Vancouver, Day 5: Fort Langley, Bubble Tea, and More

Alex and Maria had the day off.  Alex went paintballing (I actually chickened out at the last minute).  I ended up going with Maria on a day trip to Fort Langley.

Fort Langley is in farm country, along the Fraser River.  It's quite nice, but it's easy to get turned around while driving, which did happen a few times on our way there.  Eventually, we made it.

We stopped for brunch at Country Fair Bistro Cafe & Patio.  I had Eggs Benedict.  The whites of the eggs weren't cooked enough in places, which was kind of a bummer.

After going through at least three antique shops, there was a cranberry store.  Apparently, there's a cranberry festival every year in Fort Langley, and being a small town, it's a huge thing in the area.  One activity is 'bobbing for cranberries', which I would imagine is like bobbing for apples without the frustration you get when you never, ever get any apples (because they're too big to bite into while blindfolded).  Sounds fun.

After picking up Alex (and getting lost again on the way there), we all went for bubble tea.  I had never had bubble tea, so I didn't know what to expect.  I learned that it's like a smoothie on top, and a small amount of hot tea on the bottom.  You can get black tapioca 'pearls' in the tea part if you wish, and you can add milk.  You can make the smoothie as a slush or as a juice, and you can get any combination of smoothie flavors as you want.  I got a slush jackfruit, peach, and pineapple with pearls and no milk.  It was surprisingly good.

 When we got back, I made dinner.  For an appetizer, I made guacamole on toast.  There were mushroom sandwiches for dinner, and for dessert, I made buttered and spiced peaches.  We called it a day soon after that.

Vancouver, Day 4: Montreal Smoked Meat, North Shore, and More

For coffee on my fourth day in Vancouver, we went to JJ Bean, a local chain coffee shop operating mostly in Vancouver.  The coffee was superb, and so was the marzipan-stuffed croissant crusted with sliced almonds.

We then decided to take a drive up to the lookout at Cypress Provincial Park.  It was a great view, I could see all of Vancouver.  Afterwards we went back and stopped in North Vancouver for a bite to eat.

We went to a place specializing in Montreal smoked meat.  It was very good; it tasted like smoked roast beef, and the texture was that of thinly-sliced ham.  I had it with an egg on a rosemary bagel crusted with rock salt.

We drove to the North Shore, an upper-class part of Vancouver.  For all of you who are familiar with the Bay Area, think Marin County, except slightly less pretentious.  There was an indoor public market, so we went in.

I actually liked it better than the one at Granville Island.  It was bigger, and seemed to be frequented more by locals than your average tourist.  I got a cup of ginger ale.  Forget the canned Canada Dry stuff, this was the best.

Back at home, Alex worked a bit in the kitchen while we listened to some music.  Afterwards, we picked Maria up (I forget from where) and went to Alex and Maria's friends' house for dinner.  We played some tabletop games there as well.

Afterwards, it was time to go home and go to bed.  It was a good day.  Also, I only spent $10 on food!  That meant I had $18 to spend the next day if I felt the need to.

Stay tuned for the next post!

Vancouver, Day 3: Dosas, Salvadorean Food, and More

Today was a day of planning and errands.  Not ideal, but necessary for traveling slowly.  Also, I got to explore the area around where I'm staying a bit more.

I started my day off with a cup of coffee at Float On ($2.50).  Seriously, that stuff is addicting.  I then planned out some things I wanted to do; Vancouver Island and the Fraser Valley were both possibilities.  I also wanted to get a haircut, so I found a place on Kingsway that I might go to soon.

After Float On, I got a tomato and ham Eggs Benedict from Co-Zi Cafe, which was very good.  The Hollandaise sauce was different than what I'm used to having at Gold Street Cafe in Redding.  There was less egg yolk, just a hint of butter, and a lot more lemon juice in this one.  The change in proportions made a huge difference; the resulting sauce was creamier, lighter, and had more of a lemony flavor to it.

