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In product

Kokoro Care Packages: Review

Kokoro Care Packages are hand-crafted monthly and seasonal Care Packages filled with premium-quality Japanese foods delivered straight from Japan to your door. I’ve seen a lot of subscription boxes with candy or ramen, but this one was different as they give you items to snack on or craft a meal out of.

About Kokoro Care Packages

Each item in the box like snacks, spices, soups, teas, and other items are carefully selected for its quality, ease of use and taste. They go out of their way to choose items free from additives and chemicals. The owners work closely with local producers who share their values and are passionate about the foods they create.

All products are made in Japan and they provide all the English translations so you can easily enjoy all the wonderful foods and learn about the stories behind each item. They currently ship to over 35 countries worldwide.

The Care Packages are available in two options: a monthly Nourishing Essentials Care Package and a quarterly Seasonal Delights Care Package. One time gift purchases are also available. Inside each Care Package you’ll discover:

  • 5+ premium-quality Japanese foods that have been carefully selected for their purity, flavor and benefits.
  • Easy to enjoy snacks, spices, sauces, soups, teas and more.
  • English translations of the ingredients and nutritional information.
  • Reasons why they chose the product and why you’ll love it!

Promo Code

Kokoro Care Packages is also offering Foodology readers a 10% discount on your first order from a subscription purchase. Use the code: FOODOLOGY_10. The code expires at the end of April 2019 and is limited to one use per customer.

March 2016 Care Package

I received the March 2019 care package with the following items:

  • Indigo Blue Tea
  • Organic Girl’s Day Rice Snack
  • Liquid Organic Ume Paste
  • Nori Paste
  • DIY Hegi Rice Cake

I was excited to give each item a try in this box and helped me get back in the cooking mood after a little hiatus from cooking since giving birth to my daughter.

Indigo Blue Tea

This tea is made with butterfly pea flower, so when you steep it, it turns bright blue. When you introduce the tea with an acid like lemon, it magically turns purple. It’s quite magical. The tea barely has any taste, but it was so fun making layered drinks with it.

You can drink it straight or make layered drinks because the combinations are endless. A tip to get the layered effect is to make sure there is more sugar content on the bottom layers. For example, I put lemonade on the bottom and then topped it with the Indigo Blue Tea.

Organic Girl’s Day Rice Snack

You can eat this right out of the package and enjoy. Some are sugar coated and some pieces aren’t, so it’s like an assorted rice snack.


Liquid Organic Ume Paste

This was our favourite items since it’s so versatile. You can turn it into a salad dressing, or add it onto chicken shiso skewers like I did to give it a nice contrasting tangy ume flavour.

Nori Paste

Nori is seaweed and you can put this paste on mostly anything. It’s usually eaten with rice in Japan, but no rules at all. Love the umami taste of it.

DIY Hegi Rice Cake

This was an interesting idea to make your own rice cakes. At first it doesn’t look like much but once you pop it into the microwave, they really do transform silently.

Final Thoughts

I thought it was a solid subscription box and it took me about a month to slowly try everything. I personally wasn’t a fan of the rice cake items, but I really loved the tea, ume paste, and nori paste as I could do quite a bit with them. Whether you get a Kokoro Care Package for yourself or for others as a gift, it’s definitely unique.

Website:
https://kokorocares.com/

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In Bubble Tea

Xiang Yuan Qiao: Noodles in Coquitlam

Xiang Yuan Qiao is a Chinese noodle shop in Coquitlam that specializes in Yunnan Bridge Noodle. There are a few locations around Metro Vancouver.

Since it’s fairy new, I took the family out here for lunch.

Interior

There are lots of tables and booth seating inside, so good for small to large groups and is family friendly. The interior is new and modern. Plus, free wifi if you need it.

Menu

Puh Erh Milk Tea

I got the Puh Erh Milk Tea and it was ok. Pretty standard and nothing too special about it. It does go well with the noodles as its a nice cool drink.

Julienne Potatoes with Vinegar

An interesting dish that we ordered and good to snack on while we waited for our noodles. It’s not very spicy, but it has a good texture to munch away at them.

Crossing Bridge Rice Noodles

You can get this with their original or spicy chicken broth. We went with the original. You can also enhance your broth with items from the sauce bar.

There is also a tray of different items to put into the pot like quail eggs, carrot, corn, chives, cucumber, bamboo shoots, pickled sour mustard, black fungus, white fungus, mushroom, cabbage, pea shoots, bean curd, meat paste, Chinese style ham, and ham.

There is a certain order to cook the items, so follow the instructions on the plate. Add the egg, then the meat, then veggies, then noodles, then sauce, and finally enjoy.

It’s a fun interactive dish and you can tweak the bowl of noodles to your liking.

Signature Rice Noodle Soup with Braised Bone-in Pork

This was a meaty dish with a big piece of braised bone-in pork. It was very meaty and super tender and flavourful. The noodle soup had a lot of ingredients inside like veggies. Very filling.

Assorted Pot Rice Noodle

There is a broth base of chicken broth that you can get original or spicy. The items in it are beef, lam, pork belly, chicken, greens, black fungus, needle mushroom, bean sprouts, bean curd and quail eggs. It doesn’t look like much from the picture but it was filling as well with a good amount of meat too.

Sauce Bar

Don’t forget to check out the sauce bar as there is chilli oil, pepper oil, garlic, soy sauce, green onions, and other items to add to your noodles. We almost missed seeing this but glad we saw it so we could enhance the broth of our noodles.

