Guacamole Paste (Dip) with Guacachip

Guacamole is a kind of Mexican paste that mixes Avocado with sea salt.
It is traditionally mixed with old Mexican tools: mortar and pestle. (see molcajete under wikipedia)


In ancient Aztec language, it means "Guaca" as Avocado and "mole" as sauce.
We found Guacamole pastes in Fred Meyer in Bellingham and decided to give it a try!
(We also found Guacachip in London Drugs around Vancouver.)

fred meyer guacamole dip with guacachip

The guacachip tastes great with taste of avocado and with the fresh Guacamole dip, it was fantastic!!

They fit each other perfectly!!

I love the guacamole paste very very much that I will get more next time!!

Restaurant Review: Go Thai Restaurant

We went to a restaurant, Go Thai, (or Don't Go! Thai) in New Westminster to order take out for Thai food.

We have heard mixed reviews, some good, some bad about this place and decided to try it out.
I wanted to know how good the food is here, so I ordered two basic dish to test it out:
Thai Curry and Pad Thai.

If you screw those two basic dishes up, then it is not good enough.
For the curry, I decided on the 14 dollar Seafood Curry because I think green or yellow curry were too common.  I wanted to test the size of portion and food quality.

Thai seafood Curry and Pad Thai

The Pad Thai is too spicy (nothing wrong with that).
However, it tastes just normal.  Nothing outstanding.

The seafood curry were dry...maybe it is supposed to be.
However, the portion is really really small as I can demonstrate on the next picture:

The portion is only half of the portion of pad thai.
The pad thai is 11 dollars!! less than the curry!
All dishes are between 10 to 15 dollars for dinner but the portions are small.
(soups and appetizers are cheaper.)

The seafood curry has two mussels and two shrimps!!!!and that is 15 dollars (tax included)
Outrageous.  The restaurants in BC really over charges...

Anyways, the food is mediocre, so I would try something else cheaper next time.

H-Mart: Korean Bakery: Cake for 10 Dollars

H-Mart is a large North American chain of Korean supermarkets.
Actually, recently, I heard that they opened one more store in Richmond.
(I think Richmond, BC is crowded enough...)

I noticed that they sell these beautiful nice long cake in their bakery section and could not help but buying it.

Korean H-Mart cake for 10 dollars

For only 10 dollars!! We get a nice box with this great tasting chocolate cake!
What a value!! They should keep this on because I think T&T has other types of nice Asian cake but not this kind.

I have to mention that when you cut the cake into slices, the layers sometimes crumble.
That is the only downside to this cake.  Otherwise, the taste is great.

This is definitely worth a try!

Funny Thing: Incredible Tall Boots On Train

Last week, while I was on the train, I spotted this guy wearing this pair of tall boots.
First, I did not notice and I thought he was just tall.
Then, he sat down and I saw the boots were incredibly tall.
The bottom part must be about 20cm!! About 6 inches!!
(see picture of black boot)

super tall boots on train

I took picture of boots only to make sure I did not violet privacy.
I was not sure why anyone would wear such pair of boots.

(Not sure why anyone would make it!!)

First Snow in January 2012 in Vancouver, BC, Canada

We have our first snow in January 2012!
On the week of January 14th and the following few days, we had very cold arctic front that resulted in cold temperatures and snow.

Whenever it snows, the views outside my balcony turns into winter wonderland:

view from my condo...winter snow

My older kid was looking forward to play in the snow and make snowman!
(even though he has a bad cold)
My younger son had never seen snow before, so I thought, "okay, we will go out".
The snow was very powdery and was not good material to make snowman.
However, we managed to get a small one:

simple snowman burnaby January 2012

Looks funny and out of proportions...we did not have a carrot nose for him either. haha
This is my younger child's first snowman.  He enjoyed seeing the snow for the first time.

Happy Lunar New Year 2012!

Lunar New Year is celebrated by many Asian cultures around the world!
Happy New Year!

This year, the kids got red pocket money as usual and they will get more toys this year!
(It is good to be kids! haha)

In Taiwan, the celebration is usually big and just like Christmas here, is a month long holiday.
(celebratory mood...very fun time!)

We used to eat lots of different types of food.  On the 15th day, kids would go out at night for a walk with different types of lanterns.  I remember we had Doraemon and Mario lanterns before.

It is a fun time to be kids...

Restaurant Review: New India

New India is a popular restaurant on Broadway, Vancouver for providing buffet for a good price.
Their lunch box is actually reasonable and popular and tasty (In my standard anyways.)
Each box is actually only 5 dollars plus taxes.

New India lunch box broadway vancouver

Even though I am not an Indian food expert, I can say that this taste not bad.
It is way better than food court food and way cheaper, too.

Last week, when we tried the Indian food in the Metropolis food court, I was shocked at the price!
It was 5 dollar without any rice, any meat, very little sauce!
We did not even get full. It was ridiculous!!

I want to try New India's buffet in the future!

bento Lunch Box: Omuraisu (Omelette Rice) with Gratin

Gratin is a French cuisine that is very popular in Japan and various style exists.
It is a local food from the Dauphine region of France and traditionally, there are 4 french styles exists.

Omuraisu, meaning Omelette Rice in Japanese, is very popular as well!
It can be seen in any western style restaurant in Japan and has become a set menu.

My wife has combined the two in my lunch box today (without the egg).

She mixed in different kinds of cheese in the gratin, and it was absolutely delicious.
The omuraisu contains mixed vegetables and slices of ham.
My co-workers kept staring at my lunch box as usual...

Too bad only my lunch boxes grab attention, not me...haha

My Chihuahua with Mario's Toadstool (Mushroom)

Hello!  My wife took a cute picture of my chihuahua with my kid's favorite super mario character.
He loves taking pictures! 
Whenever we take out the camera, he would just sit and pose!

