Tag: Vancouver

Outdoor Movies – A Vancouver Tradition?

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Hey all!

After three years since I moved back to Vancouver, I finally went to my first summer outdoor movie event!

My friend Connie asked if I wanted to go to their Lion King showing. It was a Disney movie, so how could I say no? 😛

Those gaps you see between groups of people and blankets? Yeah, they disappear as it gets later.

We arrived at Stanley Park at around eight o’clock, and the designated field used for movie watching was already more than half full! We laid out our blankets and tried to take up more space around us as our friend were running late. Of course, with these events, it was really hard to actually reserve a spot, so we soon found people cutting into our space. However, we did manage to squeeze in our three other friends who later arrived. I went and bought an overpriced burger from one of the food trucks nearby (Triple O’s), and got back to our blanket-claimed territory just as the movie started.

The two food trucks. I am surprised there are not more… Triple O’s were so overwhelmed you had to wait in line for 20 minutes

The Lion King!

The great thing about these movies is that they wait for the sun to set before they play it– or else no one would really be able to see the movie, which was projected onto a huge inflatable screen. So you get total silence from this crowd of several hundred, sitting under the stars on a cool summer night, all enjoying as the movie unraveled itself. It was a different experience.

I loved that whenever an amazing scene ended (e.g Simba running back to Pride Rock to claim his destiny), the audience would cheer and clap. It just really added to the atmosphere. What was even cooler was that it would always start with a small group of people cheering, then you hear the cheer ripple outwards until the whole field was cheering.

Tips for outdoor movie watching?:
-bring your own food
-if you are saving spots for a friend, bring a big towel/blanket, or else no one will take you seriously
-before you sit down, make sure there isn’t a speaker in your line of sight, or you will have to live with that throughout the movie
-bring a flashlight if you are leaving early/a lot later than the crowd (if you go to the Stanley Park venue) because it gets really dark
-get there early if you want good seats. However, we went pretty late (approximately 1 hour before it started) and we got a seat two-thirds of the field away from the screen and it was still a pretty decent seat since the screen is quite large and there are a quite a lot of speakers surrounding the field.
-do not sit in the middle of the field if you have to leave early. It really sucks when Timon and Pumbaa are in the middle of their Hakuna Matata song and you see this huge blanket/pillow-ladended person trying to carefully (and very slowly) make their way out of the field.
-cheer and clap 🙂 Help make some noise!–When appropriate of course…but we did hear someone shout the following when the scene played

I had a really positive experience altogether, and I would really encourage you go out and watch one of the many movies that they still have yet to show! I mean not only is it fun, but it is also free! What are you waiting for?!

More info here.

-Karen

Strawberry Picking– It’s a lot harder than it looks

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Hey there!

Yes, it has been a very long time since I last visited WordPress. It seems like the longer I was away, the more I was hesitant to come back. But then I realized how much I miss this, so here I am again! 🙂

So last week, my friends and I went to Abbotsford to go strawberry picking. I remember hearing stories about when my parents were still dating, they’d go strawberry picking in Toronto. They always said how much fun it was, and how cool it was to pick your own fresh strawberries. My friends and I then decided that since we were not doing much anyway, we will go on a small roadtrip out to Abbotsford and go strawberry picking. We bought a pass for the farm, which included their petting zoo, wagon ride and mazes.

After waking up bright and early (and an hour or so drive), we got to the Maan Farms.

I loved the fact that the first thing I saw was a red barn-like structure that everyone associates with farms. I think I have been to farms before, but that was when I was still in elementary school and we went for pumpkin picking with our class. Anyway, we explored around a bit as we did not want to pick strawberries yet, or else they will just get gross when we leave them for long periods of time in the car. We first went to the playground. They had a wooden slide. Yeah, wooden. At first we were thinking you would have to be crazy to  slide down a wooden slide, but then we saw the burlap potato sacks they left around the base of the slide which you are supposed to sit on while sliding down.

William on the wooden slide!

Afterwards, we decided to look for the mazes. It said on our tickets that we were allowed to use both their mazes. In my head, i was ready for crazy labyrinths of tall green hedges. You can guess I was disappointed when it turns out it was just a ‘rock maze’. What is a rock maze? Well to me, it seems like they just placed rocks on the ground, tracing out a path, ultimately making a ‘maze’. I do not think I have ever been in a satisfying maze. I remember when I was living at the Hong Kong Disneyland hotel and they also had a maze behind their hotel. I, again, had my hopes up, seeing the brochure depicting a Mickey Mouse-shaped maze, formed out of green trees/plants of some sort. When my sister and I got there, I realized this maze was made for small children, so the height of the bushes reached my  knees. Fun.

