Pies For Rainy Skies

Welcome to Acme on West Hastings.

Shum and I had made plans during the holidays to hit up Acme together, but of course, I had to misread my work schedule and ended up having to cancel. I was super miffed. Shum's an out-of-towner now, and I thought I'd get to hang out with her during the holidays. I made her promise me not to go until we can go together. I'm demanding like that sometimes.

I was sitting in the lunchroom on my break at work yesterday, pondering over what I should do on my day off today. My last day off, Sunday, was spent cooped up at home because of the miserable weather outside. I thought today would be the same. Hmm... I spend all week looking forward to a day off, and that's how it'll be...

...then my phone buzzed.

I got a text message from Shum. "Are you off tomorrow?".

"Yup."

"Brunch??".

"What??? But you said the next time you're in town will be in February!".

She was in town to surprise her parents for the New Year. But I got the surprise just the same. I was ecstatic! And my would-have-been gloomy, miserable day was turned upside down.

That's Shum with her Italian sausage sandwich and her root beer float. 

"You're going to take a photo of the bottle, aren't you." Ahh, she knows me well. The Pop Shoppe. Have you seen it before? Cute bottle. 

After our brunch, we had to have pie. Acme is known for their pies. There was a great selection of it today, but we chose the banana coconut and the lemon meringue. Mmm...

To walk off the food coma, we ended up in PC. We hit up H&M and each found some loot to take home. Then, it was T&T next. 

 

I was there to see if I could find any Chinese New Year treats and swag on discount. Other people were rummaging through the sweets as we were. It was like we were teleported back to the 80's when we were young. "OMG, my mom used to buy these when we were young!". 

"I used to love these peanut candy!".

"Oh, look at these chews! I remember eating those too!". 

I swear all the see-lai's and retirees shopping on a Tuesday afternoon at T&T were all staring at us through all our excitement. We took our sweet time combing through every aisle and constantly had to refill our car meter with money. I was particularly horrified to see Horlick for $8. I was standing there staring at the product for some time. 

"When did it become $8??? Why is it more expensive than Ovaltine? Why is it in a glass jar now? So we have to pay more for packaging?? $8 for Horlick??". 

"Okay, we gotta go. You're starting to look a little crazy talking to yourself." Shum had to pry me away, but I dumped a Horlick in our basket anyway. 

It was pouring and miserable outside. But for rainy skies, there were pies. All in all, a wonderful day with my muffy sis. 

( We've been calling each other "muffy sisters" since highschool; when we bought matching ear muffs one crazy winter. Those were our teen years.)

Red Pockets

Who doesn't love red pockets?

Do you love these or... do you love these?? These are mine from this year. Hence the dragon ones. They are so incredibly pretty and cute.

This one opens up like a capsule. The envelope has a slip-on lid.

The other one flips open.

I love the loud red and gold and all its colours!

Gong Hay Fat Choy! - Or Is It Just... Fat?

Chinese New Years means lots of good food that you don't normally get. Came home from a night shift to some homemade pan-fried Loh Bak Goh (turnip cakes). Yummmm. Thank you, Yee Ma!

Chinese New Year - Year of the Dragon

This year was none other than special. Although I welcome change and updating, I am one sucker for traditions. Like last year , Dad wrote out his menu a couple days prior... and a huge, festive meal was prepared for the five of us. Even though it is always a ridiculous amount of food, and it becomes left-overs for several days, I still love the chance for celebrations. It reminds me how lucky we really are.

Grandma has her rituals when it comes to special Chinese days. She used to frequent the temples and such, but now, nearing her 89th birthday... she only has enough strength to do it all at home. With the smell of incense wafting through the air, it's an instant reminder that today is special. 

There is a certain way these tea cups, red chopsticks, and a tiny pot of wine is placed on the table. I've never asked what they are for, what they signify, and how it should be done. 

"Where is your menu?".

Dad whipped this out of his pocket. Told him to hold it while I quickly snapped a shot of it. He said it's not complete and asked if he should re-write it before my photo. Of course not. This has gotta be all raw. My parents don't know about my blog so they quite often why I'm taking photos of random, mundane things. Well, what only they consider to be mundane anyway. So, my dad asked, "Why are you taking a photo of it? Not like you know how to read it."

I proceeded to read out to him items three, five, six and seven. Hey, I did take about four or five years of Chinese school when I was a child. Not completely illiterate. Close, but not completely.