Chihuahua with Super Mario Mushroom Toadstool

I really wish he was a model dog.
Well, he will always be our model dog.

Bento Lunch Box: Curry Croquette with Mexican Four Cheese

My wife made a croquette lunch box today.

The croquette is made of mashed potatoes and a type of cheese called, "Mexcian Four Cheese".
You can buy this type of cheese in any major supermarket in the US.
The one we bought is made by Kraft.
Curry croquette tastes wonderful with the mixed cheese. (I can see different colors of cheese inside, too!)
The tastes mixed together quite well.

Bento Lunch Box Curry Croquette with Mexican Four Cheese

On the rice, it has the Japanese sprinkle seaweed and Nori (cut seaweed) and Taiwanese Bamboo Shoot pieces.  On the side, we have scrambled eggs and broccoli.  On the Curry Croquette, she used "Okonomiyaki" sauce (Japanese pancake) sauce for extra taste.

Cute IKEA Candle Holders

Last weekend, we walked around Ikea to find neat things that we would like.

We found two cute candle holders that can multifunction and be used for other things.

IKEA candle holders cosmetics

For the pink one, we actually used the candle and then used it for cosmetic holder.
I remembered that the blue transparent holder was around 7 dollars and the pink one is around 4 dollars.
Cute and practical and decorative!
They clean out their inventories at the end of winter, so it was good timing.

H&M Kids' Rain Jacket

The other day, we bought a good quality rain jacket for our kid from H&M.

The price was 40 dollars but the quality is worth the money!
It has usually good coating outside and warm and comfortable inside.
(not too thick either, so good for all seasons.)

H&M Boy Kids Rain Jacket

I would not be surprised if other brands sell similar jackets for more...
Good quality for a boy rain jacket!

NanoBlock: House

The other day, I made a house using the nanoblocks that my wife's friend brought us.
The end product is very mini size and cute!!  I like it!

I will attempt to make other "giant" projects using over 450 pieces!
(the "site to see" series)

The design is small and similar to Lego but it is somewhat challenging to make.
The blocks are so small that it takes effort just to hold them using the finger tips.

I can't imagine people with big hands and big bodies using their fingers to make tiny things.
haha....will be extremely frustrating for them...

Cows Calendar (Canada) 2012 Review

In Canada, we have the Cows calendar available to us every year in the calendar stores.
It is produced by this canadian firm with a website available, selling different products:
T-shirts, bags, calendars, pens, mugs...etc.

The headquarters actually situates in Prince Edward Island (very rare in Canada) because it is a less populated place.
http://www.cows.ca/

Cows Calendar

We have been buying their calendars for 7 years because we love the cute cow art and their parodies.
(funny comments and imitations for pop cultures)
The comic expressions are indeed cute.

They will play puns on languages relating to cows and relate that to TV programs or celebrities.

Cows Calendar back

It is always fun to wait till next edition to see what they come up with.
 check the link below....they have funny shirts....
http://www.cows.ca/kids/youth_tshirts

I would recommend this calendar if you have the chance to use it!

Tim Horton's New Doughnut: Mint Chocolate

When I went to Tim Horton's last week, I saw a new doughnut...Mint Chocolate Doughnut.
It looks great and tastes good! The mint taste is not too strong so it was perfect.

Tim Horton's Mint Chocolate

NanoBlock: New Block Toy for Both Adult and Kids

Couple of years ago, a new toy was getting very popular in Japan for both adults and kids audiences.
The name is nanoblock.  It is made by a Japanese company called "Kawada".
It produced small blocks of World Heritage Sites, cute animals, or even simple day to day objects and structures.
It finally came to North America and the fever is catching on!

nanoblock world heritage series

http://www.mynanoblock.com/site/
I love visiting world heritage buildings and sites and I love collecting their souvenirs.
Within hundreds of products that nanoblock has, I picked 3 from the world heritage series.

For people who live around Vancouver, Canada, the best way to purchase is to check their local London Drugs.  Or, drive down to Cascade Mall in Burlington, Washington to get the world heritage "Sites to See" series.  I am sure all toy stores will start selling these soon!

The small blocks are hard to build for its size, but afterwards, it makes good decoration for the cabinets!

McDonald's Canada: New Oreo Pie

Time to review McDonald's Canada's new Oreo pie!
Oreo is known for its chocolate cookies, and this time, McDonald has come out with a new variation of pie using Oreo.  Please note that the box in the picture says "Apple Pie", but the inside actually is Oreo Pie.

McDonald's New Oreo Pie

  The crust is made of Oreo cookie and inside is filled with the cookie cream they are famous for.
It tastes good but something is missing from the cookies in this pie...
It still tastes a little different.
I miss the Chocolate Banana pie that was on sale last year because I think it was the most delicious pie that McDonald's has come up with.  Too bad it was not a permanent menu item.

Since the picture, I have tried the Oreo Pie several times and while it is good, it is still too sweet for my tooth.
I think it is just because I don't eat a lot of sweets anymore.
I will give this pie a 60% approval because it is good but not exceptional...

Happy New Year!! 2012!!

It has been another year already!! I can't believe it!  It is 2012?

My kids are getting bigger and bigger and time flies by faster and faster.
I felt like every year goes by like a week.  (Yes, aging comes with it, too....haha)

I hope this year is another safe and wonderful year!

Japanese Pet Shop: Cute Photo

I went to a Japanese pet shop in kyushu and I saw this cute scene and took a picture of these two dogs.
One was sleeping on top of another.  I wonder if the dog below felt uncomfortable.

two cute dogs sleeping in japanese pet shop

They looked like they are having a good time sleeping.