Lulu Island Girl

A list of every concert I've ever been to (so far)

2009-10-29T18:25:00.000-07:00

2010

Louder Than Love, Waiting for Sunday, By Starlight @ the Railway Club - February 11

Nelly Furtado @ BC Place (for the Olympics Victory Ceremony) - February 14

Dal Richards @ Richmond Ozone (Olympics venue) - February 17

Burton Cummings @ BC Place (for the Olympics Victory Ceremony) - February 25

The Unknown Soldiers & Mightnight Lightnight @ the Railway Club - February 27

Serena Maneesh w/the Ludvico Treatment & the Depreciation Guild @ the Media Club - March 27

Chris Velan, the Parlour Steps @ the Railway Club - April 1

Philip Glass @ the Chan Centre - April 5

Spirits @ the Shark Club - April 9

Ruby Suns @ the Biltmore - April 9

Sia @ the Commodore - April 10

The XX w/ jj & DJ Nosaj Thing @ the Commodore - April 13

La Roux w/Piper Davis @ the Commodore - April 18

The Wedding Present w/Girl in a Coma @ the Biltmore - April 20

Shearwater w/Wye Oak @ the Biltmore - April 28

Kill Matilda & Ready Set Die @ the Media Club - April 30

Two Apple Tobacco @ the Penthouse - May 2

Nobunny @ Pat's Pub - May 6

Mono @ the Biltmore - May 12

Hannah Georgas w/Colleen Brown @ Venue - May 22

Girls @ Venue - May 26

Louder Than Love @ the Shark Club - May 28

Massive Attack @ the Malkin Bowl - May 29

LCD Soundsystem @ the Malkin Bowl - May 31

The Mountain Goats w/the Beets @ the Rickshaw Theatre - June 2

First Aid Kit w/Samantha Crain @ the Media Club - June 6

Nightwood @ Neptoon Records - June 13

The Besnard Lakes w/Young Galaxy @ Mod Club, Toronto - June 17

X @ Yonge-Dundas Square NxNE Stage, Toronto - June 17

Warpaint @ the Horseshoe Tavern, Toronto - June 17

CoCoComa @ the Great Hall, Toronto - June 17

White Cowbell Oklahoma @ El Mocambo, Toronto - June 18

The Two Koreas w/CATL @ The Comfort Zone, Toronto - June 18

Rival Boys @ the Painted Lady, Toronto - June 18

Spirits @ Sneaky Dee's, Toronto - June 18

Paint @ the Velvet Underground, Toronto - June 19

The Grates w/Mannequin Men & Surfer Blood - June 19

Sarah Jaffe @ the Media Club - June 22

Fol Chen @ the Media Club - July 11

Villagers @ the Media Club - July 21

Sweethead @ the Biltmore - July 21

Ryan Dahle w/the Manvils @ the Biltmore - July 22

Bear in Heaven w/Twin Sister @ the Biltmore - July 24

We Are Scientists @ the Biltmore - July 27

The Joy Formidable @ the Media Club - Aug 15

The Submarines, Plants & Animals, Visqueen, Jamie Liddell, Edward Sharpe & the Magnetic Zeroes, Bob Dylan, the Raveonettes @ Bumbershoot, Seattle - Sept 4

Courtney Love, Ra Ra Riot, Justin Towns Earle, Hole, The Dandy Warhols @ Bumbershoot, Seattle - Sept 5

Meat Puppets, Laura Veirs @ Bumbershoot, Seattle - Sept 6

2009

Dean & Britta @ the Vogue Theatre - January 30

Patrick Watson @ Richards on Richards - May 13

Leeroy Stagger and the Sinking Hearts @ Railway Club - May 29

Bat for Lashes w/Other Lives @ Venue - August 25

Grizzly Bear @ The Vogue Theatre - October 14

U2 w/the Black Eyed Peas @ BC Place - October 28

Skinny Puppy @ Rickshaw Theatre - November 3

2008

Autechre @ Richards on Richards - April 8

REM w/Modest Mouse & the National @ Deer Lake Park, Burnaby - May 23

The Cure @ GM Place (Pontiac Bowl) - May 25

Nine Inch Nails @ Pemberton Music Festival, Pemberton - July 25

My Morning Jacket, Buck 65, The Tragically Hip, Black Mountain, The Flaming Lips, Tom Petty @ Pemberton Music Festival, Pemberton - July 26

Matis Yahu, Jay Z, Coldplay @ Pemberton Music Festival, Pemberton - July 27

Radiohead @ Thunderbird Stadium, UBC - August 19

Madonna @ BC Place - October 30

The Neins Circa w/Attics & Cellars & C.S. Rippin @ the Western Front - November 28

2007

Hallmark, Ladies Night & The Petroleum By-Products @ The Royal Unicorn Cabaret - December 14

Fanshaw w/the Petroleum By-Products & the SSRI's @ The Railway Club - December 4

Final Fantasy w/Great Lake Swimmers & Basia Bulat @ Richards on Richards - October 20

Cinematic Orchestra @ Richards on Richards - September 18

Animal Collective w/Wizard Prison & Eric Copeland @ the Commodore - September 15

Crowded House w/Pete Yorn @ the Malkin Bowl - September 3

Devendra Banhart @ the Commodore - September 1

INXS @ River Rock Casino, Richmond - August 27

Kid Koala w/Kieran Hebden (Four Tet) and Steve Reid @ the Commodore - June 30

Amon Tobin w/Patrick Watson @ the Commodore - June 22

The Police w/Fiction Plane @ GM Place - May 28

Peter Bjorn and John w/Fujiya & Miyagi @ the Commodore - May 13

Patrick Watson w/Dan Mangan @ The Gallery Pub, UBC - March 23

My Generation: A Festival of Power w/Buffy Sainte Marie, Kinnie Starr, Final Fantasy, and Jim Byrnes @ The Centre For Performing Arts - February 17

Gomez w/Ben Kweller @ The Commodore - February 16

Of Montreal w/ DJ Trevor Risk @ Richards on Richards - February 7

Mad Professor w/ Dr. Israel @ The Commodore - January 26

Emily Haines & the Soft Skeleton w/ Tall Firs @ The Commodore - January 18

2006

Peretz (Perry Farrell) @ Richards on Richards - March 3

dEUS @ the Red Room - March 23

Ladytron w/ the Presets @ the Commodore - April 25

The Stills @ Richards on Richards - April 26

TV on the Radio w/ Celebration @ the Plaza - May 6

Great Aunt Ida w/ Heartwarmongering @ the Media Club - May 6

I Love You But I've Chosen Darkness w/ the Rogers Sisters @ the Media Club - May 27

INXS w/Scott Statt @ GM Place - June 1

Cat Power @ Richards on Richards - August 28

Final Fantasty w/Bob Wiseman @ the Norm Theatre (UBC) - September 19

Easy Star All Stars w/Outlaw Nation @ Richards on Richards - October 6

Organ Trail, Victoria Victoria, The Choir Practise @ The Railway Club - December 5

They Shoot Horses Don't They? w/Fond of Tigers & Winning @ The Anza Club - December 15

2005

Stars w/Feist & Apostle of Hustle @ The Commodore Ballroom - March 31

U2 w/Kings of Leon @ GM Place - April 28

Thievery Corporation @ the Commodore - May 11

Boom Bip w/The Fog @ the Media Club - June 2

Doves @ the Commodore - June 9

The Digable Planets w/the Crown City Rockers @ the Commodore - June 16

Amon Tobin @ the Commodore - June 25

The Herbalizer w/Fidgital @ the Commodore - June 29

Daniel Lanois @ the Centre - July 2

K-os @ the Malkin Bowl, Stanley Park - July 3

Vancouver Folk Festival @ Jericho Park w/ Sarah Harmer, Veda Hille, Buck 65, and more... - July 16

Turin Brakes w/West Indian Girl @ Richards on Richards - July 28

Keren Ann @ the Media Club - September 4

Prefuse 73 w/Josh Martinez @ Sonar - September 11

Arcade Fire @ the PNE Forum - October 7

Magneta Lane @ the Red Room - October 27

2004

Epoxy Ruin w/Casey & Finnegan @ the Media Club - January 3

Mac Pontiac @ the Main - January 10

Slaveco @ the Brickyard - January 14

The Organ w/La Drama & My Project Blue @ the Brickyard - January 16

The Dirtbombs w/the Gung-ho's & the Sights @ the Commodore - January 22

Ninth Hour w/ This Machine Destroys & Iskra @ the Cobalt - January 30

Gomez w/Rachael Yamagata @ the Commodore - February 4

The Walkmen w/the Countless Jibes & the Decemberists @ Richards on Richards - February 11

The Notwist w/Themselves @ the Commodore - February 12

Chinatown w/the International Playboys & ? @ the Brickyard - February 20

Stars w/Young & Sexy @ Richards on Richards - February 26

Lazarazu @ the Roxy - March 2

Broken Social Scene w/the Stills @ the Commodore - March 3

Pedro the Lion w/P:ano and Ester Drang @ Richards on Richards - March 6

Ima Robot w/Maxeen & Head Automatic featuring Dan the Automator @ Richards on Richards - March 10

