Monday 29 February 2016

Edible Obessions | La Pentola Yaletown



Hey Dolls!

the other night, I indulged in the most amazing candle lit dinner at La Pentola Yaletown and I just had to share it with you all. I am a HUGE pasta connoisseur. I could have pasta for breakfast, lunch and dinner if I could, but unfortunately, too many carbs so boo :( 

I feel most walk past La Pentola without even noticing it as it is not along Hamilton street that is the primary stretch of restaurants in Yaletown. However, it is right by the start of it, but it is often overlooked as it is hidden under the Opus hotel. 

This classic Italian restaurant, has chefs that know what they are doing when it comes to pasta. Girl, let me just say, those noodles gave me chills. I practically shovelled it down. Let me just back up a little to the appetizer because I can talk on and on about their pasta forever. 

My friend and I shared the Parmesan Souffle. I kind of just randomly blurted it out to the waitress without really even reading what it was haha. I just wanted the pasta already .... pasta problems. The Souffle has a eggy texture and consistency and is not like an ooey gooey baked brie. It sliced like a frittata. It was light, yet still dense. And it sat upon a bed of balsamic carrots, roasted beet slices, and toasted almonds, perfect for some crunch. I highly suggest eating all the elements together as the tang from balsamic carrots and beets evens out the richness of the parmesan souffle while the toasted almonds gave it texture. Something unique that I have never had before! I recommend you try the Parmesan Souffle  on your visit to La Pentola!!!


On to the PASTA! I had the Maltagliati - "poorly cut pasta" in lamb argue, mint and finished with shavings of pecorino cheese. Let me just say, these are not poorly cut pasta, in fact are large triangles cut with a super cool scalloped blade. Surprisingly, I was able to gracefully scoop these large triangular pasta noodles into my mouth with no extra corralling. The pasta was cooked to absolute PERFECTION! I can no longer have normal pasta. Now let me tell you about the most buttery flavourful lamb ragu that coated the pasta. SOOO GOOD! Haha really great description Gurleen but it was just SOOO GOOD! 


The best part about going to restaurants with a friend is that you get to sneak a bite or two from their dish hehe. In this case, the Agnolotti Del Plin, little pockets of pasta stuffed with sweet duck confit, cooked in marsala currants and brown butter sage sauce. Garnished with fried basil and shaved cheese! This was my first time having duck confit and it was delicious! It is sweet and really tender. But between the two dishes, I would choose the Maltagliati. Sometimes simple is best!  


By this point, we were both beyond stuffed, but we could not leave without sampling La Pentola's dessert menu. They have delivered magnificent dishes and I could only imagine how mind-blowing of a dessert they can create. Guess I had too high of expectations because the Poached Pear sucked.... like really just sucked.... Firstly, I imagined a full WARM poached pear drizzled in decadent caramel sauce. What was placed before us was far from it.... it was pieces of cold poached pear, halves of goose berry and probably the driest ginger bread cake pieces ever, and a little scoop vanilla gelato, all the elements spread out across a little bit of caramel sauce.....  Ummmm so yah.... Really bummed. This could have been a grand slam to the end of our dinner :( but it was a flop and we did not even finish the dessert, can you even believe it?!? Gurleen leaving a dessert unfinished. 

La Pentola is a wonderful restaurant, absolutely gorgeous on the inside with some of the best Italian dishes I have tasted to this date. I am weary about the dessert, but maybe it was just that particular dessert or perhaps it was not executed correctly. Regardless, I am going to give them the benefit of the doubt for the dessert! 

Let me know if you have been to La Pentola and if you loved it as much I did! As well, leave me some Italian restaurant suggestions as I am always on the look out for delicious pasta. 

BYES

Saturday 27 February 2016

Gurly's Life | Notebook Exchange

What I sent my swappeee! 
Hiya Dolls!

A month back I took part in Pixel Paper Heart's Notebook Exchange. She organized the entire thing and paired up 50 individuals for the swap. It was fabulous because she did all the hard work of finding people who want to do the swap. As well, pairing us up by country; therefore, we would not have to spend extra money for international shipping. 

