Dec
16th

On Friday night, Boyfriend, N, D and I went to the new Chop Restaurant in Richmond at the Sandman Hotel for their dry run before their grand opening which means a complimentary meal for us… how can we say no to that? The restaurant which was divided into a lounge and dining area, which was huge, beautiful and intimate although the waiters were standing around talking to each other when we first walked in which kind of annoyed me. I guess that’s why they totally needed that dry run… most of them seemed like total… no0bz (although, very friendly noobs I must say).

We had our menu selections chosen for us; entrĂ©es included a porterhouse steak, rosemary lemon chicken, prime ribs and halibut (in order of what I thought was best to worst). The porterhouse steak was SO GOOD (as Giada would say) and lucky D chose it but it better be good because it was one of the most expensive things on the menu. I never usually order chicken at a restaurant because it’s almost always dry but the chicken Boyfriend had tonight was one of the best I’ve had (and I’m hard to impress when it comes to chicken breast!). The prime rib was meh… good but nothing too interesting. The halibut was good but they overcooked it. The best? The mash potatoes— I’m a mash potato freak! Yum. We had dinner with a bottle of Merlot and a couple of cocktails.

I wish they made us fill a survey at the end to let them know how ANNOYINGLY GOOD the service was. Our server had an intimidating blond trainer following him to make sure he goes through EVERY single procedure and we all felt so bad for the guy! If I were him, I don’t know, I think I might wet my pants with her following me around like that. He was so nice and soft-spoken but SO nervous— his hands were shaking so much when he poured us wine! I ordered a bellini and N asked for a Ceasar right after and when he left, she said, “omigod what if he gives me a ceasar salad instead?!” If that were to happen, we would’ve just shut our mouths and give it to Boyfriend to eat since we wouldn’t want our server to get in trouble. Fortunately, we got the right drinks. I’m sure he would’ve done a lot better if there wasn’t so much pressure and if he wasn’t forced to be annoying (like another server told me, “if I was a customer there, I’d probably kill the server!”). My only wish was that we got some bitchy waitress so we could complain but our guy was too nice. But I think I’m complaining a little too much for a complimentary dinner!

Our grand total came up to around $50 (just for alcohol) with a $20 tip. The night almost ended when I accidently ate a spoonful of horseradish and almost fell on the floor dying but I would definitely come back again.

I also want to congratulate Chop for joining the other winners of Vancouver’s Worst-Steakhouse-Restaurant-Website Award: Gothams and Keg (are they trying to imitate meat with those colors?!). Stonegrill doesn’t even deserve the award because their website is practically non-existant. You would think for these prominent restaurants in Vancouver, they could afford better websites.

Dec
12th

It’s almost the end of the year and the start of a new one. Here are some lessons I learned in 2008:

• Lock up all the vanilla flavored granola bars in my desk. They always mysteriously disappear and the culprit always leaves me the blueberries and strawberries which I don’t like very much. (Note-to-self: next time don’t buy in bulk!)
• Buy tire insurance if you’re an idiot like me (especially if it’s cheap). When I got a set of new tires earlier this year, the guy asked me if I wanted insurance just in case something happens (eg. hit the curb and it rips); it was only like $10 more since Boyfriend knew him but I said “no, who the hell hits the curb?!!!” A couple weeks later when it started snowing and the roads were icy, I didn’t slow down enough on a right turn (since I was coming from the highway), skidded and smashed a tire on the curb— not only did I ruin the tire, I hit so hard I damaged a couple more parts inside my car and it cost $3gs to fix.
• When the toilet seat cover is closed, head to another stall or you might find a nice little surprise.
• Always get Christmas cards printed ONE MONTH before Christmas— meaning have them arrive at your door one month ahead if you’re printing from an online printer.
• ALWAYS carry hand sanitizer. I opened a door at the mall the other day and got some gooey booger like stuff all over my hands.
• Always carry a nail clipper/ file and bandaids. Especially if you have weakass nails from going to the nail salon too much. And also invest in a bottle of OPI Nail Envy.
• Don’t overcook seafood when attempting to make Korean Seafood Pancakes; I did this last night and totally failed but at least it was my first time. It didn’t taste too bad though even though I was setting myself for disappointment when my lovely Korean friend informed me that you can’t really get it to be that restaurant-like crispyness unless you use a lot of oil (which I didn’t want to do) and have a better grill.
• Never take on the task of taking care of 5 or more kids at once with less than 2 adults.
• Don’t let your dog fall asleep beside your head. Especially when you hay fever or sinus problems.
• No matter how many times you read over your blog entry before publishing, you will always find spelling/grammar mistakes in it when you look back at them a year later.

