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The Teahouse in Stanley Park

We were in Vancouver visiting family and we took a day off to just do a bit of sight-seeing at Stanley Park, where we went to visit the Aquarium, and then found ourselves a little hungry for an early dinner. We ventured off a few sight seeing stops after the Aquarium, where we found The Teahouse at Stanley Park where we decided to have an early dinner – or a late snack!

We decided to sit outside on the patio to soak up the view, even though it was chilly. They did have heaters which really helped! What a gorgeous place – and apparently both tourists and locals visit this restaurant. I thought it would be specifically aimed for tourists, but it’s always nice to see restaurants like this have lots of locals too! I ordered a Hot Tea and it was a much needed hot tea to warm me up from the inside out!

We weren’t sure what to order since it was an odd time to eat. It was around 4PM, and the waitress recommended we try their Happy Hour special with Fresh Mussels & a Stanley Park Beer, so of course, we did! We definitely wanted to try the Stanley Park Beer and it was a nice beer! It wasn’t too light, but it wasn’t very bitter either. The plate of mussels that came to the table was huge and it even had a side of fries with it! It was delicious and seafood is just not the same when you’re near a large body of water!

Right away, after we ordered, a large basket of bread and butter came to our table! This was great, it’s like we’ve suddenly turned this strange late night snack to dinner all by itself! The bread was really fresh, and it was great to use to soak up all the juices from the mussels!

Okay, now after we got all the starters out, we still ordered some appetizers! We really wanted to try their Salt & Pepper Squid, and we got an order of it. It was really good, fried till it was crispy, but the squid was still tender and soft. It sat on some lime aioli, and topped with some jalapeno peppers! It was a delicious take on the “salt & pepper” I’m use to!

Now that we’ve had so much food, we decided to not order a full entree… and we opted out for some side instead. We’re still on a seafood mission/tread, so we got a side of Grilled 4oz Salmon and Albacore Tuna which made a great sample platter! The grilled salmon was my favourite, but the tuna was delicious! I loved them both and if I was to return, I would get the same thing again!

Overall, the experience here was top notch! The waitress was fantastic, the scene was divine, and the food was perfect! The best part about the Teahouse was the the prices are so reasonable, you weren’t paying a premium to have this great location!

The Teahouse on Urbanspoon

The Teahouse

Ferguson Point
Vancouver, BC V6G3E2
(604) 669-3281

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Sweet Obsession Cakes & Pastries

I love dessert, and while I was in Vancouver, I met up with a good friend that suggested we’d do dessert! Now, why did I not think about a suggestion like that! She recommended that we’d meet up at a place called Sweet Obsession Cakes which by the sound of the name is a place I will be obsessed with – and I am!

This store front is tucked away on a strip plaza and it’s a small but intimate with tons of sweets in the store! I love stores like this, so I was extremely content the moment we stepped foot into this cafe! The display cases were full of cakes even though it was becoming late in the day, and there was still a lot of people in and out of the cafe!

I sat down and ordered my favourite drink, the Chai Tea Latte which was really creamy and flavourful!

I couldn’t decide which piece of cake I wanted, but I finally settled on the Neopolitan Cake which was a chocolate cake with layers of vanilla butter cream and incorporated into the cream was raspberries and raspberry coulis! What a sweet treat, and it reminded a lot of “Black Forest Cake” taken to new heights!

The other piece of cake that I wanted to try was the Roasted Coconut Chiffon Cake, where my friend said she’ll try that piece and give me a bite to sample! It was soo good, and it wasn’t overly sweet – which I really like! You can definitely tell there was coconut flavours in this delicate chiffon cake. In between the layers of the coconut chiffon cake was coconut toffee and coconut butter cream. I wouldn’t mind getting a slice of this myself next time I’m there! I am a huge fan of coconut flavours!

The last piece of cake we ordered for the night was the Dulce de Leche Cake which looks overly sweet, but in reality, it was quite well balanced with the cinnamon flavoured vanilla chiffon layered with dulce de leche and pecans with milk chocolate ganache. The cake did get too sweet when the only thing left was just the ganache and no cake!

