I’m resigned that in the future, I have to live in the “‘burbs” and drive or (shudder) take transit to get to work. One day, I will have a live-in partner and we decide together where to live. Until then, I continue to be loathed to have more than a 10-minute walk to work, hah!

At first, I thought I’d get a Concord CityPlace apartment, perhaps even in LV’s building. But Lil Sis and I noticed the Pinnacle development and particularly their amenities. During a whirlwind tour of apartments available for rent, we saw older (2-5yo) units and new units (a few months old), the latter with an address the same street as my workplace.

Living so close to work in Vancouver was something of a coincidence. I did chose my apartment on the west side because I thought I might (and did) end up at the cancer research facility 490 meters away. But it was not for forever and I spent a year commuting to North Vancouver and did not know that I would really luck out and get an offsite UBC job located just 253 meters away from my doorstep. This time around in Toronto, I got the job first, then looked for a place to stay. Work is a whole 651 meters away and it works out I can say that I work and live on Bay Street.

Others: “Who wants to see their office from their apartment?! What if you have a bad day at work?”

Me: “If I have a bad day at work, or if I’m quite loathed to go in (because I’m tired or cranky), I’d rather just get home or get into work after an 8-minute walk instead of dragging it out!”

My little apartment hit all that I wanted (and I pay dearly for it): new one-bedroom, first tenant in, high-30s floor (of 52 floors in total), good view (mostly north and east facing), undermounted sinks, ensuite laundry, laminate floors, 24-hour concierge, the “Club” amenities that include a state-of-the-art gym, pool, hot tubs, saunas, tennis court, squash courts, outdoor running track , and basketball court.

But… aside from being right next to the Air Canada Centre (ACC) with an event or game very second night on average, it’s super-quiet and dead after business hours thanks to the nearby Financial District and all the businesses existing to serve it shutting down at 6 p.m. My daily commute takes me through the grubbiest of grubby Toronto, under some overpasses that is the Gardiner and Union Station train platforms, and through the god-awful messy headache that is Front Street so-called revitalization. A view of the CN Tower would be the cherry on top but I don’t have it and only see corroded train station roof, a maze of train tracks and industrial Port Lands. My building is so fancy and new there’s no visitor parking, event rates apply nearly every evening at the public lots, and it took two weeks at gouging rates to get to know some parking attendants and get down to $10/day parking at a public lot.

My favourite Canadian/Toronto series from 1999 was the short-lived show The City and I remember one line in particular said about city Councillor Katharine Strachan by her lover, played by chiseled James Gallanders, “She gets a nosebleed if she goes north of Rosedale.” Heh. Rosedale is darned close compared Richmond Hill and Scarborough where I have to go every now and then!

When I do have to leave the core and foot power will not take me there, being just 400 meters from Union Station is a boon. The Union stations house the subway to get elsewhere in the city, GO trains to get around GTA, and VIA rail should I really need to bust this joint. The Gardiner Expressway is at my doorstep which means arriving and leaving by car is efficient, more so than living deeper in the core. All this access and I’m happy as a clam just spending time at home. I haven’t even visited LV yet who is a mere 20-minute walk towards the Entertainment District but we’ll blame it on the weather and not my laziness. ;)

Right now, I’m totally satisfied tripping down to the condo gym that with Life Fitness treadmills, ellipticals, and bikes equipped with television screens, I’ve been timing my workout with the televisions shows I want to catch since I’ve cut the cord and don’t have a television. At some point, I will need to train outdoors (booo…) and the Running Room is 800 meters away and we will probably often connect with the Waterfront Trail and head out to Humber Park and The Beaches ad nauseum.