This was my first swap ever and I was a little nervous as there have been many instances where swaps do not end well. In most scenarios, one individual would put in a lot of effort and send products exceeding the agreed upon budget, but unfortunately what they receive is far from what they imagined. There are several youtube videos where you can watch youtubers opening their swap boxes and end up in tears as it becomes apparent they were scammed :( 


What I received from my swappeeee!
However, I had high hopes for this swap as the rules were very clear and there was not a lot of room for things to go wrong! The rules were set by Pixel Paper Heart. The budget  (excluding shipping) was $20 and this was to be primarily a notebook swap. 

I sent my swappee three notebooks from various retailers (Chapters, Urban Outfitters and Brick & Mortar) as well I threw in two colours of my favourite pens - Le Pens! I also sent her a hand written letter on a cute card hehe. Personally I did go over budget, but I did not just want to send her like one and a half notebooks! Nicer notebooks generally range from $9 to $15. 

What I received from my swappee were four adorable notebooks!!! - One of them being a Rifle Paper Co notebook! For those unfamiliar with the brand, Rifle Paper Co. can be quite expensive in terms of stationary. She also sent me a teeny tiny notebook, perfect for keeping in your purse at all times and two more regular sized notebooks that are quite thick. 

I am really glad I took part in the Note Book Swap! I hope to take part in it again as I love notebooks and go through many every year. 

Thank you again to my swap buddy for sending me amazing notebooks as well Pixel Paper Hearts for organizing this event! 

BYES

Tuesday 23 February 2016

Chic Life | Get your skinny jeans on trend




Hi Dolls!

Many of you have been requesting me to do more "fashion" posts and I am getting on it! I promise! Just gotten through a hell of a crazy few months of school and things are finally calming down for me to branch out! Plus, the toughest part is just getting pictures of me dressed up. Because firstly, it has been raining non-stop in Vancouver and secondly, I am an awkward duck in front of the camera.  Also, I need someone to physically take the picture of me... selfies just do not do a good outfit justice.



For a couple of years now, the loose legged boyfriend jeans have been the "it" denim style. Personally, I never got into the loose denim trend, but I did like the cuffed look! Leaving the jeans un-cuffed make them look slouchy, but who knew that a simple fold would turn boyfriend jeans into tres chic! 


Using cuffed boyfriend jeans as inspiration, I started cuffing my skinny jeans from Guess when I am wearing them with loafers or flat soled shoes during the warmer days. As long as your jeans are not the jegging style, which is the stretchy fabric that practically hugs your skin. The cuffed look really will not work with jeggings. 


I am so glad I tried out the cuffed look with my skinny jeans because now I can wear them several ways! YAY! Also, I think wearing your skinny jeans cuffed with loafers looks super cute! hehe Now if only finding the perfect fitting jeans was just as easy :( 

If you are wondering, all of my denim are from Guess. It just turned out Guess jeans fit my curves the best and I felt my best in them! The style I generally opt for is the power skinny; however, I always feel and stretch the denim. I avoid the super stretchy jegging fabric as I do not like when my jeans hug my lower leg. I like mine fitted in the thighs, butt and waist and a little more room in the knees and lower legs. 

Let me know if you like this post! I am working on more fashion pieces and I am going to keep them simple where anyone can pull the look together from their current closet pieces! 

BYES

Sunday 21 February 2016

Gurly's Life | Snowshoeing adventure on Cypress Mountain



Hey Dolls!

Living in Vancouver means practically no snow. In the past 7 years or so, we would literally get ONE single day of snow and by next morning, it would be all gone. Major Boo as I do love the snow! However, the amazing part of living in Vancouver is that we are nearby quite a few mountains with ski and snowboard slopes as well as other snow activities like Snow Shoeing!

This was my first time snowshoeing and I am glad that I went. It was a great deal of fun and  fun fact - snowshoeing burns more calories compared to downhill skiing! I am not really sure how I should structure this post. Maybe I will go from beginning of the day to the end?

Even though I do have my own vehicle, I do not feel comfortable driving up to cypress as I have not had much experience driving in snow. My friends and I opted to take the Cypress Express Shuttle from Metrotown at 9:10 AM and since we were students, the round trip cost us $20. Not too bad. 

The shuttle arrived at Nordic Point Cypress around maybe 10:20 ish?! We decided to go on the snowshoe tour because we did not know if we wanted to go on the trails alone. But our tour ticket gave us access to the mountain for the full day and the staff suggested we go out and explore a couple of trails ourself as we had a good few hours prior to the tour. 


