Summertime

The sun and the warm weather are one of the few things I learned to appreciate ever since I’ve experienced living in a country wherein maybe 9 out of 12 months in a year are cool or damp. It is these 3 months that people can finally wear their shorts, flip flops, sleeveless shirts and sundresses.

From previous summers, I remember looking forward to being able to hike and run outside. This summer was totally different. I didn’t even get to hike, and only ran maybe 5 times, max this summer. I thought buying new runners would inspire me to go running more, but no, it did not (unfortunately).

I think this year was a little different because of a couple of things – my grandpa passed away end of Spring, early summer, and things were a little hectic for a while and I couldn’t really “have fun” for 100 days, or during grieving period. Also, before, I used to join folks from Manila on “pasyal” trips. Now, not anymore. Maybe because I don’t know or I’m not close to most of the people who were were sent here to work for a couple of months. Another factor could be, I started spending a lot more time with someone new too!

This doesn’t mean though that I didn’t do anything at all this summer. As I thought more about it, there were a couple of “fun” things I did this time around.

1. Golf

It all started when I joined a golf tournament at work. Mind you, I only played pitch and putt twice and did driving range only once before. But this year, I ended up going to the driving range maybe twice, and went to play a half – 3/4 part of a full golf 18 hole course (aside from the tournament itself). Took us 3.5 hours to finish, but super fun.

I enjoyed it so much that I’ve been thinking about getting my own set of clubs and maybe getting some beginner’s lesson. But, as always, I haven’t done any yet. Budget constraints + storage area concerns.

Previously, golf had this impression on me that it was such a slow-paced and boring sport. But after playing it a couple of times, I’ve learned to appreciate it more and why people actually get addicted to it.

2. Sunset Watching

Went to the beach and watched the sun set. Did this activity three times. Wonderful. Relaxing.

3. Outdoor Movie

I’ve always wanted to do this!! We did this a couple of weeks back. It can get cold late at night though so don’t forget to bring blankets! And, I’d suggest to bring lounge chairs or something similar instead of just sitting down on top of picnic blankets on the grass. Can you imagine watching a movie for an hour and half without any back support? Tough!

4. Tandem Bike Ride

I love riding a bike, but I’d never though I’d end up riding … a tandem bike!

Not only did we end up riding a tandem bike (his idea, btw), but when he picked me up, and this is no joke – we were wearing a matchy matchy attire – light purple shirt and khaki shorts/capris. I am not one who is a big fan of  wearing matching stuff but I think he was because… I think he was very happy about the coincidence (I remember during one event we went to before that he gave me a shirt to wear that’s exactly the same shirt as he had on. I just didn’t wear it because it was too big).

So picture this, tandem bike ride + matching outfits. Eye catching for sure. Someone shouted to us at some point: “Go Purple Team!” LOL!

5. Paint Nite

My officemate invited me to join her for an event called “Paint Nite”. It’s a 2 hour event wherein you paint on your own, with no requirement of having to be artistic or experienced in painting. You attempt to copy a painting, while someone is guiding and teaching you.

The two hours flew by so quickly! That’s how much fun we had. To be honest, we hardly talked to each other anymore because we painted and painted and painted! The teacher made everything sound and look easy.

And below is the end result. The one on the right is my creation! Great activity to do with your friends.

Now I can’t seem to stop listing down more things that I did or experienced this summer.

Overall, I enjoyed this summer. A little different from the past summers – lots of new memories created and new activities experienced. Now, looking forward to the Fall season!

Book

The Fault In Our Stars is a best selling young adult novel by John Green about teenagers facing the agony of cancer and the happiness of finding love amidst the situation they are in.

My younger sister had read this a while back and has been telling me to read it. I feel a little old reading a young adult book, but who cares, I am a sucker for love stories anyway, may it be for adults or young adults. Thus, I finally decided to read it. By the way, there’s an upcoming movie based on this novel as well.

Like many other young adult love stories that I’ve read (and believe me, I’ve read a lot – Love Stories series!), it reminds us all of how fun it is to be in love, even if you’re facing the worst of circumstances. Hazel and Augustus learns something great about life and love even if they knew that any time now, their cancer can steal them away from this world, from each other.

I find the book a little more sentimental than other young adult novels I’ve read. It’s kind of like a Nicholas Sparks novel, except that it’s geared more towards  young adults.

