December 2016 - Foodology

In Chinatown

Juniper: Happy Hour in Chinatown

December 31, 2016

I love the abundance of Happy Hour options near my office. My coworkers and I wanted to grab a quick drink after work to celebrate the holidays. We headed to Juniper as they had a earlier happy hour than some other places.

On their happy hour menu, they have:

Beer on tap
Cider on tap
Cocktail on tap
Wine on Tap
Aperitif

They also have some food options too.

I’m a beer drinker, so I got the Four Winds La Mason Saison on tap. The beer is part of Four Wind’s Notus Series, named after the Greek God of the South Winds, is a series of their low-ABV brews.

It has a light body with a pale golden hue. This dry table saison is brewed with spelt and rye and then fermented with wild yeast for notes of pepper and tropical fruit.

We rate Juniper:

Address:
185 Keefer Street, Vancouver

Website:
http://www.junipervancouver.com/

In British Columbia

Turducken: From Your Butcher

December 30, 2016

For this Christmas, we wanted to try something different. We usually make a roast turkey, but we thought we would try to get a turducken.

A turducken is a turkey stuffed with a deboned duck and then a deboned chicken.

We talked to a few butchers in Metro Vancouver and Beefway Meats on Kingsway was able to put together a 16lb turducken for $8.99 per pound. We ordered ahead of time so they could prepare it for us.

We chose them as they acquire meats that are local and hormone-free.

The turducken came vacuumed sealed and wrapped in a mesh to keep it all together. Before preparing it, we made sure we took it out of the fridge to bring it up to room temperature.

When we asked them what was the best way to cook it, they told us to look it up on Google.

Preparation

We moved the turducken onto a roasting pan, smothered it in butter and herbs. You can go to your grocery store and purchase a poultry blend (Rosemary, Sage, Thyme) of fresh herbs. If they don’t have it, try to get the separately.

Finally, we cover it with bacon to add more flavour and to keep the turducken more moist. One pack of bacon should do the trick.

Cooking

Looking at so many different websites for cooking times, we just did ours at 250°F for about 5.5 hours until the internal temperature of 145°F.

After it was done, we let it rest so all the juices don’t flow out.

Final Thoughts

The thought of having a turducken seemed so glorious in my mind, but left us all a bit unsatisfied in the end. It was really hard to cut and fell apart easily. The layers were a bit dry and lacked the buttery goodness. Since each layer didn’t have extra butter or herbs, it couldn’t penetrate into the meat.

We are still glad we tried it out but I think in the future we will stick with a regular turkey.

In San Francisco

San Francisco Food Tours: Mission District

December 29, 2016

When I was in San Francisco, I did a Mission District Food Tour from Avital Tours. Since I was in town for a short time, I wanted to try as many tried and true places as possible, so I thought a food tour was the best option.

This tour includes 4-course progressive prix-fixe dining experience visits 4 restaurants:

two appetizers
one entree
one dessert

The tour begins at The Women’s Building between Valencia and Guerrero at 5pm. I ended up being 10 minutes late since I didn’t know how to take the BART, so we ended up taking an Uber. We missed a bit of the introduction, but they were telling everyone about the neighbourhoods culinary history and the beautiful art around a few of the buildings.

Mission Cheese

We made our first stop at Mission Cheese, a New York Times acclaimed chic cheese cafe featuring only American artisan cheeses. We got a few samples of cheese and their choice of beer. For those who don’t drink alcohol, they provided them with non-alcoholic drink.

Hog & Rocks

Hog & Rocks is San Francisco’s first and only ham and oyster bar considered one of the Bay Area’s Top 100 Restaurants by the SF Chronicle. They serve comfort fare and classic cocktails.

We tried some of their delicious tastes of their restaurant and a cocktail. This was one of my favourite places of the night.

Taqueria La Cumbre

Taqueria La Cumbre the the birthplace of the Mission-style grilled chicken Burrito at authentic taqueria inventor of the Mission-style burrito.

The owner told us in great detail about this history of La Cumbre and the Mission-style burrito. We all loved the electrifying personality of the owner as he had so much enthusiasm for his product.

The burrito first became popular during the 1960s in the Mission District distinguished from other burritos by its large size and inclusion of extra rice and other ingredients. Of course, there are a lot larger burritos out there in the world, but it started here first.

West of Pecos

West of Pecos was the last stop of the night and we were treated to churros with a chocolate and Cajeta sauce. I love churros especially with the two sauces, it was super enjoyable.