Random Mochi picture:

When we first brought her home in April.

Dec
7th

• Boyfriend doesn’t always let me sleep in. He makes me wake up sooo early (at 11am!!) when I want to sleep until 3… but then what is a hungry man suppose to do. I guess it’s not his fault I make him go for late lunches all the time.
• I’m lazy, but I’m especially lazy on Sundays…
• …and Sundays are one of the days I always force myself to go work out when I’d rather be stuffing myself with mac and cheese and Korean seafood pancakes.
• I always feel so bloated because we always go out for a huge and filling dinner on Saturdays nights; this time it was all-you-can-eat hot pot with lots of sliced fish, mussels and oysters… mmm.
• Ferrero Rochers are on sale which doesn’t help the diet at all (and that mango/peach smoothie I made for myself).

  

• Worse of all, you know you have to go back to work the next day and there is no good breakfast special I look forward to on Mondays… breakfast quesadillas? How uninteresting. I want my breakfast wrap!!

Random pictures of the day:

“Nooo this is how a cowboy looks like!!” … featuring their HSM hat.

Speaking of Highschool Musical, we took the kids to see HSM on Ice last weekend and I seriously got so bored I had to whip my iPod (and I felt bad afterwards). I wish I was young again so those things could actually keep me entertained. I guess it didn’t help much that we missed the first half hour of it due to that horrible accident on the highway that morning. When we were driving out to Maple Ridge at around 10am to pick up the kids, the traffic was crawling through slowly and when we were going back at around 3, there was still traffic. It makes me sooo angry when idiots drive on the HOV lane when they’re not suppose to; that’s karma for them which they totally deserve but not the other vehicles involved and everyone else who gets stuck in traffic. It also doesn’t make sense why HOV lanes aren’t opened up to everybody when it’s not rush hour because it’s obvious they don’t help much when it’s not.

Nov
10th

I wrote an entry on guilty pleasures earlier this year but here’s part two… well because I like a lot of things.

• White Spot’s Monty Mushroom burger. Not the new one though where they have the bigger beef patty… that one is gross but the old one is heaven (and one I can actually finish). *drools



• False eye lashes. Yes I know, I sport fake everything from fake hair, fake nails, fake eyes (just not fake clothing brands) … but it’s not like I care what anyone thinks since we all live in a superficial world. But anyway, I can’t seem to buy enough false eyelashes even though I only wear them about 5-6 times a month!! It’s a bad addiction… and I always think I’ll run out but I probably have enough pairs to last me a good 10 years.



• Watching friends play videogames. I don’t play games myself because I tend to get heart attacks everytime my character is about to die (which is often) so I’d rather watch people play. I’m super weird though, I don’t like videogames for the game-play experience but I like to explore worlds in adventure/RPG-style games so that’s why I don’t mind just watching people and if I do play, I’ll use cheats so I can get into every nook and cranny there is. My favorite are horror games like Silent Hill.
• Black bean chicken feet. Cannot find the words to describe how good this is… and all your haterzzz out there don’t believe me!!
• Chinese herbal teas. I’M A TEA ADDICT!!!! Although I have to admit I’m picky; I only drink green tea and Chinese herbal teas— mostly super strong and bitter black teas. I think English/Western teas taste weird— especially fruity teas… nas-tay! This contributes to the gradual yellow-ing of my teeth which leads me to my next point…
• Crest White Stripes. L* got me addicted to these and now I can’t stop using them since they work wonders even though it makes you feel like you have a gazillion holes in your teeth. *shudder. I have sooo many boxes at home it’s not even funny (free, thanks to ******)… but don’t worry, I don’t use them daily anymore because my life is starting to become a boring routine and I don’t need 30 minutes of these everyday to contribute to it.
• McDonalds’ Filet burger. I haven’t had McD’s in like a year but I can still dream (and wet-sloberry-drool may accompany it)!
• Country music. Most of my friends think I’m weird because I listen to country music (they’re your regular hip hop/ R&B crew) but I don’t care, slow country music is soooo good! I blast it from my iPod in Boyfriend’s car when his friends are in it to embarrass him. LOL. It’s okay though, I think he’s learned to tune it out (or he secretly likes it too).



