Easter Outfit

An Easter inspired outfit with pops of soft pastels on a waffle texture dress.



This dress is originally meant to be worn with a high neck and low cut back, but I decided to wear it backwards so I could layer it with my pale lilac tank.

What are some of your favorite Easter looks?

White Waffle Dress: Topshop | Rose Belt: H&M | Lilac Tank: Urban | Chunky Heel: Aldo

Vancouver Coal Harbor

It's pretty rare to catch a sunny day in Vancouver these days, so I felt the urgent need to take advantage when the clouds finally relented, letting us have a peek of summer weather.

I hopped over to Coal Harbor for a quick visit and a brain break- over the past little while I've been immensely busy with an animated commercial that I'm working on. Despite my best efforts however, the project is a little behind with a copious amount of work left.

Why is it that production schedules never go according to plan??



I also can't wait until all the gloom passes and summer finally hits. I am definitely a summer girl. It's been my favourite season ever since I could remember.

There's something in the air that just buzzes and hums, it gives me an extra surge of energy to do... stuff. To go out, meet with friends, get a drink, whatever. Winter just makes me want to stockpile food and hibernate forever alone.

But honestly, I'm really excited for the first few days we make it past 20 degrees. And patio dining. And ice-cream on those sweltering days. And hitting the beach. And summer blockbusters! And finding the perfect summer anthem on the radio :)

Ugh, cannot wait!

YL's Birthday at Minami

This is a late post for my friend's birthday dinner at Minami. She's one of my good friends from Edmonton, and happened to be visiting Vancouver during her birthday week.

I've been trying to get around to trying Minami for a while. It's a relatively new restaurant, opening it's doors last June. Since then, it's gotten rave reviews from critics and foodies alike so I've been dying to see what the fuss is about.

Fun fact: Minami is named after Aburi Restaurants CEO Seigo Nakamura's youngest daughter. His other Vancouver location is named after his eldest daughter; Miku.





Unfortunately I was running late, and missed the start of the meal (which I heard was delicious) but I did manage to catch a few dishes, which are shown below.

The lighting was quite dim, so it may be difficult to make out what was served.



This is the Miku Roll, which had salmon, uni, crab, cucumber and rolled in flying fish roe with MIKU sauce.

I love all the components of this roll isolated, so it makes sense that together they make an amazing combination in my books.



We also tried the Wagyu Beef Soba: wagyu beef bolognaise, tempura oyster mushroom, shitake mushroom with dashi. I didn't try this, but the consensus from others was that it wasn't great, and a regretful menu choice.

And the Ebi Fritters: black tiger prawns, spiced couscous, sweet chili aioli and soy balsamic. There's a version of this dish at every Japanese tapa restaurant, and I always enjoy it so I wanted to see how Minami's rendition stacked up.

The verdict? It wasn't bad, but I still think I like Hapa's better.



This was my favourite part- dessert! :)

We ordered 3 different ones, which they plated beautifully with a candle and handwritten chocolate drizzle.



Earl Grey Berry Cake: earl grey cream, walnut sponge, earl grey cookie crust, blueberry & blackberry compote, japanese puffed rice, hazelnuts, chantilly cream served with cassis vanilla ice cream.

Lemon Cheesecake: light unbaked cheesecake, graham cookie crust, orange-lemon compote, rhubarb sauce served with rhubarb-raspberry sorbet.

Green Tea Opera: Green tea sponge infused with espresso and Frangelico liqueur, green tea butter cream, dark chocolate ganache, azuki bean cream served with green tea ice cream and green tea sauce.

They were all very yummy, but my favorite was the Earl Grey. I've never had anything like it before and the flavors really complimented each other well.

The cheesecake was pretty good too, but I enjoy baked cheesecake more than it's chilled counterpart. I'm also not a huge fan of sponge cake so the green tea was just alright for me.





We all had a great time and a lovely meal. Most of our dishes were great if not mediocre. Although it is quite pricy, you pay for the quality ingredients and the luxe atmosphere.

The service was there, but our server seemed very rushed and forgot things here and there.

Overall, I liked it but probably wouldn't go back unless it was on someone else's whim.

Chambray with Me

The ever present denim shirt trend keeps going, and I wanted to do a little twist on it for my own version. I knotted the bottom ends and folded in my collar to pair up with my leather A-line skirt.



I also did something I very rarely ever do... wear lipstick!









Went with a classic red lip and finished off the look with my new watch that just came in!

Cozy Day off with Cheerio

Things have been really hectic for me for the past couple of week. With meetings, new clients, new projects and Topshop on top of everything else, I feet like I barely had a chance to breathe.

