July 2017

In British Columbia

Starbucks: Teavana Shaken Iced Tea Infusions Review

July 11, 2017

Starbucks just released 3 new Teavana shaken iced tea infusions to all locations across Canada. With the warm weather upon us, I always crave and iced tea, so I am glad they are expanding their iced tea line up. Teavana Shaken Iced Tea Infusions are made with just tea, fruit and botanicals – pure, house-steeped goodness with no artificial flavours or sweeteners. The fusions are an innovative flavour delivery that replaces syrups with freshly steeped herbal tea infusions to create a balanced flavoured iced tea.

Iced Peach Citrus Flavoured White Tea Infusion

Teavana Shaken Iced Peach Citrus Flavoured White Tea Infusion/Lemonade has Teavana White Tea combined with freshly steeped peach citrus fruit and botanical infusion and water or lemonade, lightly sweetened and shaken with ice. You can also ask it to be unsweetened. This was the favourite of the bunch.

Iced Strawberry Flavoured Green Tea Infusion

Teavana Shaken Iced Strawberry Flavoured Green Tea Infusion/Lemonade has Teavana Green Tea combined with freshly steeped strawberry fruit and botanical infusion and water or lemonade, lightly sweetened and shaken with ice.

Iced Pineapple Flavoured Black Tea Infusion

Teavana Shaken Iced Pineapple Flavoured Black Tea Infusion/Lemonade has Teavana Black Tea combined with freshly steeped pineapple fruit and botanical infusion and water or lemonade, lightly sweetened and shaken with ice. This was my second favourite of the three drinks.

Customize your tea infusion

Like all things at Starbucks, these drinks are highly customizable. You can add sparkling water or lemonade to give it an entirely new flavour profile. I really enjoyed it with sparkling water for the refreshing bubbles. Not all stores can do this as it depends if they have the machine to making sparkling water. I would ask anyways because its good.

Final Thoughts

As a tea and coffee drinker, I like how they are expanding their tea options for customers. After trying them all, I would get the Iced Peach Citrus Flavoured White Tea Infusion with sparkling water and a little sweet.

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

In British Columbia

5 Reasons to go to Playland Nights in July

July 10, 2017

Finally, an event we are all are looking forward to – Playland Nights for 19+. It is running every Friday for the month of July from 7pm till midnight. We checked out the first night of Playland Nights and had an absolute blast! If you are the first 100 people to purchase a ticket for the night, you get a special price of $22. The best way of saving money is to purchase tickets ahead of time and online rather than at the gate.

1. Craft Beers, Wines and Playland Inspired Cocktails

The grounds are fully licensed, so guests can enjoy their favourite beverage throughout the park while enjoying the games and rides. In addition to the craft beers, wines and Playland inspired cocktails – including Candy Floss Martinis, Candy Appletinis and Snow Cone vodka drinks, guest DJs will be spinning under the twinkling lights of Playland.

A post shared by FOODGRESSING.COM | Areta (@foodgressing) on Jul 9, 2017 at 6:04pm PDT

2. Shorter Lines

For some rides, line ups were non-existent, which makes the experience much better. When the gates open at 7pm, there is barely anyone here, so come early before the crowds build around 10pm. A few rides that have slightly longer waits are – Wooden Roller Coaster, Atmosfear, The Beast, and Hellevator.

3. No Kids

If you don’t like kids or what to be away from the little ones for a night, you won’t find a single kid here. No kids, no criers, no problem.

4. Fun Rides and Attractions

The same great rides are open for all the enjoy. A few rides were closed, but there are 31 different rides and attractions to check out.

Even going on kiddie rides is really fun after having a few beers. Of all the times I’ve been to Playland. this was the most fun I’ve had here.

Most of the rides and attractions come with the ticket, but a few are extra like the Revelation and Drop Zone. Of the two, my favourite was the Revelation. Super fun, but it is $25 for 2 people.

5. Snacks

There are some stalls selling snacks to keep you satisfied during the evening. We found corn dogs and oreo churros. We didn’t fill up too much since we were focused on riding a lot of rides without getting too sick.

