Day 12 was fun: I went over to my third aunt's house to make a sushi lunch before heading out to something like a Farmer's Market to pick out really sweet corn. And because I was still reminiscing about Metrotown's green tea froyo in a cone, and because my aunt hadn't had a chance to visit Richmond Centre's food court post-renovation, Pinkberry it was! ~ END ~
Decided to take it easy on Days 10 and 11 (excessive amounts of walking during the past few days had caused my knee to start throbbing with pain again) and stayed home watching Nail Shop Paris. Dinner on Day 10 was shirataki noodles with steamed celery and wasabi-tuna-parmesan salad. ~ END ~
In the morning, I went with my first uncle (my mom has three younger brothers - with the oldest brother being the first, etc.) and his family to go grocery shopping. And after grocery shopping, they were kind of enough to drive me all the way to Metrotown in Burnaby after lunch. Lucky West Coast people! There are actually three Pinkberry locations in BC, one in Alberta, and none in Ontario =(
So Day 8 was actually the day I went to Anime Revolution (OMG BEST THING EVERRRRR~); you can find my detailed blog post on it HERE and photos HERE. =) But after AR, we had dinner at Koon Bo. Now before I continue, I should clarify that I am one of those people that absolutely detest going out for dinner. And this is because I don't like what I refer to as "the commercial standard of food". This type of food is rendered overly flavourful to please the tastebuds of the general accustomed-to-dining-out public. Basically, since it doesn't quite agree with my sensitive digestive system that is used to processing the simple and comfortably bland flavours of home-cooking, I don't eat it. But Koon Bo is a special case. It is one of the few restaurants that I really enjoy. No, I don't eat everything that my family orders, but unlike most restaurants, there's actual food that I can eat without feeling disgusted afterwards. One of them being their most popular dish - Shredded Chicken. And after dinner, my family took me to visit Starlight Casino.
(Have I finally caught up yet?!?! *pant pant*)
Recapping Day 4 on Day 6... Once again, in a desperate attempt to find a red blazer, I walked through the entire Aberdeen Centre in a mere couple of hours, stopping at Daiso in the end to pick up some - er maybe more than just some but yeah you get the point XD - household items that aren't as easy to find back in Mississauga. At the end of my trip, I gained four tops from Korean clothing retailer Item Zone: one white polo with a Peter Pan collar and eyelet sleeves, two basic polos in navy and emerald green, and one simple purple tee with a cute little chest pocket. All were from a brand called Teenie Weenie that had a cute, preppy-clothing-wearing bear as its mascot. The store also carried men's fashion from a line called Evisu, which 2PM's Taecyeon and Wooyoung, in addition to TVXQ's Yunho, endorsed/modelled for in 2011. Again, here I am, writing about Day 3 on Day 6. In preparation for my cosplay for Anime Revolution, I decided to go to Richmond Centre in search of a red double-breasted blazer, while paying a visit to its newly-renovated food court. In approximately 2 hours, I walked through the entire mall and been in and out of ~95% of all its clothing stores. No luck in finding a red blazer. But hey, the food court was still worth a visit. As I've been dying to try froshberg gelato since seeing photos on Facebook, I decided that that would just my first stop. I had been quite excited at first, snapping a crazy amount of photos from different angles of the various flavours of gelato. I even continued to try and get the perfect shot of the banana split gelato my grandparents had ordered until the extremely rude worker started to purposely place items in front of the gelato to block my shot. As I continued to focus in on my subject from different angles, I heard a rude, and slightly annoyed, "Oh for heaven's sake, just eat it! It's ice cream!".
