A big update!!! Last two weeks of foodie goodies and a little walk around the sea wall!

So last week I didn't have a chance to post on my food adventures in Vancouver because I spent that time posting the awesome paintings that the students in my class did all year. I am going to update you now... and lucky you...lots of foodie photos to go with it. Last weekend was a decently nice weekend with periods of sunshine and some overcast. I woke up early that Saturday morning and hit up a local cafe for some yummy coffee and to do some reading. My friend, Andrea, wanted to meet up for lunch so I stuck around the area until lunch time. We decided to hit up Rocky Mountain Flat Bread Co. This is a place that is most well known for their flat breads that are cooked in a special oven. I don't know what kind of oven... but the flat bread comes out nice and crispy like a pizza. Once again, this in the Mt. Pleasant area. It seems to be where we hang out every weekend for a number of years now... we need to explore a little more outside of East Van. But the thing about Main Street that makes it so special is that nearly every second retailer is a eatery. You can go there every weekend for years and not try everything you had on your list because there is too much. It's kinda like New York City in that way.



Rocky Mountain Flatbread Co boasts all natural juices...not sure what that entails exactly...but it got me to order a cranberry juice...it was good... like cranberry juice. Andrea got herself an iced tea sweetened with maple syrup. She liked it and said it was not too sweet. She could really taste the lemon. It was not too overly maplely as well.


Here is my flat bread: tomato and boccochini. I didn't know it came with basil and mushrooms but it was a good thing. The addiction of mushrooms made it taste meaty and hearty. I really liked it and would definitely order it again. Andrea ordered a breakfast flatbread with egg and sausage. I've had this before. I have an issue with egg on my "pizza" but she didn't.

I don't remember when we got this doughnut. I think it was earlier that day after our flat breads... really bad eating habits I know. But this is a Coconut Cream Pie doughnut from 49th Parallel. I think everyone in Van has heard of the Lucky's Doughnut counter they have now. I think the doughnuts are more famous than the coffee! Personally I don't like the coffee from 49th Parallel. They are well known local roasters but I always found their coffee very dirty tasting.

Later that night it was a birthday party for two of our friends. We went to a friends place to celebrate. They cooked a nice Italian meal for us and we also got these little cakes from the birthday girl who is majorly creative. These are push pop cakes. You push the part on the bottom upwards and you can keep eating until the cake is gone gone gone. They were so cute.






I love this cake sign...even though it wasn't my birthday maybe my wish will come true. I wish we had a picture of the festivities after dinner as we went to Whalley, Surrey, for bowling. Not only is Whalley really out of the way, it is also the ghetto of the suburbs. It's not a place one usually goes to unless you know someone living there or you need to buy drugs, or you work there. But... my friend had a groupon to go bowling down there at Dell Lanes and it was awesome! They played music from the 90's and everyone was super friendly. Everyone just wants to have a good time. People there were quick to chit chat. It is kind of a surprise as we are from Vancouver, and normally when someone talks to you anywhere in Vancouver you just hurriedly grab your things and walk away...no talks to strangers in Vancouver!!!



Throughout the week the weather was pretty decent. The sun came out once again and inspired normally calm people to go off the handle at the playground... my coworker doing a flyby...

I love posting pictures of adults having fun at playgrounds...

This Friday I went downtown to the Chopra Yoga Center to register but not to actually take a yoga class. I think it was just an excuse for me to eat sushi at Organic Lives. I went with the co-worker above. Organic Lives is a locally owned raw food joint. They used to have a joint in the Mt. Pleasant area but that one had a mishap and had to close. Now there is only a tiny stall in the Chopra Yoga Center. I ordered myself a Pecan Mango Sushi. It's a sushi roll made out of raw nori wraps, avocado, sprouts, mango, carrots and pecan pate. It was SOOOOOOOOO good! I was so excited to eat it I forgot to take a picture.  When I find my pictures of the first time I went to Organic Lives I'll post them for you. I was inspired to eat more raw foods afterwards and convinced some friends and another coworker of mine to go try a restaurant on Commericial Drive called Eternal Abundance on Saturday.  This is what we ordered.

Super Green Smoothie: made with Kale, apple, ginger.  This was SO good. It was not sweet at all and tasted super green. I think the leafy green taste came mostly from the kale. It was strangely intoxicating and I wanted more. It felt very healthy. I wouldn't mind drinking one right now.












Sunflower seed/Mango sushi nori roll. This nori roll, compared to Organic Lives, is much more dense. It's pate was made more crumbly and more difficult to eat. Because it was more crumbly, I was able to taste each ingredient. Sometimes I would get a bite that tasted more gingery than others. I prefer the more well blended raw pates than this kind. I still ate more than half of it. I shared it with some friends. I think if I ate the whole thing I would be too full. I don't think I would order it again just because of the crumbliness of it.







Kale Caesar Salad: I love this Caesar. I like kale in general as it has much stronger flavour and just makes you feel good after you eat it. The dressing is very strong and garlicky. It is also super creamy. I thought it worked well to balance out the strength of the kale. However, it would be better if it were less heavily dressed. Maybe next time I'll ask for dressing on the side. One really cool thing about this salad is that comes with croutons that are super crunch and tasty. Organic Lives also has a delicious Caesar but it doesn't come with as many croutons and you pay close to the same price. This place is incredibly affordable for such high quality, nutrient food.





Lastly, my friend ordered a Zuggetti. This is basically spiralled zucchini with raw marinara sauce and some crackers. I didn't like it. I have had other zuchhini pastas before and I have never liked them. I can't get over the zucchini texture. It tastes nothing like real pasta and the sauce is bland. I know one friend that totally loves zucchini pasta. So I guess some people out there like it. In general, with the people I ate with, it was not their favourite.

How do you go about the day after eating a super healthy raw meal? Yup... go out and find the biggest cookies you can. We got this from the Cupcakery at 1st and Commericial. These cookies were so cheap... they were only about 2 dollars each but the novelty of the cookies were obviously the size. I was so excited to try mine, but don't judge a book by it's cover. My giant short bread cookie fell short. It wasn't moist, or crumbly, or sweet, or salty. It didn't have much tastes at all. The better parts were the parts with chocolate but the cookie was too floury too enjoy even the chocolate.



This giant oatmeal cookie was better but nothing fantastic.... next time you see a cookie the size of your head think twice before buying it.

 The Stanley Park Sea Wall

As the day was starting to brighten up with the sun we headed downtown to walk the seawall. It's basically a 3 hour stroll around Stanley Park. Here are just some of the nice things we saw along the way. Enjoy! Hope you had a fabulous weekend!



The beginning of our journey was by the docks on Georgia Street.

This is the famous mermaid! Upon closer inspection, and reading the nearby plaque, it was actually a lady in scuba gear. Now most people in Vancouver call this the mermaid anyway. It kinda killed the magic to read the plaque. I won't tell anyone if you don't. Keep the dream alive.

Lions Gate Bridge.

The majestic Totem Poles in Stanley Park.