The 3 hours passed by quickly and most of us decided to stay a bit longer and have an extra drink. We noticed there were some local and tourists on this tour.

Besides the food, we go to stroll through the historic Latin neighborhood learning about its culinary history and incredibly colourful murals, while hearing the stories of chefs, restaurant owners and industry experts.

I wouldn’t have gotten any of that if I just walked on my own. Avital Tours also has a North Beach food tour and a Union Square cocktail tour.

Website:
http://avitaltours.com/san-francisco/tour/mission-district-food-tour/

In British Columbia

PC Insiders Collection: Winter 2016

December 28, 2016

Presidents Choice recently launched more winter items for their PC Insiders Collection, which is composed of their delicious and innovative products created specially for the holiday season.

They provided me a few items to try, but since they had a few more items in the collection, I purchased a few more on my own to test out.

Here are a few of my favourite items.

PC World of Flavours Turkey Stuffing Flavour Rippled Potato Chips

Turkey Stuffing Chips was an interesting item to see. How would they take the essence of turkey stuffing and put it on chip?

After devouring a few chips, you can taste the sage and savoury spices that remind you of turkey stuffing.

PC Tuna Tataki Sustainably Sourced Seared Wild Albacore Tuna

This sustainably sourced wild albacore tuna is seasoned and lightly seared on the outside while retaining its firm, uncooked texture on the inside. It’s in the frozen aisle, so it just needs some defrosting.

A great item to make with this are crispy sesame rice cakes with tuna tataki.

PC Butter-Infused Seasoned Young Turkey with Two Stuffings

I get my turkeys from Presidents Choice and I’ve always had a successfully moist turkey at the end of cooking it. It is infused with PC Black Label Normandy-style Cultured Butter for deeply rich flavour throughout.

This Canada Grade A turkey is filled with two stuffings:

bread stuffing with apples
savoury stuffing with pork sausage

PC Italian Chocolate Truffle Trio

Inside this bag of Italian Truffles are three varieties.

a rich dark chocolate variety made with dark cocoa cream and crispy caramelized cocoa nibs
two milk chocolate varieties studded with crunchy crisps
hazelnut filling and the other with creamy vanilla filling

Really pretty to have in a bowl on your table. Plus, these taste really good.

PC Hot Cocoa & Marshmallow Fudge

These small bites of fudge taste like hot chocolate with mini marshmallows partially melted. Instead of having a whole cup of hot chocolate, you can just have a small bite.

PC Maple & Bacon Popcorn

Maple and bacon come together in this batch of popcorn. It brings a new sweet-savoury combination. This item can be a hit and a miss for some people. M really enjoyed this item, but I thought it was just ok.

Chocolate Pecan Pie Bar

Of all the items, my favourite was the Chocolate Pecan Pie Bar. The filling is made with brown sugar, semi-sweet chocolate, butter and vanilla poured in a flaky rectangular-shaped pastry. It’s hand-topped with pecan halves and baked until tender and crisp. So good!

Website:
http://www.presidentschoice.ca/en_CA/insiders-campaign.html

In Chinatown

Kissa Tanto: Japanese and Italian Fusion in Chinatown

December 28, 2016

Tucked into the upper story of a delightfully faded building in Chinatown, Kissa Tanto serves up a posh fusion of Italian and Japanese food. They take their inspiration from the delicate flavours of Japanese cuisine and the warmth of ltalian cooking.

Kissa Tanto won Canada’s best new restaurant by enRoute magazine. Their sister restaurant is Bao Bei, only a few blocks away. All of us haven’t heard about Kissa Tanto when they won the award, so we made it a mission to check it out for dinner. We had a large group of 6 and had to wait over a month for a seat as they only have one table for 6 people.

We had to provide a credit card in advance for the reservation. If we didn’t show up, they would charge us $150 cancellation fee.

Interior

Once we headed upstairs, we were transported into the 1960’s. It is styled like old Tokyo jazz cafés.

The dusty-pink leather banquettes, banker’s lamps and brass railings really make this place shine and give it the ambiance.

The space isn’t that large, so reservations are highly recommended to avoid waits and disappointment.

There are 12 seats at the bar that are first come first serve, which require no reservations.

Drinks

Four Winds Saison is what I ordered. One of my favourite light fruity tasting beers.

Four on six sour was what the others ordered. It has a mix of Bourbon, noilly prat amber, charred pineapple, lemongrass shrub, ardberg, and egg white.

