Long Boat and Cypress Hike

Racing Team! 

On Saturday morning, Stephen and I headed down to Jericho for the 'Day of the Longboat' races. The sailing center was packed with teams lining up to race, and other waiting and cheering. Comparable to last year - there was a DJ and a hot tub with half-naked racers.

Green Machine (aka Fury, aka Stroke Hard Together) registered and got in the line-up. I snapped away from the other side of the line and then headed upstairs to view the action. A few minutes before the race started, Yuan and Stephen waved from the line-up, and I thought to myself 'wow, they are vain, more pictures?'. But I headed downstairs to find out that they needed an extra team member! Despite being wholly unprepared for this, I put a wet vest, and grabbed an oar and joined my bench mate.

The whole 15 minutes was exhilarating, wet and brought back memories from last year. The team placed 1st, because the 'real' 1st place was disqualified. We clocked in at 15:42.

Stephen & I at Jericho Sailing Center

After the races, we met up with Shannon and Jake and contemplated paddling or hiking. After we settled on hiking, we went back to the college to shower and change and met up with the Dickersons and Jake at Acadia Park. Ate, strapped ourselves in and headed to North Vancouver.

Stephen, Moi, Shannon & Aurora, Jake

Shannon picked the Hollyburn Ridge, and we started the climb. Beautiful morning, warm sun shine, and fall colors.

Breaktime with Aurora! 

Delightful Indian food in Vancouver

Jolly's!

After a beautiful day of hiking and some longboat racing, and a phone interview with TFA - we headed out to try a new Indian restaurant. We hopped on the 99-B and walked from Broadway to 4th, and walked a few blocks in the wrong direction. Stopped in at the Wired Monk - got directions, and briskly made our way to Jolly's. (it was cold and we were hungry)

Waited a few minutes to get seated. The restaurant is tiny, with only 25 seats, and 2 wait staff on the night we came. Both S and I had already looked at the menu ahead of time, so we had some idea of what we wanted.

We got the Malai Kofta and Lamb Biryani - both came out in about 20 minutes, accompanied by warm naan. Since the naan was the consistency of a papad, we asked our server to bring out softer naan and in a few minutes we had warm, soft, juicy, garlicy, buttery naan. The Malai Kofta were creamy and soft, in a nice tomatoey gravy that was neither too spicy, nor too sweet. Lamb in the biryani was tender, and feel apart easily. No part of our meal was greasy and everything was spiced well.

We got some rasmalai at the end and it was plated with a layer of chocolate syrup. Good, but unexpected.

The entire dinning experience was pleasant, and at no point in the meal, I felt the need to pay and leave. We had a quick conversation with our server and as we were leaving - with the chef - Jolly! (First name - Nareesh)

Long time...no update

In the last month, I've defended my thesis, packed up and moved to Seattle. It wasn't a far move - from Vancouver to Seattle, but that has kept me quite busy.

On my way back from the roadtrip, I stopped in Seattle to see a house - I did and signed the lease. Upon moving in, we discovered an unrespectable amount of mold and a few days later - fleas! The flea incident led to find out about 3 cats who had previously lived in the house and had gone berserk. The smell of urine is embedded in the carpet, but only comes out when the wind is blowing in from the east - go figure!

And after two weeks of trying to get the owner to get the mold/flea/cat situation - I decided to look for other housing.

And now, I'm happily settled into the new house. The lack of sunshine in my room is the only complaint, but the sun lamp takes care of this most days...with rainy, cloudy, overcast days, the lack of direct sunshine in my room won't be much of an issue. On the upside, I get my own half-bathroom.

The house also comes with two friendly cats, a part-time dog, and a part-time, hyper active 4-year old. House pics to come at a later date~

The Great American Road Trip

The trip should be titled 'intimate encounters with the American West'. I can't speak for Stephen, but I'm in love with the west: cowboys, rodeos, small-towns, big juicy hamburgers, praire dogs, bison (buffalo), falling rock, fallen rock, stillness, creeks, fast flowing rivers, dams, reservoir lakes, plains, hills, mountains, lack of breath at 10,000ft elevation and wifi.

