Early Morning Clouds
I caught this fantastic shot of the clouds on my way to work today on my iPhone. It was the first time that I wasn’t able to open my windows on the ride to work, which makes me sad because it’s another sign that summer is ending.
Grouse Grind
The view from up here
Vancouver Snapshot
Wow! I can’t believe it’s been a month since my Vancouver Road Trip! It’s been so hectic and busy since I’ve gotten back that all I’ve been able to do is upload my photos onto my computer. I plan to take a little time this weekend to hopefully organize my photos and get it project life ready. In the meantime here’s a food summary of what we ate on the trip!
The best road trips always start with Mcdonald’s breakfasts.
The first night in Vancouver was rainy, actually most of our entire trip in Vancouver was rainy, but we needed some comfort food and this hit the spot. It was so yummy and exactly what we needed after a long day of driving.
Scallop and fish tacos? Yes, please!
What’s Vancouver without seafood?
Geoduck: “You made me eat clam penis?”
Creamy green tea cream puff at Beard Papas
The store I got this at was a goldmine of great finds.
Mmmmm sushi
Time to head home…
Holidays around the corner
It’s those little things that indicate the holidays are almost upon us.
The Christmas oranges start showing up in stores.
DavidsTea starts stocking their Santa’s Little Helper
The days are shorter, but that means I get to watch the sun rise over Main while having my morning Parlour latte.
Canada Day
Osborne block party
Gotta love those short shorts
There’s something about this guy that reminds me of Paul Rudd, schmexy.
Some fire-fighters enjoying the festivities.
The Old Man Is Snoring (149/365)
I was sitting at Chapters one day and noticed that the man who was sitting at the couch next to me had fallen asleep.
Photowalk in Assiniboine Park (114/365)
A friend of mine recently acquired a new camera and wanted to go shooting around the city. We chose Assiniboine Park and got to see their new duck pond. I loved the new playground that they built too!
Yellow Bike (108/365)
One early morning….
I saw this bike and I could not stop taking photos of it.
Gougères & Dinner Parties (71/365)
Jan invited usover for dinner and promised us a genuine Italian pasta dish that he had learned directly from an Italian mother. <;Bee came over to my place before dinner to help me make some gougères. I was a little apprehensive about making them as I had never attempted to make a choux pastry before, but it turned out to be surprisingly easy! The best piece of advice came from David Lebovitz: make sure that everything is prepared before you start. Once you start the water boiling there is no time to measure out the ingredients, so it’s definitely a sound piece of advice.
Making the gougères were super fun, but it was so much more fun eating them. I really preferred these over the popovers, they were much cheesier and much more flavourful than the popovers.
The best part of the meal though, was definitely Jan’s bacon pasta. It was such a simple dish, but the ingredients worked together so well. I can’t wait to make this on my own! The entire dish consisted of only 4 ingredients: bacon, onions, tomatos and whole wheat spaghetti. (That’s 6 if you include the hot pepper flakes and the grated cheese).
Photography Books (67/365)
After recently reading a post by the talented Eric Kim about improving your photography through buying books rather than lenses, I found some books at Chapters and browsed. There are so many different books out there, it’s hard to weed through them all, but I can definitely see the direction that I want to head in and I’m slowly finding the type of photography that I want to do myself. It’s definitely very inspirational.
Afternoon of Opera and Cello (64/365)
This weekend, Oat and I went to see the (almost famous) Jan perform at McNally Robinson. This was Oat’s first time seeing him perform. Unfortunately, I wasn’t able to take photos during the performance as it might have distracted the performers, but I did get some shots of the warm up. I loved the way this cello looked – worn and beatened. It gave it so much character and history.
Exchange (36/365)
Each year Ciao Magazine hosts Dine About Winnipeg which makes it a great time to try out different restaurants for a fraction of a price! They have set menus at either $28 or $36, which includes a starter, an entree and a dessert. This past Sunday I met up with Bee, Rybread, Oat, Roger and another friend for dinner at Hermanos (please pronounce this “ER-manos”, not “HER-manos”, for my sanity’s sake. It means brothers in spanish). I had been there previous for my birthday once and was unimpressed with my order, but it wasn’t really the fault of the restaurant!
This time I had absolutely nothing to complain about! My meal was delicious! I chose the Brazilian steak that came with chimichurri (gotta love saying that word), and farofa. The waitress described farofa as a “shake and bake” and it provided texture as well as taste. Bee, Oat and I couldn’t stop raving about how great it was! If this is a regular dish here it’s definitely something I would keep coming back for! I started with the scallops (pictured below) and while they tasted good, they were definitely not up to Segovia standards. I really have to thank Bee for introducing me to their incredible scallops!
Before dinner I managed to get a walk around the exchange district – one of my favourite places to walk around in this city. The architecture is so obviously from a different era, where buildings were built be gorgeous and to be admired. I love the tiny little details and the careful thought in things as simple as the trim, or a flourish in the corner of a roof. Gorgeous.
Board Games & Friends (35/365)
It’s always fun hanging out with friends new and old. Oat,Bee, and I were invited to a friend’s house for a night of board game playing. We all got together to play Settlers of Catan and Telestrations. Settlers (for those who are rabid fans of the game) is such a fun game. It all depends on a bit of strategy and a little more on luck. It’s a very addictive game. This was my first time playing the expanded version and now I’m hooked even more! It was my first time playing Telestrations. I don’t think I’ve ever laughed so hard playing a game. The tagline is “the Telephone game sketched out”. The funniest thing was seeing how each illustration led to some of the most absurd responses! I had so much fun playing this game!
Before we started playing our board games, our gracious host fed us. From this….
To this! Bimbimbap!
It was my first time having it and it was delicious!
Rhymes with Orange (24/365)
Ever since I discovered Brian’s photos on his blog, aptly titled “The Blue Hour” I’ve been hooked on the lovely photos that one can take during this magical hour during the day. Everything turns an incredible shade of blue, edges get soft and lights have a soft glow about them.
I had heard about a new exhibit at the Pixels 2.1 gallery and decided that I needed to see it. Unfortunately they were closing early that day, so instead I wandered around in the Exchange, and found this newly opened store called Rhymes with Orange. They have tons of really great vintage finds. I’m a little obsessed with all the great luggage that they have.
Parlour Coffee Love (7/365)
I think this photo describes perfectly my feelings for Parlour Coffee. I love my weekly coffee ritual with Jan. Each week we wake up early on Monday morning and make our way down to The Exchange for some much needed caffeine and catching up. The proprieter, Nils, is a coffee god!
Andrew & Andrew
One night, I got a message from my friend, the opera singer, asking me if I wanted to go to a show by two of his favourite youtube artists, Andrew, and Andrew, or better known as Songs to Wear Pants to, and Gunnarolla, respectively.
The two Andrews had decided to go on a cross country tour and the first stop was Winnipeg, and the Opera Singer had found out just in time for us to go see the show. It was held at Sam’s Place
The opening act was a lovely singer called Bean. She was so sweet and charming and had such a great voice.
But the best part came after! Andrew and Andrew charmed the crowd and played all of their popular songs, like Canadian, Please, and another involving pink fluffy unicorns.
It was obvious that they are two very talented individuals, and together they put on a great show.
Something In Latin 