Finally, supermarkets are more important to me right now than restaurants in the vicinity and I thought I couldn’t have it better than before with four to chose from within a 10-minute walk. It’s close. Going to to Longo’s (300 meters away) involves stepping into the shiny and bright ACC/Maple Leaf Square area and Longo’s has a great high-end market feel like Whole Foods. It’s a bit like an Urban Fare, actually, in that it also carries the the Western Family house brand. The 24-hour Loblaws where Top Chef candidates are taken to to shop is 800 meters away but a bit of a sketchy trek past the Redpath refinery. I would never have to visit the Sobey’s 600 meters away–they are so expensive–except it houses a Wine Rack and Wine Racks carry the Inniskillin East West series wine that I’ve adopted as “my” wine (more on that later).

There, that’s my world outside of my apartment. It’s pretty complete with the large and glaring exception of NPY’s absence. :( Next up, an apartment tour!

if i ate in the caf, which i don't usually,i can look at my apartment.

******** This is a blog series complementing my regular blog posts with the original idea was to share our parallel lives, NPY’s and mine, while I’m in Toronto and he’s in Vancouver, 3,400 km away. For me, it’s been pretty fun because I’m this long-time blogger and enjoy repackaging parts of my life in “blog bites”. It’s been more difficult for NPY who hasn’t experienced a change in scenery (although I do not think it is necessary) so I’ll be continuing this with just my photos. I might have something every day. I might not.

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At some points, I really wonder if I did the right thing. Sometimes I use precedent as “logic” to justify an alternative I’ve already  decided to pursue.

When I got a job on Bay Street, the “life” was completed by also getting an apartment downtown. I’m the first occupant of a new high-rise completed just a few months ago. On a high, high floor because I wasn’t going to compromise after living on the 1.5st floor of a 30-year-old building for six years.

I pay about $100/month more in rent than I’d like to. When NPY came to visit in October, we learned that (1) there are no reasonable parking options and (2) the financial district where famed Royal York Hotel is located really shuts down on the weekend. My apartment isn’t so close to Dundas Square (Toronto’s attempt at Times Square) and Eaton Centre and it’s not like Concord CityPlace at Spadina and close to Entertainment District with restaurants, lounges, life in general after 9 p.m. Aside from having an eight-minute walk to work, did I make a colossal mistake renting this apartment?

After some initial disappointment last week, my first full week in the apartment, things started to look up. LV came over for a visit after work and they showed me a five-minute shortcut to Longo’s which has a really nice market feel. A trip to the market takes me into the ACC (Air Canada Centre) complex where there are shining spotlights and there is event night nearly every night.

Lil Sis came to visit me for a “weekend in the city” and we walked north and east to see what the ‘hood offers. St. Lawrence Market is under a 15-minute walk and we were completely delighted by Kozlik’s mustard shop and the vegetable stand (Phil’s) on the lower level. The walk east on Front Street takes us past a Winners which answers the question of, “Where the heck does one get useful household stuff?” We had brunch on King Street East which is more down-to-earth than the more hip and trendy west side. It was also bitterly cold this weekend so we ducked into the PATH at King to get to Eaton Centre. Turns out when you know your way, it’s a really fast walk to the mall! While the PATH stores shut down every night after work and on the weekend, the walkway itself remains open as a warm route that is traffic light-free and I can start walking in it after just a four-minute walk from my apartment! Instant feeling of connection.

Over the weekend, I also checked out the condo gym for the first time. While I was wary after my first peek inside, actually entering and using the equipment was a joy. The gym is in a big space with plenty of treadmills and the Lifefitness cardio machines have the built-in television screens taking off nearly all the painful edge of the task–I could more than make my fitness goals with access to this kind of equipment!

The only thing missing–and it’s a big one–is NPY to continue exploring with. :(

******** This is a blog series complementing my regular blog posts with the original idea was to share our parallel lives, NPY’s and mine, while I’m in Toronto and he’s in Vancouver, 3,400 km away. For me, it’s been pretty fun because I’m this long-time blogger and enjoy repackaging parts of my life in “blog bites”. It’s been more difficult for NPY who hasn’t experienced a change in scenery (although I do not think it is necessary) so I’ll be continuing this with just my photos. I might have something every day. I might not.

