Day two in Montreal, we decided to walk to Vieux Montreal and just do a little sightseeing on the way. The nice thing about traveling in the fall is all the beautiful colours we get to see. Up there is the view from our hotel room. This post will be mostly the photos I took as we were walking.

This hotel does not have a 13th floor!!! Bad luck so they removed it altogether?

 We set a leisurely pace, stopping by malls and such too. Haha.

 
 Didn't know Google had a Montreal office!




 The Bay!


They have a lot of bikes people can rent. I heard Vancouver is trying to do something like this but there was the issue of helmets since they are mandatory here.





I like taking photos of the French version of everything. HA!

 National bank! We were near the financial district.


The Palais des congrès de Montréal is a very colourful building.


 We stopped by here to take some mandatory jumping shots! I'm not very good at jumping...


After this, we the square where all the interesting things were like the BMO and the Notre Dame Basilica. Next post...

As the Chinese New Year approaches, there should be a lot of events going on surrounding that. Also it's the last weekend for Dine Out Vancouver!

Friday, February 1, 2013

Year of the Snake Asian Expo
Friday 11am – 12am
Saturday 11am – 12am
Sunday 11am – 10pm
BC Place,777 Pacific Boulevard, Vancouver, BC
“Year of the Snake Expo 2013” is an extensive four-day event that promotes the Asian arts, tradition, culture, food and merchandise to every segment of the mainstream and ethnic communities.  The Expo of this scale is the perfect destination for families and friends for some New Year shopping, festive foods, and impressive entertainments all day, every day.

Saturday, February 2, 2013

Fresh, local, organic foods & crafts. 60+ vendors, hot food, music! Rain or Shine! Plus, all February, the Farmers market will feature double the usual number of food trucks! Feb 2nd food trucks: ChiliTank, Creperie, La Boheme, Feastro - The Rolling Bistro, J.J.'s Trucketeria, Le Tigre, Old Country Pierogi, Pig on the Street, Slavic Rolls, Taser Grilled Cheese, The Bean Buggy, The Kaboom Box, Vij's Railway, Yolk's Breakfast, ZeBite

Year of the Snake Asian Expo - $12.50 at gate, $10.50 online
Friday 11am – 12am
Saturday 11am – 12am
Sunday 11am – 10pm
BC Place,777 Pacific Boulevard, Vancouver, BC
“Year of the Snake Expo 2013” is an extensive four-day event that promotes the Asian arts, tradition, culture, food and merchandise to every segment of the mainstream and ethnic communities.  The Expo of this scale is the perfect destination for families and friends for some New Year shopping, festive foods, and impressive entertainments all day, every day.

Sunday, February 3, 2013

Year of the Snake Asian Expo
Friday 11am – 12am
Saturday 11am – 12am
Sunday 11am – 10pm
BC Place,777 Pacific Boulevard, Vancouver, BC
“Year of the Snake Expo 2013” is an extensive four-day event that promotes the Asian arts, tradition, culture, food and merchandise to every segment of the mainstream and ethnic communities.  The Expo of this scale is the perfect destination for families and friends for some New Year shopping, festive foods, and impressive entertainments all day, every day.

Stanley Park Ecology Society 25th Anniversary
11:00am - 3:00pm
Nature House on Lost Lagoon, south-east shore of Lost Lagoon and under the viewing plaza at the corner of Chilco Street and Alberni Street.
To celebrate 25 years of environmental education, conservation and stewardship programs in Stanley Park, SPES is hosting a birthday party and free family activities for the community at the Nature House on Lost Lagoon this Sunday, February 3 from 11 am – 3 pm. Schedule: Wildlife walks with a naturalist at 11 am, 12 am and 2 pm; nature crafts for kids from 11 am – 3 pm; learn about weaving with invasive plants from weavers with the Urban Weaver Project from 11 am – 1 pm;  and birthday cake and refreshments at 1 pm.  All events are free and take place at the Stanley Park Nature House, which is under the Lost Lagoon viewing plaza at the corner of Alberni and Chilco St.

IKEA Richmond Celebrates Year of the Snake
1:30 - 3:00pm
3320 Jacombs Rd. Richmond BC
IKEA Richmond is celebrating the Year of the Snake. There will be three special dragon dances, a calligrapher and great specials throughout the store and restaurant.

The Global Game Jam is an annual event where teams of programmers, artists and audio engineers unite to create a video game in 48 hours. This year's theme is "Heartbeat". I found out about this event on Twitter and noticed they needed volunteers so I signed up. (Oh, Twitter where would I be without you?)

Vancouver's jam site was at UBC's Life Science Centre. My shift started early Saturday morning though many volunteers have started on Friday and stayed overnight as did many of the jammers.

About 260 participants gathered at UBC this past weekend and that didn't include the volunteers - around 50 of them, as well as multiple mentors and sponsors including Microsoft and Wacom.


Wacon also brought a huge Cintiq for us to play with.

Here is Kimberly Voll showing off her drawing skillz! She is the Vancouver GGJ event coordinator and senior faculty member of the Centre for Digital Media. She was also my prof when I went to UBC few years ago! Small world.

