Friday, July 29, 2011

back to reality

I've just come back from a relaxing and wonderfully, hot and sunny vacation. I went to Punta Cana with Alex and his family. It was my first time ever going to an all-inclusive and I love it. I love the sun, the beach, the pool, the free drinks. I love how you can sit by the pool/beach and just let yourself tan (not that I did much of that) and relief is a minute away. As it is with all vacations, I felt it was too short and I was not looking forward to coming back home and back to work. Especially since I'm sitting in a room that HAS air conditioning but my office partner is anal and doesn't want to turn the AC on because it's too noisy or something and she insists on opening the window instead. So instead of a nice cooling effect, I have a very sticky, damp and hot effect. If I were still on vacation, at least I could've had this by the beach or a pool in the Caribbean. But it's ok, I only have 2 and a half hours of this before I get to go home...via public transit which must be awful. Maybe I'll be lucky enough to get an air conditioned bus, that was an amazing experience. I was so blown away by it.

Enough complaning, let's talk about my wonderful vacation. So, we arrived at around 7 PM and we were about an hour away from the resort. By the time we checked in, found our rooms and got settled in, it must've been about 9:30 PM? We wanted to find some food but we weren't familiar with the resort yet so we wondered around, found the pool, which was huge and great. We found the snack bar but they were closed and were preparing for the midnight snack or whatever it was. They said they would be ready in 8 minutues. Now, we didn't know this at the time, but apprently, in the Dominican Republic, they have no concept of time, so when they say 8 minutes, they mean, they'd like to be ready in 8 minutues but we'll most likely be ready in 2 hours. Which is what happened that time and every other time. So when the snack bar was open again, I was starving but to my disappointment, it was only hot dogs and burgers but I ate like a pig anyway.

I'M SO HOT! I'm sweating and my office partner isn't even here. I should just close the window and turn on the freggin' AC. I think I'll go do that. Her ears can kiss my sweaty ass. Yay, it's turned on!

Now, we spent most of our time on the beach and by the pool, which was awesome. I loved every second of it. But we also did an excursion together, which was snorkeling and we swam with sharks and stingrays. But where we went, it was an enclosed area and the sharks had no teeth and they took out the stingers out of the rays, the poor things. I've swam with wild stingrays that have still had their stingers and they're not aggressive animals, what happened to Steve Irwin was literally a one in a million accident. Anyway, we took some pictures with them and swam around the enclosure trying to touch them while they swam away from you. It was good fun. Then, the boys went on a Jeep safari excursion, while Alex's mom and I went to the spa. It was so quiet and relaxing without the guys. We got the aromatherapy package where they scrub you in exfoliante so that you're silky smooth when you wash it off and then they give you a massage with oils and all these different lotions, gels and creams. We left smelling, feeling and looking great. But unfortunately, we had to wash our hair so we washed some of it off while we were trying to wash only our hair.

Tuesday, May 31, 2011

Earl Grey Experiment

Wow, it's been a while since I've updated but the list of usual excuses come up; exams and work. Although my exams finished on April 28th (day after my birthday, that's right, I had to study on my birthday!), work started the following Monday and so did my kickboxing classes. In addition to my full-time job (for the summer), I have a part-time job tutoring and the kid's exams were coming up so after my first job, I'd head to my second job and on Mondays and Wednesdays, I'd head off to kickboxing after and get home at around 10 PM. When I don't have kickboxing, I finish work at 8 PM and 7 PM on Fridays, arriving home between 8 PM to 9 PM.

My schedule is still like this but tutoring is going to finish next week since his last exam is on Friday, which gives me more free time after my first job, even if I do have kickboxing after. I love kickboxing! It's amazing and it's so challenging. I love that our coach makes out really work out and that he's still a nice guy. I'm definitely going to sign up again during the fall and even in the winter. Plus, it toning up my flab is a nice bonus ;)

So the weather is finally nice. It's only been raining for the past month, with a random sunny day before reverting back to rain. This is the second day in a row where it's been nice and sunny! Just looking outside makes me happy, never mind feeling the sunshine on my skin.

OMG BLOGGER DIDN'T SAVE MY POST AND NOW I HAVE TO TYPE ALL THIS AGAIN!!!! RAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAGE!!!

As I was saying, before blogger MESSED EVERYTHING UP! I love drinking Earl Grey tea because it's the best tea around, obviously. But for some reason, whenever I drink it at work, or at home, it never tastes nearly as good as when I drink it at my boss' house (tutoring). It was at his house that I was introduced to my tea soul mate. Strangely enough, whenever I drink it at work, it tastes like crap, at home, it's alright but at tutoring, it's soooooooo delicious. I wonder why, I add milk and sugar to the tea whether I'm at work or tutoring (milk and honey at home)and the brand is the same (Twinnings). Does anyone know why this happens? I highly doubt that china tea cups and sugar cubes make all the difference. I'll do an experiment tonight at tutoring and I'll post the results some other time.

Saturday, March 05, 2011

Deliciousness at every turn

My March break is over, and the week went by so quickly. I think it's the first time in a long time that I've actually taken a real break. For the past two and a half years, I've either been in school or I've been working full-time, or both.

But today's post is going to be about the most amazing Japanese izakaya in Montreal (at least that I know of). Ok, to be honest, I didn't even know what an izakaya was until I googled it on Wikipedia just now. According to Wikipedia, it's a Japanese bar that also serves food. That strikes me as surprising since it looks much more like a restaurant to me. Sure, it serves saké and Sappuro but other than that, it's all about the food.

