I had a hard time finding the Stone Grill Restaurant on Granville, but after walking about town, I found it just under the Granville Street bridge, overlooking False Creek and Granville Island.
Upon ordering my steak dinner, I realised the significance of the name of the restaurant. Slabs of raw meat was brought before me, sizzling on a brick of hot hot stone. This was certainly a unique dining experience with a memorable presentation. While I thought my steak dinner was delicious (mainly because I had to cook the raw meat myself on the stone grill), I didn't like the fact that I had to grill it myself. I came in with an empty stomach and almost had no patience to stare at my not-yet-ready steak in front of me. Oh, I'm sure I was watering from my mouth! Meh, I'm just complaining for the sake of complaining about something trivial, just to show some sort of unbiased and balanced report like food critics usually do. It was good! At $35, however, I was also paying for the great expansive view.
What brought me to the Stonegrill, of course, was an invitation from Jeffrey Chow (CS Profile: CANYOUDIGIT13) to come out to his 20th birthday anniversary party with his large number of friends. There must have been around 20 - 25 people there when I arrived. More friends of his dropped in and out right up to closing time at midnight. It was nice to meet Jeff's girlfriend Emily as well. Like the last time we met back at Hon's restaurant on St. Patty's Day, we were playing "MovieLines" trivia, quoting a line from a movie and identifying the name of the movie associated with it.
Before moving around to other parts of the table meeting and greeting new people like the social butterfly that I am, I was having a lively discussion with Jim Qiu, a Shanghainese, about the cultural differences between China and Canada. Our discussion branched to discussing about the whole anime thing that's all the rage in Japan and globally, and included others around our table to put in their two-cents.
It was a great social evening.
Jul 31, 2006
Jul 23, 2006
Cowabunga Cowichan!
Took a last minute trip over to the island this weekend, and brought Steve over for the ride. We took the Horseshoe Bay ferry over to Departure Bay in Nanaimo (my first time taking this ferry) and spent the night at a Travel Lodge on Saturday. Just after dining out at the Red Room Tapas Restaurant, in which we were "entertained" by a lounge/jazz quintet on stage, we walked across the street to the harbour to catch the fireworks inaugurating the 40th Annual Bathtub Race that was set to begin the next day. I guess this is what small town folks do for fun. In our drive around Nanaimo, we couldn't find anything of great interest.
Jen caught the ferry over the next morning to join us for tubing down the Cowichan river. She had taken the early morning ferry, however, and arrived at our hotel hours ahead of schedule. She had a friendly lady offer her to take her from the ferry terminal to our hotel as well, which saved me from having to fetch her myself.
The drive down to Duncan before making a right westbound towards the river was nothing spectacular. Once you've seen fields of burnt grass and dirt, you've seen them all.
I was trying to co-ordinate with Jamie, James, and the VSC so that we could all go tubing together, but they were still well behind us and we didn't want to waste the few hours of lead time sitting around waiting for their arrival. As it turned out, Steve grew up in Cowichan and knew the area well. His grandparents lived on a property right on the river, so we paid them a visit and launched our tubes from their dock. The cheap $5 neon pink and green tubes I had brought along wasn't suffice for the excursion, so I borrowed a real inner tube made of much thicker rubber.
Floating down the river, letting the current take me long, brought me joy. I found a small plastic wheel about 2" in diameter floating down the river with us. I picked it up and used it for playing catch between the three of us. We lost it in the rapids a few times early on, but it came drifting along and stayed with us until we lost it for good towards the last leg of the journey. That's when I made a rude off-handed comment towards Jen, loud enough for Steve to hear, that we should use the spare tyre around Jen as a replacement. Not a moment too soon, the two of them teamed up and successfully flipped me off the tube and dunk me into the waters. I deserved it. All in good fun. Even at the cost of losing the left side of my expensive Kazuo Kawasaki clip-on sunglasses to my prescription glasses. Grr...
Flopped out on our tubes, the three of us drifted for about 90 minutes until we dismounted at "Little Beach". We would have loved to go again, but being mindful of the ferry schedule, we didn't have time.
While Steve and I had to head back to the mainland tonight as we both had work to do the next day, Jen has Mondays off so she wanted to bum around Victoria, so I dropped her off with a tourist map of the downtown core before heading up to Swartz Bay.
Jen caught the ferry over the next morning to join us for tubing down the Cowichan river. She had taken the early morning ferry, however, and arrived at our hotel hours ahead of schedule. She had a friendly lady offer her to take her from the ferry terminal to our hotel as well, which saved me from having to fetch her myself.