The Rumours w/Against the Grain & Low Note @ the Brickyard - March 19

Franz Ferdinand @ Richards on Richards - March 24

The Cooper Temple Clause w/Calla @ Richards on Richards - March 27

Chinatown @ The Capitol Theater, Olympia, Washington - April 3

Chinatown @ Studio 7, Seattle, Washington - April 4

Iron & Wine w/Hollow Paw & Patrick @ Richards on Richards - April 7

The Strokes w/the Raveonettes @ the Plaza of Nations - April 16

Dubble Full Windsor w/Singull Full Windsor @ the Brickhouse - April 17

The Pixies w/Black Mountain @ the Commodore - April 22

Coachella 2004 w/Radiohead, the Pixies, Sparta, the Stills, Junior Senior, Beck, Death Cab for Cutie, Kraftwerk, The International Noise Conspiracy, @ the Indio Polo Field, Indio, California - May 1

Coachella 2004 w/The Cure, the Flaming Lips, Donald Glaude, 2 Many DJ's, Broken Social Scene, Bright Eyes, the Killers, the Cooper Temple Clause, Air, Prefuse 73, Muse, le Tigre @ the Indio Polo Field, Indio, California - May 2

Muse w/The Exit @ the Commodore - May 10

My Morning Jacket w/some dude @ the Commodore - May 13

The Amber Room @ the Picadilly Pub - May 13

The Shins @ The Commodore Ballroom - May 19

Crystal Pistol w/ Nim Vind & Fluffy Star @ The Media Club - June 11

The Stills w/the Von Bondies & Sea Ray @ The Commodore Ballroom - June 15

Shy FX @ the Lotus - July 20

James Lavelle (UNKLE) @ Sonar - July 24

Aimee Mann @ The Commodore - August 24

Evol Hearted, Ken LaTour & Ten Miles Wide @ The Railway Club - September 28

The Philharmonic, Ponderosa & The Mohawk Lodge @ The Railway Club - November 23

Sub Sally @ Casa del Popolo, Montreal, Quebec - December 30

2003

Matthew Good w/the Dears & Todd Kerns @ the Commodore - April 17

Zwan @ the Queen Elizabeth Theatre - April 25

Kinnie Starr (& Kia Kadiri and Coco Love Alcorn) w/Girl Nobody @ Richards on Richards - June 6

The Dears w/Brundlefly @ Sonar - June 26

Swollen Members w/Sweatshop Union & Kyprios @ the Vogue - July 5

Vancouver Folk Fest 2003 @ Jericho Beach - Billy Bragg, Ani diFranco, Michael Franti, Spearhead, Kia Kadiri, Po Girl, etc... - July 19 & 20

Dave Gahan w/Kenna @ the Vogue - August 14

REM (& Thom Yorke) w/Wilco & the Dandy Warhols @ UBC Thunderbird Stadium - August 29

Radiohead (& Michael Stipe) w/Stephen Malkmus & the Jigs @ UBC Thunderbird Stadium - August 30

The Walkmen w/the Secret Three & the Approach @ Richards on Richards - September 18

Billy Talent w/Alexisonfire @ the Croatian Cultural Centre - October 2

Grandaddy w/Elbow & the Starlight Mints @ the Commodore - October 16

Peaches w/Stink Mitt & Electrocute @ Richards on Richards - October 21

Guided by Voices w/Sparrow @ The Drink - October 22

The No-No Spots @ the Brickyard - October 23

The Dears w/Pilate @ the Brickyard - October 29

Spiritualized @ the Commodore - November 9

Mono w/? @ the Brickyard - November 16

Hot Hot Heat w/Metric @ the Croatian Cultural Centre - November 17

Placebo @ the Commodore - November 20

Mando Diao @ the Picadilly Pub - November 29

2002

Casey & Finnegan @ the Railway Club - January 10

Omnisight w/? @ Studebaker's Cabaret - January or February

The Moldy Peaches w/ Daniel Johnston @ Richards on Richards - March 3

Assemblage 23 w/Noxious Emotion @ the Purple Onion - April 3

Arts County Fair @ UBC Thunderbird Stadium w/the Tea Party, Big Wreck, Swollen Members, Baby Blue Soundcrew (& Choclair), the New Deal - April 5

The Widows w/Big Fat Scratch @ Luvafair - April 17

Frontline Assembly w/Landscape Body Machine @ Luvafair - May 11

Pangina @ the Picadilly Pub - June

The Green Room @ Vancouver Jazz Festival (outdoor stage) - July

The Tea Party @ the Orpheum - October 29

Neko Case w/Jim & Jennie and the Pinetops @ the Commodore - November 6

2001

U2 w/PJ Harvey @ GM Place - April 13

Area One @ UBC Thunderbird Stadium w/Moby, the Roots, Rinôçérôse, Outkast, Timo Maas, The Orb, New Order (& Billy Corgan) - August 2

The Strokes w/the Moldy Peaches @ The Commodore - October 14

Ours w/the Complex @ Richards on Richards - November 7

2000

Peter Murphy @ the Commodore - March 5

Travis @ Virgin Megastore - July 13

Misfits w/Ignite @ the Roseland Theater, Portland, Oregon - July 23

Bad Religion w/Guy Smiley & ? @ the Croatian Cultural Centre - October 3

Mimosa @ private party - December

Download @ Sonar - December 17

1999

Strange... no concerts. I think I say a Henry Rollins spoken word at the Vogue. I was absorbed in multimedia school at the time. Can't believe I didn't go to one show.

1998

Econoline Crush, Matthew Good Band, Rusty @ Whistler Village - April

Edgefest '98 @ UBC Thunderbird Stadium w/ The Tea Party, Econoline Crush, Holly McNardland, Sloan, Green Day, Bif Naked, Copyright, Foo Fighters, Creed, Local Rabbits, the Killjoys, Matthew Good Band, the Watchmen - July 11

Bauhaus @ the Queen Elizabeth Theatre - August 15

Depeche Mode w/Stabbing Westward @ the Pacific Coliseum - December 4

1997

Moist w/I Mother Earth & Mudgirl @ Pacific Coliseum - January 20

David Hawkes' Modern Rock Circus @ Plaza of Nations w/ Silverchair, Local H, Handsome, Age of Electric, Mollies Revenge, Huevos Rancheros, Sloan, Matthew Good Band, gob, Pluto, Hanson Brothers, the Super Friends, Green Apple Quickstep, Mystery Machine, Crankshaft - April 11 & 12

Rusty @ Robson Square - New Music West 97 - May 9

Metallica w/Corrosion of Conformity @ GM Place - May 23

Edgefest '97 @ UBC Thunderbird Stadium w/Our Lady Peace, The Tea Party, I Mother Earth, Collective Soul, Silverchair, Finger 11 - August 25

Foo Fighters w/Treble Charger & Talk Show @ UBC Rec Centre - October 29

Moist w/Holly McNarland @ the Orpheum - November 12

The Tea Party w/Econoline Crush @ PNE Forum - November 29

U2 w/Smash Mouth @ BC Place - December 9

1996

Richmond Rockfest w/Sunnyside Down, the Salteens, Gladyss Patches @ Steveston Tennis Court - Feb 3

White Zombie w/Filter @ the Pacific Coliseum - March 15

Oasis w/Limblifter @ the Pacific Coliseum - April 10

Bad Religion w/Dance Hall Crashers @ the Plaza of Nations - May 2

Vans Warped Tour'96 @ the Plaza of Nations w/Meices, Unwritten Law, Goldfinger, Deftones, CIV, Lagwagon, NOFX, Dancehall Crashers, Pennywise, Rocket from the Crypt, Fishbone - July 10

Fox Fest '96 @ the Plaza of Nations w/Matthew Good Band, Limblifter, Starkicker, Sons of Freedom (& Lee Aaron), The Odds, 54-40, Mudgirl, Minority, the Watchmen, Slowburn, Pluto, Rymes With Orange, Bif Naked, the Doughboys, Econoline Crush, the Headstones, the Tea Party, David Gogo, Mahones, Age of Electric, Big Sugar, Colin James - July 20-22

Sex Pistols w/Goldfinger @ Pacific Colliseium - August 31

Soundgarden w/Pond & Rocket From the Crypt @ PNE Forum - December 7

1995

The Tea Party w/Econoline Crush @ The Commodore - August 10

Silverchair w/Pure @ the Commodore - November 28

Our Lady Peace w/Tripping Daisy @ the Commodore - December 3

1994

Pink Floyd @ BC Place - June 26

Rolling Stones w/Spin Doctors @ BC Place - December 18

Moist w/hHead @ the Commodore - December 22

1993

The Great Canadian Party @ UBC Thunderbird Stadium w/Barenaked Ladies, Spirit of the West, Violent Femmes, Sarah McLachlan, Snow, Pursuit of Happiness, Ned's Atomic Dustbin, Moxy Fruvous, Moist - July 1

Generation Gaming

2009-10-06T14:44:00.000-07:00

As a child of the 80's, I truly think this is genius:

Overheard on the bus

2009-04-10T12:19:00.001-07:00

As paraphrased from my unintentional eavesdropping on a very loud conversation on an otherwise quiet bus to UBC at 7am. Originally written on October 20, 2006.

"Yeah, and like, if I don't get in, like, I can just like, suck it up, and go into arts."

"You know, you don't need to do chemistry this year, you can do it next year."

"Oh really?"

"Yeah."