I’ve read a lot of books recently, and truth be told, the reason why this book stands out and had me writing a little something about it is because this nice guy I’ve been spending a lot of time with recently suggested that we read a book together and I pick which one we would read at the same time. And since this book’s been popping everywhere into my life, I picked this.

It’s a fun and simple activity that makes things a little different from what I’ve experienced before. For someone like me who likes reading, it’s awesome to actually be able to discuss it with someone else. In fact, he even mentions a specific page wherein according to him, when he read it, reminded him of something I did a couple of times that he, for some reason cannot forget:

As I reread that night, I kept getting distracted imagining Augustus Waters reading the same words. I wondered if he’d like it, or if he’d dismiss it as pretentious. Then I remember my promise to call him after reading The Price of Dawn, so I found his number on its title page and texted him.

Price of Dawn review: Too many bodies. Not enough adjectives. How’s AIA?

He replied a minute later: As I recall, you promised to CALL when you finished the book, not text.

In other words, he said that I never gave him a call back even if he requested that I call him back (because I couldn’t get to his calls when he tried calling me up during those couple of times). I always replied back via text. Well, that’s me! Funny, now that I think about it.

Since this book is now done, the next thing I’m looking forward to is for the movie to come to the theaters some time June this year. Something we can both look forward to as well.

Snowboarding

For me, winter season has only been about the cold weather and wearing layers of clothing to keep myself warm. This season though, I think I’ve gotten more out of it, and enjoying it more because I was able to do a lot more winter activities this time around. A few weeks back, I got to try cross country skiing. And last Saturday, I was finally able to try snowboarding. Winter activities though can be expensive. Aside from the gears that you will rent (if you don’t have your own), you also need to buy lift tickets. But at the end of it all, it’s all about the experience – did you enjoy? Did you have a wonderful time?

They said that snow came in a little late this season so even though it was already March, there was still some new snow up in Cyress that day. New snow is nice because it keeps the slopes powdery soft and makes it look even more beautiful and pristine. Below is one shot of Cypress Mountain from base. This was one of the locations during the Vancouver Winter Olympics last 2010. They still have the Olympic logo up.

As this was my first time snowboarding, I was mentally and physically prepared to fall down a lot. I did fall a couple of times, with the last big fall resulting into a huge bruise of different color near my butt. I still blame the girl who sort of slightly collided with me as we alighted from the ski chair lift. When you’re in the lift, you only wear one of the boots in the snowboard and your other boot is not strapped into the board. So when we alighted from the ski lift, we both fell down and I ended up falling sitting down into the other empty boot strap in my snowboard, causing me this huuuuuge colorful bruise by my butt/hamstring area. Ouch. After a week, it’s still there – thankfully, not as painful anymore.

My free lessons were provided by my friend – my “teacher” for the day! Two other friends were supposed to come with us but one of them ended up being sick so they had to back out. Too bad because our designated teacher was pretty good and patient. That or I was a good student – learned quickly. Depends I suppose who you ask.

We first started with the basics, and then moved on to the bunny hills. This is an excellent way to start learning snowboard – gliding down on a not so steep slope, taking your time. I think we were there for 1-2 hours just going down the bunny hill, then walking up again, and then back. It gives you a little bit more confidence especially since the next you want to try is the higher slope – this is the time you’d need to ride the ski lift already. My officemate gave me this simple advise, that I followed, and worked like a charm. When you’re turning, exaggerate – do not hesitate and just pull your other leg around in an exaggerated manner. It is quite hard to explain here, but if in the event I have friends who are new to snowboarding, I will give them this tip for sure.

I think majority of the hard work happens in the core and lower body. Seems like it’s mostly in the legs for balancing and breaking, and then the core to assist you for movement and picking yourself when you fall down. Snowboarding take a lot of strength, that’s for sure. And during snowboarding downhill, having a lot of hesitations will make you fall down more. Be cautious, but not too much too. It’s like riding a bike - when you’re too slow and hesitate a lot, it’s much harder to balance the bike. 

As much as it was so much fun to snowboard, the after effects the next day were terrible. Two huge bruises in my butt and hamstring, and my legs were very sore. The shins in my legs hurt because of the boot. Over fatigue. Then again, we were snowboarding for almost 5-6 hours. Did I enjoy? Yes, definitely. I was hoping to try it again, however, winter season is almost over so I might have to wait for the next season before I can enjoy this activity again. It’s tiring, but fun and exciting at the same time. It’s more exhilarating than cross country skiing for sure, especially with the speed that comes with it. Until next season then!

Winter Season!

This winter season is by far the most memorable I’ve had. A lot of firsts.

