last Monday

I got the job!

Noodles through the LENS – June 2007 Update

For an explanation of the LENS, please read: Noodles through the LENS

THREE STARS: At Taiwan Beef Noodle House in Vancouver, the beef noodles taste good, but the service is lacking. The wait for food is long, and the number of servers is few. No. 1 Noodle House in Burnaby keeps its 3* rating, and ranks slightly higher than Taiwan Beef.

FOUR STARS: Hanju Hot-Pot in Burnaby retains its 4* rating, even though it has been charging the same price for less soup. There is now not enough soup to accompany the bowl of rice. Because of its popularity, the small size of the restaurant is more noticeable than before.

Lao Shan Dong in Burnaby now accompanies the list of 4* restaurants. My first visit benefited from the 'first taste bump', allowing it to achieve 5*. On a following visit, the noodles tasted the same, yet did not evoke the feeling of excellence.

Huang's Beef Noodle Shop in Vancouver is a consistent 4* restaurant. The bean thread noodles are tender and chewy, and the unique soup base has not been duplicated elsewhere. The main drawback is the small number of tables available.

FIVE STARS: Sasaya Bistro in Burnaby receives 5* for their Taiwanese style hotpot noodles and customer service. Future visits will determine whether they can keep their rating after benefiting from the 'first taste bump'.

Weekends Revisited

It has been a month since I returned from my travels, and we've made the most of our weekends in Vancouver. I feel mummified by my memories, and I have to unravel the cloth to free myself, in order to write about more recent events.

For Mother's Day, we ate at a hotpot restaurant at Aberdeen Centre. The food and atmosphere were slick, but the portions were small. We won't go back. We were supposed to eat with the extended family, but with Grandma in the hospital, we decided to eat with our party of four. It's strange; after all the years of eating with the extended family, it's only after you don't do it that you realize that you miss the tradition.

I met Adrian's girlfriend Carolyn while playing poker and Guitar Hero II at Caleb's place. I'm happy to see Adrian with a girlfriend, because he's happy to be with a girlfriend. Relationships are a growing experience, and it's nice to see a GBZ member in this stage.

I've watched every episode of the Sopranos, and am anxiously waiting for the final episode of the series. I'm anticipating how they will wrap up the series in a satisfying fashion. I'm sure the writing and acting will be fantastic, and I'll be disgruntled to realize that one of my favorite drama series will come to an end.

Movies:
A Night at the Museum is entertaining, but not outstanding. It has enough feel-good moments to make it something worth watching once.

Shrek 3, like Museum, is good but not groundbreaking. I would not want to watch this movie again. I think that Shrek 2 is the best movie of the trilogy. I watched parts of Shrek 1 while shopping yesterday, and it still stands the test of time.

The Pursuit of Happyness is an inspiring movie. It starts sad, but the sadness builds enough empathy for a viewer to care about Will Smith's character. I would recommend you to watch it once. I have a sudden want to play with a Rubik's cube.

Dirty Dancing – Havana Nights is highly derivative, but has a good salsa beat. I would think that people who place in the top 3 would be able to dance better.

Gypsy is playing at the Stanley, and it's an entertaining show. For me, the standout character was Herbie. Rose started by overacting in an annoying way, but she won me over by the end of the night. Louise was underwhelming, and I would have welcomed a larger stage presence. June was a bundle of energy, and I enjoyed watching her perform. The most entertaining segment was "You Gotta Get a Gimmick", by Mazeppa, Electra, and Tessie Tura. I enjoyed it because it's true; every 'dancer' needs a gimmick. What's yours?

Geoduck congee does not taste as good as it sounds. I know that geoduck is expensive, but you need more than 8 pieces to properly flavour a bowl of congee.

We bought Japanese food from Fujiya and ate dinner at Jennie's house. We followed up by laughing at the season finale of Family Guy. This is the episode where Peter Griffin travels back to the 80s. If you haven't seen the episode, and are not easily offended, do a youtube search for 'family guy rickroll'.

On the long weekend Monday, we watched the Medicine Hat Tigers play the Plymouth Whalers in the Memorial Cup round robin tournament. On the Thursday of that week, we watched the Plymouth Whalers play the Lewiston Maineacs. I wish we could have watched the Giants play live, but we did watch them win the Memorial Cup on Sportsnet.

O Thai has the best Thai crispy duck I have ever tasted.

You realize that someone knows you when they can understand and perform your subtleties.

Define: a relaxing Sunday afternoon.
Definition: walking around Central Park with your girlfriend, and playing Frisbee on the grass.

We held Carson's farewell party at the Shark Club on Friday. Managers and co-workers showed up to play pool, drink beer and talk amongst friends. I had a fun time, and I wish we hung out with the guys more often.

After Shark Club, we ate dinner at Pearl Castle, and sang karaoke at Do-Re-Mi. It was fun convincing the shy people to sing. I never realized that Lionel Richie sang so many memorable songs from the 80s.

Godspeed buddy, we'll keep in touch.

We ate dinner at the Greek restaurant on Marine Drive. The lamb is juicy, and the price is right, especially if you have an entertainment coupon. Don't order the Greek coffee, unless you like your coffee ultra-bitter.

Trauma Center for the Wii is a great game.

On the hottest day of the year, we played Frisbee at Memorial Park. I can't believe there weren't more people at the park. I ate dinner with the family at Granville George. The air-conditioning was broken, and it was sweltering.

After an amazing weekend, the week started with gloomy weather. It's tough to go back to work when you've already experienced the summer weather. Being inside in an office is stifling when what you really want to do is go to the park and play sports with your friends.

Willingdon Church services have been educational and well-presented. Message highlights include:

Making wise decisions means making choices to achieve long-lasting and long-term results, not short-lived comforts.

Males and females have different roles, and a relationship excels when each person takes on their specific role.

In your relationship, do you know your role?