"Well, you see, I need to do really well in this course because, like, I want to get really high marks, because I really need to get in."

"Yeah, well you know Steven? He's going into medical school because he's super smart, but like, he doesn't want to go, he's like, only going because, like, his parents want him to be a doctor."

"Ugh, I hate that, like, that's totally not fair! If you don't have like, the passion for it, like, you shouldn't be allowed to even get in. I don't care! It's like, sorry! Go do something else!"

"Yeah!"

"Like, you must have people skills for it. And like, I totally have the people skills. But he like, doesn't have the people skills. I told him, 'But you need people skills for that! You don't have people skills!'"

"Yes, you need people skills."

"Yeah, and like, you know, I totally have people skills. And like, I've been talking to my doctor, oh, she's so sweet! She's going to write me a letter saying that she's known me for so many years, and she sees how good I can be. And like, I think I can get my aunt to like, write me a good recommendation. Like, I know it's kind of bad, but she has connections, I think I can get in, because, like, my aunt knows a lot of people, so like, I think she can put in a good word for me. I know it's kind of shifty, but hey, it helps right? She's totally connected. She can say that I'm really good."

"Yeah."

"And like, I'm hoping to get into physiotherapy, even though I don't really like it, but like... I know that sounds really stupid! But like... when I told my dad I was thinking of going to McGill, he said he'd have to take out a second mortgage just to pay for everything!"

"Hahaha... yeah. Well, Spencer just laughs at my student loan. But wait though, isn't McGill French?"

"No, It's English."

"No, it's French!"

"No, it's English. University of Montreal is French."

"No, but McGill's French! It's in MONTREAL!!!"

"Yeah, but it's an English school."

"No way!!!! But it's Quebec!!! Quebec HATES English!"

"Yeah but it's an English school! Have you been to Montreal?"

"Well... yeah! It was on New Year's Eve, and I was wasted!!! It was fun. But isn't that like, the Harvard of Canada?"

"Well, not really."

Smoked Tea Salmon with Baby Bok Choy

2009-02-23T17:34:00.001-08:00

For the times when you can't be bothered to smoke your own salmon but you crave the flavour of cedar smoked salmon and you don't feel like splurging at a restaurant, this is the next best thing. What's great is that it takes little effort to make a fantastic smoky-tasting fish. The secret is the lapsang souchong tea - a Chinese smoked tea that smells like campfire. Without this tea, you don't get the instant smoky flavour. In this recipe the serving is for 1, although you can easily adapt it for more people by increasing the size of the salmon and bok choy.

Ingredients:

1 wild sockeye salmon fillet
2 baby bok choy bundles
1 tbsp canola oil
1 tsp dried chili flakes
1/2 tbsp soy sauce
3 cloves garlic
1 tbsp loose leaf lapsang souchong tea
fine sea salt
fresh ground pepper

Preparation:

Time in total: 20 minutes

Salmon

Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Place salmon fillet skin-side down on aluminum foil. Sprinkle the salmon with the loose leaf tea and salt/pepper to taste. Wrap up salmon with foil and place in oven for 10-15 minutes or until cooked to your liking. For the last 2 minutes of cooking, unwrap the salmon. When it's cooked to your liking, take it out of the oven. You may wish to remove the majority of the tea leaves off the salmon after cooking, although I found it's unnecessary. The tea leaves add depth to the flavour. They can also have the texture of Japanese nori (which is also a nice compliment to salmon).

Bok choy

Break apart the bok choy leaves. Chop the garlic into large chunks. In a frying pan, heat the oil on medium-high. Once hot, add the boy choy and garlic and cook for 2-3 minutes until tender. Turn off heat and add chili flakes and soy sauce to the boy choy. Toss around so bok choy is coated evenly.

Once your bok choy and salmon are ready, place the bok choy on a plate and place the salmon on top, and you're good to go. That's it - a healthy tasty west coast meal in less time than it takes to order a pizza.

Spacetime fun

2009-01-24T00:25:00.000-08:00

I do love me some astrophysics once in a blue moon.

Seriously.

I've been fascinated by gravity waves ever since reading Marcia Bartusiak's Einstein's Unfinished Symphony: Listening the Sounds of Spacetime back when I was taking astronomy classes at UBC.

Apparently, so the folks at NewScientist are suggesting, our world may be a giant hologram - read the article!

Get On Your Boots - the new U2 song

2009-01-19T18:14:00.000-08:00

I must admit, I actually like the new U2 song, Get On Your Boots. As a former die-hard U2 fan who was obsessed with them all throughout their experimental Achtung Baby and Zooropa era, I was rather disappointed with their last "let's play it safe and be paradies of ourselves" album. But this song? This song almost, almost sounds as if they've rediscovered their experimental sides again. I'm now curious about how the rest of the album will be.

Edit (January 24, 2009): My sister insists U2 are merely trying too hard in this song, using any kind of catchy rock riff in an attempt to sound hip, but are failing miserably. She thinks they're trying too hard to cater to mainstream tastes with this song and she doesn't think U2 are being true to themselves - she doesn't think it would be a song U2 would listen to if they hadn't written it. Meanwhile, I am only seeing this song as a faint beacon that perhaps U2 will begin to push boundaries again, nothing more. I will forever remember Bono, in the early 90's - likely in Japan during the Zooropa tour - talking about the rock records of that decade, confidently declaring that "the records are boring". Keep in mind that this was when U2 were at the height of their musical experimentation which coincided with the peak of grunge. I just hope 16 years later they've rediscovered that side to their music again because I'm tired of being uninspired by the latest U2.

BTW - It just occurred to me that Zooropa is sixteen years old! 16! Wow! Time flies!

Back in rainy Vancouver

2009-01-07T14:20:00.001-08:00

We arrived back from Montreal two nights ago, back to Vancouver... a Vancouver which, for the first time in over 3 weeks, was finally above 0 degrees Celsius. The biggest irony is that while we were in Montreal (famous for its harsh winters), Vancouver was experiencing its biggest snowfall with weeks on end of record breaking subzero temperatures. There was so much snow around Vancouver that Christmas plans were switched around and some of my relatives were actually stranded in their homes and couldn't make it.

Of course, when you have a Montreal-style snowfall on Vancouver but you lack the infrastructure to remove said snow, you have a monster of a problem on your hands. While Vancouver plows the main streets once after a snowfall, they never, ever plow the side streets. In Montreal? Side streets, alleyways, and heck, even sidewalks are cleared almost by the hour, over and over again. And every few days they'll bring a dump truck to remove the snowbanks. In Vancouver? They had 3 weeks worth of snow (2 feet deep in some areas) covering every single residential side street. Needless to say, most people gave up on their cars... and their jobs, and their holidays, and their Boxing day sales, and school... and even Translink (our public transit service) stopped key bus routes!

Us? We missed all the chaos by being in Montreal.

While sure, Montreal's winters may be more extreme (a daily high might be -7 or -14 Celsius), at least they know how to deal with the snow when it falls. Vancouver? Vancouver's policy has always appeared to be, "just wait it out" because after all, the snow will just melt in a day or two, right? But what happens when a day or two stretches out to be three weeks?

As we were driving back from the airport along Granville Street towards downtown Vancouver, I could see the Montreal-style snowbanks, 7 feet high, by the gas stations. All the residential side streets looked impassible. I did not envy my poor sister who, on January 1st, had to move apartments onto such a side street in a minivan without snow tires.

It has now been raining non-stop since yesterday morning and almost all the snow outside has disappeared. However, I see in the little weather widget here that there may be a chance of snow again this weekend!

Anyway, this is just to say that we're back and we're in one piece. I will be updating this with photos and stories of Montreal (in between sending off my resume for potential jobs!)

Hello from Montreal!

2008-12-25T20:34:00.000-08:00

Just a quick message to say that we've been in Montreal for one week and it's been fantastic. We've been staying with Josh's parents out in NDG and it's been so relaxing! We're still somewhat on Vancouver time, waking up after noon and going to bed around 3am. But we're here for over 2 weeks and that's what this holiday season is for, right? :) We've been able to visit with friends and family and even experienced the wonderful deep freeze of -20 Celsius!

We're heading up to a small town called Lachute (near the Quebec/Ontario border) in a few days to spend some time at a friend's cabin. Temperatures here aren't so crazy at the moment - on Christmas Eve it even rained! But the snow isn't going anywhere. Unlike Vancouver which has been suffering with 2 weeks plus of snow, Montreal has the infrastructure to get rid of it. After all, they don't get 2 weeks of it, they get 4+ months! The moment the snow starts to fall, out come the snow ploughs. They perpetually clear the streets and side streets. Even the sidewalks have miniature snow ploughs - completely unimaginable in Vancouver! In Vancouver, there are maybe half a dozen snow ploughs and you're lucky if the main roads get plowed more than once. The side streets are never plowed, and the sidewalks are up to the goodwill of local businesses and residents. In Montreal? This is all taken care of and it's really nice to go for a walk through the streets (as long as you're appropriately dressed).

But anyhow... this is just a quick "hello" to friends and family who might be reading this. I'm hoping to update this blog with more details about our Montreal adventure shortly!

The Fraser River is frozen

2008-12-16T18:09:00.000-08:00

I'm currently watching the CBC 6 o'clock news, and they're showing scenes along the river in Maple Ridge. I don't think I've ever seen ice forming on the top of the Fraser River in the Lower Mainland, ever. That's how cold it is these days. Very, very unusual.