Final Thoughts

It was pretty solid place for noodles. It’s nothing extraordinary, but a good restaurant to go with friends or family. Different for the area as there aren’t other places nearby serving Crossing Bridge Rice Noodles.

Address:
3030 Lincoln Ave #112, Coquitlam, BC

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In Dessert

Quick and Easy Frozen Yogurt Station at Home

If you’re at home hosting a few people over or even just having a fun evening with the kids, why not get creative in the kitchen and make your own frozen yogurt at home?

Some high power blenders like the Vitamix have a frozen dessert preset, so it creates items like ice cream and frozen yogurt a breeze.

We took this and decided to make 2 frozen yogurt treats – mango frozen yogurt and mixed berry frozen yogurt. With very similar ingredients, we were able to have a wide range of flavours to cater to different people’s flavour preferences by swapping out the fruit.

All you need are a few ingredients – fruit, yogurt, and honey to create frozen yogurt in seconds. The honey is used to add a touch of sweetness depending on what yogurt and fruit you choose.

I like the use of frozen fruits as they are picked at the peak of ripeness so you never have to worry about the quality. Also, saves you time from chopping and freezing them.

Once you blend everything up, you can serve it straight from the blender, or you can store them in tupperware containers for them to firm up a little bit more in the freezer and serve at a later time.

The Frozen Yogurt Station is fun and interactive. Plus, there is no mystery to what’s inside your frozen yogurt.

Mixed Berry Frozen Yogurt

Serves 2

Ingredients:

  • 1 cup frozen mixed berries
  • 1.5 cups of 2% Greek Yogurt
  • 2 tablespoons of honey

Directions:

  1. Add mixed berries, yogurt, and honey into a high powered blender.
  2. Blend for 30s – 1 minute on high to get it all blended nice and smooth.
  3. Scoop into bowls or cones.
  4. Enjoy.

Mango Frozen Yogurt

Serves: 2

Ingredients:

  • 1 cup frozen mango
  • 1.5 cups of 2% Greek Yogurt
  • 2 tablespoons of honey

Directions:

  1. Add mango, yogurt, and honey into a high powered blender.
  2. Blend for 30s – 1 minute on high to get it all blended nice and smooth.
  3. Scoop into bowls or cones.
  4. Enjoy.

Well, there you have it, frozen yogurt made at home with only 3 ingredients and very easy to make in a high power blender. So easy that you can create a frozen yogurt bar at home in a breeze.

I really enjoyed making it with the family and they had a blast.

We were gifted a Vitamix Ascent A3500 for use in creating this blog post, but all opinions are our own.

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In Cafe

iTofu: Tofu Pudding and Drinks in Richmond

iTofu is a new tofu shop that has opened up in Richmond and got their start at the Richmond Night Market years ago. They serve up a variety of items from sweet to savoury. They recently won best tofu dessert at the Chinese Restaurant Awards.

There are some reserved parking stalls out front, but most of the parking is reserved for other businesses, so parking can be tricky. Also note, they only accept cash and debit, so no credit cards.

Interior

The space is a decent size and they have a few tables of 4 in the space. We went on a weekday afternoon and it wasn’t busy at all. It’s probably more busy on weekends and weekday evenings.

Menu

Sugar and Syrups

There are 3 types of sugar available to add onto your tofu pudding – ginger syrup, simple syrup, and cane sugar. All great items to add, so personally I add a bit of each.

Cold Tofu Pudding with Taro Balls

This is a popular item to order from the menu. It has the base of tofu pudding and topped with their colourful taro balls. Add a bit of sugar into it and it’s simply delicious. The tofu is smooth and silky, plus the taro balls have a good chew to them. Highly recommended.

With their tofu puddings, you can customize it with whatever toppings you want on top. Depending on what kind, it can be $1 or $2 extra.

Tofu Parfait

You get layers of tofu pudding and 3 topping options or $8.50. A pretty good price since it is a big size. If you want to premium toppings added, it’s only a $1 extra instead of $2 as this parfait comes with toppings.

We got ours with black glutinous rice, black sesame, and taro balls.

Tofu Drink

Their tofu drinks come with 2 toppings, so it’s not a regular plain tofu drink. I got mine with coconut jelly and grass jelly. I really enjoyed it as I got the mouthful of soy milk, tofu pudding, coconut jelly and grass jelly.

Final Thoughts

I love love love tofu pudding, so it is good to see another place open up in Metro Vancouver that specializes in it. The menu has a great selection that is more innovative than just the usual tofu pudding. Highly recommend this place but make sure you have cash or debit.

Address:
125 – 4940 No 3 Rd, Richmond, BC

Website:
https://www.itofu-richmond.com/

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In British Columbia

[Sneak Peek] White Spot: New Avocado Beyond Burger and Southwest Power Bowl

White Spot is adding Beyond Burger patties to their burger and salad menu, which is a 100% plant-based burger patty that is very great alternative to meat patties. After a few other Fast Food chains adopted the Beyond Burger last year, there was so much buzz surrounding it and it’s so good that more restaurants are taking it on.

The New Signature Avocado Beyond Burger and Southwest Power Bowl will be available starting Monday, April 15, 2019 at all full-service White Spot restaurants in BC and Alberta.

We were giving a sneak peek to see how they will taste.