So glad that we did go out on our own because snowshoeing is not hard! I am not sure why I was so terrified! haha oh wells. We got really lucky to get gorgeous weather. No rain or snow and NO WIND! Yay! I honestly think wind is the worst as it makes you feel colder. I also loved how the staff told us "if you can walk, you can snowshoe" haha which is true! The key is to not trip over you snowshoes or attempt to walk backwards. 

On our own, we trekked through the Hollyburn Meadows trail and the Marr Creek trail. Around 11:30am, we decided to head back to the checkin area and lodges to eat before our 2 hour snowshoe tour. I am really glad that we made the decision to eat and took a break because the 2 hour tour does tire you out. 

BTW - the CHILLI is AMAZING! It is hearty and I want to say it is vegetarian as it was filled with chickpeas, kidney beans and lentils as well as lots of yummy veggies like carrots and zucchini. Super delicious and definitely made fresh! And because I am a little piggie... I also shared a chilli dog with my friend - also AMAZING! 


Finally 1pm so we can head on out for our Hollyburn Snowshoeing Tour! I believe there were around 12 individuals in the group led by our fabulous guide, Kate! Unlike when we went on our tour, Kate took us off trail. NOTE - STAY ON THE TRAILS WHEN NOT WITH A GUIDE AS THERE ARE LOTS OF DANGEROUS AREAS. 

She also shared some really neat facts with us. She pointed out Snow Bunny tracks and showed us the Brimble tree. As well, various cedars also called the Cypress tree! As well, she pointed out what types of natural dangers to be aware of. Such as tree wells, the snow collected around the trees. You want to stay away from them because you could fall into one. As well, be cautious of edges because you never know if the snow will support you or not. Soft fresh snow = you will sink into it! 

After two hours of off trail snowshoeing, we went back to the lodge for hot chocolate and cookies. We hung around and just relaxed before catching the shuttle back to Metrotown at 4:15pm. 

A long adventure filled day, but full of amazing memories for life! I am definitely going to head out for snowshoeing next year! 

BYES

Friday 19 February 2016

Chic Finds | Gourmet Marshmallows by Goodmallows


Hi Dolls!

Probably a month back or so, I got to meet up with the boss lady, Joanna, behind Goodmallows and we had a fabulous time chatting. Plus, it never hurts to be given a giant bag full of marshmallows!!!! I got to sample the two Valentine's Day flavours - the spicy cinnamon heart and a sweet aromatic chocolate rose - as well as a couple of Goodmallow's regular flavours. She is an artist because the amount of depth she is able to create with each flavour is astonishing! 

Many have become accustomed to the chemical laden mass produced marshmallows from the super market, but they are a part of our childhood. Who does not remember roasting marshmallows on a stick over a fire or making sticky rice crispy squares at home? Unfortunately, marshmallows have got quite the terrible reputation because of their infinite shelf life and chemical flavour, but marshmallows were once, and still are in a few towns, a delicacy of France. Goodmallows is working hard to bring the rich culture from France to Vancouver by using no artificial colours, flavours and chemicals. Thank you Goodmallows for helping us relive our childhood with a DELICIOUS mallow! 



Goodmallows keep it simple, that even a child can understand the ingredients. These gluten-free goodies are made with organic cane sugar, Canadian honey (in place of corn syrup), grass fed bovine gelatine (a health product that is good for your gut and teeth!), sea salt and all natural flavouring. When possible, organic ingredients are used making these squishy treats 70% organic. Goodmallows also strives to use as many locally sourced ingredients such as Karla's Specialities in Abbotsford for tea. The care and quality that goes into each batch is the reason why their marshmallows are packed full of flavour. 

Since the marshmallows are preservative free, every flavour is made small batch and cut by hand by Joanna herself!  

The best part about being a small company is that Joanna gets to try out a whole wackload of flavours and loves taking inspiration from the huge ice cream community in Vancouver. Fingers crossed for a Mango Mallow sooooooonnnn! Joanna is working to create a marshmallow with a lower glycemic index in the future, but there is still a long road of trial and error ahead of her. 