The drive down to Duncan before making a right westbound towards the river was nothing spectacular. Once you've seen fields of burnt grass and dirt, you've seen them all.
I was trying to co-ordinate with Jamie, James, and the VSC so that we could all go tubing together, but they were still well behind us and we didn't want to waste the few hours of lead time sitting around waiting for their arrival. As it turned out, Steve grew up in Cowichan and knew the area well. His grandparents lived on a property right on the river, so we paid them a visit and launched our tubes from their dock. The cheap $5 neon pink and green tubes I had brought along wasn't suffice for the excursion, so I borrowed a real inner tube made of much thicker rubber.
Floating down the river, letting the current take me long, brought me joy. I found a small plastic wheel about 2" in diameter floating down the river with us. I picked it up and used it for playing catch between the three of us. We lost it in the rapids a few times early on, but it came drifting along and stayed with us until we lost it for good towards the last leg of the journey. That's when I made a rude off-handed comment towards Jen, loud enough for Steve to hear, that we should use the spare tyre around Jen as a replacement. Not a moment too soon, the two of them teamed up and successfully flipped me off the tube and dunk me into the waters. I deserved it. All in good fun. Even at the cost of losing the left side of my expensive Kazuo Kawasaki clip-on sunglasses to my prescription glasses. Grr...
Flopped out on our tubes, the three of us drifted for about 90 minutes until we dismounted at "Little Beach". We would have loved to go again, but being mindful of the ferry schedule, we didn't have time.
While Steve and I had to head back to the mainland tonight as we both had work to do the next day, Jen has Mondays off so she wanted to bum around Victoria, so I dropped her off with a tourist map of the downtown core before heading up to Swartz Bay.
Jul 17, 2006
Happy Campers.
The past three days camping out at Golden Ears National Park was relaxing, rejuvenating, refreshing, and rewarding, for the most part. I mean, that was the purpose of camping after all: to get away from it all and have a great time!
Not to typecast any generation of people here, but having a great time for 'young people' like my friends and I usually involve some amount of drinking to put our minds in a chillaxed state, like happy drunks without a care in the world. Though we weren't rowdy, mischievous, or irresponsible under the influence of alcohol, common sense, if I may just speak for myself here, was somewhat diluted with rum & coke and screwdrivers. Let me explain.
We were out on Allouette Lake on our neon pink and green inflatables, tugging along our 'booze boat' which we filled with orange juice, cola, and bitch-beers (Vex) for Janelle, and the harder stuff like Crown Royal and Smirnoff for Aaron, Kyle and I. Along with our inflatable orca, we strung a yellow rope around all of our tubes so that we wouldn't drift apart and tied one end to a heavy rock to anchor us down. We were well organised. It must have been quite a sight from the on-lookers on the beach.
Drinking and eating away while basking in the sun and shooting the breeze, eventually, someone had to urinate. Kyle had no problems getting off his tube and pissing in the lake. I, however, did. I didn't realise how drunk I was until I slid off my tube and went into the lake. After doing my business, I tried climbing back on my tube but failed miserably. I made another attempt and lunged forward but my tube flipped again. This went on a couple more times until I gave up, tired, drunk, and out of breath. Actually, I was drowning.
It's not as if I forgot how to swim (swimming is one of those things you never forget after you've learnt how to, much like riding a bike), but feeling light-headed as a result of being intoxicated puts a little spin on things. I was breathing in water, and that was NOT good. Trying to keep my head above water, I enlisted drunken Kyle to swim me towards the shore. I was relieved when I felt the bottom with my feet. I crawled the rest of the way to the shore with my tube in hand and subsequently passed out on top of it under the sun. I don't know how long I was in direct exposure to that shiny object in the sky, but it was long enough to get my very first sunburn of my life. The sensation wasn't the least bit pleasant.
I didn't actually realise I had burnt myself until a few hours after returning from the beach back to the campsite. That was when I started to feel this tingly feeling all over my shoulders, chest and stomach, which soon escalated to a sensation akin to rubbing yourself all over with a coarse sandpaper. IT BURNED!!
Never again will I do something so stupid like that again. As Baz Luhrmann and Martha Stewart might say in unison, "Sunscreen is a good thing".
Other memorable highlights of the trip was when all of us went down to the beach just before midnight for stargazing. Given that we were up in the mountains far away from the glow of city lights, the constellations twinkled against the backdrop of the midnight sky. Sadly, my knowledge of reading the stars and identifying star patterns are quite limited, so I could only spot out the big dipper, the little dipper, and Polaris. Looking up in awe, I noticed an orbiting satellite, an airliner, and a shooting star as well.