The jammers are hardcore. By Sunday, many looked dead due to lack of sleep. Lots of coffee and energy drinks kept them going until the 3pm submission deadline!
 

It was amazing to see all the games being put together right before our eyes. The participants looked like they had a lot of fun despite the tiredness.



Pizza was the final reward for the jammers. Lots and lots of pizza. Great job jammers! You all deserved it!

You can check out all the games posted on the Global Game Jam website here. Have fun!

Last Friday, a few of us at work when to Ebisu in Richmond to bid farewell to a coworker who was going to Japan for six months. Ebisu has three locations and I've been to the one on Robson Street before and it was ok. They have good choices and happy hour on drinks.

Beef Teriyaki Boat $14.95 - Beef Teriyaki, Dynamite & California Roll, Salmon & Tuna Sushi, Assorted tempura

D had a boat. I think it's a good deal, you get so much stuff on it and it also comes with miso soup and Ebi Sunomono.

Sashimi Vancouver $15.95 (10 pieces) - Tuna (3), Salmon (3), Hamachi (2), Toro (2)

N and I shared three dishes. I wanted sashimi (like always). Everything tasted delicious though the tuna was still a bit frozen. Why is that? It's always the tuna! That green thing isn't a bean. It looked so much like one but when I bit into it...green onion. LOL

Ninja Kicker $9.50 (8pcs) - Prawn Tempura, cucumber & avocado in a spicy tuna & salmon wrap topped with Tobiko & green onions coasted in our original "kicker" spicy sauce!

The name of Ninja Kicker intrigued us, though normally we wouldn't go for spicy foods, we decided to try it. It does have a kick to it. There's also a Samurai sushi on the menu. We should have ordered that too and see who reigns supreme! XD

Beef Carpaccio $12.95 - thin sliced beef Tataki served with our homemade carpaccio sauce

Lastly, we ordered the beef carpaccio. It was a good sizable portion but the beef was still slightly frozen. lol Not too bad. It tasted pretty good. Those yellow things were pieces of mango!

The food was average, nothing special and prices are decent. You also get slightly frozen grapes at the end of your meal with the bill.

Our first night in Montreal and we didn't know what was in the area so W and I walked around until we came to some kind of pub/bar district. We kind of looked at all the menus and nothing really appealed to us until we passed by W&G. Italian in a French province. Ok, sounds good. The reviews were only ok on Urbanspoon but pretty good on Yelp but by this point I was tired and hungry, I just wanted some food.

They still had their Halloween decorations out back then. I thought the pumpkins were cute!

 The restaurant is big, comprising of two floors. The big kitchen was upstairs.

 Lots of wine displayed along the walls as well.



Each table was given a warm baguette with a dish of basil pesto in olive oil. This was a pretty big baguette. I got full just by eating it while I waited for my order to come.

Insalata di casa $13 Mixed field greens, apples, mandarins, grapes, goat cheese, parmesan, almonds, white balsamic and honey vinaigrette

W and I are very health conscience when we travel and like to always have our greens at every meal so we ordered the house salad to share. It was really good with all those ingredients!

W ordered a pizza, which looked so yummy. I think it had chicken in it. (Correct me if I'm wrong, W! And was it $18?)

Al funghi di bosco $16 - Portobello mushrooms, cream, basil, white wine, garlic

Hmm. I should have taken a photo before the waiter put the parmasean on it. I ordered the mushroom pasta with angel hair pasta. I think they make their pasta in house. I thought that the pasta was slightly overdone. Too mushy for my taste. It was ok, I probably would have enjoyed it more if I wasn't full from the baguette and the salad. lol In hindsight, we should have only ordered one main and shared everything. Too much food!

A little pricy for what the food was but we were kind of in downtown so I wasn't surprised. Nice warm atmosphere but the service could be improved. We were left alone for quite a while after being led to our table...with no menus or anything.

Hmm. Looks like I posted a lot of food events this week. It IS Dine Out Vancouver after all. I'll be dining out this Friday myself, and then another slew of them following it. I can't go to most of these event anyways since I'll be volunteering at the Vancouver Global Game Jam, which is happening all weekend at UBC. Should be fun!

Friday, January 25, 2013

Street Food City II
January 23, 24, 25, 26, 27
11am – 3pm Wednesday through Friday 
11am – 5pm Saturday and Sunday
North Plaza, Vancouver Art Gallery
Returning for a second season, Street Food City II is your opportunity to sample from a collection of Vancouver’s Street Food carts all in one convenient location. This was a huge success in 2012 and now it’s back for more days, and more food trucks!! Tenting, heaters, seating and music make for a festive mid-winter outdoor event! Gather and feast on delicious food prepared by these 13 vendors.

Railtown Culinary Walking Tour - $35 
1:30pm
Meet at H.A.V.E Culinary Training Society, 374 Powel Street
This tour is specifically for Dine-Out Vancouver to showcase some of the great establishments that are setting up in Railtown, the unofficial name for the area on the Northern tip of the Downtown Eastside. The tour includes a delicious selection food and beverage samples at five unique locations including the H.A.V.E Café, a culinary training school that provides foodservice job training to individuals who experience barriers to employment.  There is an alcohol sample on this tour. 