Sweet Obsession Cakes & Pastries on Urbanspoon

Sweet Obsession Cakes & Pastries

2611 W 16th Ave
Vancouver, BC V6K3X5
(604) 739-0555

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Kraft MiO Liquid Water Enhancer – Strawberry Watermelon

I’ve been looking for a great alterative to powder to flavour up my drinks. Even though bottled flavoured water is great, I like the option of having it in my own cups/mugs without doing a transfer! My first MiO that I got to try was Strawberry Watermelon flavour, and I quite like it. For about $4.00 Canadian, the little bottle says you can get about 24 drinks. I find on some days, I like a subtle taste, so I use a lot less of the flavouring… where as other days, I almost want it like a juice, so I use more. Overall, it has lasted quite a long time, so it appears like a good deal. And, best of all, it has made me drink more water – which is the ultimate goal!

To use this product, I actually like to squirt the water enhancer in the bottom of my cup/mug first, and then pour the water in… so it mixes it for me! The bottle is quite well designed, where the flavours don’t pour out or anything. So, it’s great to travel with if you want. Only time something comes out is if you’re squeezing the bottle – which gets trickier when you’re near the bottom of the bottle. The flavour does squirt out quite a powerful stream, so be careful!

After the strawberry watermelon has been diluted with the amount of water you want, it’s a pretty colour and it tastes great! It is different than other water flavours, but not in a bad way, and it’s not too sweet! I don’t mind going out and trying more flavours!

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Milestones – Top Chef Inspired Menu – Calgary

Last year, we watched Top Chef Canada which is a featured program on Food Network Canada. Last year when it was on, they had a competition throughout the series where some of the winning chefs dishes get features at Milestones. This year, we did the same and it was great!

The menu for the Top Chef Canada feature this year wasn’t really a “choice” option. It featured 1 appetizer, 1 main course and 1 dessert. Me being me, I ordered the entire meal, and started off with Tomato Gazpacho served with mini bacon, cucumber and tomato sandwich. It was pretty refreshing as it’s a chilled soup with a mini sandwich!

The main course was a European Seabass, which wasn’t bad. It was a piece of seabass that sat on a bed or rice, with roasted fennel and orange glazed radish. The lemon slices was really refreshing. Overall, this was a good dish, except for the rice on the bottom. It was really hard, and gooey rice, which isn’t the best rice.

Finally, the dessert that I enjoyed was the Apple Bacon Tart which was a warm apple tart with crispy bacon in walnut crust – topped with blue cream cheese and basil

Overall, the meal was a decent one. I can’t say I loved it, but it was still quite delicious!

Milestones (Southcentre Mall) on Urbanspoon

Milestones – SouthCentre

90 Anderson Rd SE
Calgary, AB T2J
(403) 225-1150

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Radisson Toronto East

We’ve been going to Toronto annually now for the last 3 years and we love it in Toronto. We stay at Radisson Toronto East primarily due to location. Each time we’ve stayed here, it seems to get better – so that’s a major plus. One thing I noticed this year was the fact there was a guest parking fee now of $8! We never had that on our bill before.

We really like the location of this hotel as it’s just off of Macdonald-Cartier Freeway (Highway of Heros – 401) and Victoria Park Avenue which are main arteries for easy commute. Our family lives in the area East of the hotel, and we’re up at Pacific Mall a lot – so the location is just wonderful.

The hotel itself seems like a typical hotel, and it’s been showing it’s age every year. We’ve noticed slight modifications and effort to update the hotel, but I think it still needs more work.

The customer service at this hotel front desk is wonderful. They’re always very accommodating and they take and respond to comments and concerns I address to them. The room we stayed in this year has been updated from the previous years, and the one thing that stands out more than anything else is the convenient single cup coffee maker in the room and a mini-fridge. I really like this feature in my room, as it was really nice and convenient.

Instead of 1 King bed in our suite this year, we had 2 queens, and both beds had the Sleep Number Bed systems which was easy to adjust for comfort. It was really neat as the smaller queen beds still offered a control for both left and right side of the bed, just as the king beds we stayed in previously.

Overall, the hotel is a clean and comfortable place to stay especially with their newly updates to the hotel. The sleep number bed system makes a wonderful bed to unwind and caters to all guests.

Radisson Toronto East

55 Hallcrown Place
Toronto, ON
(416) 493-7000