mochi....be damned!

well, i've met my match in the kitchen! after 2 disasters w/the mochi flour, i've run out of the stuff and i've given up. i don't care how much i loved nobu's mochi ice cream, the failed effort is just not worth it anymore. i give up, and i'm not gonna bother for awhile. sorry girls, you'll just have to fly to new york or las vegas or wherever and try it for yourselves.

plus i'm still sick, so i just don't give a damn anymore.

i'm sure my 3rd try will be better. after all, i did progress further on my 2nd try. maybe by the 5th try, i'll actually have a dessert put together. whatever. i don't give a hoot.

we screamed, we danced, we had a "sexy back" time

after months and months of waiting, sel and i finally went to the justin timberlake concert on wednesday night. after patiently sitting through good charlotte, his opening act, jt finally hit the stage at 9:15. from that point on it was absolute insanity! this guy deserves props. not only does he sing, but he's a musician (he played the guitar and piano) and a great dancer (which is a far cry from britney spears' performance on mtv last night)!

about an hour into the show, he took an "intermission" while timbaland (who i also love!) did a solo performance for about 15 minutes. his "performance" was a little different...a compilation of music from artists he's worked with (nelly furtado, aaliyah, missy elliott, etc. etc.) as well as a visual show on the curtain screens. very interesting. of course he performed "the way i are", which i love. then justin returned to the stage for more booty-shaking excitement! of course, he saved "sexy back" till the very end of his show, and everyone was singing and dancing along. the concert was ridiculously fun!

i have to say that i enjoyed this concert a lot more than christina aguilera's. it's probably because sel and i had lower bowl seats, so there were less high-pitched screaming young girls w/their mothers. perhaps it was because the stage was in the centre of gm place, and i could actually see jt up-close-and-personal. good times :-)

holiday weekend

Wow, what a crazy busy week we’ve had!

On Thursday afternoon, my team headed out on a colleague’s boat for a cruise to Snug Cove on Bowen Island. I can’t believe I’ve never been to that island before…it’s super cute! Nugget was a very polite guest…once we hoisted him onboard, he slept for the entire trip at the back of the boat. On the return trip he was a bit curious, so I brought him to the front of the boat to enjoy the view. He seemed to like the wind whipping through his fur :-)

As if a boat cruise wasn’t enough for my NuNu, Chris and I took him to the off-leash doggy park for the first time! There were about 8 other dogs of different sizes already in the enclosed area, and Nugget couldn’t wait to get his nose near them for a good’ol sniff! The park is his little doggy heaven :-) What a tired dog we had afterwards!

As the weekend approached, we just kept getting busier! On Friday, Sharon & Travis hosted a bbq at their place, and they were kind enough to let Nugget join the fun. Asides from poking Matt in the bumbum, our boy was very good. He’s adjusted very well to condo-living, and for a large dog he manages well in small spaces.

On Saturday, Sandra, Angela and I resumed our “cooking” group. This time we tackled Japanese food…miso soup w/wakame, tofu and enoki mushrooms, make-your-own-sushi (for fillers we had: egg, bacon, enoki mushrooms, salmon sashimi, tuna sashimi, cucumber, japanese pickles, avocado, and teriyaki beef), black cod in miso sauce (fujiya has marinated fish), and black sesame crème brulee for dessert. Yum yum! I’ve discovered I still have a lot to learn about kitchen “stuff”…apparently I bought the wrong type of fuel for my kitchen torch :P

After living in our condo for 1.5 years, we finally used our common room and bbq! We invited a bunch of friends over on Sunday for some good eats. I put my domestic skills to work and made spinach dip (always a favourite!), pasta salad w/a dill, olive oil and balsamic vinaigrette, Caesar salad (with the Earl’s secret recipe!), and an apple crisp w/homemade vanilla ice cream. Chris was the bbq-tionist, and he had the lamb chops, boerwors, and maui ribs grilled to perfection!

