Took the family out to Monk McQueens for our first Dine Out Vancouver dinner of the year last Saturday. There was a wedding banquet happening at the same time so all the street parking was gone! We had to suck it up and pay the $8 valet parking in the front of the restaurant. 


We were given a complimentary baguette bread basket to start - fresh from the oven.

Buck-a-shuck was also available so I tried one of each of the oysters available: Pacific Rim, Summer Breeze(?) and some other one I don't remember the name of. I liked the Pacific Rim one the best. It is the smallest one.

For appetizer, I tried the roasted parsnip & duck veloute. It was a rich white soup kind of like chowder. I didn't post a photo because it didn't look like anything special. No decorations, it was just a bowl of soup. 

Spring Lamb Chop & Pot Pie

I was the only one in the family who didn't order the salmon. I had the lamp chop which was delicious! By this time I was so full I didn't need the pot pie that accompanied it.

Cedar Jelly Glazed Roasted Sockeye Salmon

The salmon as great too. I tried a little of it and it comes with a few tiny pieces of candied salmon. Yum!
 

Chocolate brownie creme brule

I loved the dessert. The brownie was imbedded in creme brule was so yummy! I liked the fact that there was gelato in addition to the creme brule. I wasn't really a big fan of the chunks of avacado in it though.

All in all a great meal and we were all stuffed in the end! Here is their full $28 Dine Out menu:

Appetizer

Entree

Dessert

On Sunday, my sister and I left for a mini-trip down to Harrison Hot Springs for a over-night stay courtesy of Harrison Resort from a contest I won on Twitter in November.

We stayed at the Harrison Hot Springs Resort and Spa. It was so relaxing and peaceful there that I want to come back in the summer!

 


Plenty of seating area in the lobby to relax.

We arrived just in time for afternoon tea! The hotel serves complementary tea and cakes and cookies in the lobby which happens every day from 4:00 to 4:30pm.


We were given a room on the fourth floor (there are six floors in total) with lake-side view. After checking in we went outside to walk around and to see if we could find some dinner.


It was pretty quiet this time of year. Lights were still up from Christmas, I presume. We walked around the Harrison village but there wasn't a whole lot to see or do since the shop close early.





This was pretty cool. There were Sasquatch footprints on the ground which we followed and look who we found!
We had fun hanging out with the big guy and also bought a bag of smoked salmon from a local store which we promptly devoured.


Back in the hotel, we explored around some more. There was a hallway full of displays in the basement that showed off the rich history of the springs and hotel.


The Copper Room was the only restaurant at the hotel that we didn't try out on this trip. They have a dress-code they like to adhere to: no jeans or runners. Whoops, I didn't have any dressy clothes with me!


The outdoor pools at Harrison Hot Springs. They are open from 4am until 1am at night so almost 24 hours!





We ended off the day having dinner at Island Bar. We shared a meal of mussels and salad. The only complaint I had was that they kept forgetting to bring me water! Twice they said they will bring me my water but never did. I guess it is too much to ask for customer service as good as Cactus Club Cafe. lol

PEI Mussels

Fraser Valley Spring Salad (with Goat Cheese on the side)

Woke up the next day to a beautiful view of Harrison Lake.




Isn't it so beautiful and peaceful?!



Prior to heading out to the Harrison Eco-Tour, we had breakfast buffet at the Lakeside Cafe.

Eggs, hash browns, bacon, sausages, danishes, muffins, fresh fruits. Yum!

Lots of cereal and juice to choose from.

 There was also a omelette bar.

Mmm-mm! Mushroom, peppers, green onion and shrimp omelette. Deee-lish!



 After breakfast, we headed to the dock for our 2-hour eagle tour.



Bill Civic was our tour guide. He took us out on a flat-bottom boat onto Harrison Lake and up the river. He was a very nice, friendly guy and informative too.


The first stop was the pictographs.

See the swirly thing?

Meow! Or...is it an owl?

  

Old Bubble and Squeak

 This was part of a paddle boat that sank way back when.

 We saw beautiful coloured lichen on the rocks. Amazing isn't it?

Indian Cemetary

I cannot stress how nice and peaceful it was here. If you want to relax, this was is the place to do it. Our guide said we should back in the summer, it's even more beautiful there.




This was suppose to be an eagle tour and we saw a few but mostly young ones. It think the rest have probably gone onto Brackendale since they just held their eagle fest last week.


Most of the eagles were in the trees just hanging out and drying their wings.

They call these trees the Christmas trees because in November (when the eagle festival was on) they would be covered in eagles hanging off the branches.

 


Beautiful birds. They got spooked easily though so it was hard to get close to them. I wish I had a telephoto lens!



Some other birds we saw were herons, different types of ducks, loons and a lot of seagulls. Bill says there are resident seals that live in the lake, lynx and bobcats also have been sighted before but we didn't see any. I wasn't expecting much since it is the dead of winter.

 




After the tour, we walked down to where the source of the hot springs was. The water here is fed into a pipe and heats the water down that the resort.







The last stop before heading out: Miss Margaret's. They serve hot drinks, sandwiches, salads, paninis, etc.



We decided to split a panini. I forgot what it was called...pepper ham something. It was SO GOOD! I wish I had gotten a whole one for myself!

Coming here to Harrison Hot Springs makes me wonder why I don't come more often. It is only slightly less than a 2 hour drive away from Vancouver!





Disclosure: I won this trip from a contest held by Harrison Resort. I was not expected to write anything in return and all opinions expressed are honest and of my own.