Final Thoughts

Playland Nights is awesome and I would highly recommend it if you are looking to do something different this July. Alcoholic drink and rides make a great combination. Don’t forget 2 pieces of ID when you enter and don’t think about sneaking in a flask because they check bags upon entry.

Website: https://www.pne.ca/playland-nights/

In Dessert

BETA5 Chocolates’ Summer Ice Cream Socials Returns for 2017

July 9, 2017

BETA5 Chocolates Ice Cream Socials are back. It is Vancouver’s best kept secret to enjoy hand-crafted unique sundaes. The talented BETA5 team creates a new sundae every week. It happens every Saturday until September 30, 2017 from 1 – 5pm. With the hot weather in Vancouver, I’m always looking for something to satisfy my sweet tooth. We were given a sneak peek of what some of these sundaes look like.

The planned ice cream sundae line-up may include – Mimosa, Green Tea Latte, S’more, Melon Fro-yo, Black Sesame & Grape, Apple Pie, Mint Chocolate Chip, Raspberry Earl Grey, Peach Cobbler and more. Their quirky sundae ideas, like Mango Bubble Tea. Not only are all the ice creams and toppings made in-house, each weekly sundae is crafted with special attention to flavour, contrasting textures, and nostalgia.

Sparkling Mimosa Sundae

This sundae is comprised of mimosa sorbet, grapefruit sorbet, grapefruit + campari curd, orange cotton candy, orange madeleines, and sparkling manadarin chocolate. So refreshing for the summer with the sorbet and I would definitely recommend this.

S’more Sundae

This decadent sundae is made with dark chocolate ice cream, ceylon cinnamon ice cream, graham cracker macarons, toasted marshmallows, chocolate sauce, vanilla chantilly. If you are a chocolate lover, you will enjoy this. The macarons were also excellent.

Matcha Latte Sundae

We lastly tried the Matcha Latte Sundae, which has matcha ice cream, tahitian vanilla ice cream, matcha milk jam, vanilla mochi, red bean chiffon cake, and vanilla chantilly. This Japanese twist to a traditional sundae might tingle your taste buds if you love matcha.

Instagram It

BETA5 is bringing back their ‘weekly repost’ Instagram contest too.
To enter snap a picture at a weekly ice cream social and post to Instagram by the following Thursday, tagged with #beta5icecreamsocial (or DM direct to BETA5Chocolates). Weekly winners will be announced every Friday and will receive a $25 gift card and the chance to win the end-of-the-season grand prize.

How will you know what flavour they will have for the week? Check out their Facebook page a day before to find out. They will also be planning BETA5 pop-up ice cream socials at different spots in the lower mainland. If you are a local or a tourist, you’ll love their ice cream sundae, but they also have cream puffs and chocolates too.

Address:
413 Industrial Ave, Vancouver, BC

Website:
http://www.beta-5.com/

In Downtown

Uninterrupted: Immersive Journey under Cambie Bridge

July 8, 2017

Uninterrupted has transformed Vancouver’s Cambie Bridge into a wild BC river this summer, immersing audiences in the incredible journey of migrating salmon. The spectacle runs just under 30 minutes – and happens 5 nights a week after dusk from June 28 to September 24. Tuesday to Saturdays around 10pm at Coopers Park.

The beautiful cinematography captured in BC rivers is digitally mapped and projected across the underside of the bridge. It was honestly stunning. At first I wasn’t expecting much, but I was blown away. If you haven’t checked it out, you should go.

You can bring your own chair to sit on or lie down at the playground as its very comfortable since the floor is spongey. Very family friendly and runs all Summer.

Website: http://uninterrupted.ca/

In Brunch

Rocky Mountain Flatbread: Brunch in Kitsilano

July 7, 2017

If there’s one thing I absolutely enjoy about weekends, it’s brunch! I was happy to try out Rocky Mountain Flatbread‘s brunch menu, and here are some highlights. A shout out goes to Roman Pastor for taking these delicious photos.