• Disney shows. This is a little more recent but I”ve been catching a lot of kids’ Disney programs because I’m always up late and there is nothing else to watch. My favorite is Cory in the House; I’m embarassed to admit how many times that show made me laugh until I practically rolled off the bed and banged my head on something. Plus Madison Pettis is the CUTEST LITTLE GIRL EVER!! ♥
• Cheese and crackers. I go out and buy my own havarti/cheddar cheese and whole-wheat crackers but I wish adults eating Lunchables were widely accepted in today’s judgemental society. They’re so convenient.
• Experimenting with hair colors. I have something semi-crazy planned for the end of November if I can get myself to shell out the money do it since I should really be saving for Cali and Asia coming up but once I get my mind set on it like this, I think I’ll have to do it! It’s not too crazy (like dying my hair pink and green) because I’m usually too lazy to maintain it but it will be different than people I usually chill with. Also, I definitely want to go blond again maybe sometime next year but I’m going to wait until my beautiful [Asian] blond friends dye their hair a darker color so we don’t look like a group of clones…. I just tend to get bored faster if I look like everyone else! I’ve also had an urge to dye my hair bright blue for quite some time now but many people have argued with me from doing so (probably because they won’t want to be seen in public with this anime-like character/thing).
• Naps. I don’t power nap. I NAP. For hours. And hours.



• Boyfriend’s mom’s udon. Udon? UDON? Yes, udon. It’s just your typical udon cooked in chicken broth, MSG and some random beef balls, shrimp and whatever is around the house but it’s SOOOOO good and for some reason mine never taste as amazing as this, probably because I don’t have any MSG to sprinkle in mine. I don’t even eat the meat and stuff in it; I ONLY eat the udon. Mmmmm. But seriously, what’s so special about udon? I don’t know… BUT IT’S SO GOOD.



• Dreaming about smashing my boyfriend’s computer. This virus-filled, ancient piece of **** I’m writing this draft out on is sooo slow it’s not even funny!! I can’t even publish this until later on when I get on a computer with Photoshop so I can beautify this entry with pictures because it will die a long agonizing death along with me trying to fix it so I can finish my useless ramblings. He bought it a billion years ago when we first met (well… only about 5 years ago) although it’s my fault I put myself through this since he wants to buy a new one but I tell him not to yet because he’s never home anyway and doesn’t need it … besides he can use my super computer (*wishful thinking) at my place.

I tried to spread out all the food-related pleasures so it looks like there are less but after re-reading this, I think I failed. If I were one of the 7 Deadly Sins, I’d definitely be Gluttony!

Blog about YOUR guilty pleasures!

Oct
17th

So last night I was making a list of all the foods I’m going to ban myself from eating; the goal was to make a list of 50 and I could only come up with 10 at first! Ahaha. Then I started to more specific foods down like lamb, shui-mai and chicken terryaki and I said to myself (not out loud of course), “I barely eat those anyway— mwahaha!” It did make me feel better since my list got longer. Then boyfriend had the nerve to say “chicken feet” and I got pissed off because although it was at the back of my mind (and I was trying to keep it back there), I did NOT want to ban myself from eating chicken feet (he eventually made up for this by saying dim sum isn’t that bad even though we all know it is). Nevertheless, I put it on the list anyway along with the Wednesday breakfast wrap (at work), mashed potatoes, hash browns, rice noodles, zucchini sticks and Chinese sausages (+ 60 more). Sigh. I almost felt like crying. Life should be all about good food.

With this being said, I really need to find awesome culinary schools (or better yet, make Boyfriend go) so I he can learn to cook healthy but DELICIOUS meals since I don’t do that cooking thing at all (other than instant noodles of course). Anyone have any recipe ideas?