Anyway, I went with my boyfriend last Saturday because I had tried it one other time with a friend for lunch. It was so delicious! The first time I went, I had the curry and it blew my mind. Not only was the food wonderful, it was very cheap, $7. The staff is extremely attentive and polite. They seem to genuinely love their job and were willing to help you with anything.

When I went with my boyfriend last Saturday, we didn't have to wait in line, which was surprising. That place is always packed unless you're there before they open. Within 5 mins of it opening, the place is full. But the place itself is very small, it can maybe seat about 30 people. I had ordered chicken meatballs for starters and the 48-hour pork rice as a main course. The reason it's called 48-hour pork rice is because it's been marinated for 48 hours and it was worth it! The pork was soft and very flavourful. The rice was fluffy and the portions, generous.

The chicken meatballs


48-Hour Pork Rice


My boyfriend and I loved the restaurant so much, that we went back yesterday. We invited another friend to try it with us. Unfortunately, this time we weren't so lucky with the line-up. We waited for about half an hour before they were able to accommodate us. We ended up sitting at the bar in the exact same place as last time. I actually prefer sitting at the bar since you get to watch the chefs in action.

I ordered the Pork Cheeks with Baguettes as an appetizer and the Teriyaki Burger as the main course. The pork cheeks were good but they weren't amazing, as my boyfriend's starter was. The baguettes weren't actually baguettes but more like a pita. The pita was placed in the middle of the dish and what you do is you take a piece of the pita and put some of the pork, which is located around the dish and put some of the pork on it. It's basically a little sandwich. There was also some hot sauce and sweet sauce on the side. I preferred the sweet sauce than the hot sauce. I found that the hot sauce didn't complement the pork.

The Pork Cheeks


The main course, however, was fantastic. It was chicken meat instead of beef but it was so juicy. It was a pretty big portion, and I managed to finish it, even though I was pretty full afterwards. There was thin slices of lettuce in it and some very good sauce. I wasn't sure what it was, but it tasted a bit like mayonnaise. It might've been mixed with ketchup because it was a pink-ish hue. That burger was just fantastic. I can still taste it on my palette.

Teriyaki Burger


My boyfriend has the shrimp pancake as a starter and the pork neck. The shrimp pancake was really good. There was salad placed on top of it and it added a nice crisp to the whole flavour. The shrimp was very nice, not burnt or anything. But it was the pancake that made the whole dish. It was very creamy, surprisingly enough, and it was practically melted on your tongue the moment you put it in your mouth.

Shrimp Pancake


The pork neck was also very good. It was a bit tricky to eat since it was mostly bone but for whatever lack of meat there was on the pork, they up for it by giving you more pieces. It's pretty messy when you're eating this because you're basically using your hands. The waiter did give him extra napkins though. It was very tender and a bit sweet thanks to the sauce that they put on it. It wasn't burnt at all either.

Pork Neck


Even though I was stuffed, I had to order the Earl Grey ice cream. I know it sounds weird, because it's a type of tea. But waitress assured me that it was the best flavour and that I wouldn't regret it. I decided to be adventurous and go for it. Besides, I like Earl Grey so why not. Their ice cream is homemade and you can tell the difference. It wasn't as sweet as the ice cream you normally buy from the store. But it was creamy. There was Earl Grey powder sprinkled all on the surface of my ice cream and the waitress told me that it was real tea. It tasted great! I don't know how, but they made it work. It was a little expensive though, it was $4 and it was a small size but enough for me to really enjoy myself.

My boyfriend has the Saké ice cream, it's the exact same ice cream except they placed some saké under the bowl of ice cream in another bowl. You can pour as much saké as you can on your ice cream, so that gives you a bit of flexibility on how much you want. I tried it and it was good, but not as good as my Early Grey.

I'm going back next week for lunch with the same friend who introduced me to this fab restaurant. I'm definitely going to try something new even though I'm really tempted to get the Teriyaki burger again but honestly, everything they make there looks so good. And so far, I haven't been proven wrong.

Friday, February 18, 2011

Taste of Freedom

After cramming and stressing for about three weeks, my midterms are finally done! Actually, my last one was on Wednesday so I've been done for a few days but really done because I still had classes until Thursday. But as of Thursday at 2:30 PM, I'M ON SPRING BREAK! But at my school, they call it, "Reading Week." I guess it is a bit early to call it spring break but whatever, it's a week of school.

I can't wait! I've been either in school or working since...a long time. 3 years? With the co-op program and school, I haven't really had a break since then. I'm going to enjoy every second of it. Except for the fact that I'm stuck at work. I normally don't mind going to work but I can't wait to get out of here. I keep thinking about what I'm going to do during my spring break, which I haven't decided yet.

I'm trying to write a Valentine's Day card for Alex. We're celebrating today because we've both been super busy with midterms so we haven't had time to do anything. It's really hard to write a good message in a card without repeating the same things over and over. This is our fifth Valentine's celebration so...yeah. I'm not very creative either so yeah, that's why this is really hard. It doesn't help that he surprised me with a bouquet of flowers, some chocolcates and a card on Valentine's Day when I opened the door, looking like I was dragged through a garbabge dump. Okay, I didn't look that bad, but I didn't look impressive either. So I feel pressured to write a really good card.

On another note, I've been obsessed with buying Kawaii plushies like Homekoro (even though it's almost impossible to find him. But I did manage it, after extensive effort) and Mamegoma. But I only like the fuzzy Mamegomas and the fluffy Rilakkumas. I normally don't like Rilakkuma at all, but for some reason, I like the fluffy ones. I like the white bear more tha Rilakkum himself, it's cuter.

I'd post some pics of the ones that I want but unfortunately, I don't have time for that because I have about half an hour left of work and I still have to write an excellent Valentine's Day card for Alex.

Thursday, January 13, 2011