Electrolux Vacuum from Target

We bought a new mobile, detachable vacuum from Target this past summer.

It is made by electrolux and it is small and compact.  It can be used upright and handheld.

Electrolux Vacuum Mobile

The only downsides I am experiencing is that this kind of chargeable vacuum can never be as strong as the conventional plug in.  Also, the battery will not last for more than 20 minutes and always has be charged.

However, I think the quality is there, and it is more sturdy than the American made ones so far.

Also, we do not have space in our small room, so it takes up less space than the big canister vacuums.

Taiwanese Pillow Cover: Flowers

I went back to Taiwan with my family this year, first time in 20 years.

We bought new pillow covers (Taiwanese flower style) for our sofa.

Here is a picture of them with my chihuahua:

Taiwanese Flower Pillow Cover Chihuahua

slowly catching up with my blog entries this year....

Started Fishing in Metro Vancouver

My wife and I started fishing this September.
Honestly, she is the one fishing the most, while my kids have no interests yet.

We are too late for Salmon but she did get couple of perches from our usual crabbing spots.

Small BC Canada Perch

She also caught a small lingcod like this one.

Small baby lingcod

We kind of wish that we can get larger fish species at the burnaby area but there are only small fishes.

We need to get to the big river upstream if we wanted salmon....or get a boat and get to the ocean.
We cannot wait till it gets warmer next year for next season already.

Scotiabank Half Marathon Vancouver 2013

This is a late post because I did not have time. (or don't feel like it...haha)  I ran the Scotiabank Half Marathon in June.

We were lucky because it was sunny in the morning, then it rained afterwards.
I went with my brother who refuse to train....He ran the 5K.  I ran the Half Marathon.

canucks Mason Raymond and fans half marathon

Afterwards, I saw a hockey player, Mason Raymond shaking people's hand...so I took this picture.
I am not really his fan, so I wasn't interested.

These fans really dressed up...haha...I don't think they ran the event.

scotiabank half marathon hockey fans

Anyway, my time was not fast but I am hoping that I will improve when I get older .....haha

Lots of Crab Fishing This Fall 2013: Dungeness Crab and Red Rock Crab

I have never been interested in Fishing or Crabbing before.  I know crabs are not cheap in Canada but eating crabs is a chore for me, so we do not buy it often.  Hearing stories from a friend, I started trying out crabbing and fishing.

I found couple of spots in Belcarra and Burnaby, BC.

There are two kinds of crabs you can catch in Canada:  Dungeness Crab and Red Rock Crab.

BC Dungeness Crab with baby Sea Star

Dungeness Crabs (see above) are brownish crabs range up to 25cm.  They live in the shores from BC to California.  The name dungeness is from a small town in Washington State, USA.  In BC, they have to be bigger than 16.5cm to be caught (male only).

Red Rock Crab

Red Rock Crabs are smaller with thick shells.  They don't have as much meat but the taste of meat is sweet and delicate.  They have huge arms relatively to their body.  They are quite strong fighters armed with thick claws.  (That is why they can survive within crowds of Dungeness Crabs.)

(see above) I have caught big Red Rock Crabs before....they are strong!  If you get caught in the claws, it feels like your finger is jammed by the door.  It stings for 10 minutes....

Sometimes, you will see barnacles and sea stars on the shells of crabs:

Small sea star on crab

Seals will dive into the water while we are crabbing.  They can break our crab net and eat the chicken meat in the traps.  They got us so many times:

Naughty Seals

They will just pop out of the water for a minute, and they will dive for 5 minutes to search for food.

Lots of crabs on a sunny day

On a good nice sunny warm day, we can get quite a lot of catch in the trap!

Of course, we have to release the undersize crabs.

So far, my kids love eating them, so we are trying to go catch them whenever we have couple of hours.

Restaurant: Yan's Garden in Burnaby, BC

A day before New Year's Eve, I went to Yan's Garden and ordered some Chinese food take out.

I have never tried this restaurant and thought year end is a good time to do it.

Yan's garden burnaby fried rice beef soup

They food looked very good and there were no tax for take out (and no tip either)!

All the food were really good.
The Yanjou Chaufan was amazing.  The beef gelatin soup was really good, too.
It is way better than all the food court food or T&T take out.
Of course, it has to be.

The price was not all unaffordable either.
I only paid 27 dollars for all items above and I would go back anytime....

Vancouver Marathon 2013

Life is full of challenges.  It should be anyways.
I have always wanted new challenges in my life, and it is time now to do it.

My goal was to do a marathon this year.  It will be my first time.
For months, since the freezing winter, I have been running 6 to 12k a time.
I know this is clearly not enough for marathon but I decided to go ahead.

Near Goal Line Vancouver marathon

I feel my ankles and hip joints were tight and hurt a little 15km into the race.  However, I thought I have no problem and can keep going.  However, eventually, the little pinching pain turn into sharp pain.  I might have injured my joints.

I had to stop running and stretch and walk and repeat for another 20km.
My time was okay for the first 20km but for the rest, it takes forever to walk the rest.
I would go to medical tent for medicine, stretching and for painkiller lotions to put on my legs.

I thought, I had time, I am going to finish this no matter what.

At the end, a Taiwanese women and I started chatting and kept each other going.

To my surprised, my wife and kids showed up later at the last stretch!
They really brought support for me, and the last 10 minutes was very enjoyable.

My time was terrible, and now, 5 weeks afterwards, my feet still hurts.
I might have to see a doctor.

However, I did it!  I am glad and proud that I did it.
My time was terrible but this won't be my last time to do a marathon!

