Spring 2012 Home Renovation

We had been working on home renovations this spring.
We worked on mostly our lighting in our washroom, living room and bedroom.

Here is our old bathroom light...very old panel and looked ugly:

old bathroom light panel

We spent quite some time deciding what light fixtures we wanted to change them to.
However, it was easy to install the new light fixtures.

New light fixture bathroom 2012

The living room light fixture and dimmer switch were not working very well.

Therefore, we decided to change them as well.
Amazingly, it was easy to change the light dimmer to a switch.

Here is the new living room chandelier we installed:

new living room chandelier

I think changing the light fixtures changes the mood of the room a little bit.
I guess it is good to do that once a while to freshen up the atmosphere.

I think we were tired for a couple of weekends...
Every weekend, it seems so busy and time passes by no matter what we do.

Maybe the kids make us busy....I am sure that is what it is.

oh well, such is life.

Morning Glory in Our Place

My wife planted a few Morning Glory in our place.
The flowers are quite elegant and beautiful.

Morning Glory Flower Plant

Our plants flower in purple and blue.

It only flowers in daytime but the flower dies in one day at night.
If the plant is healthy, it flowers everyday.  (different flower everyday)

My wife gave a plant to my mom but it is not doing well.
Canadian weather is too cold for this kind of plant.  It needs to be indoor.
For some reason, my mom does not want to bring it indoor.
(god knows why...)

Portland: Asian Street Bistro by Mexican??

Portland is not known for good Asian foods.  It is known for their street kart food.

In downtown Lloyd Center, I saw this shop selling Asian dumplings and other dishes with people actually buying them!!
The owners are Mexican or Latino American....I wonder how good the food is.

I did not dare to try it...haha.....huge risk....

Tomy Car USA and Toyota Harrier (Lexus RX 350)

During the Oregon Trip, I discovered two little things while buying toys for my kids.

Tomy Car actually make toys for North America as well but it is not as popular.
North Americans are less accepting of "Tomy"'s product because USA has its traditional companies' toys.

Tomy Car gas station and toyota harrier lexus

Not sure why but Asians and Europeans love Tomy's products!

Tomica box USA

Another small thing I found is that Toyota Harrier, included in the box, is actually Lexus RX series.
I guess Lexus is really just a name change for Toyota's higher product line....

Oregon Trip: All American Ice Cream & Frozen Yogurt

During the Oregon trip, I went to Lloyd Center and saw this shop:  All American Ice Cream & Frozen Yogurt.

I have never bought anything from this store but they have so many varieties of products...
even bubble tea! 
(I would be concern trying the bubble tea there because anything Asian is almost not as good as Vancouver`s)

I ordered a Banana Chocolate Sundae and it was huge and excellent!

All American Ice Cream and Frozen Yogurt

Portland Nordstrom: Betsy Johnson Jacket

Here is something my wife got in Portland's Nordstrom: A Betsy Johnson Jacket.

We put it in our luggage so it was a little wrinkled....

Kiplings & Coach Handbag Super Collaboration

We were walking around the mall to shop for grocery last weekend...
We saw something really interesting!!

An old lady had an over-the-shoulder bag that looks like a Coach bag.
However!  When we look again closer, it had a huge Kiplings Trademark in the middle of the bag.

It is either super fake or a SUPER Collaboration...haha

It was shocking and entertaining.  We just laughed and laughed all the way home!

Maybe I can invent something like a Gucci bag with a Prada Logo on it.....hahaha
(Maybe people will just laugh at it...)

New York Fries (Canada): New Spicy Pulled Pork Poutine

New York Fries has another new flavor for its famous poutine!

It is called "Spicy Pulled Pork Poutine".
We tried it this weekend and it was great!

It has a little bit of smokey taste and is only a little bit spicy.
Therefore, it should cater to most of the population.

They are also giving out drink coupons during the promotional period!

Now, it has three great special poutines besides the regular one:
Spicy Pulled Pork, Braised Beef and Butter Chicken!

Not all the malls offer the new tastes (I guess it depends on the store size.)...too bad.

I wonder what comes next?

Macaron Article and Macaron Magic Website

I found this interesting article in the newspaper (Vancouver Sun) about Macaron.

I thought I can just share the article link:

The magic and science of macarons (with recipe as well if you are brave to try.)

http://www.vancouversun.com/life/magic+science+macarons/6542351/story.html

I have heard that it is extremely hard to make good macaron and takes professionals months to perfect.

The following site has beautiful pictures of macarons:
It is called, "Macaron Magic"...

http://macaronmagic.bearandfishcookbook.com/index.php

You have to click "gallery" to see pictures.