Last Week of Van: Going Out of my Comfort Zone

Sorry for the delay :P I still have some old posts, such as the meals during the last week of classes...I hour I can get them out next hahaha.

I went to Luke's General Store on Hastings Street after I saw an Instagram post of sandwiches from The Acorn. Unfortunately, I didn't know that this food is only available during the weekend -__- So I got a dulce latte, even though I'm not a coffee person. It was actually kind of nice, but my breath and stomach didn't thank me afterwards. It wasn't overly sweet, and there wasn't too much foam (even though I like foam).

I also caught up with my Australian friend that I met through Jump Start in my first year. We went to Provence Mediterranean Grill, and I really enjoyed the food. It was pricey, but that's what fine dining is, lol. They served complimentary bread with anchovies and butter. 

My friend ordered the seafood linguine. Sorry, can't tell you how it tastes :P 

I got the risotto with butternut squash. It was thoroughly cooked, not too heavy or greasy, and surprisingly filling.

I finally went to the Vegan Pudding Co. I've been wanting to come here ever since Fatmine and I passed by it before it officially opened. The texture of the pudding is like pumpkin pie, and the Vegan whipped cream and pudding itself seem to be coconut based. If you like your pudding thick, this place makes their pudding thick :)

The rain was suuuper bad so we went next door to get more substantial food. I was quite impressed with these waffles (it's pretty hard to mess up waffle sandwiches). Sometimes the waffles can get a bit soggy, but even after several hours, the waffles still seemed OK. I had the avocado and egg breakfast sandwich :P They didn't put too much mayo, so there was a nice balance of flavors and texture.

Travel Bug: Vancouver -> Seattle -> Vancouver

This adventure was from a while ago D: Woops. This was when I went down to Seattle for my friend's funeral and came back up. 

Before I left, I went to Pearl Fever with Fatmine. I got Pudding Milk Tea :P mmmmm

When I finally arrived in Seattle, my dad and I stopped by Pho Hoa. Pho Hoa is super nostalgic for me. I used to come here before or after competitive swimming or Tae Kwon Do when I was young. Their menu hasn't changed too much, which is nice :)

My family also got to try an innovative place called Bangkok Basil. They told me about their avocado curry :D So I ordered that, haha. The noodle dishes are the Pad Woon Sen and the Pad Kee Mao, and the bottom two photos are yellow and avocado curry. The avocado curry is creamy and not too spicy :P I love avocado and curry, and putting them together is just amazing.

During my trip back to Vancouver, I finally had the chance to try The Wallflower, which is one of Vancouver's recommended places to eat. They're vegan and vegetarian friendly, which was a plus for me. I ordered vegan toast with tomato soup. I didn't realize how strong the flavors would be; I had to drink a lot of water to balance it out. The tomato soup had a lot of pepper, and the toast had a strong garlic flavor. It didn't taste bad, but if an entire meal has strong flavors, I feel like there needs to be something else to balance it out.

Birthday Week(s??): Too Many New Places

The last few weeks of November up until December were probably the busiest weeks for everyone, haha. I got to celebrate my birthday twice :P I'm old guys.

My friend, the Enochless Onmonster, got sick after eating at the Roaming Bowl. To be honest, it's not cheap and the food isn't amazing...but if you're walking to class, food trucks are just convenient. I still went here despite his bad experience, haha. I just got some cheap spring rolls to satiate my stomach before my three hour long biology lab.

I finally tried Loafe at the new Alumni Centre. I will warn you; this place is NOT cheap. It's super hipster, but your wallet will be empty if you come here too often. I got the only vegetarian option, which was brie with apples, arugula, and beets on toast. The flavors were amazing; brie always goes well with sweet flavors like fruit. The only things I didn't like were the soft apples, and the price ($9??). I understand that cheese, especially brie, is expensive...but really? $9....I recommend trying this place only a few times if you don't have a lot of money to spend.

Fatmine went to Lucky's Donuts on 49th without me...so she brought this back. It's a S'mores donut. The chocolate filling is really nice; it has a rich dark chocolate flavor. I had to eat this in a span of a week because the donut is way too rich.

For my birthday, I invited some friends over to Bubble World in Richmond. Taiwanese places usually have meat in every dish, so I'm not sure why I even chose this place xD I ordered hot ginger tea...many of my other friends got cold milk tea. To be honest, I felt kind of old...I feel like ginger is an acquired taste that many old people have, hahaha. Plus, I feel like milk tea is targeted towards younger people...lololol, don't judge me, I like ginger.

The following week, my family came up and I ate lunch with them. I didn't realize how tight my schedule was going to be. I had two hours of free time, but they flew by so quickly. 15 minutes before my lesson, I asked my server to have my food to go :/

These are the prairie grains that I ordered. It has a strong mushroom taste, and the poached egg makes it super creamy. I didn't have the luxury to enjoy it, but at least my viola professor gave me time to finish it :D He's awesome.