To end our busy holiday weekend, we joined Geoff & Sunny (and family) for a delicious hotpot dinner in Richmond. We were “cooking” up a storm…prawns, lamb, beef, enoki mushrooms, noodles, “balls”, wontons, assorted veggies! So, so yummy! Makes me want to do hotpot at home again…but I think I’ll wait a few more months.

wow, pne...twice in one summer!

what an eventful few days we've had! upon receiving nugget on saturday, we spent the weekend at the bay metrotown promoting PADS and showing off our trainees :-) we also went to earl's, superstore, save-on-foods, and we've been commuting on skytrain! tomorrow nugget gets to go on his first private boat ride :-) i'm hoping he won't jump overboard!

our most exciting event together was the puppy class field trip to the pne last night (great for training, socialization and assessing the dogs in public places). class was only an hour, but we ended up staying at the fair for 5 hours! i think everyone was out there last night...we saw chris' cousin natalie & grant with their daughter lula, rob & rachel and len & amy, and my co-worker kevin!

as for class...nugget was in doggy heaven! he was reunited with his sister, diamond, who he was staying with for the past 2 weeks. sisters - lucy and cary; siblings - magic, drake and spirit; and robo were all in attendance last night. we wandered through the barns to visit the farm animals (one puppy had a stand-off with a goat - i think the goat won), down the midway over to playland, and finished up in front of the haunted house ride. poor little lucy got scared right out of her fur by the scary monsters. i went over to say hi, and she just pressed right against my legs and tried to hide :-) so sweet! i don't think nugget wasn't too fazed by anything that happened, including the rollin' thunder performance at the end of the night. it was a long day for nugget, and we were all absolutely exhausted by the time we got home :-)

we're gonna be parents!?!?

hahaha! how's that for a catchy title? :-)

well, it's true. chris and i are making a 6-month commitment to raise nugget, a 9 month old yellow labrador retriever. we've puppysat him a few times, most recently after he was neutered this summer. he's by far our most favourite dog of all :-)

sooo, beginning this saturday he'll be with us 24/7! there will be the occasional weekend we send him off to a puppysitter, but other than that, he'll be going everywhere with us. that includes tackling some asian restaurants :P i think the hardest challenge for us will be the training. we'll be at class every tuesday learning new skills. chris and i will both have to be very consistent and persistent with him. we also have to locate the nearest off-leash doggy parks, so he can burn off some energy.

in addition to having nugget, i'll still continue my weekly puppycuddling at PADS, and we're hoping that we can still bring home a young pup once in awhile. there are 4 or 5 litters arriving at PADS in september through november, so they're going to need lots of volunteers. our little condo could get just a little crowded! but, the joy we get from the dogs is a ridiculously awesome feeling :-)

sidenote: i know i blogged awhile ago about volunteering with big sisters. however, after more consideration, i've decided to focus my love on the puppies. volunteering more w/PADS is also fulfilling my selfish desire to be around puppies more :-)

this weekend could also be the end of our social life! we might be slightly restricted to some of the activities/places we go to in the next 6 months, but the satisfaction of seeing nugget progress in PADS more than compensates for it. we met nicole, a recipient of a PADS graduate (leroy) at the walk on sunday, and she is so grateful that she has leroy. he had an operation earlier this year and was out of commission for a month while he recovered, and she was just lost without him. it is so heartwarming to see such a great partnership between people and dogs :-)

stay tuned for updates on me, chris and nugget!

phew, what a weekend!

on my friday off, we started off fairly early and headed over to granville island. we hit the market, walked around and enjoyed a lunch outside. mid-afternoon we made our way to white rock. i can't believe i've never been there before. we managed to find our way to crescent beach for ice cream and then we found the boardwalk/pier area and did some more walking. we were very lucky on friday and the rain held off :-)

it was fun to be a tourist in my own 'hood! it was also really nice to have the day off!