Because these are gourmet marshmallows for our "sophisticated" adult palates, we need to take it to the next level when enjoying a goodmallow! Joanna likes to whip out her kitchen blowtorch to lightly toast the outside of the mallows bringing the s'mores (aka s'moremet of course) game to a WHOLE NEW LEVEL. Or sandwich a chocolate Goodmallow between two ruffled Salt & Pepper Kettlechips for the ultimate sweet & salty crunchy goodness. Or, plop a mallow in your morning coffee, a substitute for coffee and sugar hehe. 

Do keep your eyes out for their new spring flavours, a Salted Honey Lavender --- Yaasss! And if the marshmallow god's are with Joanna, she hopes to release a Creme Egg Mallow for Easter! 

Lastly, Joanna hopes to bring the marshmallow back to its former glory of deliciousness. She loves receiving sample feedback because the reactions are always the best!

"Even when people learn they're marshmallows, we often get this suspicious look, thinking they'll just be another chemically marshmallow...and then they taste it, and we usually get one of two expressions: the eyebrow lift of surprise ("Oh, that's actually quite tasty!"), or, my personal favourite, the shut-eyed indulgent moment of bliss ("yessssssss")"

This is the end of my Goodmallow post! I think I am going to try some recipes with Goodmallows in the future. Maybe some chocolate Goodmallow mug cakes or Chocolate Goodmallow rice crispies! Please let me know in the comments below if you would be interested in that! I really love supporting local Vancouver-based companies that strive for quality over quantity. As well, with the food market over-run with chemical based preservative-laden food, it is always exciting to find a truly natural product hehe! 


BYES

Wednesday 17 February 2016

Gurly's Life | Adventures at Vancouver's Catfe


Hi Dolls!

Looks like the rain is back in Vancouver... major bummer. So I am glad I went to the Catfe yesterday while it was beautiful and sunny out! For those of you who unfamiliar with Catfe, this is the first Cat Cafe to operate in Vancouver, opening its doors last summer 2015. Vancouver is currently the third city across Canada to have a furry friend cafe. 


Even though I am more of a dog person myself - love me my derpy pugs hehe - I had to visit Catfe to support their initiative. All cats at Catfe are from the BC SPCA and are all available for adoption! How fabulous is that! Animal shelters, like the BC SPCA, keep keep all their animals in small cages as it is much more feasible and manageable. It is the unfortunate reality when there are a large number of animals needing to be re-homed. 

At Catfe, these furry felines get to relax and roam around a large open space full of fun kitty toys and activities while being able to interact with other cats as well as humans! All of the cats I got to play with yesterday at the Catfe were extremely happy and enjoyed wandering around the big cafe at their leisure. 

The best news, approximately 40 cats have been successfully re-homed from Catfe! This is fabulous! Catfe apparently had to even close a couple of times because all their kitties were now in a new home. 


Also, the priority at Catfe is the health and welfare of all the cats. For this reason, only 16 individuals are permitted to be in the cafe at a time as well no outdoor cats are permitted! As well, the cats must meet a certain criteria to be part of the Catfe family as they must be friendly and wanting to be around unknown individuals. 

I think Catfe is a really amazing new addition to Vancouver as its primary motive is to find cats new homes. However, I do hope a dog cafe comes soon! Hehe but cats are far more easier as they will go to the bathroom in their litter boxes. 

Let me know what you think of Catfe and if you have visited them yet?

BYES

Tuesday 16 February 2016

Geek Latte | BINGO with my Bestie


HI DOLLS!

I wish I had this completed in time for Valentine's day but I did not. That is okay, because I still want to share it with all of you! Sometimes, watching tv, mindlessly staring at your phone and computer just gets really boring. And unfortunately, we tend to do those two activities when we are with our friends. 

My bestie and I have gotten tired of just well doing nothing. I miss when we used to be young and run around the neighbourhood. We did not sit in front of the tv when we could be outside playing in the park. So I decided to come up with a fun activity that gets us out of the house, off our electronics and just have FUNNNN!!!!

This is not an ordinary BINGO! We are not talking about random pairings of letters of numbers being called out by a bored volunteer. Nope, I am talking about an adventure filled Bingo! In order to cross off a square, you have to complete the activity. The rules are, you cannot copy the other and nor can you sabotage them part way through the task because that is just cheating. But hey, we are playing with our bestie, so I am going to be cheating for sure hehe

Download the PTL Bingo Cards to print out for your own adventures hehe:

Pinktealatte Bingo Card 1

Pinktealatte Bingo Card 2

Here are some of the tasks or phrases listed in the squares: Belt out a song impromptu in public or strike a pose with a statue or make fangs using anything or spot someone taking a selfie! 

