Jan-chan’s Tidbits

Ever since I had the car accident I’ve been wondering if I’d see the car that I rear ended again.

Well this morning, at the same intersection where the accident happened, that car was right in front of me again! It’s exactly the same situation, he was in front of me and we’re both waiting in the left turn lane. It was scare. I had to do a double take to make sure it’s the same car. How can I tell? Well I didn’t quite remember the license plate but I did remember what his bumper and side panel looked like after I hit him. That’s how I recognized that it’s the same car.

And what is even weirder is that his work place is close to mine! We both headed up the bridge and took the same exit off the highway. I thinking to myself “I hope he doesn’t work in the same building as me.” He took a left turn on the street where I took a right so I guess he works down the road from me. Interesting…yet a bit weird at the same time.

Anyways, I’ll be taking the car for repairs next Monday. Then I’d need to wash the car. I didn’t get a chance to wash it after the road trip to Seattle and it’s super SUPER dirty right now.

Posted in random byte

Tags:random byte

Before we start lets define what a road star is. Basically if you’ve kept a clean driving record (or at least you were not at fault for the accident), after 9 years you’d be a “road star” as termed by ICBC. It actually goes by a scale, you start at zero and every year you’ll get -1 provided that no accidents that is your fault happened.

Now most of you know that I’ve basically taken public transit since I got my driver license. It wasn’t until last June that I finally got a car of my own and started to drive. However the many years of taking the bus had provided me with the road star status, giving me a maximum discount on my car insurance which is a good thing!

Ok on to the main part of the post…(I’m not really thinking right now because I haven’t gotten over what happened yet so what I wrote might seem all over the place, read on and you’ll see). Last Thursday, on my way to work, I stopped along with all the other cars that’s waiting for the left turn lane. I remembered something stung my eye and by reflex, I closed them very quickly (like a longer blink) and at the same time my head dipped down/forward (kinda like I was looking down).  Next thing I know, I felt myself jerked forward and boom! I hit the car in front of me, a green Civic SE. I’m guessing I must have hit the gas when I did the whole “long blink + head down motion”. My first reaction was “Ouch my head/neck!” I had hit my head on the headrest after the impact. I didn’t feel a lot pain at the time because I started to panic. What should I do?! This is the first time I’ve gotten in a car accident. The next thing that went through my head was “Did I imagine this?!” lol. Well after seeing the guy in the Civic look back at me with this “what the hell?” look, I knew it was real. So we did the normal “exchange the info and call ICBC to report the clame” thing after pulling into a side street. All this time I’m having mixed thoughts of: “Shit, how did I end up hitting the guy” + “why is this happening to me” + “I wonder how much this would cost” + “Damn there goes the vacation I was planning to go in the Fall”.

After driving to work and calling Al to let him know about this rear end accident. My coworker actually told me to go home because I look pale. I actually felt sick in my stomach. Maybe it’s from the stress? When I got home I wanted to sleep but the neighbour decided to clean their roof and there were like 5 kids playing outside which made it way too loud to fall asleep and I ended up lying there starring at the ceiling for 1.5 hrs.

As if this isn’t bad enough, my iPhone 3GS decided to give me the black screen of death (with a bonus of the Apple logo) on Saturday. When I left the phone to charge on Friday night it was working perfectly. Saturday when I checked to see if I had any calls. The phone was sluggish so I turned it off, waited 30 seconds then tried to turn it back on. It went dead. All it showed was the Apple logo. I took it to the Apple store that afternoon and the guy behind the bar told me it’s a hardware issue so the only way to “fix” it is to replace the phone. BUT, my warranty expired exactly 14 days ago. This means that in order to replace my phone I need to pay $260 + tax. I can’t believe this is happening. What rotten luck to have a car accident then have the phone die on you in the span of two days? I have a lot of data stored on the phone and all my appointments are on there as well so now I’m trying to remember what I had booked for the next two months so I won’t miss them.

I’m waiting for the iPhone 4 to be in stock as I’d rather upgrade for $399 than pay $260 for an older phone. And I’m using my mom’s old Nokia phone which is only good for calling. I tried to text using the phone and after 15 mins, I give up. Also I don’t have my contact list on my sim card so if you need to reach me, calling me is better and if you insist on texting, please include your name (lol) so I know who you are.

Hopefully I can get my hands on the new phone soon. Feeling pretty shitty the past few days :[ Not even sweets/desserts were cheering me up. Grr.

Posted in random byte

Tags:random byte.rant

The annual night market is here. This year, it’s called the Summer Night Market, which is not to be confused with the “Richmond” Night Market as it is put together by another group. The location, however, is at the same place where Richmond Night Market had been held for the past few years, right off Knight Bridge behind Bridgeport Road.

So far I’ve been to the Night Market more than 4 times already since they opened on May 21. Every time I go, I’d see one or two new vendor at the food section. There are old favourites which I’ve been counting on, such as the place for “wheel cakes”, Xin Jiang BBQ, Korean Street Food where they sell fried whole potatos and Dragon Beard Candies. This year there are a few notable additions such as the Roaming Dragon, BBQ Whole Cuttlefish and Sumo Bites. Well a picture is worth more than words so lets get on with the photos (be prepare to do some scrolling…and drooling) :

Dragon's Beard Candy - We waited 15 mins to get ours.

Making of the Dragon's Beard Candy. It's actually just like cotton candy but has peanut fillings.

Wheel Cakes - one of my favourite snacks at the Night Market.

Wheel cakes in the making.

Wheel cake with custard filling. Also comes with chocolate, peanut butter or red bean.

Vietnamese Dessert - it's like a coconut based drink with different fruits. Very yummy.

