We crossed the border to La Conner, Washington last weekend for the last leg of the tulip festival. When we got there, we spent most of the time snapping a billion photos and running around fields and fields of tulips. Quite an amazing site. The tulips were all in full bloom and came in purple, pink, yellow, orange and red. I didn’t have a favourite, I loved them all. Wouldn’t it be so nice to have this as your backyard?!
Not very far from where I live, there’s a little Island called Westham Island. To get to this Island, you have to cross a 100 year old wood deck swing bridge. It’s my most favourite bridge. I’ve been there a few times where I’ve had to turn off the engine of my car while I wait for the old man who manually turns part of the bridge for the boats to get through. It’s such a nice thing to watch and makes me feel like I’ve been transported to another time.
Once you cross the bridge, the scenery is beautiful. Lots of country houses, barns and farmlands surrounding you. As you keep on driving, you will notice all the beautiful mailboxes on the side of the road and they come in all shapes, colours and sizes. Some look like they are handmade and some look like they are custom painted by the owners. Aren’t they so cute?
We hit the Beaty Biodiversity Museum on Saturday with a couple of friends. It turned out to be a great museum kind of day as it was cold and rainy. We’ve never been to this museum but have heard so much about it so we thought of giving it a try. As soon as we walked in, I was completely surprised to see a hanging display of a giant blue whale skeleton. It was massive in scale and hugely impressive. Then as we continued our way down to a much darker space in the museum and hit our first row of bones & taxidermy displays, my jaw dropped. I wasn’t expecting to see giant displays of taxidermy so beautifully arranged and dimly lit behind a glass display almost looking like it was a set for a movie. I’ve never seen anything like it.
The narrow dark rows continued with displays of animal specimens in jars, plants, shells, insects, fish, reptiles…it just went on and on. Luna was interested in seeing them all with absolutely no fear. She was taking it all in and also enjoyed running down the dark rows and rows of displays. At the very back wall of the room is a family zone where Luna and I made an eagle crown. She’s so proud of this eagle crown she made that it hasn’t left her head since then.
Highly recommended. Don’t be surprised if you end up staying there for 3 hours admiring taxidermy. We sure did!
What to do on a rainy Saturday? Go out for coffee & hit our favourite Lebanese restaurant! There’s a delightful french café in the middle of a residential neighbourhood called Le Marché St. George. Not very many people know about it, it’s like a hidden gem in the city that only opened a little over a year ago. When you walk in, you feel like you’ve just flown to the South of France. It’s beautiful, cozy, rustic and serves excellent coffee, teas & pastries. They also carry a selection of gourmet food products as well as a basket full of handmade wool blankets made in a mountain village in Mexico. I wanted them all. Such a perfect place to be on a cold & rainy day.
Then our stomach started growling and off we went to our favourite Lebanese restaurant – Nuba! I was craving for the Najib Special which is exactly what I had. Peter had a bowl of their red lentil soup and garden falafel (so good btw, it taste similar to that amazing falafel place in Paris called L’As du Fallafel). Luna had a glass of orange & carrot juice and happily continued eating her little doughnuts from Le Marché St. George. We usually never leave Nuba without having their turkish coffee but we were over caffeinated by that time. We left full & happy. Until next time.
Happy Monday everyone!
I just started using Instagram and loving it! I like following peoples photographers as it shows snapshots from around the world. But sometimes, I think people are from places they are not because of the subject on their photos. When I was looking at my photostream on Saturday, it could have been from several places from around the world but it was all shots I took in Vancouver.
My Saturday felt like a culinary trip around the world. We started off at Joe Fortes for old school New York style brunch with Oysters Rockefeller and classic Bennys. Then it was off to Thierry for french style patisserie for sweets. Dinner was Japanese Izakaya at Guu Garden. We were stuffed by end of day but definitely a Saturday filled with yummy goodness mixed in with good company.
