Project 365 Day 175 - 2012

Goodbye dinner at Cactus Club English Bay with my Moo. 

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Project 365 Day 84 - 2012

A Birthday Brunch today at the Bird's Nest.

If you've never been... Go.

Project 3.6.5. 2012

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And a few more from this morning:

Project 365 Day 43 - 2012

Prawns, crab, spicy tuna, avocado... and more! All in one roll. Tonight at Tokyo John Sushi on Cambie. Delicious and rich.

Project 3.6.5. 2012

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Project 365 Day 5 - 2012

Akira Sushi on Denman... Delicious! Even their black rice rolls.

Project 3.6.5. 2012

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Project 365 Day 293

Where I enjoyed my lunch today: Finest at Sea at Robson Square. I had the curried halibut wrap... Delish!!

Project 3.6.5.

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Project 365 Day 283

Yep... that's right: Pie pictures two days in a row. Today was the first time in my life that I tried sweet potato pie. Complete with marshmallows on top! It was amazing.

A delicious brunch with great friends at the Acme Cafe with the pie as dessert. Sweet.

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Project 365 Day 259

Girls night in: The Noodle Box + a bottle of Red = Perfect Friday evening.

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Project 365 Day 257

Lovely dinner at Jules Bistro in Gastown this evening. This Project 3.6.5. picture was taken from inside the restaurant looking out.

My review of the evening:

The company was fantastic.

The restaurant was cute.

I loved the scallops and the tenderloin; the mussels were ok.

The wine was good.

The service was a bit weird though.

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Project 365 Day 252

An amazing dinner at Campagnolo with a fair amount of wine tonight... that, mixed with great company was the combination for the perfect evening.

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Project 365 Day 227

The ladies only seem to get together a couple of times a year... whenever Veronica is visiting from Toronto.

Tonight we chose Vij's to satisfy our palettes, and it did not disappoint. This Project 3.6.5. picture of Chenoa, Melissa, Andrea, Veronica, Carrie, and myself was taken just after we'd all finished chowing down on an amazing feast that I won't soon forget about.

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Project 365 Day 86

Today's Project 3.6.5. Picture is of Buddha watching over the tables at Section (3). I was back again tonight for dinner.

It was no Subway, but is was still very tasty.

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Project 365 Day 84

Out for a little birthday celebration with the ladies tonight. The oysters at Rodney's did not disappoint. Neither did the waiters.

Enjoy today's Project 3.6.5. Picture

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Project 365 Day 82

Closing Time....

You know it's a good evening when you polish off two bottles of wine and the staff at the restaurant, (Nuba) start stacking the chairs on the tables. Yes, we closed the place down.

Worth it though.

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Project 365 Day 33

Today I had a meeting to go to up on Main Street. I'm a big fan of the area, especially at 15th by the Heritage Hall and one of my favourite restaurants, Burgoo.

This is today's Project 3.6.5. Picture.

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Project 365 Day 26

Last February, I checked out The Corner Suite Bistro de Luxe for the first time. Since then, I've been a handful of times. Most recently was for a Christmas lunch with my friend Trevor; I had the most amazing ham sandwich.

Very sad to see that it's closed down now. What does it take for a restaurant to make it in Vancouver?

This is my Project 3.6.5. Picture for today.

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My Life Last Week

So I’m not as good at keeping up to date on my blog as I thought I would be. It was easier during the Olympics; there was so much going on and I as so excited and I just wanted to share it with everyone.

My life is great, just maybe not super exciting right now. I’m very busy; as usual work takes up the majority of my time, plus the Photography class I’m taking is quite time consuming.

Here’s a brief summary, (along with pictures of course), of what I’ve been up to the past couple of weeks:

Lots of practicing with my camera now that I know what aperture, shutter speed and ISO mean. These are a few pics I took of the boys a couple of weekends ago.

Last weekend was very full: Friday night started off with a birthday celebration for my friend Dahn. She had reserved the private room at Cobre Restaurant. This was only my second time here, but I definitely plan to return.

The food is absolutely amazing! It’s done tapas style with small plates and prices range from $12-$15 a plate. My favourites were the White corn free range chicken taquitos fresh house garlic guac, Cholula and the Pan roasted Yarrow Meadows duck breast Cotija risotto, duck chicharon y asparaus spears. In fact, just writing it makes my mouth water.

So tasty! If you have a group of 15-30 people, I recommend that you reserve the private room, there’s no extra charge for it and even though the table only seats 20 (at the very most), with the extra room and sofa/chairs, there’s plenty of space to make it a cozy party.

Dahn's Birthday at Cobre

Saturday afternoon was the perfect afternoon for Tea at the Wedgewood. My friend Missy is having her 3rd baby (!) on May 5th (C-section) and wanted to meet up with a few girlfriends before she officially had no more life. Unfortunately I wasn’t on the ball enough to get any good pictures, (they were all blurry), but if you’ve ever gone for Tea Time at the Wedgewood you’ll know how lovely it really is.

It’s about $32 and for that you get your choice of tea, (I went for the Lavender Earl Grey), and a tiered tower of treats, (it’s basically finger sandwiches and pastries), but sooo yummy! It’s not something to do every weekend, but it’s a nice little (civilized) break once in a while.

Saturday evening, I was lucky enough, (thanks Chad) to be invited to the Canucks – Kings #2 playoff game! We lost. Not the end of the world since it was only game 2, plus it was super exciting none-the-less. I love that every seat had a playoff white towel on it just waiting to be twirled above people’s heads for Towel-Power.

At the Canucks game... check out all the White Towels!

After the game, we went to see my cousin, TJ's new band, Framed Faces in Kits. Except for my sister and myself, the rest of my family are very musically talented. TJ included. Definitely check out the Framed Faces MySpace and Facebook pages!