Snowmobile

Last January 18 – two days after I came back to Vancouver from Manila, my friends and I had a planned snowmobile tour activity up in Whistler. There was a discount package from Groupon that gave us around 50% discount for the tour package. Couldn’t get any better than that. So we bought and booked it last November.

How it’s setup is that each tour group will have one tour guide, and depending on how many you are in the group, you may have to share a snowmobile with another person. The tour guide will bring you to different routes, trails and sights. If I remember correctly, the whole tour took around 1.5 or 2 hours. You can also swap with your partner as to who gets to drive the snowmobile.

I only tried to drive the snowmobile once for maybe 15 minutes. The rest of the trip, I decided that I wanted to the passenger instead of the driver. For me, getting to drive it once was good enough, and I preferred to sit at the back as I get to enjoy the sights more!

This is an activity I would probably just do every now and then. For one, it’s expensive, and two, I still prefer driving a car over snowmobiles. haha

Cross Country Skiing

The original plan last Saturday was to do a snow shoe tour up in Cypress Mountain. But that same morning, my friend suggested that we try cross country skiing instead (Both of us haven’t tried it yet too). Unfortunately, I never got to snap any photos at all during my 4 hour cross country skiing endeavor, and thus I only have here a picture to remind me of my first ever cross country skiing experience – my new goggles.

Usually in cross country skiing, you won’t need to wear goggles. Goggles are primarily used for downhill skiing and snowboarding. However, we ended up buying one because there was such a heavy snowfall that day that we needed something just to cover up our eyes.

I never knew this before, but cross country skiing is a bit different from downhill skiing. One of the main difference between the two is that the boots used in cross country skiing has its back detached from the ski itself, as opposed to downhill, where both front and back of the boot is attached to the ski. Aside from that, the size of the ski for cross country is a little bit narrower as compared to downhill skiing.

Cross country skiing is simple, it’s like walking on skis. However, the challenge for me is during the low downhill slopes where you need to break or change directions. So hard and stressful! The way to break your speed is to move your skis on an angled placement - think of it as an inverted V, and then pushing outward. It looks so easy when you see other people do it, but when you yourself have to do it, nerve-wracking! I think I fell face down a couple of times!

And you know that you’ve been working so hard because when I went home, my inner long sleeved shirt was wet by the armpits and the elbow part. To think it was snowing like crazy up in the mountain – I’m pretty sure that wasn’t because it was hot! I was quite sore the following day too. But all in all, this is a fun activity/workout that I would definitely do again, maybe every weekend (if I were rich!).

Snowboard

Maybe this weekend? I do have new snow pants that I just bought this week. Haha

First Attempt: Lattice Top Crust for My Apple Pie

My first attempt to make a lattice top pie crust. Not the best looking. This is pre oven.

After an hour in the oven:

 

Looks sumptuous (in my very biased opinion)!

I think the problem I had was that I didn’t roll out the top dough to the right size. It was a little too big, which caused the dough to be too thin and long, and it was uneven all over. Lessons learned. Once we have another bunch of leftover apples, I’ll try to do it again. Master the technique!

I’ll have to let it sit for now to cool down. Will have to wait until tomorrow to taste it!

And that’s my project for this weekend. Let’s see what I come up with for next weekend.

A Few Thoughts On My Recent Trip Back Home

Going back home for the holidays last November/December/January was an experience I will always treasure.

It was the first time I came back to visit my family and friends in Manila since deciding to move permanently to Canada. Although it was only 7 months prior that I did move to Canada, the thought that I have uprooted myself and moved here makes me miss everything back home so much more. When I used to stay in Canada for 3-6 months a year, I didn’t feel like I was missing a lot from back home. But now, there’s just so much more to miss, and at the same time, appreciate.

Living abroad permanently gives you a better sense of appreciation of everything – this could be family or friends that you may have taken for granted, or things that you hated about Manila but in fact, missed so much as well (the irony!).

Such  a blessing it was when my manager allowed me to stay put in Manila for an “extended” vacation of 6.5 weeks (includes 3 weeks of actual work). I had to burn the midnight oil for my work though, but who cares. It gave me another 3.5 weeks to spend with family and friends.

Aside from the pasalubongs that I brought home with me, I also brought back to Manila my new and improved (but still not good) cooking and baking skills! So of course I had to show it off to my family! I cooked siopao, spinach gratin, mushroom stuffed spinach and cheese,  chicken and broccoli, and some other. I baked my favorite banana bread, and made two apple pies! Funny thing is, my mom had this new oven toaster that’s still in the box, never been touched, never been used for a few months! My mom was so happy someone finally took it out of the box and used it!

