January 2013

In Chinese

100% Healthy Dessert: Mixed Fruit of 13 Specialties

January 5, 2013

100% Healthy Dessert is a small dessert shop in Vancouver. I’m sure not all the dessert is healthy, but there are some pretty neat Chinese desserts. Is a nice little place to just catch up with friends.

The interior is quite small but isn’t too busy.

Mixed Fruit of 13 Specialties ($7.50) has the strangest name on the menu, so I ordered it. I was curious to see what 13 items were on this. We couldn’t figure it out, but it was good if you like shaved ice type of desserts.

Overall, the desserts were OK, but not crazy amazing. Most of the items on the menu are HK style desserts, so you will find some familiar favorites.

We Rate 100% Healthy Desserts:

Address:
8291 Westminster Hwy
Richmond, BC

[googlemap width=”620″ height=”480″ src=”https://maps.google.ca/maps?q=8291+Westminster+Hwy+Richmond,+BC&hnear=8291+Westminster+Hwy,+Richmond,+Greater+Vancouver+Regional+District,+British+Columbia+V6X+1A7&gl=ca&t=m&z=16″]

In Cafe

Take Five Cafe: Coffee, Appies, and Pasta

January 4, 2013

Take Five Cafe opened their 10th location in Gastown and this location serves meals and wine in addition to coffee, sandwiches and baked goods. A bunch of us decided to come here for a meeting and a dinner. They have this huge roundtable that is great for a large group of people.

The interior is spacious and has lots of tables on the left side.

On the right side is their bar.

Medium Latte is what I ordered to give me a jolt of energy.

Ethiopian Pour Over is very strong and has 3 times as much caffeine as a regular black coffee. Everyone that gets it here gets very wired and shaky after drinking it.

Tomato Bruschetta comes with 4 pieces and is topped with lots of diced tomatoes, balsamic and herbs. It’s yummy, but can easily fall apart if you’re not careful.

Rotini Pesto has rotini with pesto cream sauce and topped with parmesan cheese. It comes with 2 pieces of toast on the side. It was a strange sight to see pasta at a coffee place. The pasta tasted ok, but was a tad bland and not very fragrant.

Penne with Meatballs has penne tossed with rich tomato basil sauce and topped with meatballs and parmesan cheese.

Chorizo Farfalle has farfalle pasta, dried chorizo sausage, mushrooms, tomato, basil, and parmesan cheese.

Overall, the food here is alright, nothing too spectacular. It’s just a good space to hang out and it’s not too crowded compared to the other cafes in the area. Plus, they serve beer and wine.

We Rate Take Five Cafe:

Address:
62 West Cordova Street
Vancouver, BC

Website:
http://www.takefivecafe.ca

[googlemap width=”620″ height=”480″ src=”https://maps.google.ca/maps?q=62+West+Cordova+Street+Vancouver,+BC&hnear=62+W+Cordova+St,+Vancouver,+British+Columbia+V6B+1C9&gl=ca&t=m&z=16″]

In Fast Food

A&W: Spicy Chipotle Chubby Chicken Burger

January 3, 2013

I always enjoy fast food and one day I was passing by the food court and saw A&W had a new burger! The Spicy Chipotle Chubby Chicken Burger looked delicious and isn’t one of their usual “family” burgers. Some of their chicken burgers do taste great!

They even renovated a lot of their food court locations to represent their new branding.

The A&W Spicy Chipotle Chubby Chicken Burger contains tomato, lettuce, chipotle mayo, cheddar cheese with jalapeño, the chubby chicken burger on a ciabatta bun. It was quite messy to eat since the chicken patty just wanted to slide out of the bun. The chicken was very moist and blended nicely with the chipotle sauce.

I upgraded it to a combo with onion rings, which makes it a bit expensive. Root Beer and onion rings are a must to complete the whole A&W experience.

Have you tried this yet?

In Food for Thought

Bird’s Eye Tea: Tea Subscriptions from Seattle, WA

January 1, 2013

Birds Eye Tea is a monthly tea subscription service from Seattle, Washington. Sarah Farr is the creator of Birds Eye Tea and promotes her organic hand-blended, handpicked herb and tea blends online and at local markets.

Monthly subscriptions are $22 per month and you get 3 hand-blended teas at the beginning of the month. Sometimes, there is even a little extra treat too. You can also find some of their teas at Whole Foods.

Since I am a tea fanatic, I wanted to try the different teas they offer. I grew up on Chinese teas, so I am more used to green and black teas. When Bird’s Eye Tea asked me to try their teas, I agreed.

Each package has clear ingredients on the back and instructions on how to prepare the tea. All the teas were very easy to prepare and not too difficult.

The teas chosen for each subscription is based on the theme and season.

Sarah is a responsible wildcrafter, ecologist, and herbalist. She strives for extreme integrity in all of her herbal products. All the herbs are organic or ethically harvested. Any herbs that come from overseas are fair-trade as well as being organically grown and are tested for purity/quality.

Besides tea subscriptions, Sarah sells her tea from her other brand – The Harbor Herbalist and sells teas by the bag and for retail. Xocolatl is their signature herbal hot chocolate, which is quite popular.

Overall, I didn’t particularly like any of these tea combinations. My love of tea is mostly for green, red and black teas. If you are an adventurous tea drinker and like to try new combinations, the Bird’s Eye Tea might be for you.

Website: https://www.birdseyetea.com/