Tea Therapy: The Great Chasen Hunt and Matcha Latte

I am the type of person who learns to like the most random things at the most random times. And when I become invested (or so I think) on something, there is just no forgetting it unless, of course, something more interesting grabs my attention. In other words, I am very impulsive. But it's never an issue as long as I become productive at or with it. I try my best..

Yesterday, I bought 50g of Matcha (green tea) powder from David's Tea when we were at Metrotown in Burnaby. David's Tea has nice, cheap teas; the friendliest staff; and the prettiest merchandise. The interest sparked last Thursday when my uncle and I were at Teavana looking for a secret santa gift and I came across a small tin can of the green powdery goodness that is Matcha. But, I've always liked green tea or just tea in general. Anyway, my problem was- I didn't have a chasen (bamboo matcha whisk) to do the ritual with. I'd use an ordinary whisk or a frother, but I can be very meticulous. Plus, it's part of the Japanese culture and it's just right to respect that. PLUS, my uncle (we have the same, exact personality type: INFJ) is also big on culture and detail and wants me to use the real thing. We went to Daiso at Aberdeen Mall in Richmond but they phased it out. Imagine my disappointment missing out on a $2 chasen! But I guess buying a cheap chasen isn't 'the real thing' (?) Izumi-Ya, also in Richmond, doesn't carry it either. I called several small Japanese retailers this morning and not one of them has it. Nikaido in Steveston, Ming Wo in Lansdowne has it for around $15. I decided to go with the one Teavana sells, which costs $12.95. I went to Daiso to purchase a cheap frother ($2) because I wanted to make pretty latte. The frother doesn't look nor feel cheap.

I failed to create latte art.

Textured bowl w/ Matcha & Teavana's bamboo whisk

 Finished product! Not bad for a first timer, eh?

Yes, the green motif was intentional. No, flax milk does not froth. I used 2% milk. Yes, I will most probably make another one tonight because I gave the first one to my dad.

Yay.

Tea is my therapy. Preparing it relaxes me, drinking it relaxes me. Tea is the best thing ever...next to a lot of best-thing-evers.

On Malaysian/Thai Cuisine & Feeling Artsy

What goes best with exhaustion and a bad feeling about an exam I had just taken? Poutine. Yes, poutine, my comfort food, my nirvana, my love. After class, I received a text message from my uncle asking me what I had planned at 4:30. I called him up and he asked if I wanted to get poutine in Vancouver. How timely! Who in the right mind would say no? No one, of course! And since I have been limiting the food I eat, I haven't had potatoes in a while.

So I get off at 2:30; I go the mall, do a couple of things, run into my cousin, fetch my mom, run to the train station and meet my uncle at 5 pm. And if the exam I took was not enough to down me, Frenchie's, the poutine place, was closed. F-A-N-T-A-S-T-I-C. There was no point in coming back to Richmond so we decided to walk along Robson and eat somewhere we haven't tried. We passed by this Malaysian/Thai restaurant and thought we'd give it a try.

At Tropika, you get very good Malaysian/Thai food for a reasonable price. The Sambal Kang-Kong (Tung Choi) was around $14, the Satay (Chicken/Beef/Lamb) were $1.30/stick, and the Red Curry Duck was around $15, I think. They have a wide variety of dishes on their menu but we opted to stick with these three. Kangkong is like a staple vegetable back in the Philippines. It's really difficult to get a hold of them here and so, first sight of it on the menu and we were sold.

The servers were very nice and accommodating too. Funny, actually. If they catch you looking towards their direction, they will come to your table at once, even if you weren't even calling them.



And so, as all of our dining ventures go, coffee & dessert after was in order. We went to The Gallery Cafe which is right in front of the Vancouver Art Gallery (you won't miss it). Their coffee is cheap, and so are their desserts and entrees. We got a banana chocolate bread pudding with whipped cream on top, as recommended by the girl behind the counter, coffee, and a chai latte for me. They also serve wines, beers, cocktails.

Everyone who ate or drank there either looked like artists, hipsters, or hipster artists. Heh, and that's not a bad thing. Nice, casual, artsy-fartsy place. I'd go back.



