Birthday Tiramisu - La Boulangerie Bakery

So this is the tiramisu that I've mentioned in my own birthday tiramisu post. Supposed to be the best tiramisu my brother ever had. Unfortunately I had to carry it all the way home from downtown, on skytrain, on one of the hottest day of this summer, so the shape might have been messed up a bit. According to my brother the cake would be really nice if it is half frozen, either way it is still very creamy and flavorful. But $25 for a 6" is a bit steep. I would still prefer mine from Bon Bon Bakery.

Steamed Cake with Shallots and Pork Fluff

This is a variation on your everyday sweets. You basically use your favourite sponge cake recipe, but steam the batter in two batches with the shallot / pork fluff mixture in the middle and up top. The sweet and salty mix is always a welcomed conflict to your taste buds (like stewed pork hog on brown sugar shredded ice). The deep fried crisp shallot (preferrably fried in lard... healthy....) when mixed with the pork fluff, create a whole different taste that is unlike the original ingredients... it is weird, better, hard to explain, you just have to try it. 

Wheat Head?

So the Chinese name for the steamed buns is 饅頭, and if my memory serves, it means "wheat head". The story goes that foreign savages had invaded a part of China, so being the passive-aggressive Chinese people, they made steamed buns out of wheat flour, symbolizing the enemy's head, and they chew them up to express their anger. I doubt that drove the enemy away, but this is a good invention that benefited the future Chinese foodies.



My attempt to to make a rabbit, but it look mutated....

So making steamed buns is not as hard as I thought, and adding green onion definitely kicks it up a knotch. But it is important to have a good recipe with secret ingredients. To be a nice guy today, I will tell you guys one of her secret ingredient is egg. Good luck figuring out the rest!

Invader from Another Land

Okay, I lied, there is lots happening in Nanaimo. New houses are being build every day. And where did they find the land to build them? Cutting down trees of course. So now the creatures of the forest have nowhere to find food other than people's yard, in the middle of the day!

Can you see this mama deer is not alone in this photo? Find her kid!

 

So this is what happened to our cherry tree, apparently cherry leaves are one of their favorite food.

What's Growing in Nanaimo

So I went back to Nanaimo to visit my parents this past weekend, and oh my, there is lots happening - with the plants, not with the retired residents of Nanaimo.

The fig tree is budding with fruits. The Japanese pumpkins visibly grow larger and larger everyday. My dad's pride and joy pear tree is overloaded with fruits (as always). But it is not a good year for prunes and plums - it took me a while to actually found any fruits on the two-floor-high trees. Too bad, I like plums...

Sidewalk Cellist - Clara Shandler

In an effort to understand how music and life work together, I ventured out and seeked out this "Sidewalk Cellist" on the busy street of Commercial Drive. It was not a glamourous show, it did not attract hundreds or thousand of fans, but it was a close, friendly, personal, and genuine performance - very Vancouver. The thing that attract me to seek her out is the interesting fact that there was almost no advertisement - the only advertisement was the chalk writing on the sidewalk (how fitting!).

Sorry these photos looks like I was spying on her (well, I guess I was kinda, I wasn't sure if I could take pictures/video). So for the videos you will need to turn the volume way up.

It was really nice to sit in the shade, enjoy her music, and just read a book on my iPhone. Hearing the wind blowing, leaves shaking, having acorns falling on my head(?!). Even though the streets of Vancouver is still busy like usual - garbage truck backing up, fire trucks wizzing by - but it is nice to have a corner where you can really just chill.

For more information on Clara, just google "Sidewalk Cellist". She will be performing free cello concerts every Saturday to the end of August in the Napier Greenway (Napier St. and Commercial Dr., Vancouver by the Britannia Community Centre) from 2:00pm to 4:00pm.

Hope you enjoy her music as much as I did.

Finally, some green

My Ideal Breakfast - at 1:00pm

Should I Stay or Should I Go?!

Confusion at the Super-Duperstore...

Now that I have this song stuck in my head...

I know at least two of my friends would get a kick out of this one, you know who I am talking about ; )

Move - Eat - Learn by STATravel Australia

Make you want to geo out there and do something different

Stanley Park Sights

Crystal Mall Eats

Fairly famous XLB and good beef noodle, both quite impressive considering they are just in the food court of a small Asian mall. I can learn a thing of two from this beef noodle, it has that extra kick of flavor from pricklyash peel (Szechuan pepper) that stimulates the tip of your tongue just right.

Whistler Blackcomb - Chilli Wonder

Why is the beef chilli on the mountain a wonder? For two reasons:

1. The darn thing costed me $12.82
2. I "wonder" why I order this everytime. Granted it is good chilli, but the breadbowl is so not a good idea. It sucks away all the liquid and expands like crazy in your stomach.

Hm...that reminded me, I should learn how to make chilli.

Whistler Blackcomb - Human Wonders

The other amazing thing about Whistler Blackcomb is how much capital and effort had been putting in to make this a world famous vacation spot. Building one gondola/lift line is uneasy, and building many that cover both mountains is impressive. You start your journey from the base, which in the summer transforms into a hardcore mountain bike park. Each gondola/lift line lasts 10~30 minutes, but imagine without them, it might take you a whole day and a bloody foot to just to get to the mid station. And how did the Roundhouse ever get built so we can enjoy the breathtaking view? And now the new Peak-to-Peak, supported only by two steel towers it lift you across 4.4 kilometers and 436 meters above the Fitzsimmons Creek. Whistler Blackcomb is the ironic example of how human conquers nature, but at the same time respect nature for its grand pleasures.

Whistler Blackcomb - Natural Wonders

Just few photos from my hike on the Whistler Blackcomb mountains. It is quite amazing how the same place is so different in the summer and in the winter. Completely unrecognizable because now most of the snow had melted and now you can start to appreciate the trees and the mountain. Now that the rocks are exposed you start to think how just few months ago, you can easily glide on the surface just with two planks of wood (or fiberglass I guess). The snow covers everything, very forgiving, in a very cold, frigid way it protects us from the danger below.