For some reason, I loved cooking and baking for them, even though my dad almost never ate anything I made unless I forced him to do so. I fondly remember cooking my spinach stuffed mushroom and preparing apple cider (Christmas eve) and baking my apple pie (New Year’s eve) where in my guests of honor were required to eat and drink everything I prepared. :) Fortunately, the family gladly obliged.

This was just one of the few things that I enjoyed doing for them and with them. The gatherings for lunch and dinner together - spending time with each other made my trip more memorable. As I live far away from them now, I have learned to appreciate the time that I have been given with them even more. And with the younglings around, it’s just so much more fun! Take a look at the picture below!

 

I have to mention that friends also made my stay in Manila much more enjoyable. The chitchats and gossips, what more can I say? So worth it!

As dramatic as this post may sound, what I want to share is that I am one blessed person. I love the life I am slowly building here in Canada, and yet, I also and still have a wonderful life back home in Manila, which will always give me something to look forward to each year, that is, going back on another trip to a place I call my home.

Detox Take 2 Result

I hate to admit it, but I failed my detox 2 (again…). I only made it through one day.

Two main problems I encountered:

1. I followed the recipe right down to the tee. I would say, ideally that’s how it should be, but the problem with that approach is that it may not necessarily cater to your taste – which for me was the main reason why I failed. I just didn’t like the way ginger overpowered my breakfast drink, or perhaps the veggie juice with just tasted awful.

2. I wasn’t ready. By afternoon, I felt hungry, and then I couldn’t focus on work. Might’ve been psychological too (just the thought of only drinking juice).

There are a couple of things I learned though.

1. Be prepared mentally (and physically). It takes a lot of discipline to go through a strict and proper detox. Cheating is not an option as you’ll just be wasting your time.

2. Make sure to prepare drinks that you would enjoy drinking. When I did this detox, I strictly followed the prescribed fruit/veggie combination per meal, which unfortunately, did not always suite my taste buds. However, when I tried mixing the ingredients together according to my own preference, then I started looking forward to drinking them, instead of dreading them.

Since I am not yet mentally prepared for a detox yet, I still made good use of my ingredients. I still made my juices, but this time around, according to my preferred taste. And these juices, I use as supplement for now, instead of a meal replacement. It still gives you that bit of a detox (I suppose), but balances it out with my main meals. And when I get hungry within the day, instead of grabbing just some random stuff to snack on, I drink this instead. And so far, after a couple of days, it’s been working out pretty good.

Detox Take 2

Almost 1.5 years ago, I did a partial detoxification via the Juju Cleanse – a set of expensive juices set to provide you with some cleansing and detox.

With the new year, I’ve been feeling a little bit anxious and uneasy inside out (yes!). In order to address the physical aspect of the uneasiness, I’ve decided to try doing a few days of detox, just to start fresh and clean out the system. I’m planning to do it for three days. I’m hoping I can stick with it this time.

In order to show my drive in undergoing this detox, I went grocery shopping today to buy my ingredients and prepared my breakfast and lunch ingredients for juicing for tomorrow.

Breakfast:

Consists of: Kale, Apples, Grapes, Blueberries, Cucumber and Ginger

Lunch:

Consists of: More Kale leaves, Granny Smith Apples, Cucumber, Ginger, Celery and Lemon.

I am anticipating that the breakfast option will be much favorable as there are a lot of sweeteners there (grapes, apples) as opposed to the lunch menu where all I see is green. 

I have not prepared my dinner juicing ingredients yet as I had to catch a Aussie Open match and besides, my hands have pruned due to lots of veggie water cleaning.

I’ll have an update for tomorrow. Hopefully I survive a day without eating solid foods and to strictly follow the program.

Nutella 5kg

I was at Costco earlier to pick up some items that my mom asked me to buy for her when I stumbled upon this!



5 kilograms!! Isang balde!



I didn't even know they sold something this big at all! N-year supply of Nutella!

The Book Thief

The Book Thief by Markus Zusak.

Great book. It is fascinating because whenever we hear about World War II, the story would usually revolve around how evil the Germans were (mainly because of Hitler) and how the bad the Jews had it. This book though, was the first book that I read about the life of the Germans during the war, and how, not all of them agreed to the war and that there were those who showed sympathy for the Jews.

