109. Cherry Blossoms and Food II

(Part I here)

There are still a lot of cherry blossoms in bloom and I hope they stick around for a while. It'll be even more beautiful if there were enough petals to cover the sidewalks and turn it into a pink carpet like in Japan.

 

Yummy fruity waffle at Nero Belgian Waffle Bar. I got the light and crunchy waffle with "all the fruits [they] could find."

Dinner out with the girls at Menya Ramen. I ordered the Tonkotsu Miso Ramen with extra noodles and corn. I also asked for the set menu, which included the yummy pork and veggie gyoza and takikomi onigiri. I asked for thick noodles, but I still prefer ramen noodles like Kintaro's.

108. More Pink Trees

Pretty blossoms before it started raining again... and procrastinating is great.

But really, how is one suppose to study for a course that they know they'll never get over a 90% because of how grading at the University works? It's so demotivating, and even more so when only the top three students can get over 80%. Like, seriously: What are we? I mean, aside from what universities see students as cash cows with a tree growing on our back just sprouting out money all day, everyday.

I bet it's all just a game to them.


It could be finals talking, but I doubt it.

107. Cherry Blossoms and Food

The weather has been great lately. But, it always comes at the wrong time... right now it's Finals Month and yet, we're all just stuck inside studying and cramming to the last possible minute. At least it's better sunny than cloudy and rainy. If it was dark and gloomy, studying will be much harder.

106. A Dilemma

My personality is one that tends to keep everything bottled up inside instead of talking it out with someone, which is why around winter time in December, I explode. But, only once per year at that time. I realized that this was not good for my health and started to release some things that I usually keep bottled up to trusted good friends. However, sometimes instead of feeling good about it afterwards, I feel not so good.

I'm not the type of person to talk about people behind their backs. I find it dishonest and immoral. I also feel like a horrible person when I do. But, I usually don't do it unless they really burst my bubble and go to the extremes beyond what is accepted as a good and respectable human being.

When I do complain about them, I feel like a big, fat weight was lifted up from my shoulders. But, afterwards, I feel bad that I complained about them... even though I usually have very good reasons to!

What are you suppose to do in these kinds of situations? Where if you don't tell someone and just keep it bottled up, it distracts you from doing other things and messes you up, but if you do tell someone, you feel bad afterwards nonetheless?

What a dilemma.

105. Worst Nightmare

One of my worst nightmares came to life today.

My first class was cancelled so that made the beginning of my day pretty good, but my second class of the day was when it all started.

I walked to the building using a different route than usual because I wasn't rushing from class to class today, and as I've basically just gotten out of bed and still wasn't quite awake yet, I walked up three flights of stairs to reach my class. As I got to my destination, the doors to the hallway were closed. I tried pushing and pulling on the doors, but they both didn't budge. Suddenly, someone from behind me asked "Do you need something?" Startled, I turned back and sheepishly asked, "Isn't this the third floor?" And this man replied, "No, this is where the labs are... on the fourth floor." So, I basically walked up three flights of stairs thinking three flights = third floor and embarrassed myself first thing in the morning. Lovely, just lovely.

After that mini incident, I walk back down to the right floor this time, and go to the washroom seeing as I still had some time left before class started. And it was a good thing I did because just when I was done washing my hands and throwing out the paper towel, the fire alarm went off. This is the first time I have ever experience a fire alarm going off inside a building (first year residences don't count).

Once I heard the alarm, I bounced. I bee-lined for the door and walked back down two flights of stairs to get out. I started seeing other groups pouring out and found my classmates. Shortly after, a firetruck came. It wasn't anything serious, in fact, it was probably a prank seeing as how none of the firefighters were in their full gears and uniforms and just took their sweet time.

This whole incident took around twenty minutes. The lecture still went on, I still walked up five flights of stairs and down three flights of them before class even started, and one of my worst nightmares came true: having the fire alarm ringing when I'm in the washroom. Well, it was a good thing that I went first, I guess.

104. What's Happening

If you got the reference to B1A4 (Korean boy group) song, What's Happening or What's Going On, you are cool.

Here's what's been happening recently in pictures!

 

It snowed pretty hard during one weekend (and snowed a bit again this weekend) that there were lots of snowmen created. There were a lot of interesting snowmen built on campus (including a fail Totoro).

I went to Tim Horton's for lunch to eat and study and got their Chili soup combo. I took out all the red beans in the soup because I don't like red beans (and didn't want to have gas haha), and when they were all out, I realized the beans made up about 1/8 of the soup.

I got my first Instax camera! It's FujiFilm's Instax Mini 8 in a cute baby blue colour! The only thing I did with it was take it out of its bubble wrap, attach the string on it, put it back in its bubble wrap and then back in its box and into the closet. I still don't know when I should use it...!

I passed by The Bay on my way back from a trip with a friend and always wanted to take a picture of this gigantic white moose sculpture they have on display. It's pretty cool. Next time I want to get a picture next to it!

That's pretty much what has been happening. Starting next week my schedule is all booked up in preparation for a midterm for my major while juggling club activities and various assignments and essays from other courses.

This weekend isn't over yet and I can't wait for the next already!

103. Sharks at Bella Cermica

After waffles, we went off in smaller groups and decided where to go next from there. Since everyone had time until dinner, we were thinking of either going shopping or being tourists at Stanley Park since the weather was nice and sunny for once. After deliberating for a good five or so minutes, a friend suggested we go paint cups, and a great suggestion indeed! None of us except her had done so and we were all excited. I had been to the store before with her, but didn't sit down and paint last time since we were just picking up something.