Avocado Beyond Burger

This beast of a burger has fresh avocado, pickled onions, roasted corn, crisp lettuce, vine-ripened tomatoes, jalapeño ranch and edamame hummus, and is served with a choice of Caesar salad, The Spot’s salad, or creamy coleslaw and ‘endless’ signature Kennebec fries. As with all White Spot burgers, guests can also substitute fries for Zoo Sticks, Poutine, Onion Rings or Sweet Potato Fries for an additional charge.

This burger is HUGE and is hard to get your mouth around it. A pretty solid burger but it can get a bit soggy with all those sauces in it. Definitely grab a few napkins and it’s saucy. Nonetheless, it was a delicious burger and you won’t notice it’s a veggie patty. Great way to trick people into eating vegetarian. We loved pairing it with a milkshake and Zoo Sticks.

Southwest Power Bowl

Looking for something with the Beyond Burger Patty but not in a burger format? The new Southwest Power Bowl has fresh avocado, cherry tomatoes, radish, roasted corn and cabbage, served with quinoa and jasmine rice with greens, jalapeño ranch and edamame hummus.

Options at Triple O’s

Beginning Monday, May 6, the Beyond Burger patty will also be available at White Spot’s quick-service brand Triple O’s in a new Beyond Original signature burger as well as a limited-edition Mushroom Avocado Beyond Burger.

Website:
https://www.whitespot.ca/

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In Burnaby Central

Masita Korean Restaurant in Burnaby: Review

Masita Korean Restaurant on Kingsway in Burnaby is serving up traditional Korean cuisine in this space. Masita translates to ‘yummy’ in Korean. They have been around for a few years but I haven’t made a visit until now for lunch. I heard they have good lunch sets that are very affordable.

There are a few parking stall out front, but can get all full during peak lunch and dinner times.

Interior

There are lots of tables for small to large groups. It’s very family friendly during the day and can get more rowdy at night. I was lugging around my daughter in her infant car seat and they were kind enough to seat us at a booth where she could rest peacefully as we ate.

Menu

Complimentary Banchan

Banchan are Korean side dishes that come complimentary with a meal. It’s kind of expected from Korean restaurant to provide these free of charge.

We got marinated potatoes, seaweed and kimchi. They tasted very homemade, so that was delicious.

BBQ Combo

This combo comes with Beef BBQ, rice, and your choice of beef or seafood hot pot. It is available for a limited time and is only available until 3pm.

For $15, you do get quite a bit of food and it’s great for someone that is very hungry. You get the most value out of this combo. The beef BBQ was tender and full of flavour. The hot pot has a nice kick of spice and a decent amount of seafood inside.

Gamja-Tang Hot Pot Meal

This has boiling hot pork back bone soup and a bowl of rice. You can order this non-spicy upon request. I got it with spice and it wasn’t too spicy at all. A good amount to really enhance the flavours. The pork bones were full of meat and tender. I really liked it.

Masita Fried Chicken

This are bits of deep-fried chicken with a sweet chili sauce on the side. The taste was ok and I was expecting pieces of drumsticks and thighs but it was more like boneless chicken pieces deep-fried in a panko-like crust.

Final Thoughts

Their lunch combos are definitely worth it and I would come back again for it because you get quite a bit of food.

Address:
6516 Kingsway, Burnaby, BC

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In Burnaby Central

Handworks Coffee Studio: Cafe and Antique Store in Burnaby

Handworks Coffee Studio is hidden away on the border of Burnaby and New Westminster serving up coffee, tea, and treats in an ornate space filled with antiques reminiscent of childhood. They opened up this shop on May 2017 after a stint at Basho Cafe.

I’ve wanted to come to this coffee shop for some time but as they finally open on Sundays now, I came here for a visit with a friend.

Interior

The space is small and it’s very very unique. It reminds me of an antique store or being transported back in time to the 80s and 90s…or perhaps even earlier than that.

There are a few seats inside for small groups but come early to snag seats if you have a slightly larger group. Best for groups of 2s and 4s, but nothing too large.

There are so many things to see on the walls and tables. Plus, little knickknacks for sale.

You have to look closely or else you’ll miss seeing something.

Menu

Pastries

At the counter, there is a small selection of pastries for the day from cookies, banana loaves, to mochi muffins. A good little snack to go with the coffee and teas on the menu.

I went with the Belgian Chocolate Espresso Brownie, vanilla mochi muffin, and matcha mochi muffin. Of the 3 items, the brownie was my favourite by far, it has a good rich texture and balance between the chocolate and espresso. The mochi muffins were more cakey than mochi.

Matcha Latte

The matcha latte has beautiful latte art on top and the matcha is nice and vibrant. It tastes delicious and not sweet just the way I like it. If you want it sweet, you can add some sweetener to it to adjust the taste to your liking.

Final Thoughts

Overall, a cute place in Burnaby/New Westminster for coffee and catch up with friends. It’ll give you nostalgia as you look around the cozy space. If you’re in the area, definitely give them a visit.

Address:
7705 6th St, Burnaby, BC

Website:
https://www.handworkscoffeestudio.com/

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In product

Hershey’s Gold: Taste Test

Hershey’s just released a new candy bar to their existing line up – Hershey’s Gold. It is a caramelized crème candy with peanuts and pretzels for a salty and sweet treat. I love trying out new candy bars on the market to see if I discover any new innovations. We were sent a box of Hershey’s Gold to give it a taste test to see what we thought.