Waves Coffee Dance Game Competition
6:00pm - 9:00pm
Waves Coffee House, 180 - 5951 NO. 3 Rd. Richmond, BC
Wii want you to join Waves for a Dance Game Competition! So if you're ready to get your dancing shoes on, head to Waves London Plaza (No 3 and Westminster) this Friday, Jan 25th, from 6pm-9pm and compete for prizing - gift baskets, WavesRewards cards and more! You must enter by midnight tonight - either in-store or at londonplaza@wavescoffee.ca

La Musique: Food, Art, Music & Fashion - $25
7:30pm
Bar None, 1222 Hamilton Street, Yaletown, Vancouver, BC
Come experience an evening with special tapas prepared by the Donnelly Group and have a look at the original artwork on display in the patio room, with themes of food and dining as its subject matter by a featured artist, who will also be live painting. Enjoy a cocktail or two and engage in interesting conversation with like-minded foodies, while our DJ plays the latest Top 40 and Dance hits as well as great songs from years past. In the main room upstairs, listen to two featured musicians and singers perform some of their own original songs.  Guests will each be given a goody bag at the end of the night with assorted little gifts from our sponsors.

Saturday, January 26, 2013

Fresh, local, organic foods & crafts. 60+ vendors, hot food, music! Rain or Shine!

Pacific Institute of Culinary Arts Info Session
10:00am - 1:00pm
101 - 1505 West 2nd Avenue Vancouver, BC
This event will give you insight into the rewarding and exciting industry of culinary arts, baking & pastry arts and our professional training programs and Institute.  In addition to reviewing program information, we'll be taking you on a tour of our facility where the Chefs will demonstrate some of the many techniques taught in our kitchens. You will leave with a better understanding of our admissions process and the information you’ll need to help decide if this is the industry and training institute for you. Register here.

Winter Wander in Vanier Park
10:00am - 5:00pm
Vanier Park, Vancouver, BC
Bring your family down to Vanier Park for a day of music, history, science, and art - with performances at all venues by Vancouver Academy of Music students. Plus, enjoy local food vendors and enter to win memberships and other great prizes.  Join us in 2013 on Saturday, January 26.  Best of all? Your $5 admission includes admission to:      Museum of Vancouver     H.R. MacMillan Space Centre     Vancouver Maritime Museum     Vancouver Academy of Music     Cit yof Vancouver Archives     and Bard on the Beach  16 & under visit FREE.

Snowshoeing with Instameet Vancouver
11:00am - 3:00pm
Meet at 11:00 AM, Nordic Cafe, Cypress Mountain
Guess what, snow bunnies? On Saturday, January 26, we are hitting Cypress Mountain for a fun-filled day of snow, photography and hot chocolate. This is slated to be our best #InstameetVancouver yet, so I hope to see you there.  DETAILS: 11:00 AM, January 26, Saturday Nordic Cafe, Cypress Mountain Tickets: $10 Rentals: $20 (or rent your shoes in the city for cheaper) Contacts: @flamedot, @razzy_b and @girloclock

Street Food City II
January 23, 24, 25, 26, 27
11am – 3pm Wednesday through Friday 
11am – 5pm Saturday and Sunday
North Plaza, Vancouver Art Gallery
Returning for a second season, Street Food City II is your opportunity to sample from a collection of Vancouver’s Street Food carts all in one convenient location. This was a huge success in 2012 and now it’s back for more days, and more food trucks!! Tenting, heaters, seating and music make for a festive mid-winter outdoor event! Gather and feast on delicious food prepared by these 13 vendors.

Australia Day at Lonsdale Quay Market
123 Carrie Cates Court, North Vancouver, BC.
2:00pm - 4:00pm
Happy Australia Day! Come down to the Lonsdale Quay Market to get all your Australia Day favourites! Colin Aspinall of Hills Foods will be hosting a cooking demo at Sharkey’s Chophouse in Londsdale Quay from 2:00-4:00 PM on Saturday, Jan. 26.  Come out and try the rootin’ tootin’ flavor of kangaroo loin and take some home for an Australia Day feast! Special pricing available for one day only! Don’t be the only one not eating kangaroo on Australia Day!! Join the party! !
Check out what we’re serving up:
Sharky's Chophouse, North Vancouver Kangaroo, vegemite and meat pies.
COBS Bread Cheesymites
Salmon Shop – Tiger prawns
Sweet Carrie’s - Pavlova
Kin’s Farm Market - Beetroot

Sunday, January 27, 2013

Street Food City II
January 23, 24, 25, 26, 27
11am – 3pm Wednesday through Friday 
11am – 5pm Saturday and Sunday
North Plaza, Vancouver Art Gallery
Returning for a second season, Street Food City II is your opportunity to sample from a collection of Vancouver’s Street Food carts all in one convenient location. This was a huge success in 2012 and now it’s back for more days, and more food trucks!! Tenting, heaters, seating and music make for a festive mid-winter outdoor event! Gather and feast on delicious food prepared by these 13 vendors.