rain and sniffles

 

it was a rainy weekend.  intense rain.  and while i have been under the weather with a cold and would have loved nothing more than to stay in bed, drink tea, read, and sleep i had two important events happening that couldn't be missed.  first up was a birthday party for our dear friends' daughter who turned three and then preparing and hosting a baby shower for my lovely friend.  there was not much time to rest but i'm making up for it today... i don't intend to get out of my pyjamas all day!

chinatown night market

the vancouver chinatown night market, one block worth of browsing for gifts, electronics, clothing, food, toys, asian handicrafts, and bras and panties too!  when i learned that bao bei owner tannis ling helped organize the chinatown night market this year my boys and i went to check it out a few fridays ago. 

along with the typical trinkets you'd expect at the market there were local and handmade crafts - like eglantine shines and espiritu design studio - to celebrate the chinatown neighbourhood which is ever changing.  mixed in with the typical chinese food stalls they also have food trucks but unfortunately not on the night we were there so that was a disappointment, especially for stefan our household foodie.  kai, however, loved the sweet and sour pork with noodles and the potato tornado... his first venture in chinese fast food!

the new chinatown night market also organizes outdoor chinese movie nights, ping pong tournaments, cooking competitions and mahjong lessons.  the night we were there we briefly watched some happy people play mahjong which looked a lot like dominoes. 

next summer we'll plan better so that we don't miss out on the food trucks, these guys, and the entertainment.

 

 

 

 

on the way home from the street fair stefan played the concerto in china and taught us a bit of history...  it is an old recording of jean michel jarred performing in china back in 1981; the first western musician to ever perform there!  kai wasn't so fascinated by this, he wanted to listen to evanescence.

yellow submarine pebbles

"freeze dried pineapple pieces are coated in white chocolate and dusted with a golden metallic finish."  they. are. perfection.  the small batch of yellow submarine pebbles belonged to stefan - they were in his august's chocolate union box - but savourly devoured by me.  pure deliciousness.

adam chandler, you need to make more.  pretty please? 

 

wild squatters

photos of animals inhabiting forgotten cottages in finland.  about the photo shoot with these wild animals, the photographer, kai fagerstrom, says, “sometimes you get lucky, but often it takes all night."  read more about these awesome photographs here.

 loving that cute baby fox! 

 

 

all photos by kai fagerstrom, a photographer for the national geographic magazine.

weekend pics, a mish mash of activites

it was a mish mash of activities this weekend.  and said activities are all depicted below with square pics.  if you have an iphone, you know what i mean! 

the iphone upgrade looks so pretty and some of the features are pretty awesome like the ability to take square and panoramic photos and make the text bigger and finding a phone contact so much easier and so much more.  i haven't stopped playing with the phone which amuses stefan since i was so anti cellphone not so long ago.





saturday 

i went on a spur-of-the-moment vancouver special home tour while my boys were at soccer.  although i enjoyed my few hours traipsing through people's homes (post to follow soon) i regret not being at the game. 

you see, kai scored TWO goals, stefan says he was on fire.  kai played a good game last week - really focused like never before.  i loved watching him play.  so, i shouldn't be too surprised but after four years of soccer i was beginning to wonder if he would ever score. although, for kai, he just enjoyed playing all these years and i hope these goals won't take away from his love of the sport if they end up being his only ones of the season.  i met up with stefan and kai at trafiq for panini, hot drinks and dessert... it was a celebratory time!



 

 

sunday

 

stefan and i spent quite a bit of the day without kai.  kai mountain biked in the pouring rain - when we picked him up he had the happiest smile despite being soaking wet! he then spent the afternoon jumping on trampolines at one of his best buddies birthday party.

 

stefan and i breakfasted, grocery shopped (a loblaws opened on the north shore!) and met up with my sister-in-law, the lovely melanie.  she was on our side of the water for just four hours to grab a few things from ikea and drop her hubby off at the airport so we had to make the most of the little time we had together. 

in richmond - which is where the airport, ferry, and ikea live - we feasted on really, really good chinese food and then rushed over to ikea to shop. hey, i would do anything to spend time with her and her crew even if it means roaming around ikea with stefan in tow :) and, it just happens, a few items followed us home!  



 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

  

it was a good weekend.  i hope yours was too.