Another Vancouver Post

So the reason we had early Thanksgiving was because I had a little trip planned to Vancouver to see Py, and look at what greeted me--snow! (Well, okay, actually this is what I saw when I woke up--the flight I take always gets me there in the middle of the night.) It was snowing pretty hard, as you can tell from this photo, and I was excited to see it as it's still in the 50s in NYC. (Not that I'm complaining!) Unfortunately, it rained the rest of the time I was there, which is fine, but not so great for photos (or walking around outside).


Nevertheless, we ate well, with some revisits to favorite places like Honjin Sushi and Alpha (mmmm garlic pepper tuna). We also checked out Gyoza King (where the food is great and the signs are hilarious, I especially liked their options for smokers) and Campagnolo, another keeper. I had a great pizza there, and if I had had room, would have gone for the zeppoles--alas. Next time, maybe! Of course, the egg tart above has nothing to do with any of those restaurants; I picked that up at T&T, an awesome Asian grocery. Oh man, their bakery section is amazing! And the people who work there are soooooo much friendlier than at the NYC equivalent (where they are surly at best). They had like 18 types of pineapple buns! Egg tarts (Portugese and regular)! All kinds of seafood, including lots of different kinds of fishballs! The egg tart was yummy, but of course, not quite as awesome as the one we had in Macau. Anyway, I love this supermarket and could spend hours there.


I did get to drop by Kimono Koi Crepes, which I had found out about from Panda Fresh Bakery (sadly, I did not get a chance to visit them this time--sniffle, I really wanted to try their pumpkin pie croissant!!!). It was a really rainy day, so you totally can't tell, but their cart is bright pink. It's very girly AND it's got plastic food models. (It's parked on the corner of Georgia and Granville.) And of course, the proprietors are super friendly (a theme of this city, I find).


After extensive evaluation of the menu, I went with a brownie banana crepe; mounds of whipped cream, banana slices, nutella drizzle, a chunk of brownie, sprinkles, and a strawberry Pocky, all rolled into a crepe. Over the top? Definitely. Delicious? Yes! A bit rich, maybe, but this is an indulgence, not an everyday kind of thing (they do have savory options, too, which sound like they would make a good lunch). It was much prettier when I first got it, but since it was raining, I took it back to the apartment to eat in comfortable dryness, so it's a bit messy looking.


And then over the weekend we discovered an event that is pretty much designed for me: the Bakers Market! It's only on for two more weekends but if you like baked goods at all (and are in Vancouver) you must go! It's so great! If I lived in Vancouver, you can bet I would be there selling stuff. We ate a lot of samples, and, as seems to be a theme in Vancouver, all of the bakers were super friendly.


I wanted to buy pretty much everything I saw, but restricted myself to this pack of macarons from Für Elise Patisserie and a bag of parmesan rosemary shortbreads (which I forgot to take a photo of) from Bah! (what a great name, huh?) Actually the shortbreads were for Py, but we shared :) I kind of hope they make this a year round event so the next time I'm there, I can check out some more yummy stuff.


And since the Olympic Village was right next to the Bakers Market, we went to go check it out. It's a fairly uninteresting block of apartments (apparently quite controversial) but there are, inexplicably, two enormous bird statues in the courtyard. I'm pretty sure they are planning to destroy Vancouver...

Another fab trip, if way too short. I am really bummed to be back, but at least December is a really busy month, then Py will be here for a visit, woohoo!