To Begin With – Appetizers

Albacore tuna crudo with shiso vinaigrette, radishes, Tokyo leek, capers, pickled almonds, Castelvetrano olives, and mustard greens. Very delicious light and you can taste the freshness of the tuna paired with the other ingredients. One of my favourite appetizers.

Octopus Salad has crispy octopus, citrus mayonnaise, daikon, radish, basil, ikura, and parmesan. The octopus was a decent texture, but I thought it would be a bit softer.

Frittelle di Melanzane is a garlic eggplant fritter with yuzu gribiche, basil and bonito salt, and shaved katsuo. It comes with 3 pieces was delicious. Soft on the inside but crisp on the outside.

Terrina Frita has pink, pickled daikon and nori mustard on bruschetta. This was one of the specials for today. I love the vibrant colours, but it was a so-so dish.

Tender to the Tooth – Pasta

Lasagne del Giorno was the lasagne of the day and it featured winter chanterelles & pork with a miso bechamel and basil cream sauce. Very delicious and each layer melded well together.

Tajarin is made of butter, roasted mushrooms, and miso cured yolk. Three of my favourite ingredients. the simplicity of this pasta dish really spoke to my tastebuds.

Casarecce is pasta in a pork and sake kasu ragu. The type of pasta helps capture some of the sauce in it’s crevices. Also very delicious.

Sharing is Caring – Entrees for Sharing

Lamb Shoulder is served with tosaka seaweed, fregola, anchovy butter, puréed egg yolk, Sicilian olives, and pickled peppers. The lamb was tender and it was an interesting experience navigating how to eat this dish.

One of the other specials for the day was their Beef Cheeks with braised tomato and anchovies, and gnocchi. The delicious jus of the beef covered the fluffy gnocchi. Tender and flavourful beef.

Whole Fish of the Day was Sea Perch for $40. It is flash-fried and served with a daikon soy dipping sauce. It was super crisp and easy to eat as every bit of it was edible – even the bones. The bones were crunch like chips.

Dessert

Yuzu Cream has Sicilian pistachios, olive oil crumble and season fruit in it.

Tiramisu has a touch of plum wine. Very light and fluffy layers.

Flourless Chocolate Cake was rich and dense. It is served with miso-caramel ice cream.

Final Thoughts

Overall, it was a fun dinner with friends – Foodgressing, Vie a Maggi, Picky Diner, Sherman, and Drunken Noms – who all enjoy good food. With the 6 of us, we shared 13 dishes. 2 and a bit dishes for each person.

From what we tried, I could really see the fusion between Japanese and Italian cooking. It’s pretty interesting to see these 2 cuisines come together as it’s not common at all.

We Rate Kissa Tanto:

Address:
263 E Pender Street, Vancouver

Website:
http://www.kissatanto.com/

In British Columbia

Enchant: Light Maze in Vancouver

December 27, 2016

Enchant is new to Vancouver this year and it is the world’s largest Christmas Light Maze, made up of over 55,000 sq. ft. of illuminated sculptures arranged to create an evening adventure.

This maze has been busy ever night this year with people pre-purchasing their tickets in advance. Those who wait till the last minute were only able to get tickets for entry after 8pm.

Christmas Light Maze

The Christmas Light Maze is more than just a maze, there is a story behind it.

After a snowstorm hits the North Pole during the night, Santa wakes up to see the town buried in snow and his reindeer missing! Without them, Santa cannot fly around the world, and Christmas would have to be cancelled.

You must go into the maze through the enchanted lights and search for the missing reindeer. You get a passport to collect stamps to show you’ve found all the reindeer.

The maze was pretty easy to navigate and there are tons of photo opportunities inside.

Since it was raining, it made enjoying the maze quite difficult. Since it was pouring so hard, we couldn’t let go of the umbrella to take better pictures. Waterproof boots, a thick jacket, and an umbrella were essential.

There were some people that went without an umbrella and they were miserable and soaked.

We successfully found Rudolph with his bright red nose and the exit. This area was very crowded as everyone is trying to get stamps and take a photo.

One area I wished was undercover was this space with dangling lights. We had to go through it without umbrellas and there was so much rain that no one was able to enjoy it.

Christmas Market + Food Trucks

Along with the maze, Enchant features a market with over 40 local vendors, 12 food trucks and a licensed eating area where guests can enjoy their favourite holiday drink.

Final Thoughts

Overall, the best way to enjoy Enchant is pick a nice dry evening to attend. Since it was it’s inaugural year, it was super busy. Wise people bought tickets ahead of time, but since the weatherman can’t predict the weather to 100% certainty, you can wait to get tickets but it might be sold out if you wait too long.

