Blacksmith Bakery

Fort Langley is a place where old trends and modern trends harmonize together creating a truley unique vibe. Recently, there has been a lot of trendy cafes and restaurantes opening and today I would like to introduce one of the newest addition to the town.

Blacksmith Bakery is located just across Langley Antiques Mall, the largest antique store in Fort Langley. 

Waiting in the long line up wasn't too bad; while waiting, I could enjoy the smell and beautiful looks of the freshly baked goodies. 

Dior Rosy Glow Blush

Even when I decide to go out without makeup on, I would never leave without applying blush on my cheeks. There are times that I would omit foundation or bb/cc cream but not blush - it's a must step for me as an attempt to at least add a healthy glow. However, when I have a bare face, it is easy to over apply blush and look tipsy instead of looking glowy.  For this reason, I think it is important to choose a blush that would give you a natural glow and not a hot flush! 

Dior's Rosy Glow in 001 Petal(C$45) has a nickname of 'Healthy Glow Awakening Blush' and is perfect for daily makeup. 

The description on Sephora says that it effortlessly recreates a natural, flushed look with finely-milled light-pink blush. 

Crackle Crème | Gourmet Crème Brûlée

We only chose to go to Crackle Creme because it was one of the few places that was open at 7 PM on Sunday evening. It actually started out quite alright when I realized one kind driver had already fed my parking meter for hour & 38 minutes! Yay! 

Creme Brulee is my favorite kind of dessert (along with many others) and it was quite a delight to learn there is a man with such a passion to create many flavoured creme brulees as a specialty shop. And wow! it really was. 

Photowalk: Fort Langley

Fort Langley is one of my favorite places to go; it has fun shops, trendy cafes, huge antique stores, and a beautiful trail. 

Today was an unusually warm (and not rainy!) winter day in Vancouver so Ryan and I decided to go photowalking in Fort Langley. Most of the pictures are taken by Ryan. Hope you enjoy his work! 

xoxo

Ryan & Vivian

Burger & Lobster, Knightsbridge, London

This American-style franchise restaurant is loved by both locals and tourists. My friend insisted she prefers the Knightsbridge location to that of Soho's. I was told some locations are given waiting time of hour & half depends on how busy they are! I know B&L has a location in NYC too now so suppose we don't need to travel this far.

I've read reviews previously they've had terrible service or staff gave people that arrived later a table first etc but it was quite alright for us. It really is a serious bargain to get a combo meal for 20 Pounds in the heart of London! The photos speak louder than my mere words... so enjoy!

Coffee Monster Coquitlam Review

Lougheed area was always missing something major - a local coffee shop. You can only find Starbucks inside the Lougheed Mall which is always crowded with mall visitors... and that was it! Coffee Monster only opened late December of 2014 (or so I think...) and it's become super popular right away meeting the needs of Coquitlam residents and other visitors. In fact, when I went to check out the recent craze, there were no seats for us. It was again quite busy upon my first actual visit today.

Although I totally missed out on taking photos of their interior - I can tell the new owner has put in lots of time/effort in creating the atmosphere with industrial look. They also specialize in cold brewed coffees (similar to that of Revolver...I presume) but I'll save trying it until a hot summer day. 

  

Coffee Monster does have quite a selection for coffee/tea/dessert menus. Ryan and I both had Affogato and Vivian & her Ryan had two different teas: Herbal fruit & Earl Grey. I thought it was quite sensible they had an hourglass to for tea's brewing time. I am not an avid coffee drinker and do drink very rarely but I could tell their espresso was very smooth. I noticed their Italian sodas are flavoured with real fruits instead of artificial syrups and is creatively rimmed with pop rock candy. I shall try it next time!

Hot Chocolate Festival: Bel Cafe

Along with the Dine Out Festival, Hot Chocolate Festival has returned to Vancouver. They will be in town from Jan 17th to Feb 14th - perfect timing for some chocolaty sweetness! These events are always a delight to explore since I get a chance to experience fun and creative dishes made by Vancouver's very loved cafes and restaurants.

Below is the list of the participants: 

• 49th Parallel Coffee Roasters + Lucky’s Doughnuts
• Bel Cafe
• Bella Gelateria + To Die For Banana Bread
• Butter Baked Goods 
• Chez Christophe 
• Chocolate Arts
• Chocolaterie de la Nouvelle France
• Diva at the Met 
• East Van Roasters
• French Made Baking
• Gem Chocolates
• Glenburn Soda Fountain & Cafe 
• Koko Monk Chocolates
• Last Crumb Cafe
• Mink Chocolates & Cafe
• Schokolade Artisan Chocolate
• Soirette Macarons & Tea
• Terra Breads 
• Thierry Chocolaterie Patisserie Cafe
• Thomas Haas 
• Uva Wine Bar + Bittered Sling

This year, I have chosen Bel Cafe since it is the place that pops up in my head first when I have sweet tooth. I also wondered how the awards winning chef  David Hawksworth's hot chocolate would look and taste like.

Langley Foodie: Fat Cow & Oyster Bar

As a newbie to Langley, I still haven't discovered a lot of restaurants that I would like to visit regularly. It's especially hard to find a place to go for when I crave fresh oysters and seafood. Langley has all the franchise restaurants such as Cactus Club, Olive Garden, Moxies, etc but it's difficult to spot a local hot spot and most of the places in Fort Langley closes early:( So when I first found out about The Fat Cow and Oyster Bar, I couldn't wait to try out! 