Some of the fillings for the Vietnamese Dessert.

Xin Jiang Man BBQ - The best Xin Jiang bbq in the Night Market!

Sumo Bites - one of the many new vendors this year. Have yet to try it but looked promising.

Potatoes from the Korean Street Food stall. Prepare to wait at least 10 minutes to place your order.

Another BBQ place. Didn't catch the name but they had bbq quail eggs and it's near the stall for Sumo Bites.

List of their bbq menu. Looks yummy don't they? Bacon wrapped asparagus and quail eggs.

Here's what they look like. The 3 on the left are the bbq quail eggs wrapped with a strip of bacon and drizzled with Japanese mayo. The 1 on the right is the cheese filled fish cakes.

Hong Kong Waffles - for me it wasn't even close to the real thing

Roaming Dragon - located at the back of the food area. You can't miss this unique looking truck.

Roaming Dragon's menu. I've tried almost everything there except for the fried rice balls.

Korean Tacos from Roaming Dragon.

Pork Belly Sliders from Roaming Dragon. Very yummy.

The average price for most of the food is the same as last year. If I were to have dinner at the market it’d roughly cost me $15-20 which isn’t bad at all considering I get to try a lot of different foods. To save money (so I can eat more food instead of spending it on drinks) I usually don’t buy drinks like bubble tea at the night market. Plus I feel that it’s nothing special as I can get that any where. However, I must stay that if you’re in need of a drink after eating all the above yummy food, your best bet is either the Vietnamese Dessert drinks or Roaming Dragon’s Lychee & Basil Lemonade. The bits of lychee adds texture and sweetens the lemonade while the hint of basil gives it a very refreshing taste.  I heard that Sumo Bites has a ginger cooler. I’ll give that a try next time I head down.

Posted in dining in Vancouver. fun byte. yummy tidbits

Tags:dining in Vancouver.event

Mango Cupcake from Bon Gateau

I’ve been waiting for over a month to attend Vancouver’s 1st Cupcake Challenge since I first heard about it from @followmefoodie. I was excited to see what kind of cupcakes would be at the competition so last Sunday (June 20), I made my way down to Roundhouse Community Center with Al to see what’s in store for us.

When we arrived I was quite surprised to see a room full of people trying to sample cupcakes from the competitors. I heard there was over 1,100 attended the event and I spotted quite a few males there sampling cupcakes so I guess guys do have a sweet tooth after all. After assessing the situation and where we should start our sampling adventure, we dove right in to the crowd and follow the line to each competitor’s table for yummy cupcakes.

There were probably over 15-20 varieties of cupcakes and some I have already forgotten or has a flavor that I didn’t find too special. I do remember what I liked best which were the Neapolitan cupcakes by Frosting Cupcakery and the Mango Cupcake by Bon Gateau. The Neapolitan cupcake tasted just like the ice cream! I was so surprised that I almost dropped the other half of the cupcake that I was going to share with Al (wish I didn’t thought, would’ve loved to eat it all by myself). The fact that they’ve made the frosting look like a scoop of ice cream just makes it so much more enjoyable to eat. My only complaint is that Frosting Cupcakery is located in Langley! A little far to drive to from East Van but if I ever crave for ice cream and cupcake I’d make my way there and buy a couple dozen just to make the trip worth it.

Here’s a picture of the winning cupcake. You can find more photos on my Flickr account.

Naopolitan Cupcake from Frosting Cupcakery

PS: Frosting Cupcakery is giving out a free cupcake to all attendees of the Cupcake Challenge! I’m planning to get a couple of Neapolitan cupcakes with Allan :]

Posted in dessert. fun byte. yummy tidbits

Tags:cupcakes.desserts.sweets

I remember we used to visit the Buddhist Temple on Steveston Highway every year on Chinese New Year’s Eve. We haven’t been doing that due to the huge crowd that seems to grow bigger every year. While Daniel was here, I decided to take him to the temple to look at the interesting architectures. We weren’t allowed to take pictures inside but I did managed to take one in the garden just outside the main temple.

If you haven’t been to the temple for a while, you should drop by for a visit because a lot have changed. They added some new structures and some are being renovated.

We headed towards Steveston for some fish and chips at Pajo’s after our visit at the temple. I think it took the guys about 15 mins to line up for the order and another 15 mins before the food were ready. We ordered all three kinds of fish to try and I found halibut to be the best and salmon doesn’t taste quite right. It needs some seasoning to bring out the flavor. While the fish were pretty good over all the chips were a bit disappointing. I love fries but I just couldn’t eat the ones from Pajo’s. It’s soft and way too greasy, like someone took them out of the fryer too early. I prefer fries that have some crunch to them.

Fish & Chips from Pajo's.

After our lunch I took the guys in search for waffles for dessert. Al and I went to the Baker’s Market in April and found this place called Damien’s Waffles which is located in Steveston. Their waffles are eggs free and have no preservatives. I also like the fact that they heat up the waffles for you so it’s nice and warm when you eat it. Sorry I was in such a hurry to eat the waffles that I forgot to get photos of them first. I found out they also sell them in bulk. Too bad my wedding favor boxes are too small or I’d use waffles as favors (would probably have to order three times as much since I’d also be snacking on them while I assemble the boxes).

We were all pretty full after lunch and dessert and decided to take a walk around Steveston. The sun was out and lots of people came out to enjoy it. There were some people practicing kite boarding (I think that’s what it’s called) and some were flying kites. I used to come here to fly kites with my family as well when we were younger.

After the trip to Steveston, we headed home and came back to Richmond for the Summer Night Market. More about that in the next post.

Posted in fun byte. places in Vancouver

Tags:dining in Vancouver.restaurant