yellowstone and foodie tour vancouver

It's been quite the week for me and I do have to start off with a venting. If you want to read the foodie part, scroll down a bit.

Me and ds were on a 5-day bus Supervacation (Chinese-language) tour to Yellowstone National Park (Montana/Wyoming). Let's just say it wasn't our choice and I'll probably never go on a bus tour/trip again. IMHO, the tour is a complete joke - it doesn't do justice to the historic and monumental site when you are only allowed 30 minutes to appreciate its beauty.

How do I dislike it? Let me count the ways. Aside from feeling like we were sheep being herded day-in and day-out by mister-keep-up-the-good-mood tour guide, the smells on the bus and attitude of fellow tour patrons left nothing to be desired. Besides, traveling with a kid and trapped on bus is never a good thing. Worse yet is the terrible food we had. Fortunately, the thought of coming back to good food in Vancouver was a saving grace.

Life didn't slow down the minute I came home. I went to an email marketing seminar which was pretty much a 101 class on common sense tips & tricks. It was really aimed at business owners who use the Constant Contact email service and needed some refresher or tips on how best to maximize the tool. For someone who is certified internet marketing business strategist and Facebooks plus Twitters daily, it was like a preschool course. The best part of the day was my first trip to Lin's Chinese Cuisine on West Broadway @ Granville. Delicious Beijing meat pasty and soup noodles in a comfortable homey setting. Needless to say, I'll be back to try more!

From there, the good food theme continues. Today was the Granville Foodie Tour by Michelle Ng's Vancouver Foodie Tour. It's a 2-hour tour of 4 restaurants where you get to know the restaurant a little bit and taste some of their food. Today's restaurants were Taf's Cafe, ShuRaku, AI's Vancouver Culinaria and Creme de la Crumb. We learned a few things about the Granville "entertainment" district and discovered some really fantastic restaurants. We ate some fabulous food! The highlights for me were:

• traditional Japanese marinated tuna - soy, mirin marinade - lightly seared (ShuRaku)
• grilled veggie quiche (Taf's Cafe)
• egg ebi mayo - the presentation was incredible! (ShuRaku)
• seared scallop with confit golden beet drizzled with crab bisque and topped with lobster foam and caviar (Culinaria)
• nougat glacee - I'm normally a chocolate dessert lover but this blew me away. (Culinaria)
• apple cheddar scones - so moist and flavourful! (Creme de la Crumb)

For $10, it was worth that and more. We were stuffed by the end of the tour and I must say that Michelle is a superb and gracious host. I will definitely join her on another tour in a different neighborhood.
Living in Vancouver where we get to enjoy spectacular food is something to be proud of. I hope my kids know how fortunate they are.

summer camp love

Okay, maybe the title is a bit misleading. What I mean is that I've discovered a new love this summer and it's the summer camp where I've registered DS. It's not only an awesome deal but it's great all around. He's having so much fun and they're still teaching him all sorts of things.

I've looked into many other different camps - bike, gymnastics, theatre, etc. but Spare Time Society's Summer Camps at their Challenge Clubhouse for 5-12 is all-round the best. Why? Because it offers so many different activities.

So, how do I love thee? Let me count the ways...
a) the camp leaders are caring and knowledgeable. They even have a chef who makes all their healthy meals (am snack, lunch and pm snack) on location in their commercial kitchen
b) they have a craft project that the kids complete during the week (Fridays are a treat when he brings home his creation/art) and they're pretty good
c) field trips at least 3 days of the week where they go to different parts of the city or venues
d)they have everything from library to gym, to puppet theatre, games, you name it.
e) it's VERY affordable
f) best of all, it's located right inside the school that ds is attending (can we say "familiar"?)

I really can't say enough about Spare Time Society and what they do. You just have to check them out. Hope to see you there next year!