Day off!

So... I normally work Saturday mornings for a few hours but today I have the day off because my client went to Disneyland! I am not much of a person to sleep in so I got out of bed at 730 and went out for a cup of coffee and to read my latest book by Deepak Chopra. I think I am getting addicted to reading books by him but every time I read them I feel a little bit more confident that life has a purpose and a meaning and it's not all just random junk.

So I'm not going to go on about his ideas. I'll save that for another post. I'm actually going to post some of the art work that the students in my class did for the art show. They are all so beautiful! The students in my class are low incidence students in high school. Some cannot talk, some have huge behaviours and some can't walk. There is actually a blind student in my class that learned how to walk in our school and also can play the tune of any song we play for her on the keyboards at school. No one ever taught her how to play with the keyboard. She figured it out all by herself. She is amazing as they all are. None of the students shall be named due to confidentiality but check out their beautiful art work!


The art teacher had a series on famous artists. Can you guess who some of the kids are trying to reproduce?


















Another series was based on repeating images. These are some of my favourite pieces.
















Here are just a couple more paintings that I love... The students did such a wonderful job.














When the principal of our school asked a student what this painting was about she said it was about Charlie and the Chocolate Factory. Can you see what she sees? I can. What a beautiful imagination. Do you feel like you don't have this inside you anymore? Maybe we need to tap into our playful creative side a little more as adults. Then we can also create like this.



This students favourite color is red. Actually he had an obsession with this color. I guess it was his inspiration.

I get inspired looking at these paintings. They are all so perfect in their own ways. No one could replicate them with the same drive. Some of these paintings took weeks to complete. I hope you appreciated them as much as I do!!

House of Dosas!!! Woah baby!!!!

Today was a crazyyyy day! I was running from place to place and was exhausted. Let me just give you a run down. After work, I went to my second job. After my second job I had to go to run to the grocery store to get groceries for my lunch! After that I had to run to my uncles house to run an errand. After my errand I met up with a friend for dinner. When I came home I started making my lunch. Then I took my shower and did some trip planning with my friend. The conclusion is that I am going to Chicago in a month! Woot! I can't wait. Soon this blog will have a review on deep dish pizza because I HAVE TO TRY THAT! Now it's 9:00 pm and I can finally relax. I like busy days! Being busy is good.

Tonight, I went to dinner with an old friend that I haven't seen for several months. We went to House of Dosas on Kingsway and Knight. It is at 1391 Kingsway to be exact. I've been to this place before but never on a Monday! Some highlights of this place are that the staff are super friendly, the place is open 24 hours and dosas are pretty cool things. On Mondays dosas are even better because they are only $5.99. That's right! $5.99!!! I paid for my dinner with the change in my purse. Woot!

What is a dosa? It is a basically a chickpea flour based super thin crepe that is rolled up with some curry inside. They give you three dipping sauces. The red one is spicy, the white one is made with coconut and the one in the middle is perplexing. I'm not sure if it's a sauce or a soup, but it's super spicy.

The most obvious thing about a dosa is that it's GIGANTIC!!! Mine looks bigger than my friends but that's only because she started eating hers first. I ordered a dosa called paper masala with veggies.  It has an assortment of vegetables including potatoes, cauliflower, peas and a yellow colored curry. It's very good and spicy. The wrap itself is very crispy. It's thinner than a crepe but in some parts it has the same thickness of a crepe and when you eat those parts it tastes a little tangy. I love it! I dipped the crepe in the sauces they gave us and it tasted sooooo good. By the time I got to the middle where the curry was I was full. I did eat a couple of teaspoons of it though. I will have dosa for lunch tomorrow. Yay!!!



It was such a huge dosa I had to take a picture with it. I dare you not to take a picture with such a monstrosity! It looks like I'm eating the worlds largest spring roll.


I recommend you go try a dosa even if it's just for the opportunity to post your very own photo on facebook and totally freak out your friends. When I posted mine today I had 8 comments in 5 minutes and two friends made a date to eat there next Monday. The power of the DOSA!

On a side note...

Here is what I made for lunch for the week. Black Beans!! It's my own recipe which basically means I threw a bunch of veggies (onions, garlic, red and orange peppers, carrots and celery) and water and black beans in a pot and simmered it until I remembered I was cooking something. I also added some paprika, cumin, pepper and cayenne pepper. I also accidentally added some cinnamon (a lot actually). When I did a taste test it didn't have any flavour so I added more garlic, some onion powder and some mole paste. Now it taste savoury and spicy. I am happy with it. Mole Black Beans???

