Edible Obsessions | La Mezcaleria Gastown

Hey Dolls,

I have two favourite cuisines - Mexican and Italian. I love the two so much that I once put spaghetti in a taco shell and ate it. For those shaking their head, my spaghetti taco was delicious! Since I have yet to come across a Mexican Italian fusion restaurant in Vancouver, I just pick between the two. This time, I went for Mexican at La Mezcaleria in Gastown. Funny thing, my friend and I were heading to Chambar when we spotted La Mezcaleria. Needless to say, we did a 180 and re-routed to La Mezcaleria!

La Mezcaleria did not disappoint with their traditional mexican dishes. The Chefs make a conscious decision to source ingredients locally as well as only using ocean-wise sustainable seafood in all of their delicious creations. Of course, certain ingredients cannot be sourced locally and are imported from Mexico, but they try their best. 

In place of the wine list, La Mezcaleria kept it true to their Mexican roots by offering an impressive array of Mezcals - a spirit distilled from cooked agave hearts - as well as authentic Mexican Tequila - primarily made from the blue agave plant. Definitely check out La Mezcalaria if you enjoy a good shot of tequila or two because they will not disappoint.

Since food is more my jam, I did not get into the Mescals and Tequilas and instead stuck to the food menu. Between my friend and I, we had a mini Mexican feast! I ordered the chicken and chorizo enchiladas classicas. This enchilada was bursting with flavour and smothered in amazing salsa asada, topped with queso (a cheese), onion, crema and cilantro. My only complaint would be that the enchiladas did not come with a side. At other restaurants, enchiladas generally are served with Mexican rice and re fried beans. Mexican rice is delicious, so I was a little bummed that La Mezcaleria did not serve their enchilada with Mexican rice. Especially since enchiladas are very rich and dense, so the rice helps balance the dish. 

My friend went with a Pescado Baja taco as well as the Al Pastor taco. The Pescado Baja was a beer battered seasonal fish finished with salsa Mexicana fresca, cabbage, cilantro and chipotle mayo. The beer batter made this taco a little greasy. I personally do not enjoy deep fried greasy food, but the flavour was good. The second taco, Al Pastor, was pork marinated in achiote, served with diced pineapple, onion, cilantro and lime. I did not try this one, but it looked really good! 

The lights at La Mezcaleria were beautiful against the original brick wall. 

Between the two of us, we also shared a side, the Esquites. This is a traditional Mexican dish of sauteed corn kernels mixed in with gueso fresco, crema, Maldon sea salt and tajin. If you go to La Mezcaleria, I highly suggest getting the Estquites because it was refreshing and really helped balance out the richer dishes. 

I really want to get out to La Mezcaleria with a big group of friends so I can try their infamous Queso Fundido! Its Mezcaleria's signature dish of molten cheese fondue served piping hot in a traditional volcanic stone bowl - a "molcajete." I looked fantastic and it took so much self restraint to not order one for the two of us, but it honestly is just too much for two individuals. But I cannot wait to try this next level chip and dip! 

BYES

Local Love | Landyahtz Bikes

Hey Dolls,

A few weeks back, I attended the media launch party for Landyachtz Bikes, a long established skateboarding company dipping its toes into the world of two wheels. This Canadian company has over 19 years of hard work and experience in crafting high quality skateboards is finally fulfilling their goal of making road bikes. Co-founders, Mike Perreten and Tom Edstrand, were all smiles during the night as they showed off their new line of premium road bikes. 

Committed to their company's core values of quality, craftsmanship, innovation in design, and community cultivation, the two have spent countless months researching, designing and testing to create a bike with maximum rider enjoyment. An attest to their standing quality, all of their preliminary frame designs were put through rigorous tests, including the drop test! This was evident by the multiple dings their tester bikes sported haha. 