The book centers around the life of the book thief - Liesel Meminger, a young German girl, who lived with foster parents the Hubbermans. It tells of her life during the war, and how she made her life wonderful because of her thirst for reading.

I find that the book was quite confusing for me at first, and it started a little slow. However, it eventually picked up along the way and I found myself not wanting to put it down. I didn't shed some tears unlike when I was reading Silver Linings Playbook, but it touched my heart a whole lot, especially with the character of Hans Hubberman. He wasn't the great dashing war hero that one would usually see in movies or other books, but he was simply, a kind man.

I read this book knowing that it will be created as a movie soon, but all the while I thought it would be for next year. But imagine my surprise when after doing a simple google, I found out that it's actually going to be showing this November and has a trailer already!

And what can I say, oh wow. Something definitely to look forward to. I don't think it'll be a commercial success, but I think for those who like the drama, and perhaps for those who loved the book, may just enjoy this touching story showing in the big screen.

Watch the trailer here.

Can't wait!

Yahoo Changes

We all remember back in the days when Yahoo! was the tech giant and most people that I know had yahoo mail. But as Google slowly made it's way to the consumers, and yahoo slowly deteriorated, a lot started moving to Google's services, in particular - gmail. I was one of those. I signed up for a new personal gmail account and although I still have my decades old yahoo mail account, I decided that I will use gmail as my primary account, and ymail as my, secondary email account.

Over the years, while Google, Facebook, Apple thrived, Yahoo declined. According to this source, its share prices went as high as 118.75 back in 2000. And went down to as low as 8.11. Now it's hovering around 30, which is already a big improvement from two years ago before Marissa Mayer stepped in.

I've been fascinated by Yahoo recently because we've been seeing a lot of changes. Just earlier I saw the gui for their ymail changed again! And if you haven't noticed, they did change their logo recently as well. Another recent headliner was when CEO Marissa Mayer banned work from home for its employees! So that got me wondering who is this CEO?

And here I found a wonderful article about: Marissa Mayer

I have to admit, she's now one of my most admired women.

Rainy Saturday Treats and Eats

My rainy Saturday ended up being a day of eating.

Around 6 AM, I woke up to a hungry stomach so I prepared my sunny side up + almond chocolate drink.

I was feeling a bit restless at home so even though it was raining outside, I decided to go out for a walk straight to this small cafe around 1.5 kilometers away from my place. This was probably around 10 AM and I ended up trying out the hot chocolate plus a nice cinnamon roll. Yummy.

I went back home for lunch and then went out to the grocery to buy a few missing ingredients that I needed for my weekend project – Super Moist Carrot Cake! I ended up getting a whole lot more than what I needed for my baking though. I ended up getting ruffles! Talk about junk! Just tastes sooo yummy. I’ve been eating a ton of veggies lately, then I guess I’m entitled to have a splurge on junk every now and then?

Anyway…

Carrot Cake

For this weekend’s baking creation, I decided to try out the Super Moist Carrot Cake recipe from Sally’s Baking Addiction.

This is my first attempt. When I eat baked goods, especially cakes, I want it to be very moist, but not to the point of being a little too oily. Thus, just based on this recipe I picked, it sounds like I’ll be getting what I am hoping for, plus the fact that it is quite simple to make.

So here’s before we put it in the oven:

And this is the finished product:

 

It turned out yummy! Again, not too sweet, and not oily, and super moist!

The only problem that I had was that I used a smaller pan than the recommended size from the recipe. This meant that the suggested baking time may not be enough for my cake because at around 35 minutes, the center portion of the cake was still wet. I had to leave it again in the oven for another 15 minutes… I was worried because the carrot cake may end up too dry just because I wanted to get the inner section of the cake to bake! Good thing it didn’t!

I didn’t make the cream for now. Maybe on my next attempt! What I want to do next is to add one of my favorite ingredients to the carrot cake next time, chocolate chips!

By the way, we don’t finish everything each week. I end up giving a few of my friends the food, they do the taste test (like the siopao, banana bread).

food again

I kept myself busy this weekend by spending a lot of time in the kitchen, and in food related activities. Well, I did clean the bathroom, which I hate doing, but is a necessity anyway – in other words, no choice! Oh and I did go back down to the garage just to check if my bike’s back – but of course it’s not! I must be wishing!