In my case, I bought tickets a few days in advance and the weather said it would be snowing. Little did we know, it would be snowing everywhere else except for the downtown area.

When it comes to the price, it is a bit higher than other holiday light show around town.

Address:
299 W 1st Ave, Vancouver

Website:
http://enchantchristmas.com/

In Brunch

Homer St. Cafe: Brunch in Vancouver

December 27, 2016

Homer St. Cafe serves brunch on the weekends and I always have lunch with my brunch buddy to try new places around town and catch up. I’ve been here for events before but never brunch.

I started off with a Cappuccino. A nice airy foam above the espresso. A coffee is always great to start off the day especially for brunch time.

Maple Chicken and Bacon Cobbler was what I ordered. Their butter milk biscuit sits above the other ingredients. It is a small portion but the biscuit fills you up. The bacon was thick cut and very delicious. The chicken had a hint of maple but wasn’t overpowering at all. It felt like a nice hearty breakfast.

Roast of the Day had sausage and pork belly over some roasted potatoes. It is served with bread and eggs on the side.

Overall, it was a nice space to dine, servers were nice and the food was good.

We Rate Homer St. Cafe:

Address:
898 Homer Street
Vancouver, BC

Website: http://homerstreetcafebar.com/

In British Columbia

Festival of Lights at VanDusen Botanical Garden: Review

December 26, 2016

VanDusen Botanical Garden is back this winter season with their annual Festival of Lights. They have over one million lights decorating VanDusen Botanical Garden open until January 2. My mother in law and M came here on Christmas Eve and it was packed. Lot of families were visiting before Christmas to get a view of the garden all covered in lights.

It was our first time coming here and we were astonished by the different areas of the garden.

Dancing Lights on Livingstone Lake

Once you enter from the main gate, you will be facing Livingstone Lake. You can marvel at Vancouver’s most unique light show programmed to modern and classic festive tunes. A lot of people were in this area taking photos.

Carousel

This year they’ve expanded the experience to include a new carousel, which all tickets include a free ride on the carousel. The line was long when we went, but you can keep warm with a few of the food trucks in the area as you wait to get on the ride.

Jardins de Paris

There is a small area sponsored by Air France and YVR airport. The trees are covered in red, blue and white lights, and there is even an Eiffel Tower to pose with. If you take a selfie under the dazzling lights and share on Facebook, Twitter or Instagram using the hashtag #JardinsDeParis, you can have a chance to win two economy tickets to Paris.

Gingerbread Woods

Deep inside the Gingerbread Woods are gingerbread houses, gingerbread men, and tons of lights. Each are has it’s own theme and I kinda like it since it looks like it’s taking your on a holiday adventure.

Other areas

Of course there are other areas to see and take photos. There’s no shortage of photo opportunities in the garden.

Some areas of the garden are closed, but there is lots of walk around. We spent about an hour here, but we could have spent more time, but it was getting quite chilly.

A lot of the people visiting were very friendly, instead of taking selfies, there were lots of people offering to help take each others photos. You won’t be stranded without a picture of your whole group.

Final Thoughts

Overall, it was worth it to go into VanDusen Botanical Gardens for the Festival of Lights. Even with the entrance fee, it’s still cheaper that some of the other options in town to see lights. Coming closer to Christmas was very busy, but if you plan your visit earlier in December.

Website:
http://vancouver.ca/parks-recreation-culture/festival-of-lights.aspx

Address:
5251 Oak St, Vancouver, BC

In Downtown

Vancouver Art Gallery: Juxtapoz x Superflat

December 26, 2016

Juxtapoz x Superflat, a dynamic exhibition conceived by the renowned Japanese artist Takashi Murakami and co-curated with Evan Pricco, Editor-in-Chief of Juxtapoz Art & Culture, a legendary San Francisco-based magazine committed to contemporary art, design, fashion and graffiti.

Featuring the work of more than 30 artists from Japan, Korea, Canada, the United States and Europe, this exhibition at Vancouver Art Gallery runs until February 5, 2017.

The exhibit is a manifesto for new creative practices that can no longer be adequately described by the traditional categories of art and modes of production. Takashi Murakami and Evan Pricco conceived the exhibition as a survey of the most exciting visual art to emerge in recent years, with a heavy emphasis on artists who operate outside of the central hubs of the global art world.

Expanding upon Murakami and Juxtapoz magazine’s interest in flattening high and low cultures, this exhibition includes work by artists whose practice has been shaped by a variety of sub-cultures including skate, surf, graffiti, street art, comics, design, illustration, painting, digital and traditional arts.

