In a Tizzy

Category: family time

  • Spring is in the air! Plus a new dining discovery.

    All of my body’s sensory systems are being bombarded by signs of Spring:
    – Fully and pink cherry blossoms
    – The smell of food wafting from open patios at restaurants
    – Seasonally-appropriate Refreshers from Starbucks
    – Slipping into Toms every day
    – Tired and heavy footsteps during outdoor jogs

     I am struggling to determine if the end of classes (a) was perfectly-timed with the beautiful weather or (b) liberated my mind and allowed me to fully embrace the impending season and all of its glory – either way, it has been lovely.


    21 years of life – completed by MM!
    We enjoy mason jars over the
    traditional glassware.




    Block Party/MM’s birthday was fun this year! Many friends, amazing weather, and lots of dancing – followed by vegan s’mores on the beach (highly recommended). 

    Post-Block Party consisted of more birthday celebrations! And the beginning of studying. While the weather does not seem conducive to studying, it does lift my spirits and has served as inspiration to earn my time outside! Following an afternoon of studying, I had a nap to prepare to socialize more at The Afghan Horseman – a new dining discovery with delicious food! I had the Vegan Plate from their Vegetarian Dishes (pictured above), and zombied my way through dinner before collapsing into bed later that evening.

    The following day, GD and I moseyed down to experience The Juice Truck for the first time! This is something I’ve wanted to do since stumbling across their Instagram account. After sharing two very fulfilling smoothies, we grabbed some free ice cream from Leonidas at Waterfront (a Hot Chocolate Festival location!) for wishing one of their employees a happy birthday.
    After all of these birthday and food-related events… We had another birthday AND food-related event! On JS’s birthday, and to celebrate a triple-birthday week, I attended a birthday dessert potluck. Wu-Wu and I supplied healthy, vegan chocolate chip cookie muffins! Topped with coconut whipped cream and blueberries, we feel that they were definitely a baking success (thanks Chocolate-Covered Katie for the recipe!).


    Before further birthday celebrations continued the following day, I celebrated a belated National Grilled Cheese Day by making vegan grilled cheese (Daiya cheese) and homemade soup with GD, as we had neglected so far to eat dinner. 


    Finally, to cap off this entry, the sister and her fellow came over for dinner! We made vegetarian stir fry with a special sweet and sour “pork” recipe from the Calgary Farmer’s Market, alongside some homemade mango guacamole supplied by our guests. It was a good birthday dinner for GD and a good day overall!

    Now I am delving into studying before my 12-day exam break, where I hope to have more adventures that I can document and write about – until then…

    UBC REC full-team selfie!

  • Back from Hiatus

    Hello, M&M.

    If I’m not mistaken, it has been quite some time since we’ve interacted! My hope is to be back more regularly for updates as classes end… and the season of studying for final exams begins.

    In the last two weeks…

    My mom made special homemade soup for me!


    My sister turned nineteen and we went DANCING!









    I obviously ended up baking cookies (CCK recipe).


    In addition to birthdays, baking, and breaking it down, I have been preparing for the end of this term and what the next chapter of 2014 will hold. 

    For the end of this term: 
    – My final paper (the first paper I have written in about 16 months!)
    – The transition report for the incoming RHA Vice-President
    – Final events and socials for the RHA as a whole

    The next chapter:
    – Job interviews! One last Saturday, and one this coming Saturday with UBC REC
    – My official induction as a member of the 2014-15 NRHH
    – Applying for summer jobs!
    – Preparing for my stint as a residence advisor next school year
    Amidst all of these exciting upcoming opportunities and ongoing year-end preparations, I have been trying to get all of my socialization squeezed into these final weeks!

    There was the Welcome to Wonderland Boat Cruise:

















    There was also the 2nd annual Barn Burner:

    I also participated in my third Storm The Wall event! We placed first in our heat which was very exciting, and advanced to the next race – something I haven’t accomplished before with my team!

