Ikea Breakfast + Snack Dog

Went into Richmond this morning to run an errand and suddenly realized there is something I rarely have the opportunity to do - eat at Ikea for its 99-cent breakfast. Really it is nothing special except these are things I don't make at home, so it gets me a little bit excited. I think I heard the coffee are free before 10 o'clock, but I was planning to get a free coffee from McD so I didn't go for it. On my way out I saw the 50-cent hot dog sign and thought no Ikea trip is complete without a couple of these snack dogs, so I happily inhaled one between the checkout counters and the exit.

Cold

Waking up to see "feel like-14"... let me go back to bed!!



Ski Day Dinner

What can really make a great ski day better? Have a great ski day dinner! Thank you H for making all this from scratch - Ribs, baked potato, coleslaw. I know making ribs are complicated, but hours and hours of cooking time... sure make things taste great.

Perfect Ski Day at Mt. Baker

First time skiing at Mt. Baker. Even though it hadn't snowed in 7 days at Baker, the snow was still very soft, forgiving, and... comfortable. I had to say the drive up to Baker is very interesting in two ways: one, the scenary just gets whiter and whiter from Vancouver, which is really nothing special, any drive up mountain would feel this way, so scrap that. Two, seeing the suburbs of the US is quite depressing. Just passed the Abbortsford border, more than 70% of the business are closed. You don't just see empty buildings, you actually see torn down, breaking down walls of what used to be a business. And the drive up to the slopes, you don't see booming communities like you see on the way to Whistler, you see abandoned houses, trailers, and trailer pretending to be a house. This really makes me feel lucky that I have a stable job and have a roof over my head.

Sausage Fast Break at the White Salmon Day Lodge - Sausage, cheese, and egg in English Muffin. But I didn't realize it is really sausages and not sausage pattie. Doesn't seeing a row of sausage tells you a good day of skiing is on the way?

 Wind blowing on top of the mountain = soft powder. But there is no way I will hike up the mountain that that...

 Beer and Wine Boundary... per the State of Washington.

 Supposed to be salmon chowder in bread bowl. But I don't really see salmon... it is definitely creamy, lots of calories in this one.

 Lift ticket - US$51, Sausage Fast Break - US$5.50, Chodwer Bread Bowl - US$8.50, watching the sun go down and chilling on a lawn chair at the end of a great ski day... priceless.

Steamed Sausage and Root Vegetables

Yeah, can't get any whiter than this. Store bought sausage with potato, carrot, and taro root (okay, maybe the taro root is not very white, but it tastes good steamed). I slit open the sausages cuz I had no idea how long it takes to cook it through, but this made all the juices came out and half of the pot is filled with sausage fat... yum?



But the little Chinese boy in my still want to Chinese this up a bit, so other than salt and pepper I have hoishin sauce and my trustee marinated minced meat handy... you know, just in case.

 I was too greedy and the beets and half of the carrots I cut up cannot fit in to my steamer-set-up. So I have to take it out and just microwave it instead. Only dressed it up with a little salt, pepper and white vinegar - easy.

Ken Hsu on Fairchild TV Feb 21, 2011

Ken Hsu [許程凱] 在二月二十一日受新時代電訊Fairchild TV RRSP計畫採訪

La Regalade's Half Duck and Roasted Fruits

OMG!!!! I have never been so moved by food. I don't know how to describe it, but I just felt there was a few moments when I just want to slowly let the flavor melt into my tongue. Usually when I have something good, I cannot wait to have the next bite - the more the better - and stuff my senses with all the flavors. But this time, I just want to slowly let the savory duck and tangy sweet roasted fruit slowly fuse into me through my mouth. Very odd. Even the cold leftover I take home in a box looks and smells great.

And their desserts... oh, I think it is totally worth it to just go there for the desserts. The waitress took about 5 minutes describing all the desserts they have, and it felt like an hour because you can't help but imagine the pastries, tarts, fruits and nuts mixed into a divine creation... but no! the best part is you don't have to imagine! they have all the desserts made and laid out near the entrance of the restaurant so you can just go and point to the one(s) that is calling your name...

Yeah... I have to take pictures of what is leftover because my old iPhone doesn't have flash and the restaurant is pretty dimmly lighted (comm'on iPhone 5!). But you can see how large their portion is because picture only showed what I cannot finish, and I am not a small eater.

CNY Meal

Kinda embarrassed, but this Chinese New Year my brother and I really weren't feeling festive. So all we did was prepared a Hotpot, bought some roast pork fromChinese BBQ shop, stirred fried some vegetables, and finished off some leftover from previous night (wha~ how sacrilegious!). No duck, no fish, no whole chicken, no mustard green... So I am too embarrassed to take photos to show you. But what worth showing is the fun part to slicing a frozen hunk of meat for Hotpot. Beef and chicken breast, even the cheap cuts of meat can be perfect for Hotpot when sliced thinly.

Lonsdale Quay Market

I think I have said before, but somehow North Van feels like a different country to me. But today I will share to you the three vendors in Lonsdale Quay I like - food related of course. And of course I don't remember their names...

The oyster place next to the entrance closer to seabus. Oysters freshly shucked with lemon and Tabasco. You pick each oyster you want and they sell by the pound. So much more worth it than going to a restaurant. Another of my favourite at this place is deep fried (large) oysters - oyster and deepfrying, can't go wrong with that. The shop also have clam chowder, salmon on a bun... all looks good and you just have to try it. Maybe except the non-alcoholic beer... what is the point?

The soup place at the other end of the market. They have good roasted sweet yam soup... and if you are lucky you can find some in their freezer section and take some home.

And BeaverTails in the foodcourt section~ oh how I love the BeaverTails~ Crispy, crunchy, and many flavours to choose from - cheese, garlic butter, or if you have a sweet tooth then apple cinnamon, chocolate and banana, or just cinnamon sugar. Oh my, who knows tails taste this good!