[2015 Pharmacy] Time to write about some school?

I just realized, I haven't blogged about school, yet.

I think that'll not be the norm, though, since my hell-ish school year (3rd year pharmacy) is about to be over!!! YAY!!!

My oral exam is on Monday, basically it's an exam where everything you learned in the past 3 years is fair game and they are going to test you on the way you present the your answer (orally) and the way you solve questions (written). 

Because I'm in the first class (Monday class) we have the quiz right after on Tuesday, too, focusing on 3 cases that we did not get assessed on. 

All my life, my central focus has been school. Watching TV had been my passion since I could remember. Singing and Music had always been the talents/habbits I tried to keep. 

It's sad, but normal for girls my age to know almost nothing outside of school - especially in Asian populations. Good thing in my generation, we have all the informatic technologies accessible to us - so I lead a much sociable lives than I would've if phones were the only means of communication. 

As to what I study, I study pharmacy. It's NOT mainly about researching and developing new drugs (pharmacology, biochemistry). It is more focused on the clinical side - we become pharmacists, the " licensed drug dealer" lol. We study very hard to safe guard you from bum head physicians who does not know what the different drugs would do to you. In many cases, our existence can help you manage side effects, save you money, save you time from extra dr.'s office visits, and even deaths. So, I gotta say it's a pretty important role that we play in the health care system - and your daily lives. I mean what other health care profession can be accessed this easily :P -  just walk in, maybe line up for a bit and you get someone who studied 5+ years in the university about every common drugs to help you - and it's free for you (you only pay for the drugs, we get set hourly wages).

No matter how much I complained about the shifts in our profession to a more corporate/ retail nature, I still highly value what I will be doing and glad that I made the choice of coming to study all common medical conditions and their drugs down to the drug structures and how they react with our bodies.

Now, I think that's enough school talk... I need to focus in class instead of typing irrelevant posts LOL. ah,
ttyl

Bye bye~ ★

[2015 BD] Steamworks Dinner Celebration

Yeah, yeah, I got busy, so I didn't write about this till now lol.

I haven't had such a big, nice birthday celebration since ... I don't even know how long, since my parents left Canada, I think. And I haven't been celebrating it with friends much anyways :P

I love making friends and I am quite a welcoming person, so when I was inviting people I see on a daily basis as well as people I hang out with a lot, I got like 2X people in the chat O_O" Apparently the social butterfly method that didn't quite work out in highschool for me, somehow worked out this year. - Well, I've started making efforts to hang out, so I guess that is quite nice :)

The first big challenge was finding a place that will actually be able to host around 15 people. During my chat with Lillian and Karen at Tap and Barrel near Science world, I decided Steamworks is the best choice - it's transit accessible, big, and food was said to be quite good. (plus, they brew beer :P)

Quite some people bailed on the day of, but I don't blame them, they have their reasons... it saddened me a little, though, but like my friends said, be happy for I am still surrounded by a bunch of friends on this day :D. AND I know although they have other commitments or situations, they still love me and wishes me a happy BD :') Thanks, everyone <3




It is quite a popular restaurant that has a capacity of 700 people, but is always quite booked O_O- so reserve early if your group is more than 4! They are located in Gastown right outside of the Waterfront station which made it quite a tourist hot spot. Especially in the summer. (info from the waiter)

Taste ★★★★☆

Portion ★★★☆☆

Service ★★★★☆

Cost $$$

Recommended for nice dinners with large group of people. Not really if you value CP value (=money to quality and quantity ratio). 

The food was pretty tasty, none of the dish I've had my hands on (which was almost everyone's except the burger Yi got LOL - but they are known for them, so it should be quite good.
Pricing is one notch up from Cactus and about the same as Milestone. Check their menu from their website (http://steamworks.com/brew-pub).

The must try my friend said was the "Fish Bowl" (which on the bill it says "bird bowl") whatever, it's basically just like a pretty big cup of cocktail - I don't think there's enough in there though hahaha - but that's just me, it is about 2 cups of cocktails I think, you have choices of Sangria, Snapps w/ Rum and another one I can't remember. Ask the server for details hahaha

Bf got the lobster ravioli, I'm not a big fan of ravioli as pasta. He loves lobster ( I think lol) he was gonna get mussels, but we just had that not long ago at Milestone... The lobster shreds in this was kinda small O_O. The taste is pretty good, though, creamy but not too rich. Portion was a bit too small though, he was not filled.