Playing a few rounds of chess with Kyle until 0400 in the morning was also something I will treasure. Though I was defeated at both rounds, playing a game that requires a lot of strategic thinking while feeling exhausted was truly something. The chess board lit only by the burning embers from the fire pit, we played until darkness turned to light with the arrival of the new sun over the horizon.
Not to typecast any generation of people here, but having a great time for 'young people' like my friends and I usually involve some amount of drinking to put our minds in a chillaxed state, like happy drunks without a care in the world. Though we weren't rowdy, mischievous, or irresponsible under the influence of alcohol, common sense, if I may just speak for myself here, was somewhat diluted with rum & coke and screwdrivers. Let me explain.
We were out on Allouette Lake on our neon pink and green inflatables, tugging along our 'booze boat' which we filled with orange juice, cola, and bitch-beers (Vex) for Janelle, and the harder stuff like Crown Royal and Smirnoff for Aaron, Kyle and I. Along with our inflatable orca, we strung a yellow rope around all of our tubes so that we wouldn't drift apart and tied one end to a heavy rock to anchor us down. We were well organised. It must have been quite a sight from the on-lookers on the beach.
Drinking and eating away while basking in the sun and shooting the breeze, eventually, someone had to urinate. Kyle had no problems getting off his tube and pissing in the lake. I, however, did. I didn't realise how drunk I was until I slid off my tube and went into the lake. After doing my business, I tried climbing back on my tube but failed miserably. I made another attempt and lunged forward but my tube flipped again. This went on a couple more times until I gave up, tired, drunk, and out of breath. Actually, I was drowning.
It's not as if I forgot how to swim (swimming is one of those things you never forget after you've learnt how to, much like riding a bike), but feeling light-headed as a result of being intoxicated puts a little spin on things. I was breathing in water, and that was NOT good. Trying to keep my head above water, I enlisted drunken Kyle to swim me towards the shore. I was relieved when I felt the bottom with my feet. I crawled the rest of the way to the shore with my tube in hand and subsequently passed out on top of it under the sun. I don't know how long I was in direct exposure to that shiny object in the sky, but it was long enough to get my very first sunburn of my life. The sensation wasn't the least bit pleasant.
I didn't actually realise I had burnt myself until a few hours after returning from the beach back to the campsite. That was when I started to feel this tingly feeling all over my shoulders, chest and stomach, which soon escalated to a sensation akin to rubbing yourself all over with a coarse sandpaper. IT BURNED!!
Never again will I do something so stupid like that again. As Baz Luhrmann and Martha Stewart might say in unison, "Sunscreen is a good thing".
Other memorable highlights of the trip was when all of us went down to the beach just before midnight for stargazing. Given that we were up in the mountains far away from the glow of city lights, the constellations twinkled against the backdrop of the midnight sky. Sadly, my knowledge of reading the stars and identifying star patterns are quite limited, so I could only spot out the big dipper, the little dipper, and Polaris. Looking up in awe, I noticed an orbiting satellite, an airliner, and a shooting star as well.
Playing a few rounds of chess with Kyle until 0400 in the morning was also something I will treasure. Though I was defeated at both rounds, playing a game that requires a lot of strategic thinking while feeling exhausted was truly something. The chess board lit only by the burning embers from the fire pit, we played until darkness turned to light with the arrival of the new sun over the horizon.
Jul 4, 2006
Happy America Day.
If there's one thing I admire the Americans for, that would be their unrelenting pride of their own country. They always put on a good show for themselves and the rest of the world to show it! The spectacular display of fireworks against the midnight sky which Jen and I witnessed tonight at the Blaine Marina Park only emphasized my point.
Like last year, it was just the two of us, laying on our backs side by side while sharing an earphone connected to my iPod. I was playing Irish (U2), German (Höhner/Die Prinzen), and Swedish (ABBA) music with the fireworks until Jen pointed out towards the end of the 'Grande Finale' that we hadn't listened to any American music! The first thing the popped into my head was to play something by 'The All-American Rejects'.
It was a good thing I brought a jacket with me as it got a little chilly by the time the fireworks were underway at 2230. Everyone around us had brought sleeping bags, pillows, picnic blankets, folding chairs, and food & drinks; Jen and I just brought ourselves and had to huddle to share our body warmth like a couple in love.
Which reminds me, upon entering the states, the American border officer had asked us if we were dating as he carefully looked at our identifications. Jen and I looked at each other, gave each other a whimsical look, and turned our attention back to the officer and told him that we were, hehe! He was a friendly officer.
