Life in the Lower Mainland (BC, Canada)

I was at Coquitlam Centre shortly after dining with a friend at Cora nearby. Happened to use the washroom and got to try out the Dyson Airblade Hand Dryer -- It's fast! Way faster and more reliable than the vent-style air blowers that have been around for a long time. Overall -- awesome! "The Dyson Airblade™ hand dryer works in just 12 seconds – scraping water from hands like a windshield wiper. It’s the fastest hand dryer – and it’s hygienic, purifying the air before blowing it onto hands. And because it uses up to 80% less energy than warm air hand dryers, it costs less to run." Can't stick your head it to dry your hair, though. That's one thing the old dryers can do -- You can stuck your head under it, or (with some models) turn the nozzle about to blow at the angle you want.

I finally managed to get together with an old friend, and she suggested we try Cora in Coquitlam at Sunwood Square (sort-of near Coquitlam Centre ). Cora is a Montreal franchise that started as a humble breakfast place in 1987 and has quickly grown to over 100 locations -- mostly far east but a few in Alberta and now two in BC. The overall ambiance is very bright, helped by bright lights and sunny yellow decor, enough to dispel any rainy day outside. The cartoony artwork gives it an almost children's playroom feel, helped by friendly staff and an overall family atmosphere. The Coquitlam location was abuzz before and throughout the time we were there (I got there shortly after 11.30 am, we had lunch between Noon and 1pm) and there was invariably someone waiting to be seated at the front desk. The menu is small and varied, and what hits the table looks like the pictures on the website and on the full-colour illustrated menu. Breakfast is served even at lunch, which is ha...

I can't remember the last time I was at the Hart House Restaurant in Burnaby but it must have been at least ten years. So when my dear dining buddy invited me there to use her Groupon, it was like going to a restaurant I'd never been. The front door has stained glass with a lot of white, so from a distance it actually looked like the place was closed, and plastered over with white paper to stop people from peeking in. We were there for the first seating (5.30pm) and naturally it was all quiet, to the point of looking deserted. The lobby of the venerable mansion is claustrophobic by today's standards, though the tight quarters would have made the most of any gratifying heat from the fireplace during the winter. Washrooms are in the corridor to the left, and feature remarkably modern-looking doors. Inside, a couple of (large) mosquitoes that found their way in from the marshy lake not far from the restaurant were an interesting reminder of the location. We opted for...

It was Car-Free Day on Sunday June 19th, with Veg Fest nestled in the middle of the Main Street location , around Main and East 19th. My dining buddy and I went to check it out around mid-way at close to 4pm, and scored just one decent freebie from COBS Bread ( Bakers Delight in Australia) -- a bun which they smeared with chocolate sauce and, if you liked, coated that chocolate with sprinkles. There were also smaller bites of chewy bread from Quejos , which are interesting for being wheat-free, gluten-free, yeast-free, and non-dairy. Afterwards, we idled about looking for something closer to dinner, and shared one chocolate-covered waffle and a small order of tayoyaki before getting serious about what to eat. My dining buddy was off gluten and off potatoes, so while I was curious to finally try Re-Up , the bun would have been a regular one and in deference to her present dietary restrictions we opted for something else. That something being the Wallflower Modern Diner . ...

Somehow I ended up back at Bombay Beat last Friday for another curry dinner. This time, on a first-time date (is that a good idea? -- taking a date to a curry dinner?). It was my very first non- scammer Craigslist date , and during our correspondence over e-mail, she had mentioned two restaurants that she liked: Curry King Café and X-Site Grill and Bistro . I initially suggested we try Curry King, but she rescheduled and we ended up at Bombay Beat, possibly because I had mentioned I found the food good and it had curious cold Indian appetizers. I think my date was interested in the cold appetizers too, but was turned off by them when she found out the underlying crunchy pooris used were deep fried. So, on to the mains! My date ordered a Lamb Sabaz Curry, primarily because it was the only item on the menu that included "fresh vegetables". No fresh vegetables were in sight when her order came, although the broccoli was still crunchy inside the curry, suggesting tha...

The Vancouver Meatless Meetup organized yet another vegan dinner , this time at Vegan Pizza House . It's a tiny place, as most pizza take-out places tend to be. The big draw here, of course, is that it's vegan. The menu doesn't read that way, however, as it talks about things like ham, chicken, crab, and tuna. But that's all the funny fake-meat stuff, which has come a long way and does look, feel, and taste quite like the real thing. We had five types of pizza, one slice each, three of which were off the regular menu. There's nothing overly creative here -- pizza combos you can expect to get at any pizza place. As pizzas go, it's hard to say exactly what the reason was, but the pizzas seemed sloppily put together. It may have been that the generous and wet toppings weighed down the basically thin-crust style, so it was a bit tricky to actually pick up a slice without using both hands. Not quite as soggy and slippery as Marcello's , but nowhere near ...

If you've been reading this blog, you will recall that I've been taking a hard look at my mutual fund portfolio and ultimately decided to change companies and financial advisors . I'd been thinking over how things unfolded since I sat down with my advisor to ask about where the money was after about 10 years with them. Even in that first meeting, I came away feeling very disturbed by the answers I got. The metrics that were presented to me, and that I was dissuaded from looking at, just didn't make sense. Now that I have decided to switch advisors, there came the inevitable customer retention call. It focussed on the penalty of switching advisors -- a type of penalty I was encouraged to take when I first moved my portfolio over. She didn't really have to liquidate to change them all to their company funds, but she advised me to cut losses and get into a better portfolio. Now that I'm cutting losses to switch to a better portfolio (again), she's pulled ...