The first of the two bike designs is the 1146 Bike, a nod to their workspace on Union Street Vancouver. The bike frame is made using high end Columbus Steel Tube for a smooth bump-free ride. The geometry of the bike frame was designed for speed and precision steering. The Landyahtz 1146 Bike is customizable to fit each rider's needs; however, customization also means a longer wait time. With their current orders, expect a few months before your bike is ready to be your daily commute buddy. 

The second bike, also constructed with Columbus Steel Tube, is the Landyachtz City Bike. More for urban commuting, the design features flat bars, hydraulic brakes for reliable quick stops and an internal Alfine Hub. For those of us who are not used to bike jargon, the Alfine internal hub is where all the gears of the bike are, so when you shift gears on your bike, they will happen in this closed hub. This means, the gears are not exposed like other bikes. 

The bikes are all hand assembled in Vancouver at their Landyahtz workshop on Union Street. The workshop also happens to open its doors onto one of the busiest commuter streets in the country! Drop by the workshop if you are ever in Strathcona to see where and how the bikes are assembled. If you are looking for one of the 1146 bikes, this is also where the frames are custom welded for your body proportions. You will also discover a full bike ramp inside! However, the coolest part of the workshop, in my opinion, has got to be the pinball machine room! Landyahtz happens to have my all time favourite pinball machine, the Adams Family! I probably spent half of the media event playing pinball! 

I love discovering fabulous companies like Landyahtz that are fabulous Canadian companies producing locally. Let me know in the comments below if there is a company in Vancouver you think I should check out! 

BYES

7 Lattes and Wishes | October Birthday Wish List

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Hey Dolls

It is OCTOBER! My favourite month of the year because it also happens to be my Birthday Month! This wish list is a little more extravagant than my usual wish lists as it is also doubling as my birthday wish list hehe! 

You all are probably wondering, why is there a Blackberry Classic part of your wish list? My beloved Blackberry took a stumble last week and both the LCD and glass broke :( In fact, it actually fell off! A few days were dedicated to the mourning of my fallen best friend and the tragedy has left me phone less. Fingers crossed things are sorted out soon and I am reunited with my blackberry soon! 

I have been wanting to luxury handbag for quite some time, but the price tag is always a huge deterrent for me. This Gucci Soho cross body is tres chic with its simplistic design and gorgeous leather tassel in this stunning rose nude colour. Either this or a classic Prada satchel hehe. 

I am in dire need of a sophisticated wrist watch and I think this Daniel Wellington watch with brown leather straps and rose gold hardware is stunning! I also really want to finally get a pair of Addidas Stan Smiths. They go well with just about any outfit and are amazingly comfortable. I practically walk everywhere I go, so these sneakers would definitely be a favourite for me! 

The right accessories can really bring together an outfit. I hope to get an Adina Reyter necklace in this chic triangle design. Best part, diamonds! Also, it is getting cold out and I have always wanted an iconic Burberry scarf. The maroon to tan ombre is really unique. 

Lastly, yup, that is a planter pot with some fabulous boobs wearing a banana print tank! And yup, I definitely need it in my life! This planter is hand made by an artisan, The Group Partner, in Portland, Oregan. The best part, my mum really liked this planter, so I am going to put it in the main entrance.... I actually do not think my mum realized there are boobies on the planter! Hehe

October is going to be a fabulous month full of lots and lots of pumpkin spiced yummies and knitted sweaters. I am also planning a fun brunch bash for my 23rd birthday! 

What is on your wishlist for October? Let me know in the comments below!

BYES

Geek Latte | Hermès Artisans at Work

Hey Dolls,

Last weekend was a busy weekend in Vancouver. The Royals, Prince Charles and Duchess of Cambridge Kate, flew in from Victoria for a day in Vancouver on Sunday created quite the buzz downtown. Alongside the visiting royals, the Interior Design Show was in full swing at the Convention Centre, but what I was most excited for was the Hermès at Work Exhibition! 