Taste Test

We took a first bite and then slowly finished the whole bar to get a good mouth feel of Hershey’s Gold. It does have a sweet and salty combination with a bit more on the sweeter side from the caramelized creme.

We definitely tasted a dominant peanut flavour but the textures of the pretzels. Unlike some of the other Hershey’s chocolate bars, this has no cocoa at all.

You have to like peanuts in order to take a liking to Hershey’s Gold. We even did a mini impromptu taste test with a few other people to see what they thought. Of the ones that liked peanuts, it was a hit. For those not so into peanuts, they thought the overall bar was too sweet.

Website:
http://hersheys.ca

We were gifted a box of Hershey’s Gold for a product review, but all opinions are our own.

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In Bubble Tea

Ding Tea Taiwanese Tea House: Now Open in Vancouver

Ding Tea is a new bubble tea shop near Renfrew and 2nd in Vancouver, It is a Taiwanese bubble tea franchise with over 600 stores worldwide. There are 2 other locations in Toronto and Victoria, but now a third in Vancouver.

I made a quick stop to grab some bubble tea for my husband and my sister since we love trying new places to see how they compare. With the recent boom of new bubble tea places, it’s so hard to catch up and as they are opening up so frequently.

Interior

The space is quite nice with a modern aesthetic if you are dining in, but most people grab to go. There is also free parking out front.

Menu

Monster BoBo Latte

This is a popular drink since the brown sugar milk tea craze is so hot in Vancouver right now. Ding Tea makes the Monster BoBo Latte daily from 1-2pm until they sell out. On weekends they have it at an additional 8pm time slot as well. I came here at 5pm on a Wednesday and they still had this available.

The brown sugar and pearls with the milk is delicious. Mix it all up together so you aren’t just having all the sugar at the bottom. One of the better brown sugar drinks we have had so far.

There is not option to customize sugar levels for this drink, similar to other places too.

Kiwi Aloe Vera Juice

I’ve never heard of this combination before, so I got this with 30% sugar since I usually like my fruity drinks less sweet. There are large chunky bits of aloe vera pieces at the bottom and it was so good with the kiwi. I was so happy I got it less sweet and 30% was perfect. We really enjoyed this and would order it again.

Signature Milk Tea

We had this 100% sugar and 100% ice and it wasn’t too sweet at all. It had a good tea flavour and was very enjoyable. Solid milk tea.

Final Thoughts

Overall, we enjoyed the drinks that we ordered. The biggest surprise for us was the Kiwi Aloe Vera Juice. So delicious and the kiwi and aloe pairing works so well. Highly recommended. The other drinks are pretty good too.

Address:
1808 Renfrew St, Vancouver, BC

Website:
http://www.dingtea.com/

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In Fusion

Koyuki Sapporo Ramen: Rice and Noodles in Downtown Vancouver

Koyuki Sapporo Ramen is located in Downtown Vancouver on Jervis and Robson Street. They specialize in Miso ramen which was originally from Sapporo city in Hokkaido.

We were invite to try a variety of items off the menu from ramen, dons, and their appetizers.

Interior

There are a decent amount of seating inside for groups of 2’s and 4’s

Menu

Ebi Mayo

A classic Japanese tapas dish. Each prawn is battered and deep-fried, topped with sauce and a slice of lemon on the side. This all sits above a bed of greens. The sweet and sour sauce was more prominent as we didn’t sense any mayo in the dish. It was decent.

Tonkatsu Don Set

This is the most popular don on the menu and was recommended by the staff. The don comes with pickled radish and miso soup on the side.

The tonkatsu don was decent but we did feel the tonkatsu ended up to be mushy and soggy with the cooked egg. Would have been nice to have it separate so we can feel the crisp texture of the panko breading.

Milky Chicken Ramen

For our ramen, we asked one of the staff for her recommendation and her favourite was the milky chicken ramen, so we decided to give it a try. The broth was light and not too rich. We customized our ramen with thin firm noodles. Then added egg and seaweed as well. It was pretty good overall.

Seafood Tomato Risotto

They definitely have a lot of fusion type of dishes on the menu. The base of the sauce had a tad of spice and more of a sour ketchup flavour profile. The seafood sitting on top of the risotto didn’t feel very incorporated into the dish at all. It was so-so.

Final Thoughts

Overall, dishes we tried were decent but nothing really stood out. Given the neighbourhood, there’s really tough competition. As it is off Robson, it’s not as busy, so you’re guaranteed a spot without a long line up. We felt it was more like a spot to have a quick bite of tapas with beer. Their menu is pretty big, so there are lots of diverse options.

Address:
795 Jervis St, Vancouver, BC

Website:
http://koyuki.ca/

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In Event

2019 Chinese Restaurant Awards: All Winners Announced

The Chinese Restaurant Awards is back again for their 11th year dishing out some of the best restaurant and dishes in Metro Vancouver. You’ll recognize some familiar restaurants and discover some new ones as well.

Here are all the winners in each category below:

Diners’ Choice Awards 

The 11th annual Diners’ Choice Awards mark a new beginning with a revitalized vision to encourage public engagement in curating the Chinese and Taiwanese dining scene in Vancouver.

Over 3,700 nominations were submitted for 22 categories and 32,796 votes were casted online and through WeChat voting app during the nomination and voting period.