sunday was a very hectic day...we hit central park for the PADS 5/2 km walk/run fundraising event, where we would spend the day w/cary, my black labrador friend. unfortunately the weather was kind of miserable and we were surrounded by wet dogs :(

also on sunday we headed over to pris & dave's for a farewell bbq to stan, who's heading off to toronto for more school :-( dave is quite the webber-bbq master...i was super impressed with the pulled pork sandwiches...i actually ate too much pork and didn't have room for the caribbean chicken, maui ribs or boerwors. the grilled bananas and ice cream for dessert were really yummy as well. i'm inspired...i think chris should try to make those recipes as well :-) after all, we do have the same webber book!

being fully satisfied, we were off to chris' parents house for yet another bbq! this one was in honour of andrew (chris' cousin), who was visiting for 2 weeks from south africa. coincidentally, he had just celebrated his birthday earlier in the week, happy 29th! andrew has now reluctantly left vancouver, but he hopes to return in the near future...hopefully w/his wife and son in tow :-) my fingers and toes are crossed...he really wants his son to grow up in a safer environment than johannesburg. ironically, an opportunity has risen that might see me make the trek out to SA for a couple weeks in november. it requires a lot more research and thought before i jump into anything! it's been a busy year for travel...big white, the maritimes/east coast, and las vegas.















oh well, lots to think about right now. tough decisions ahead!

damn this cold!

i'm tired of being sick. it's just sucked the life right outta me! i also just don't have time to be sick either. for the next 2 days i'm going to be a tourist in my own city. i offered to show chris' cousin from south africa around vancouver, so i'm trying to think of rainproof activities for us. i'm armed w/the tourism vancouver guidebook, my entertainment book, and my imagination. wish us luck!

well, the weekend is finally over

i've been pretty miserable all week due to a nasty cold i caught after being in vegas. i blame it on the hot weather and cold air conditioning. it had NOTHING at all to do w/the sleepless night of playing pai gow!




anyways, another crazy busy weekend is over. on friday after work, i spent a couple hours chillaxing at the spa getting my french manicure and pedicure. with an event-filled weekend, i had to have my nails looking good :-) afterwards, chris and i joined stan and pris at nanchu for dinner. we shared a bunch of dishes including: gyoza, fried rice balls, udon noodles, ebi mayo, yakitori, beef tataki, etc. etc. delish!

on saturday, my sister-in-law melanie married ivan. to prepare for the day so i was looking my best, i headed over to blo to get my hair straightened. i was somewhat disappointed by the experience. the "stylist" only straight-ironed the "top" of my hair, not my entire head as my stylist at statik normally does. also, she didn't use my product to keep my hair in check either. bottom line, i ended up waxing my hair at home and the final product looked like any other hair day for me. i think i would only go back to blo for a totally different hair experience, such as an up-do or curls, which won't happen for awhile given my short hair :P

anyways, right after my appointment i walked over to beautymark to buy a heated eyelash curler. now, this is the best $22 i've spent in a long time. well, it's the best thing i bought since my kate spade handbag last week in las vegas :-) i could blog about my handbag for awhile...i quite like it. anyways, back to the curler...i have a fear of the standard eyelash curler...i'm always afraid my eyelids are going to get pinched in them, so i always pull back and nothing gets accomplished. w/the heated curler, i just apply my mascara, and then use the curler and gently manipulate my lashes into the desired curl. easy peasy!

finally, it was wedding time. chris was running around doing errands all morning, and then we made our way to the celebration pavillion at queen elizabeth park. it was standing-room only for the 20 minute ceremony. the wedding party looked great, albeit a little nervous. it must be a lok family thing - they just can't repeat words after someone...when chris and i got married, he messed up the lines he had to repeat after the minister, and then melanie messed up the similar lines she was repeating after the justice of the peace. hopefully whenever clarisse gets married, she can break the "curse" :-)

in hindsight, the rest of yesterday went by pretty quickly...i'm just glad our wedding day is long over. the nervousness, the stress, the excitement...it was weird though because some of the relatives we saw last night, we hadn't seen since our wedding day nearly two years ago. i felt bad because as we were receiving the guests, i couldn't remember anyone's names :P oh well.