Near midday, I went back to Nooru Mahal to get a palak lamb dosa ($12).  It's like a burrito, except filled with curry of some sort (in this case, lamb with spinach curry), and wrapped in something like a crepe.  It was truly delicious.

Once Alex and Maria were both home, I made tuna melts.  To make them, I mixed tuna, cilantro, and lime juice, put some on bread, and topped them with cheddar cheese.  I then toasted them in the toaster oven until the cheese was bubbly.  There was some basil growing on the patio, so I garnished the melts with that.  Not bad for a kitchen with just a toaster oven!

For dinner, we went to a Salvadorean restaurant.  Two friends of Alex and Maria also joined us.  I had the Desayuno Salvadoreno (Salvadorean breakfast).  It was a cube of cotija cheese, refried beans, a tomato-egg scramble, a wedge of avocado, and something else I can't remember.  It was all very good.  I also had a pupusa (well, one half-pupusa from two different people), which was very good as well.  I also had two glasses of cantaloupe juice.  Needless to say, I was stuffed at the end.  Mine was about $14.

It was past 11 when we got home.  I was very groggy, but I know we were figuring out a possible day trip for the next day, and something about Alex and Maria possibly going with me to Seattle for my first weekend there.  We'll see what happens.  Until then, later!

Vancouver, Day 2: Getting Lost in Yaletown, Butter Chicken, and More

After waking up, Alex and I had breakfast at Float On.  I had coffee and a frittata, which cost about $7.  The frittata was excellent, containing egg, rosemary, green onion, and goat cheese.

After he left for work, I bought a book of public transit tickets.  I boarded bus 8, and headed for Hastings and Abbott Streets.  From there, I went to Lost & Found Cafe and bought a freshly-baked bun filled with egg, green onions, cheese, and ham for $3.

From there, I walked west.  I didn't know where I was going, but that was the point.  There's so much more you notice when you're lost in an unfamiliar place.  You aren't focused on what you're expecting, so you can take more in.

I eventually got through Yaletown, and arrived at the Hornby Street Pier.  There was a ferry, so I took it to Granville Island.  It was a bit of a tourist trap, but there were two places I liked that made all of it worth the trip.

The first was Granville Island Public Market, a huge building comprised almost entirely of food vendors.  If there is a heaven, I hope it's something like this place.  I overspent my budget here, but I didn't count it toward my $14 budget (who would when visiting here?).  I got two plums grown in the Okanagan Valley in eastern British Columbia, four pieces of crab meat caught in Victoria (on nearby Vancouver Island), some ginger ale, and a polenta pie with mozzarella, tomato sauce, and fresh basil, topped with an olive tapenade.

The second was a cafe mostly specializing in gelato.  I was going to get that, but then I saw a Nanaimo bar in the display case, and got one of those instead.  I had never tried one before.  It was a delicious layered chocolate-coconut brownie, a layer of custard on top of that, all topped with a chocolate shell.

I went back to Alex and Maria's.  When they both were back, we went to Nooru Mahal, a restaurant serving Indian, Sri Lankan, and Singaporean food.  I had butter chicken and mango ice cream, which set me back another $14.  I'll definitely have to spend less tomorrow, or at least start going within my budget consistently.

I'll have pictures from the first full day in Vancouver soon.  Until then, goodbye!

First Day in Vancouver: Italian Food, Mango Lassis and More

When I got up after my first night traveling, it all hit me.  I wasn't home anymore, and I wouldn't be for a while.  Traveling was my life now, at least for the time being.  Was I sad?  Depressed?  Not in the slightest.  I was finally doing what I love best.

I got up right as one of my friends I was staying with, Alex, was finishing breakfast.  We said goodbye, and he left for work.  I had some cereal, then got ready for the day.  Maria, the other friend I was staying with, got up a bit later than Alex.  She had the day off, so she took me on a tour of the city.

We had breakfast in Float On Bakeshop and Cafe.  I had a vegan maple-glazed donut with Maldon sea salt.  Think what you will about the vegan movement, but this was delicious.  The coffee I had was great as well.