I've been writing a lot about our recent deep freeze here on my other blog and I've been posting photos of the scenery from our apartment.

Just doing some laundry and tying up loose ends before Montreal. We leave on Friday morning.

The Watermelon Radish

2008-12-11T17:30:00.001-08:00

Every year around this time, Choices stocks watermelon radishes in their organic produce section. These radishes look like unassuming roots from the outside, until you cut one open and then their name becomes evident.

I don't know why, but I love buying strange vegetables whenever I see them. A year or two ago I bought a watermelon radish for the first time, just because. Hey, I like radishes! Why not a watermelon radish?

I brought the watermelon radish home, sliced it into thin pieces, and ate it as a snack. It was firm, crisp, and pleasant-tasting in only a way a radish can be. I remember it being almost sweet. I liked it.

So the other day when I noticed that Choices was carrying the same watermelon radishes, I bought one. However, this time when I brought it home, sliced it up and bit into a piece, it was different.

The taste at first was pleasant, but it was immediately followed by an incredible heat and pungence that I've only ever experienced from fresh horseradish.

Eating it became torture, and I don't mean the good "I'm eating a spicy curry" kind of torture, but a truly awful "I'm eating a spoonful of wasabi" kind of torture. The aftertaste was so pungent and the after burn so strong, it felt like I had been eating spoiled cabbage flambée. The taste lingered in my mouth for a long time afterwards.

But the problem with watermelon radishes is that they're so pretty. And cute.

Oh, the minty green rind!

Oh, the crispy pink interior!

I couldn't just throw the radish away, and I couldn't just offer it to Josh. That would be too cruel...

... so I put it in some Tupperware and placed it in the fridge. Who knows? Maybe the radish will magically change.

Two days later, today, I opened up the fridge and sought my little watermelon radish. I opened up the Tupperware and contemplated what to do next. The previously-cut pieces of the watermelon radish were a tad dry, but still edible. They were still cute. They were still beckoning me with their watermelon colours.

So I bit into a piece of the radish and chewed without hesitation.

The radish hadn't changed.

It was still pungent and very spicy in the wrong way.

Determined, I looked in the cupboard and pulled out a bowl. I threw the pieces of watermelon radish into the bowl and splashed on a bit of water before placing it in the microwave.

2 minutes later out came freshly steamed watermelon radish. I picked up a piece from the bowl and bit into it...

It was no longer pungent.

It was no longer spicy.

It was actually rather pleasant to eat.

I did it!

As I ate the cooked pieces of watermelon radish, I was overcome by its familiar earthy flavour. I had magically transformed my watermelon radish into pink slices of turnip! Who knew?

Turnip is one of those vegetables that I really enjoy, but I rarely eat. It reminds me of Thanksgiving and Christmas dinners as that's usually the only time I'll eat it. But here it was in my bowl and I ate the rest with glee!

I guess it makes sense as radishes and turnips are a part of the same family, but now I know for sure that watermelon radishes make good turnip alternatives.

So that's my story of the watermelon radish.

Vancouver ...a local's perspective

2008-12-08T23:54:00.000-08:00

I've started a new blog, Vancouver ...a local's perspective. I figure it's easier to keep Lulu Island Girl as a separate blog... a blog with little structure, where I'm free to post whatever's on my mind. By contrast, my Vancouver blog will be more focused with its aim at providing specific information to potential visitors. I figure I've put at least 10 years into travel forum writing, I might as well start documenting it in one spot!

Weekend in sunshine

2008-12-07T15:24:00.000-08:00

After a Saturday downpour, I woke up to... more rain. However, by 11am the sun was out and what a beautiful day it has turned out to be! Even as I type, the sun is shining on my monitor, a strange feat considering the windows are facing north, but with the surrounding condo windows reflecting like mirrors, you'd be surprised at how real these rays feel. And if you're at all familiar with the December climate on this wet coast, you'll know that we'll just about take any form of sunshine we can get.

We started off our day with a group of friends at the Opus Hotel's Elixir restaurant for an annual holiday brunch. I think this is the third year of the tradition, although it's the second time we've participated. This is the first time we've had the brunch at Elixir.

Elixir is done up in the style of a French brasserie with white tile floors, bright yellow walls and deep wood finishings. It's a bit of a contrast to the modern and minimalist decor in the rest of the hotel. I have had brunch there a few times and strangely have never had any other kind of meal there. The first time I ate there was on the morning following my cousin's wedding. As we were eating, Sting was in the lobby a few feet away checking out. The following time I had brunch at Elixir was about a year later. Josh and I stood for several minutes in the lobby waiting for the host. I joked to Josh, "I wonder who we'll see this time". As I glazed off into space awaiting to be seated, my gaze was met by that of Michael Stipe's. He was seated with the rest of REM. We were seated at the booth next to theirs.

I like Elixir because the service is good and the brunch is often unique because where else can you get chocolate croissants and duck confit with your breakfast? Or smoked salmon scrambled eggs over a bed of truffle-oil green lentils? Nowhere else in Vancouver I tell you! So if you feel like splurging, it usually feels justified if you order some unique breakfast concoction that you can't get in a typical greasy spoon. And greasy spoon Elixir is not.

The downside is that the prices are about triple what you'd pay elsewhere for a similar breakfast. Vancouver has such a large percentage of its population eating out in restaurants. And unlike a city like Toronto or New York where people use their corporate spending accounts to pay the bills at fancy restaurants, most people dining in Vancouver's foodie establishments shell out money from their personal accounts, so prices tend to be pretty competitive and cheap by comparison. It's often cheaper to eat out than to buy the groceries and cook yourself, at least if you're like us - living downtown without a car, relying upon downtown's urban-style grocery stores ($$$). Not only that, but we carry back all our groceries so we can only buy so much at once. And with our minuscule kitchen, a lack of storage space, and no kitchen table (as the kitchen is too tiny for a table), then you tend to eat a lot of your meals elsewhere.

So yes, Elixir is way overpriced for the Vancouver market. But it's a hotel restaurant that caters to international stars like Sting, so it really shouldn't surprise me.

The only disappointment of this brunch, as I highlighted in an earlier post, is that, since we were such a large group today, we were all given the same meal. But the meal was very ordinary for Elixir. It was basic scrambled eggs, hashbrowns, sausages, toast, and pastry selection for the table. It was $26 per person. You can usually get this kind of breakfast in Vancouver for well under $10, and sometimes even under $5. So that's my only beef. But it's a trivial beef. It just seems like a waste to go to Elixir and spend $26 just to get plain scrambled eggs.

</rant>

The previous night Josh and I had a cozy night at home watching Wall-E. What a film. In so many ways, it completely exceeded what I was anticipating... I'm not quite sure why it took us so long to watch it, as it was a film we had wanted to see back when it was in theatres. It was just so touching and genuinely awe-inspiring. The little details were what got to us the most. However, I'm purposely choosing not to elaborate as I don't want this to turn into a film review. But last night, the night after we initially watched Wall-E, we stayed up until at least 4am watching it back to back (and with the director's commentary) because it was such inspiration. Definitely, this movie charmed us, and for me, the closing credits were especially moving.

Looking at how they made the film, it immediately brought me back to class at CDIS in 1998 as I was fooling around with the archaic 3D modelling program, Form Z. For a class project, I had to take an item from my home and model it. I chose a plush teddy bear - not the easiest for a beginner, but it turned out well! I also modeled an old Yamaha synthesizer, another success, and the entire interior of the long gone Vancouver nightclub Graceland. I remember at how fulfilling the whole creative process was and how much time and effort I put into those pieces simply because it was fun.

And now I'm here, 10 years later... three multimedia certificates later, one degree later... and Wall-E is seriously making me reconsider my career goals.

The issue, of course, is that this is possibly the worst time to be starting the journey into a new industry. But then again, uncertainties are always a little scary...

Bat For Lashes

2008-12-05T21:56:00.000-08:00

Music has always played a very large role in my life. In the past two years I've been using this website called last.fm which tracks every song I play and it compiles the stats into a nicely organized categories.

For example, here are my stats - pretty much everything I've been listening to since the last days of December 2006.

However, one of the most interesting aspects to last.fm is the ability to discover new music. What I mean is, say you really like the band Elbow. You can select last.fm radio and type in "Elbow" as the artist, and it will compile a playlist of songs which are similar to their style. So when listening to "Elbow Radio" on last.fm, I might get an Elbow track, followed by Turin Brakes, followed by Doves, then The Dears... and maybe a few bands I've never heard of.

Or say you like Final Fantasy (the musician, not the video game... although the video game is good too!). If you type in Final Fantasy, your playlist might be a mix of Grizzly Bear, Arcade Fire, Patrick Wolf, and Andrew Bird.

You don't necessarily have to enter in a band's name to get a streaming playlist of random music. You can also enter keywords: dreamy, Canadian, British, funky jazz, and so on.

This isn't anything new. Pandora, for example, has been offering this kind of service for years. But for whatever reason, I really like last.fm's infrastructure and it has quite an active online community. But I find that last.fm is something that people only "get" once they start using it - it's hard to appreciate its intricacies otherwise.