Two of the most coveted and sought after luxury handbags in the world are hand made by Hermès' artisans in France, the Birkin and Kelly. However, to the bewilderment of many, Hermès was originally known for their high-quality saddle, bridal and harnesses for horses when they first opened their doors in 1837. It was exciting to see Hermès still embraces their origins and brought along one of their talented saddle makers. It was intense watching him build the saddle from scratch. The artisan had to use his full body to ensure the stitches and joints of the saddle were taut. Not only could you see a new saddle being constructed, Hermès also brought along some of their very old saddles. They were stunning to look at! To imagine how the craftsmanship has only improved over the century. 

There were also artisans hand-painting bone china as well as assembling Hermès watches and jewelry. I cannot even imagine how steady the hands of those artisans are! The amount of detail that goes into each Hermès is astonishing. This was only further illustrated by the Silk Printers. 

My favourite exhibition to watch were the silk printers. The other station tables were very small, so with me being short, I could not see what was happening when there were others in front of me. Lucky for me, the screen printing table was 4 meters in length, so I was able to wiggle my way to the front! Also, the two artisan's working at this station were full of energy and really integrated everyone who was gathered to watch. 

I was astonished to learn that one scarf takes 24 months to complete! The silk screeners explained that an Hermès scarf begins with the silk cocoons which are first spun and weaved into gorgeous silk. The silk is then prepared for silk screening which is what the artisans demonstrated. Each colour requires its own screen; therefore, a scarf with 23 colours will have 23 different screens. To me, the screen printing seemed easy; however, it requires a certain finesse as well as experience to know which squeegee to use and what order to lay the colours down. So even though I thought I could jump up there and screen print a scarf, it probably will not turn out really nice! 

Once the design has been completely inked, the scarfs go through some more processing to ensure the inks adhere to the silk fibers. Also, the inks are developed by the Hermès screen printers to ensure the pigments look amazing on a finished scarf. Adjacent to the screen printing station, an artisan was completing the final stage of an Hermès scarf, sewing the hand rolled hem. I cannot even imagine how many artisans work on a single scarf from beginning to end. 

Of course, the best for last, the Kelly handbag was being assembled from scratch by one of their master craftsman. Ahhh! The Kelly she was working on was in the iconic Hermès shade of orange with silver hardware. She made precision cuts from the leather, hand painted and sealed each edge, made holes for the stitches and of course then hand stitched the entire Kelly. Every single process was completed by hand. Some of the tools she used are still the same type of tools that were used decades back. Of course, the edge sealer is now electronic and not heated over a flame anymore! 

Hermès' Artisans at Work has really given me a new appreciation for the luxuary house. Their artisans were all flown in from France and were accompanied by translators who explained it in english for us non-french speaking Vancouverites. If Hermès exhibition does come by your city, you really should take the time to visit it. Even if you are like me and do not own a single item from Hermès, it is honestly, simply put, COOL to watch and learn from the artisans! 

BYES

Local Love | Mobi Bike Share Program

Mobi Bike! I like the baskets, as you can see, I have my backpack in the basket. 

Hello Dolls!

There is something new, blue and on two wheels that have been popping up all over Vancouver this summer: Mobi Bike Share! The Vancouver bike sharing program had its soft opening on July 20th. At that time, only "founding members," the first adopters who chose to purchase a year pass had access to the program only. Not to worry if you did not grab a founding members pass, Mobi has now gone public and everyone can hop on a Mobi Bike with a daily or monthly pass. 

As the summer goes on, Mobi plans on expanding from its current 64 stations with 600+ bikes to a total of 150 stations with 1,500 bikes. At this time, Mobi services are within the downtown peninsula; bounded by Arbutus street and 16th avenue and Main street. Expect to see a Mobi bike station every 2 to 3 blocks. 

I decided to check out Mobi bikes to find out how the bike sharing program works, as well as, why bike sharing is a great option. 

Starting with why it is amazing that Vancouver now has a bike sharing option!

