4 posts tagged “dining”

I’ll spare people with my happy dance so I just do it in my head. Nevertheless, I’d like you to know I’m doing it–the happy dance. I’d tell you why:

1. Dine Out Vancouver 2007

   “Vancouver’s most anticipated food and wine event is back! Offering an extended 17 delicious days and156 leading Vancouver restaurants, Dine Out Vancouver 2007 is bigger and better than ever! From January 19 to February 4, enjoy delectable three-course prix fixe menus at one of Vancouver’s hottest restaurants for $15, $25 or $35 per person, complemented by quality BC VQA wine pairing suggestions.”

   Last night, my dear friend A and I went all the way to West Vancouver to eat at The Beach House. It was far. To give you an idea of the trip, we got into Highway 1 at Exit 33 (or shall I call it Entrance 33? hehe), and our we were headed for Exit 10–in the pouring rain, yes. The restaurant is right beside the water so it’s gorgeous. Well, we imagined it to be gorgeous on a nice day anyway.
   
   Trip aside, the food was good. We tried everything on the event menu. There’s usually two choices for appetizer, main course, and dessert. We ended up having all of them because we both ordered different things.
   
   I had food envy though, especially when my friend’s main course arrived. I’m a sucker for meat and when I saw the pork chop sitting on her plate, I could hear my tummy cursing me, “What the f-ing hell were YOU thinking when you ordered?” Aaanyway, my crispy skinned trout wasn’t bad at all. It was very tasty and I loved the crunchy skin!
   
   
   
   YUMMMM…
   
   The decor was alright, nothing too fancy, just simple and elegant. It’s not rich, so to speak. The service is good, I have no complaints; our server was very attentive but you can also sense that some of them really don’t care about service even if they’re giving good service. Am I making sense to you? Do you know what I mean, though?
   
   The washroom was clean and nice. Dark walls–mahogany if I remember it right. Candle in a fancy bowl. Nice lighting. We took mirror photos there. Hehe.
   
   Overall, I’d give The Beach house a 7/10, a nice place to visit once in a while because of the travel and well, if it’s not spectacular food, I won’t go out of my way half the time. That said, the food was good! I’d say, go for the seafood appetizer and pork chop out of the Dine Out menu. For a $60 meal with wine pairing (we ordered something else out of the event menu), it’s decent.
   
   Note: If you are ordering the menu with the wine for the 3 courses, they don’t give you a full glass. Don’t worry about having to drive later because it’s not enough to knock you down at all.


2. Online shopping and mail. I’ve been a good consumer, really. Here’s the first batch of web loot that came in the mail yesterday:
   
   Lampwork beads, black onyx beads, crocheted wooden beads, sterling silver wire, and my box of MOO cards. I’m still waiting for other beads. :-)


3. Aveda Comforting Tea, which is, uh, really comforting. I love it.
4. Lush’s Fair Trade Foot Lotion and Lip Squeak Lip balm. The latter makes me want to eat apple pies all the damn time.

Yesterday my boyfriend and I had lunch (again) at Sauce before he dropped me off at the Scottsdale Fashion Square to meet my ol’ girlfriend. That was a quick lunch and it seemed like we were two hungry cave people because the pizza was gone in a wink. [Well we did have to eat fast because D was running late for work.]

I am my own product guinea pig.
I had an hour to myself before my friend P and I would meet up so I planned to return the Kiehl’s stuff that I bought last Tuesday (Tea Tree Oil Toner and Sodium PCA moisturizer) which gave me cystic, pea-sized zits that made me want to hide. *cry$#42; Folks, learn this lesson that I only learned last week: Do not try new products before and during your travel. If you have very sensitive skin like me, don’t even think about it, because what happened to me was such a disaster. The week before I left for Phoenix, I went to the Kiehl’s at Robson to buy the Blue face wash and moisturizer. I have a high regard for this line of products because everyone I know who uses it seems to be over the moon about it, plus it is “all-natural”. I love their lip balm because they blend well with lip glosses (however, the taste of their lip balm on their own is not-so-desirable, so check with your significant other). Anyway, I gave the facial products a try. They gave me samples of the blue toner and the calendula toner to try. And try I did. I got these red bumps the next day. I thought they were hormonal so I continued with the products and when I landed in the US, I went to the Kiehl’s by Neiman Marcus to try the other toner, and I was suckered into buying a night moisturizer for oily skin. I was eager to try a Kiehl’s-only skin regimen before I judge it. Sounds fair, right? And besides, I didn’t bring my Philosophy stuff so I thought I’d just do it. I don’t know what I was thinking!!! I broke out really bad…like pea-sized angry cystic acne bumpS! Waaaaahhhh. So I returned them and the sales clerk graciously accepted them back. Ugh, I want to cry.

Sephora to the rescue.
At that point, it doesn’t even have to be said that I was DESPERATE for a solution. I need a quick fix because I don’t want to see everyone on Thanksgiving with my face looking like the murdered turkey. Ya know? The woman from the store recommended the Cosmedicine kit with the Kinerase Clear Skin Blemish Dissolver. I mentioned I was desperate, right? I didn’t even check how much these were before I went to the counter. I was a bit shocked when the girl ran the total by me. Er. The tiny kit was $48 and the lip-baml size spot treatment was $39. God help me.