Afterward, we went on the bus and the subway to downtown, then walked to Stanley Park.  We were going to got o the aquarium, but it was fairly pricey ($29!), so we decided against it.  We walked back to Ciao Bella, an Italian restaurant that had a lunch special for 50% off any pasta dish.  I ordered the Ciao Bella linguine, which had mushrooms, onions, and garlic in a demiglaze reduction white wine sauce.  It was one of the best meals at an Italian restaurant I've ever had.  Since I got it with meatballs, it was $14.

After going to the store, I went to a soccer game with Alex and some of his co-workers.  I played goalie, which I got progressively better at (especially after Alex showed me how to kick and stop a ball properly.  I am not usually a big sports person, as you can probably tell.  It was fun, though.

There was also a game of bubbleball going on.  How it works is basically like soccer, except you get inside a spherical, plastic bubble so you can knock players over and roll around to avoid people.  I was able to get in one.  I looked silly in it, so naturally, Maria took pictures of me in it.

After we were done, we went home and ate dinner.  We had apples with peanut butter.  (They were renovating their kitchen and only had a toaster oven, so the options were limited.  I made mango lassis for them because they had bought breakfast and dessert after lunch for me.  We played a tabletop game while their cat, Cosmo, tried to sabotage us by walking all over the space we were playing.  After that, the day was done.

On food that day, I spent $14, which was exactly my limit.  Hooray for good budgeting!

We'll see what the next day has in store for me.  Until then, later!

Taking Off

After waking up at 3 AM, I boarded the shuttle from Redding to the Sacramento Airport.  That went great, although everybody seemed to be too groggy to talk much (understandably).  Then, I was dropped off at the airport.

I hadn't been to an airport since a year ago, when I went to Ireland.  The sheer vastness of these places astound me.  In Redding, there's a flight to and from San Francisco, and a nice Chinese restaurant upstairs, but that's it.

After figuring out the flight was in Terminal B and not Terminal A, I went through security.  At first, they turned me away because I forgot to get a boarding pass.  I decided to get one at a nearby kiosk.

After security (and nearly losing my wallet), I figured out the gate the flight was leaving from.  After that, I got to the good part: food!

For breakfast, I got a plain crepe served with powdered sugar, maple syrup, and melted butter on top.  That cost $6.  That may sound like a lot, but it's fairly cheap for this airport.  It was also very good.

Yet for every good thing in a day, there seems to be a bad thing that pops up when it's over, like an antagonistic version of Whack-a-Mole.  So what was bad?  Lunch.

Famous Famiglia's credits itself as being "New York's Favorite Pizza".  I call bull.  The crust literally tastes like cardboard, it's so soaked in grease that a sponge might be used to sop it up, and the cheese tasted like it had been in the fridge for at least two weeks.  Luckily, I was too cheap to put any other toppings on it besides cheese, and I had only one slice.  However, it was expensive, especially for what it was.

To make up for that, I splurged a bit and got a better (but more expensive) dinner in the Seattle airport.  I had a pulled pork, green onion, and cheddar quesadilla with sour cream and guacamole on the side, topped with barbeque sauce.  That set me back $12, but it was worth it.

So, to sum up airport food at $14 a day, I'll just say it's really hard to do unless you go for fast food.  I certainly couldn't do it, but maybe that's just because I just started budgeting this way.

When my friends picked me up in Vancouver, we went for ice cream (I got one scoop of lavender and one scoop of lemon).  After that, they drove me over to their house, and I got some rest.

Leaving tomorrow

Tomorrow, I start on my trip.  I'll be getting up early, and that means coffee.  Lots of coffee.  From there, I take the shuttle to Sacramento Airport, and fly to Vancouver (with a short layover in Seattle).  I will be staying with friends there for 10 days before spending the rest of the month in the Seattle area.

For my first post on the road, I will write a piece on how to get (relatively) good airport food on the cheap, or at the very least, document my feeble attempt at doing so.  Should be fun!