Because there were too many choices, I went with a safe bet - Sirloin Steak (Yes, that would be me in the picture). The steak was very thick and cooked just right (for me, medium rare) red inside, slightly crunchy outside. I think it was really good. Might have been the best steak I've had all in all (about the same as Milestone steak). The mashed potato was cooked with cream, milk and garlic for sure. Tasted really good.

My bestie ordered this appetizer "Baked Spinach & Crab Dip", it was too creamy and cheesy to have alone, but served perfectly as a shared dish. :D I really enjoyed this dish

I did not try the hamburger or fries, but I could assume it was decent :P

Their salad looks really good (and healthy) think the beef salad comes with blue cheese, be sure to ask your server about what is actually in there- my friend didn't want blue cheese hahaha. The one in the picture here is the chicken one- Karen had to be specific that she wants her chicken hot (as in heated) hahaha :D

My birthday gift/perk from the restaurant was a dessert of my choice, being me, I'd choose ice cream over cakes any day :P although cakes might worth more O_O" This is their chocolate sundae with brownies.

Side story, Bf choked on the fake/marinated cherry from the fish bowl, so I had the cherry. It actually isn't as bad as it normally would be lol

Decent Yam fries with what we assumed to be plum sauce on top :D

Last but not least, thanks to Jenny for a wonderful BD gift :D - next year, we will start our No Gift Policy ;)

P.S. No Gift Policy - it is a deal I made (or most of us assumed) about NOT gifting each other on BD so we'll never have to worry about gift shopping hahaha. The only requirement is that we are good enough friends <3

[2015 BD] St. Patrick's Day is Green and it's the day I was born

*drum roll*
Ladies and Gentlemen, please check out, the 23 yrs old ME~


OK. I know, I look as good as I did yesterday ;) lol. Anyways, I decided to ditch school (aka skip) for my birthday. We have lecture capture, and at this point, it doesn't matter if I go to class or not- I either barely fails or fail. I hope I don't fail, though hahaha. Will just cram later. Have fun now!

The day started around 10am - I head to Denny's to get my favourite breakfast (the fact that it's free makes it so much better). IHOP free breakfast coming up on Friday ;). My bf was with me, so we were able to have a quiet, sunny morning to ourselves. :P

Taste ★★★☆☆

Portion ★★★★☆

Service ★★★☆☆

Cost $$

Recommended for a full decent western breakfast. 

This location is where I've spent my last birthday (when I was on a trip to get all the bday freebies). The food has always been pretty decent. The service is always friendly. The location is easy to get to with public transit. The menu items Denny's offer are all quite savoury, lots of choices, for everyone's liking.
My mom LOVES their nachos. I found it to have too much onions, which, btw, I don't like when not completely cooked ;P.

Steak Omlette, think it's called the Meat Lover's Omlette. It was really good. The pieces of beef steak inside was well cooked and the mushrooms well seasoned. My bf said their eggs are kinda dry, though

I chose to build my own grande slam, because I don't wanna get pancake... yet ;) Still needs to go to IHOP for free hahaha. I chose my favourite breakfast items: eggs, hash brown and sausages, then there's the buttermilk biscuit (below) which I wasn't sure about. Everything was pretty good. The eggs weren't as high quality, the taste of the yolk was like... no taste, really lol. The rest of the meal was great.

 Red Robins~

Taste ★★★★☆

Portion ★★★★★

Service ★★★★★

Cost $$

Recommended for Bottomless fries, refillable drinks, Tasty burger, fast and friendly service, and reasonable pricing!!! <3

Honestly, the one Red Robin I've been to 5 years ago in Surrey's Guildford mall did not leave a particularly good impression. On my Bday freebie trip, I did not bother with them, because I didn't want to go all the way downtown. O, my, was I totally wrong. It was possibly the BEST bday freebie EVER! Good job, Red Robin, your generosity and great service has earned you two very loyal customers - I promised my mother to take her here again next month. 

Now, let me explain why I said it was AWESOME! Our waiter, Aiden was super friendly and attentive. Tending to all our needs. The manager was very nice as well. The special sparkling drinks which comes at the same pricing were interchangeable when asking for a refill, we were able to fill a different type. My mom cannot eat strawberries, so when I realized my mistake of ordering the Freckled Lemonade which my mother should not be drinking, I asked if he could refill another drink instead (without telling him my mom can't have strawberries, too) - he went to the manager and then, agreed. No questions asked. That was just great customer service and I would definitely come back again for this.

AND Guess what? Unlimited Ice cream when ordered the float. Not only is the root beer refillable, same as the ice cream - whaaaaaa~~ f*ck! I'm not shitting you! It was no crappy ice cream either - actually very tasty and goes great with the fries. I seriously LOVE this place!

