me.

Yesterday, i was introduced to this new food find in town. It's called Chai at East is East. It's a very cute and cozy place, open yet private. Their roti are delicious and the price is very reasonable. In some ways the food reminds me of Burrito Boys in Toronto. The taste is not 100% authentic to it's origin, but the spirit is there and it's VERY tasty. As I've been to vancouver several times before, and have eaten at a number of places. I didn't think there are many gems hidden in this city, but this place has given me hopes that there could be many more gems out there to be discover.

Next, to find good dessert places!

the search still continues...

2006-02-07T15:11:00.000-08:00

I think planning a wedding is like having a new born baby. They both suck the life you once had away from you. After the engagement had settled in, we have been thinking about the wedding every waking moment (or even in my dream). Yet, it's kind of weird. I can't describe it as one big headache, but rather a string of little ones. At first we were worry and anxious to decide on a date, thinking that the rest will be a breeze as long as the date is set. Once the date is set, we realized picking a location is even worst of a task. Competing with god knows how many couples for the same date, and has to find a place that we actually like and fit into our budget. Yet, we think that once the location is picked, everything will be a breeze. I have my fingers cross on that one.

Even though life has been stressful, I do come to a realization that i'm quite lucky (not necessary to others benefits). I think i have already found "the dress" given I've really went looking in total of 1 weekend, now i just have to hackle the price down. As for brides maid dresses, it would of been quite a challenging task since 2 out of 3 of my girls are half way around the world. But luck prevail as they all conveniently are able to meet up with each other to shop for their dresses on my behalf. Next is my wedding venues, due to the distance we are faced with, he is force to take on most of the planning responsibilities. That only means a little less for me. Thanks and sorry everybuddy!!

Location, location, location...

2006-02-03T22:12:00.000-08:00

As I look in the big scheme of planning a wedding, there's really nothing much to it. Most importantly is to find the location for the ceremony and dinner reception. The rest is just small details. But right now, we...well..more like just me..is stressing to find the perfect place for both ceremony and dinner reception. How can something so easy, yet can be so hard. Vancouver got the everything nature has to offer..but why can't they have more cool reception venues to choose from. *sigh* so the search continues.....