If you study at UBC or ride a bike as your daily commute in Vancouver, you are probably well aware of the ridiculously high number of bike thefts that take place within the lower mainland. I am not exaggerating, just this past year, 2015, a total of 3,132 reports of stolen bikes were filed with the Vancouver Police Department. When I was on the Varsity Men's Rowing team at UBC, my coach came in one practice with a gorgeous brand new carbon fiber frame bike. Unfortunately, none of us even imagined that my coach's bike would be stolen within the week. More astonishingly, a friend of mine had his bike stolen right from inside his own work office! Now that is ludicrous! 

I refuse to ride a bike without a helmet, so it is amazing that every Mobi bike has a helmet with them. They may not be the most stylish accessory to wear, but they can save you in a fatal accident.

A bike share program is really going to help alleviate the stress of having your bike stolen as well as being tampered with. Furthermore, Vancouver has great weather year round and we have a lot of bike infrastructure in place. Such as the numerous bike lanes along main roads as well as the sea walls making Vancouver a prime candidate for a bike share program. The Vancouver demographic is health conscious, outdoorsy and is always at the forefront of environmental initiatives. The Mobi bikes are really going to help reduce our carbon foot print and hopefully traffic congestion. 

I put Mobi to the test and went for a bike ride around downtown to figure out what I liked and things that I was not too sure about. Here are my thoughts:

• The France-manufactured bikes are very sturdy, but the bikes frames are on the heavier side. 
• Checking out the bike from the station was fairly simple. Scanned the Mobi fob, entered the pin and the bike was unlocked. 
• I like how they were smart about putting the bike lock into the handle bars to save space. Therefore, if you do need to lock up the bike for a quick moment, you simply pull out the bike lock from the handlebars. 
• Though helmets are provided, the current ones are pretty big. No matter how tight I made the straps, the helmet would fall forward or back. Furthermore, the helmets are sanitized only once a week and deep cleaned once a month. Mobi does plan on providing helmet liners in the future. They also plan on getting new helmets that will hopefully fit my small head better. 
• I spin bike quite a bit, so I found the gears on the bike really did not provide much resistance. However, if you tend to not bike often, the 7 available gears should be enough. 
• All of the bikes frames are the same size with adjustable seat heights. I am 5ft 1inch TALL and I had to have the bike seat all the way to the bottom. Perhaps Mobi can look into providing two different sizes?
• I like how there is a basket on the front to store your bag/items as well the bungee cords ensure your items will not fall out during your ride. 
• If you look closely, you will notice a light on the rear bike cover. The light automatically turns on while you are pedalling. I really like this feature as it will definitely increase your visibility if you biking in the dark to alert any motorists/pedestrians as well as other bikers around of your presence. 
• If I have trouble with using Mobi, it is great to know that there is 24/7 support available. 
• A hinderance to using Mobi would be their price point. It practically matches the already very steep Translink pricing and far exceeds other bike sharing program in Canada. I would like to see it become more accessible not just in location, but also in affordability. 

To retrieve a bike from a station, you use the keypad on the handlebar.
The helmets secure to the bike via the bike lock.

I definitely see the bike sharing program proliferating in Vancouver. The program is still very new and will most likely go through a lot of fine tuning and adjustments to suit Vanocuverites best. I hope to see Mobi achieve the meaning behind their name "more bikes" since it is a healthy commuter choice and also has the added benefit of reducing traffic congestion. 

BYES

7 Lattes & Wishies | Autumn Loves!

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Hello Autumn!

The transition from the warm sunfilled days to chillier grey days can be frustrating. Especially if you are like me and prefer shorts over pants any day. In fact, my employer will attest to me begrudgingly changing into slacks at the beginning of all my shifts. 

But once I accept that I will need to wear pants and put my cute little shorts in storage till it is warm again, Autumn is in fact a beautiful time of the year! The changing of the leaves from crisp bright green to warm reds, oranges and yellows is stunning. It is also a time of warm hot cocoa accompanied by spiced apple pies. It is a cozy season when you get to pull out your knitted sweaters and cute boots. My birthday also happens to be during autumn, so of course I love fall! 