The wagon ride was enjoyable. It was short, consisting of ten minutes or so of driving up to the haystacks on the farm, offering a view of the whole of Abbotsford, as it seems this farm was on some sort of hill. It was a beautiful day of 25 degrees, so the view was spectacular. Not a cloud in the sky, and you could see snow-capped mountains in the distance.

Us on the wagon, after the ride 🙂

Finally, it was time for strawberry picking. I imagined it would be very relaxing, digging for perfect little strawberries, enjoying the nice weather. Boy was I wrong. The first several berries I picked, I was very particular about. They had to be the perfect shape, size and colour. Eventually, after another twenty minutes in the blazing hot sun, I just dumped whatever looked edible into my  basket. Plus, since strawberry plants were so short, you had to bend down or squat down in order to pick them. Believe me, after a while of kneeling and standing up repetitiously, you start seeing dark spots everywhere. Also, finding strawberries were no fun either. Old strawberries were left on the plants to rot, since it will fertilize the soil again. So you end up touching some pretty gross, mouldy strawberries. Some strawberries were so old that if you moved them, you realized they were dust and they kind of just float away as grey ash. That is when I came up with the conclusion that strawberry picking is hard work.

Strawberry patch @ Maan Farms

The strawberries!

After what seemed like forever, we were all done with our baskets and we went back to the car, finally leaving Maan Farms. We went several more places after that, driving across Langley, Surrey, stopping near White Rock to watch the sunset, visiting the Peach Arch just to stand between the Canadian and American border. You can guess that I was exhausted at the end of the day. We ended off our adventure by visiting the Richmond night market. We got there just as all the food was going on sale since they had to close for the day. I did not even know they did that. So we ate a bunch of unhealthy, but delicious and cheap food!

Under the Peach Arch on the Canadian side 🙂

And for the past week, I have had an endless supply of strawberries sitting in my fridge. They were delicious! I guess it is true– if you work for something, the fruits of your labour always tastes better.

Ah, this has been nice. 🙂 I missed this blog! Hopefully, I will see you again soon!

Karen

Various Vancouver food reviews

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Hey everyone 🙂

So I am officially done first year (as in all my final marks are out for my classes at UBC). I probably will sit down properly and write a post about reflections, just so I can look back and remember how/what I felt, as well as it being able to serve the purpose of being a possible reference to future first years!

It saddens me to say “YAY! I am currently on my summer vacation”– yet there’s only two more days left till I have to start school again. Sucks does it not? Oh well, I hope my summer courses go fine and will help lessen my workload next school year!

Moving on to what I have been doing for my week and a half of break.
What I basically did was eat out with different groups of friends, and caught up with them. I thought I was going to get some exercise in this break, but I just ended up eating a lot. Woe is me.

There is not much to do in Vancouver except eat. Even if you happen to have a day of sunshine, there really is not much you can do when you are under 19. I cannot wait to turn 19 and explore whatever parts of Vancouver I previously could not! Sadly, my birthday is in September, so the exploration cannot happen this summer :(. What many of my friends and I usually do is meet up somewhere to eat and chat. Below is my reviews on the various places I chowed at around Vancouver!

 

1. Milestones
This was the first time I have ever been to a Milestones, despite it being a relatively common chain restaurant in Vancouver. The occasion? My friend’s birthday! The staff was tolerant of us moving around their tables, getting it so that the birthday girl could see and interact with everyone. The food was good, not amazing, but still a good meal. Of course, prices are slightly higher at Milestones, as they offer a nice environment for you to enjoy your food. What was pretty cool was that we got a view of the ocean, since we were at the Milestones at English Bay.

I got the Chicken Californian Burger, as well as a Miami Ice for a drink. Burger was good, but too big for me. I ended up not finishing my fries. The drink was gross, mostly because of the mint leaves. I loved the mango ice tea side of it, but the mint leaves eventually became too overpowering. I was pretty jealous of one of my friend’s seafood salad because it looked delicious! There was a variety of seafood scattered on top of the salad, and just looked really yummy.