I'm glad we discovered new places to eat at. A new restaurant every time you go out - that should be a thing! Oh wait, it already is!

Richmond Food Blogger Lindsay Anderson has finished her 365 Days of Dining - eating out everyday for one whole year to try 365/800 restaurants in Richmond, BC! I go to her blog to choose where to eat out next. I think her reviews are very honest and credible. You should visit her blog and follow her on Twitter!

Mother's Day // Busy Sunday Fun Day

I thought it was a really good day. It was simple, but it was fun.

We had a family lunch out to celebrate one of my cousins' birthday and Mother's Day of course. Lunch was courtesy of my cousin and aunt. It was fun catching up with everyone and having a good laugh at the small things. We're a very happy family - I think we're rather the nice to be around kind of people. We love to eat - already a plus right there!



That's me, by the way - platinum hair, leather jacket, short stuff. Yeah, that's me surrounded by awesome family. See our faces? All smiles, as a result of a good, greasy lunch at the Hog Shack, and good conversations.

And of course, this is one of those I like to call an obligaroty family photo.

Since it was Mother's Day, of course I wanted the day to be a little extra for the momma. And since every restaurant in the Lower Mainland is probably overflowing in reservations, I decided to sit my dad and uncle down and ask if they were willing to join me in cooking. Oh yeah, it happened. The three of us ransacked the kitchen to cook. Fact: we all love to cook at anytime of any day, but tonight, it was all on us and all my mom had to do was sit back, relax, and wait for everything to be set. She'd stand and move around the kitchen once or twice but we have to admit, it's a wife/mother's instinct to check up on everything and make sure that everything is still tip top.

So I am very tired from preparing tonight's meal, dessert included. It was extremely fun though. I'm glad everything from this morning to the wee hours of tonight turned out well for everyone.

Such culinary delight!

#Oysters / Rodney's Oyster House

The other day, I was browsing hashtag #oysters on Instagram (yes, I do that) and tortured myself with photos of beds and beds of oysters. I had been craving it for months. I am aware that there are several oyster bars in Vancouver but none of them ever appealed to me for some reason. I never bothered to go. But upon seeing the torturous photos and reading that they were taken in Yaletown, Vancouver, I jumped to my feet and knew I just had to go. Luckily, that Friday, my uncle and I had planned to meet downtown and do another photo walk. Luckily, my uncle, an extreme foodie like me, had been craving the same for months now.

We went to Rodney's Oyster House along Hamilton St. in Yaletown and was guaranteed to be seated in 30 minutes. We went to the waterfront and took a few photos, then excitedly walked back.

We started with their New England Clam Chowder (around $7.50) and it was good. It was very filling. The clams were plentiful. The cream is quite rich, but is contrasted by fresh ground pepper that adds a little kick. I also had been craving for this specific chowder since all of the places I go to only have the Manhattan one, which is a tomato-based chowder. Not my type.



We tried the Scallop Galette (around $12) which features potato encrusted scallops, a salad with vinaigrette, and plum sauce. I love love love scallops so this was excellent for me. Also, the greens were a nice touch. The plum sauce was a bit sour than I expected, but still good.



Nobody should say no to these babies - their Pan Fried Oysters (around $12) was really good. They were fried perfectly and not at all overwhelming.



And of course, what we came for, raw oysters. Beautiful. If you come during their low tide (3 - 6pm Mon to Sat), their raw oysters come at $1.50/pc. Not bad at all. It's only been two days and I'm craving for more already!

They will also give you this nice array of sauces to put on the oysters. They are placed from mildest to hottest. The hottest, the last one called Back From Hell, is INTENSE. It will take your taste buds off, but if you're some daredevil then you'll enjoy this treat.

I honestly did not enjoy the sauces because I thought they overpowered the oysters. But don't get me wrong, they are all excellent. Your server will let you in on the best sauce combination. I just opted to squeeze lemon and pour a bit of vinegar on mine. Unlike myself, my uncle just can't take the thought of slurping these babies right off the shell. I love it. I like the taste of the ~sea~



Halfway thru our meal, we decided we needed something to wash down the taste. We asked our waiter (such hunk, btw) for their white wine selection and he recommended the Babich Sauvignon Blanc from New Zealand ($11/glass). Yeah....it's poured into this tiny glass (full to the brim) but still quite pricey if you ask me. It was very very good though.