So on a crazy day like this (and my days are often like this), I must remember always... go at your own pace. That's why I love this photo. Some days must be slow, some days MUST be fast. Just accept every moment. Bounce Bounce Bounce!

Weekend update!

Another weekend has come and gone and I have more goods to introduce to ya'll.

First of all, I'd like to say it was a nice weekend. It started off with a bang down at Holland Park in Surrey for the Mumford and Sons concert! It was my first time going to a concert there. I took the skytrain out to Surrey for it. It's strange that they would escort 20,000 fans into the city of Surrey for a show. It was so cramped in the park no blankets were allowed. I was worried they were going to confiscate my blanket but somehow they had let me through with it even though there were hundreds of blankets left outside the gates.







Unfortunately I didn't get very many good pictures out there. I hope you enjoy these though. Maybe it will give you a bit of my experience.

Before the concert we hit dinner in Vancouver on Main Street at East is East. It's a beautiful restuarant. The walls are made of pink Himilayan rock salt and the decor is romantic. Great place for a date. The food at East is East is very healthy and hearty tasting. It's not greasy. When you leave you get a feel good feeling. That's a plus for this restuarant.




This blue area is for performances such as belly dancing. See what I mean about romantic? All the tables were reserved for 7:30. We were there quite a bit earlier than that. 




See the rock salt walls. I love them. They also have beautiful table decor.




I loved our table setting.




For dinner a friend and I shared a roti roll platter. One roll has lamb and the other has beef. The platter comes with three dipping sauces, soup and salad.This is definately enough for two people if you are both light eaters. The portion size was comfortable.

We also ordered an appetizer. This is the hemp seed pâté. We got it with their house bread.







The pate is the essence of healthiness. If you are use to the moist taste of meat pate this version will not be what you are expecting. It's still good though if you want to try something a little different. 



After the concert, we met up with another friend for El Caminos! This is one of my favourite restuarants!!!! It's Latin food however, it seems more Latin fusion. Not the most authentic dishes here but they have their own twist that is appreciated.
If you show up for the dinner menu, they give you some free popcorn. This popcorn is dressed with lime and some chili powder. I like this and I'm glad it's free!


My friend ordered the Gambas Arepa which is a shrimp stuffed arepa. An arepa is a corn based bread that is cooked on a grill or pan. It can be eaten alone or made into a sandwich. This is a delicious version of an arepa. The shrimp is complemented with arugula and a garlicky and savoury dressing. I highly recommend this dish!



I always hope that when I come to this restuarant I am restrained enough to not order this drink. However, I am never successful. In fact, if I order this drink the likelihood is that I will order again at least one more time. This is a Pisco Sour. Yum Yum!


This is an appetizer at El Camino's we always order. It's the called Chick Pea Fries. It comes with a chipotle aoili. If you have had chickpea fries before and did not enjoy them you will probably still like these ones. At least that seems to be the general consensus when my friends are forced to try one. Like Pringles, once you pop you can't stop.


The next morning we went down to Aberdeen Center to have lunch at the food court. Why??? Well they have such a huge variety of venders at Aberdeen that it's fun to eat there. You can get Vera's burgers, Malaysian food, Korean, Japanese... and more.  I ordered from Teppan Kitchen because I noticed a lot of other people were too. The dish I ordered was a hot plate dish that had rice and pork in a lemon sauce. I think they put that paper around the dish so the sauce doesn't go flying every where as it was sizzling like crazy. My take on this dish was it was DELICIOUS! The only thing I would change about it would be the amount of salt they put in it. Maybe a little less salt and it would be perfect. I would definately order it again though. It was tart and creamy. The rice mixed in really well with the sauce. They used pork cheeks so the meat was extra tender. And once in a while you will get the sweetness from a corn kernal just to balance off the sour. Try it!





These chicken wings are famous at this mall. They are from a vendor called Wo Fung Dessserts. The chicken wings are the first ones on the picture menu. In chinese they sorta sound like this: "Gum Sa Giy Yik". We ordered 12 of these. Went a bit overboard...



