Concerts, cows and Dosas! Yes, they do have something in common and that's me!

This Sunday was supposed to be awesome weather. I had made plans with my coworkers to walk the seawall and check out the Jazz Fest. It was the last day and the headliner was a band I discovered this year called The Harpoonist and the Axe Murderer. They are a two man band but they play loud and are super fun to watch. I saw them earlier this year at a Current Swell show at the Commodore and a couple of months later at their own show at the Biltmore. If you ever get a chance to see them I highly recommend you checking them out. They are local from Vancouver.

Sunday, before meeting up with coworkers, I had lunch with a friend. We went to Burgoo on Main. I haven't been to this place for so long. I wanted the fondue which I remember enjoying but I saw someone ordering a grilled cheese sandwich and we decided to get that and share it.







I wanted the grilled cheese because it had some extra crusty cheese over the bread and not just in the bread. The crazy thing about this meal was that it came with 2 grilled cheese sandwiches. It was super crusty and gooey with loads of cheese. I don't know how someone can order this for themselves.  It was way too much and greasy! It was good for the first couple of bites and then you start feeling sick.  I love grilled cheese sandwiches and this one did taste good but as far as comfort food goes, you don't feel so comfortable after eating it.

We also ordered the hummus which was also coated in oil. I think Burgoo just isn't my kind of restaurant. The place is all about comfort food but maybe they can make it less rich? What is the definition of comfort food? I thought it was just food from your childhood memories. To me, Burgoo is like comfort food with a couple of tablespoons of oil poured on top. I find it extremely greasy. It is super busy most of the time. There is definitely a market for it.

As the day went on, the weather started to get worse. Friends seemed to not want to go to the show as much anymore and some weren't feeling well. We cancelled the seawall and concert. I was a bit disappointed but I thought "no big deal". However, as the day went on, I got more and more restless. I wanted to do something and some of my friends were going to the Greek Festival. Instead of going with them I decided to check out the Jazz fest on my own. I have never gone to a concert by myself before but it wasn't so bad! I had such a good time! The band was great as usual and they had a guest and some musicians in the background playing instruments. Wonderful show! It was raining a little bit but it was in a nice and refreshing way. I am so glad I went.



This photo was from the show at the Biltmore in April.


This was from the Jazz Fest.

After the show I decided to drive through Stanley Park. If I could go to the Jazz Fest on my own, I thought I'd complete the whole day on my own and finish it off with all I had planned to do.  Here are some shots of the light house and the sulfur pile.





It was nice even though it was sprinkling a little. Sometimes you just gotta do what is in your heart.

Monday rolls along and I go back to West Dyke Trail.  There is a section there with cows and I really wanted to take a photo of the cows. They were extremely close to the boardwalk so I was able to inch up closely to them and take a photo. I learned that cows are nervous animals. They watch you carefully as you come up close to them and when you get too close they run. The whole herd will go along. They galloped through the wet grass and splashed through the ditches. I've never seen cows gallop before. They move very much like horses.







I love cows... those cows were weird... they have a white band in the middle. I have never seen cows like that before.

It was $5.99 dosa day again at House of Dosas and my friends had made plans to eat there for dinner. We got there at 6 and it didn't take too long to get a table. I guess right before 6pm is a good time to get a table before dinner because after that the place was PACKED!

We ordered an appetizer this time to go along with our super cheap meal. The picture below is of veggie pakoras. I don't remember where it was that I had the best pakoras of my life but ever since that time all other pakoras just don't taste good. These ones were okay. They seemed like they had too much chickpea batter. I prefer more veggies. They were also slightly spicy. The chutney had a slight licorice taste to them.



This time around I didn't get the usual dosa (which is the tube shaped one). I ordered a rava dosa. I noticed a difference between the two dosas aside from the shape. First of all, the batter is different. The usual dosa batter is slighty sour and tastes similar to McDonald's french fries. The rava dosa is more bland. I did not notice a sour taste at all. I really liked the sour taste of the tube shaped dosa. The texture is different as well. The usual dosa is smooth and flat. This one is bumpy, has holes, thicker and rough. I thought the rava was crispier but it was also greasier. Some parts were fried throughout especially the edges. I will order the tube shaped one next time but I'm glad I tried the rava.