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A bonus is that the souvenirs do not scream “tourist!” so much as other merchandise and transit (design) enthusiasts with some civic pride will also be interested in transit merchandise.

Recently, blogTO published a post to stir up some discussion about desirable merchandise to be sold in a reincarnation of the TTC gift shop. It’s a nice idea but TTC management is working out other issues at present and souvenir sales revenue is not a priority. I’m pretty vanilla and would like to pick up my TTC (and GO Transit) shot glass and colourful reusable totebag with the system maps but other people are way more creative than I am. Thus I was surfing all morning around related links, reminiscing, and generally procrastinating from studying….

Back when I was in junior high or high school, I was in Toronto over school break and hanging out with my cousin Sandy. She lived in North York at the time and one afternoon we accomplished one of her city goals in that we rode all along the Yonge-University-Spadina Line and collected a transfer at each station. I’m pretty sure I still have that bundle of transfers somewhere. More recently, Toronto NaNoWriMos did a Subway Write-In, and rode the whole Yonge-University-Spadina Line–about 3 hours–while writing up a storm and I dearly wished I could have gone but had other commitments to attend to.

Even more interesting than my vanilla “put the transit map on a bag” idea, are the pins for each of the TTC stations, coloured by the stations’ familiar tile colours. I don’t know what I would do with so many pins so I may prefer the them as pushpins or really strong magnets.

We were waiting for a table at “Din Tai Fung” a little while ago and saw someone else was waiting for a table and poring over a new book he bought, Transit Maps of the World. Lil Sis and I also looked at the book over his shoulder trying to guess the cities, laughing when one was particularly dense or sparse. I think I would like this coffee table book as well, but I’m not that interested in the bulk of the maps if I don’t have much connection to the city. I simply have to visit the cities, too!

Did you know there is a TTC font, Toronto Subway Regular? To me, it kind of looks like Helvetica but font enthusiasts would be quick to disagree! It can be purchased for $25.

I like the idea of removable wall decals but how to choose just one station?

I love this Jonathan Guy collage poster of the stations on the Yonge-University-Spadina and Bloor-Danforth line. It is made from photographs from each station and a good refresher of the stations’ colours. I grew up with the TTC and MTR (Hong Kong) station colours and you just have to glimpse the colour and know where you are if you’ve missed the announcement. In Vancouver, the stations are all white and you have to cran your neck to look up out of the train to orient yourself.

Finally, this doesn’t have to do with transit but that’s where all the sleuthing takes you, I learned that the following poster prints using typography to show neighbourhoods in a city are called Ork Posters. I love looking at the cities I know and have lived in. Like in Vancouver, I lived in Fairview while NPY is in Hastings Sunrise (I think). The Toronto Ork Poster is insane! Either Toronto is too subdivided and enthusiastic about naming everything or perhaps Ork went down too low a level? I think Toronto’s currently the densest of the Ork Posters!

On my tiny student stipend, I have no idea how I initially afforded the rent plus utilities like hydro, cable/Internet to pay myself. Rent for my 439 sq.ft. “alcove studio” (i.e., a fancy way to say “bachelor”) suite started at $720 and climbed to $825 over six years. By the time I left, people were getting into the building at $850 for the bachelor.  Throughout the entire time, I rented out my parking space to a nice gentleman who works at the nearby hospital for $40/month, a nice rebate on my rent expense!

When I returned from a trip to Toronto in April and got a note that the owner of my suite, who had not visited it in in all the time he’s owned it, wanted to visit, you knew what that meant. Can you believe that he was asking $265,000 for a dinky 439 sq. ft. 34-year-old bachelor suite with a fatal flaw of a bathroom tucked away next to the “bedroom”? He had no intention of renovating the suite, leaving the ’70s-fabulous mustard counters and linoleum in the kitchen and bath and original mustard stove? I think there was some woeful mismanagement of the listing because it still had not sold when I vacated, four months later. In no small part, there were no interior photos and only this grainy photo of the exterior taken on a soggy rainy day! The fabulous proximity to transit and amenities were undersold….

