So it’s time – Madeleine Hardin, the person mostly responsible for the development of the Centre for Indo-Canadian Studies and Research for the last 18 months, a dear friend, has chosen to get back to teaching (she’s been speaking of this day for a while – this is where her passion lies). On the 20th of December, I drove out to Abbotsford to say hello to the crew as well as to pass on my good wishes. To my surprise, Madeleine has chosen to donate a couple days a week to the cause. How awesome of her. I definitely have to get my act together and come out and teach a couple of her classes since she’s teaching Communication and Media Studies – something I should be a bit familiar with, no?
Two surpises in that night, I also got to re-acquaint myself with Natalie who used to work at one of the companies I am a director of. Apparently she’s living in Abbotsford. I was really happy to see her too.
A fabulous dinner for the Urban Mixer. Considering I gave such little notice, I was very pleased with the turnout. We had eight people show up, I bought the Burrowing Owl Pinot Noir and we had a fantastic time. The service and food at Star Anise was very good – I’ll be going back to see how they do without a prix fixe – in all cases, restaurants do way better in this scenario so I can’t wait to be wowed. I’m happy to have had the company of so many nice people that evening.
I had a craving on the 27th, went to the Dosa Hut restaurant on the corner of Clark and Hastings. South Indian is great, enjoyed resam (pepper water), some faluda (refreshing drink with tapioca) and a dosa (South Indian crèpe).
The new Lift in Coal Harbour is tucked away behind the Westin Bayshore on a street that resembles a sidewalk – Menchions Mews, I believe. It’s going to be the new hotspot in Vancouver since it has a good location, excellent decor and decent food. I found that the place was a bit overcrowded with staff, since it was new – some people rationalize that more staff means a better dining experience; my recent dining experience at Star Anise where a whole restaurant was served perfectly with only two waiters shows that this isn’t the case. Nonetheless, the onslaught of new clientele is bound to be worse – it’s going to get loud and busy there for the next little while.
Funny, Melissa Remoundos, an acquantance who tends to work alot of the dining establishments (Biminis, Feenies, Diavolo to name a couple) I have frequented in the past is now working here. I’m going to clasify her as the new restaurant groupie. Spot the pic.
Food at Lift is pretty good – presentation is nice, portions are sizeable for the price. Sushi is edible (remember, I’m really picky here, having lived in Japan and eaten the best of the best and having found myself back in Vancouver with a discerning palette which leads me off to another rant….)
I had a reccomendation for a restaurant from a girlfriend of a Japanese guy. She figures her boyfriend knows sushi. Well, people, if you come from the lower echelons of society, chances are, your tastes are geared towards items which suit your downtrodden semblence of a life. Which leads me to…. (but first a commercial break)…
It’s a Chrismtas bonus for Frances. I like toys but I can’t play with two phones at once, figured I can maximize the toys by getting her one since we spend a hellovalot of time together – especially at the social events when techno-snobbery will be most relevant. Yup, it’s the coolest phone in town. One bitch already, tho – apparently the Bluetooth module doesn’t have a serial connection profile so you can’t Sync the phone with Bluetooth – will have to drop the $100 to get a data cable since the next step of this world domination plot is to make sure Frances is more efficient and has easy and quick access to her contacts. One thing I like about this generation of phones is that they play MP3s as ringtones. About time – the fidelity is good. I not that the Moto V3 is a little clunky to use and the phone, being branded to Cingular has some features which indubitably, will never get used…
The phone rocks- MP3 ringtones, up to 1GB of storage with the Memorystick DUO Pro, good display, etc.. I have some advice for people that buy this phone, though. Don’t go to a shifty dealer and get a cheap unlocked model that was previously branded to a carrier like o2 (mine’s branded to a carrier in Germany). Instead, pay the extra couple hundred bucks and get a legit unbranded, unlocked phone. I find that the branded model is a bit slow and you have to wait for a long time for Sony to release updated firmware via the Sony Ericsson update service. The unbranded version gets the updates first so membership does have its privileges. I’m running old, slightly buggy, firmware at the moment. Not as bad as my P800, tho, which had some issues with the Bluetooth….
Tojo’s … a super-fantabulous-kick-ass Japanese sushi restaurant on Broadway. This guy knows his stuff. December 29th, Trevor talks me into going out to Tojo’s. I actually had plans to go to Surrey and get my insurance renewed from Active Insurance (a good client) and then buzz to Abbotsford to have an evening at the Bains residence with the topic being a meet and greet surrounding the Centre for Indo-Canadian Studies and Research. But first, we eat!
Sushi at Tojo’s – well, I can’t stop raving about. The ambience there was great too! Too bad the pictures taken were message-photo-size and therefore not worth enlarging – they’ll remain here. We had an eight course Omokase dinner – chef’s selection. Very nouveau, very awesome and dinner didn’t come close to $500 this night. I’ll have to come back and have their live lobster which I’ve been craving as of late.
The day before the big event, Taylorwood Wines in Yaletown has a BC Bubbly (sparkling wine) tasting. Good event, low attendance – too many people running around finalizing things, I guess. Met Daniel (a member) to the and my friend from way back Mary Jean who recently created Zerowaste Solutions which is a waste management company – and no, she isn’t mafia, and no she will not get rid of the body for you. Oh wait – maybe she will. I’ll have to ask her.
After the bubbly, Mary Jean and I decided to head out to my favourite tea house as planned. Don’t Show the Elephant Gallery and Café is a unique, well designed, hidden spot in Yaletown. It’s not actually hidden but for some reason, people don’t really frequent it – all the better for me, though. The tea is excellent, they have a good assortment of sweets, unique presentation of matcha (green tea powder), etc.. Plus I like the funky interior designs and the availability of WiFi from adjacent buildings. The serving containers are pretty cute too and the selection of Scandanavian music rules.
One thing that makes a good tea house, tho, is the water. They filter the water at this place. I’ve tried Teaz and they don’t. Teaz has good marketing but they have to fix that water – can taste the chlorine – am I too picky? Nah, probably just discerning.
New Year’s Eve was great as well – went to the JSC New Year’s Party at the Vancouver Lawn Badminton and Tennis Club. It was very kind of Craig Stowe, the organizer to leave a couple bottles of Moet on ice at the entrance for us to consume. Thanks Craig!
After New Year’s rang in, we went out to see what’s happening in the city… to Brix for a couple drinks, met some nice people there, to Gurgamesh (sp?, after hours club) then to Wildfire to say hi to Ali and then to the Buffalo Club. Consensus is that we were at the best party in the city. I hear reports that Inferno went off but never even thought to stop by….