And so instead of punishing myself for not getting better locks for my bike, I instead decided to move on by being a busy bee for the rest of the weekend. So here were the results:

Barley and Lentil Soup

I love making soup because it is very easy to make and at the same time, there are no rules… you can put in whatever you want, season it, and that’s it! But so far, my favorite soup to make is barley and lentil soup. I like barley because its texture is the same as rice and you know how we love rice! And it’s healthier than white rice too.

According to this livestrong article: Is Pearl Barley More Nutritional Than Rice? -

Including more whole grains in your diet can lower your risk of heart disease and help you maintain a healthier body weight, according to the U.S. Department of Agriculture. Both pearl barley and brown rice are examples of whole grains. White rice is an example of a refined grain. While some of their nutritional components are similar, pearl barley is a better source of fiber, iron, potassium and folate than either brown rice or white rice.

Lentil on the other hand, is a legume. It’s quite healthy, high in protein and fiber and they give some added thickness to the soup.

The rest of the ingredients I added were broccoli, mushroom, tomato, green peppers, and veggie broth. I didn’t get the taste right after, but my aunt helped me with seasoning it further, and after a few adjustments, it actually tasted pretty good! I made a whole bunch… it’ll probably last us a whole week. Haha!

Banana Bread

And so I’ve been waiting for my bananas to go overripe for more than a week already and finally it’s ready. When I say overripe, I let it turn to black, you know how bananas turn out if you don’t eat it, they turn black, and that’s the state I want my bananas to be. I got this recipe named “Ridiculously Simple Banana Bread” from my aunt and that’s what I followed. To add some more zing into it, I included chocolate chips too!

I think it turned out pretty good, better than what I expected. It’s moist and it’s not too sweet too. My boss in the office brings her home made banana bread to the office every now and then, and I think mine’s much better. Hahaha!

Elderflower syrup – Carbonated Water Drink

Last Friday night, my friend brought me to this wonderful vegetarian restaurant and got me to try out different types of vegetarian food. That was one of the best dinners I’ve had, but I think I’ll reserve that for another post (if I can get to it). One thing that stood out was that he wanted me to try out an Elderflower drink. That’s the first time I even heard that word! No idea at all what it is. And so when it was served, oh did it make a really good impression. It’s a nice sweet flavor. Actually reminded me of sprite, but a lot less subtle. So anyway, I enjoyed it so much that this morning, I went to Gourmet Warehouse, as suggested by my friend because that’s where I can get this (the one of the left):

It’s an Elderflower drink concentrate, like a syrup, but not as thick as let’s say, pancake syrup.

The one on the right, the Gerolsteiner is a carbonated water that I got from a regular grocery store here.

The suggested mixture is 1:6 between the elderflower and the carbonated drink. You can also add some lemon and ice to the drink to make it yummier!

And thus, I made my own drink! Wonderful!

Stolen: my Kona Dew Black 46

My first expensive bike that I love so much… is now lost and probably will never be found.

The last time I used my bike was last Saturday after I rode it to go to Granville Island to attend a walking tour. The next time I was going to ride it was supposed to be this morning, when I was about to go for my Saturday morning bike ride to Stanley Park. I was all geared and up and ready when upon going down to the garage to get my bike, my bike was nowhere to be found!

And more annoying things this is, my other old bike, which I locked my kona with, was still there! F**K!

The problem is, the bike may have been stolen any day of the week!

What a lousy, depressing (and expensive) for a weekend to start. Iniyakan ko pa iyan. Nakaka depress talaga.

Just in case someone just stumbles upon my blog and my bike somehow, here’s the picture.

It’s a Kona DEW Black 46

Stolen around Fraser Vancouver area.

Ramen and Ice Cream

I invited my friend to join me and have a yummy ramen lunch at Motomachi Shokudo. It’s been two years since I was last ate here and it’s still very good. 

Afterwards, we were craving for desert so we walked by Denman and saw Marble Slab where I ended up eating this! It’s similar to Cold Stone creamery. Yummy.

 

We were so guilty afterwards that we decided to walk from downtown all the way to Broadway for MEC store where I was looking to buy front and rear lights for my bike. I think the distance was roughly around 5km, took us an hour or so. And what made it more tiring was that the sun was out and shining the whole time. Nasunog na ako, napagod pa. Well, I do hope nasunog din yung ibang taba ko from the ice cream! But, I was able to walk by Burrard Bridge which showed a spectacular view of the English Bay area.