There were four supermarkets within 6 blocks: Safeway just two blocks away and Save On Food, Whole Foods, and No Frills beyond that. Two large “drugstores”–London Drugs and Shoppers Drug Mart–within 4 blocks. The north-south subway line (Canada Line) and east-west express bus (99 B-Line) were just 4 blocks away. Big box stores like Best Buy, Canadian Tire, Home Depot, and Winners Homesense arrived in 2009 and were within 7 blocks. There was good food north and south of the apartment along Cambie (one street over) and east and west on Broadway (5 blocks away). Vancouver General Hospital was 4 blocks away and fancy new Crossroads clinic for all your medical, dental and other therapeutic needs was four blocks away. My gym was two blocks away. All the banks had branches within 7 blocks and so were the major coffee shops within 8 (Tim Horton’s, Starbucks, Cafe Artigiano, Blenz, plus great independents like Elysian, Bean So Good, Elliz). I rated it 100 on the Walker’s Paradise score, not this rubbish 90 or 98% you see below!

On a good dry day, we could easily walk downtown and avoid parking fees and traffic congestion. I was down in the “heart” of the city (Robson and Granville) by foot inside of 30 minutes to go to ballet class. For our after-dinner strolls, we had 4 compass directions to walk in and they were all fairly interesting in that we like having commercial things to look at. At the same time, the area is pretty green especially in the Mount Pleasant neighbourhood to the east.

Needless to say when I started working just 2 blocks away from the apartment, everything felt like it was falling into place. That lasted a little over two years. All good things….

I just looked for the listing and it seems that the asking price was lowered to $255,000 and the unit has finally sold. Well, I just have the smallest twinge of envy for the new owner. I would tell people that I didn’t love being in Vancouver the city, but I really loved my cozy apartment and particularly its location.

Note the name change? Yeah. The original idea was to share our parallel lives, NPY’s and mine, while I’m in Toronto and he’s in Vancouver, 3,400 km away. For me, it’s been pretty fun because I’m this long-time blogger and enjoy repackaging parts of my life in “blog bites”. It’s been more difficult for NPY who hasn’t experienced a change in scenery (although I do not think it is necessary) so I’ll be continuing this with just my photos. I might have something every day. I might not.

I’ve been in Toronto over a month (54 days) but not being in a great rush, I didn’t see my Mississauga relatives until this past weekend. Once Lil Sis came up with the idea to put together a fruit basket, we had a lot of fun shopping at super-supermarket Foody Mart and choosing from their vast selection of fruit. That means we get to try some of all of the fruit we bought, comparing milk bananas versus baby bananas, and try queen-of-all-fruits mangosteen and Vietnamese sweet apple (that fruit that reminds me of the ridges of a Hirogen hunter)!

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At the same time, I think a half-marathon 21.1km is the perfect distance. Training for one is just a blip on your schedule and the 2-ish hour outing on race day is a perfect workout. If it’s an away race in a new city, it’s just the right distance to explore the city in a way you wouldn’t as a regular tourist. And you still get a medal! There are races out here that could entice me to start training again, I added. Spoken like a true runner, he said. Really…?!

A few races have come and gone this fall and I wonder if I would have entered them if I had my wits about me to look them up in the summer. These would be the first ones I would do….