Top left: Double Smoked Bacon Omelette. Top right: Eggs Benedict with Smoked Salmon Bottom left: Chorizo Hash. Bottom right: Scrambler

My fave brunch dish is Eggs Benedict. RMF offers an Eggs Benedict with the choice of having it served with avocado, smoked salmon or ham. I tired it with smoked salmon (which is my go-to choice for pairing with a poached egg smothered in Hollandaise Sauce). I find a perfectly poached egg with a runny yolk as a visual and textural pleasure, so when I broke into the egg with my fork and the yolk was not runny, I was slightly disappointed. Nonetheless, the Eggs Benedict was delicious.

Eggs Benedict with Smoked Salmon

We also tried the Scrambler, which Roman really liked since he prefers scrambled eggs. The contrast between the creaminess of the scrambled eggs, Crimini Mushrooms and avocado and the crunchiness of the toast made for a tasty bite.

Scrambler

I’ve had pizza for breakfast, but now how RMF does it! The Market Breakfast Pizza is the best of both worlds, with two eggs, organic tomato sauce, mozarella, spinach, crimini mushrooms, red peppers, three herb pesto and parmesan. It has all the veggies I love, plus eggs and cheese. If you have a hard time deciding what to eat for brunch, you won’t go wrong choosing this option.

Market Breakfast Pizza

The Yukon Pizza is another yummy choice for brunch. This pizza is quite filling since it is loaded with local potatoes, organic tomato sauce, mozzarella, two eggs, smoked bacon, tomatoes and green onion. If you’re feeling extra hungry, the Yukon Pizza will definitely fill you up!

Yukon Pizza

After brunch RMF’s Co-Founder, Suzanne, gave us a little tour of their microgreen garden out back. She spoke on the process of growing micrgreens and even gave us a taste of their rocket arugula and mustard greens. These were the freshest herbs I’ve ever tried, and they were both peppery in flavour, with the mustard greens having a more prominent, slightly spicier taste.

Roman and I enjoyed our brunch in Kits at Rocky Mountain Flatbread. The impromptu tour of the microgreen garden gave me a better appreciation for what Rocky Mountain Flatbread does: provide delicious food made with locally sourced and organic ingredients. The brunch menu offerings are delicious, and the service is always friendly and hospitable.

Address:
1876 W 1st Ave, Vancouver, BC

Website:
http://rockymountainflatbread.ca/

In British Columbia

Classic Canadian BBQ with a Twist from President’s Choice

July 6, 2017

Over the Canada Day long weekend, I made it a mission to test out the new BBQ grill and enjoy time with my dear friends. The essential ingredient is food. President’s Choice came out with a few awesome items for their Summer Insiders Collection.

Burgers and Smokies

I was so excited to try the PC Our Great Canadian Thick & Juicy Beef Burgers and the PC Smokies Poutine Flavour Fully Cooked Smoked Pork Sausages. Definitely not your normal burger patties or smokies.

Available only for the summer, the maple leaf shaped patty was a fun way to celebrate Canada’s 150th birthday. It comes frozen, so it’s not that impressive until the beautiful grill marks makes an appearance. It is made with 100% Canadian beef. If you’re at the grocery store, you’ll want to check out the PC Loads of Canadiana Beef Burgers as it’s a bit different since it combines Canadian beef, rich cheese curds, bacon and a classic Montreal-style steak spice into one thick patty.

A handful of deliciousness. We put a slice of cheese on top to get the ooey gooey melted cheese. My choice of cheese was habanero Monterey Jack cheese since it was red and white to match the theme. I kept it simple with a tosated bun, lettuce and some sauce to let the patty shine through.

The poutine smokie has real French fries, gooey cheese and a touch of gravy seasoning. It was so good and decadent. I added some shredded cheese on top for more cheesiness.

I would totally recommend this for your Summer BBQ. It’s the best combination. You’ll want to have both of their burgers and smokies at your BBQ.

Maple Marshmallows

I don’t have an open fire pit in my backyard, but a gas powered stove does the trick to roast marshmallows. Revolutionize your s’mores with these large maple-flavoured marshmallows created for campfire toasting and s’more building. You’ll notice the sweet maple aroma from the PC Maple Flavour Marshmallows as they cook, the flat shape also makes them easily fit between graham crackers.