After that, I went with my sister and my nieces out to West Van. It started to rain and I took a couple of pictures of some rain droplets on some leaves. Pretty!!!





Hope you all had a lovely weekend!!!

Bean around the world

Today is another coffee note. I went to Bean Around The World to grab a cup of coffee before a meeting and I noticed they had a new product called the Red Americano. It's basically a rooibos based Americano. I thought why not give it a try. It was just under 4 dollars. That's nearly the same price as the coffee Americano I was going to get anyway.

Well... Here it is.




Its pretty dark looking but save your money. It's none other that super strong rooibos which means it's pretty much flavorless. I like rooibos tea but more so when it's flavoured because I think it tastes like steeped bark which is fine sometime. However, if you are craving a coffee it just doesn't cut it. Even after adding honey and milk it had not made a dent in the unsatisfactory category.

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.

A weekend of food

When my sister comes home for the weekend she wants to eat out for every meal. We always go with her because Vancouver has awesome food and we feel bad for her.
This Victoria Day long weekend we went to a number of different restuarants. I have highlighted my favourite dishes from these tasty places.


Red Star Seafood Restuarant.
We came here for dim sum. If you ever have a chance to come here take a chance on these dishes. I love them.




Prawn spring rolls: super crispy on the outside and juicy shrimp on the inside. A must try!




Roasted BBQ duck: this duck is exceptional. I don't know why but it just tastes better than the other BBQ ducks at Chinese restuarants. There is a very deep rich flavour.




Fish rice roll? This is my favourite dish here. It's a rice roll with fish paste wrapped with deep fried bean curd sheets on the inside. So many different flavours and textures all in one bite!


Hoi Tong in Richmond is an award winning establishment. I don't know the exact type of Asian cuisine it reflects but it's good. There is an air of bad service though and it's also a very small restuarant so it can feel quite cramped.
These are my favourite dishes from Hoi Tong.




Fish Maw soup: it's a bit orange because I like to add red vinegar to mine. It has a lot of fish maw which is why I like it.




Deep fried and stir fried sole: two different ways of cooking one fish. You get the soft delicate texture of carefully stir fried sole and also the awesome crispness of deep fried sole. The deep fried portion is so fried it tastes like you are eating sole chips.




Bitter melon omlette: this is an award winning dish. I never like bitter melon but when I ate this I changed my mind. There was so much bitter melon in each bite of the fluffy omlette but none of it was distasteful. Maybe it was because the melon was sliced so thinly or it was just seasoned well. It tastes so simple but addictive. It's a must try! Don't try to recreate it at home either. It won't be the same.



Double Happiness is another restuarant we went to. It's a Chinese style fast food restuarant. Everything here is usually good but that's because it's loaded with msg. If you feel like eating msg do come here.
These are the things you should try.




Yes, we do order a lot. Their ground beef congee is excellent. Chinese calamari and deep fried wontons are awesome. Don't be afraid to try something a little different and go for the deep fried daikon cake too. Yum yum!!!

On Victoria Day I went downtown with some friends to walk the seawall. But since everyone was aching from rock climbing or myself aching from wiping out on my bike we ended up eating and shopping. Maybe next week we will do the sea wall rather than flaking out.

I love heading downtown. One of the reasons is because of Mom's Grilled Cheese. The sandwiches are always grilled so perfectly.

Here is the cart.



Here is the grilled cheese four of is shared.



It's a pepper jack with tomato and half bacon sandwich. Half bacon because we were with a vegetarian but I actually prefer it without bacon.

We also went to the art gallery for coffee. It's the first time being there but it's such a nice place to sit and get a drink. I ordered a peach and cherry flan.


It was too sweet but I don't like desserts so they are always too sweet for me. It just looked really good. I wouldn't recommend it. But if you have a major sweet tooth it might just be the thing for you!

A headache...

A tired body...

A hard day.



Today I felt an overall kinda low feeling. Then I got an announcement from a friend that triggered a emotional episode.



It's too much to go through this always. Time to stop. This can't keep affecting me this way.



But something's I get thrown a curve ball and it happens too fast and it feels like I'm falling off the edge of a bridge. Just falling, falling, falling. I've visualized it before too and it's hurtful. It feels like I have no control.



Maybe this summer needs to be a turning point for me. Or just even right now. Right now is my turning point. I turn now.