1. Toronto Yonge Street 10K (formerly known as the Sporting Life 10K) takes place late April. It starts at Yonge-Eglinton near where my cousin lives (they could see me off) and ends at Fort York Boulevard downtown near the water, from where I can crawl to my friends’ condo nearby!
2. Energizer Night Race (5K/10K) takes place across the country in Calgary, Toronto, Montreal, and Vancouver on different days from August to November. I only learned about this race this year and missed the early September deadline for Toronto. It looks like a neat race that starts at dusk and has great high-value swag: nice tech t-shirt and a powerful headlamp that I need and have not yet purchased!
3. Okay, this one is not a marathon but utterly Toronto-unique. The CN Tower Climb takes place twice a year with the Enbridge CN Tower Climb for United Way coming up this weekend (but it’s not a good weekend for me) and the WWF CN Tower Climb in April.
4. It seems to me the Goodlife Fitness Toronto Marathon in early May gets less love than the Scotiabank Toronto Waterfront Marathon in mid-October. I did the latter run back in 2005 and yawned with boredom. It is, as promised, all along the waterfront but you didn’t really see the water from Lakeshore. The May race has a crazy route that starts at Mel Lastman Square in North York (north of Sheppard) and you take over Yonge Street all the way down to Bloor before curling around Rosedale Valley Road out to Bayview before heading back downtown. The full-marathoners have to do an out-and-back on Lakeshore (hah!) but the half-marathoners just run up University to finish at Queen’s Park. Running down Yonge is somewhat unique because we usually just zip down underground (i.e., by subway) but could be really boring too.
5. When I visited Ottawa for the first time in 2007, I decided I wanted to do the Ottawa Marathon which takes place in late May. Usually, I am in Halifax in early May which means I wouldn’t make a second trip out here within a month. They’ve rebranded the race since 2007/2008 and I’m now not so thrilled but it is, as I remember, very elite, a qualifying race for not only Boston but other international events. They purportedly have the best-designed finisher medals that are also iTab-enabled.
6. Then I learned about the Army Run in Ottawa in September which has a 5K and half-marathon. My patriotic side is tickled and I want to add a dog tag finisher “medal” to my collection!
7. Since Toronto is the eastern hub, why not increase the province count for medals I have (has been stuck at 6 provinces since 2005)? Winnipeg is a short flight away and the Manitoba Marathon takes place in mid-June.
8. You know, I have never visited Newfoundland before. It never seemed worth it from Halifax (terribly long road trip) but it’s just a 3-hour flight from Toronto, since you can only consider flying. The Huffin’ Puffin’ Marathon (formerly known as Newfoundland & Labrador Provincial Marathon) takes place in late September and sounds positively tiny with about 100 runners. It would be the smallest race I have ever entered!
9. Besides not having visited Quebec City before, I was really intrigued by their race weekend in because of the Friday Staircase Challenge that preceded the marathon event on Sunday. Now the events are split up with the Staircase Challenge in June separate from the Quebec City International Half-Marathon in May and the SSQ Quebec City Marathon in August. The Marathon de Montreal is in late September and Montreal is a much shorter distance from Toronto.
10. After getting my toes wet with an “international” marathon with Portland in 2008, an American marathon may as well be Canadian as it was not all that foreign. Except they are bigger and better!  Going off memory, you can’t just get into the ING New York Marathon in early November and have to “pay your dues” trying for 5 years before you are guaranteed, while you can get into the Bank of America Chicago Marathon and it was a really great race according to a Running Room contingent I know that went several years ago. Finally, the one that got me really intrigued recently because I did happen to be in town during race weekend is the Detroit Free Press Marathon. Both half- and full-marathoners run to Windsor (Canada) through the dark, curving Detroit-Windsor Tunnel and then return to the U.S. over the Ambassador Bridge. A two-country run and holding a Canadian passport, it should be a breeze logistically (unlike some other two-country run that might exist that does not involve Canada).

His:

He says, “Dinner at Luda.  Had a few of the more expensive items including this strangely made inside out fried fish. Came to work to find out that two other people and myself had nightmares last night and T says it’s because there was too much MSG.”

Whenever NPY goes to dinner at Luda in east Vancouver, he bellows out, “Looo-da!” Apparently that is the calling card for Ludacris or something….

Hers:

Staying with my sister in Richmond Hill, I’ve had to pick up tokens and fare cards for three transit services: TTC, Viva, and GO. While I’ve long known how to honestly ride the TTC, I may have once missed validating my fare in advance of boarding a Viva bus and nearly forgot to cancel my ticket prior to taking the GO train. Problem solved now that I have finally secured myself a Presto card that covers me for all three transit systems and then some. Tap and your fare is deducted. All transit needs to be this streamlined.

