Day 282: Food, Food and more food...

I ate so much food today I felt like I was going to burst!

For breakfast at about 9:45am, I had half an egg sandwich. I was in a rush so I didn't have time to make much. I just toasted half my Portuguesh

For lunch at about 1pm, I had pho and bubble tea. My friend lives by Highgate Mall. We used to have a favourite pho restaurant on Kingsway. It was called Pho Saigon. But just recently they changed management. Now the decor is different and also the pho. When it was Pho Saigon, the pho was delicious. Now, the pho is ok. The soup base isn't as salty and tasty. I understand the management is new. The service needs help. We ordered beef skewers, a large bowl of pho with raw steak and meat ball and a small bowl of pho with beef brisket and meatball. The dishes didn't come at the same time. At pho restaurants, they usually give you the bean sprouts and lemon before your pho arrives. At this restaurant, they give you the pho first, then the bean sprouts. The small bowl of pho and the skewer came first. Then came the bean sprouts and the large bowl of pho. Like every other sunny day, I was in the mood for bubble tea.

We walked across the street to Estea. We ordered our bubble tea. I had soya pudding with mixed beans with pearls and coconut jelly. I am used to drinking my bubble tea. I guess becuase we were staying in the restaurant, they served my order in a bowl. It was kinda weird eating my bubble tea with a spoon. It was good. The bowl had soya pudding then the mixed bean, pearls and coconut were on top. Right when I finished my bubble tea, my friend called me to join them for a girls nite out deal at Milestones.

For my afternoon snack, I was at the new Milestones on 8th and Cambie. It was really nice and modern inside. I am so glad they have a small patio. It was such a beautiful day today. I have never been to this location before and I was impressed. I was there from about 3-4pm and there weren't many people. The customers all sat on the patio. There were only 3 of us. We had the Girls Nite Out deal. It is 4 bellinis and a choice of 4 appies from a selected list for $40. We had spinach and artichoke dip, yam fries, goat cheese and flatbread and phyllo shrimp. I didn't want to eat too much because I just finished a bowl of pho and bubble tea. But because the food was there, I kept on nibbling. The crispy honey phyllo shrimp arrived first. It was really tasty. It is crispy on the outside and cooked shrimp on the inside. It is served with a honey chipotle glaze for dipping. The second dish to arrive was the spinach and artichoke dip. It was so warm and comforting. I kept on nibbling on it. The third dish was the yam fries. I like yam fries better than regular fries because it is sweeter. The last dish to come out was the baked goat cheese and slow roasted garlic flatbread plate. The presentation was beautiful. The fig jam and the cranberry relish were in small bowls. The slow roasted garlic was still in it's shell. After my afternoon snack, I was almost ready for dinner.

For dinner at about 7pm, I made perogies with bacon and sour cream. I didn`t time it properly beccause I have never made this combination before. I made the perogies first then I made the bacon. I should`ve made it the other way around to keep the perogies warm. Because I made the perogies first, when the bacon was done, the perogies were cold. I had to pan fry it to warm it up (I dont have a microwave downstairs).

For dessert at about 9pm, I made a sundae. It was a banana with Oreo ice cream with chcolate syrup. Such a good way to end a day!

Day 281: White Spot Car Hop

I have ever been to a car hop before. A car hop is an old tradition of driving to a restaurant and eating in the car. There aren't that many car hops left. It's gone in the way of the drive - in: extinct. There is a girl that works with me that worked at a car hop. It was her last day at the car hop the other day. I wanted to go visit her at work and it was a good excuse to go to a car hop.

We just finished dinner when we headed to the White Spot car hop. I was really excited. We managed to get there to be her last customers. Because we just ate, we only ordered dessert. We ordered a chocolate shake, blueberry pie and chocolate brownie. It came out in the long tray that goes across your car. On the tray, they automatically put on the ketchup, salt and pepper. It was kinda weird getting dessert served with ketchup, salt and pepper. But that was ok, it just took up space on our tray. The chocolate shake was served in one glass. In the restaurant it is served in a milkshake glass and a stainless steel cup. It just seems like there is less in the one glass than in two cups. The blueberry pie is fantastic, as I always remember it. It is filled with whole fresh blueberries. It is topped with a small serving of whipped cream. The brownie wasn't that good. It was a square chocolate brownie cut in half to make two triangles. It was drizzled with chocolate syrup and served with vanilla ice cream and whipped cream. The brownie was too dry for me. It would've have been better if it was warmed up to make it more soft and chocolately.