A few random photos taken the past 2 weekends. Did you have a good weekend? It’s been really cold here lately and been raining way too much which always leaves us having to find fun stuff to do indoors. Went to the East Side Culture Crawl the other weekend and spent the day at the Art Gallery for Family Fuse.
We discovered this cute little sashimi/bar cafe called Gyo-O. It’s the seafood version of Gyoza King. The place is small but luckily, we were there before 6 pm so there were still a lot of empty seats but it did quickly fill up by the time we starting eating. The food was amazing & the flavours so delicate. We also couldn’t help but try out a couple of their desserts so we went for their black bean pudding and assorted macarons. A highly recommended place.
For the past 5 years, Peter and I have been going to the Cranberry Festival held in Fort Langley. We missed it last year as we were in Mexico so this was the first year we brought Luna. The festival is filled with all things cranberries (cranberries by the pound, cranberry tea, cranberry soaps etc.). Our favourites are the amazing sausage rolls from a local bakery, going to the village antiques mall, eating freshly made bannock on a side street & just casually enjoying the small town festival.
We went to the 10th annual Southlands Country Fair at the Southlands Riding Club and had a fantastic afternoon. There were a lot of activities for kids throughout the day like pony rides, hay rides, musical entertainment, country market, bake sale…. But I’m ashamed to say that we didn’t participate in any of them except for the bake sale & the latte limo. Instead, we sat on bleachers hiding out from the sun and chatted away with our friends Francis & Tracy while our little ones played around us. Was it fun? Definitely! It was a great way to spend the afternoon.
After the country fair, we headed over to Francis & Tracy’s place and the kids continued to play and the bigger people continued to chat. We ordered japanese food for dinner and enjoyed some homemade sauteed peaches topped with ricotta cheese as we sat in their beautiful deck enjoying these warmer days.
Last night, we were out and about in Granville Island and decided to have dinner at Edible At The Market. They used to have a cute little shop in the market but now have expanded to a full service bistro with all things from BC. It was a fantastic night to be out in a patio. Great food & family friendly.
To start we had the Slik Spiced Albacore Tuna with Yuzu marinated cucumber & watermelon. We also tried the Artisan Bread Basket with Lobster oil, Pinot Noir balsamic. For our main dish, Peter went for the Sloping Hills Pork Belly & Loin with Celeriac & apple salad, chilled cucumber almond gazpacho and I had the Pemberton Meadows Steak Frites with Poplar Grove Tiger Blue butter, duck fat BC potatoes. I was pretty stuffed after enjoying my steak but when the waiter came by to give us a run down of the dessert menu, we knew we couldn’t leave without having their creme brulée with lavender. I think that was Luna’s favourite!
All in all, a restaurant definitely recommended. We will for sure be back and try the rest of the menu.
Here are some random photos from this long weekend. We had a fantastic long weekend spent mostly at the beach, going to some of our favourite shops in Gastown & did a whole lot of biking. Hope everyone is enjoying these glorious summer days!
The Fair at the PNE happens every time this year. We hadn’t been in many years but, with Luna, we thought it’d be a fun family day out. Luna loved the Bobs & Lolo show. It was such a pleasure to watch her dance around full of joy. Luna also enjoyed the Super Dogs show and burnt a lot of enthusiastic energy just in time for nap time. She woke up from her nap halfway through the Peking Acrobats performance and gave a worried “oh no” to some of the stunts. I was worried too – some serious acrobatic talent there, worth the gate price alone. Luna also loved KC Bear’s Summer Jam. Again, so cute seeing her dance around and hug KC after the show. And she went wild seeing the baby ducks, chicks, rabbits, cows and piglets at the agrarian exhibits. As for the big people, I enjoyed the Container Art show and the BBQ contestant stands. Mama bear ended up buying a steam cleaner from the ShamWow-style gadget vendors. It’s not country fair snake oil junk, though. It’s an essential household device that sanitizes and cleans – so, she says.