Well, my whole point to this is... I forget what keyword I entered, but the other day I discovered a beautiful song by a band called "Bat For Lashes". Needless to say, it's my latest musical infatuation.

See for yourselves:

It's beginning to look a lot like Christmas...

2008-11-30T01:48:00.000-08:00

Canadians celebrate Thanksgiving in October. Because of this, you only have to wait until after Halloween before you start seeing Christmas decorations in public places.

I (and I'm sure many others around here) feel that early November's just a tad too early to get into the Christmas spirit. But right about now - this last weekend of November, the first few days of December - that's where it feels about right. That's where it feels okay to find more Christmas lights appearing on rooftops, Christmas trees decorated in large bay windows, and the obligatory Christmas carols anytime you go shopping. It's also in late November where it suddenly feels appropriate to attend local Christmas events.

On Saturday, November 29, two such events were happening on fair ol' Lulu Island: the annual Steveston Christmas Craft Fair and the Christmas-themed gift shop at London Heritage Farm.

Two craft fairs in one day is a bit crazy for a girl who maybe goes to them once every two years, but what better way to kick start my internal Christmas spirit than on such a grey and drizzly day? What a great opportunity to commence Christmas shopping and support local artists... and in the company of my loving parents no less! :)

The Steveston Christmas Craft Fair is considered the largest in Richmond, and it was certainly the largest and busiest of any Christmas craft fairs I've been to. Located in the indoor tennis courts at the Steveston Community Centre (4111 Moncton Street), I could tell this was a serious event by all the people pouring in and out of the venue. Once inside, a waft of hot dogs hit me. Volunteers were taking donations for admission. Raffle tickets were being hawked and a delightful array of Christmas baking was set up on the table beside me.

Once past the crowds by the entrance, I could see that there were at least 20 aisles of tables set up with a good variety of items made by both amateurs and professionals, and surprisingly, there was very in the variety of knit toilet paper cozies. There were people selling clothing, jewelery, handbags, handmade soaps, candles, lotions, books, photography, paintings, fancy kitchen utensils, beautiful cutting boards, wooden bowls, ceramics, fresh baking, jams and preserves, handmade cards, floral bouquets, Christmas tree ornaments, knit scarves & mitts, and yes, even a few tables of sincere tackiness. But there were certainly a lot of quality items at this particular craft fair that we spent 2 hours there!

Two of my favourites of the day:

midohana

I saw this girl's products set up at the Roundhouse Community Centre's Christmas Craft Fair last year and I was excited to see her stuff again! She's based out of Richmond and she makes beautiful cold-press soaps and solid perfumes in a variety of subtle and exotic fragrances. The soaps looked and smelled fantastic! I particularly liked Masala Chai, Wasabia Japonica, and Cranberry Fig.

photo by midohana

She also makes soap shaped into little pieces of sushi which she sells in little bento boxes. It's super cute!

photo by midohana

But what I'm really drawn to are her solid perfumes.

photo by midohana

Josh gave me her Red Clover solid perfume as a gift last year. They're in these little slide-top tins, so not only do they smell great, but they're very practical. This year she added many new frangrances to her collection. I really liked Japanese Tea Ceremony, Absolute, Hana, and Rice Flower. For $5.25 a tin, they're excellent value!

Rumba Cake

I passed by this table full of nothing but bright yellow boxes boldly titled, RUMBA CAKE. Behind the table a Jamaican woman was cutting up little pieces of cake and placing it into tiny paper cups. I walked a few feet beyond the table before the concept registered in my mind. I stopped in my tracks. Rumba cake?! Is this what I think it is?! I darted back to the table.

photo by Rumba Cake
The woman noticed me looking curiously at the samples of cake.

"Would you like to try some Jamaican rum cake?"

"Ooooh, yes!"

I picked up a tasty morsel or rum-soaked cake and popped it into my mouth. MmmmMMmmmmm! It was clear this was a homemade Jamaican recipe of rich spices, fruit, and rum. My mom, who had walked a few tables over, joined me at the Rumba Cake table and I discussed with her my idea of buying such a cake to surprise Josh on his next day's arrival from Hong Kong.

Fay Salmon-Lord is the specialty baker who makes these cakes and she's based out of Delta, BC. She sells these cakes by the piece ($6) or as a whole cake ($16). For $2 more you can buy the cake in a box, which is what I did. While not cheap, I will pay for quality, especially when I'm supporting a local business. On the back of the box is a recipe for Fay's Rumba Sauce. When I purchased the cake, a group of people started to crowd around her table, showing interest in this beautifully scrumptious homemade Jamaican rum cake!

After two hours of browsing (and one hot dog later), we left the community center for a stroll through Steveston village. It wasn't particularly cold outside, but the rain fell as a light mist making everything, including our clothing, damp. While my Dad went to pick up some dinner at Super Grocer, my Mom and I popped into one of our favourite stores, Prickly Pear Garden Centre. They have such a beautiful gift shop, and at this time of the year it's decorated for Christmas and feels very magical. Located in an old wooden building, the shop gives off this rustic country atmosphere which I find very appealing.

Across the street we noticed a new store celebrating its grand opening, a very hip and modern furniture store called the Spotted Frog Furniture Co. Once my Dad found us, we went across the street to have a peek. The store felt like a Yaletown business - a sign that Steveston has indeed walked away from its working class fishing village roots and into yuppified "urban lifestyle" territory. With all the new condos next door, is it any surprise? Regardless, it's a beautiful store with many unique home decor items and certainly fits in with the new Steveston demographic. When we walked in, a staff member offered us freshly baked chocolate chip cookies! Browsing around, I noticed these table name place card holders, shaped as birds sitting on a branch ($4.50 each). A bit expensive for my budget at the moment, and considering I don't even own a kitchen table, a bit redundant. However, they're currently having a 15% off everything sale up until about December 13... so who knows! :)

After Steveston, we walked the 15 minutes back to my parent's house for a warm lunch. Earlier on my Mom had mentioned that London Heritage Farm has opened its Christmas gift shop, and although it will be open all throughout December, we could go later on if we felt like it. I looked online to check their hours; they'd be open open until 5pm, so we drove the 10 minutes up along the Fraser River to check it out.

London Heritage Farm is a piece of Lulu Island history. The house belonged to the London family - British Loyalists from the USA and one of the first pioneer families to settle in Richmond along the tidal flats of the river and make a go at clearing and draining the muddy, marsh-like soils of Lulu Island so they could convert the land into a farm. They arrived in 1881.

As a child, we'd occasionally visit this farm house-turned museum, especially since we'd frequently go for picnics along Gilbert Beach which was across the street. But this was the first time that I can remember where I visited London Heritage Farm around Christmas. According to my Mom, last year they had every room of the house converted into a gift shop. This year, however, there was only one room.

As we walked in the main entrance, we were immediately hit with - no, not the smell of hot dogs - but the wonderful aroma of freshly baked scones! London Heritage Farm hosts an afternoon tea in the main floor of the house and they bake all the food in their kitchen. A few couples were inside this cozy heritage farm house enjoying cups of tea and I was envious!

Borrowing my father's camera (as Josh brought our camera along on his Hong Kong business trip), I decided to take a few photos.

Fraser River's South Arm with Shady Island in the distance

It looks so cozy in there on such a gloomy day

A cozy Christmas scene

The bedroom all done up for the holidays

The Christmas gift shop

We spent about half an hour at London Heritage Farm exploring the museum displays and the gift shop. We recognized some of the items in the shop, such as the handmade soaps and the jars of jams, were from vendors at the Christmas Craft Fair from earlier in the day, although there were a fair amount of unique items too. For example, due to their afternoon tea service, they sell London Lady tea, London Heritage Farm scone mix, and a variety of fine china tea sets. Because of the farm's ties to Richmond heritage, I noticed a lot of Richmond nature scenes on gift cards. As the smell of the freshly baked scones continued to permeate the house, it truly did feel like a special occasion was just around the corner.

August in Vancouver

2008-11-30T01:33:00.001-08:00

I just discovered these photos that my father took back in the summer at Jericho Beach. To me they just capture the essence of everything that is August in Vancouver.

One week on the Mayan Riviera

2008-11-27T14:55:00.000-08:00

We arrived back home on Friday afternoon after spending 6.5 hours in a plane and 2 hours in a shuttle bus. My dad surprised us at the airport and drove us home on that miserably dark and rainy afternoon. It was true, we were back in Vancouver. On that same night there was a staff Christmas party that we considered going to, but since we awoke at 4:30 that morning (or 2:30am Pacific time) and had been travelling all day, we decided to head to bed instead. We were asleep by 8pm.

It has almost been one week since we've returned, and I've settled back into winter mode and the reality that is not the all-inclusive resort. Even though it has only been a few days, each day feels further and further away and the entire vacation begins to feel like some surreal dream. The whole vacation was a bit like a time warp though. November in Vancouver means short days (sun setting by 4:30pm), perpetual grey, and cold rain. When we arrived in Mexico, it felt like July to us. It felt like we had gone back in time to summer. However, the light regime is quite different between the two places. With Vancouver being on the 49th parallel, the summer days are very long with daylight lasting until at least 10pm. So it was a bit strange for us to have all this fantastic summer weather and then have the sun go down by 6pm! We adapted of course by waking up much earlier than we would at home so that we could take advantage of all the sunshine. Although there were cloudy days and cool, windy evenings, the weather cooperated with us and we never experienced a drop of rain. And then coming back to Vancouver again, it felt as though we propelled ourselves from July to November. It felt like we had been gone a very long time, when in fact we had only been gone 7 days. One week was the perfect amount of time for the all-inclusive resort, although I could have gladly stayed in Mexico for much longer!