I am happy to report that the Kinerase roll-on thing works like magic. It’s worth every ridiculous dollar I spent on it. I don’t want to say anything yet about the Cosmedicine skin regimen, but I can tell you that it kept my skin shine free for half a day, no new zits (that means my skin is ok with it), and my skin doesn’t look and feel like it’s raging a full-blown protest rally against its owner who subjects it to new products. Heh.

Yeah, I am a product fiend and sometimes I am a victim of my own li’l product testing. :(

On a good note though, I love Kiehl’s Creme de Corps body moisturizer and Superbly Efficient Anti-Perspirant and Deodorant. They work the way they were supposed to. Haha.

Frivolous purchase.
If my life had a soundtrack, one of the songs should have this title. I waited for my friend for an extra hour and I’ve walked through the entire mall twice already and have resisted the urge to go in Louis Vuitton and Tiffany. I had self-control over the former, but gave in to the latter. I walked out with a new bracelet. Damnit. I always get tempted to shop for expensive things in the US because I don’t have to think about the ridiculous markup we have in the Canadian stores AND the sales tax! The friggin’ Canadian Sales Tax!

The bracelet I bought isn’t even on the Tiffany & Co. web site yet (according to the sales professional, it’s new…who knows, but I know I haven’t seen it before), so no pic. It’s a chain with donut-ish links, from the 1837 line. I might have to go back and have 2 links removed. It’s a medium and my wrists are so tiny!

Girlie time.
My friend arrived right after I left the jewelry store. Good timing. I told her I was close to sending her a text message to hurry up because I cannot be left alone in that shopping mall!

We went looking for shoes: she needed new pumps for work, I needed (that’s the operative word: NEED) a second pair of winter boots (I was looking for a particular Ugg design). We didn’t find anything. Oops.

We headed out to Stingray for sushi and drinks. The sushi was rather expensive, but it was good. The service is forgettable. We hopped over to Ibiza for tapas and wine. I forgot the name of what we ordered, but it had a phyllo (sp?) dough. So…SOOOO good!

Good times…good food, great company and conversation… More please. =)

Saturday was pretty much that.

1. Let me tell you how dedicated I am to this NaBloPoMo. The night before I left for Vancouver, I stayed at a friend’s place and wasn’t able to access the Internet. When my boyfriend got home from work around 11pm PST I actually asked him to access my WordPress blog and type my entry for me. I understand this is a bit too much.


2. Violence among kids. Last night, while with my boyfriend at the bowling alley for his Wednesday bowling league, I was witness to how violent kids are today. The older sister, about 9 years old, was unashamedly hurting her younger brother, about 6 or 7. I say unashamedly because she had no qualms about hitting her brother at the back of his neck, or threatening him not to tell their father (one of the bowlers), or digging her elbows into his ribs. What…the…fuck. It terrorized me to the point that I’m still thinking of it. I was afraid she was going to stab her brother with her pencil (they were supposed to do homework while they wait for the dad, I assume). It’s just unbelievable. I hope and pray my future kids wouldn’t be this way.


3. Eye candy. Has anyone had the pleasure of reading through Wallpaper*’s October 10-year (5-pound) anniversary issue? I brought it from Vancouver, read it on the plane and last night at the bowling alley. I’ll post links to my favorites later.


4. Even if I’m not home I think of you.

   All Greater Vancouver residents urged to boil water

   A boil water advisory has been issued for the entire Greater Vancouver Area.

   Vancouver Coastal Health spokesman Viviana Zanocco said Thursday the warning was issued because Wednesday’s storm dumped large amounts of dirt and mud in the region’s three reservoirs.

   “We’ve never seen turbidity this high,” she said.

   The entire region is affected, but the problem is worst on the North Shore.

   The health region is advising hospitals, care facilities and restaurants to change the way they prepare food.

   Water should be boiled for one minute, then cooled thoroughly before drinking. Or persons should drink bottled water.

   The ban applies to brushing teeth and washing food. Showers are okay.

   Zanocco said she doesn’t know how long the ban will last.

   Persons drinking water are at risk of suffering diarrhea and vomiting because bacteria is present in the water.

   [source: Canada.com/The Province]



5. I thought I was evading just the rain in Vancouver. My roommate said I was lucky enough to get away from the torrential rains and the power outages.


6. I opened my first bag of Winter Chex Mix. Oh my. <3 It's hard to watch your diet when your boyfriend has a supply of sinful indulgences when you arrive. He's sweet like that. He's actually on his way home right now with a "surprise" meal. He wouldn't tell me what he's getting us for dinner! Damnit!


7. Sauce.” We had lunch here before shopping at Scottsdale Fashion Square. We walked be it last Tuesday and the food looked good so we checked it out. We weren’t disappointed. The food was gooood and very reasonably priced! And bonus points for them because they have the San Pellegrino orange drink I like. Haha. We ordered the Chicken, Pine Nuts, and Gorgonzola salad, Turkey, pesto aioli and Fontina cheese panini, and make-your-own sausage and pepperoni pizza. So, so good. The salad was surprisingly filling, and the flavors mesh well together. I really appreciate that the greens were cut bite size, not Godzilla-will-be-eating-it size. The this crust pizza was awesome as well and the turkey panini was tasty! For everything, including drinks, I think we paid only $28. Not bad. We even had leftovers to take home!