a voyage into outer space

“The Shaw Ocean Discovery Centre is awesome!!!!” is what I would’ve said if I was 7. But as somewhat of an adult, I’d say, “The Shaw Ocean Discovery Centre is AWESOME!!!!”

spring flowers

Early spring -- when the snow is still falling in some parts of Canada -- is probably not the right time to visit Butchart Gardens. Disappointment will be in store for anyone who expects fields of blossoming flowers.

slow breakfast

Eggs delmonico - $13

Breakfast is the most important meal of the day. And theoretically I do eat breakfast every day. Breakfast at home for me typically includes a leisurely meal of rice and a small dish of last night's leftovers.

clams for a sea journey

With the purpose of maximising our time in Victoria, we decided to queue for the earliest ferry from Tsawwassen in Vancouver to Swartz Bay in Vancouver Island. We thought we left our hotel quite early but I guess we miscalculated. It was quite lucky that we were amongst the last half dozen cars that got boarded onto the 7am Spirit of Vancouver Island. Otherwise, we’d have to catch the next ferry a whopping two hours away.

more salmonid please

When someone asks me to pick one activity that was the highlight of my short excursion in Vancouver, I would not be telling them about Stanley Park with its breathtaking views of the harbour, nor would I tell them about Granville Island and all its deliciousness. I would tell them about the humble Capilano River Hatchery.

the lucky country

Have you heard of the saying, "Australia is a lucky country"? It's a common saying in Australia to describe our general prosperousness -- although the original intent of the saying was critical to the country. Nevertheless, I feel that we are indeed a lucky country, we have great weather (none of this snow non-sense), the economy is robust, and the people are easy-going and generally tolerant.

guuing may be addictive.

I have a big issue with small bites: overeating. Ordering almost everything in the menu because their small portions inherently means you can eat more will lead you to a state where euphoria borders on pain. Eating at an izakaya certainly did this to me.

a japanese hotdog

As our world becomes more and more integrated culturally, we would at times find ourselves disjointed. On one side, we embrace the new, we adopt foreign cuisine and make it our own with our own little twist. But in other cases we become more extreme in an attempt to preserve our heritage.

go fish, cloudy day taco

The consensus with fish tacos is it's a great spring/summer chow. In spring, it reminds you that summer is around the corner. In summer, the salsa rejuvenates your tired palate.

la baguette et l'echalote, a little bit of paris in granville

Cronut = Croissant + Donut
Cronut = Sacrilege

stock market, for the soul

We're at Granville Island. It's been a torture of a day.

But we press on. Torturing ourselves.

stuart's bakery, sweet torture

It was torturous. It was painful. It was tempting.

santouka ramen, great expectations

Shio ramen - $8.95

What is it about ramen that inspires countless fanatics? There are movies about ramen and inspired by ramen. The web is saturated with ramen-only blogs, most of them by expats currently living in japan. Outside of japan, the appetite for ramen is abated -- or stoked, whichever way you want to look at it -- by the numerous ramen shops that seems to be popping out in every corner. A particularly heartwarming story is that of ramen shop owners and chefs who organised themselves to provide freshly cooked ramen to those hardest hit by the 2011 tsunami in japan.

old spaghetti factory, to fill our bellies

Lunch-size spaghetti (with meatballs) - $8.95

My first encounter with the old spaghetti factory (OSF) was in Winnipeg at The Forks. I was charmed. The decor at the Winnipeg branch had a paris-meets-wild-wild-west feel to it, with its stained glass windows and art deco lampshades and furniture. Though they had a combination of seating arrangements, we picked one of their comfy and intimate booths.