It was a neat experience. I think it is a good romantic thing to do on a date. But it is kinda uncomfortable because it is kinda squishy. It is good if it is the destination. It is the only place you will be going. Then you will enjoy the experience more. But it isn't a place to go to after a long drive. After a long drive, I would like to stretch my legs and have a change of scenery. I would rather go inside the restaurant to have my meal.

Day 280: Salmon and Bannock

A first time at a First Nations restaurant: http://lisa-restaurants.blogspot.com/2010/08/salmon-and-bannock.html

Day 279: Bryan Adams / Seattle

Saturday was the day of my very first outdoor concert seated on floor seats. It was very exciting. I waited a month for this concert. It was for Bryan Adams and the Beach Boys as the headliner. It was the best $40 (plus HST, of course) I've ever spent. The Beach Boys performed for 2 hours. It was like a mini concert in itself. There was a short break between the Beach Boys and Bryan Adams. Bryan Adams made a very quiet entrance. No announcement, no loud racket...just walked on and the crowd went wild! I was bobbing with the music. Every other song was a song I can sing along with. It was just so exciting to be there at the concert! After the concert, we headed straight to Seattle.

Because I booked Saturday off for the concert and I usually get Sundays and Mondays off, it was like a long weekend. We decided to go somewhere far to take advantage of the time off. We arrived on Saturday night and just relaxed.


Sunday was a busy day for us. It started off at EMP (Experience Music Project)
The EMP is all about music. I'm not a huge music buff but this place seems really interesting. There was room all about Jimi Hendrix. It has the history of his music career. There was also a room with various guitars. It was really neat to see all the various guitars. The special exhibit was on the Supremes' costumes. It showed the different costumes they wore at different appearances. It was all showmanship; lots of glitter, sexy form fitting dresses, feathers. There was also a section where you can learn to play different instruments. I had a short tutorial on how to play the piano.

Attached to the EMP is the Science Fiction Museum. It was very interesting. It was all about the science fiction genre. There were books, artifacts and costumes. The admission price included EMP and the Science Fiction Museum.




After EMP, we headed to a tour of Safeco Field. It was really dependant on the weather on which day to head to the tour. For EMP and Safeco Field, we had coupons in the Entertainment Book. It was really neat to see the field, the oppponents dressing room and the press room. I never watched a pro baseball game before. This is the closest thing to it.



After 2 hours at EMP and an hour walking tour at Safeco Field, it was time to eat. We planned it so we can make it to the Brooklyn (http://www.thebrooklyn.com/) for happy hour. Happy Hour was from 4 - 6 pm and has a special menu. Appies were $5 or $6 each and raw oysters were $1 each. We ordered 12 raw oysters, steamed clams, wild boar quesadilla, rosemary parmesan fries and mini steak sliders. It was a good combination. My favourite dish was the wild boar quesadilla. Maybe I was hungry, maybe it was the taste of the food? It was something different.



Monday was all about shopping. We went to Wal Marts, a few Ross', Payless Shoes and finally made it to Seattle Premium Outlets. There wasn't as many sales as I would like but I did end up buying a few items.

Day 278: Life's Directions...

You only have a small time frame to do what you want. If you don't do it, does that mean you missed your opportunity? I would like to finish my bachelor's degree. But I heard that you get free tuition when you are 65 and older. I can postpone it till then. I would like to live in my big house and be a billionaire. But will that happen sometime in my lifetime? Can I start from stratch at my age? Or do I just live the rest of my life and go another direction? Do I just think of it as a missed opportunity?

Most people decide what they want to do in high school. Pick the courses they want to take to pursue their career in post secondary. Then work their way up the ladder. I didn't do things that way. What I took in high school, was totally different then what I took in post secondary school. I didn't go to post secondary school full time right after high school. I wanted to be so many things after high school. There was always a reason for not pursuing that career path. It wasn't what I want to do anymore. It costed too much money for tuition. I didn't want to go to school for that long to pursure that career. Mentally I feel like I'm still in my 20's and deciding what to be when I grow up.

Some people have several careers in their lifetime. Maybe it's never too late to do what I want to do? I don't think I have found my 'calling'. If there is such a thing. Maybe I haven't found my passion? Maybe it's both? Maybe I'm just going to live on cruise control and see what happens? Or maybe I have to make things happen for myself?