I was exhausted that I asked my aunt to pick me up from the store afterwards. Haha

Juicy Chicken Breasts

After n times, I think I finally nailed down my juicy chicken breasts. I think I finally got it. My two previous attempts of cooking a juicylicious chicken breast has been a success! I’ve attempted to cook it a lot of times already and they usually ended up dry. But this time around, it was really juicy and tender!

My recipe is simple. Chicken breast + seasoning - salt and pepper, and maybe some garlic powder and oregano. What I used to do was after seasoning the chicken, I put it inside the oven. The problem is that they always end up dry because they get overcooked! Quite tricky. Chicken breasts cook so fast! 

After a few more tries, I finally got it. Thanks to Google's search, I got to try one way that made my chicken breasts really juicy! And it was very simple! 

The solution was simple. Cook the breasts in a pan first, you can use butter or any cooking oil. Cook it only for a while, you don't want to cook it thoroughly Maybe just after 5 minutes, the breast should be partly cooked already. Afterwards, put it straight to the oven. I use around 375 degrees (preheated, by the way), and I leave the chicken for around 10-15 minutes, turning it over once. 

Now, on to getting my potatoes right (which I still haven’t perfected!).

`

The Chief

No, this is not about Sir Chief (which by the way, thanks to my recently installed TFC, I can now watch Be Careful With My Heart again).

I’m talking about Stawamus Chief.

After two years, I got to climb Stawamus Chief again! I thought it was three years ago, but I guess not – it was two years ago based on this blog post.

The hike this time around was much easier from what I remembered before. I think it’s because the mountain was dry, making everything a little easier, especially climbing up. Aside from that, I also remembered that the when we got up to second and third peaks, there wasn’t much of a view to see because it was very foggy. But this time around, I finally got to see the view, and what can I say, it was amazing.

This was the view from the top of the second peak. We skipped the first peak and went straight to the second peak. Took around 1.5 hours, I think.

By peak 2.5, (half way to third peak), this was the fantastic view of Squamish:

Here are my friends enjoying a short break:

I find that hiking down the mountain is as hard as hiking up. Going down puts a lot more stress in your ankles and your knees. I woke up this morning with my legs hurting like crazy.

3 of us, out of 5 got stung by bees though. We accidentally plowed through a path full of bees. Their sting was quite painful. I got it by my right calf and it was swollen a bit for some time, but eventually subsided. I put some meds after as it was aching a bit last night, and I woke up this morning feeling nothing on the sting bite. But then again, my whole legs are still aching.

After wards, just like our previous chief hike, we went for a nice meal after at Whitespot. I had two full glasses of milkshake (butterscotch and blueberry). So much for all that calories I burned during the hike! I may actually even have gained.

Until next time the chief! Hope to see you again.

some random thoughts

The thing that I really miss the most about the Philippines is my family and friends. To be honest, there are times that I feel sad because I know I am missing a lot of memories from there. Events like, birthdays, parties, or even just regular get togethers with the family and friends.

But whenever I feel sad, I try to focus on the positive side of things.

I think about how blessed I am to be here. I think about how I can walk around here without much stress. I think about how I can run around the neighborhood, how I can ride my bike for 30 kilometers within the busy city and still feel safe. How about the outdoors here? Beautiful. Traffic here is nonexistent in comparison to Manila’s horrid traffic. There’s so much more to say.

Aside from these, the friends and family that I have here reminds me that even though I am away from my friends and family back home, that I still have people here who I can enjoy and have fun with.

This summer was extra special too (and jam packed). I got to attend a few bridal showers, plus just last Saturday, I got to join a few friends for Lechon, Vancouver style!

 

Things like these remind me of how blessed I am.

It does help too that I’ve been here a few times for the past five years so home sickness is really not something I feel every now and then.

Not that I don’t miss home. It’s still a place I terribly miss. But thanks to technology, I can still feel close to the family back home.

Things are different from before because of technology. Now we have Whatsapp, Skype, Hangouts, email, you name it. We even have a whatsapp group where I chat with my family regularly. You can send photos too! Which is why I’m always updated with how the nieces and nephew are. And don’t forget about skype too. When the family recently had a small get together to celebrate my sister-in-law’s birthday, I got to be in the photo too! Digital anyway! Pwede na! This is proof that technology can still keep us together even if we’re continents apart!

 

And how about sending post cards to people back home? It gives me a smile just thinking about how surprised my friends were when they got the cards (at least I hope they were!)

Being away from home can be quite challenging. And it never ever helps to sulk about the situation because thinking of the glass half full, instead of half empty is the much better perspective on how to look at any situation. I can’t say things are perfect here either. But I choose to be happy.