i have to admit that i had more fun than i thought i would. it was great to see some of chris' old friends...mostly ben...that guy cracks me up :-) he kept calling chris "stains" after chris spilled red wine all over himself. by the end of the night my feet were sore, i was super tired thanks to my cold, and i had a very sick husband thanks to the alcohol - so sick that his dad and cousin from SA had to escort us home and help him inside :P

after chris overindulged at the wedding, we were off to church! yup, my cousin was having her daughter baptized. red-eyed and still somewhat sleepy, chris and i survived the 30 minute ceremony. bethany is just a super cute baby...she slept almost the entire time and didn't cry. the only time she was caught crying was about 30 minutes after we got to my cousin's house and i couldn't find the baby. in fact no one had seen the baby inside the house! crazy enough, bethany did leave the church in a car with 4 adults, and yet no one remembered to bring her inside! silly parents! no harm done...she was safe in the van inside their carport.

and now, i'm feeling slightly refreshed after a short nap, and chris is still sleeping away. it's been a really long weekend :P

vegas all the time, party all the time, gamble all the time :-)

ah yes, what a weekend it was! exactly 1 week ago, we headed down south to sin city. i thought i loved new york, but las vegas has everything a girl could want! food! gambling! clubbing! shopping! so much to do and so little time :-)

(thanks for the picture pauline!)

thursday night...angela, sandra, sharon and i had dinner at daniel boulud @ the wynn hotel. i started with the tuna tartare - delish! and for an entree i had the moules frites! double-yum! how's that for an in-depth food review?! and to burn off some calories after our filling meals, we walked along the strip and saw 3 performances of bellagio's water fountains. later that evening, i was in a gambling sort of mood, so i took ang and sharon to the TI casino w/me. one by one, i sucked all of the girls into my pai gow poker fixation - luckily there was a $10 table...low enuf to suck you in, but still high enuf to turn anyone into a gambler :-) that night, it was all about the girls...we took over one of the pai gow tables, and had a blast! we finally called it a night around 4:30 a.m.

well, after hearing about our win on thursday night at the casino, the rest of the girls wanted to play some more :-) on friday, after a day of shopping and some dancing at tangerine, we were back at the $10 pai gow tables! this time i had my gambler in crime, sunny, along for the ride. lady luck was definitely on my side this night...i hit the fortune twice with a straight flush! the rush of the first straight flush was inspiring, but the second one sent me right over the edge. at that point, there was going to be no sleep for me or sunny! so, at the bright hour of 7 a.m., sunny and i sheepishly made our way back to our hotel room to freshen up for breakfast and a day at the premium outlets. at that point i was just so giddy from my big win, that i didn't need sleep! or so i thought. by mid-afternoon, i was falling asleep on store benches :P at least sunny and i were in the same boat together, so we took a late-afternoon nap :-)

saturday evening was jam-packed...buffet dinner at bellagio, chippendales (ang did some serious booty-shaking!), clubbing at pure (the big celebrity was mr. belding from saved by the bell...however, coolio was also at the club but we had already bounced out by the time he showed up). and of course, no evening is complete without some more pai gow poker :-) seriously, who'd of thunk i could've gotten any luckier? well, i did! my 3rd straight flush of the weekend, plus i got paid out more money when the guy beside me hit a royal flush! yah, baby! all in all, it was a great weekend for gambling, and then on monday it was a great day for shopping :-)

and of course, all good things must come to an end :-( sometimes it sucks to have such a good time on vacation...after it's over, what do you have left to look forward to? it seems a bunch of us are suffering - physically, mentally, and perhaps in the wallet... but a good time was had by all.

i'm already trying to figure out when i can take my next vegas vacation...any takers?!

ready or not, here i come!

vegas, baby! even though i was in las vegas last year, i still get ridiculously excited about going again! i'm looking forward to a weekend of lots of fun for ang's stagette! shopping! gambling! eating! oh my :-)

that reminds me...i better pay my visa bill so i have room to shop...!

later gaters!