Day 277: Video Games

Most people think only guys like video games. I like video games. I would like it better if I was good at it. I don't like all video games. I like fighting and shooting games.

Last night I hung out with my friend and we spend some time playing video games. We went to Circuit Circus (used to be Lester's). Playing arcade games isn't as cheap as it was when I was young. It used to be 25 cents a play. Now it's 50 cents. We played a racing game against each other. We played a few shooting games. I played pinball also. It's quite challenging now or maybe it was the game that I played. At one point there were 4 or 5 pinballs coming towards me. After spending some money at the arcade, we went back to his house to play more video games. He has a Playstation 2. It is relatively old but that 's ok. He had Street Fighter (the orginal one). It reminded me of when I was in grade 7 and just started learning how to play Street Fighter. I didn't have a strategy. I just pushed the buttons and hope I am attacking my opponent. Now I still play like that. I don't know what buttons does what. I just push the buttons and hope it does something. We also played Tekken 4. It is a more 3-D realistic fighting game. I guess not playing video games for a long time, I am a bit behind in which games are 'cool'. It is a good way to get some anger out!! I got some sore thumbs but that's ok, typing all day doesn't make it better.

Day 276: Latin Festival / Outdoor Movie

Sunday was a busy day for me. In the morning and early afternoon we went to the Latin Festival. In the evening was an outdoor movie.

Latin Festival
The Latin Festival was held on Sunday, August 15 at Trout Lake. It only took a small portion of the park close to Victoria Drive. We met at Broadway Station and walked to the festival. We were hungry and thirsty so we checked out the food area first. We walked back and forth several times before we decided what to get.


I wanted a drink but wanted something different. The picture above is of one of the drinks I bought. It is sangria flavoured soda. It sounded interesting. It sounded like sangria but without the alchohol. It tasted like a mixed fruit soda. It was cheap at $2 each.


This was our first treat. It looked like a apple turnover from the outside. We had to ask them what it was. The lady told us that it is a guava flavoured turnover. That sounded interesting. For $1.50, it was worth trying. It was pink inside and looked like strawberry rhubarb. It was quite tasty and really tasted like guava.


We got to the festival quite early and we ordered from one of the booths. We ordered sardines. It was bbq'ed sardines and you eat it with the bread, like a sandwich. When we ordered the sardines, their bbq wasn't up and running yet. We had to wait a really long time. The portion was supposed to be 2 sardines and 2 buns. I guess they felt bad that we were waiting for a long time, they gave us an extra piece of sardine. It tasted different than the canned sardines. I think they just put the sardines on the bbq and serve it on the bun. I was expecting the bun to have some kind of sauce to make it more tasty. But it didn't. It was just sardines and the bun. I didn't want to fill myself up with so much carbs so I didn't eat much of the bun and only picked at the sardines.

This is plantines. It is served with a coleslaw with a tomato sauce. It is plantine chips. The coleslaw is a bit different with the tomato sauce. With the tomato sauce on top, if you didn't eat the plantines quick enough they got soggy. It was different.


This was tortilla with filling inside. On this plate one tortilla was fillled with beans, pork and cheese. The other tortilla was filled with pork and cheese. The tortilla was made there. They shaped it and stuffed it then panned fried it. They were also offering tortillas which were grilled on the BBQ. It is served with the coleslaw and tomato sauce. It wasn't as tasty as I thought. It wasn't spicey, it wasn't salty, it wasn't sweet, it wasn't bitter. It was a bit bland. Thanks to the coleslaw, it tasted a bit better.

After 2 hours in scorching sun and after seeing all the merchandise, I was ready to go. I was sunburnt :(

Outdoor Movie


This is the first time I went to an outdoor movie. It was held at Swanguard Stadium. They were playing How to Train Your Dragon. I thought it was free but they were accepting donations for Kidsports in Burnaby. I would feel bad if I just walked in without donating anything. I just gave them $5. You were allowed to sit on the grass or on the bleachers. We decided to sit on the bleachers. I was worried about mosquitos and I brought some lotion and spray to deter the mosquitos from eating me alive. The movie started when it got dark about 9:30pm. It was really hard to concentrate on the movie. There were still kids running around and making noise. There were ambulance driving by. The movie didn't have good color contrast and I couldn't see part of the movie. By the end of the movie, I didn't get attacked by mosquitos and got a jist of what the movie was about.