Saturday in Vancouver

Ready for a lot of photos?  No matter, you're getting them.

One thing I love about being in Vancouver is that it's a familiar city with which I'm comfortable but it's also not the city in which I currently live.  What that means is I can go for my early morning walks and feel fairly at ease, but also that I'm not seeing the same old thing day after day.  Last Saturday morning in Vancouver, I was up early enough and out the door to take advantage of that.

It's a cool way to get shots of buildings,

public art,

nice gardens and parks,

the natural surroundings (such as they may be in a city),

and more. 

Accordingly, I walked and snapped.  I think I did a little over four miles that morning. 

It truly was a weekend for getting my step count in!

And then it was off to my first meal of the day with other folks.  Steven and Patrick

and brunch in New Westminster.  Man, it's been a long time since I last saw them.  Pre-pandemic!  And that's the shame of the visit:  seeing people I haven't made time for in far too long.  I felt badly about that, truly.

Anyway, I

hopped SkyTrain out to meet up with them, enjoying the last seat on the train, getting a view out the back window as we went along. 

Patrick was at the station,

waiting for Steven

(who snuck by him somehow and was waiting at a nearby corner outside of our lunch destination, Piva), and so I got a big hug right off the train.  Yay!  Brunch was nice.  A breakfast pizza (tasty, maybe needed something a little saltier on it) was my choice,

and much catching up ensued.  Always such delightful guys to hang out with.

I let them go on their way after brunch - Steven is an avid knitter, and he had a yarn shop he wanted to get to.  I took myself a short way uphill,

and in a few minutes I was ringing the buzzer to get into Marie's apartment. 

I hadn't seen her place in years, and that's even considering she hasn't had a cat for a while.  She and I gabbed, then headed back onto SkyTrain and downtown where we turned up at Open Outcry for the start of their happy hour. 

Alas, the bar seems to be a shadow of what it was before the pandemic, and after that drink, we headed to the hotel so that I could get ready for dinner.

Marie and I had dinner with Chris

and Allister

over in Chinatown.  I was a little surprised that Chris and Allister hadn't been to Bao Bei

before - they don't live far from it, it's been around for at least 15 years, and it has a good reputation still (I hope!).  I've only been the once, a long time ago, and I've always intended to go back.  They were having a special Year of the Horse menu,

and we were excited for it.  Here's a rundown of it:

Seafood "Bing".  Nice start.  A simple pastry, a turnover.

Lobster crudo.  Lovely.  Reminded me of amaebi.

Lucky dumplings.  Tasty!  Don't be shocked, but I liked the mushrooms with this dish.

Taiwanese knife cut noodles with clams, mussels, and pork.  Really good.  More of a seafood dish than a noodle dish, and we had no problem with the generous portion.

Crispy whole branzino.  Loved loved loved the sauce especially!

Dark chocolate leche flan.  I usually don't go for chocolate desserts, but this turned out to be an excellent way to finish the meal.

We opted for drink pairings which started with the 12 Knots,

included two bottles of wine for the table, and then a finishing cocktail

whose name I didn't catch but that I liked so much that I (and Chris!) ordered another each.  Dinner and drinks done, we walked Marie to the SkyTrain then headed home ourselves on foot.  That was my indulgent meal for the trip, and it made for a lovely Valentine's dinner away from Conrad and Van (and Olive!).

first weekend in October

The weekend started with rain.  It's so odd - that's twice now in the space of a week or so where we had measurable rain but I had no inkling of its potential.  I even went out for a walk on Friday morning, not a long one, and thought how very nice the overcast morning was for a walk, but I assumed it would all lift and dissipate as the marine layer so often does.  But no.  I was doing work at the dining table as I often do, and Van texted us to comment that it was raining his way.  I looked up, and lo!  Rain. 

Not buckets, but clearly rain.  And not for too long.  It let up, and by afternoon, there was some sun coming through.

It wasn't our usual weekend.  Neither of us was in the mood to head to Maestro on Friday night.  Not a reflection on Maestro - we love the place and were delighted to see the photos on Instagram from the owners of the two of them in Mexico at the wedding of one of them.  It was an odd week for me of working two nights late, and I feel like I've dined out a lot lately.  I just wanted to stay in.  Conrad felt the same way, so I poured us a couple of cocktails and set to work on making us a simple dinner of pasta (including - yes, sorry - jarred sauce) and salad.  We opened a decent Italian red,

watched some Great British Bake Off, and that was the evening we needed and had.

Saturday morning was a little more usual, though.  A short walk for me before Conrad was up and at 'em, then another walk of comparable distance with him.  That brought us to Amara for breakfast, a very light one for me - only an empanada. 

But I did have my decaf latte,

and I did have Conrad's fine company!

That got us partway through the morning.  By the time I was home from a haircut

and groceries, it was closing in on noon.  The afternoon mostly passed with us doing housework - my sister will be with us through much of this week, and we needed to have the place tidy for her - and then we got ourselves all pretty for a dinner out.

I think I've posted things with Heath and Nicole in the past.  Heath is, sort of, Van's nephew.  That's a stretch, but it's the easiest way to describe things.  Anyway, Heath's birthday was last Friday, and so we all met up in Santa Monica on Saturday for dinner together. 

Van and I had wanted to get Conrad to The Georgian Room after our nice dinner there last fall, and it felt like a special place to take the young couple.  It's a handsome setting, though they discourage photos inside (Conrad snuck a few when a dessert with candle came out for Heath).  Even the outside is handsome,

tucked around the side of a hotel right on the city's oceanfront boulevard. 

We had a good meal, most of us enjoying steaks, some cocktails and wine as well.  It was really enjoyable, celebrating with them.

Sunday morning I was up before the others, walking around in South Pasadena, having a casual time of it, taking a photo or two. 

Eventually Conrad and I got going a bit, heading for some groceries (with Olive tagging along!),

then coming back to make a light brunch for the three of us - avocado toast with poached egg. 

We headed home after that, getting more cleaning done, then I hopped online for a happy hour with friends.  Conrad and I ended the day with a simple dinner of things set out on a board for grazing.  Some television, a short walk, then to bed early!

All in all, it felt like a simple, basic weekend.  Certainly, I don't have as many photos, and I'm not being all that descriptive.  Still, it was a good weekend, getting some things done, having some social time.  I'm happy with how it all went!