Getting Christmassy!

December is flying by now and we're gearing up for our first Christmas together, as well as our first Christmas' away from our respective families.

I feel very organised for a change, I'm normally running around the week before crimbo but I've managed to get myself pretty sorted this year.

I think the fact that at work Christmas has exploded all over the store made me get my arse in gear to be honest! So December 1st I ran around town looking for christmas decorations, and managed to score myself a mini tree, decorations, lights and the obligatory chocolate tree decorations, then I ran home and threw them up enthusiastically and topped it off with our little flags we have left over from Canada Day back in July.

Our tree looks like this!

At the beginning of the month we were also excited to discover that filming for 'The Interview' movie was taking place just down the road, so we managed to get a glimpse of the set and James Franco in action! They'd put up a weird statue and had extras walking round in what looked like Korean Military costumes, and as you can see, loads of green screens around. We didnt get a chance to see Seth Rogen,but it was still pretty cool to see!

The set of 'The Interview'

And then work has been a bit hectic for us, with our schedules never quite matching up, Ian and I haven't had many chances to have days out together, so I dont have much interesting news to share.

As far as work goes, this is what the store looks like at the moment, stock everywhere!

Rocky Mountain Chocolate Factory!

Christmas themed caramel apples!

 

 

Candy Cane stir sticks ( I helped make these at Head Office last month!)

Showcase and Christmas stuffs!

The 3 foot Santa with creepy eyes... thats 25lbs of creepy chocolate right there!

Winter boots!

So yeah, Christmas is on my mind a lot. I recently sent out all my cards to friends and family in the UK ( I hope you get them soon guys!) And all I have to do now really is finish off a little shopping and plan Christmas dinner!

Yesterday we made an attempt at visiting the German Christmas Market but it was so bloody cold, we opted to go for a coffee and a reading session at our favorite coffee shop instead and then a TV day in bed, so that's something for us to do in the near future, I'll try and take loads of pics and report back!

I have lots to look forward to soon, with Christmas round the corner and my Dad's visit shortly after that (3 weeks today!!) and then we are looking into some travel further afield in the not too distant future so things are looking good!


To conclude, I have also added in a picture of my amazing winter boots, which I mentioned in my last post, and was requested a picture! I still love them, they keep me warm and dry and are crazily comfortable.

Enjoy!

Aaaargh, where did Fall go?

OK so I've been mega relaxed about blogging lately, and I suddenly find that Fall/Autumn/whatever you like to call it is on it's way out and winter is swiftly creeping up on us. The last 6 weeks or so have been mega busy for me, and blogging has slipped down the priority list in favor of eating/sleeping/doing fun stuff, but today I find myself with a quiet afternoon to sit back, sip green tea and write a little.

So. What have we been up to?

Well.

At the end of September we discovered the delights of Storm Crow Tavern, an awesome restaurant/pub type establishment that caters to the geekier side of Vancouver. The place has a huge statue of Cthulu, a ridiculously big stack of boardgames, posters and signed pictures scattered on the walls, with various memorabilia from pretty much any geek tv show/film/game you can think of. We got particularly excited at the signed photo of the cast of Firefly.

October was a bit hectic.


We discovered Sherlock's British Store in New Westminster, where we excitedly got meat pies in the cafe and then spent ages wandering round the shop attempting to buy something small that reminded us of home. In the end we opted for a drink each (Ribena for me and Ginger Ale for Ian) then a packet of Pickled Onion crisps each and a sachet of Angel Delight. (We only recently ate the Angel Delight, and oh my, childhood memories.)

Fall/Autumn started setting in, and the city started looking beautiful. This was taken just down the street from my apartment... I can't quite believe I live here sometimes.

In mid-October we visited Dunbar Haunted House with some friends of mine from work, and I've never been so terrified. We queued for abut 45mins outside, while characters in creepy costumes wandered around and posed with people waiting. I must say the costumes were amazing and pretty disturbing, they definitely got you worried for the main event. As we got to the front door and told staff we'd not been to anything like this before, they all gave us looks as if to say 'Good luck!' We headed in with the 2 girls in the middle and the 2 guys at the front and back, but that really didn't help. As we moved from room to room, characters jumped out at us from anywhere, and no matter where you were in the line they could get you. The theme was History of Terror, so each room was something historic, for example Egyptian, of a Black Plague Room. For me the most terrifying room was the last one, where a creature in a cage rattling bars and a character in an weird orange jump suit jumped out at me, and then it was finished with us being chased out by a guy with a chain saw. Ive never been so relieved to leave a building. Sadly this was the last year for Dunbar Haunted House, so I'm really glad we got to experience it, and hats off to all involved.