  • Best Cantonese-style Crispy Chicken: Dynasty Seafood Restaurant
  • Best Sichuan Chili Oil Wonton: Chao Shou Wang
  • Best Tofu Pudding: iTofu – Tofu Dessert Specialty Shop
  • Most Voted Restaurant: HK B.B.Q. Master
  • Best New Restaurant: HaiDiLao Hot Pot
  • Best Services Restaurant: Dolar Shop
  • Best Fine Dining Restaurant: Mott32
  • Best Dim Sum Restaurant: Chef Tony Seafood Restaurant
  • Best Vegetarian Restaurant: Sun Bo Kong Vegetarian Restaurant
  • Best Cantonese Restaurant: Chef Tony Seafood Restaurant
  • Best Northern Chinese Restaurant: Emperor’s Kitchen
  • Best Shanghainese Restaurant: Dinesty Dumpling House
  • Best Sichuan Restaurant: Too Two Chinese Sauerkraut Fish
  • Best Hunan Restaurant: Tian Shi Fu Restaurant
  • Best Taiwanese Restaurant/BBT Café: YiFang Taiwan Fruit Tea
  • Best Hot Pot Restaurant: HaiDiLao Hot Pot
  • Best Congee and/or Noodle Restaurant: Congee Noodle House
  • Best Hong Kong-style Café: Deer Garden Signatures
  • Best B.B.Q. Shop: HK B.B.Q. Master
  • Best Dessert Restaurant: Snackshot
  • Best Bakery Shop: Kam Do Bakery
  • Best Food Court Stall: Bubble Waffle Cafe, Aberdeen Mall
  • Best Fantuan Takeout Restaurant: Maojiao Bobo Fish

Critics’ Choice Signature Dish Awards 

This year’s judging panel is again made up of four prominent local food critics – Alexandra Gill, Lee Man, Brendon Matthews, and Willian Ho Wood Kuen, who are experts in the field of Chinese cuisine and familiar with the history and mission of Chinese Restaurant Awards.

  • Best Crispy Roast Pork Belly: Fortune Terrace Chinese Cuisine
  • Best Shanghai-style Fried Pork Buns: Mama’s Dumpling
  • Best Stir Fry Spicy Clams: The Fish Man
  • BC Geoduck Duo – Steamed Fillets with Wasabi and Stir fry with Eggs & Black Truffle: Chef Tony Seafood Restaurant
  • Best Dungeness Crab with Zhajiang Sauce and Noodles: Lougheed Wonton Restaurant
  • Best Grill Rock-Fish with Spicy and Chinese Spice: Li’s China Grill
  • Best Slow-Cooked Angus Triple-A Short Beef Rib with Black Pepper: The Jade Seafood Restaurant
  • Best Braised Spareribs with Cranberry: Happy Valley Seafood Restaurant
  • Best Dried Scallop and Vermicelli in Clay Pot: The Jade Seafood Restaurant
  • Best Herbal Chinese Wine Chicken Pot: Mui Kee Chicken Pot
  • Best Roasted Salt Free Range Chicken: Western Lake Chinese Seafood Restaurant

Ocean Wise Sustainable Seafood Awards

In an effort to continue keeping our oceans around the world healthy, Vitality Steam Seafood Restaurant and YuShang Hot Pot have established a committed partnership with Ocean Wise to focus promoting sustainable seafood in their menu options.

Lifetime Culinary Achievement Award

At age 83, legendary Cantonese cuisine master Chef Leung Yiu Tong has just officially retired in February and closed his Hoi Tong Chinese Seafood Restaurant. The Award pays homage and salute, once again, to his tireless effort in cultivating the most authentic and original Cantonese flavours and creating countless memorable dining experiences in the past 72 years.

Website:
http://chineserestaurantawards.com

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In travel

Designer Eyewear Delivered to your Door by SmartBuyGlasses

Spring is just around the corner and it’s not too early to have a pair of sunglasses in your bag to keep you protected from the sun. SmartBuyGlasses is an online retailer that has been around for over 10 years providing a large range of authentic designer eyewear. They were founded in Australia back in 2008 and provide over 24 months of warranty if there are any manufacture defects of glasses or sunglasses without exception for free.

All you need is your prescription handy if you need it and their in-house optometrists can create glasses and contacts to order.

I wanted to go with something out of the ordinary, so I ordered the Prada PR64TS. These are sunglasses but I loved how they are polarized and gives and nice look when walking around town.

It’s definitely not your standard sunglasses and make people wonder where you got them. Protecting your eyes from the sun with style.

Sunglasses were sponsored by SmartBuyGlasses but all opinions are all my own.

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In Recipes

Saving Time in the Kitchen by Making Soups and Smoothies in a blender

Being a new mom, having time to prepare and eat nutritious meals has been a challenge as taking care of Baby E has us always on our toes. A lot of families with new borns just don’t have the energy to cook a full meal for a little while. A lot of my friends with kids rely on other family members cooking for them, getting take out, or making frozen meals.

There are some quick ways to meal prep nutritious meals to get in the vitamins you need for the day. Two of the most common items to make in a Vitamix blender are smoothies and soups. As being a high performance blender, it does an amazing job at making smoothies, hot soups, dips & spreads, as well as frozen desserts.

Here are 2 of our favourite ways to make smoothies and soups much quicker with these short cuts while using a Vitamix blender.

Portion Out Smoothie Ingredients for Quick Blending

Buying fresh produce can go bad quickly if you lose track of what’s in your fridge and when certain items expire. What our family likes to do is to portion out smoothie ingredients into containers and freeze them. You can make the same smoothie for the week or mix and match the items that go into each one.