But today I get the day off, and I'm really relishing the moment to just take some time for myself. Grabbing a tea and cozying up with my pet bunny Cheerio to catch up on my news and blog reading.

 



I'm wearing my new chunky knit sweater from Topshop.

I just love the colors, and it's so comfy! Perfect for a cozy and chill day like today.



I have a few errands to run and a nail appointment, but I'm planning on coming home and watching last night Oscar's in it's full entirety. I love love love the Oscar's, and was really disappointed that I couldn't catch the live version last night, but I guess I can always just pretend it's happening now hah.

Too bad today can't last forever.

Cause tomorrow it's back to work, ad I have a big deadline for Friday and still an insane amount of work to do.

But hopefully I'll still get a chance to blog and update.

But until next time :) hope you're all having a happy Monday!

My Valentine (night)

So this is a continuation of my Valentine's day post.

After work I wanted to change for dinner as I thought my day outfit was a little too cute/girly for where we were going.I wore my floral crop top with a high waisted red skirt and topped it off with my black chevalier blazer and my new thick gold necklace. I thought this would be more appropriate for nighttime, having a bit more edge but still having some feminine/Valentine aspects.





I had put off making reservations for the longest time, so by the time I finally got around to it most places were all booked up for February 14th.

Coast, however still had some room and we managed to get a late table.



One of my favourite things at Coast is their Caesars.

They have the best ones in town. With just the right amount of a spicy kick, and actually comes with a jumbo prawn as a garnish!

It's like a meal in a glass.



We started off with the Seafood Tower, which included jumbo prawns, shucked local oysters, dungeness crab, marinated mussels and salmon nigiri.



The presentation was beautiful as it came flowing in a mist of dry ice.



They no longer offered their lobster mac & cheese so I decided to try their Crab Poutine instead. It's served with smoked bacon and a sunny side up egg.

Was great, and had a decent amount of crab inside.



This is one of my favorite flatbreads ever. Truffled Brie with roasted portobello, truffle oil, arugula, ricotta and farm egg.

The combo is crazy good, and even though it's completely vegetarian, you don't notice at all since the the protobello mushroom is so meaty.



Ah the main event. Lobster Stuffed with Dungeness Crab served with garlic greens and tobasco hollandaise.

This thing was massive.





Felt so indulgent eating this hah. The hollandaise was very rich, and the amount of butter in this dish is ridiculous. Good thing calories on holidays don't count (Lucy's rules).

We were very full after this feast, but since it was Valentine's Day I felt like we had to get some kind of a sweet treat.

This is the Mocha Hazelnut Torte with caramelized nuts and mocha cream. It was a pretty standard cake. Not my favourite, as the texture was a bit dry (I like my cakes moist!).



Also had the Bruleed Lemon Cello Tarte, over a shortbread crust and served with sweet basil puree and goat cheese cream.

I used to hate all lemon desserts. Like loathed them. But I've just recently grown to enjoy them, and decided to chance it on this experimental dish.

Well it turned out well, because I loved this. It went really well with the goat cheese cream. Suprisingly! As goat cheese cream sounds kind of disgusting, but this was actually really yummy. And the presentation of the plate is gorgeous with the colors and spun sugar.

So anyways, hope you all had a great Valentine's night (as well as day) and thanks for reading! :)

My Valentine (day)

I know this is late, but here's my Valentine post (finally).

I split it into two parts, for day and night.

So here's the daytime section:



I wore my heart neck dress with a thick pink sash, and my thin cream cardigan.

Paired it off with my ballet flats and a pearl drop headband.

I wanted to go for a pretty romantic look for the day, giving a nod to St. Valentine without going too over the top.



We decided to go for dim sum before I had to work.

I had heard good things about New Town Bakery & Restaurant, and really wanted to try their award winning buns and pastries.



They have a big steamer of buns on top of the building!



This is their award winning Chicken Deluxe Bun. It was packed with a variety of ingredients, and had great flavor. I couldn't really make out the chicken though.. tasted more like pork to me hah.



This is another award winner; the Apple Tart. I loved this. It was like a normal strudel, but with super buttery/flaky pastry and nice gooey filling WITHOUT cinnamon. I hate cinnamon. Which is why I usually don't like apple-y desserts. But this was just to die for.



The pork filled turnover is a Chinese bakery staple, but I had never heard of or tried the Prawn Turnover.

What. Have I been missing? This is like 100x better than the pork version. I really don't know why it's not more prevalent in Asian bakeries/supermarkets.

Delicious.

So I hope you all had a great Valentine's Day, and tune in for my part 2!