Since we are going to be completing the BINGO during our daily adventures, we suspect we will not finish it in one day, so we lamented our Bingo cards - plus it rains a lot in Vancouver gah. Also, we got PUFFY STICKERS to mark off our completed squares yay!

At the end of the day, the goal is FUN! I hope you and your bestie or boyfriend or girlfriend think this Bingo sounds cool. 

In fact ----> I CHALLENGE YOU TO BINGO! I want to see you and your bestie around town completing the Bingo Cards and post a picture to Instagram with the hashtag: #PTLBingoChallenge 

So get outside and go have FUN!!!! Okay, I think you get the idea, I just want people to have fun! hehe

I look forward to seeing all your instagram posts!

BYES

Monday 15 February 2016

Savvy Student | Caring for Fresh Cut Flowers


Hey all you gorgeous dolls!

I am not a mushy person when it comes to showing affection, but what girl does not love to receive some beautiful fresh cut flowers for Valentine's day? In fact, the only thing I wanted for Valentine's day was a dozen creamy white locally grown long stemmed roses... YAAASSSSS 

Now that we have our beautiful bouquets of roses, carnations, tulips, and lillies and etc etc because there are so many beautiful flowers out there hehe, we want to keep them looking gorgeous as long as possible right? In fact, the reason why I love fresh cut flowers are because each time I walk past them, I cannot help myself, but smile. As well the fresh floral scent just lifts me up. They just make me happy! That is why, I try to grab fresh flowers every so often because they help brighten a stressful day for me. 

So how do you keep your gorgeous flowers looking amazing for as long as possible?

What I do know for certain is that shorter stemmed flowers will last longer! However, at the end of the day, a lot of it has to do on the type of flower you have and the specific species. For example, I found the white rose to last far longer then the lilac coloured roses I had for my Birthday Photo Shoot

As well, opt for locally grown flowers! Do not be afraid to ask your florist about which flowers in stock are grown locally. This is because flowers that are flown in from around the globe are generally traumatized as well, have already been cut a couple days prior to the local flowers. You will generally find the local flowers to last much longer. I have had locally grown white roses last upwards of 2 weeks, but the petals were smaller. But I was totally okay with that! 

Over the years, I have learned and picked up a few tips from florists. DISCLAIMER: I am by no means an expert! 

First thing first, keep your flowers in CLEAN water. Try to change the water every TWO day. But if you are lazy, try to change it when you see the water getting a little dirty, this includes fallen petals and leaves. This is because over time, those fallen petals are going to start decomposing and creating bacteria. A not so pleasant environment for flowers to thrive in. 

Use LUKE WARM water. When you use cold water, you shocking the flowers. Would you like it if someone dunked you into cold water? Also, not too hot water either. Flowers are sensitive :) 

Clip any new leaves and such that begin to grow on the stems. This is common for long stemmed roses. You want to be cutting off and cleaning the stems because again, those new leaves if they are under water, they are creating bacteria in the water. 

Keep your flowers in an area where they can get fresh air and sunlight. Places to really avoid are kitchens and bathrooms! I keep my flowers on the table by our front entrance. Plenty of sun there as well they get lots of fresh air with our front door being opened multiple times a day. As well since they are in an area that is not used much, no one will be knocking into the flowers. 

Flowers need FOOD! Most of the time, bouquets will come with flower food. However, it is generally only one packet and once you change the water, you have no more of the flower food to add in. A simple alternative is regular white sugar! Yup just sugar! Sugar gives the flowers glucose and allows them to photosynthesize energy from the sun! Just a small teaspoon mixed into luke warm water is perfect. 

Now my last suggestion is a little debated. It is trimming the stems. Some say to cut length wise up the stems, while others say just to chop a couple of centimetres off the bottom. Everyone has their own way of doing it. I personally just cut a couple of centimetres off the bottom every couple of days. This is to allow the flowers to soak up the food easier is what I have heard. 

I really hope this helped all of you and you can have your gorgeous Valentine's flowers looking breathtaking for weeks to come! Please do let me know in the comments below if you found this post helpful :) So I know that you guys like the Savvy Student Posts!