********

* NPY’s Picture of the Day. While I’m in Toronto and he is in Vancouver, 3400km away, we will try to share with each other (and consequently this blog) pictures that capture our day.

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#24

<< Go to 2008 list < Go to 2009 list

Did you know that last year around September, I kept checking the Vancouver Magazine website because that was the month during which they had released the 2008 and 2009 Best Things to Eat and Drink in Vancouver lists. It would happen that when I was so diligent, it was the year they skipped.

This year, at least at this time, I do not call Vancouver home but I will be back and so I am still eager to tear apart the 2011 list that I pounced on as soon as my friend, Alfred Pang, tweeted about it!

As usual, what I’ve tried is bolded and there isn’t much this year–it seems to me that they’ve gone more upscale and less accessible. What I will be able to try is italicized.

1. Jungle Pork Curry – Hawksworth
2. Goat Cheese & Fig Salad – Rocky Mountain Flatbread
3. Octopus with Pesto – Cin Cin
4. Kobe Burger – Stackhouse Burger
5. Celery Root Linguine – Raincity Grill
6. Frosted Flake Pancakes – Jethro’s Fine Pub
7. Himalayan Pink Salt Caramels – Purdy’s
8. Dinner Rolls – Beyond Bread
9. Spicy Miso Chowder – Sushi Q
10. Chocolate Banana Cake – Ganache Patisserie
11. Pork Cheek Terrine – Refuel
12. Pear Rosemary Jazz – Benton Brothers Fine Cheese
13. Green Walnut with Grappa Preserves – Vista d’Oro
14. Raspberry Cardamom Jelly – Edible Canada (Granville Island)
15. Castelvetrano Olives – Whole Foods
16. Singapore Pork Jerky – BKH Jerky
17. Lemon Meringue Pie – Acme Cafe
18. Tea Leaf Salad – Bo Laksa King
19. Sweet & Sour Eggplant – Ensemble
20. Korean Fried Chicken – Zabu Chicken
21. Taro Slush - Dragon Ball Tea House
22. Heirloom Tomatoes – Whole Foods
23. Single Malt Gelato – Bella Gelateria
24. Chicken Sandwich – La Brasserie
25. Veal Shank – Tableau
26. Coconut Fro-Yo – Pinkberry
27. Prawn & Papaya Salad – Le Do
28. Beef Tartare – Bao Bei
29. Punjabi Amuse-Bouche – Vij’s
30. Slapjack Chowder – Rodney’s Oyster House
31. Orange Fritter – Union Market
32. Oxtail Soup – En Restaurant
33. Halibut Gnocchi – Cioppino’s
34. Risotto Cakes – Finest at Sea
35. Pulled Pork Pancakes – Red Wagon Cafe
36. Poached Egg with Summer Truffle – L’Abattoir
37. Sawmill Bay Oysters – Maenam
38. Beddis Blue – Les Amis du Fromage
39. Horseradish Monterey – Benton Brothers Fine Cheese
40. Alpindon – Les Amis du Fromage
41. Fried Wild Rice with Bacon and Crab – Red Star
42. Banana Daquiri – L’Abattoir
43. Bianca Pizza – Nicli Antica
44. Northern Divine Sustainable Caviar – C Restaurant
45. Fried Chicken – L.A. Chicken
46. Bourbon-Infused Maple Syrup – Old Faithful
47. Roasted Garlic Country Bread – Fieldstone Artisan Breads
48. Taiwanese Pancakes – Wang’s Taiwan Beef Noodle House (I’ve had the “pancakes” and been to the restaurant but haven’t had the pancakes at Wang’s.)
49. Hotel Georgia House Cocktail – Hawksworth
50. Bistecca Fiorentina – La Buca
51. Silver Sage Chardonnay
52. Pistachio Macaron – Thierry
53. Box Sushi – Toshi Sushi
54. Red Racer
55. Phillips Hoperation Tripel Cross
56. Fat Tug – Driftwood Beer
57. Tuna with Melon – Guu Garden
58. Power Shandy – Astoria Hotel
59. Halibut Tacos – Feastro Food Truck
60. Cranberry Raisin Ginger Loaf – Purebread
61. Muesli – The Dish
62. Vitello Tonnato Sandwich – La Ghianda
63. Toroniku Miso Ramen – Hokkaido Santouka Ramen
64. Maple Bacon Ice Cream Sandwich – Meat & Bread
65. Butterscotch Pudding – Cafeteria
66. Japanese Slider – ShuRaku
67. Lavender Chocolate – Chocolaterie de la Nouvelle France
68. Wildflower Honey – Fairmont Waterfront
69. Tamago – Dan
70. Grilled Pita – Nu
71. Deep-Fried Oreos – The Fair at PNE
72. Buddha’s Hand – Whole Foods
73. BS Rose
74. Corn Dog – Peckinpah
75. Blackberry Ice Cream – The Udder Guys (Whole Foods)
76. Smoked Meat Sandwich – C’est Bon! Zako’s Deli
77. Bolo Bau (Pineapple Bun) – Lido (Have had dozens of bolo bau and enjoyed claypot rice at Lido.)
78. Barbecued Salmon – Yellowhead Market
79. Nettle & Spot Prawn Ravioli – Campagnolo
80. Pumpkin Spice Doughnut – Joey’s
81. Spicy Avocado Rolls – Ki
82. Sour Beer – The Alibi Room
83. Pain au Chocolat – Faubourg
84. Smoked Beef Tongue – Big Lou’s Butcher Shop
85. Chicken & Waffles – Two Chefs and a Table
86. The Anaconda – The Factory
87. Chicken Karage – Kingyo (Had chicken karaage in many places and visited Kingyo once.)
88. Bresaola Pizza – The Bibo
89. Louis d’Or Cheese – Les Amis du Fromage
90. Creamy Hot & Sour Soup – Mango Thai
91. Thousand Chili Chicken – Peaceful Restaurant (I don’t know if I would ever try this dish but have been to Peaceful many times, love the Shandong noodles and potato rolls there.)
92. Grand Marnier Souffle – Le Crocodile
93. Croque Madame – Petit Chavignol
94. Dungeness Crab Cake – The Shore Club
95. Lychee-Basil Lemonade – Roaming Dragon Food Truck
96. Coconut Drink – The Tiki Bar at the Waldorf Hotel
97. Fresh Berry Sundae – Emma Lea Farms
98. Nachos – Jericho Sailing Centre
99. Potato Tornados – Richmond Night Market
100. Sweet Cherry Tarts – Tartine Bread and Pies
101. Smoothie (banana blended with Medjool dates, almond butter, raw cacao, raw maca, soy milk) – The Juice Truck