I’m not usually into art, but I love their modern approach by using so many different mediums.

If you get a chance to visit, make sure you take lots of photos and some pieces are mesmerizing.

Some sculptures even have a familiar look.

I love this wall! When do you get a bunch of your favourite cartoon characters done in graffiti.

Of all the current exhibits at the gallery, I loved this one the most. A great time to go is on Tuesday evenings from 5:00 – 9:00 pm as it is by-donation admission. It’s definitely a good way to save some money, but it will be busy.

Website: http://vanartgallery.bc.ca/

In Cafe

Chocolate Chair: Dragons Breath in San Francisco

December 25, 2016

Chocolate Chair at the Japan Centre draws huge line ups for their Dragon’s Breath, a cereal-like fruity pebbles soaked in liquid nitrogen. Once you comp down on the cereal, a bunch of smoke comes out of your nose and mouth.

It’s been catching wildfire on social media and I wasn’t intending on coming here, but since we saw the huge line up, we decided to give it a try too.

They make it to order and its run to watch them put it together as ton and tons of smoke come out of their mixers.

The cup with the Dragons Breath is super cold and becomes frosted over. The smoke it coming out of the cup.

Grab a few and pop it into your mouth to see the steam coming out of your mouth or nose. It just tasted like dry stale cereal. Most like fruity pebbles. It was a fun experience to try it but it doesn’t warrant a revisit anytime soon.

We Rate Chocolate Chair:

Address:
Japan Center, Level 2
1737 Post Street, San Francisco

Website:
https://www.facebook.com/pages/Chocolate-Chair/845948145417911

In BBQ

Arisu: Korean BBQ in Coquitlam

December 24, 2016

Arisu is a Korean BBQ place in Coquitlam. I came here with a few friends on the weekend to hang out and find a new place to try out.

As a Korean restaurant, they have a variety of items besides BBQ.

Interior

A majority of the seating is booth seating. Tables all have grills and ventilation over top.

Our booth had a TV playing music videos. There was also a button where you can call the servers without looking around to flag them down. It makes the service a lot better, so they don’ have to read your mind.

Drinks

A Korean restaurant isn’t complete without a good drink menu. They have beer, soju, sake and other alcohol. I went with a beer as usual.

Banchan

Banchan are complimentary side dishes that arrive with the meal. We had 4 in total.

One of them features zucchini with onion, and carrots. Served cold and tasted good.

The next one had seaweed and had a nice pickled taste to it.

Kimchi is a staple and a good way to see if the restaurant can make a good basic kimchi. It was ok, but I like mine a bite more crunchy and sour.

Last, we got some shredded cabbage with a light dressing. It balanced very well with the grilled meat that we ordered.

Jok Bal

Jok Bal is steamed soy marinated pork hocks. The serving size was very generous, but the quality was lacking. It was tough and didn’t seem very fresh.

The dish came with lettuce wraps and some sauces to eat with it.

Steamed Egg in a Hot Clay Pot

Steamed Egg in a Hot Clay Pot looked pretty awesome but was a bit bland. It definitely needed a bit more salt and pepper.

BBQ Meats

Boneless Kalbi Short Ribs are beautifully marbled, but the biggest fault to their BBQ meats is the grill and the overly attentive service.

What I enjoy most about having the BBQ grill at the table is that you cook it yourself. Since it was a quite night at the restaurant, the meat was flipped for us by multiple servers.

Also, the BBQ Grill is quite weak and due to the thin metal threads of the grill, it cooked very slowly and let the meat cook in a weird way.

Beef Tongue was thin and the slices looked very nice. Nice cut of meat, but we still had similar problems with the grill and the servers flipping it for us.

I totally understand why they would flip it for us to ensure that it’s cooked well, but the young server that we had didn’t seem to know what he was doing.

Overall, we found more misses with their food. Their cuts of meat are really nice but everything else wasn’t able to help cook the meat to its full potential. With other BBQ restaurants in the area, they have tough competition. Also, even though they have ventilation above the grills, you will leave the restaurant smelling like meat. It’s a common occurrence with other BBQ restaurants too, so don’t wear your favourite clothes here. I really wanted to like this place, but my friends and I were disappointed.

We rate Arisu Korean BBQ:

Address:
4501 North Rd #203, Burnaby, BC

In Bakery

Chez Christophe: Pastries, Sandwiches and Holiday Treats

December 23, 2016

Chez Christophe is located in North Burnaby and they recently moved locations to a larger venue. There’s more seating and a lot more treats to be had. Since I live pretty close by, I was invited with a few other bloggers to check out a few of their new holiday items as well as their other items on the menu.