To get some perspective it doesn't look as big as the tube shaped dosa but it is still very filling. I finished probably less than 1/3 of this.


Rainy Monday adventures... I am going to stay in tomorrow and clean the house!

It seems like all I do is eat but that's not true...

Victoria Day long weekend had some decent weather so I went for a bike ride with some friends. I didn't make it to Burn's Bog like we had planned because I wiped out on my bike and hurt my knee but I did take some cool photos of the pretty fauna and flora along the way.



Just some yellow flowers that come from some sort of bush. After taking this picture I started noticing this flower was everywhere.



I loved the randomness of wild grasses. They look like they have a purpose. People who often design underwater gardens work so hard on picking the perfect plants that compliment the look of one another. In nature it just happens. It's beauty without a plan.

Amongst the green there is a small burst of purple.

Vancouver is sooo beautiful. I need to take more Spring photos...

I also met some awesome dogs. There was one dog in particular I couldn't get enough pictures of because he had an endearing trait. Can you tell what it is?


What a cutie.

Impermanence: word of the day

So... Sometimes no matter how beautiful a day it is there is a feeling of overall disappointment and a lingering sadness. Don't get me wrong, I am not depressed but everyday I have to remind myself not to resist the past and other people's decisions. It's very hard to do. I have to remind myself that impermanence is a part of life and I have to enjoy it. There is something more for me out there. Life isn't so random.

Today has had more moments of sadness. I don't know why some days are harder than others. My mind just won't stop thinking about who I am missing right now. I am more able to push the feeling away though. But never the less I miss him. This too shall pass. One day I will have no feelings for him. Feelings can change as they changed for him, they can change for me too. This too shall pass.

Sometimes I read my horoscope for inspiration. I have found to be quite accurate recently. Here are two versions I found in the newspaper.



After reading that I paid my credit card right away and then cleaned my house (which I was planning to anyway). However I don't plan to seclude myself. Though I love the last two lines. "Listen to the stillness. Give thanks."



Though not applicable to today that is always good advice. Sometimes horoscopes are random but also random with good advice. What can go wrong if you follow your intuition?

I also read on my horoscope app that I should go buy a lottery ticket because for some reason I am very lucky today. Also, when I checked my email there was an email about Hometown Heroes. It's this lottery for a house. So I bought some tickets for that as I do each year. Maybe I'll win a big house!!! Or maybe not... but it all goes to charity, so it's no loss either way. Wish me luck!!! 

I'd like to mention some nice discoveries about today.

First one: a student of mine whom is limitedly verbal looked very upset and kept repeating the same phrase over and over again. The phrase sounded like "hippos swim!" It was very odd. But I found a picture of a hippo swimming, showed it to him and be immediately stopped. The picture was sooo funny. Here it is.


Very cute. Hippos have really big asses. I can stare at this picture a lot.

Also I took a photo of an awesome snack I think everyone should try. I got it in Costco in the states. Maybe they have it here too? So yummy. I shared some at work and everyone liked it.






Those peanuts look radioactive but that's only because I edited the photos. Don't worry. They are safe to eat if you don't count the burning sensation in your nostrils.

Lastly, I made raw zucchini hummus today and it was easy and tasty. Please try! It is probably less fattening than chickpea hummus and tastes almost exactly the same. I got the recipe from this site: http://makeeverydayraw.blogspot.ca/2007/06/zucchini-hummus.html?m=1


Goals:
Figure out how to get into a legit mystery shop in Vancouver... wanna start getting paid for eating and shopping as it's all that I do.

Go research a volunteer position where I can learn something. I read in A New Earth that if I felt like someone took something from me, or wouldn't give me something I wanted  I need to go out and give that same thing out to the world. Giving and receiving are the same thing. GIVE and see what you get back in your heart.

Songs of the day for me:
1. Wild Country by Wake Owl.
2. Somebody I used to know by Gotye.

The lyrics stood out to me especially these ones by Wake Owl.


If I wanna leave I will
Stand on my feet I do
Only takes these words
You never believe are true
I'm never gonna chase something
It's a total waste running
After what they take hundreds
Look at what they praise, nothing

Oh we go where we don't know the way
Fire meets fire we run and it's all the same.

Maybe tomorrow will be a lighter song.