It was a week ago Friday that we arrived early morning at the Cancun International Airport. Our red eye flight was decent but due to constant interruptions we were unable to get any rest, so we spent our entire first day in a state of delirious sleep deprivation. Once we got through customs, found our luggage and our shuttle bus, we were whisked away down the highway to the 5 star Gran Bahia Principe Coba - one of the three Gran Bahia Principe resorts which are clustered together between the towns of Akumal and Tulum, about 2 hours south of Cancun. All three resorts (GBP Coba, GBP Tulum, GBP Akumal) together form this mega-resort which truly baffled me once I arrived, as it was only in person that it became apparent how truly massive this place was. This wasn't a resort - it was a complete self-sustaining town! As guests, we had access to all services and amenities of all three and even by the end of the week, we were still discovering new areas of the resort.

I had never been to an all-inclusive resort before, and to be honest, the idea had never appealed to me. Who wants to be imprisoned at their hotel when there are so many more interesting things happening nearby? Who wants to dine at the same touristy restaurants every single day? Where's the exploration? Where's the adventure? If I go travelling, I want to experience the local culture, eat the local foods, experience the must-sees while discovering the hidden gems. The concept of all-inclusive resorts seemed to be defeating that purpose. However, we decided on this all-inclusive because we wanted one week to unwind and sit around on the beach and not have to think. This resort in particular was not near any city, so the all-inclusive made sense. And now that I've done it and I've had a successful experience, I can certainly see the why people do it!

Fancy lobbies (GBP Coba)
Daily towel art (in our room)
Nice swimming pools! (GBP Akumal)
Beaches by the swimming pools! (GBP Akumal)
Fresh coconut straight from the resort's trees
Lounge chairs on "Playa Coba"

The whole experience was a little surreal as food and drinks were seemingly endless. Although we didn't witness anybody doing it, you could seriously take as much as you wanted. Since everything is included, you don't pay, whether you're dining on a five course meal at a full-service gourmet restaurant or getting a specially-made cocktail for the beach. It was as if you were royalty living on an estate and everybody was there to serve you and provide you with the best food and drinks imaginable! It was all so very luxurious. Want a glass of wine with your dinner? No problem! Want to have your flask filled up with rum so you can top up your drinks by the beach? No problem! Would you like some roast chicken as a late night snack? Call up room service and it's... free! Yes, we always tipped our servers but we noticed that many did not. Despite all the extravagance, we never witnessed anybody going overboard, and for the most part, everyone we saw was really chilled out. Then again, we never ventured out to the only nightclub, Discoteca La Rancherita!

The bar by the GBP Tulum pool
The view of the GBP Tulum pool from the bar

Three à la carte meals were included in our package, and all other meals were available at the buffets. There are about a dozen or so à la carte restaurants between the three resorts, and they advise you to make reservations as soon as you check in as to not be met with disappointment. So that's exactly what we did. They break up the buffet experience quite nicely as it's a full table service. You get five courses with every à la carte meal: an apéritif created by the chef served with an a tiny but delicious morsel, an appetizer, a soup, a main course, and a dessert. The latter four you choose off the menu. Each à la carte restaurant has its own theme whether it be Japanese, Italian, gourmet, Mexican, Brazilian, and so on. We opted for one seafood restaurant (Fruitos del Mar) and two international gourmet restaurants (Arlequin and Don Pablo). The meals were all fantastic but the meal at Don Pablo was particularly memorable, not only for the spectacular food, but because of the exceptional service we received from our servers Daniel and José.

The à la cartes were amazing experiences, but the buffets were equally special - they really exceeded my expectations. You see, buffets aren't that common in Vancouver. You'll either find limited gourmet buffets in a high end hotels (often with $50 per person price tags) or you'll find cheap all-you-can-eat sushi/Chinese food buffets which are truly awful. I've never experienced a buffet like the kind I've heard about in Las Vegas, but I've always thought that buffets are more about quantity than quality, and I'm not interested in that.

After spending the ten or fifteen minutes looking at all the food and collecting your dinner, you would sit down at a table set with a fine white table cloth and you would get the most attentive service from a variety of passing waiters. They would bring you drinks whether you wanted water, coffee, or something else. They would clear the dishes immediately and overall offered very hospitable service. We were always impressed with how much work went into meal time at the buffet, and it was truly appreciated.

A glimpse at the Kukulcan Buffet seating area in the GBP Coba

But the food... the food I'm still craving! The selection was not only greatly varied, but the food was fresh, tasty, healthy, high quality, and never greasy. While the buffets were huge, they were broken down into tiny stations so it was never overwhelming. I was almost anticipating an American style buffet but it was anything but. There was usually one fish, pork, chicken, and beef dish each day, and there were tons of steamed veggies prepared in a variety of ways. Beans, rice, and potatoes were staples, but each day the preparations of all the foods varied so you never knew what to expect. There were soups, prepared salads, salad bars, bruscetta bars, fresh fruit, bread baskets, dessert bars, a customize your own pasta bar, an entire table devoted to authentic Mexican sauces, and Mexican corner where a chef would be making small batches of authentic Yucatan dishes such as panuchos and salbutes. Even the most basic dishes were a cut above what you might expect. The pork & beans for example, were made fresh from fresh beans and bite-sized smoked pork spareribs. I'm glad to say that the cheddar-laden ground beef taco mix was far from the menu. I only wish I could say the same thing about Vancouver's so-called Mexican cuisine!

I honestly can go on and on about the food. Some days I'd find little comfort from home, such as deviled eggs. Other days there would be tasty stuffed peppers or fresh guavas filled with cream. They would also have ethnic themes each night - Spanish, Mexican, French, Italian, Asian, etc. On the French night, they had about 10 varieties of éclairs for dessert, one even shaped like a swan! On Mexican night, they brought out a lot of the traditional (but rarely seen outside of Mexico) foods and had the entire place decorated in red, white, and green. The food was honestly top quality. And if that wasn't enough, at lunch time they would have an outdoor cook-up by the main swimming pools. On one particular day, it was lobster paella!

Lunchtime cook-out by the GBP Coba pool

In between meal times they would have all the lobbies set up with a coffee bar to which you could help yourself to tea or coffee. They also set aside bottles of whiskey, Amaretto, Brandy, Mayan liqueur, and whatever else you might want to use to flavour your coffee. They also had their own homemade flavoured tequila. In front of each bottle was a bowl full of the ingredients used to flavour it, whether it be strawberry, coconut, chili, coffee, lime, or cinnamon. In the evenings, they would even have a staff member with an open flame making special flambée coffees. In a warming tray they had tiny pastries. I would bite into a petite Madeleine cake as I walked with my coffee down to the beach hoping to recall lost childhood memories.

Despite all the food and drinks, we did not get silly full, sick, or drunk. We did not just sit around getting fat. We did other activities too!

On Thursday morning we took a guided tour to go snorkeling with sea turtles! Unfortunately I have no photos from that day, but it was definitely one of our most memorable experiences. We went with the resort's own Bahia Principe Dive Center.

Kamloops???

For about $45 US (they quote the prices in US dollars regardless of how you pay) they took us out on a boat with about ten others to the nearby coral reefs. The boat gets split up into two groups and each has its own guide. Our group first went to search for sea turtles which can usually be found feasting on sea grass growing along the sandy shallows. Within seconds, we saw our first sea turtle. It was incredible, really, to see them in the wild in their natural habitat, and only a few feet away. At one time the turtle was right underneath me and came up to take in a breath of air. Josh and I were the only ones watching it as it came up for air. We put our heads above the water and there it was with its tiny head, and we could hear it take its breath before diving back down. Incredible.

After the sea turtles our guide called us over to a sting ray. We did see a sting ray earlier in our trip on our first night at the resort, but it was from the dock looking down... but snorkeling with a sting ray is something else. It was unbelievable to be swimming with them! There's just something so sweet about sting rays and I'm not sure what it is. Maybe it's the eyes and the way they filter sand. Maybe it's the way their body moves like a magic carpet?

After our time with the sting ray, we noticed our guide get excited about something a few feet over. We turned around and there was this massive school of fish. You didn't even see the fish as individuals, but as this slow-moving zombie-like mass. I have no idea what kind of fish they were, but as they headed straight for us, they decided to turn around. However, instead of simply turning themselves around, the leaders of the school of fish split off away from the center and back around the sides. All the other fish took their lead, thus starting a school of fish procession. While I know that snorkeling with schools of fish doesn't sound like the most exotic experience, trust me, don't underestimate it!

We then swam over to the coral reef which was like being in a tropical aquarium. There were so many unique fish... greenish rainbow fish, blue and yellow fish, polka-dotted eels with pointy noses. Even the coral was fascinating - brain corals, fan corals ... even spotting the giant sea urchins hiding in the crevasses were thrilling. I could have floated in the coral reefs for hours. I now see why people spend big money to come to places like these. It's for these fragile ecosystems.

