Kenzo Japanese Noodle House

Kenzo is another ramen place in Vancouver that doesn't get a lot of buzz for the quality of their food, but I actually really like the way their selection works. Most ramen places in Vancouver are limited to the selection of 3 soup bases; Shoyu (soya-sauce), shio (salt) and miso. You then get to choose the level of soup base richness (how salty/concentrated it is) and how heavy (oily) it is. Kezo offers a much bigger selection of different ramens (about a dozen different ones) and has the option of allowing you to choose how spicy you want your soup to be. I love spicy, especially spicy broths, but most of the ramen places I've tried dont have great spicy ramens. They turn out to be more salty than spicy and lack that kick. Kenzo's overall food quality is pretty average, the chashu is slightly chewy and doesn't melt in your mouth the way some of the most popular ramen establishments do, the noodles dont have the same bite but they make great spicy soup bases that have a strong flavor without being too salty.

The King of the King Ramen ($12.95) 4/5

photo above. A huge portion of ramen, great tasting soup stock but not the best chashu.

   

Miso Ramen ($9.95) 4/5

 Athough not a jumbo portion, still a big bowl. I choose level 2 spicy (out of 3 levels) and was really happy with how spicy this was. This definitely is spicy on an asian scale. Lots of bean spouts in the soup. Great broth again but dissapointing chashu. 

Atmosphere: 4/5, Service 5/5

Kenzo is a quiet restaurant, the Sunday evening I went it only had 3 other groups in the place while its size could seat probably 10 times as much. Its a nice quiet spot to eat and the service is very friendly. Really has that mom and pop restaurant feel.

Recommended? Yes (a great spot to try out different ramens)

Revisit? Yes

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The Fish Shack

THE FISH SHACK

1026 Granville Street,  Vancouver, BC

Located in an extremely busy section of Granville Street, the Fish Shack is another packed restaurant geared toward more of a young, hipster crowd. Proof? Drinks were served in mason jars and the staff uniform were black graphic ts. I actually really liked the old school vibe of the place and its refreshing to interact with staff that have personality. Overall, I wouldn't say that the food is incredible, its good, but not rave worthy, not rant worthy so this is going to be a pretty bland review. 

 dining chatter volume: high 

 food: 4/5  

 specialty: oysters

To start, the the Sicilian Steamer with mussels (photo above) had a sauce that just wasn't powerful enough. It was very thin, quite oily and had only a hint of flavor. When I dipped the baguette slices it came with, all I really got was soggy bread.

Next, the Seafood poutine that I had heard about and actually our reason for visiting, was underwhelming. It was mostly your regular poutine with cheese and gravy with some chunks of salmon and mussels. The seafood didn't add a whole lot of flavor to the poutine, so it was really just very standard. It was good (when does fries and cheese ever taste bad?) but not worth paying extra for. 

The Oysters are their claim to fame and are served with a platter of 4 sauces to choose from. Personally, mt friends and I found only one of them to be good (the transparent red one). They did taste fresh and were pretty good so I can see myself returning for these. Otherwise there was nothing we ordered that I'd pay to have again. The Fish Shack is a neat spot for its atmosphere but the food just isn't anything special.


 

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thrifting

After seeing annie's (whatanniewears.com) post about thrift store shopping and seeing that she got an incredible looking blazer from a thrift store I have been itching to go to one. I didn't get to do any vintage shopping while I was in New York! There just wasn't any time.  Today I discovered that thrift stores in Vancouver aren't too bad…in fact I really like vintage/thrift shopping now!
 

The last time I went to a thrift store was back in elementary school where the teachers took us there as a "field trip" to find costumes for our "Music Through the Ages" musical. These two necklaces were the only things I bought that day, I think my total was around $6? We were too busy being a ruckus for the teachers but a friend of mine did get some cool stuff. 

Today, less than $8 bought me a hoodie  that would have cost me over $85  last year at Aritzia. I really wanted this sweater last year and I got it today for about 90%off! Other than some pilling it seems to be in great condition. I haven’t found any stains yet.

  What I’ve Learned About Thrift Stores

1. It isn’t that hard to find things. Everything is organized into categories, then into size and it looked like the shirts were organized by color too. Basically there are a few sections that would suit you so you don’t have to search the whole store but its a good idea to poke around the other areas too. Clothes could have shrunk or stretched or a designer might have had a different idea of what “size small” or “size large” was.  Basically its just the same as Winners or Marshalls, only the things have been worn and they’re cheaper. (btw – The changing rooms similar too!)
2. Not everything is old. Today I bought an Aritzia Parklife 2010 Vancouver Olympics Whistler Hoodie (shown in photos). They do have a lot of stuff that looks like its been there since the 60s but there’s recently made items too. You might even find something with the tags still on it, you never know!
3. Yes they do have expensive brands. Just about everything is branded, a lot of them in the Old Navy - American Eagle price range but there’s also True Religion, Topshop and Diesel, you just have to hunt for it. 
4. Yes most of the clothes have a worn feel to it. The fibres in the fabric aren't as in tact as new ones are and some of the clothes have stains/pilling. Most of the clothes I saw though were in good condition.

On the right is Annie in the blazer that she bought from a thrift store. Amazing right?


Best thing is… Designer jean hunting!