When it’s time to make a quick smoothie, all you need to do is dump the container of ingredients and pour in your favourite liquids like almond milk.

Kale Ginger Smoothie

Ginger is an ingredient that is known to keep your blood flowing, warm your extremities, and keep away the chills. During postpartum, I had a lot of ginger because with all the blood loss from giving birth, I was cold and pale for the first 2 weeks.

Serves 2

Ingredients:

  • 1 Tbsp fresh ginger, skin removed
  • 1 1/2 cups chopped frozen mango
  • 1 small ripe frozen banana
  • 1 large handful spinach
  • 1 small handful kale
  • 1/2 medium lime, juiced
  • 1/3 cup light coconut milk
  • 2/3 cup unsweetened plain almond milk
  • 1 Tbsp raw hulled hemp seeds (optional)

Instructions:

  1. In a container, freeze ginger, mango, banana, spinach, and kale ahead of time.
  2. Add almond milk, lime juice, light coconut milk, and the ingredients in the frozen container into a high powered blender.
  3. Blend for 1 – 2 minutes on high to get it all blended nice and smoothly.
  4. Pour smoothie into a cup and top with hemp seeds.
  5. Enjoy.

Prepare Soup in a Blender and Freeze leftovers for the Future

Nausea doesn’t just happen in your first trimester, it can happen postpartum as well when all your hormones are trying to settle back to normal but new mom’s bodies go through quite a bit of change hormonally to adjust to life without a baby inside their belly.

If it’s yourself making the soup or someone else, it is a lifesaver to have some frozen in the fridge for a quick meal as it can last 4 to 6 months. You just need to defrost and heat it up. Also, to cut down on dishes, you can make the soup in a blender. The friction of the Vitamix blades can make steaming-hot soup in under 10 minutes, right in the container with less mess.

Creamy Brussel Sprout Soup with Bacon

Serves 4-6

Ingredients:

  • 8 slices of thick cut bacon
  • 1 small onion, chopped
  • 300g Brussel sprouts, halved
  • 1 large potato, peel and cut into cubes
  • 2 garlic cloves, chopped
  • 2 thyme twigs
  • 4 cups of chicken broth
  • Salt and Pepper

Instructions:

  1. Cook bacon in a frying pan or oven until crisp. Follow instruction on the package. Let cool and cut into bite-sized pieces, then set aside.
  2. Add onion, Brussel sprouts, potatoes, garlic, thyme, salt and pepper into a pot on medium high heat to cook until veggies soften.
  3. In a blender, add the cooked veggies, 2 tablespoons of fat from bacon, and chicken broth. Blend the soup on high for 10 minutes until the soup is smooth and piping hot.
  4. Serve and top it with bacon bits and Brussel Sprout leaves.

Tips for Freezing Soup

  • Let soup cool before freezing. To speed up the process, you can put it in an ice bath.
  • Don’t full up containers to the top. Leave 1 inch to give the soup room to expand and limit contact with the air, which may cause freezer burn.

There you have it, 2 quick items to make in a Vitamix blender to make a quick smoothie and soup for new mothers who are already super busy taking care of a newborn. Any time saved can be used to tend to boding with the newborn baby.

We were gifted a Vitamix Ascent A3500 for use in creating this blog post, but all opinions are our own.

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In Bubble Tea

The Ooleaf Tea Lounge: Bubble Tea Shop in Richmond

A new bubble tea shop is in town and it’s The Ooleaf Tea Lounge located right beside Aberdeen Skytrain Station. They are currently in their soft opening phase and are working out any kinks before their grand opening. They specialize in handmade oolong based tea beverages

Currently, their promotion is 50% off select drinks on their menu. When we went, there was only 1 drink on that menu and it was the black milk tea.

Interior

The space isn’t too large but there are a few small and large tables for different sizes of groups. I can imagine more people doing take out than actually sitting here, but who knows.

Menu

Brown Sugar Matcha

You can see the different layers of ingredients in here, but you should stir it up before you drink it. I usually don’t like brown sugar drinks but this was the right about of brown sugar where it isn’t too sweet or overpowering. Make sure to stir ip up really well before drinking.

Black Milk Tea

This was the special of the day with pearls, milk and the oolong tea. Make sure to stir it around since some of the sugar tends to settle on the bottom. We really enjoyed it and the pearls as well. Bold oolong tea and it was just a solid milk tea.

Bitter Melon Pineapple Fruit Tea

My friend got this because she was so curious what bitter melon pineapple fruit tea would taste like. It could be either really good or really bad. The bitter melon juice is obviously really bitter but there is a good amount of pineapple paired with it to attempt to offset the bitterness. For us, that still didn’t work, but we did still appreciate this drink and how some other people might like it.

Final Thoughts

Overall, I really liked the strong oolong tea in the drinks. Their menu is different and innovative especially with the bitter melon pineapple fruit tea…even though we didn’t personally like it, it’s very unique.

I would definitely come back for their other drinks for sure. Good balance of tea, milk and sweetness.

Address:
4000 No 3 Road #135, Richmond, BC

Instagram:
https://www.instagram.com/theooleaf/

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In North Burnaby

[Sneak Peek] The Study Public House at SFU Burnaby

After a much needed refresh of the SFU Pub at the Maggie Benson Centre on the Burnaby Campus, Joseph Richard Group took over the space and give it new life as The Study Public House. Being an SFU Alumni, I haven’t been on campus since graduation, so it was good to make a visit to see what has changed.