Overall rating for this place: 3/5
The rating is mostly due to the price, since their quality of food is decent, but again, not amazing. Hey, I am a poor university student. But since it was my friend’s birthday, I will go with the flow 🙂

Chicken Californian Burger with curly fries

Miami Ice…could have done without the mint leaves

 

2. George
This place is a little win bar situated in Yaletown. The Real Housewives of Vancouver had a brief shot of two of the housewives having a drink there. Do not ask me why I watch that show. It makes me want to claw my face out. But again, it is pretty cool to see a show set in the city you live in.

My friend chose this bar as the venue of his small birthday get together. The menu consisted of a very small selection of food. There was two pages of food, each page listing around a dozen dishes or so. This included appetizers, entrees, main courses and desserts combined. Their wine and alcohol list was very extensive, having two menus full of names I have never heard of. I cannot rate their wines/alcohol since I am not legal yet and cannot try anything, so this review will mainly be on their food.

The selection, as I mentioned before, was very narrow. I got their Albacore Tuna Nicoise. I hate beans, so I asked the waitress if they could substitute some leafy greens for me instead, which they promptly did so. I really liked my salad, and I fell in love with the tuna. I have always had a thing for smoked salmon, and the tuna had the same great smoky flavour to it! Yum! I mostly went for the salad because nothing on the menu really appealed to me. I do not think this is a place one would choose to go to for food, but since I am not yet legal, I did not have that great an experience there.

Overall rating: 3/5
I like the ambience of the place, but I may have to return when I am legal so that I can try out their drinks!  I would also prefer to sit outside next time, since they have a nice heated patio!

Their albacore tuna nicoise

 

3. Pho Tan (Kerrisdale)

My mom and I love vietnamese pho, so on one of our walks around Kerrisdale, we decided to go to this place for lunch. It was full when we got there (it was around 1pm), so we had to wait a bit for a table. Luckily, the wait did not take too long and before we knew it, we had our hot bowls of pho. I got beef balls and rare beef, while my mom got beef brisket. I do not think I could ever hated pho, so I quite enjoyed my lunch here. It is relatively cheap (you can choose whether you want a regular or a large bowl of pho and you can even choose to add extra things in it– all priced accordingly of course), and once lunch rush was over, a nice place to just sit and enjoy your lunch. I was really full by the time I left, and I had an overall good time.

Overall rating: 4/5
Not much to justify except that I am biased towards pho! 😛

 

4. Oyster Rawbar
My friend and I decided to satisfy our oyster cravings, and after I did a little researching, we decided to reserve a table at Oyster. This place is easy to miss, as it is hidden inside the old stock exchange building. It is also super small, having only two tables for small groups, one longer table with high stools, and seating in front of their bar. To get a sense of how small this place is, I will quote my friend: “I am pretty sure my room was the same size or even bigger than the restaurant.” And no, she does not live in a gazillion dollar mansion.

What attracted us was their Buck a Shuck deal. We would be able to satisfy our cravings without destroying our wallets! Again, we are poor university students.  We ended up ordering loads of oysters, flagging down the waitress whenever she walked by. They gave us a small tray of condiments and toppings for us to customize our own oysters, and with that we shovelled them down our stomachs. The oysters were a little small, but we both agreed that it was a place we would return to. What you will have to watch out for is the fact that it is a small, yet semi-popular joint. Their small staff can only shuck so many oysters at once. My friend and I would have to wait around 20 minutes for them to serve us our orders. Keep this in mind before you go and as you are ordering.

Overall rating: 4/5
Loved the cosy atmosphere and cheap oysters. Again, they had a more extensive alcohol menu, but I could not sample it. I will most definitely be returning though!

Inside the small little restaurant

I can feel my oyster cravings working up again..

 

5. Toyama
Two friends and I wanted to catch up, so we decided to look for a place where we could sit down, eat and talk. We googled a bunch of places, but in the end we decided to try out this late night all-you-can-eat japanese restaurant. Late night ayce places are common in Vancouver, but since the one at Toyama started at 9pm instead of 9:30, we decided to give this place a try.

We were not expecting quality japanese food– who really does when going to ayce? However, the food was not bad. They had interesting dishes in there, such as Octopus in garlic butter and fish balls on skewers. I really liked their fried salmon belly! They had the usual nigiris and rolls, and barbecued meat. Drinks and sashimi costed extra, as did their ice cream.