Sweet Treats

They have lots of delicious treats at the counter. Small cakes to larger ones for parties.

Freshly baked pastries are in basket that fill the aroma of the shop.

Their decadent chocolates are lined row by row.

Behind the Scenes

There is a huge window where you can see Chez Christophe work on some of his chocolate sculptures. It’s pretty fascinating.

Holiday Showpieces

All sculptures are created onsite with their award-winning Swiss chocolate Carma, which is unique to Canada. The pieces are completely edible and consists of hollow chocolate in its entirety, airbrushed with cocoa butter.

Sliding Penguin was my favourite. He looks so cute with the little santa hat on.

Abstract Santa is bright a red just like the big man.

Holiday Bear is probably really popular with the kids.

Santa’s Boot is decorated with a few chocolate treats.

Large Acorn is pretty cool, there are hidden chocolates inside. All you need to do is crack it open.

Lunch Time

We sat down to enjoy a few of their items on their menu to give more of a more thorough review.

Hazelnut Pain au Chocolate was flakey on the outside with a lot of layers. There was a good amount of chocolate in the centre too.

Creme Salee was an interesting pastry. I didn’t like the crust, but the filling was like a delicious custard.

Croissant Sandwich was pretty good here if you want a savoury lunch crossed with their croissants. You have Irish ham, provolone, arugula and aioli in this. Simple but delicious.

Beef Brisket Multigrain Croissant was put in a panini press, so the exterior. The grilled onions, mustard and that flavourful brisket was even better than the croissant sandwich.

Kalamansi Chocolate Tart has a bright orange centre covered in 70% dark chocolate ganache.

Paris-Brest has a choux pastry with almond hazelnut praline buttercream and kalamansi gel. I wasn’t a fan of the tart kalamansi gel.

Chocolate Bar Trio has:

Honey Ganache and Gingerbread Caramel
Eggnog Ganache and Marzipan
Mandarin ganache and Mandarin Jelly

He also has macarons at the store too. I didn’t end up trying these as I was so full eating all the other things here.

Hot Chocolate was really good and rich. They also topped it off with cocoa that is shaped like a heart.

Overall, a few good items to pick up at Chez Christophe. What they are best known for are the chocolates and some pastries.

We Rate Chez Christophe Chocolaterie Patisserie:

Address:
4717 Hastings St
Burnaby, BC

Website:
http://www.christophe-chocolat.com/

In Dessert

720 Sweets: Ice Cream at Metropolis at Metrotown

December 23, 2016

720 Sweets is a popular shop serving up soft serve ice cream, drinks, and other treats. They have opened up their newest location inside T&T Supermarket at Metropolis at Metrotown. They have plans to open at every T&T Supermarket in the country, and the opening of its first supermarket location in Burnaby marks the beginning of their long expansion.

Their other locations are a bit too far away from me to make a regular trip, so having this location here is very convenient.

The menu is limited to 2 of their flavours – Milk Tea and Green Tea. Both very popular flavours and their top sellers.

There are 4 different soft serve ice cream combinations:

Milk’ee – Chocolate stick, almonds, caramel boba, and caramel sauce
Milk’ee Way – almond waffle, almonds, caramel popcorn, and caramel sauce
Matcha Madness – mochi, red bean, rice krispies, and condensed milk
Matcha Kinako – korean rice cake, roasted soy bean powder, pocky and condensed milk

When I went there, the space was small and had only one person working there. The line up was long, but he was able to pump them out at a decent pace.

I went with the Matcha Madness and it came in a cute santa cup. Inside the cup is dry ice and water to create a nice steam coming from inside the cup. A super cool effect that has drawn a lot of people to take photos of this beautiful treat.

I enjoyed the combination of the mochi, red bean, rice krispies, and condensed milk. It wasn’t too sweet and it was a nice treat at the end of lunch to share with family.

Overall, the same delicious treat and convenient location. Since the malls have tons of seats, you can either walk around or find a place to park yourself. The only downside about this location is the limited flavours.

We Rate 720 Sweets:

Address:
Metropolis at Mterotown inside T&T Supermarket

Website:
http://720sweets.com/

In British Columbia

FlyOver Canada: Christmas Edition Review

December 22, 2016

FlyOver Canada has a magical twist for the holiday season. Riders will embark on a mission to help Santa Claus search for his missing elves during the exhilarating flight across Canada, and on to his magical workshop in the North Pole. I’ve never been to FlyOver Canada in the last 2 years that it has been around. They have welcomed over 1 million guests from around the world and received rave reviews from travellers and locals.