The Acorn was always a place that I've wanted to try, so I told my dad I wanted to come here for my birthday. I got even more excited when my viola prof recommended this place :P

The non-alcoholic drinks are something to try. I think all of them are good; if you come with friends, have each of them order at least one so that everyone can have a taste.

I got the Corn, which was corn grits in mushroom sauce and onions. It was flavorful, savory, slightly sweet...mmmm.

I also tried some of my brother's pasta, called the Herb. There was a lot of food; it was also very flavorful. I definitely have to come here again because the menu is seasonal :P Gotta try the other seasonal item sometime.

Seedlings For Life

Kinda wish Seedlings was open longer, and during finals...but it's volunteer run. Sighhhhhh

For this photo, I decided to try their granola balls, even though they're like $1.25 each. I saw someone steal like three of them while I was ordering O_O Why. C'mon now.

The tea is $0.75, and you can add milk and sweeteners yourself. They usually have soy, almond, 2%, and half & half.

Another day, I went to get the chickpea burger combo. More like a sandwich, but I ain't complaining.

This is the curry bowl. I really like the stew and curry bowl because the spices they use are just...oaei;rjdf.

New Places and Fall Flavors: Perch, The Soup Market, and Uppercase

Perch opens right at 11am and I got there right when it opened. Obviously, it was empty at this time.

Although some students complain about the price, I think they need to calm down. Perch is still considered fine dining, and it's a lot cheaper than similar places downtown. For the quality of the food, the price is pretty reasonable.

I got a ginger beer :P I liked how strong the ginger was, and the sweetness was subtle. This was good stuff.

I ordered a seasonal potato corn soup with crispy onions. I loved how my server poured the soup over the dry food, which kept the ingredients firm and crispy. The soup was magnificently smooth as well. Wonderful textures <3

I also got to try the new sparkling tea cider at Starbucks. It was quite interesting; the flavor from the and syrup came separately, which was pretty cool.

I finally got to try the soup at the Soup Market at the UBC Nest. It's super nice, and warms you up on a cold day. All soup comes with bread too; the bread tastes pretty fresh, and it's flavorful (from the herbs) and soft :P They also serve sandwiches here, but I haven't tried those yet.

I hung out with Fatmine while she was at her club table and I decided to buy some pumpkin bread and a mocha for her. She didn't want the pumpkin bread...so I ate it. No complaints :) It had crunchy seeds on the crust :P

Sugar Highs

Fatmine and I were going to study on the 18th floor...and I totally forgot about my building's dorm event. We made the worst candied apples ever. To be fair, their caramel was too milky, just sayin' :P

The funny thing was I bought apples from the grocery store, so after I finished the candied apple, I used my own apples to mop up the leftover caramel. Clearly, I ate a lot of fruit and processed sugar that day.

Before a performance, I went to grab dinner with my music homies. The veggie burger at Flipside is amazing. It doesn't stay together very well (use the paper), but it tastes so awesome. It has black beans, quinoa, corn...basically it tastes a bit like a typical black bean "Mexi" salad, but in a burger.

Also went to Liquid Nutrition again, and many regrets. I got the Green, which is not a sweet smoothie (just warning y'all). I don't mind the bitter taste...it's really an acquired taste. I'm also not going to spend $8 on this if I can make it at home -__-

Fatmine went to an event with free Nosh food. I am so jealous. This cookie was amazing...I prefer my cookies to be crispy, but this one was chewy...and I still liked it. I also didn't taste any baking soda (if they even used any. Some cookies still have a tinge of baking soda flavor). Someday, I'll go to Nosh...too many places....so little time.......

It's About Thai

Finally got to try one of UBC's new food trucks called "It's About Thai" (what a horrible pun, sorry xD ) Honestly...not the best pad thai I've had, and it's quite pricey. I paid about $7 for this, and I wish there was more sauce. I don't think the flavor was quite right; it wasn't tangy enough (even after I spritzed lime juice) and it was a bit bland :/ I have yet to try their curries though.

Also, I ate this during a fire drill. Oh UBC...

Biercraft and 720 Sweets

Biercraft is amaziinnngg, but it's not for broke college students, lol. For the burgers and mac an cheese, you're allowed to have fries, salad, or half of both sides. I really liked the veggie burger here, it was full of rich flavors :P My other friend got mac and cheese with beef. 

Even though we were stuffed, my friend insisted on ice cream..and she didn't want to share -__- She got the milky way, which has milk tea flavored ice cream :O That's pretty awesome. I got s'mores. My only complaint was the marshmallow...it tasted fruity, and it was only lightly burnt on one side. C'mon guysss.

Obviously, 720 Sweets is known for being super instagrammable (lol new word) because of the dry ice effect. Even though the ice cream doesn't fill the entire cup because of the dry ice, it's a lot of ice cream. Trust me.