Halfway through my first year, a lot of students completing internships came through my department, some of them were new to the city and they did not know about the researcher-administration “divide”, invited me along, and I started to join them for lunch. And, like many things in life, I wondered why I didn’t do it earlier. We have different personalities but there are some fun conversations and we explored some restaurants together, and when we all started to go separate ways this spring and summer, there were really fun going away ‘dos!

Last week, I proposed a “Taco Crawl” to my colleague Rafe who, like someone leaving Vancouver for good in a couple of weeks, wants to milk as much out of the city as possible, happily came along.

A little while ago, I happened upon the Ursu Korean Taco truck downtown and it was fairly good (see below). But I had heard more raves about Coma Food Truck and it practically comes to my door on Wednesdays. On the last Wednesday before they they moved to a permanent downtown location, I made a point of trying it.

There are only five menu items from the truck, three Korean dishes and two Korean-Mexican fusion. We ordered the kimchi vegetable quesdilla, spicy pork burrito, and seaweed rolls. The quesadilla was quite oily but a nice tangy spicy taste with cheese, eggs, corn, onion, red and green peppers. The tortilla takes on a brilliant orange hue. I liked the seaweed rolls best of all; stir-fried julienned vegetables and vermicelli are rolled in seaweed, battered, fried, and glazed with yuzu sauce.