On our next day off together, Ian and I did the Grouse Grind. The Grind is a climb up Grouse mountain, and I'm not lying when I say it's one of the more exhausting things I've done. We underestimated how much of a hike it was going to be I think, but we enjoyed the day nevertheless and we definitely want to return to the mountain at some point soon. The hike up the mountain takes around an hour and a half, and then you pay $10 to get back down, or you can take the Skyride up the side of the mountain at an extra cost. At the top there a few places to eat, drink and take stunning photos (see below) as well as having extra entertainment in the summer. We were there off season so the only real entertainment left was the 2 Grizzly bears that they look after. We really enjoyed watching them as we happened to be around while they were quite active, and feeding on salmon, so we got great views of them. It made for a long and tiring day, but very memorable.

Images of our Grouse Mountain trip - October 23rd 2013

 

Next on the agenda was Halloween! I was scheduled to work, so had to dress up. I opted to go as a bloody surgeon so I got some doctor scrubs and a mask and sprayed them with fake blood. Working on Halloween was great fun, we had trick or treaters and creepy music, then wandering home in costume with all the other people dressed up. Some people go all out on Halloween, we spotted some great costumes, here's mine! (By this time the blood had soaked into the fabric so you couldn't see it as well :( )

More recently, we've visited Vancouver Aquarium in Stanley Park, which I loved as they have a jelly fish exhibition at the moment, and I love jelly fish! (I'm considering a Jelly Fish tattoo!)

At work things got really busy in November. (On the 5th Martin Sheen came into the store and everyone got really exhited!) But besides the celebrity thing, the store is quiet in November so some members of staff were asked to do some hours in our Head Office in Burnaby, where we would either be in production or packaging. I took the extra hours for Christmas monies and did some overtime as well, so I had a few weeks where I was working like a mad woman. Production was kinda fun, you got to make chocolate, I made some chocolate dipped candy canes which we recently got in our store, so I've nabbed myself a bag. Its pretty cool to sell things to people and be able to say, I made these! Packaging was mostly box folding or wrapping, hard work and longer hours made for a very tiring few weeks, hence the lack of online presence.

We also spotted a film set one evening, we think it was for the TV show Arrow - but we're not quite sure...

Ian in front of the film set!

This week we said goodbye to a colleague and her partner who were moving to Calgary, so we had a lovely evening out in Chinatown, where another colleague showed us around the area a little, told us a bit about it, and then took us for a lovely Chinese! (Even the weird bean/seaweed soup for pudding, which was...interesting.)

Now winter is soon upon us. I just bought myself some snazzy new winter boots, which I'm stoked about, and stomping around Vancouver like a lunatic.

And I found out a few days ago that my Dad is going to visit after Christmas for a few weeks, so I'm mega excited, as well as the fact its only like 5 weeks till Christmas!

Summer Photos!

I haven't posted a photo post in awhile, so here's a few of my favorites from the summer which I haven't shared yet.

Granville Street.

Stanley Park

Crossing Granville Bridge

Olympic Mural

Ian;s Birthday Cruise - up the Indian Arm!

Silver Falls

View of Downtown, from the boat.

Enjoying coffee and cream at The Templeton :D

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Sculpture outside the Science Museum

Mt. Pleasant

False Creek, September 2013.

Pokemon World Championships

The weekend after I started work, I found out the Pokemon World Championship event was being held in Vancouver. I'd actually known about it before we'd even left England and excitedly saved the website page for the event and made a mental note to visit. I'd forgotten all about it and suddenly realised on the preceding Thursday that the 3 day weekend event was starting the very next day, so we made plans!

Friday was mostly a day for competitors day to sign in and some qualifying rounds where being played, so we headed down for a quick look before work. It took us a little while to realise we were in the wrong building of the convention centre (we followed the crowd and ended up with a bunch of people signing up to do a half marathon, eurgh, not a Pokemon in sight.) Eventually we made it to the right building, and was greeted by this...

Awesome right?

Unfortunately the shop was only open to competitors that day, so we didnt get to look around, but we decided to head back the next day and have a look, I was very tempted to buy a t-shirt and geek up.

Then we headed into the main hall where the competitors where preparing to battle! We walked through the doors and wereastounded at how huge the event was! We really didnt expect it to be so huge and to have so many participants, and from so many countries. People came from all over the world. The Tournament was for both the Trading Card Game and the Nintendo DS version, so their where seperate areas for the two types of gaming, and they were split up into age groups, and paired off on schedules dotted around the venue.