Cold Brews and Teas

We love our wines and iced tea, but the PC Cold Brew Single Origin Black Coffee was a great addition for coffee drinkers. It is a smooth and full-bodied, this cold brew coffee is prepared by steeping roasted ground coffee beans in filtered cool water for about 20 hours. Made with dark roast 100% Arabica beans, it’s equally refreshing black or with a splash of milk. You can also pair it with their PC Coconut Dairy-Free Coconut Milk Frozen Dessert to make an affogato.

Mango Salsa

It’s not a party without some snacks. In addition to bags of SmartFoods white cheddar popcorn, we had PC Mango Salsa and some Canada themed tortilla chips. The salsa has juicy mango and pineapple, roasted green tomatillos, zesty lime and lemon, and cilantro leaves come together in a vibrant fresh-tasting salsa. The sweet and savoury fruit salsa makes an unexpected yet delightful dip to serve with tortilla chips. You can also add it with your favourite grilled food items.

Final Thoughts

I’ve always stressed about having a BBQ party with all my friends and not knowing what they all want to eat, but as long as we are in good company with delicious food and drinks, we are happy. Summer gives us the perfect opportunity to come together and celebrate our country over twists on Canadian classics. I’ve been a customer of PC products since I can barely remember and their products are pretty solid for taste, innovation and price. There’s everything you have in store. Plan your next Summer backyard party by picking up a few of these awesome products.

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

In Car

2017 Chevrolet Trax Premier AWD: Review

July 5, 2017

2017 Chevrolet Trax Premier AWD is a small SUV catering for any lifestyle with modern technology, a flexible interior, and impressive efficiency. A spent a week testing this vehicle around town to get a good feel for the car in the city, the subburbs, and in the wilderness. For my next car, I want to get an SUV, so it’s really great to test a few that are out there in the market. Small compact SUVs are very popular now especially for city driving as you can escape from the city and head off to close by adventures.

Exterior

The Chevrolet Trax is tall and not that long. It’s great for the city since it’s not too large to find into the small parking stalls. I had no trouble fitting this car anywhere.

With the rear facing cameras, parking was a breeze and I never had to break a sweat.

There is also has Side Blind Zone Alert, so when you’re changing lanes, it will alert you if any cars or objects are in that area. One of my favourite features of modern cars in definitely the technology that enables you to be a safer driver.

For a compact SUV, it has a pretty generic look when you compare it with some other models out there. For this year’s model, you’ll notice the slightly edgier look with the big, new hexagonal grille on the front of the car and the elongated LED headlights that sweep upward as they wrap around to the vehicle’s sides.

Interior

The trim inside is jet black/ brandy leatherette trim. It wraps around the dash and on all the seats. It adds a pop of colour on the inside, but doesn’t exactly give you that luxurious feel.

The push button start is a great feature since you don’t have to dig into your purse to get the keys. The remote also has remote starting, so you can turn the engine on while you are outside the vehicle.

Chevrolet’s signature MyLink infotainment system is operated via the seven-inch touchscreen, is fairly basic and had some features I didn’t need. I would be nice to have a basic map, but they do have the OnStar turn by turn navigation instead.

I found it a better experience plugging in my iPhone to activate Apple CarPlay. If you have an Android, you can turn on Android Auto. This way you can look at navigation, have hands-free calling and texting, and music playing from your collection.

Did you know, the car be be turned into a roaming Wi-Fi hotspot? The kids can stop complaining and stay connected. You can connect up to 7 devices too. All three trim levels include a 4G LTE wireless trial from OnStar that consists of three months of service or 3 gigabytes of data, whichever comes first.

The passengers seat is roomy and there is plenty of head room. The only complaint from passengers was that the seats were a bit stiff and the headrests were not as comfortable. There is a 120v outlet in the back too.

With their partnership with Bose, the audio is pretty awesome. With all the Chevrolet cars I’ve tried, all my passengers really loved the audio quality.