On Wednesday we hired a taxi driver for the day and visited the Mayan ruins in nearby Tulum:

Although there are certainly more famous Mayan sites such as Chichen Itza, Tulum is impressive for being a well-preserved pre-Columbian walled city. Many of the buildings of this important Mayan port were once brightly painted with frescos, and you can still see some of the colour. The original stone relief was also very visible and it was truly something to be able to see it in person. I had briefly studied a bit of Mayan culture while in an introductory art history class at UBC, but that was years ago. Fortunately, they have signs up around (in English and Spanish) detailing on what you're looking at. Sure, it was superficial but beneficial. There were also tour guides you could hire if you wished. Although we opted not to, there were so many guides giving tours while we were there, it was hard not to listen in on other groups.

The Temple of the Frescos

But like most gringos, we were easily amused by the local wildlife. There were a lot of iguanas.

One even seemed to have lost his tail, but was managing to grow it back:

And then, slithering along silently was this cute Mexican parrot snake! A tour group walked up to this location as I was taking the picture and their guide began to talk about the historical significance and symbolism of the architecture in front of them. Once they caught sight of this tiny snake, that's all they wanted to take pictures of and promptly ignored their guide.

Although Tulum's Mayan ruins are famous for the well-preserved structures, I'd argue that they're equally known for their beautiful location on the cliffs overlooking the beach and the Caribbean Sea. While some beaches were off limits, the most beautiful secluded beach could be accessed by a wooden staircase which lead down the cliff to the softest sands imaginable.

We can't go here, this beach is for sea turtles...
... but we can go down to that beach!

We had to take this wooden staircase down to the beach. The beach turned out to be a sandy cove surrounded by rocky cliffs. It was crowded, as one would expect on a sunny afternoon, but everyone was chilled out and respectful of one another's space.

Josh really wanted to go for a swim and encouraged me to join him, however I was drained from the intense sun and I didn't want to fight the waves. Instead, I happily sat against the cliffs in the shade reading up on Tulum.

And I watched the iguanas. Iguanas are sneaky.

When you leave your bags unattended...
...iguanas come out of the woodwork!

When we walked back to our taxi, we noticed 6 or 7 blue-coloured birds moving throughout the jungle floor. Their behavior reminded me of crows. They were Yucatan Jays.

Yucatan Jays look sneaky. If they're anything like Whiskeyjacks, then they are sneaky.

After visiting Tulum's Mayan ruins and beach, we drove into town which was a short distance inland. Apparently it's pretty well known on the backpacker circuit and there were hostels, internet cafés, and plenty of souvenir shops. We were so hungry when we arrived in the town of Tulum that we ate lunch at the first restaurant we saw. We only realized after we were seated that it was a Mexican/Chinese restaurant. Since I didn't come all the way to Tulum to order Chinese food, I looked for something on the menu that I couldn't get at home: grouper. Grouper's a tropical fish (Mero in Spanish) which is relatively mild but is the freshest seafood you can get. The fish was cooked in banana leaves with a light tomato and onion sauce and it was served with white rice and vegetables. Josh ordered a variety of fajitas. He had so much food that I took some of his tortillas and used them to eat the fish - instant fish tacos! We both drank our first beer of the week - nice cold bottles of Sol. It was a perfect lunch sitting there at some nondescript restaurant on the sidewalk watching life go by in Tulum.

After lunch we went for a stroll along Avenida Tulum, the heart of town. It's here where you'll find all the souvenir shops. Among the touristy knickknacks, we discovered a truly enchanting shop that stood out from the rest: Papalotl Galeria. It actually reminded me of something you'd find in the Gulf Islands or in Tofino. It's part art gallery, part gift shop and it's run by a man who makes jewellery and sells works by local artists, many of whom are indigenous Mayans. In the back was a beautiful garden courtyard with tropical plants and clothing on display. Two pet rabbits were cuddling.

We talked with the owner for a while and were quite taken by this little boutique. However, we knew our taxi driver was waiting for us and that we should probably head back to the resort. When I got home (from Mexico), I went online trying to find information on that gallery. I discovered that the store moonlights as an evening jam space. If only we had stuck around!

Our last night in Mexico was the only night we went overboard. Having skipped out on breakfast due to our snorkeling expedition, we had an early lunch at the GBP Akumal buffet. We spent the rest of the afternoon at the pool and at the beach (in addition to getting our photographs taken with a spider monkey!) and knew we had a late dinner reservation at 9:30pm. By 6pm we were getting rather hungry and figured it might be nice to pop in to the nearest buffet and grab a light snack. Of course, there is no such thing as a light snack at a buffet, especially on Mexican night! As we sat at our table and ate authentic Mexican dishes, we looked at each other and still couldn't believe that we were in Mexico. Even though we were going home the next morning, neither of us brought up the topic because we didn't want the dream to end.

Yes I am back...

2008-11-27T03:08:00.000-08:00

... and I am writing an epic post about my experience in Mexico. Coming soon! :)

Plans for this week, plans for life in general

2008-11-13T16:46:00.000-08:00

Earlier in the year I changed career paths.

I was initially working as a cartographer for a mining company, utilizing my GIS and cartography skills that I aquired during my Geography degree at UBC. However, it was when I was invited to speak on a dicussion panel at an important tourism conference, I began to seriously consider tourism as a career.

You see, for many years - heck, a decade - I had been participating in numerous online travel forums: Lonely Planet's Thorn Tree, VirtualTourist, Fodor's, and most recently, TripAdvisor.

I think my involvement on travel forums started back in 1998 in the summer that I graduated high school. I was taking a web design program at a multimedia college. For a project, I had to create a mock website. For whatever reason, I decided to create a website for tourists coming to Vancouver. Part of my research brought me to a travel forum where tourists were asking all sorts of questions about Vancouver. You'd see questions like,

"I'm from Ireland and I'll be arriving in Vancouver next week. I only have 2 days. What are the must sees?"

or

"I'm a backpacker from Australia looking for a good hostel. Also, can somebody recommend a good place for breakfast that won't cost a fortune?"

And then you'd occasionally come across a can of worms where an individual would ask for comparisons between two rival cities.

Whenever questions would go unanswered, and if I knew the answer, I always felt compelled to write. I always felt, having lived in Vancouver my whole life, I could probably offer a perspective that differed from the same old cliches found in tourism literature.

Thus began my foray into tourism.

As a student at UBC, thanks to my multimedia training, I was employed in their IT department. However, I also worked two summer jobs in the tourism industry; once for a whale watching company and another for Tourism Vancouver. Despite the meager pay and irregular schedules, those tourism jobs were the most memorable. But for those very real reasons, I never considered them as careers. That was, of course, until I was invited to speak at that tourism conference.

Immediately following the conference, I was inspired and motivated. I seriously contemplated quitting my unfulfilling cartography job for a more dynamic position in tourism. And that's exactly what I did. Almost immediately I was offered the position of tour coordinator for a small but growing budget tour operator that specialized in providing tours to ESL students (as Vancouver has a massive ESL market). I was welcomed to that company with open arms and it was refreshing. The work environment was much more social and inclusive, not like the secretive and patronizing environment I had faced earlier at the mining company. As tour coordinator came much responsibility which I openly embraced, but little would I know how much that job would consume me.

You see, the ESL market in Vancouver tends to be fickle - most students book only a day or two before the date of departure. As a result, when you're trying to coordinate the logistics of multiple day tours, there's only so much prep work you can accomplish. While hotels in high demand areas, like Banff, would need rooming lists as early as two weeks before check-in, I would realistically only be able to provide to them the day or two before. Because of this, I needed to be in constant communication with hotels to make sure they would not get rid of my rooms and that yes, the rooming list was on its way. I would also write the tour itinerary, write a weekly newsletter to all the tour guides, and I would write handouts for all the passengers on the tour bus, provide a tour kit with maps, first aid kits, prizes, and all the confirmation numbers for the pre-organized activities. Only on the evening before a tour could I begin to compile my spreadsheets for passenger lists, emergency contact lists, activity sign up sheets, and the final rooming list. Often I would be at work until 8 or 9pm.

On the following morning, the morning of the tour, I would wake up at 5am, walk to the office, pick up all the supplies and wheel them down to the departure location to oversee that everything runs smoothly. I would see that the driver would arrive on time with the coach and that the coach was indeed the exact size I requested. I would make sure that the tour guide arrived and knew what coach they were supposed to be on. We would then await for all the students to arrive, and there would be hundreds.

If students were late, I had to provide them with information on how they could meet up with their tour (ie: Greyhound). You learn quite quickly that many have no sense of the sheer vastness of Canada and that while mountains surround Vancouver, the Rockies are 800km (a good day's driving) away and that no, it's probably not a good idea to catch up to your group with a taxi.

The majority of the students were from Brazil, Japan, and South Korea, with a sprinkle of students from Germany, Switzerland, France, Taiwan, Saudi Arabia, and Mexico. This often made for an interesting dynamic and one that I had to take into account when I made the rooming lists.