Your not supposed to take pictures in the store, I snapped these before the manager came to give me a chat (embarrassing but worth it to get some photos) but I’m practically advertizing them so I think they’ll forgive me. Today I spotted William Rast and Diesel, the Diesel jeans looked pretty new and they had a gorgeous wash but they weren’t my size. The William Rast jeans were a bit faded and also too big for me. If you want them they might still be there... This was the Victoria drive Value Village location in Vancouver.

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summer night market

i was really disappointed with this year's night market ):  previously known as the Richmond night market the name was changed this year because the organizers were changed. last year people hosting the night market got in trouble for allowing people to sell counterfeit items so they got dropped and now a new company hosts it. basically people rent a booth and sell stuff. this year it was mainly... cellphone accessories and socks =_=.  no i'm not kidding. there used to be lots of clothing and stationary booths! i wanted to buy some cute pencils/pens/erasers/notebooks but there was only one booth that had them and it was crowded by little kiddies (lol i want the same stuff as a 5 year old ;D).  








the food sections were definitely the most crowded. i heard that most people just go for the food but i don't think its that good... its mainly fried asian foods that you could also get at the food courts in richmond malls (the price is similar too)




deep fried junk food =_=. as if it wasn't unhealthy enough... pretty popular too ):


my food! can't remember what it was called "lui ma" or something like it, but its basically meatballs on sticks ($4.50). it was good! haha i'm failing at this being vegan thing.


on the side there was a long tent where there was an organization that showed different snakes and reptiles with glass boxes beside them for donations. also was a main attraction.


awesome, yo.


both there and back i spent most of the time thinking about arthurXeames (inception), lol it put a smile on my face ;)




tom hardy is so hot! can't wait to see more of his movies (:


joseph gordon levitt is still my no. 1 for sure!



*droll* I LOVE YOU <3

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celebration of lights

hello my lovelies (:   last saturday was the last fireworks show of the summer (and possibly for quite a few summers to follow), every year since 1990 the Celebration of Lights (originally called the Symphony of Fire) is presented by HSBC and a whole bunch of other sponsors in front of first beach English bay, this summer there were four events (USA, Mexico, Spain and China) but there used to be many more running through the entire summer (there was issues with funding, this year it cost $1.4 million for just 4 shows! someone donated the money). Its an international fireworks competition, I don't know if it was because of the funding problems but I found it pretty standard, really great and all but "best in the world" is stretching it but the shows are said to be crafted by the top firework designers in the world and it's definitely one of the most exciting events of the summer. 





these were my favourite!

but backing up, we got to the beach around 6pm, the fireworks start at 10 but the beach fills up so a lot of people come early to reserve spots. it really wasn't that crowded though, i heard before that some come at noon but when we got there i found out that there was plenty of space and really you didn't need to worry unless you came after 9:30. =_= oh and there were people watching in boats! mad jealous of them.


ok you can't tell from this photo but there were still lots of empty spots!


i never before realized how beautiful english bay is, it looks like a scene taken out from a traditional asian drama. the mountains came as a surprise for me! its incredible!






gorgeous sunset






glittering lake, nature is magical and nothing is more enchanting. people are always trying to create attractive places but nature is always more beautiful and absolutely timeless. i don't get the fun of dancing at loud clubs, i'd prefer a walk at the beach but i guess i'm just not that sort of person.

the beach a earlier around 7

sun shining, clouds scattered across the sky, little did we know an hour later we heard a crack of thunder and then
.
.
.
it rains for the first time all summer. wait no, it pours. trust vancouver to come up with this sort of thing =_=

the guys in front of us were soaked! we hid underneath our waterproof mat and stayed dry (yay for extra bankets!)

i quickly snapped pictures of people hurrying to get undercover. priceless!

lol at the little girl hiding underneath the chair, now that is smart thinking ;)

luckily this was the rain that gets it all out and stops as suddenly as it starts versus the rain that tinkles for hours and just wont get it over with. about 20 minutes later it stopped and the fact that it rained just added to the excitement of the night. we got popcorn, LOL.

i'm kind of bummed there wasn't any lightning :/ lightning + firework show = super awesome

it continued to rain over another area though, i'm don't know where this was but we could see the rain falling! it was like "oh so that's what it looks like when it rains from the surrounding view."

see the fog over the island? that's the rain coming down on it!

ok onto the actual fireworks. there was a speach before the show took off, spain won the competition, blah blah blah about the sponsors, blah blah blah pickup your garbage, get home safely, and then everyone sung our national anthem (at different speeds, while half of the beach was three quarters way through the other end was clapping and cheering). and then the countdown started... and then the weird chinese music (that, ahem, i should appreciate) came in... and then finally











props to the guy in the ocean, water must have been ice cold! the clouds added nicely to the effect.













and the finale...






explodes in the sky, spectacular!

i brought my tripod with me and taped the full show (the photos are taken from the video), tried uploading it several times but i haven't been able to get it up due to technical complications (so frustrating!), new found respect for youtube video makers, i never knew how difficult it was to get a video up! 1. it takes forever to upload. 2. if your internet has a twitch the whole thing stops and you have restart uploading from the beginning. grumble grumble.


i really hope that they're able to bring it back next year, this was my first time attending and it much more than i expected. i know a lot of money goes into it but in my eyes its worth it. made me wish i had a boyfriend, it's such a romantic scene, on the beach, watching fireworks, listening to strange foreign music, couldn't help thinking if a boyfriend would propose to his girlfriend here, assuming she could hear him. plus once it goes dark, you stop noticing the other people.

i really loved it (:

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