Monday, December 22, 2008

Normal Holiday



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At 2008 Christmas Party.

Fiona dressed up!!

With Santa.

He is the same Santa from last year.

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Christmas Eve on Frances Street:



At dinner, we enjoyed Plum wine which we brought back from Japan.

With Korean kimchi dumpling and hot pot.

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December 25th:

Our neighborhood in the morning of Christmas...

Very peaceful.

Our poor car.

We are not going to clean up yet because it's still snowing now (Dec 26th).

In evening, Amy and David came by our place.

Seven months pregnant, Amy still weighs less than Fiona.

Can't wait until March.

After we came back from dinner, Lew family brought Christmas gift for us.

Lovely!! But Taddy will eat up most of them for sure...

:::Merry Christmas!!:::

Thursday, November 6, 2008

The Long Walk Beach

We were on the airplane.

Flying from Vancouver to...

Arrived to LAX.
We decided to stay in L.A. for a day before going back to Japan.

Took the train to Long Beach.

We were in Long Beach downtown area.

Walked around the port of Long Beach.

It's a beautiful day for walking.

Under this beautiful weather, we quite enjoyed walking.

And now getting hungry...

Found a burger stand. We had BBQ Chicken Sandwich and it's surprisingly good.

Having lunch outside, and it was really nice. And sparrows in the area are not afraid of people.  One even came so close to us.

A classic boat for Sale.

Wonder how much would it be.

Man...we walked a lot and Fiona was almost crippled.

Sun is so dazzling...

This is the Convention Center.

They were having some tradshow for sound effects or something.

Stopped by a coffee shop.

We had chai tea and apple cider. Surfing internet with iTouch.

The hotel room we stayed.

We actually paid $20 because we had some points from Starwood.

Next morning, right after we checked out, a fire truck came to the hotel.

What happened??  We had no idea.

Well, we went back to LAX and caught the flight to Japan.
Arrived Japan safely.

:::To Be Continued:::

Tuesday, October 28, 2008

Autumn Feasts

Nothing but tasty wine.

Eating and drinking, that's pretty much what we do in the weekends' evening.

Fiona likes cheese. We bought two kinds this time.

They match with wine so well.


Sichuan and Indian Dinner:

One Saturday evening, we went to friends' place for dinner.

We brought Chinese (Sichuan style) dishes and they had Indian dishes ready.

Chinese meat ball and Indian Butter Chicken.

Fish with Tofu and Curry vegetable.

This is Blackberry wine. Taddy was pretty excited to drink this.

But the taste was...hmmm.

And Shiraz.

Well, this one is pretty good.


Muslim Dinner:

On another Saturday, we were invited by Fiona's coworker for Eid ul-Fitr (Eid Celebration).

They are Singaporean home style dishes.

There were a lot of guests in their house.

People are eating, chatting, watching Hockey game from TV, and singing Karaoke in the basement. Food were continuously added from the big pots in the yard.


Japanese Dinner:

Takoyaki!!

Shige and Sanae brought their machine and cooked delicious Takoyaki that night.

We cooked Gratin and Taiwanese chicken dish.

And Akihito and Yuko brought Potato Salad and Karaage.

Opened two bottles that night.

Yummy...

A lot of stuff to eat and a lot to talk about.

We finished the party at midnight, what a tasty and fun night!!


Thanksgiving Dinner:

Big turkey was cooked well.

Canada's Thanksgiving was on October 13th. And we were invited by Lew family as usual.

Isn't this great?

Stuffing, mashed potatoes, corn on the cob, carrots with cream sauce, vegetables, gravy, cranberry sauce... you name it.

This time it was Spanish wine.

And it's pretty good wine.

Okay, let's eat!!

And their homemade pumpkin (it's from their garden) soup was so delicious!! We brought roll cake instead of pie. but this roll cake is actually quite tasty.

And they are just busy in eating.

Happy Thanksgiving!!


Afternoon Cycling:

Eating is fun, but gaining weight isn't much fun. So we decided to do little exercise.

First time to ride the tandem cycle.

Came to Stanley Park on one Sunday afternoon.

And circling around the park.

It was great day for cycling.

A lot to see in the park.

Arrived the beach.

Taking a break. We haven't riden a bicycle for a while, but we really enjoyed it.

It took about an hour to finished a complete circle around Stanley Park's seawall.

Well, this is how we enjoy the autumn season here. And...

Winter is not welcomed!!

Sunday, September 7, 2008

September Wine - Part III

The third day in Okanagan.

Too bad, this is our last breakfast at Apple Blossom...

We sat at table with two couples from England and Edmonton.

And John was entertaining as well.

Fruits parfait with yogurt.

Healthy and tasty.

Warm homemade bread has arrived.  It's moist and warm.  Yum!

Look at the containers for butter and jam, but jam was not apple flavor...

Their special healthy Pancakes were the main dish.

It had very little flour.  Very soft and tasty, what a breakfast!!

We checked out Apple Blossom at 10:00.  Best B&B we ever stayed!!


We decided to go to one more winery, Quails' Gate.

This place isn't as big as Mission Hill, but it is another very famous winery here.

Nice vineyard.

And this time, the weather was the best among three days we stayed.

We joined the winery tour too.

Grapes!!

And inside wine cellar.

The tour guide explained their special way to make wines.

Wine Tasting.

We tasted White, Rosé , and Red wine.

Inside the store.

And you can taste their samples at the counter bar.


We came to the Old Vines, the restaurant in Quail's Gate for lunch.

Actually the B&B owner and other guests were talking highly of this restaurant. So we wanted to try before we leave.

Bread's arrived.

With herb butter, it tastes pretty good.

Taddy had Rainbow Trout.

Fiona had Albacore Tuna.

Super Deliciaous!!

We can enjoy the the nice view from inside of the restaurant.

This nice environment made us feel very relaxed and comfortable while we were waiting for the desert.

Coffee is a necessity before long drive.

This chocolate cake with maple honey ice cream is just amazing!!  $10 is worthy for this plate.

We left Okanagan at 1:30 PM.
Arrived Vancouver at 6:30 PM.


Before leaving Okanagan area, we stopped to buy peaches and plums.

They were too ripe, so we had to eat very quickly.


We really enjoyed our Okanagan trip this fall!!