I had to crouch down to take a sip before I could move the glass without spilling.



It was a very good meal. To think that the only carbs we consumed were the potatoes in the chowder and the complimentary sourdough bread, we were very full and happy. I would recommend this place to anyone who enjoys oysters and who isn't meticulous dining in quite a rowdy place (especially during hockey matches. Go Canucks!). If you aren't a fan of raw oysters, they have other goodies too. Check out their menu here: http://rohvan.com

They have a Maritime Room hidden at the stern usually used as a function room, but is also opened to the public during busy hours.



Have a photo of myself in zombie mode.

Photo walk photos to be posted soon!

Rodney’s Oyster House
1228 Hamilton Street, Vancouver, BC V6B 6L2
604.609.0080

Happy Birthday, Papa!

Yesterday was a gooOOood day. I am putting emphasis on the good (it's read with a wave-y tone, by the way) because it really was a good day.

It was my dad's birthday. It was also the day I had my first and final exam for the semester, setting me free for 3 weeks before I go back to school. Going back, my parents, my uncle, and I had a simple dinner at the River Rock Casino. The buffet at the River Rock is nothing spectacular. I have been there thrice, I think, and I honestly have never been wow-ed by the food, but it's just always good eating out with people I love who are very much extreme foodies too. Who else would I think after?

What I do love about the buffet is that if it's your birthday, you get a special dessert. You also get a free "happy birthday" song from your very attentive waiter who (last night) happened to pull/force another staff to sing with him, forgetting to remove her gloves. Very funny. Very nice of them.

Our dinner was filled with laughter and hearty talks about the simple things in life. Little stories about how our days went, and funny accidents filled our glasses intoxicating us with happiness. It was an extremely good dinner. My dad was happy, my uncle, who is celebrating his birthday on Monday, was too. And of course, my mom and I who planned it all to skip out on cooking for at least one night on a weekday felt very satisfied.

A little tip from me to you, when you're at the River Rock, get a casino card. If it's your first time getting it, you get a $5 voucher. You can either use it on the slot machines or cash it out. If you get it on your birthday month, you get double the voucher, totalling to $10. With the casino card, you also get a 10% discount whenever you eat at the buffet. Not bad.

I just found out last night that they have a daily breakfast buffet for only $15. Instead of going to yourlocal IHOP, why not just go to a buffet? (I am a sucker for /good/ buffets nom)

P.S. Let me just throw a little tantrum here. Hey River Rock, why does my dad get a fancy dessert for his birthday? I had dinner there on my birthday in 2010 and I got this. It's not as fancy aesthetic-wise, but it was good nonetheless; I'll give you that.

No (place) food like home.

One of the perks of living abroad is that you get to miss food you never thought you would. Many people think that food is better abroad and when you are out there, and once you have had a taste of a different cuisine, you will never look back to the food you were served growing up. This is a false accusation. No matter how delightful, scrumptious and generous meals are in another country, your taste buds will, once in a while if not always, long for that familiar taste.

I have been personally victimized by this. I would always say I am tired of Filipino food and I just want something different but the past few days haven't been like that. I would crave for Pinakbet, or Crispy Pata and all those sinful goodness you can order anywhere in the Philippines.

Yesterday, Father's day, my dad, my uncle and I had the leisure of satisfying our cravings for Pinoy food. We had lunch at a Filipino restaurant called "Pinpin" located in Vancouver, BC. The place was jam packed when we came in so at first we decided on eating somewhere else. But after walking a block from the place, we all thought we wanted Crispy Pata so the wait would probably be worth it. We came back and waited for about 30 minutes before being seated.

We started off with "Lumpiang Sariwa". I'd like to think of this as something like a vegetable crepe with a sweet, nutty sauce to top it. It has lettuce, carrots, raddish, etc. inside the soft wrap.

Crispy Pata (Deep fried pork leg and knuckles). I bet Pinpin has the best Crispy Pata in all of Vancouver. The skin has that perfect crisp and the meat inside is very juicy.