The Study Public House has become a social hub where students and staff can relax and enjoy themselves over drinks, food and entertainment.

We were given a sneak peek of The Study Public House before doors open on April 1, 2019 and that’s no joke.

Interior

The large space can fit up to 300 guests at one time. There is also an outdoor patio that will be open with great views of the city.

There is booth and table seating upstairs and it’s great for small to large parties.

The lower floor is awesome and it has vintage pinball games, shuffleboard, pool and ping pong tables. Super cozy and relaxing.

I can definitely anticipate a lot of events happening here with lots of great memories being made.

Menu

Kronenbourg blanc

I love a good beer and Kronenbourg blanc is a fresh white fruity beer. It has aromas of floral, tropical fruit and honeysuckle. Very refreshing.

Watermelon Mojito

A refreshing Summer classic with raspberry vodka muddled with fresh watermelon, mint and simple syrup. Delicious, refreshing and not too strong.

Chicken Wings

There is a pound that comes in each order and you can choose them with Franks Red Hot Sauce, Teriyaki, honey garlic, BBQ, or salt and pepper.

We went with salt and pepper as it’s dry and not too dirty on the fingers. Pretty good wings.

Warm Cheddar and Jalapeno Dip

There is aged cheddar, mozzarella, pickled Japapenos, panko parmesan crumble, cream cheese, béchamel sauce, sweet chili sauce and served with tortilla chips. A good appetizers to share among the table. We were not a fan of the added sweet chili sauce and it made it not as enjoyable.

Fried Chicken and Waffles

There is a large waffle with butter, maple bacon glaze, seasoned chicken, and topped with scallions. The waffle tastes good but don’t wait too long to eat this or else the waffle goes a bit limp. The chicken is more like chicken bites that sits on top of the waffle.

English Style Fish and Chips

This is their version of a traditional English Style beer battered cod with coleslaw, tartar sauce, and fries. You can upgrade to truffle fries for an added cost. It was a large dish and definitely very filling. The cod was very soft on the inside.

Sack o Doughnuts

Carnival-style mini donuts tossed in cinnamon and sugar. It is served with a strawberry compote and chocolate sauce for dipping. This was pretty damn good and would order it again. A fun dessert and it was made just right. Reminded us of the PNE.

Peanut Butter Chocolate Stack

This is a dark brownie layered on a soft and rich peanut butter cookie, topped with a crispy milk chocolate and peanut butter ganache. It is served with whipped cream, crushed peanuts and drizzled with caramel sauce. I love peanut butter and chocolate, so this was music to my tastebuds.

Final Thoughts

The revamp of the SFU Pub is great and I think JRG transformed it into a proper pub that is going to draw the community of SFU to this space for food, drinks, and a fun time. The JRG’s team of Executive Chefs put together a menu that works for a pub and at a good price point too.

Address:
Maggie Benston Centre
8888 University Drive, Burnaby

Website:
https://www.jrghospitality.ca/establishment/the-study/

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In Buffet

JJ’s Restaurant: Lunch Buffet at Vancouver Community College (Downtown)

JJ’s Restaurant does lunch buffet for one day out of the month. Usually, they have a 3 course lunch menu for $23 or a la carte options. I’ve dined many times at JJ’s Restaurant as well as VCC’s other dining options like their Bistro, Cafeteria, and their Chef’s Table.

Buffet dates for 2019:

  • April 25
  • May 23
  • June 20
  • July 25
  • August 22
  • September 19
  • October 17
  • November 14
  • December 12

(Dates may change, so please visit JJ’s Restaurant website for up to date information.)

Reservations

When we heard about their lunch buffet during the weekday, we looked on their website to see when would be the next available date and booked a reservation through OpenTable. Without reservations, you may not be able to get a seat for your party. Usually their lunch buffet does get filled up in advance. I put in a reservation for 3 adults and a baby in a stroller.

Price

It is $27 per person, plus taxes, beverages and gratuities not included. Not a bad price for Downtown Vancouver. Plus, you’re supporting future chefs and the culinary program at VCC.

Interior

The space has a good amount of tables and since reservations are needed ahead of time, they make sure to set up the dining area based on the reservations.

Drink Menu

Drinks are extra, but here are some of your options. They also have special cocktails and mocktails available for purchase.

Hot Food Area

The hot food area has a big bread basket, roasted potatoes, vegetables, chicken & eggplant, salmon with cream of leek, and duck with sausage. Six items in this area isn’t too bad.

I liked how there were a good amount of protein. It’s best to start your buffet experience here to really get in on all the different proteins and vegetables. Of the items in the area, I did enjoy the chicken and the duck.

Do note that this area does start closing down around 1pm while the other stations are still open.

Prime Rib Station

At the end of the hot food section is the prime rib carving station with gravy, mustard and horseradish. Always a popular spot because who doesn’t love prime rib.

Salad and Seafood Bar

The salad bar has a few varieties of salad from fennel salad to golden beets.

On the same table are also smoked salmon bites as well as a seafood platter. The seafood does go really quick and is usually the first item that disappears. Hard to resist shrimp, scallops and tuna.

Bao Bar

There is a station where freshly made baos are prepared right in front of you. You can choose between lean or fatty pork shoulder. Its a great idea but was pretty mediocre tasting.