BYES

Sunday 14 February 2016

2016 Hot Chocolate Festival | Butter Baked Goods

YUMMMM the Choc-o-coco from Butter Baked Goods!
Hi Dolls!

I have finally made it to Butter! These are the hot chocolates I have been looking forward to during the entire festival. So it only made sense to save them for last! Hehe and because I love Butter so much, I had to get both of the hot chocolates. Also, if you have not already, be sure to check out my hot chocolate smart list for YP for all the yummy hot chocolates available year round! 

The Choc-o-coco is a delightful combination of chocolate and coconut with lots of whip creamy goodness. Honestly, this is the first hot chocolate I have had all festival to have whipped cream as a topping. I think more shops should have done whip cream because when I think hot chocolate, I generally also think of whip cream! They are mac and cheese. Okay, weird analogy when we are talking about a sweet beverage, but still! The chocolate was great and the coconut shreds gave great texture! However, the accompaniment, that chocolate coconut square .... YUM! I think I ate it in one bite! 

My rating is on a scale of 5 being amazing and 1 being meh in four categories:

Chocolatiness 3
Flavour 4
Visual 4
Accompaniment 5

Butter's second hot chocolate flavour is the Fluffernutter!!! White chocolate, peanut butter and butterscotch topped with a vanilla & peanut butter  marshmallow mmmmmm If you are not familiar with Butter, they make delicious squares of marshmallows, so I was happy to get two giant squares! This hot chocolate was very sweet, probably from the white chocolate. 

The Fluffernutter from Butter Baked Goods!
Chocolatines 2 white chocolate tends to just be sweet and not a distinct "chocolate" flavour
Flavour 4.5
Visual 4
Accompaniment 4.5

Be sure to check out my thoughts on the other hot chocolates I have tried so far for this year's hot chocolate festival: East Van Roosters49th Parallel , Thierry , Diva at the Met, French Made Baking and The Last Crumb Bakery

So that is IT! I will be doing a final round up of all the flavours I tried during this year's Hot Chocolate Festival and rank them from my favourite to ones I would not go for seconds. So look out for that! 

Thank you for following along on my hot chocolate adventures! I had so much fun! 

BYES

Saturday 13 February 2016

2016 Hot Chocolate Festival | French Made Baking


Hi Dolls!

we are coming to the end of the Hot Chocolate Festival so boo, but I am trying to get in a last few! Thought I would give a dairy free hot chocolate a try! Also, if you have not already, be sure to check out my hot chocolate smart list for YP for all the yummy hot chocolates available year round! 

Okay, so I decided to hit up French Made Baking as they made their hot chocolate flavours tougher to get - the flavours had random days of availability?!?! The elusive Rose Mallow is an almond coconut milk dark hot chocolate with hibiscus and raspberry. 

Unfortunately, the almond and coconut milk just did not do it for me. I am more of a dairy kind of girl who loves the creamy richness of cows milk. It was too thin for me and lacked in creaminess, maybe they should have put in some coconut cream? Also, what made it weirder was when the marshmallows melted, the sort of congealed haha oh joy! 

Overall, I think I am going to opt for dairy hot chocolates. Just not my cup of tea hehe The marshmallows; however, were amazing and I loved how they gave two giant cubes! My only confusion has to be if the hot chocolate was supposed to be rose flavoured as the name has rose in it. I tasted no rose! 

My little rating system for the hot chocolates. 5 being amazing and 1 being Meh:

Chocolatiness 3
Flavour 2
Accompaniment 4
Visual 2

Tomorrow, I am going to hit up Butter Baked Goods! I saved my favourite for last and hope to be wowed! 

Be sure to check out my thoughts on the other hot chocolates I have tried so far for this year's hot chocolate festival: East Van Roosters49th Parallel , Thierry , Diva at the Met and The Last Crumb Bakery

BYES

Thursday 11 February 2016

GeekLatte | Tokidoki Blindboxes from Funky Toys



Hi Dolls!

I know this has been a long time in the works, but it is finally done! A couple of weeks ago, I received a package in the mail from the fabulous people over at Funky Toys, full of Tokidoki Blind Boxes. I honestly could not contain my excitement when I saw the adorable little boxes and wanted to open them up instantly. However, I stayed strong for all of you and waited until I could film an unboxing of them. This way, we can all experience the thrill and anticipation of opening up a blind box together. 