We were so FULL when we walked out, we packed some left over burgers, because we were getting lots of fries and yam fries (both are bottomless). 

My mom ordered the Whiskey River® BBQ Chicken burger, which she LOVES. It has a really strong alcohol flavour, if you like alcohol in your food and BBQ sauce, you will love it. The chicken was cooked quite well, too, you won't think it's dry or old. We paid the extra $1.5 to get YAM fries.

I got the Prime Chophouse Burger, as a beef lover, this is a pretty obvious choice. It came with fried onions, which even I, who hates them, appreciated them (well, beef always comes with onions, but these ones are just delicious). The onion ring, is quite famously delicious, too. My mom and bf said it was great. I gave mine to them because... I dislike onion hahaha. The burger was juicy, beef was cooked right- slightly crispy, but none of that burnt taste. Even when I took the left over for lunch the next day, it tasted good. THAT, is something.

Bf got beef dip, can't comment on it, he said it's good. I am never a big fan of beef dip, though lol I felt like it's just beef slices w/ gravy O_O"

Refilled fries comes in a pretty good sized basket

Our second drink refill: Very Berry Raspberry Limeade. I highly recommend it. Actually VERY TASTY <3 

Unlimited Ice cream -- isn't this just every girls' dream come true?!

root beer

After Red Robins, we walked down Robson, we were all so full, so we were just walking all the way to Denmen looking at the shops and restaurants on the way.

Then we stopped at Blenz, I had a good experience w/ their macha latte yesterday, so I ordered it again... well, as usual, Blenz's only safe bet is Chocolate. I understand the barista is a newbie still in training, but this one tasted like milk with matcha powder... :/ Ah, well, it wasn't bad. Just for this freebie service alone, I would choose them over other coffee places. (SB also gave me a free drink, but then Blenz let you do walk in order so you could potentially get multiple drinks on your bday- WIN).

Blenz's macha latte.

After letting my mom go home to do her own thing, my bf and I went to Gastown.
We reserved at the Irish pub, Irish Heather to get a feel of St. Patrick's day.
I have liked green my whole life (ever since I can remember), even before I knew about St.Patrick's day (which is about 10 yrs ago). Before it become one of the mainstream colors, I was the weirdo who likes green lol. All my friends were blue lovers back when I was little. I didn't meet ppl who also love green till I was in grade 8 O_O.
 Anyhow, this holiday gave me an excuse to wear all green today LOL which I would have anyways, for my bday.
I had my green jacket on, my green long sleeve T on, my green pants on, my green socks on, and my green shoes on. - I went full on GREEN.
Good thing my bf reserved a table for us, the line up was pretty bad. I guess having a bday on St. P isn't that great... all the bars and pubs will not let you do reservation and are all fully filled.
We were originally hoping to have their long table dinner, but then it is St. P, so they ain't doing that, I guess we'll come back in the future O_O":

Taste ★★★☆☆

Portion ★★★★☆

Service ★★★★☆

Cost $$$
Recommend if you like whiskey. Not really if for the food.

For mixed beer, I chose the black velvet, and it was great. I love cider, so it was a good choice for me lol. I still feel like Guiness is too bitter for me, though. I'm more of a light beer person ;P

I might come at happy hour (3-6 pm) for their $5 Irish coffee some day ;).

I think for St. P they had a special menu, all the items we saw were more expensive than the online menu... which is quite sad :/.

the entrance- the place is larger than it looks

The room we were in

Can't remember what it's called, isn't on the online menu. It's basically a piece of very well cooked beef served with cabbages and mashed potato. The sauce is cream with herbs and lemon (slightly sour). I think it tasted decent, but I found it not as well seasoned as I would like. Cooking wise was bang on. The texture of each component was great. Some soy sauce would help LOL. well- I guess I could've just added some pepper :P.

Whew... Finally, took some time to go over everything... what matters is I capture these memories eh ;)?

See ya tomorrow, maybe. Depends. If I got into buffing up my resume, working, studying, or composing, I might not have the time to blog ... hehe... :P

[2015 Food] Mom's Bday, The Famous Warehouse, Blenz, and DQ

3/16 is my mother's birthday- this is the birthday week for both of us, I am born on the 17th lol.

It's not that great being born on St.Patrick's, I just realized... more on that later on another post. 

In the morning, I had class (tutorial), so I asked my sister to help take my mom to Denny's to get her free breakfast. Denny's literally will treat you to a great breakfast - grand slam on their menu, you get to choose different ones if you wish. More on that in the 3/17 post.