There was a delicate art to creating those rooming lists. If a group of friends requested to be together, I'd make sure they were in the same room. I would do that first. Then, if there were students from the same school, I would make sure that they would be put in the same room. Girls would by default be roomed with other girls, and guys with other guys. Of course, if students booked individually without mentioning their friends or what school they attended, sometimes they got split up - something that would only become apparent on the morning of the departure. Sometimes you would get solo travellers - even backpackers from Australia, Ireland, or the UK - and I'd make sure they were together. With trial and error, you began to realize what works and what doesn't. Brazilians were typically the most rambunctious on tour while the Japanese students were the polar opposites. To mix the two in the same room was often a recipe for disaster so I'd try to keep people from the same culture together in the same rooms as possible. But even with the most meticulous planning, things always happened - things you could never plan for.

A female student with an unfamiliar foreign name accidentally gets listed as a male on the reservation system. Not a big deal until you look at the rooming list and see that she's in a room with three other guys! That's unacceptable.

Four macho guys refuse to share a room together even though it's what was advertised and it's what they paid for.

A hotel oversells their rooms.

A bus breaks down while climbing a mountainous pass in 40° Celsius heat - the rescue bus is four hours away. Set itinerary must be dramatically altered, set activities must be rescheduled if possible.

The rescue bus has one seat less than there are passengers.

A group of students are persistently 20 minutes late, delaying the group and annoying the rest of the passengers. Itinerary must be altered.

Two students fail to show up at the designated meeting spots and are left behind after 20 minutes of looking. Itinerary must be altered.

Students trash a hotel room and the hotel loses customers because of the noise.

The confirmation number supplied doesn't match the number on file.

A group of friends who did not specify their rooming options are bawling because they are split up into three different hotel rooms and there's no flexibility in the rooming list, plus the hotel is sold out.

A serious rock slide on a long weekend cuts off the main highway, adding a 12 hour detour and a cancellation of a scheduled activity. Itinerary must be dramatically altered.

A tour guide contradicts the company refund policy resulting in hundreds of students expecting to get their money back for a cancelled activity that was always advertised as free.

And so on.

Needless to say, I learned to expect the unexpected rather quickly. My on-the-fly problem solving skills were much improved. But because of this, I could never separate myself from this job. On weekends, especially long weekends, my phone would be ringing all the time. And this is how this job consumed me.

There were days when I would sit at my desk and uncontrollably scratch my head until it bled. There were weekends when my phone would ring off the hook and I would break down crying due to mental exhaustion. Whenever my cell phone would ring while I was at home, my body would tense up with anxiety. I could never separate myself from the job and I never had a moment to myself. However, I kept telling myself to stick around for one full year and use the experience to get myself into a more stable position.

So when September came around and I was laid off, it was a big relief. A big, big relief. Two of us were actually let go solely due to a slowing in tourism and a severe lack in monetary funds; they simply couldn't afford to keep us on throughout the year. Problem solved. The good news is that I still have a great relationship with my former employers - they were genuinely sad to see me go. I really feel bad for the only other tour coordinator who already had too much on her plate. I'm just glad it's not me.

Since my layoff I have been taking time to really focus on what it is I want to do with my life, career-wise. While I have been looking at what jobs are available, I have also been taking a much-needed break. I'm savouring this right now as I know it's a rare luxury.

In late September I joined my sister in Victoria while she did anthropological research in the BC Archives and at the BC Legislative Library. I should probably write it into a separate posting, but here are a few scenes from that week:

The BC Parliament Building tour

My sister along the waterfront by Dallas Road

The First Peoples Gallery at the Royal BC Museum

October was filled with local events: Thanksgiving dinner, visits to Steveston, going away parties, dinners with friends, Halloween parties, etc.

November - I can't believe it's the 13th already!

Early last week, after contemplating the idea for months, we purchased an all-inclusive seven day getaway to the Mayan Riviera on the Yucatan Peninsula in Mexico. It'll be our first experience at an all-inclusive resort, but I think we'll be able to manage. ;) Generally it's not the type of thing we'd go for, but we just want relaxation and sunshine. The Mayan ruins at Tulum and the coral reef snorkeling don't sound so shabby either! This will be our first time to the Caribbean and we're quite looking forward to it.

As I write this, I am also packing and preparing, for the flight leaves in... T-minus 9 hours! We sleep on the plane for the 6 hour journey and we arrive at the Cancun airport just after 9am. It's an hour drive to our resort where we stay for 7 days. We return to Vancouver next Friday at 3pm. So as I scramble around here packing and doing last minute laundry, you will now understand why you won't see another post for the next week.

Just for fun

2008-11-09T15:08:00.001-08:00

104

Created by OnePlusYou - Free Dating Site

I have no intention of filling this blog with quizzes, however I'll make an exception to this one. It's particularly addictive. You have 5 minutes to type in as many countries as you can think of. The clock starts counting as soon as the page loads so immediately you'll find yourself frantically typing away. Of course, that's half the catch right there - this is not so much as an exercise in geographical knowledge than it is an exercise in speed-typing.

Another challenge is that there is only one correct name for each country. You wouldn't think this would be a problem, that is, until you run into it. For example, it will only accept United States, not USA or The United States of America. Northern Ireland, Scotland, or England doesn't register, only United Kingdom does. I never bothered with Great Britain. St Lucia doesn't accept, but Saint Lucia does. And so on. And of course, since spelling, spacing and punctuation counts, if you forget exactly how many letter L's and P's are in the Philippines, you could waste a good 10 seconds just typing it out until the answer accepts. Needless to say, when you type in Azerbaijan or Uzbekistan in one try, it's particularly pleasing! :) However, I did notice that the more I thought up all the "obscure" countries like Turkmenistan, I realized that I failed to remember the more "obvious" countries, like Belgium.

Another funny observation is that when I attempted this test more than once, I noticed how I fell back on similar psychological patterns. I usually start at the top of my local geographical realm: Canada. Then I'll head south to the United States and Mexico. It's in Mexico where I hear The Beach Boys song "Kokomo" in my head: "Aruba, Jamaica, ooh I wanna take ya to Bermuda, Bahamas...". However, that's often where that pattern ends. By then I might realize that I missed Greenland and Iceland. And then I'll want to continue across to the Scandinavian countries and across Europe. Or if I keep with my tropical island theme, I'll often mentally jump across the world to Fiji and will attempt the southern hemisphere in reverse: New Zealand, Australia, then Papua New Guinea. But before I make my way to Malaysia or Indonesia, my mind keeps screaming (thanks to Papua New Guinea) "Equatorial Guinea" or just "Guinea"! And then Equatorial Guinea would remind me of Ecuador and so I'd feverishly type out every country of South America.

I get so caught up in these mental maps that usually by the end of 5 minutes, I still had more countries to type out. But just recognizing these mental map clusters are half the fun.

104 countries in 5 minutes is my best record in 5 tries.

Christmas Eve Comes Early!

2008-11-07T21:39:00.000-08:00

This is something new that I learned about this week...

The Holy Trinity Ukrainian Orthodox Cathedral (a beautiful church located at 10th and Main in Vancouver) hosts a monthly Friday Night Supper. On the first Friday of every month the church's volunteers make the ultimate Ukrainian feast and it's open to the public from 5-8pm. They have several options on their pre-set menu. $3.00 gets you a bowl of borsch with rye bread. $11.00 gets you a plate of 6 perogies, 2 cabbage rolls, sauerkraut (or salad), Ukrainian sausage, and coffee. There are more dinner options, including a takeout menu for those who want the taste of Baba's homemade Ukrainian cooking in the privacy of their own home.

Since my mother's side of the family is of Ukrainian heritage, traditional Ukrainian dinners on Christmas Eve were a part of my upbringing. Although our Christmas Eve dinners are diverse potlucks, it's not a real Christmas Eve dinner without the Ukrainian elements of perogies (filled with potato, dill, and cheese, then boiled and smothered with friend onions and sour cream), homemade cabbage rolls, and Ukrainian garlic sausage. Just the smell of this food brings back fond memories of family get-togethers and Christmas. The fact that I generally only really eat this food once a year makes it a particularly special occasion.

Now what's weird is that I don't normally think about homemade Ukrainian dinners, but 4 weeks previously I was determined to make my own perogies from scratch. I love to bake and cook on occasion, but perogies were completely new territory for me. Likewise, my mother, despite growing up in a perogy-making environment, had never attempted to make them on her own either. I expect that her childhood experiences of witnessing all-day perogy-making in the kitchen takes away from the urge. She insisted that it takes a long time. However, I was determined and found a simply recipe online. It only took me 3 hours and they were fantastic.

So, when somebody posted a recommendation for the Ukrainian church's Friday Night Supper, I really wanted to go. Alas, it's a rainy Friday night and we decided to go for a cheap sushi dinner somewhere closer instead.

... but now I have an awful craving for perogies!

Hello!

2008-11-06T17:02:00.000-08:00

So I've started my new blog: Lulu Island Girl. Lulu Island's in reference to the island of my birthplace. It sounds exotic, but it's not, for Lulu Island's the biggest island in the Fraser River delta where the city of Richmond, British Columbia is situated.

I decided to call my blog Lulu Island Girl as I was born and raised along the shore of the island in Steveston (a fishing village in Richmond). I spent my childhood, teenager years, and early 20's at the mouth of the Fraser River and it's a place that continues to inspire me. These days I call downtown Vancouver home, but after spending 28 years exploring every corner of the Lower Mainland (aka: Greater Vancouver, aka: Metro Vancouver), I wanted to create a blog where I could share my thoughts, observations, and experiences.