Like last year, it was just the two of us, laying on our backs side by side while sharing an earphone connected to my iPod. I was playing Irish (U2), German (Höhner/Die Prinzen), and Swedish (ABBA) music with the fireworks until Jen pointed out towards the end of the 'Grande Finale' that we hadn't listened to any American music! The first thing the popped into my head was to play something by 'The All-American Rejects'.
It was a good thing I brought a jacket with me as it got a little chilly by the time the fireworks were underway at 2230. Everyone around us had brought sleeping bags, pillows, picnic blankets, folding chairs, and food & drinks; Jen and I just brought ourselves and had to huddle to share our body warmth like a couple in love.
Which reminds me, upon entering the states, the American border officer had asked us if we were dating as he carefully looked at our identifications. Jen and I looked at each other, gave each other a whimsical look, and turned our attention back to the officer and told him that we were, hehe! He was a friendly officer.
Jul 3, 2006
Belcarra Beach Bathing.
Kyle took Aaron, Janelle, and I up to Belcarra National Park in Port Moody this afternoon for a dip in the lake with our inflatables. I wasn't up for swimming in the lake at White Pine Beach, so I ventured through the trails instead. The beach was a turn off for me as infested with Todd's and Charlene's hogging every square inch of sand. Even the disgustingly humid air was drowned out with bad music from ghetto-blasters and random ramblings of the many. I came to the beach to 'get-away from it all', but this was definitely not the place to find tranquility.
My hike was pleasant, however. It would have been better if I had remembered to bring a bottle of water though. I always forget to bring something essential.
My hike was pleasant, however. It would have been better if I had remembered to bring a bottle of water though. I always forget to bring something essential.
Jul 2, 2006
Concordiae Choir Concert.
Had a little difficulty finding the First United Church where our friend Kayla was to sing in front of an audience with the Concordiae Choir. The address that was printed on the program was incorrect so Kyle and I in one car and Janelle and Aaron in another, found ourselves driving all over the neighbourhood looking for the damn church. Kyle, being the quick one to get annoyed, drove like a bat out of hell pulling u-ies and driving on the wrong side of the road circumventing concrete medians. This latter maneuver angered a Fred and Mildred who blocked our path with their red pickup truck motioning Kyle to roll down his window. That was very stupid of them.
We must have driven to six different churches within a ten-kilometre radius before finding the right one and arriving at 1915, fifteen minutes late. Who knew there were so many fucking buildings where people go to get brainwashed and be preached by priests who are fond of little boys...
I was a little surprised to find Kip and Sarah at the performance, but I remained cordial and acknowledged their presence before taking my seat. Janelle and Aaron shuffled into the church five minutes later and sat right next to Kip and Sarah. During intermission, Janelle realised who she was sitting next to and promptly moved her seat up with Aaron during the second half of the performance.
Kayla thought the seating arrangement was pretty funny.
During intermission, we all took a breather outside with complimentary beverages in our hands. Janelle, anxious to introduce me to one of the choir boys, motioned me to come and meet Alex. In my sky blue oxford shirt and black chinos, Janelle began to speak, "Alex, I have someone you should meet!" which stopped Alex mid-way up the steps. "Now, here's a well-dressed man..." she continued before I interjected her and said "...which could only mean one thing!" We all started laughing, and I properly introduced myself soon after.
Last but not least, the Concordiae choir concert was beautiful. Though Alex fumbled on the lyrics to "Window Shopping for Love", it was one of my favourite from their repertoire. They also did a fabulous job with "Happy Together" by the Turtles, creating a layering effect of tunes and melodies in the background and foreground.
The Fab-Five got together at Aaron's for another night of social drinking, but this time, I slept in the guest room alone. =)
We must have driven to six different churches within a ten-kilometre radius before finding the right one and arriving at 1915, fifteen minutes late. Who knew there were so many fucking buildings where people go to get brainwashed and be preached by priests who are fond of little boys...
I was a little surprised to find Kip and Sarah at the performance, but I remained cordial and acknowledged their presence before taking my seat. Janelle and Aaron shuffled into the church five minutes later and sat right next to Kip and Sarah. During intermission, Janelle realised who she was sitting next to and promptly moved her seat up with Aaron during the second half of the performance.
Kayla thought the seating arrangement was pretty funny.
During intermission, we all took a breather outside with complimentary beverages in our hands. Janelle, anxious to introduce me to one of the choir boys, motioned me to come and meet Alex. In my sky blue oxford shirt and black chinos, Janelle began to speak, "Alex, I have someone you should meet!" which stopped Alex mid-way up the steps. "Now, here's a well-dressed man..." she continued before I interjected her and said "...which could only mean one thing!" We all started laughing, and I properly introduced myself soon after.