The following is the itinerary we planned and mostly followed:
Day 1 - Drive to the Badlands, camp in the national park
Day 2 - Wall, SD. Check out Wall Drug and the Wounded Knee Musuem. Drive to Devil's Tower and camp for the night.
Day 3 - Drive to Yellowstone and camp at Henry's Lake. Unexpected stop in Cody, WY - one of the favorite towns on the trip. Also the Buffalo Bill Dam and reservoir lake.
Day 4 - Car trouble and consequent delay in Three Forks, MT. We brought back with us memories of amazing small-town folk, juicy 1/2lbs burgers, biscuits n' gravy and of course, new brake pads.
Day 5 - Long drive to Seattle. Somewhat planned stops in Missoula (for sandwich's at the Staggering Ox) and a quick swim in Couer d'Alene Lake. Crashed at a clean/nice hotel in Bellvue after not being able to find a suitable campsite.
Day 6 - Found a house in Seattle and drove back to Vancouver. Highlight of the day for Stephen - 5 for $5 sandwich's at Arby's.

Enjoy pictures from Stephen's camera below. More details after thesis defense.

Differences between Des Moines and Vancouver

Stephen and I've been at home with parents in Des Moines, Iowa, since Wednesday night. Some differences I noticed after two years of living in Vancouver

- a lot of white (read: fair skinned) people
- a lot of overweight people (seeing an overweight person in Van is rarer than citing a coyote)
- large parking lots (compared to Vancouver's minimalist approach in regards to parking lots)
- no bikes, and little public transit (compared with a city that relies exclusively on no-car transport)
- huge superstores on every street corner (as opposed to small Chinese groceries)
- Stephen fits in for a change (size/height/color wise )

And we've certainly worked on complying with the Iowa standards by eating huge meals, getting little exercise and driving to places that we can easily walk to. This afternoon, Stephen visited his first Super Wal-Mart and we enjoyed two hours of rollicking fun walking up and down the aisles. He also purchased a few $5 shirts and a pair of cargo pants.

Tomorrow morning, we're going to take a trip to the Farmer's Market and the Iowa State Fair to eat food on a stick, and possibly get in on the demolition derby action.

Camp ahhhhhhH!

(Checking out a banana plant with Stephany, Todd and Khari at the ferry terminal)

(River, falls, warm pool of water to swim in; Powell River)

This past week I was at a Power of Hope camp in Powell River. On of the most amazing, empowering experiences of working with youth. The staff was comprised of activists, visual and artists, awe-inspiring vocalists and facilitators and a handful of the under-10 crowd. With a 1:1 staff/youth ratio, we all got to know each other quite well, in a beautiful setting.

The best part of camp for me was letting loose, dancing, singing, interacting with youth and cooking. It made me realize the things I've missed doing/being - and gave me a real opportunity to catch up. All the staff/adults at the camp were phenomenal individuals with rich histories and amazing gifts/talents. I feel lucky to have learnt/grown with them.

I look forward to being with this organization in the fall and soaking in all the goodness from the youth and staff.

Zakkushi, Amazing Izikaya

After a late swim, we headed out for dinner away from campus. Our usual late night menu includes a Vietnamese Pho place a few km's away from campus, True Confections at Alma or The Village. Wanting a change of scenary (eating to suffocating fish, and fruit flies is not always desired), we hopped on the 99 and rode out to Granville. The bus was full of drunk-ish concert goers (Black Sabbath) and the conversation was far from being dull.

We got off at Granville/Broadway and first took at peek in at Rangoli - not seating, Posh - closing a little too soon, so we walked to Burrard/4th. I had the tinniest hunch that a small izikaya might be open. And HALLELUJAH! It was open, and we were seated and allowed only 1 order because the restaurant was closing soon. We had a variety of Yakitori, Nikomi, Tuna Sashimi, Agedashi Tofu and Asahi "Super" Dry! Our favorite dish, hands down was the Agedashi Tofu in a brown gravy with portebello, shitaki and inoki mushrooms and seaweed. The sashimi was soft and buttery (instead of the cold and chewey variety at the village). The Yakitori took me back to Nishinomiya (circa 2007), and the yakitori restaurant under the bridge where we spent 3 hours consuming meat on a stick, Asahi, edamame and cheese filled wontons. Stephen's favorite was the Nikomi (beef stew) with turnips, winter melon, carrots and bamboo. The beer really hit the spot for me.

I highly recommend Zakkushi as a must-eat-at spot in Vancouver. Make a reservation so you have a little while to eat and enjoy the ambiance. If you've ever

been to Japan, the izikaya was be nostalgic of eating in over crowded (but clean), loud, fast paced (but slow eating), and chatting/eating with locals in a tiny space. Since we were the last customers, we had the restaurant most to ourselves. Note: The bathroom is quite amazing, especially the bamboo tap and a sink full of bamboo coals. They also provide a bottle of mouthwash in a sake tumbler and tiny cups so you can happily kiss your date after a divine meal.

PS: We didn't try the dessert - but the black sesame ice-cream and banana gyoza seem are possibly two interesting alternatives to cake and pie.