Framed Faces

Sunday afternoon, I had a field trip for photo class! Ok, it was just to Yaletown, (wait, I Live in Yaletown!), but it was still loads of fun. We spent hours taking pictures of everything; flowers, graffiti, cars, animals, architecture, rocks, the water, kids, (with permission), and I learned a ton!

I’m still trying to figure out Flickr, it’s really confusing to me for some reason, but when I do, I will post more pics there as well.

Thursday night the photo class ventured over to Granville Island for some night photography. We learned how to use a flash, (properly) and other techniques that made me feel like a professional. Techniques like light writing, popping & zooming, , longer exposure times, motion blur, and adjusting shutter speed and F-stops to produce the image you want.

Here are a few samples from the evening:

Olympic Fun Day

Me with Beckett & Nolan and Chenoa


Yesterday was an Olympic-themed day; My Olympic Fun Day! It started with a walk around the downtown area with my family, some more Olympic decorating, and ended with dinner with not one, but two torch-bearers!
There is nothing as spectacular as when the sun shines in Vancouver. People come out of their hiding spots to feel the rays on their faces and to look at the glistening scenery. Yesterday was no different; it was a gorgeous day and the locals and tourists were all out in droves. I decided to do the same and joined my sister and her husband and sons as they came downtown to explore some of the Olympic revelry. The opening ceremonies are less than a week away and people are excited to see what the City has in store for us. I met up with Chenoa, Jason and Beckett & Nolan at Granville and Robson where I gave them their FlagWalk buttons to start the Olympic Fun Day. We walked down Granville Street with the boys and let them explore the artwork. I think Beckett & Nolan were so excited to see something other than the apartment they spend so much of their day in.


Nolan and I decked out in our Canada gear

Me showing Nolan artwork on Granville Street

Go Canada Go!!!

Jason, Chenoa, Beckett & Nolan on Granville Street

We then walked over to Robson Square to check out the ice rink. The rink was being used by some Timbits teams that were playing hockey. The boys have never seen hockey up close and in person before and they seemed to love it. Beckett was holding on to the railing and making all sorts of funny noises as he watched the kids skate after the puck. Jason “plays” basketball with the boys at home all the time with a Nerf ball, but I wonder if maybe he might need to invest in some hockey sticks instead.

Me with Beckett on the Art Gallery steps

Watching Hockey

The boys showing off their walking skills

After all the walking around we headed for lunch, (thank goodness for White Spot and their highchairs and kid-friendly menu), and then home for a nap.

When I got home, I added another Olympic decorative display to the outside of my place. This time it was a Canadian flag that I attached to the railing and surrounded with lights. You can see it from the ground, and since I‘m in Yaletown, (the center of all the action), I’m sure it will be seen by lots of tourists walking around.

The day finished off with dinner at The Corner Suite Bistro de Luxe; a restaurant that was slated to open months ago but due to building problems, it only opened last week. The executive chef is Anthony Sedlak, the host of Food Network’s The Main and as soon as we sat down, we were greeted with a complimentary bottle of champagne so we knew we were going to like the place. The menu isn’t huge, but everything on it sounded amazing. We all decided on the twenty four seven Prix Fixe menu; appetizer, entrée, and dessert all for $24.07. In the end, with dinner and a couple of bottles of wine, the total for each of us was $55 (tip included)!
My dinner dates were my girlfriend from high school, Robin, her sister, Jessie and friends Martine and Evanka that are in town from Toronto for the next month working on Olympic broadcasts. They were both proud Olympic torch-bearers; Martine ran with Olympic Torch in Quebec back in December, and Evanka got to run it in Whistler on Friday. I was lucky enough to witness the torch relay on day 1 in Victoria, and I never get tired of hearing stories of it.
The Olympic conversation also covered the potential final caldron lighter; we have it narrowed down to 3 possibilities, (and by we, I mean most of the country): Wayne Gretzky, Betty Fox, (mother of my hero, Terry Fox), and Michael J. Fox, (no relation to Betty or Terry). All 3 would be great choices, but VANOC keeps promising that it’s going to be a surprise, and if it’s any of the 3 just mentioned, then it wouldn’t really be a shocker. The Michael J. Fox submission is not quite as popular as the other two, and as much as I like and respect him, I just can’t see it being Michael. Yes, he is local, he is a celebrity, and he is very well respected. But he isn’t an athlete, and although his work with Parkinson’s is immense, most cauldron lighters in the past have been athletes.

Betty fox is also not an athlete, but her son, Terry ran more than a marathon every single day during his Marathon of Hope to raise money and awareness of Cancer. He ran over 5,000 kilometers before he was forced to stop when the Cancer spread to his lungs. Because of him, more than $400 million has been raised worldwide through the Terry Fox Run. Terry is an internationally recognized name which is why I think Betty could possibly be the final torch carrier, plus there is a Facebook group with almost 130,000 members that also want Betty to light the caldron.

But if we’re talking about Canadian Athletes that are internationally known, that also possess an Olympic Gold medal, then Gretzky is the man. Wayne Gretzky is generally regarded as the best player in the history of hockey and has had his number, 99, retired by all the teams in the NHL. The Great One is one of the greatest living athletes in Canadian history which is why I my money’s on him. Of course, VANOC could pull a bait and switch and we could get an unknown or a young child lighting the cauldron; it’s happened before. VANOC has also stated that if the cauldron lighter’s name becomes public before the Opening Ceremony, then there will be a last minute switch. Regardless of who it ends up being, I’m sure it will be spectacular and I will be very emotional watching it.
The countdown has really begun: 5 more days!!!!

Lovely ladies out for dinner at the Corner Suite Bistro