There was so much to see, blow up characters, people dressed as Pokemon, a cinema section which showed episodes of the anime series, and even the trophies were displayed in a show case. We spent quite some time wandering around and taking in the atmosphere, reliving our childhoods and getting very nostalgic. (We later looked into getting Game Boys and some older generation versions of the game but my God, they cost a bomb out here! When we head back to England I'm definitely going to play my original Pokemon Blue, circa 1999!)

The Venue

The tournament trophies!

Sadly we had to leave before the real playing got under way as we both had work, but we vowed to return the next day to make the most of it, and I wanted my merchandise!

The next day the event was a lot bigger as it was more open to the public, and more competitive as quilifying was over and players were being eliminated. There were even some camera crews filming certain games and performing interviews, we spent awhile wandering again and taking in the atmosphere.

Then we queued for the shop, which took about half an hour, and I got more and more worried as we got closer to the front, as they appeared to be running out of stock already! They had a list of products which were only available at that one event and which were limited, and the longer we waited the more things were struck from the list. Happily I got to the front, and managed to get myself  my t-shirt, though they ran out of the size I asked for, so I bought a size smaller instead and it fits like a glove anyway, happy days! Ian then surprised me by getting me a lifesize Pikachu plush as well (soppy and lovable git that he is) which I adore. We have come to the conclusion that when we return to England, we will now require an extra suitcase to get him home.

When life goes nuts!

So I've been absent from my blog for a little while (almost a month!!) And a fair bit has happened in the last few weeks. (Imminent posts on a few bits and pieces we've been up to, but for now I'm going to write about why I've been so quiet!)

At the beginning of August I started my job at Rocky Mountain Chocolate Factory on Robson Street, and I got stuck in straight away. I very, very much enjoy my job, I found the first few days to be a little overwhelming (I've not worked in this environment before, and was mildly thrown in at the deep end, as I started during the busy summer tourist season) but I've settled in well, get on with everyone and now thoroughly enjoy it. My job entails selling chocolate, fudge, caramel apples and ice cream, being nice and friendly, and answering the same questions every day. 'How do you girls stay so thin?' 'Are you from Australia?' and 'Do you ever get used to the smell?' being the most frequent.

Rocky Mountain Chocolate Shop! Yaaaaay!

And then...

Around 3 weeks ago I ate a piece of our Rocky Pop popcorn, and felt rough as hell afterwards. I didn't think much of it at first, then a few days later Ian was eating walnuts, and within minutes of him opening the bag I felt rough again. And then later, I ate something with a Pecan it and boom, my throat swelled up and I had to go and sit down and I became quite wheezy for awhile. Turns out I have tree nut allergies.

I'm not entirely sure which tree nuts, it may be a few or all of them, but so far I've reacted to walnuts and pecans. Drowsy allergy medication is amazing by the way, on one occasion I took some and felt amazingly spaced out and giggly for an hour, and then spectacularly crashed and slept for 4 hours in the middle of the day. They really knock you out!

So for a good 10 days I felt really bad, and it seemed to worsen when I was at work. I had taken to doping myself up on non-drowsy antihistamines before my shifts. But for 2 weeks I felt awful and I was convinced being at work and breathing in the nut dust (our place is pretty nut orientated) was making me ill. So I handed my notice in.

Around 4 days before I was due to finish at work I realised that actually something was not quite right. I felt bad, but not allergy bad, more just throaty bad. It turns out I had/still slightly have but am fighting off, a post nasal drip (not very pleasant so I won't go into details - but if you're interested - it's this!) And it turns out some forms of antihistamine can make it worse, so I immediately stopped taking mine. 2 days later I felt blooming wonderful. I skipped into work and asked if actually please could I keep my job after all, and they told me yes absolutely. So now I am alive and well and keeping my lovely, awesome, wonderful job. I'm just not eating nuts.

On Wednesday we got our seasonal Halloween and Thanksgiving products. (Canadian Thanksgiving is on October 16th, so not long!) We have chocolate skulls, ghosts, mummy lollies, caramel apples shaped like pumpkins and turkeys and woooooooooo, I'm so happy and excited I get to stay.

I've been asked if I'm happy to be trained in closing the shop, so I will have to learn to balance the tills and take on a bit more responsibility, which I think is a great sign. I'm really, really happy (as you may have guessed!) and feel lucky to have a job I love! So now I'm throwing myself into working hard and also persevering in updating this 'ere blog! New posts in the line include writing about our visit to the Pokemon World Tournament and our recent trip into Mt Pleasant where we checked out a vegetarian restaurant!