Their main dishes seem to be seafood related but they also have wide selection if steaks and burgers. They also serve fresh oysters which I love but unfortunately I am not allowed to have them due to pregnancy. Oh well, just another 7 more months to go and I can have as many as I want! 

Honey Butter Chip

There has been a craze going on over a bag of potatoe chips lately in South Korea. It's been on the mainstream news and all the Korean idols and celebs been buzzing about it. Haitai's "Honey Butter Chip" is what it is called and it claims to be flavoured with French gourmet butter and real honey.

So-You

SNSD 

Since its debut, as soon as it hits the shelves, it gets sold out in an instant. Some people who were lucky enough to stock up on them even sell them for $30-$50 on ebay - such a clever way to grow their money eh? I honestly cannot understand people's reaction over a bag of chips. I mean, how good can it be? 

I was only allowed to wonder about this so called "golden potatoe chip" because I live in Canada, however, my mother who has maintained good relationships with the supermarket clerk sent me a bag of Honey Butter Chip as a surprise gift in my parcel.

Ordinary Romance: Breakfast in bed

Can you guess what this is? 

This is a scrambled egg my husband Ryan made for me suffering from morning sickness.

The colour of it is so wrong because he burnt the butter but my 11 weeks old fetus and I truly enjoyed his dish. 

As you can see there is a reason why Ryan doesn't cook. For his entire life I believe he has only cooked four times: two of them working at a burger franchise flipping patties during his university years, and the other two, for me(but failed lol). 

This scrambled egg which he brought to me to the bed looked dreadful but I have to say it was the best thing I have ever had. It was a dish made with love and I could feel it.

xoxo 

Vivian

p.s. Did I mention he brought a teaspoon instead of a fork to eat it? teehee :p

My cute cute Ryan..

Vancity Foodie: Coast Review (...where we are not going back?)

As a former Torontonian, I am a Dine Outs craze (= summerlicious or winterlicious for Torontonians by the way), where I get to pamper myself with pretentious small portion food at Fixed Price menus offered by big brand named high end restaurants. My girlfriends and I got together (including Vivian & Alexa) for this opportunity. We set a date for an evening all three of us were available and made a reservation with Coast.

It was last Thursday, January 15th that we all got together. Walked into the restaurant wet and cold, and asked our lovely waiter Alex for a dine-outs menu. Alex looked positively flustered why he has forgotten to bring dine-outs menu and revealed the fact that it does not start until tomorrow! ....which we all knew it starts on 16th! So there we were. :-)

We had 3 main plates with deep-fried oysters on the side and couple desserts to satisfy all of our tastebuds. 

Vivian had White Miso Glazed Sablefish ($38.95) found under signature dish & was beautifully cooked! You can never go wrong with the soft texture of sablefish - however as much as I love the dish, I found it rather salty. It is definitely flavourful and we had no problem finishing the dish as it was the best one of the three.

...OMG....

What have I done to my hair.........

Sushi Mori - Langley

In downtown or vicinity where there are abundant consumers, it is somewhat manageable for so-so restaurants or other small businesses to survive due to their demand. On the contrary, it probably is somewhat more challenging for other locations of Vancouver including Langley. I have been observing with interest lately and there are too many Japanese Restaurants in this small city on the outskirts of GVA. 

I thought I'd introduce one that has been accepted to my liking: Sushi Mori. 

For the record, I am no individual with impeccable palate or anything in that regard, however I choose my sushi selectively. Sushi Mori's ambiance is quite different to the usual bright fluorescent light, no decorated interior - maybe just a few oriental objects on the wall etc, as you are walking into a hall filled with Sakura (Japanese Cherry Blossom Tree). I do wonder if they dust the artificial trees here and then though. 

Vancity Foodie: Marutama Ramen

A few years back, I never knew that downtown Vancouver would be the place to go for Japanese ra-men craving. 

Now, it seems like Robson street has become the hub of ra-men ya's.

Marutama Ramen is just around the corner of Bidwell and Robson St. Because of its slightly hidden location it isn't as busy as the ones on Robson/Denman. I got to know this place on a day when I was very hungry and grumpy; Santouka(1690 Robson St.) had especially long lineup that particular day and I wasn't in the mood for 30 minute wait. 😡

As I started to head back to our car, there it was just off Robson Street, Marutama Ra-men, oh, and no lineup!

At first I was hesitant to step in thinking there might be a reason why there aren't as busy as Santouka but again, I was very hungry. Ever since then, I became a regular customer of Marutama's. 

All of their ra-men are chicken broth based which is very rich in taste. Most of the places I know serve tonkotsu(pork bone broth) based ramen so Marutama's is quite different.

M.U.F.E. Star Powder 947

"The Star Powder is a silky powder that catches the light and gives the skin an intense sparkle and unparalleled shine. Its extremely fine, yet dense texture makes it easy to apply. Only a small amount is needed for visible results. The Star Powders can be used alone or blended together, applied over eyeshadow or mixed with any texture to highlight areas of the face."

Makeup Forever's Star Powder Iridescent Pale Peach 947($24) has been a steady seller in S. Korea being called as 'tear effect eye glitter.' 

A famous S. Korean actress, Kim Hye-Soo contributed to its fame by showing off her beautiful makeup years ago revealing its MUFE's star powder that helped create the look. Since then the product always comes up when you search for shimmery eye shadow on Korean search engines.