    Wall Me Maybe 2.0
    Wall Me Maybe 2.1

    Beyond attending and organizing events, I have been reflecting on what I’ve done and been a part of over the last eight months. 
    ~ Academics have been at a relative high for me, and my involvements have balanced well with school. For the first time in a while, I will miss courses that I’ve taken this year along with the professors that taught them; I also feel that my major has become more of a place that I feel at home, particularly in my gender and sex differences course (and my personality and behaviour disorders courses last term). 
    ~ I struggled through another visual arts class but enjoyed being able to use my camera for projects and was pleased that I applied something I’m passionate about in my final project (uploading to blog is currently being contemplated).
    ~ Being an executive member of the RHA has been great – it puts me in touch with every part of residence (mostly) and I have been a part of a forward-moving year for the organization. I regret the lack of closeness developed with my fellow executives early on, but am grateful that we’ve done so much as leaders and that we’ve bonded more in the last little while!
    ~ My personal life has expanded and evolved in terms of family bonds, friendships, and my relationship – all in ways that I think are taking me in a good direction. I don’t know what this direction is, but it feels like a good and enjoyable one.


    Overall, this year at UBC has been a good one.
    The summer is always a mysterious next chapter – travel plans, new job opportunities (sorry Safeway), and time for friends and family in abundance!
    I look forward to seeing where things go.

    Once my camera’s most recent photos have been uploaded,
    I’ll get back to this and update on the more recent events following
    the Boat Cruise! Barn Burner, food adventures, and more!

    Our cityscape view from the boat last weekend.

  • Reading Week 2014

    With reading week already three days past, the midterm grind is on and I have become unnaturally fatigued following the men’s gold medal hockey game (the early morning seems to have triggered an insatiable weariness). However, I had a wonderful week off from classes and was able to do lots of adventuring thanks to an out-of-town visitor who wished to pursue some tourist attractions in Vancouver.

    The break began on the last day of the hot chocolate festival, with my fellow’s birthday and Valentine’s Day all making for a delicious three-way celebration:

     We chose Nuba restaurant as our spot to celebrate a 21st birthday and Valentine’s Day dinner.
    Our fuel of choice included delicious tomato and crispy cauliflower appetizers, and
    stuffed eggplant for the main course – all vegetarian or vegan and SO DELICIOUS!

    Following the Friday, we began our tourist adventures.

     

    Looking over the bridge’s edge!


    After our guest took a hiatus over on the island, I studied and made my way home for a couple of days to continue recuperating and Olympic-watching.
    (We won gold.)

     















    THEN we returned to our tour guide lives (after doing some morning muffin making).
    “Goddess Bowl” at Aphrodite’s Organic 
    Cafe and Pie Shop.

    And…. It snowed!

    Quite a lot!
    (By Vancouver standards.)

    My reading week was full of reading (for three midterms that I just overcame), family, friends, and an adequate amount of rest. Plus, a lot of exciting and emotional Olympic moments! Overall, I would deem it a success. Now, I am back to the home-stretch of this school year with finals to prepare for, papers to write, elections to get through next week, a couple more interviews to see through (as well as outcomes of previous ones), and the move out of residence.

  • HoCho Fest Day 23: Monkey’s Uncle

    Happy B.C. Family Day!

    To celebrate the day, some of the folks I love came out to my end and we all went for “Italian soul food” at the restaurant Incendio. My pasta was delectable, and the crusts of my family members’ pizzas were as well.

    S and N’s pizza.
    My rotini pomodoro pasta.
    Mom and J’s pizza.



     












    After our lunch, we made the journey over to the hot chocolate location for the day – the second trip to Bella Gelatería! I thought it would be a good spot to showcase some of the festival’s creativity and unique locations to my family.

    Monkey’s Uncle: gBAR made from banana liquer and swirls of “To Die For”
    banana bread crumb. Served with a slice of Erin Ireland’s “To Die For”
    Banana Bread.


    The gelato gBAR for this drink tasted SO GOOD! It tasted exactly like banana bread, except it was in a popcicle form. S and N tried this as well, but tried it instead in a cone and dipped it in their white hot chocolate (with moderate success). 

    Dipping our banana bread gBAR into the dark almond milk hot chocolate made it melt, and the oozing flavours tasted oh-so-yummy. The hot chocolate was dark and nutty from the almond milk, and was quite filling. Similarly to my last experience at BG, the gBAR did not flavour the hot chocolate very strongly, and the flavours of it were hardly present until the last quarter of the drink, where it became thicker with the gelato and hints of banana crept up.

    As was the case last time, the “To Die For” banana bread was delectable, and I think that everyone enjoyed their hot chocolate experiences as well. 



    I personally think that last year’s hot chocolate at BG was superior because of how strong the flavours were. However, this year’s is very unique in how you come to have the specialty drinks – to make this year’s top last year’s, I think the drinks should be smaller so that the gBARs can flavour the hot chocolate more effectively (maybe 12oz drink cups instead of what appear to be 16oz ones would help).