Coffee Shops of Vancouver

So I've already written about Blenz in my Food (and Drink) for Thought, and recently covered Beaucoup Bakery in the Review: Beacoup Bakery and Cafe post but since we've been here we have covered a lot of coffee shops. We simply love coffee. We're a coffee kind of couple.

So here's my take on a few of the places we've visited recently and why you should or shouldn't visit.

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Trees Organic Coffee 

Trees Organic Coffee was an early discovery. We stumbled upon the branch on Granville Street and decided we had to give the place which lays claim to the 'Best Cheesecake in Vancouver' a go. Between us we shared a piece of chocolate cheesecake and it was simply delicious, at the time we thought it was a tad pricey hence why we only got one slice, but the serving was large even for the 2 of us, and came on a neatly presented plate with cream and 2 forks, so in the end I think it was pretty reasonable for what we got. In the first few crazy days of being in Vancouver I don't think I really took in how good this place was and it's taken us this long to realise we actually love it.

We recently went again, this time to the one on Richards and I tried the mocha, which was lovely, though I would say very sweet and chocolatey and not particularly coffeeish, it was more hot chocolate than a mocha. (Not necessarily a complaint if like me, you love chocolate!)

Then this morning we returned for another coffee hit. Ian got an espresso, which he says is probably the best he's had in Vancouver. I myself sampled the espresso machiatto, which was perfect, hitting that perfect balance between the intenseness of coffee with the milder, calming milk. I also attempted (Ian talked me into it I swear) a slice of cheesecake, and I somehow managed to eat the whole damn thing. Seriously check these guys out, we haven't had one thing we disliked and we'll be making it a  regular haunt.

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Revolver

After some considerable research we decided to visit Revolver as it is supposedly one of the best in Vancouver. We heard it had a yuppie sort of hippster vibe which some didn't like, but due to the incredible reviews on the actual coffee we were eager to try it out. On entering you're met with quite a stylized interior, with warm woods and contrasting cold metallic decor such as nails in the wall which are shaped like the continents of the world. On the shelves they sell coffee beans, and various coffee utensils for brewing at home, which are a tad pricey but pretty to look at. It feels a lot less stuck up than I'd anticipated and I was quite comfortable in my jeans and t-shirt.

Revolver has a limited menu with just a few basic coffees (see above!), along with taster flights and a few snacky type foods available. I wonder if having such a small menu means that they are able to perfect each one because I can honestly say their's is the best latte I have ever had. And I've been back 3 times to make sure. It's so drinkable I could drink about 5 in one sitting. One criticism some have mentioned is that drinks are served in glasses. I actually like this touch, it feels different and quirky, and I didn't find the heat of the drink affected my ability to hold the glass, as some people claim.

Ian's drink of choice here has been the macciato, and he say's Revolver's is really, really good. Not the best he's had but high up there. He also says the espresso's are great, and that if you were an espresso fan they'd be your idea of heaven.

Amongst the food we tried, the chocolate cake is delicious, its sweet, sweet, sweet and the most delightful consistency, quite thick but not too stodgy. Ian has tried one of their power cookies, which he enjoyed immensely, and we've also sampled the pecan pies slices, which are very tasty but a little on the small side in my opinion.

All round a great place to hang out, the staff really know their stuff and the latte's are INCREDIBLE.

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AGRO Cafe, Yaletown

So we tried out AGRO as it's flagship shop is pretty close to our apartment and it was well reviewed, but honestly this has probably been my least favourite so far. The coffee was nice, but it was just that nice. It wasn't horrible but also not much to write home about. The shop was pretty quiet, with just us and one other patron there, and the setting/decor lets it down. While the coffee is nice, and it's situated in the hip Yaletown area, the shop itself is just a bit...blah. It's kind of dull looking, compared to the others which have so much personality and life! In other coffee shops you can tell they have put effort and serious thought to how they want to be presented, this place seems pretty lacklustre. That being said the lady that served us was lovely and chatty, and we had nice art on our drinks, but really you can get a much better experience elsewhere.

 

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The Buzz Cafe

The Buzz Cafe is one of my favourite places. On our first visit I went for a Hedgehog Mocha (which I believed involves chocolate and hazelnut) and was delighted to be met with these beauties (see right!), before I promptly dived into mocha heaven. It was creamy, chocolatey and sweet and just yum.