FlyOver Canada’s Christmas edition goes on until January 2nd. Don’t miss out on finding Santa’s workshop in the North Pole. You may even be able to catch the scent of Mrs. Claus’ baking as they swoop over her gingerbread factory.

I heard so much about it that I couldn’t wait to give it a try when my relatives were in town. What better way to experience the rest of Canada without actually going on a plane. We got general admission tickets and it is busy on a weekend leading up to Christmas. We waited about 20 minutes outside before entering Santa’s Workshop to begin the journey.

Santa’s Workshop

The total experience will take approximately 25 minutes, including the 8 minutes you’ll spend on the ride. You are first taken into Santa’s workshop to see the light displays as well as a short video from Santa explaining the premise of the ride.

After, you are lined up and then Miss Clause will speak with you before you enter the theatre.

Ride Begins

Once we were seated in the theatre, there were a few glitches getting the ride to start, but they figured it out after the third try. Once she show started, I was impressed by the 4D experience, flying through clouds, waterfalls and the beautiful landscape of Canada. Being a local, seeing the places I’ve been to brought me back nostalgia, but some unfamiliar places reminded me of how large Canada really is. I still have a bunch of places to check off my bucketlist.

Final Thoughts

Overall, I was glad I went on it to see how it is like, but I wasn’t in a hurry to watch it again even with the different themes throughout the year. The ticket prices are a bit high for a 25 minute experience, but with rainy Vancouver, if you are struck with bad weather, this is a good indoor activity, plus there is a lot of free activities to do around Canada Place to add more to the experience.

Website:
https://www.flyovercanada.com/christmas/

Address:
Canada Place, 201-999 Canada Pl, Vancouver

In Christmas

100,000 Lights at Lafarge Lake: Free Winter Light Display in Coquitlam

December 22, 2016

Coquitlam’s Lights at Lafarge Winter Lights Display is one of the largest free outdoor light events in the Lower Mainland, and this season’s spectacle will be even bigger and brighter than ever before.

More than 100,000 twinkling lights illuminate Lafarge Lake this holiday season in a magical outdoor display that’s sure to delight visitors of all ages.

The lights display can be viewed seven days a week from dusk until 11 p.m. until Jan. 22.

We came at 7pm on a weekday and it was pretty busy with lots of families viewing the lights. With the opening of the Evergreen Line, it’s super easy to hop on the skytrain and the station is literally a few meters away.

There is parking, but it can be hard to find spots at peak hours. If you can make the trek out to Coquitlam, it’s definitely worth it.

They have different events throughout the evenings and during the holidays. When we were here, there was live music and a lantern making workshop.

The huge display wraps around Lafarge Lake on a 1.2km loop through 10 different themed zones.

Overall, I really enjoyed walking around the lake after dinner. Although it was a bit cold, we made sure to wear extra layers and boots to keep warm.

Website: http://www.coquitlam.ca/parks-recreation-and-culture/parks-and-trails/park-spark.aspx

In British Columbia

Santa Photos: Metropolis at Metrotown

December 22, 2016

My annual Christmas tradition is getting Santa Photos at Metropolis at Metrotown. It draws thousands of families each year until December 24th. All photos with Santa are by donation for a minimum of $2 per photo. All proceeds go towards the Burnaby Christmas Bureau.

I came early in December on a Friday and there was about a 20 minute wait. Not too bad compared to the week before Christmas. I remember I did that last year and I told myself that I will get our photos done early.

Games

When you’re waiting in line, they have a few games that kids (or adults) can play. I had this weird fascination with finding a mouse under a santa hat.

Photos with Santa

Once you get to the front of the line, they ask you how many poses you want. We went with one pose and put our donation in the bin. Their Santa has a real beard and was pretty friendly with us. The picture only took less than a minute and then we were on our way.

The photo is digitally sent to your email, so you get it right away. I downloaded it onto my phone and was able to begin sharing it.

Website: https://metropolisatmetrotown.com/

In British Columbia

Starbucks Canada: Nitro Cold Brew Coffee

December 22, 2016

Starbucks Canada introduced their new Nitro Cold Brew coffee to be served at six Vancouver locations. Nitro Cold Brew is Starbucks’ newest take on its signature Cold Brew, infused with nitrogen for a smooth, creamy texture.