When Rafe and I looked at our Coma Food Truck haul, he shook his head and admitted we ordered too much. But I really didn’t want to let go of the idea of a crawl which entails at least two restaurants. Fortunately, it was a nice summer day and he was in no hurry to get back to work. La Taqueria is on the way back to the office and we had time to think since there was a line-up out the door.

The chalkboard menu describes all the taco fillings and we deliberated while we waited to approach the cashier. I asked Rafe his opinion on me ordering the tofu and he was not impressed. I also liked the sounded of the mushroom taco. But he convinced me to get taco cachete, braised beef cheeks, while he ordered taco al pastor which he says is an indicator of the caliber of the restaurant. It seemed like everyone was ordering 4 tacos which filled a plate beautifully and they were a “deal” for $9.50 (individually ordered tacos are $2.50 each). I was glad to be able to ask them to hold the cilantro. The beef cheeks were so tender and tasty and Rafe said that his was the best taco he’s had outside of Mexico! There are so many other fillings to try another time!

We did not visit Chronic Tacos, which is pretty much also on Cambie, because we were so full and we had already visited it with a larger group back in March. I like the casual style of the eatery and there are ample menu options. On my first visit, I ordered a Baja fish taco topped with cilantro-laced guacamole. On my second visit, I learned not to order guacamole or cabbage and was fairly happy with lettuce, their pico de gallo sauce, and fresh corn tortillas. We also ordered the tostada bowl which was substantial and delicious.

With the taco shops popping up (I’ve blogged about it recently), we wondered which ones would survive. Rafe was skeptical about Chronic’s future but I think they might make it because they are licensed and have the televisions and screen hockey games and UFC matches. We caught a play-off game there and I liked how there was no pressure to keep ordering food and the fare was tastier than many a local pub food. We wonder if not-yet-open Mucho Burrito will struggle though.

Although not on Cambie or part of the taco crawl, I thought I would include my Ursu Korean BBQ truck meal anyhow since it was eye-opening and made me want to seek out the other Korean-Mexican food trucks. As you can see, I wanted to sample soft and hard shell, mild and spicy sauce, and a couple of toppings. Compared to the spicy chicken hard shell taco, I enjoyed the mild tofu soft shell taco best of all. I’m really taking to the use of corn tortillas and will not accept flour tortillas for my tacos going forward.

My mother, younger sister, and I were in Vancouver en route to spending the summer in Hong Kong. We would have gone to Expo where the youngsters (my sister, younger cousin, and I) bounced around and explored tirelessly; given what I know now of Expos and crazy queues, I now think my mother and her Vancouver-residing younger sister were exasperated by the waits but put up with them for the sake of the children.

17 years after the Expo visit I came back to visit only for the second time in my life. 18 years after Expo, I moved here and have been here since. My mother still hasn’t returned to visit Vancouver.

I don’t remember a whole lot of Expo. Presumably I was in complete awe of every exhibit and the three of us kids banded together to go to as many exhibits as possible, damn the long queues, in order to get as many stamps as possible. It also appears, by the placement of its stamp on the first page, that the very first exhibit we went to was the China one. Go figure.

I also remember that it was at Expo where I wandered off and got lost. I think my sister may have been on a kiddie leash but I wandered around and the adults lost sight of me. I found a Lost & Found booth, eventually, and they put out a loudspeaker announcement that prompted mum to be able to find and collect me!

And since the Expo passport does not provide you with the area, I drew my self-portrait, identified myself, and signed my passport. You’ll have to excuse the loopy handwriting, I would have just learned how to write in cursive then. It’s funny how I identified as a “Canadian citizen” of the “Chinese-Canadian” variety. And I was really proud of how my Chinese name had such initials that I have complete initials WMWL that you can squiggle in cursive like a worm!