through the eyes of the a70

I decided to start processing my Eurotrip photos again! For those that have been on my photoblog for a while, you know that I was in Europe a year ago on a backpacking trip with my university friends. As a refresher and for those that haven’t seen the posts for the first 7 days, here they are: 1 2 3 4 5 6 7.

Day 8, Tues. May 5th. It was decided the day before that we were going to split our group into two, one half will take a short visit the Palace of Versailles, while the other four of us will stay behind in Paris for a somewhat slower-pace and more “relaxing” day (and turned out to be the right choice! more on that at the end of the post).

I apologize in advance if museum artworks aren’t really your thing…

Read the rest of this entry »

Mi Bistro & Bar – 1234 Hornby St, Vancouver – May 5, 8:00pm
Price per person: $18

We decided to have another dine out last night, this time it was guys’ night out. I heard a friend saying that they went to an $18 restaurant that was really good, so we decided to go there and try it out. Little did we know that one of our friends was going to be quite late, so we ordered something to drink and eat first while we watched the Game 3 of Canucks vs. Blackhawks (but let’s not go into that…) When he finally arrived and ordered, it was already past 9pm, but it was still worth the wait!

Below is my selection:
Appetizer: Escargot in pastry shell with cafe’ de Paris Butter
Entrée: Coffee Braised Bison short ribs with mashed potato and butternut squash
Dessert: Trio Dessert Sampler – Espresso Pot de Crème, lemon Posey & Rasberry Sorbet

They didn’t have any starter bread, which I was kind of looking forward to, but that’s ok. Most of us ordered the escargot, which I normally would order if the menu had it! It wasn’t bad, but once I’ve had the ones in Paris, nothing else compares! I thought they were kind of small, and the pastry was a bit bland, but it was a good portion. I had a piece of the lamb loin, and it was excellent.

As for the entrée, we lacked variety and all went with our guys’ gut instinct choice of the Coffee Braised Bison. It was really good. The way they cooked it, it tasted almost like short ribs, but the texture of it was better, and had quite a bit of meat. The mashed potato was awesome, creamy and fluffy, along with the squash, which was sweet!

I went for the Trio Dessert Sampler, working my way from the lemon Posey (which is like a custard), to the sorbet (sweeter), then finally the chocolate cappuccino (sweetest). The chocolate cappuccino was really strong, but went down really well – didn’t feel too thick, and leaves a good taste in the mouth afterwards.

All in all, we had a great meal – and for $18 a person, it was comparable to a $38 dine out. Highly recommended!

I give 9.0/10!

Read the rest of this entry »

Most of the people in Vancouver probably knows that Dine Out Vancouver has already started this year with 3-course meals set at $18, $28, and $38 – I’m having a bit of a late start.

Aqua Riva – 200 Granville Street, Vancouver – May 1, 6:00pm
Price per person: $28

A couple of my university friends came back to Vancouver, and we decided to have a dine out dinner – good thing we reserved early, or else it’d be hard to get a table for 10. I’ve been here for dine out many years back, and I remember the experience to be ok.

Below is my selection:
Appetizer: Fire Grilled Prawns & Scallop – grilled endive risotto and basil vinaigrette
Entrée: Wood Grilled Ribeye Steak – herb roasted Yukon gold potatoes, hazelnut & caramelized onion compote and stilton jus
Dessert: Apple and Cranberry Crisp – vanilla ice cream

I’ve always been a fan of good pre-dinner bread, and this was one of them! There were two types bread, both were soft, and had a nice faint herb taste.
The appetizer portion was good – I’ve been places where you literally had “a bite” to eat. The risotto helped to get over that early hunger :-) I asked for a medium-rare (always!) ribeye for my entree – it was just slightly overcooked in my opinion, but I could definitely taste the wood-grilled char – quite special. Dessert was nice – not overly sweet with the vanilla ice cream, always a safe choice! All of the portions were quite large, I felt that it was a great value!

One thing I noticed though was that their service wasn’t that great. It seemed that they were a bit understaffed and quite busy with the other tables, and maybe it was just our waitress, but I felt that when the plates were brought to us they were “quickly put down” (to put it nicely), and the same when they were taking it away. Hmm…

Aside from that though, I enjoyed the chance to catch up with old friends :-)

I give 7.0/10! (if service was better, 7.5)

Read the rest of this entry »

Second cake of the weekend, this one I’ll actually document from baking to completion! This one took most of the afternoon, as I was trying to be extra perfect! (and yes… I’m a bit slow when baking…) This time I changed the recipe a bit… no chocolate because it’s going to be taro inside, so can’t make it too sweet! The top it off with some peaches, strawberries, and kiwi, all favourites*~

Recipe in the post for anyone who wanted to try. This is 8 inches by the way :-)

Read the rest of this entry »

Warning: Do not read on if you’re feeling hungry! (I have to add this disclaimer or else people always yell at me afterwards…)

So over the weekend there were 2 special birthdays, and usually I bake cakes. Now don’t get me wrong, I don’t bake often – in fact, this is probably the only time of the year when I bake! I am far from a baking chef. I only started about three years ago when my cousin came to Vancouver to visit us, and taught me how to bake a great cake. Now when I say great I’m not lying, he’s the actual cake master, after all, he went to school for it! I owe it all to him. (and actually, back then I let him use my camera… and then he got interested and excited – bought a dSLR when he went back, and now he’s taking photos everywhere!)

Anyways, I guess I call it a Chocolate Fruit Cake – chocolate sponge cake with peaches inside, and kiwi & strawberries on the top – feeling spontaneous with the fruits! …and I was too lazy to get the dSLR.

Read the rest of this entry »