With the compact size of the car and roomy space for occupants, the trunk space does suffer a bit. It’s hard to carry a lot of large bags and luggage with a full car.

Drive

It was comfortable driving in this car. The suspension handles potholes and bumpy roads with minimal rattling inside the car. Steering is quick and responsive especially on turns. I still wouldn’t recommend you go off-roading. As I drove all around, the fuel efficiency is pretty decent.

When accelerating on the highway or going up steep hills, the engine could be a bit more powerful.

Final Thoughts

This car isn’t for everyone, but it’s worth a look for city dwellers who want to use it for city driving but also have the capability of going outside of the city for some adventure. It is packed with technology features that make driving this car fun and customizable to you. It’s definitely a solid car, but there is tough competition these days for a compact SUV as other automotive manufactures are entering this space.

Website: http://www.chevrolet.ca/

In Gastown

Haru Korean Restaurant in Gastown

July 4, 2017

Haru Korean Restaurant is open in Gastown serving homey Korean food. My friend and I were passing by for dinner and decided we wanted to give this place a try. We love to wander around downtown to find whatever restaurant interests us so we can find more of the hidden places around town.

Interior

The interior is mostly wooden with accents of this colourful stripped fabric. There is a decent amount of space for small to large groups. For large groups, they take reservations.

Tea

As we sat down to look over the menu, they gave us some hot tea.

Complimentary Salad

The green salad has radishes and a light vinaigrette. A nice start to the meal.

Complimentary Kimchi

Kimchi is a must at any Korean restaurant and it usually comes complimentary, It’s part of the whole experience.

Kimchi Fried Rice

This is fried white rice with kimchi, pork, onion and topped with a round fried egg. The kimchi fried rice was ok, I found that it needed a bit more kimchi and it was very very oily with the onions.

Jap-Chae Noodle

There is stir fried clear noodles with veggies seasoned in house special soy sauce. A good portion for an individual.

Seafood Pancake

The seafood pancake is pretty big. It has seafood and green onion in the batter, but I thought it was pretty average. Nothing special to have it stand out.

Final Thoughts

Overall, the food here was average and nothing stood out. Some dishes were pretty oily and unnecessarily greasy. I can see this would be a good lunch spot.

We Rate Haru Korean Kitchen:

Address:
324 Cambie St, Vancouver

Website:
https://www.harukoreankitchen.com

In Burnaby Central

Sugar Lab: Cafe in Burnaby

July 3, 2017

Sugar Lab is a new dessert cafe in Burnaby and they specialize in Mille Crepes. A few other cafes in Richmond have them, but now it’s closer to the suburbs of Burnaby. It’s a bit hard to find but keep your eyes open. It’s on Grimmer Street and Kingsway.

Interior

The place is small an cozy with one large communal table and 4 other smaller tables. Some people do take out to avoid the lines.

Green Tea Crepe Cake with Red Bean

The layers of all the crepes and cream were pretty good. The red bean is a bit sweet, so it over powers the subtle green tea crepes.

Tiramisu Mille Crepe Cake

The chocolate and coffee taste is stronger in this crepe cake. Good texture and it was delicious.

Mango Pancake

Mango Pancakes come 2 pieces per order. Inside the square crepes is whipped cream and a chunk of mango. I always enjoy this kind of dessert.

Serradura Pudding Plant

There are layers of pudding, cream and crushed up graham crackers. It was a decent dessert. Not too sweet either.

Final Thoughts

Overall, it’s a cute new cafe with great desserts. It’s pretty unique when it comes to Burnaby. Always great to have more variety of desserts here.

We Rate Sugar Lab:

Address:
5376 Grimmer Street, Burnaby

In BBQ

Whiskey Six BBQ: West Coast BBQ in Vancouver

July 2, 2017

Whiskey Six BBQ is an organic, local, sustainable barbecue joint nestled in the heart of East Vancouver. I came with a few foodies to eat mass amounts of meat to kick off the long weekend. A few of us have been eyeing this place to see how their BBQ would compare.