There are some things that just go hand in hand with autumn. When I think of fall, I imagine myself cozy in a thick knitted wool sweater with my fingers wrapped around a cute mug. Of course, I will be sipping the ultimate fall drink - a Pumpkin Spice Latte! Hate me, but we all love pumpkin spice lattes! My favourite sweaters are from Aritzia since the majority of their sweaters are knit with natural fibers such as merino wool, cashmere, and cotton. Natural fibers are just far cozier than polyester will be as well, merino wall blend sweaters are amazingly soft! I think it is time I grabbed myself a monogrammed mug because I am a little possessive when it comes to drink ware. Hopefully with the cute "G" on this mug, it will hinder others from borrowing my mug. 

My ears are quite sensitive to the cold, so my favourite go to accessory during the cool days are knitted toques with a big pom pom on top. I just find them really cute! Alongside my toques, I love wearing knee length riding boots. A good pair of leather boots can dress up any outfit. I am dying for this Tory Burch pair because they have an iconic equestrian riding boot shape. As the days cool down, I pull out my jackets. Early fall is still too warm for parkas and wool coats, but you still need a light jacket. Trench coats can really bring together an outfit and nothing is more iconic than the Burberry trench coat. Fingers crossed that I can save enough money and get myself one as a birthday present to me!

When it is a rainy evening, I like to spend them indoors curled up in a blanket as I watch Netflix. This one is a little weird, I sort of really want to get a silk robe to lounge around in on those days in! Haha 

I am really excited for autumn and cannot wait for my birthday! Let me know in the comments below what you love about autumn and what items are a must for you during the season! 

BYES

Edible Obsessions | Dinner at the Nook

Hi Dolls!

Sometimes, you just need some classic comforting italian food for dinner. I was craving just that, pefectly al dente pasta with some hand tossed thing crust oven fired pizza. I was on the west end of Robson st when I spotted Nook out of the corner of my eye. I have been wanting to try Nook for quite sometime and perhaps it was meant to be that night!

Nook is an adorable little italian restaurant with amazing energy. You will see the crackling fire in the back where the Pizza Chefs prepare their decadent savoury pies. Unfortunately, like all the amazing restaurants who have limited seating, there are no reseravations at Nook. Be prepared to wait for a table and I highly suggest groups of less than 4 or you may end up waiting a long time for a table. 

Between my friend and I, we got the Ricotta pizza as well as two different pastas, the Caserrecce and Campanelle. The pizza was delicious! This was probably my first time having a white sauce pizza and I can definitely see myself ordering another one in the future. I also appreciate the Chefs at Nook being generous with the toppings because I hate when I get a pizza that was so little toppings that the pizza is essentially a cheese pizza. 

The Ricotta Pizza had a layer of white ricotta sauce which was covered by baby spinach. The pizza was finished with chopped olives, and sweet roasted garlic cloves. Be sure to ask for their chili oil. Drizzle it over your slice for more flavour!

The Caserrece is a fabulous red sauce pasta tossed with italian sausage, roasted fennel, chopped olives, tomatoes and for a little kick, chilies. This was probably the winner for me. It had great flavour and was different from pastas I have had in the past. 

The Campanelle was an olive oil based pasta with broccolini, pine nuts and Calabrian chilies. It was my first time trying a pasta with olive oil as the sauce. I liked the broccolini in the pasta; however, since there was no sauce and only olive oil, I found the Campanelle to be bland. Of course, just because I did not like it, does not mean you will not! I guess I am more of a suace sort of person! 

We were left stuffed from this meal and actually had no room for dessert! I know...CRAZY! I passed up dessert! 

I might try out Nook's second location in Kitsilano as they have a couple of different pastas. I also really just want to try their classic spaghetti Pomodoro!

BYES