They delayed my schedule , so we didn't get to the Warehouse as early as I had wanted to. I was mad at my sister. :/

Anyhow, I took my mom to Burrard to see the Sakura (cherry blossoms). The leafs already grew out, so it wasn't as perfect, but the weather was great. Looked really, really pretty :D

Then we walked from Burrard to The Famous Warehouse- it is actually right on Granville, but I wanted to show my mom around downtown, so we walked through the branded shops around Burrard. 

Then we got to The Famous Warehouse. 

Taste ★★★☆☆

Portion ★★★★☆

Service ★★★☆☆

Cost $

Recommended for an economic decent meal!

The best thing about this place is the cheap food. Everything on the menu is $4.95. They have daily specials such as Monday's unlimited pasta. The catch? The drinks are more pricy - well, they have to earn money / get profit somehow. It was such an irony when my drink (Corona + 1 shot of some lime liquor) was $8 something and the unlimited pasta was only $7 ish... :P

Their service is a little on the slow side and they messed up our spaghetti order twice lol. First time they gave us Mac N cheese, we let it go, but the second time- no, we got the spaghetti. It is actually really good pasta. Nicely cooked with well seasoned meat sauce (plenty of meat) and cheese.

Their poutine was pretty good.

Spaghetti , I believe it's beef with tomato sauce. Very delicious. I think it's better than the other option- Mac n' Cheese, but then I'm never a fan of cheese, so I could be biased on that. It's unlimited, you can ask for both and try ;)

Afterward, we went and grabbed free Bday coffee from Blenz, which is any regular sized coffee of your choice (hot or cold). The ones downtown should all participate in this. I liked their Macha Latte, it was better than even the Starbucks one. But I think it's because the barista on the Granville location is good. The one I tried on the Robson wasn't as great.

This day also happened to be DQ's free cone day!! We went to the one at Pacific Centre. There was a line, but they were really organized, so the queue didn't take long. Their cone is SO GOOD! Might look hard, but it's soft, creamy, and rich. They were good, they filled it all the way to the bottom of the cone O_O!!! I would definitely spend money on this lol.

[2015 Food] Jang Mo Jib

Today's foodie trip is with Lillian and Karen :D
We went to Jang Mo Jib (外母家 - actually I would've translated as 丈母家)

Taste ★★★☆☆

Portion ★★★★☆

Service ★★★☆☆

Cost $$$ 

Neutral- a decent Korean restaurant, but nothing too attracting.

We almost always eat western foods and drink lots of alcohol, but today, we decided to be sober and eat Korean (Asian) food LOL
It's on Robson, on that block, there are like 4 other Korean food places, it's like the Korean food block ^_^
We got there around 5:15, but they have their lunch break then (and asked us to wait or come back in 15-30 min), so we walked around. We all agreed that we will come back to have SURA next time- there was a 40min queue O_O at 5 pm... I know, dafaq?!

They have Karaoke on second floor, but I don't know how to sing any Korean songs now (I am wayyy past my KDrama fever days). - maybe when I can sing more English and Korean songs lol

We went back around 5:25 - seated and waited for some time to order (they took a little long to realize they didn't take our orders and I had to ask for side dishes because they were taking a bit long for our foods.

Didn't have a proper picture of the side dishes, but they have the standard 4 : Kim Chi (duh), Raddish, sweetly marinated potatoes (our favourite, everyone I know loves it), and that yellow bean sprout.

We got Gahl Bee Jjim: It was sweeter than I would like (actually too sweet) but it was filled with nice soft, juicy beef short ribs *yum*

Then of course, the famous seafood pancake. It was nicely cooked to a crunchy top. The seafood filling was generous. The seasoning/ taste though, was just decent - it is salty, but other than that, I didn't find it particularly intriguing. It was good, but not like mmmm~ u know (oh, god, I suck at describing?)

We finished everything at the end. The quantity was enough and filled 3 of us fully.

AH~ can't wait till tomorrow's trip for my mom's BDay :D (and the day after for mine and the day after for celebration LOL). ^_^

[Pi Day] The only 3.14159...

Well, that's all the decimal points I can remember for Pi. Maybe that's why I got 99% in Math 12 instead of 100. - So not Asian *shake head* ;)
This was the only Pi day we will have in this century - I slept in, no biggie :P

Anyhow, 3/14 was apparently also termed "White Valentine's Day". I'm not sure if only the Asians celebrate it O_O basically it's a day for the guys to gift the girls chocolate (because traditionally, 2/14 Valentine's day is supposed to be a day where girls gift the guys chocolate).