Interior

The space is small and they don’t take reservations. First come first serve. On a Thursday, it didn’t start getting busy until around 7pm.

Beer

I got the Strange Fellow’s Talisman West Coast Pale Ale as I thought it would be great to pair with BBQ.

Windsor Meats Sausage

We got 2 links, and chose braised greens and wings as our sides. It also comes with a slice of Fife Bakery bread, mustard and pickle. The sausage was good and it had a kick of heat to it. We added $2 extra for the wing option and it was worth it. As they are whole wings, so its meaty. The braised kale needed a bit more seasoning to it.

Johnston’s Back Ribs

We got the full rack of ribs and we got the fries and smokey beans. The ribs were more like smoked ribs so it’s not a wet rib.

Johnston’s Prohibition Pulled Pork

The pulled pork was really good and we got it with the coleslaw, and southern biscuits. The 2 biscuits that came with it tasted more like baking soda and was missing something. I liked the coleslaw as it had a delicious tang to it.

Free Range Farmcrest Smoked Chicken

The chicken was tender and had a good flavour, but it reminded us of rotisserie chicken. We got the coleslaw and potato salad.

Blue Goose Cattle Co. Organic Beef Brisket

Of all the BBQ meats that we had, the beef brisket was our favourite.

Final Thoughts

Overall, their BBQ is different that what we were used to. The flavours are more tame and it’s not saucy. They put their own twist on West Coast BBQ and to us it didn’t stand out.

We Rate Whiskey Six BBQ:

Address:
826 Renfrew Street, Vancouver

Website:
http://www.whiskeysixbbq.com/

In Downtown

Yah Yah Ya Ramen in Downtown Vancouver

July 1, 2017

Yah Yah Ya Ramen opened their second location in Vancouver and they specialize in Yokohama-style ramen. The style of ramen blends tonkotsu and shoyu broth together to give a unique blend of broth. We were invited to try their special Cold Ramen only available in the summer.

Interior

There are 2 larger communal tables inside and a bunch of other smaller table. Lots of space for ramen lovers.

Japanese Ocha

Once of my favourite drinks to have at a ramen bar. You can have it sweetened or unsweetened. I would definitely recommend having it unsweetened so you can taste more of the tea.

Gyozas

These come in 6 pieces per order. A decent pan fried on one side. A good item to share among a table of friends, but it still felt a bit average.

NO. 1 Shoyu Ramen

You will find 3 pieces of toasted sesame, 2 pieces of chashu, egg, spinach, and their pork soy sauce ie-kei soup base. Very delicious and highly recommended if it’s your first time here. You can choose the texture of the noodle (hard, normal or soft), the richness (heavy, normal or light) and oil (more, normal, or less).

Black Ramen Tonkotsu

Inside you will find 3 pieces of toasted seaweed, bamboo shoots, 2 slices of chashu, and ramen egg. Delicious as well. It’s hard to choose between their bowls of ramen.

Mazesoba

In this bowl, you’ll find pork meat, toasted seaweed, bean sprouts, green onions, bamboo shoots and a golden egg yolk. You mix this all up really well and then enjoy. The flavour of all the items coat the noodles and is enjoyable.

Cold Ramen

This is only available in the Summer. It has sliced chashu, sliced red ginger, sliced egg, bean sprouts and cucumber. Mix it up and enjoy. A good choice to cool down for the Summer, but I still have a huge craving for a hot bowl of ramen even if it’s super hot outside.

Spicy Cold Ramen

If you want a kick of heat, they have a spicy cold ramen too. It has sliced chashu, kimchi, seaweed, bean sprouts and cucumber.

Salmon Don

You can have this as a combo with your ramen or on it’s own. The piece of salmon on top is very meaty.

Negi Chashu Don

Another don option if you like their chashu. I thought this was ok as the sauce felt a bit overpowering.

Final Thoughts

Overall, Yah Yah Ya Ramen is a pretty solid ramen shop. With so many ramen shops on Robson Street, they do stand out for their Yokohama style ramen. If you’re in the area, check it out.