Restaurant: Shiro Sushi Vancouver

Shiro Sushi is one of the real Japanese restaurant on Cambie.
We went there this spring before we had to Oakridge Mall  in Vancouver.

Shiro Sushi Vancouver

The sushi and Nigiri both taste very nice and authentic, not the North American taste.
Lunch set also offers good value and came with a huge "Pocky" chocolate stick.

The staff were friendly on the phone and in person, and I will go there again.

Target Canada's Signs "Target Loves Canada"

Target already opened a few Canadian stores.
Here are its marks during constructions in Coquitlam.

"Target Loves Canada".

Target Loves Canada signs

Lego Sorting Trays for Special Parts

People say kids would like what parents like.  My kids started to get a taste of Lego's basic sets.

We found these sorting trays in Fred Meyer's in Washington State, and they are very useful in sorting all the basic and special Lego parts.

Lego Sorting Trays for special parts

Taiwanese Tea and Tea Pot

To make tea is an art in East Asia.
Tea pots are also art objects, which cost from 1 dollar to millions.
In ancient times, it is said that one rare teapot is worth a castle.

Nice Taiwanese Teapots, tea storage, cup

Taiwanese people, like Japanese people, really appreciate good fine tea.
When my aunt came over this January, she gave us really nice tea pot set.
She is very knowledgeable in tea art and culture.  I am totally an amateur.
However, the bottom tray is made of bamboo and worth more than 100 dollars.

Taiwanese Tea pot set

This set is at last worth 500 dollars, which is amazing that anyone would gave it to us.
We really appreciate this.

She also sent us a package of extra fine tea:

High Quality Organic Oolong Tea Taiwan

The maker of this fine Oolong tea owns his own organic tea farm, and is very famous among tourists.
Depending on grades and weight, one package can easily cost over 100 dollars.

Trader Joe's Garlic Hummus Dip and Corn Chips

We got Trader Joe's Organic Yellow Corn Tortilla Chip Rounds and Garlic Hummus Dip to try.

Trader Joe's Garlic Hummus Dip

We have never try Garlic Hummus Dip before, and it did taste delicious!
The taste of the dip actually merges very well with the corn chips.

I was pleasantly surprised!

Product Review: Trader Joe's 4 Croissants

In January, we got this from Trader Joe's.  4 Chocolate Croissants.

Trader Joe's Croissants

It was interesting because you need to take them out of the box, leave them out overnight, and they will "grow" bigger after you wake up.  Sounds funny....but it is interesting.

Here is the pictures of them.

Then, you baked them...
Then, we get the breakfast with croissants...they are absolutely delicious!!!!
They taste better than a lot of croissant outside and do not cost you 2 dollars per croissant.

Twinkle Toof for Kids Losing Teeth

One thing happened during the first 3 months is that my older kid is losing his teeth.

To celebrate this event, I have order the Twinkle Toof box for him from the US.

It looks very cute, glows in the night, and I have always wanted it.

I remembered that it was about 10 to 12 dollars including shipping.
However, it beats drive down to the US just to buy this....even though it would save me 5 dollars...

It is already April Fools, 2013

I have not been able to blog too much this year.  It is already April!!
I can't believe it.

This year, the first 2 months is hectic because my kids kept getting sick.

Also, my aunt came for a visit from Taiwan this January, and it just feel busy this year.
I felt like life just passed by so quickly.

10 years feels like 10 days...and yet, each working day feels so long...

New Year's Sunrise 2013

This New Year's weather has been very nice to us.

My wife took couple of spectacular pictures of the morning sunrise.

sunrise 2013

Beautiful sunny sky.

sunrise  burnaby 2013

Christmas House Light in Burnaby, BC, Canada

There is a famous house in Burnaby that has been in the newspaper and has visitors visiting.

Fortunately, I live very close by and could bring my family and visitors to take a look!

All you need to do is to drop by and take pictures and donate a couple of dollars for Children's hospital.

The person spent about a week of his own vacation time and hand crafted some of the light designs.

He put up about 20,000 lights in and around his yard.

When I counted, there were about 11 snowmans all around the house and yard.

Even the garage, roof and drive way are heavily decorated with thousands of lights.
Amazing!

They had Santa, Angel, Penguins, everything you can think of for the Christmas season.

I hope they do this every year because it is neat sight to see!
I am not sure how they can pay the hydro bills or sleep in these lights. haha

Christmas Gifts: Innotab and Mario Kart 7

I bought my two kids Christmas gifts that they have to learn how to share.

They are loving these gifts.  It is still a little early for my 2-year-old to play the kids tablet.

Inno Tab and Mario Kart 7

They are loving the tablet, Innotab 2, right now because they can buy different learning games such as Mickey Mouse or Cars or all kinds of other children animations.

My older kid loves to play Mario.  I try not to let him play during the weekdays though because I know it is not good for kids to play that much.

I hope this has been a good Christmas for my kids, and I think they had a lot of fun!

Tim Horton's Mug Cup

I bought my wife a Tim Horton's mug cup for Christmas because she likes to collect mug cup.

Tim Horton's Mug Cup

Tim Horton's Mug Cup 2

It actually comes with Tim Horton's Coffee!
Now, that is a bonus....haha.

Trader Joe's Peppermint Macarons

I found this new Macaron dessert from Trader Joe's during Christmas season.

Trader Joe's Peppermint Macarons

It does taste very good with fresh peppermint flavor!

However, I do like the original macaron better because they have more flavors within the boxes.

Trader Joe's Peppermint Macarons 2

It is good for a Christmas snack with family!