And of course, it does help that I have something to look forward to in a few months time!

Oh, and how about passing my road test exam yesterday? I am now officially a licensed driver here in British Columbia!

Kona

A year or so ago, I bought myself a new bike back in Manila. Check this post. It was a good bike, but not great. And unfortunately, Malabon area wasn't suited for cyclists so I ended up not using it as much (but that's just one of my excuses). Now it's currently gathering dust in our garage. Hmm, maybe I should just sell that.

Anyway, over the past few months, I've mentioned that I’ve been using my aunt’s old mountain bike to ride around the area. I’ve been enjoying biking here because Vancouver is a cyclist’s city. It’s very bike friendly. There are bike lanes and paths everywhere. Especially during the summertime, there are a whole lot more cyclists you’d see around the city. I’m still not a cyclist commuter, but who knows, maybe next time I’d be like my teammate, who goes to the office using her bike.

As much as I love riding around that bike, there are two major problems with that bike. First is that the lower gears are very noisy. Since it wasn’t used for a long time, it just probably needs more tuning, or maybe even parts replacement, who knows. I had it checked out previously, but he said that it might have to be replaced. The challenge with being unable to switch to lower gears is when you’re riding uphill. Bike just gets too heavy that I have to just walk the uphill area.

And this brings me to the next concern that I have – the bike is a bit too heavy for me. It’s actually built as a mountain bike. I wanted something of a hybrid between commuter and road bikes.

And besides, it’s really not mine, it’s rusty….

And… ok, I’m giving myself a lot of reasons why I need to get myself a new one.

And thus, last Saturday, I finally got it. My new toy!!!!

It’s a Kona Dew 2013 model. It’s the basic model of the Kona line of bikes and it’s a hybrid between commuter and road bike.

My cyclist friend recommended a nice bike shop by Burnaby and so I decided to drop by there last Saturday. My friend actually recommended this brand as well, and when I asked the shop keeper what he would recommend, he actually recommended this Kona Dew for me. It’s a pretty good bike model for someone who’s simply looking for a good ride to get around the city.

He allowed me to test the bike outside the bike shop (there’s a bike pathway just by the back). After riding it for just 5 minutes, I loved it so much that I went back and bought it at once! 

It is however on the pricey side…but nothing to worry about because I’m loving it so far!

I had to wait for Sunday night to finally ride it out in the city.

My first ride on my Kona was going to Granville Island, which was roughly around 16.6 km according to Runkeeper. I rode it at night, while the sun’s just about to set. And such a wonderful experience because not only did I get to see the sun set by False Creek, but also discovered that there are public pianos situated at different locations along the seaside path, and anyone can freely play on it. I got to watch this awesome lady playing and you can actually see a crowd forming already.

My second bike ride yesterday, I took a different route – towards the Langara golf course. Nice route too. I still hate uphills though (who doesn’t?).

This weekend, I’m planning to go ride further out to Stanley Park this time. A lot of cycling routes available so it should be a good and safe ride too.

Now, the next project I have to sell off my aunt’s old bike, that is if it still has some value. Who knows, maybe we can still get some money out of it.

Eventful Summer

2 bridal showers, and 2 weddings.

3 down, 1 more to go.

Looks like I came here just in time to attend these special events.

As it always is when you’re moving to a new place, it’s quite hard to meet new people, let alone make new friends. I am quite blessed and lucky that I’ve been here a few times, which helped me establish some nice relationships with people already. And that made it possible for me to attend such nice and memorable events. In fact, after all the preparations that the friends did just to help make the special occasions awesome, I realize more how great and nice these people are and how much they care for their friends.

Now last Saturday, we had a party in…. guess where…. a yacht! How cool is that.

And you know what made it even better? It was also one of the nights of the Honda Celebration Of Light. It’s similar to what we have back in Manila – PyroOlympics. That night, it was United Kingdom and their theme was James Bond! This is the first time I got to watch the fireworks here, and add to that, watch it from the best seats on the house – from a yacht! Awesome! 30 minutes of wonderful fireworks. Unfortunately, I only had my phone with me so I didn’t get some nice shots. Themed music was also playing in the radio so that everyone can enjoy the show more.

So of course, the nights ends with almost everything perfect, except that I had to carry this small table, that unfortunately pulled a strand out of my dress, which clearly shows that there is a “run”, just like in stockings. It’s just a small damage, however, the thing is, I just borrowed this dress! Grrr! What a way to spoil the day!