Removing the camera from the chocolate- and caramel-sauce-drizzled masterpiece briefly to check how the photo had come out, I heard a "Ahh finally!", followed by an "OH MY GOD. Not again." when I lifted my camera back up. I didn't end up ordering any gelato. I'm such a procrastinator. Even when it comes to blog posts. So here's the entry for Day 2, written on Day 6. At the top of my list of places to go to, Crystal Mall was probably ranked as the most important mall to go to while I had to go to while I was here. Being the kind person that he is, my uncle drove me and my grandparents all the way to Burnaby, uttering not one complaint as we slowly edged through the insane amount of traffic nor when we had to go up five levels of parking before we could find a spot. As it was around lunchtime, we decided to grab lunch first before exploring. (Well, before I explored anyway.) After scouring the food court for something small (since I really wasn't that hungry after a 10 o'clock breakfast), I decided to settle for an Asian club sandwich. And what, you may ask, is an Asian club sandwich? Well, it is a sandwich you will definitely NEVER want to try in your lifetime. One made with extremely oily leftover pieces of chicken pan-fried to ickiness, salty and sloppy omelettes that were probably made by adding 4 tablespoons of oil to the pan in addition to the egg mixture itself, a quarter slice of tomato and the teensiest bit of lettuce I've ever seen in my life (green bits remain unfound) sandwiched between slices of chemically-bleached white bread that were first toasted then had about 5 tablespoons of butter slathered on top of them - in short, a health-foodie's worst nightmare. Needless to say, my stomach felt pretty wacky after ingesting half of that foul-tasting monster of a sandwich that stripped my shopping funds of $5.65. But the afternoon following lunch was pretty good. Heck, it almost made consumption of the oil-abundant sandwich worth it. ALMOST. Since I was determined to hunt down a couple Korean beauty products and K-Pop goods, my relatives left me to wander the mall on my own while they chilled on the benches. - First Stop: Everyday Gifts, aka my fave place to find amazing K-Pop deals and my only source of Etude House products. Upon stepping in, I was already welcomed by a semi-recent pre-recorded performance of BTOB playing in the shop window. Advancing inward, I began to flip through all the K-Pop goodies they had, but was quite disappointed when not a single B.A.P, nor EXO, poster could be located. Rounding the shelf though, I discovered an EXO-K mini poster and a GINORMOUS object with B.A.P on the front. It was the Recording Take 3 Photobook! And selling for only $30 too! (YesAsia sells this for a whopping $50 USD!!) But alas, the photobook was much too big to bring back with me ='(
I grudgingly put it back down and made my way towards the makeup counter. In the midst of the first month of summer school, I decided that a quick vacation would probably be beneficial to my health and my sanity.
And so after a dreadful 4 months of math (partial differential equations included) and Japanese (which wasn't actually that dreadful, but our prof was a boring with a capital B and I had to drag myself up at 10 AM every morning to get to 1:30 PM class on time), I'm finally in Vancouver - a place where even consistent rain makes me happy. As I'm writing this, it's actually Day 3 of Wandering in Wonderland. But whatever, I shall recap Days 1 and 2 as I like. 3:00 AM Trying to download K-Variety and K-Dramas for the plane ride. Find K-Variety, but not much Nail Shop Paris. 6:30 AM Reluctantly drag myself out of my bed to prep for the flight. 8:40 AM - Arrive at airport. - Wait for 8:55 AM boarding in seating area just to hear "Flight XXX will be delayed. It will now leave at 10:00 AM with boarding at 9:35 AM." over the speakers. UGH. And I was planning to just get on the plane and pass out. So much for that. 9:10 AM - Speakers come on again: "Flight XXX will now be departing from Gate OO and will leave at 10:35. Boarding at 10:15 AM." What. The. Hell. Again, fighting the urge to let my eyelids droop to low, I move to the new specified gate number. - Notify Mom, Dad and relatives that were supposed to pick me up from the airport. 9:30 AM - I am informed of another gate change over the speakers. Wheel my hand-carry to the new gate. 10:40 AM - FINALLY board the plane. Pass out before take-off. 11:15 AM ~ 3:45 PM - Alternate courses of sleeping and K-Variety-watching on the plane, while making room for the ingestion of a chicken wrap and cheese & crackers. Arrive happy since the person in front of me decided that she did not feel the need to lean all the way back like other passengers, therefore allowing me to view videos on my laptop easily. 12:50 PM (PST) Arrive in Vancouver. 2:00 PM - Have lunch at Baker One Cafe in Aberdeen as Aoyama has closed down. - Realize that probably wasn't the best idea - the Aoyama staff was nicer and the food was better. |
Who Am I?Formerly an avid owner of several interest-based portals, Random Thoughts of a Quirky Blogger presents precisely the elements expected. From experiments in the kitchen to miscellaneous musings, from IGOT7 reflections to developments in transportation infrastructure, it's all consolidated here. Welcome to the raw, unfiltered side of Quirky Aesthetics. Archives
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