Last but not least, the Concordiae choir concert was beautiful. Though Alex fumbled on the lyrics to "Window Shopping for Love", it was one of my favourite from their repertoire. They also did a fabulous job with "Happy Together" by the Turtles, creating a layering effect of tunes and melodies in the background and foreground.
The Fab-Five got together at Aaron's for another night of social drinking, but this time, I slept in the guest room alone. =)
Jul 1, 2006
Happy Canada Day.
After consuming at IHOP for breakfast, I met up with Sigrid at the Starbucks at the mouth of Granville Island to take part in the Canada Day celebrations and the tail end of the Vancouver International Jazz Festival. Walking through the crowded marketplace, Sig and I were pleasantly overwhelmed with the varieties of fresh meats, dairy, vegetables, fruits, and seafood, and the overall vibrancy of the marketplace.
Granville Island is, in many ways, like Seattle's Pike Place Market. But unlike Pike Place Market, Granville Island offer much more than just fresh seafood, as we've got a prevalent art community. In addition to the Emily Carr Institute of Art + Design school right on the island, there are art merchants like Opus frames and art supplies, and a purveyor of the fine art of beer-making: the Granville Island micro-brewery, where they give tours for the public.
Coming off the cute rainbow coloured False Creek ferry, Damien, his acquaintance, John, and Amy joined Sig and I for dinner at the Granville Island Backstage Lounge, where we had spent the rest of the evening socialising. The dried ribs I had ordered was awful, so I mooched on the nachos John ordered for all of us. Jen joined us after bussing up from her bakery and dropping off a bag full of artisan bread at the Union Gospel in downtown.
Vancouver is a very boring city when it comes to celebrating Canada Day. Since the stabbing between a couple Surrey residences during the Canada Day fireworks at Canada Place several years ago, the city found that it was too costly to bring in extra law enforcement officers for crowd control, so they simply found it more convenient to cancel the fireworks instead. Jen and I walked across the Burrard street bridge to join the crowd of hopefuls claiming sand and turf space along English Bay, but after asking a few people along the walkway, a representative at the Sylvia Hotel, and a police officer inside his cruiser, it was pretty clear that nothing was going to happen.
Wanting to end Canada Day with a bang rather than a fizzle, Jen and I walked towards the Atlantic Trap and Gill for some pub music and drinks, meeting up with Damien and Sigrid along the way. And it's a good thing we did because "Three Row Barley", our local Celtic band, were performing! As soon as Jen heard celtic music from a block away, she made a mad dash inside to see who it was, and the rest of us followed her in. Alexander Keith's were on special too! Playing a few songs off their album, they ended the night with O' Canada, and everyone sung along strong and proud, hand to heart, to our national anthem.
Happy 139th Birthday Canada. Strong and free.
Granville Island is, in many ways, like Seattle's Pike Place Market. But unlike Pike Place Market, Granville Island offer much more than just fresh seafood, as we've got a prevalent art community. In addition to the Emily Carr Institute of Art + Design school right on the island, there are art merchants like Opus frames and art supplies, and a purveyor of the fine art of beer-making: the Granville Island micro-brewery, where they give tours for the public.
Coming off the cute rainbow coloured False Creek ferry, Damien, his acquaintance, John, and Amy joined Sig and I for dinner at the Granville Island Backstage Lounge, where we had spent the rest of the evening socialising. The dried ribs I had ordered was awful, so I mooched on the nachos John ordered for all of us. Jen joined us after bussing up from her bakery and dropping off a bag full of artisan bread at the Union Gospel in downtown.
Vancouver is a very boring city when it comes to celebrating Canada Day. Since the stabbing between a couple Surrey residences during the Canada Day fireworks at Canada Place several years ago, the city found that it was too costly to bring in extra law enforcement officers for crowd control, so they simply found it more convenient to cancel the fireworks instead. Jen and I walked across the Burrard street bridge to join the crowd of hopefuls claiming sand and turf space along English Bay, but after asking a few people along the walkway, a representative at the Sylvia Hotel, and a police officer inside his cruiser, it was pretty clear that nothing was going to happen.
Wanting to end Canada Day with a bang rather than a fizzle, Jen and I walked towards the Atlantic Trap and Gill for some pub music and drinks, meeting up with Damien and Sigrid along the way. And it's a good thing we did because "Three Row Barley", our local Celtic band, were performing! As soon as Jen heard celtic music from a block away, she made a mad dash inside to see who it was, and the rest of us followed her in. Alexander Keith's were on special too! Playing a few songs off their album, they ended the night with O' Canada, and everyone sung along strong and proud, hand to heart, to our national anthem.
Happy 139th Birthday Canada. Strong and free.
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