I swear I get my love for cooking from my dad. Even what seems to be a simple, family meal has all still to do with presentation. He must find it enjoyable, perhaps even stress-relieving. Or else... how does one find the patience to cut up slices of carrots and use a carrot-cutting mold to produce these amazing cut-outs?

And where does one find these Chinese carrot cutters? The circular carrot represents money. The other one is a fish. Both signifying luck.

These were in the dish of bamboo shoots and snap peas. I love love love the carrots.

Next up is a lot of people's favorite. Lettuce wrap. It was so incredibly messy... but so yummy. Normally, don't prefer it at a restaurant because it's so messy... but at home, I'm ready to dig in with all fingers.

This next one is one of my favorites. I love mushrooms. And this dish has three kinds. Hence its Chinese name, "Three Mushrooms." It's funny. You think it's because it's Chinese New Year, but really... my dad loves to present any broccoli dish in a circular fan on any given day.

And of course, with every special Chinese occasion, there has to be chicken and fish.

I am stuffed.

I love the facebook photo bombing of everyone's Chinese New Year's dinner. Everyone's big CNY meal are different but also very much the same. Same in that everyone's happily enjoying it with their families.

Happy Year of the Dragon, everyone! Wishing you all health, kindness, and happiness.

Click here for last year's post.

Winter Dessert

This is the winter dessert that I crave every year. It is black and doesn't look all that appealing, but it's herbally good. It comes to you heated and soupy, and as it cools, it becomes more gelatinous. On the bottom, there are sweetened beans to go with it. Mmm... it's absolutely soothing on a cold winter night. I've had it once this winter, and I'm already craving it again. 

Hot grass jelly. Mmm...

Jacky Cheung - Half Century Tour

I still remember a conversation I had with one of my coworkers from Victoria. It was days before I left Victoria, and each one of my coworkers took me out individually as a last hoorah. Terri and I went to Starbucks. As we sat there sipping on our coffees, Terri told me she bought tickets to the Nutcracker that Christmas. She was going to bring one of her sons. 

She said to me, "When you're about to buy something, think of the 10-10-10. How much will you like it in 10 days... will you still have it in 10 months... will you still remember it in 10 years." She then explained that she got the Nutcracker tickets not because she liked ballet. Her son will probably not remember the show. But, in 10 years, her son will look back and remember the day they went and the moment they shared.

Last week, after a long day of work meetings, I rushed home to pick up my mom. We went to Jacky Cheung's Half Century Tour. I had bought these tickets three months ago. Unfortunately, my dad had to work or he would have loved to be there too. Jacky Cheung is classic. Almost every Chinese person knows his songs. And his vocals are AMAZING... the range of his voice is true talent. Nonetheless, I wanted to take my mom to something I thought she may enjoy. Jacky is loved by all ages. 

Rogers Arena was packed. My friends were scattered throughout the arena also. We were either texting or facebooking each other. "OMG, sooooo excited!". To be honest, I was lookin' forward to listening to some of those old classics, but I wasn't really excited excited beforehand. But once I got there, I couldn't contain it. 

He made a super nice tribute to the late Sum Deen Ha. Really cute.

The lighting. The theme behind it. The songs. Oh, the songs... 

I loved it. I thoroughly enjoyed every minute of it. When it came to an end, it was bittersweet. I love Jacky! My mom, as I had guessed, loved it as much as I did. She came home raving about it to my dad. He laughed at her skippity-hop giddiness.

We were sitting in the nosebleed section. And the tickets were $129 a pop. But I'll remember this show 10 minutes from the show, 10 days after the show, 10 months... and in 10 years. For a mother-daughter night out? It was worth every shiny penny.

Sweet Treats Some More

I thought I would lay off the chocolates and sweets once the holidays were over, but...

 

We got these super yummy chocolates from Germany. Thanks, Julia! Whenever a coworker travels and comes back, we get awesome chocolate. That's Deanna, by the way. We slacked for all of five minutes to dive into those sweets and to take that mandatory silly photo of our excitement for good chocolate. (Deanna is my walking recipe book; mentioned a couple times already on this blog). Check out the Hussel website. So many pretty things! Germany, anyone?

That was at work. 

Then there were sweets at home.

Homemade baked goods. Thanks, Ming's coworker! Melt and soften it a little with the microwave, and they are amazing with a glass of milk. 

Ming ate his cold. "Oh yah, why didn't I think of microwaving it? ".

' Cause I'm S-M-R-T.

Thanks for all the sweet treats!

.... Gotta hit the gym.