The Nitro Cold Brew is cold right out of the tap so it is served without ice and as with Cold Brew, it’s served unsweetened to highlight the flavour the cold brewing process brings out in the coffee.

If you order by phone, they will make it for you when you arrive so it is as fresh as possible, plus it is fun to see the Nitro Cold Brew being poured and seeing the natural crema come out.

We tried their regular iced coffee, cold brew and the Nitro Cold Brew and everyone loved the Nitro Cold Brew for the smooth creamy taste. I found that for myself, I could only drink half a grande before I started feeling the caffeine heavily kick in. I was really wired.

Nitro Cold Brew can be found at six Vancouver locations:

English Bay (at Denman and Davie Street)
600 Dunsmuir (at Dunsmuir and Seymour Street)
on the corner of Robson and Thurlow Street
2906 Hebb Avenue (at Renfrew and Hebb Ave)
2193 W 41^st (at West Boulevard and W 41^st Avenue)
930 Burrard (next to the theatre on Burrard and Smithe Street)

More locations will follow.

If you are looking for a nice strong coffee that will keep you going all day but with a nice smooth flavour, you’ll really enjoy this drink.

Website: https://www.starbucks.ca/

In Fusion

Osum! Kitchen + Lab: Baogers and MoNoodles in Steveston

December 21, 2016

Osum! Kitchen + Lab is a new fusion restaurant that specializes in making unique baos and noodles. Besides being a restaurant, they are also a food lab that experiments with new creations. They have hopes of having special tastings and collaborations in the future.

They are located in Steveston on Bayview Street. The restaurant is small and with only 2 tables. We noticed some people doing take out and smaller groups here. Wen we left, there was even a birthday party.

I was invited to OSUM! to give a few of their items a try.

Their main items are Baogers, MoNoodle, Osum!Noodle and Cha. There’s not a large variety of items, but you’ll find something to enjoy.

Baoger

OSUM! Pork has slow-braised pork belly, cucumbers, pickled greens, cilantro, crushed peanuts, and OSUM! garlic peanut & sesame sauce. Nice warm bao backed with ingredients but it is a bit hard to eat as there is the pork floss covering the top of the baoger. You’ll need to use the wrapper to keep those hands clean.

OSUM! Beef has tender braised brisket, pickled greens, crispy shallots, toasted pine nuts, and OSUM! spicy peppercorn sesame sauce. I hint of spice but not too much.

OSUM! Chicken has grilled cheesy chicken, cucumbers, cilantro, crunchy cheese puffs, and OSUM! Korean sweet spicy sauce. A very playful creation, but the cheese puffs ended up being a bit limp because of the sauce in the baoger.

OSUM! Nutella is a fun items for kids with a sweet tooth. It has all-natural Nutella, crushed peanuts, raw premium almond flakes, and marshmallows.

OSUM! Noodle

Hot Dry Noodle has tender braised pork belly, handmade thick noodles, bean sprouts, pickled greens, scallions, cilantro, crispy shallots, homemade chili oil, and their OSUM! signature garlic-sesame-chili sauce. I like this dish as it has a lot of complimentary ingredients that work well together and has a kick of spice.

Coco-Curry Chicken has grilled chicken, handmade thick noodles, cucumbers, bean sprouts, lemongrass, pure coconut milk, crispy shallots, and OSUM! lime coconut-curry sauce. It is also topped with slices of cheese. I found the cheese to be a bit unnecessary. It sure made it a bit more fun, but

MoNoodle

Multi Mushroom needs 2 days in advance to create. It has handmade kale monoodles, assorted mushrooms, pine nuts, kale chips, truffle oil, bean sprouts, cilantro, peppercorn oil, and OSUM! special mushroom sauce. What is unique about this dish is their noodle is a single 1m long handmade broad kale noodles that fits in a bowl. It’s a good dish if you are vegan or love mushrooms. This is one of the more expensive dishes on the menu due to the ingredients.

Drinks

They have a few drinks on the menu. They have bottled fizzy drink and hot drinks on the menu.

I had the Cocoa Ovaltine to warm me up as it was a cold snowy day outside.

Overall, my favourite item was the hot dry noodles as the flavours worked really well together and wasn’t as fusion as the other dishes on their menu. When it comes down to their food, it depends on your flavour palate. As they are still quite new, I am sure they will continue to work hard to work out the kinks.

We Rate OSUM! Kitchen + Lab:

Address:
125 3531 Bayview Street, Richmond

Website:
https://www.liveosum.com/