Bellingham's Pizza Hut Breakfast

At the US border town of Bellingham, we usually go there for groceries and food.  The Pizza Hut there has new breakfast menu the other day, so we decided to try their sandwich and burrito.  The sandwich is delicious made with scone and cheese and sausage patty.

The burrito is okay.  Actually, it does not taste like Mexican food because it came without much sauce.

Port Moody's Rocky Point Park's Sunset

Port Moody's Rocky Point Park is a family friendly park, which allows different kind of activities.  It has a kids playground, waterpark, a stretch of beach, and it is also a dock for all kinds of boating and kayaking activities.  It is a natural beauty especially in the spring and summer.  We usually come here or to belcarra for beach activities. It is only a 15 minutes drive from my place, so it is a great family place.

It was thursday night after work when I brought my family to eat dinner there.  We took a few beautiful sunset pictures with lots of people enjoying the kayaking activities.

Queen's Park

On July 24th, 2010, we went to a park in New Westminster, called Queen's Park.  It is a big community park with an arena, a baseball stadium, a playground, a garden, a petting zoo and other facility.  I am not too sure when it was built, but it has a playground and water park for kids to enjoy the summer.  The petting zoo is good for kids to experience getting close to ducks, rabbits, goats and chickens.

I am not sure if this picture shows, but the playground is actually pretty big with sandboxes and many stations for kids to play. In the weekends, the families are every where.  I guess you have to enjoy the summer in Canada.  Otherwise, it is too cold and dark in the winter.  Here is a picture of the pigs in the small petting zoo:

Here is a picture of a duck:

7-Eleven 2-Dollar-Jamaican Patty

Well, on July 11th, 2010, 7-11 stores had a promotion of giving out free slurpy in every store, but when we went there, the free cup was super small.  It was 7.11 ounce only.  It is like a small paper picnic cup.  That is not even enough for a 2 year old!!  I was disappointed at the promotion because they could have been more generous than that.  Anyways, we got a 2 dollar Jamaican patty with it.  It was not bad.

Japanese Food: Stamina Rice

In a Japanese city in Hokkaido called "Nemuro", there is a famous dish well liked by the fishermen in the small fishing town, called "Stamina Rice".  It is made of lots of scrambled vegetables and pork on rice, topped by a sunny-side up egg.  It sounds simple, but it is very delicious and a cuisine to be researched and cooked at home. 

My wife actually tried this at home last week.

Trip to Lynden, Washington, USA

We went to Lynden, WA, a small town near the border of USA/Canada in the middle of July when they have their raspberry festival.  It is a town festival featuring local products and kids community basketball games. 

We went to their downtown and checked out their 2 block downtown.  The earlier immigrants were from Holland and the buildings are of Holland style with little windmills seen at parts of the town.

A small office offered visitors some tasty raspberry juice:

There was a small toy stores selling many kids toys and children's umbrellas and lunch boxes.  We even found a box to put the children's teeth for the tooth fairies:

Free Samples

It always helps for a single income family to get some free samples.  The other day, we got a package of free samples both for me and my wife.  As you can see, it is one of the most generous package I have seen.  I wish they are always like this.  haha!

It came with a shaver, deordorant, soap, shampoo, conditioner, teeth whitener, etc. 

My Son's Bento Box

My wife also makes cute bento box for my son to carry to the kindergarten.  I really appreciate the time she takes to design and think about the different styles of cuisines she cooks and puts in everyday for our lunches.

This box contains rice balls with "nori" drawings, asian style fried chicken, egg and broccoli.
I hope my son enjoyed this one.

Summer and my Chihuahuas

Chihuahuas are afraid of the cold because of their small bodies and love the hot weather. 
I guess they were from Mexico after all.  haha.
My dogs love the hot summer balcony and enjoy the sunshine.  Aren't they hot?
I am not a student anymore, so I don't sit out in the sun and burn like I used to.
Summer finally arrives at the beginning of July 2010 in BC.

Restaurant: Santouka Ramen

There is a new Ramen restaurant on the busy Robson Street Downtown Vancouver.  The street is already full with many ramen restaurant but this new one is from a Japan chain store joint venture with Kamei Royal.  Santouka has a few stores in California, Japan and since we are lacking Hokkaido Ramen, we decided to try it out. 

Since Hokkaido Ramen is centered around miso, we tried the miso ramen set with negi gohan. 
It was absolutely amazing from the first bite.  The price of this set is 12.50 with extra noodles.  I have to set this place is 1 to 2 dollars (9 dollars for a regular ramen and more for extra options) more expensive than other stores but it is worth it from my first experience.

Canada Day Celebration in Vancouver Downtown

Almost every year's Canada Day, we go somewhere for the celebrations.  This year, we went to Vancouver Waterfront's Canada Place again to join the crowds.  Around the new Convention Centre, they have a new whale statue made in blocks.

There were also many military personnel and equipments on display.  Fighter jets, tanks, boats, artillery...etc.
We took a picture  with them as usual:

The convention centre was also opened to the public:

It was a fun outing but not as much freebies were out there this year as the olympic promotion period is over.

Taiwanese Cookie

My friend just returned from Taiwan and brought back this delicious cookie jar.  Inside the cookie is the chocolate paste.  However, this kind of popular cookie comes with strawberry, vanilla and many other flavor in different packaging.