One thing I did not like was the fact that despite arriving at 9:15pm, they were ushering us out of the place pretty soon. It was not due to the fact that they lacked seats, but it was obviously because they wanted to get off work. We ended up feeling like they kicked us out in the end.

Overall rating: 3/5
I have had more relaxed ayce experiences, but the food was still decent and they had a wide range of food.

Could not find a non-instagramed picture, so this one is oddly sized…

 

6. Gyudonya
This was not the first time I have been to Gyudonya, but I must say, it was the first time I had such bad service. That aside, this place is still a good place to eat. They have a variety of japanese type toppings they put on rice. It is very similar to Yoshinoya in Hong Kong, where they give you beef on rice. It is a good price for a bowl that will definitely fill you up. You can choose what bowl size you want. However, this is not a place I would recommend if you wanted to sit down with your friends. It is the epitome of fast food, where your food arrives within three minutes of ordering, and everyone sits in slightly uncomfortable stools aimed at getting you out of there once you are done with your food. Also, if you were done shopping, or it was just a rainy day so you are ladened with various bags or coats, it probably would not be the best choice. There really is no place to put your stuff.

Overall rating: 3.5/5
Good and fast food, but not the best place to settle down for a nice meal.

The chicken and beef rice bowl

 

7. Japadog
I had my first Japadog today. Yeah yeah, I know you just gasped if you are a Vancouverite. Instead of going for their other wacky flavours/toppings, I went for their original Terimayo, where a sausage is placed on a toasted bun, topped with teriyaki sauce, japanese mayonnaise and seaweed. I thought it was really good taste-wise, but highly overrated. Maybe it is because I am asian and these sauces are not new to me, but I expected something more. All Vancouverites have tasted Japadogs, and I was told it was one of a kind and super delicious. Guess my hopes were too high?

What is a Japadog? Well, it does not take a genius to realize the word is just a combination of the word “japanese” and “hot dog”. And that is basically what it is– Japanese style hot dogs. They are more expensive than the ones you would find from your regular street vendors, but they have a huge wacky variety of toppings. To name a few, they have kimchi, dried shrimp and noodles (yakisoba). Definitely not your regular hot dog, where the craziest dogs would just be cheesy or spicy in flavour.

Overall rating: 3/5
I hope I will one day pass by again and be able to try out their other hot dogs, but I still feel this place is overrated. However, if you are not asian, it is a must try, and I can understand why it is so attractive 🙂

The Terimayo Japadog, also known as their original one

So that is all folks! After a good several pounds gained, and my wallet significantly lighter, I would say I put my break to semi-good use. My stomach had a good time anyway 🙂

-Karen

Not with a bang, but with a fizzle– Kony 2012

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It was 4/20 two days ago, and although you may be thinking that I was here to talk about a certain type of green plant, that is certainly not the case. I am sure if you are here reading this right now, you definitely have not been living under a rock for the past several months and have seen the Kony campaign video.

I remember when I first watched it and my eyes teared up. It was an excellent 30 minute short film that tried to get as much through to the viewer as possible, using simple concepts and language. It was a campaign that encouraged everyone to help make Kony famous so that his children army will be no more. Kony recruited children for his army, snatching them from their houses and forcing them into carrying guns. This campaign called for awareness, and encouraged everyone around the world to participate in an event named “Cover the Night”, where everyone would help plaster posters all over the city so that the public is made aware. This event was to occur worldwide on April 20th, 2012.

However, I have learned about the Lord’s Resistance Army and Joseph Kony a good 2-3 years ago while taking a course on Social Justice. It was not new news to me and I had background information on the event. That is when I realized those lacking background on the topic was really only given a shallow view of the situation. What really hurt the campaign was ultimately bad public reception. Of course, after first watching it,  everyone was shocked and touched by the video, allowing the short film to go viral and spread to all corners of the earth within several days. There was a time when I could not open my Facebook without seeing some sort of reference to Invisible Children and their campaign.

What made me a bit scared was how fast everyone reacted positively and everything was set in motion unquestioningly. On around the third day of public recognition, things started to go wrong for Invisible Children. You can see how people on Facebook were starting to doubt the campaign and started to question how their funds were used. (Link) Of course, Invisible Children fought back, explaining why only around 30% of funds raised went to direct services. I was relieved to realize people were not blindly accepting whatever they were exposed to, and managed to look into the details. (However, it is also due to public media that caused everyone to jump on the bandwagon towards skepticism.)