The element of surprise has really taken the toy market by storm and it seems like every person on the planet is talking about shopkins. However, the small tiny shopkins do not appeal to me as much as the tokidoki figurines do. They have far more detail and are of a  decent size. Plus, mindblowingly cute! 

My favourite series from tokidoki has got to be Moofia. Perhaps it is my love for dairy or the fact that these dairy themed characters are spot on. Personally, I am loving the Latte character because yah know... Pink Tea Latte DUH! And the fabulous people at Funky Toys are head over heals for the Moofia chaser (rare character) Bocconcino. 


I am still learning how to use my different lenses for my DSLR Nikon.
Clearly wrong lens here!
Fun fact, tokidoki is a very kawaii in design; however, it is the brain child of Italian artist Simone Legno and the japanese-inspired lifestyle brand is based out of LA. Who knew?!?! Well I did hehe! 

In total, Funky Toys sent me 4 Moofia Blind Boxes and 1 of each: Cactus Kitties, Unicorno Series 4, Unicorno Frenzies & Tokidoki-Hello Kitty. A total of 8 mystery characters to unbox. Ah! I also want to reiterate that the boxes say "this is collectable art" aka these are not toys. Therefore, completely justifiable for a 22 year old fifth year bachelors of science student to have. 

The last thing I want to say before I get into what characters I got is that the amount of detail in the packaging is quite astonishing. These boxes are beautiful! I love time and care that went into designing them all and the fact that the Moofia boxes are little milk cartons - genius absolute genius. 

On to the unboxing!

From the Moofia series I was really hoping to get the Latte character since well Pink Tea Latte duh, but it seems like luck was just not on my side :( Not to fret, I got four really incredibly adorable characters! The first one I unboxed was Half & Half! Loving the attention to detail, the winking expression and the adorable cow horns. Next up was YO! This is the new character that was added, an adorable yogurt container with red sneakers. Again, astonishing attention to detail. 

My favourite one was the one I unboxed next --> Low Fat 2% Milk! Honestly, who does not love a little unicorn milk container with udders on the bottom?! So cute! There is a little something stuck to the "milk" writing, alas manufacturing defect :( but I am going to try and clean it off 

Finally, we got a blushing pink Strawberry Milk Carton. Super sweet with cow horns and a little tail too! All in all, I cannot believe we did not get any repeats and I get such a diverse array of shapes too hehe :) 



From the Unicorno series 4, perhaps a little redemption, I unboxed Creamino! The little Latte Unicorno!!! AH! And instead of one horn, it has two because cows have two hehe. So this one is a nod to the Moofia series! However, I am disappointed in the quality. I have seen other youtubers state that there is a drastic difference in quality between the series 4 and prior series. The paint job is splotchy and not completely opaque as well, it seems not well assembled. Hoping Tokidoki realized a decline in product quality and will switch the manufacturer for upcoming Unicornos. 



Next, I unboxed the itty bitty unicorno frenzies aka phone charms. We got an adorable little pink Unicorno named Bellina. She has the Till Death Do Us Part Tokidoki character's Adios and Ciao Ciao on her bum. Haha as I had promised in the video, I am getting up to date on my Tokidoki characters! The unicorno frenzies quality is amazing, so again, not sure what happened with the Unicorno Series 4 in terms of product quality. 


The most tiniest blind box from Tokidoki has got to be the Cactus Kitties. I unboxed a badass little black cactus kitty named Bandito who came with an itty bitty salmon which he of course stole because he is a burglar hehe! But even though the box is minuscule, there is a huge amount of detail jammed in onto it! Also, I believe the Cactus Kitties are the only Tokidoki blind boxes that come with an accessory to the figure. 

We are at our 8th, and final blind box sent to me by Funky Toys :( The Tokidoki Hello Kitty Blind box. We got Hello Kitty dressed as Donutella! Haha so cute! Doughnuts are always a good way to end things hehe. 

I am looking forward to all the new blind boxes being released this year, 2016, from Tokidoki: Moofia series 2 - OMG YES! - Unicorno Frenzies 2, & Mermicornos!!! Definitely keep your eyes out for them because girl, we all need a little 4 Litre milk jug from Moofia in our lives hehe. 