Banana Foster Station

The banana foster station makes it all to order, so you have to wait a little bit before its ready. You can watch the students prepare it in front of your eyes. It is a cooked banana in brown sugar and cinnamon served with whipped cream.

Lamb Rack Station

You can get as many rack of lambs as you would like. All smothered in au jus too.

Dessert Table

There are 2 dessert tables with a good assortment of items from chocolate flavours, citrus flavours, mousses and a lot of cakes.

It was an adventure trying to taste everything, so our table just grabbed a bunch and nibbled on it all.

There’s also a lot of fruit too. Classic and it’s not a buffet without fruit. They even have an intricately carved watermelon too but no one touched it because its so pretty.

Final Thoughts

For $27 before taxes and tip, it’s a very good deal for a buffet in Downtown Vancouver. There are lots of items in the buffet and you will definitely leave full. Some items are a hit and miss, but their strongest areas were in their meats, salads and desserts.

We enjoyed ourselves and the staff and students were all very nice. As it is a learning environment, have patience with the students and they are trying to do their best. We found that a lot of them were very nervous and shy.

Website:
https://www.vcc.ca/services/eat-shop–more/jjs-restaurant/

Address:
3rd floor – Vancouver Community College (Downtown)
250 W Pender St, Vancouver, BC

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In Bubble Tea

Passion Tearoom: Bubble Tea in Downtown Vancouver

Passion Tearoom is a bubble tea shop on Howe and Nelson in Downtown Vancouver. They pride themselves for using real fruits in their smoothies and real tea in their bubble tea beverage.

A few people told me to check it out, so I went with my friend to see how it stacks up against the other similar bubble tea shops in Vancouver.

Interior

The space is pretty small, so there are only a few tables inside, but most people observed did take out anyways. A select few looked like they were meeting up with friends over a drink.

Mango Slush

This is mango blended with ice and my friend has it with pearls. It was pretty good. Smooth and not chunky at all. The pearls had a nice soft chew to them which was nice.

House Milk Tea

This is their premium special blended black tea with cream and milk. I added grass jelly to this drink as a topping. I got it half sweet, but the drinks here generally aren’t that sweet, so full sweetness is just fine. As for the drink itself, it was pretty much room temperature and had no ice inside. Would have been more enjoyable if it was colder.

Final Thoughts

I was a little bit disappointed with their milk tea since that’s their signature drink. Slush was definitely more enjoyable. As we only had 2 drinks, it’s hard to get a grasp of the full menu, but if they can’t get a classic milk tea right, I don’t know about the other items. Other people seem to love this place, so maybe it was an off day when I visited.

Address:
1020 Howe St, Vancouver, BC

Website:
https://www.passiontearoom.com/

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In Bubble Tea

Old Street 老街小吃: Chinese Crepe and Taiwanese beef noodle soup in Burnaby

Old Street 老街小吃 is a restaurant located across from Metropolis at Metrotown specializing in Chinese Crepes and Taiwanese beef noodle soup. There’s more and more new restaurants in the area and it’s good to see plenty of options.

We were invited to give a few of their menu items a try, so I came with a few friends to see how it is.

Interior

There are a good amount of tables for groups of 2’s and 4’s but if you have a larger group, you can easily combine the tables to make it larger.

Menu

Old Street Fresh Fruit Tea

One of their signature drinks on the menu is their fresh fruit tea. You can choose it with green tea or red tea with the option of having it hot or cold. We went with cold and there was a good amount of citrus and berry fruits inside.

Milky Tea Series

They have a few different milk teas on the menu. We went with Honey Milk Tea and Matcha Milk tea. You can add toppings like pearls, coconut jelly or grass jelly. You can have it as a regular milk tea or green milk tea.

It’s good you can customize it with different tea options, but the menu doesn’t give you the option for ice levels or sweetness levels, but you can inquire with the staff.

Old Street Chinese Crepe

They are known for their Chinese Crepes and it’s hard to find them in this area of Burnaby. These are highly customizable. Each crepe is made with an egg, green onion, cilantro, sesame, and whatever else you want to customize it with.

We had it with green bean flour, spiced beef, dried pork flakes, pickled mustard, crisp fritter, and with a touch of spiciness. With the added spiced beef, this crepe was huge! It tasted pretty good and I love the crisp fritter to give it a nice crunchy texture inside.

Taiwanese Meat Sauce on Rice

Our favourite item here was the Taiwanese meat sauce on rice. It has a good ratio of the meat sauce and rice, so all that sauce soaks into the rice. It also has half an egg with it too.

Taiwanese Beef Noodle Soup

In each bowl is marinated beef shank, veggies, pickled greens, green onions, cilantro and you can customize your noodle thickness and add any additional meats. We added in beef tripe and braised beef brisket to ours for an extra charge. The beef shank was a good size and tender. Broth was good with a good amount of spice as we asked for a little spice. The noodle soup was average but nothing really stood out too much.

Szechuan Style Chicken

Also known as saliva chicken but there is no saliva in this at all if you’re wondering. It’s a good size dish and the chicken is very tender and flavourful. A good amount of spice too.

Final Thoughts

It’s good to finally have a restaurant specializing in Chinese Crepes in the area. Even though it is a traditional breakfast item, that doesn’t stop you from having this for lunch or dinner. Some dishes are so-so but definitely stop by to see what Chinese Crepes are like.

Address:
4729 Kingsway, Burnaby, BC 

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