The other factor that brought this campaign to its fall was Invisible Children’s founder Jason Russell. Apparently, due to malnutrition and exhaustion, Russell resulted in acts of public indecency (including masturbating in public) and public disturbance. (link 1, link 2) This gave the organization and campaign bad media, encouraging even more distrust to arise. Of course, comedy websites such as 9gag started creating memes towards this event and only caused more ridicule.

So April 20th has come and gone, but downtown Vancouver, as well as the UBC’s Vancouver campus, is anything but covered in Kony awareness posters. I saw three posters around the UBC bookstore while I was waiting for it to open so I can get my monthly U-Pass. I have not been downtown, but according to the newspapers as well as friend’s observation, there was a lack of action. Apparently, a group of 17 did show up downtown and did their best to “cover the night”. With more than 21,000 people clicking the “join” button on the Facebook event, Invisible Children definitely expected more than the 17 who showed. What made me sad was that Invisible Children sent Lindy Bateman and her group of five volunteers, all the way here to help organize the event. Although they were volunteers, their expenses were paid by Invisible Children. (Link) Similarly, another 16 teams of the link was sent out to various parts of North America.

Whether it was because April 20th was a day where everyone got preoccupied with cannabis, or whether it was due to Coldplay being in Vancouver, “Cover the Night” lacked public support and ended with not a bang, but a fizzle. What did I learned from this whole ordeal? The public is easily persuaded to believe one thing, but can be equally receptive to new claims that arise. I agree that the search for Kony is important, and can save many who has to live in terror. I am disappointed with the way this campaign was carried out and its ultimate failure. Hopefully, people do not get too caught up in the fact that this campaign itself was a failure, but also realize that underlying all this is the fact that the LRA still exists and children’s lives are getting affected. One good thing that Invisible Children ultimately managed to accomplish was awareness– whether it was positive awareness is up to debate.

To read or not to read?

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The second season of Game of Thrones premiered on Sunday! My friends and I had a little premiere of our own at Monica’s house. At first, we were going to cook food inspired by the books/ TV show, but since it was the last week of university and everyone was super busy and preoccupied, we ended up going to Safeway to choose Game of Thrones-like food. Basically, we bought roasted chicken, loads of bread, bread dip, salad, cheese and sausages. Very Westeros-esque? Well, we tried. Oh and to add to the authenticity, we ate with our hands and dressed up.

Our take on food from Westeros. Thank goodness for Safeway!

I attempted to dress up as Irri...

The first season of Game of Thrones corresponded to the first book in George R.R Martin’s A Song of Ice and Fire series. I watched the first season before moving on to reading the books and I did not like that experience. I then read the second book, and am now on the fourth book (which for some reason, I cannot get past. I keep putting it down because I can’t seem to get absorbed into it). After watching the first episode of season 2, I can now safely say I definitely prefer reading the books before watching the TV show.

IT BEGINS!

I think one thing that annoyed me to watching the show first was that it robbed me of my chance to create my own interpretations of the characters and setting. While reading the first book, I already had premade images of who the characters were and where they lived. For the second book, although some characters were in the first book and I did not get to mentally create them myself, there was still lots of new characters and settings. I found it really fun to watch the second season and realize certain scenes were just as I imagined, or even the opposite—they were nowhere near what I had in mind!

Although creating my own characters based on what I read is, in my opinion, one of the most important part of the experience, there was also a negative part to reading the books first. As I was watching the season two premiere, I realized I knew what was going to happen next. It was as if everything was spoiled. I hate knowing how something is going to end before I watch it. But despite this, I still enjoyed reading the books first.

On a similar note, I watched the Hunger Games with a bunch of friends the day after it was released. I have already read the whole series well before the movie was even announced, so I found that I had forgotten a lot of the plot. However, as I sat in the cinemas watching the movie, I found a lot of bits and pieces were coming back. And then I remembered how the series ended and I actually started crying in many of the scenes that reminded me of the ending. People were obviously thinking I was crazy because the scene that was playing was not even sad. But for me, I kept thinking about the ending and thus wept. Story of my life.

My opinion towards the Hunger Games movie is that it was really well made. A lot of movies end up deviating quite a bit from the book and making a lot of changes. I thought this movie stayed well on track and kept changes to a minimum. Along with Holes, I would say the Hunger Games were one of the movies that allowed for a pretty accurate portrayal of the book.

So what is your take on the topic? Book first or movie first?

-Karen