I love this place for so many reasons, the staff are chatty and informative, the menu is extensive and caters to pretty much anybody, all the products we've tried have gone down a storm, and the places location and feel is amazing. I just love it. The place is situtated within an art gallery so not only do you get great coffee you get to look at beautiful art while you drink. The art makes for great conversation, and makes the place feel very relaxed, open and chilled out. It's easy to spend lots of time here.

On a hot day we popped in for cold drinks, and I tried a fruity shake named something along the lines of a Pamela Ander'Sun' which involved peaches, ice and I can't remember what else. But it was refreshing, cooling and ticked every box for what I wanted. On the same occasion Ian had the David 'Hazel'hoff, which I think was a hazel/coffee shake and which he immensily enjoyed too. We've also checked out the macciato's (yes, amazing!) and I've had the Rolo Mocha (nice, very sweet, but I didn't really get Rolo coming through as a flavour.) This place just keeps on giving, there are so many things to try, so much variety and is such a great place to just sit and chill out, we can and have whiled away many an hour here. Love it.

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So that's a wrap for now, though I'm sure we'll try new places soon! If anyone can recommend any new places they think we should try out, drop me a line!

Review: Beaucoup Bakery & Cafe, Vancouver, BC

Today is BC day, a public holiday that means most Vancouverites get a three day weekend.

But not for me!

I started my work on Friday and worked all weekend, with today being my first day off, and it felt like a well earned one I must say. This mornings lie in was heavenly! And then for breakfast Ian organised a trip out, as he'd heard great things about a bakery just south of Downtown, so we made it a thing for us to do.

We decided to walk as Google maps told us it would only take 30 minutes, and so far we haven't attempted walking across Granville bridge, due to my slight reservations about it. It's an intimidating looking bridge! But when you actually get on it, it feels really safe, and the distance is really reasonable, it turned out to be a short walk to the other side and the views of Granville Island and the harbour are beautiful.

We found our way to the bakery pretty easily, its nestled on Fir Street, about a 2 minute walk away from Granville, so really easy and a very doable distance for us from home. We wandered up to the cafe to find all the tables outside where filled, and once through the door we found the place was packed! It's a reasonable size shop, however the queue at the counter was impressive. We'd read that it gets busy, the place is so popular they regular run out of stock early in the day, so if you decide to check it out I'd suggest going in the morning. The business is young at only 8 months old, but apparently they are doing really well and continually growing and gaining customers, and I can see why. I did manage to grab a seat while Ian ordered and paid.

This is what we choose:

On the left, my plate with a Salted Caramel Eclair and a Peanut Butter Sandwich Cookie, and Ian's on the right, with 2 Cheese Scones.

First of all the Cheese Scones. These were incredible, and an item that was suggested as a must have! We got 2, as they were the last 2 in the basket and wanted to snap them up before anyone else did! They were delicious, with just the right amount of cheesey flavour, and a light texture which avoided the stodginess you sometimes get with scones. Simply divine! I had a taste but left the majority to Ian. Him being more of a savoury man means I got the sweets instead :D

The first item I tasted was the Salted Caramel Eclair. I don't even know where to begin with this. The pastry was light and crisp, and the Eclair was filled with cream and the caramel topping was crunchy, giving it a varied texture. The cream and topping hit my sweet tooth to the max, and the caramel flavour was exquisite. The salt on the top rounded the flavours off beautifully, I could have wolfed down another one immediately!

Secondly the Peanut Butter Sandwich Cookie, which was again, amazing. The cookie components where so beautifully soft, that when you bit into it, it almost melted in your mouth, while the rest of cookie still held together in your hand (just!). The crumbles of peanut butter and sugar granules added variety, the filling was smooth and sweet, and just the right amount to moisten up the cookie but not overpower it. The peanut butter flavour that came through was extraordinary, but without the sticking in your mouth sensation you can sometimes get with peanut butter, and it also provided a slightly salty taste to compensate for the sweetness. Such a lovely combination, I wish I could have eaten all of it! But alas, both the eclair and cookie together where quite filling, even for me, so I had to share, though I'm pretty sure I could have polished one of these off if I'd only had one item.



To end, we wrapped up our visit with an espresso for Ian and a cappuccino for myself. Both delicious and very well made (also quite speedily!) We would buy again.

Having read reviews and recommendations for this place, it really didn't disappoint, and we left with massive grins on our faces and a croissant to take home for later! (Which we later sampled and Ian said, and I quote 'Was the best croissant he'd ever had.')

All round, an amazing bakery, and we will definitely be returning to try other goodies out soon. I'm already eying up the menu!