Sunday, January 23, 2011

East Side Mario's

In the States I usually had dinner in Olive Garden, which offers huge portion in decent price. I mean, I don't really need the huge portion but there is nothing similar in Vancouver that includes all you can eat salad/soup and a very generous portion of pasta in less than $20. It's like, when I'm in US I want to adjust myself to American mindset where it's always "bigger the better" especially when it comes to food. Portion is almost everything for causal dining. Just look at the size of people in general, there is a NEED for huge portion!

Anyway, my friend introduces me to this place some time ago, East Side Mario's.

The decor is like retro American style cafe in the 60s. I guess there is a need of the symbol of the East, the Statue of Liberty to be the main decor.


I had the minestrone soup and my hubby had the green salad. The loaf of bread is served warm. I'm quite satisfied with my soup as there are quite a lot of veggie inside. And it is not watery like some other places.


For main course, I had the four meat pizza. It came with thin crust and that's how I like it. Ever since I had thin crust pizza in Florence I'd like to have the same kind of crust to have the feeling of authentic pizza. The 4-slice pizza is $9.99 with the added option of $4.99 for all-u-can-eat soup/salad. I can't say the quality is outstanding but it certainly offered very good value for the price. In my opinion it's better than Boston Pizza.


My hubby ordered the Scallop Carbonara. The cream sauce is thick and tastes great.


There is also another economical option $14.99 that offers a few choices of pizza/pasta, with all-u-can-eat soup/salad, drink and dessert. To me it's very good deal. If you live near by, I would say it's a good place for causal dinner.

This weekend

Nothing really special.

Friday night we went to friend's house for dinner as usual. Had way too much food. Got a long huge pillow as present. Since I'm too stuffed, I have to give it some time to digest before I can go to bed. End up playing GT5 until 4am. Finally I can get into first place after 3 hours practice. :)

Saturday: had hair cut around noon. I like my hairstyle but it's getting way too many split ends. Time to have a trim before Chinese New Year as well.

After that had lunch at home. Then went to friend's house to visit her baby. After that went to Coquitnam IKEA. For some reason I was kinda moody when deciding where to go for dinner. I was debating to have pizza or not...

At the end we went to Eastside Mario in Coquitnam center.

Sunday: Had dim sum and then go back to work for a while. I have to work on my Chinese New Year theme ATC tonight, which I have signed up in the HA Flickr Gruop...

Friday, January 21, 2011

差一剎的地老天荒

I can't find the mv version...for now.



Piano version


差一剎的地老天荒
TVB劇集【富貴門】主題曲

主唱:羅嘉良
作曲:陳頌紅
填詞:陳頌紅

追追 趕趕 推推 撞撞
目空一切 理想燒光
真真 假假 跌過 痛過
愛的花火 只給我願與望
天黑 天光 天清 天蒼
曾經廝守 暗地嚮往
可惜這夜 煙花已謝 沒法被仰望
差一剎 我 地老天荒
只差一步 欲望幻化星光
誰和誰存活愛 誰和誰埋沒愛 天堂在哪方
我怕就怕 失望 其餘一切也不枉
所有代價 通通捨割 心血都流光
抹去害怕 撕掉稀罕 忘情才游到彼岸
我命裏鑽不出因果
真假如浮雲 天也在看

Sunday, January 16, 2011

High tea @ Secret Tea Garden and Adonia

Although I want to avoid sweet, despite my wish, I had high tea two times this month already.

I love high tea. It's noble, it's just perfect portion to satisfy my craving for savory and sweet pastry. And not to mention, I love tea as well.

First, the Secret Garden Tea Room


It's definitely a famous place for high tea. The scones, I really considered the best among all I have tried.

Besides scones, the savory sandwiches are also great. However, the dessert I would say it's a bit on the sweeter side for me. But it's just because I grew up in Hong Kong where the cake is always much less sweeter than local ones.

For the two of us:


Very cute teapot wrap. I had creamy earl gray tea that day. I always like to add a bit of milk/cream to black tea.


Look at the cute snowman on the dessert plate, for the x'mas/new year time.


It's on the pricey side: $26/person for the full set. But I guess it's ok to splurge once a while, just consider yourself be the noble British lady...

Second place: Adonia
When we went to the Secret Tea Garden last time looking for parking spot, we passed by this little tea house. And it seems to serve high tea too. We passed by on a weekend and it's a full house. So I was thinking to try it out when I have a chance.

The ambiance is like an Victorian tea house and it's cozy. Seating seems a bit tight but with the huge chair it's still comfortable.

The biggest difference is the tea. This is the real fruit tea I ordered. It is a mix of real juice and tea. And there is real fruit inside as well. Last but not least it tastes great.


Serve with Royal Albert fine bone china. Instead of a saucer, I was give a small fork to pick the real fruit inside the tea pot.


I love the little quiche but I'm not a big fan of olive tart. While I do love the rest of the savory selection, once again I found the dessert too sweet for my taste.


Here's the 2nd plate. It comes with sweet and savory scones, plus bread pudding. The bread pudding is served warm and tastes great.


The scone is also quite fluffy (I mean not as hard) but it's less of buttery taste like the Secret Garden. But overall, still very good scones. But for the rest of savory selection, I would prefer the Secret Garden. It just seems more delicate there.

As for tea, it's so unique to have this real fruit tea so I would definitely prefer this to others.

It is also on the pricey side though, for $25/person. But they do offer mini high tea set for $15/person with 6 pieces of pastry.

After all, my craving is fully satisfied. Let's see how long I'll stand until my next high tea occasion...