I got a date and my camera yesterday, so I am content with spending this day with my family in Christ (TBH, I totally forgot about it until it was mentioned at the party LOL).

We had really good hot pot together (w/ beef and lamb) and then played the number game and Wii (I got to play banana barriers or whatever it's called - really fun lol but frustrating)

Then after like 3 months of living in my new place, I finally finished arranging my rooms, unboxed all that needed to be unboxed and shelved stuff properly. Still needs to figure out where to put some things, but it's done~~ I'm so proud of myself :D
Now my room has much less obstacles that I need to walk around/across to get around hahaha

Need to be at church by 10 am tmr, ttyl~

[2015 Food] Hokkaido Ramen Santouka 山頭火, Ninja Bubble Tea, Smoker's Poutine

Great News :D thanks to Henry, I finally got a decent point & shoot camera hahaha- therefore, I need to start writing some food reviews... maybe putting them on Urbanspoon again (Teehee~)

 Hokkaido Ramen Santouka 山頭火

Soup ★★★★☆

Noodles ★★★☆☆

Portion ★★★☆☆

Cost $$

Recommend for a nice ramen date

Got there shortly after 6 pm, the line up was around 15 minutes. Right out side the store. As most Ramen places, no reservations. The service was fast, they take your order while you are waiting in line, and minutes after you enter and sat down, you can have your food :D

The restaurant is quite packed with people, but it did not feel like the spaces was too small for comfortable dining. In fact, I was able to have enough space to open the package of my new camera lol :P

No cash...? 

There is one thing to be aware of- due to limitations to their computer system, they recommend you not to split bills O_O" I guess, if you really want to treat a girl/date - take them there so they have no choice? LOL

We both got extra noodles (large size +$1) for our ramens - cuz we both eat a lot lol!

Grilled Salmon Combo (grilled salmon on rice + egg salad (ish) + your choice of ramen) The one shown here is Miso Ramen 

The sample outside the window had a legit salad, but this egg one isn't too bad I guess? o_O

Grilled Salmon Rice (side, the size is not enough for one meal) - I liked it, it tastes good. But it is something I can make by myself. :P

Miso Ramen - Honestly, it's not bad, but the soup base isn't as good the miso does not taste like the traditional Japanese miso I am used to. As most Ramen broth, more on the salty side with slight sourness and sweetness. 

My Shio Ramen - We both thinks this one suits our tastes better. It is salty, but still, the soup is quite good. 

Compared to other Ramen places that I frequently goes to (like Kimtaro) I like their soup better. Overall, I think it is not inferior (and has less of a line up). The noodles are a bit more on the harder side ish (but I like softer type - so for many, they might like this better). The meat here is from the right part of the pig thigh, cut to a nice thickness, and well seasoned- actually loved it. Next time if I go, I will add extra meat for $2 more.

The combo with extra noodles was apparently not enough for a grown man lol- so we went for bubble tea right next door :

Ninja Bubble Tea

Taste ★★★★☆

Portion ★★★★☆

Cost $

Recommend for a big, real leaf bubble tea (if specialty tea is your thing) - LOVE their pearls

They have authentic tea leaves for their special milk tea - you can ask them to smell them and see if you like it before you order.
I highly recommend adding 20 cents to get the 1 L version XD ==> enough for 2 ppl.
I love their pearls, it is nicely cooked in sugar syrup, not too hard, not too soggy. ---YUM!!

Then our last stop - with the last bit of our stomach (honestly... I just didn't want to go home yet :/ )
We went to Granville and remembered we wanted to try this place:

Taste ★★★☆☆

Portion ★★☆☆☆

Cost $$ 
Not really recommended - Many different toppings, it is worth a trip if you want to try some different poutine toppings. I did not find their fries to be especially good.

I realized how expensive poutines actually are.. this small snack size is $6 (it was ... quite small) I do realized with poutine, you don't want to have it too big so people feel like puking, but this is like... no = =
We got the pulled pork topping - it is good, very good.
I just don't find their fries nicely made - a bit on the soggy side (not because it's soaked in gravy - more like they did not fry it long enough (?) maybe it's a good thing for some "healthy eaters" hahaha.) Maybe it is the oil they use, it just does not give enough aroma to the fries.
The restaurant was clean, though, does not give you that greasy oily feeling.

Can't wait for my next foodie outing. If I remember things from places I've been to from Dine out in Feb, I'll post them up :D.
Let me know if there are restaurants you want to try - we can go together or , well, I'll be the lab rat and go first LOL.

See you next time ;)