Also, a huge thank you again to Funky Toys for sending me all these blind boxes!! You can find all of the ones in this post either in their two locations in Montreal or online at www.funkytoys.net 

If you want to see more posts like this and think that youtube video was not too bad and would want me doing more, please let me know in the comments below!

BYES

Wednesday 10 February 2016

Gurly's Life | Feeding the Koi Fish at the Telus Gardens


 
Hi Dolls!

The other day I was at The Telus Gardens studying for an upcoming midterm of mine. I love studying there because I find the water display to be extremely calming. Specifically the open stream inside with gorgeous koi fish. 

These Koi fish are beautiful. A mixture of deep reds, oranges, whites and blacks, honestly abstract art. But I am also a sucker for the Koi fish that have gold glittery scales! So cute and SHINYYYYY + GOLD! hehe


I was sitting on the ground just mesmerized at the cute little fishies swimming about when I thought, why not ask the security desk if they have any fish food? I am so glad that I did ask because he was thrilled that I came up and asked versus feeding the Koi Fish human food. You do not want to be feeding them crumbs and other odds and bits you have because it makes the Koi fish really sick and they will die :( 

He was all up for me feeding the fish and told me to grab a handful of the fish food pellets and I went back over and sat on the ground and fed the fishiesss! Probably the highlight of my day! I think I sat there for a half hour feeding them. They were so cute! And I was surprised that they actually would follow my hand with the fish food - sign of intelligence! 


At one point, the Koi fish I guess got a little over excited and one of the leapt out of the water completely startling me! Needless to say, I let out a loud shriek, but followed by lots and lots of giggles hehe. 

Thought I would just share this because I had so much fun and it made me extremely happy and yah! And as a public service announcement to not feed the Koi Fish human food and if you really want to feed them, kindly ask security and they will be happy to give you fish food! 

BYES

Sunday 7 February 2016

2016 Hot Chocolate Festival | Diva at the Met


Hey Hey Dolls!

I want to start off with a warning: THIS IS SCALDING HOT! 

The Citrus Zensation is honestly served scalding hot to you so refrain from taking a giant gulp the moment they set it down on your table. Yes, I indeed did burn my tongue. Yes, I took a sip a moment later and again burned my tongue... haha

Okay, now backing up a little in this story all the way to the very beginning. I do not know if I just happened to have a very grumpy bar tender (if you are seated in the lounge, the bar tender serves you), but he assembled the hot chocolate prior to bringing it to the table. And let me just say... the gorgeous decorations at the top, sunk faster then the titanic. That thing plummeted to the bottom and I literally only snapped these two pictures :( So I actually did not even get to admire all the hard work put in by the pastry chefs in creating the ornate white chocolate topper. I cannot even tell you what the powder is at the top and I think there was a freeze dried raspberry?? 

Anyways, just wish they placed the decoration onto the hot chocolate at your table. But at least I was able to capture the glorious sinking. 



Onto the flavour! As its name states, this is a citrus infused hot chocolatey goodness :) I am a huge citrus lover - at any given moment, I will have a carton of Tropicana Orange Juice and an unopened backup carton ready - so this hot chocolate was made for me. Perhaps that is why I could not contain myself and needed to take a sip the instant it arrived. It is bold and the raspberry citrus flavours really complimented the silky smooth dark chocolate. And I also suggest taking a spoon to scoop out the milk chocolate that settled at the bottom, because it tastes amazing melted with the hot chocolate. 

The Citrus Zensation is served with a pistachio financier. Personally, the pistachio flavour was quite overwhelming and did not compliment the citrus flavours of the hot chocolate. As well, it was very very very pistachio. Perhaps a spongey lemon loaf would have been more appropriate. 

As I have been doing with all my hot chocolates from this year's festival. I am rating them from 1 being meh to 5 being amazing in four different categories. 

Chocolatiness - 4 the citrus was stronger
Flavour - 4 
Visual - 4 --- I did not get to admire the decorations
Accompaniment - 2 it was a little out of place the pistachio

Overall, a very well done hot chocolate. It warmed me up from head to toe leaving a warm fuzzy feeling hehe. 

Be sure to check out my thoughts on the other hot chocolates I have tried so far for this year's hot chocolate festival: East Van Roosters49th Parallel , Thierry and The Last Crumb Bakery

BYES