There were a lot of choices... it took me a long time to decide what I wanted to paint!

So many choices!!

More choices in these boxed compartments!

In the end I chose a shark to gift my brother for his birthday.

Before its "makeup" transformation. 

After choosing the model, I had to choose the "makeup".

 Even more choices!

Choices... choices everywhere!

 After its "makeup" transformation.

The hearts for the eyes are actually done in pop up paint so once it has been fired in the kiln, the paint will show its true colours and the eyes would seem to "pop out".

My brother and I don't actually get along as much as I would like to, but I do love to troll the kid. They saying playing pranks and whatnot bring two people closer, and this is my effort.

After painting and paying, we left. While waiting for the bus, I saw this interesting... sculpture?

Looks really cool, doesn't it?

102. Waffles Gone Wild

1 cute cafe + 5 yummy waffles + 5 great friends = 1 great outing.

Three of us ended up ordering the same waffle: Fruity Heaven, while two others ordered Matcha Waffle. I was debating between Fruity Heaven or Matcha, but ended up with Fruity Heaven because I was really craving fruits.

You'll think that because we ordered the same thing, they would all look the same! Well, guess again! For each plate, they decorated it with cute hand drawn pictures to liven up the dish, and to add some cuteness to it! Let me show you the ways...

 Now some close up shots of this deliciousness!

This is Fruit Heaven (banana, strawberry, whipped cream, ice cream with strawberry jam on top of waffle).

This is Matcha Waffle (red bean, ice cream, matcha mochi ice cream, whipped cream, strawberries on top of waffle).

And here are some pictures of the cafe's interior design.

A wall where polariods are taken of their customers and hung up.

That's me with my friends! Tin Tin is surprised to see us five sexy ladies (hehehe).

Hand drawn take out boxes! Aren't they adorable?!

I couldn't take a picture of the washroom for various reasons, but it was a very nice washroom! The theme was wood and it had a very calming and spa-like feel to it. The toilet seat was wooden, which I thought was really cool, and despite the sink being very small, it was really neat and organized. It was kind of like a home sauna room.

I had a great time and will definitely be back!

101. Kintaro Ramen

Last Thursday, I finally had my first bowl of Kintaro's famous miso ramen. I went with a very close friend and we waited what-felt-like-forever-because-I-was-starving time. During the wait, I could just smell all that good soup and see the yummy ingredients coming together to complete the final bowl. It was wonderful.

But, what was even more wonderful was that it was able to be mine soon, very soon. We both ordered their signature miso ramen dish and asked for rich soup. There were three options for the soup: rich, medium, or light. They also had an option for the chashu pork to be lean or fat, I chose lean and my friend chose fat.

Once we were seated, our food didn't take long to arrive. Or maybe it was because we were fascinated by the cook and their technique. The cook also tasted the soup, which I must praise because not many cooks do that. He would definitely make Gordon Ramsay proud. "Taste everything" as Ramsay would say.

Anyways, our ramen came and we dove right in (just thinking about it makes me hungry). No words, just nods of satisfaction. The praising came afterwards when we've had enough to quench our stomach's rumbling. Or my stomach rumbling at least.

Although there weren't that many ingredients in the ramen itself (it had noodles and soup obviously, some greens, corn, bean sprout, bamboo shoots, and some slices of chashu pork), it was enough to fill me up near the end and more than enough to create this delicious dish of all that is good.

One thing that I would change for next time though would be the soup option. I found the rich a bit too salty and strong for me, so next time I will try medium. And if that's still a bit much, then light. I definitely don't mind coming back here more often.

What's funny is that we actually decided to go for Mongolian Grill, but on the bus there, we passed our stop and realized that since Kintaro was nearby, we headed there instead.

I'm glad we missed our stop, or else it would have taken a long time for me to have this mouthwatering ramen.

100. 2 Decades

I have lived for two decades so far, not centuries. I made the mistake the first time I said it, but I got it right after that little embarrassment.

My birthday this year was the best so far and let me tell you why:

1. The day was beautiful! Cold, but beautiful!

(Left: On the skytrain to Richmond | Right: Life Sciences Centre building on campus)

2. I was able to get closer to a very quiet classmate and we walked around campus and chatted for an hour getting to know each other
3. Discovering cool new things on campus with classmate-now-friend

(Both: Full on chalkboard on the wall where the elevator is | Can you guess what I drew?)

3. b) Finding out Bruce Wayne was there

4. I didn't have to pay for my Starbucks drink because it was my birthday!
5. The Starbucks barista wrote 'Happy Birthday' on my cup, but I forgot to take a picture of it before I finished it and threw it away

(Non-existent picture here please)

6. I ate good food

(Top Left: interior design of restaurant | Top Right: Chicken Teriyaki and Fried Chicken Wings (yum) | Bottom Left: insanely sweet hot honey lemon tea | Bottom Right: Noodles for longevity!)

7. There were cool new displays up at the mall nearby where we ate (a mini garden inside the mall with a bridge and a statue of a man reading)

8. I finished off the celebration by sharing Banana Splits with a friend (@ Marble Slab)

9. Finding out where my vanity comes from #itsinthegenes #familyinheritance

(Please excuse my dad's lame English)

10. Sharing my birthday with my friends and receiving thoughtful presents! Apparently when they saw the gift, they went "It's Milly". I love it when people buy me presents while thinking of me, gets me all melted cheese inside, you know?

Couldn't have asked for a better birthday myself!