Mother's Day at E.B.O.

For certain unofficial holidays, I always found it kind of silly how people feel the need to congregate, fight for reservations and dine in loud, over packed restaurants all for the sake of celebrating an individual on that specific day. Holidays that come to mind are Valentine's Day, Mother's Day and Father's Day. I believe I can celebrate their importance any day of the year. 

This actually works out in my favour, as my mom is so busy and has an unpredictable schedule we didn't get to celebrate anywhere during the M-day weekend. Instead on the spur of the moment a week later when I caught her and my entire family free, I took them out to have dinner at E.B.O. Restaurant. 

This is also why I did not have my camera on hand, which I am quite devestated by because it was an amazing meal and I really wanted to blog about it. But now all I have are these mediocre iphone photos. Guess this just means I will have to visit again. 

E.B.O stands for experiences beyond ordinary, when I first heard that I thought it was kind of corny, but it does grow on you.

When we arrived we were seated in this lovely corner of the restaurant that had a round table and some translucent curtains to give a little more privacy. The restaurant is very pretty, not something you would really expect to find in Burnaby. The upside to waiting out the Mday rush is the restaurant was relatively quiet that evening so we had super attentative service and dishes being served in a timely manner.

I forgot to mention that my mother is so hard to please. Whenever I take her out to dinner I feel kind of anxious, because probably 50% of the time, she is not impressed with the places that I take her to. I think I had inherited my picky palette from her.

Roasted Scallops

For our appetizer we started with roasted scallops. They were cooked perfectly and I like how it was seared on both sides. However upon the first bite, it was so salty I wanted to spit it back out. With the first course already being a slump I was like 'oh god. Mom will not like this experience.' We had a rocky start but it was totally forgiven with everyone's entrees. 

Roast Rack of Lamb

A lot of the menu items looked so good and I was torn between what to order. I ended up ordering the rack of lamb, the portion was quite generous and it was delicious. I've never had lamb cooked so tenderly before. I convinced Eunice to have a bite, as she never eats lamb and even she found it good, there wasn't a gamey taste to it what so ever. The round thing was polenta, with what I believe to be egg whites on top. It was interesting, though I think I would have preferred the good ol' mashed potatoes. 

Slow Cooked Fraser Valley Chicken

 My mom ordered the chicken, which I think had the prettiest plating. The black smudge is what I believe to be squid ink. It was served up on a bed of risotto. The chicken was amazing. I never knew chicken could be so impressive, it was cooked to perfection and the flavors melded so well. The risotto was just right, with a good balance of flavor and it wasn't too heavy. Mom loved it. Because of that it wouldn't even matter if everyone else was served up with burnt food, Mom enjoyed it. EBO wins. Everyone did enjoy their dishes as well.

Seafood Linguini 

Seafood linguini was loaded with an assortment of seafood. Once again the scallops were too salty but since it was accompanied with the linguini it was okay. I believe it was squid (or maybe octopus) ink mixed with the pasta that gave it that colour. I thought it was pretty cool!

Can't remember which cut of steak this was...

Tuna

Cured Salmon

Winston just came from another dinner so he ordered two appies. I think I labeled them properly. Ugh seeing these pictures makes me want to kick myself. The plating was an artwork on its on and I am not doing it justice!! 

Basil Cheesecake

For dessert we had the Basil Cheesecake. The portions were tiny but we were so stuffed by then, only a couple of us even went for it so it worked out. It was very interesting, the cheesecake flavour is light and you get a hint of the basil. There are plops of different sauces you can plunge your cheesecake into, I liked the raspberry plop the most, it was super tart but it made a great contrast with the cheesecake. The basil leaves are pressed with sugar, and it was so cool. They melt in your mouth and its sweet and you get a taste of the herb. Dessert wasn't a hit with everyone but I thought it was very unique. 

Overall, we had a great time at EBO. Avoided the mother's day crowd, had a lovely evening with my family and most importantly: Mom was impressed. Any restaurant that will treat my mom well is a winner in my books. I definitely will return again and this time armed with a real camera.

Sunday Smorgasbord

I've known my friend Michael since way back in Elementary school. Throughout the years we would always go and hang out together with our group of friends and he would generally be present, except on Sundays. On Sundays Mike was never available because he would be off working and helping at his parent's restaurant. A Chinese Restaurant called Silver Dragon. Now this place was almost like a mythological place to me, not just because of the name. It was just a place I would hear about but have never seen or gone to, much like Atlantis or Five Guys.

So Michael had announced that this weekend was going to be the last day of his parents operating the restaurant because they were going to retire. Mind you, its not that we don't want to support our friend's family business all these years, it was just slightly inconvenient. But seeing that it was our last opportunity to go, we all decided to head out to Silver Dragon for dinner, in White Rock. I honestly don't remember ever going specifically to White Rock for anything besides passing by to go to the States. Our car went a little bit earlier so we could go visit the beach. See, I heard "beach" and decided flip flops were in order, but this place was not so much beach but giant dock. We arrived just on time to catch the sunset.

 

Train tracks and sunsets, totally looked like a setting for a wongfu production video. It was a pretty romantic location. Luckily I did have a couple on hand to take pictures of.

A train actually did roll through while we were there, which was surprising to me, I didn't think those tracks were still functioning. We also walked down the long dock, and was reminded it wasn't quite summer yet as it got rather cold after the sun had set.

Our Romantic Stroll

It was actually quite the nice area there. Lots of unique looking restaurants along the water as well, if it wasn't so far away I might actually consider going back to try eating at some of those places. After our romantic stroll on the docks we met up with our friends at Silver Dragon. 

With a name like Silver Dragon, and its location out in White Rock, you can probably guess that its a Chinese Restaurant catered to white people. I'm not saying that in an offensive way, I'm just saying it in a sweet and sour pork way. I was surprised though, most of the food did still taste authentically Chinese and didn't have its flavors modified to more of a Western liking. Those chicken wings were my favourite. I can't believe I've been friends with Mike all these years and he's only introduced me to them on the last possible day. What the hell. 

Oh and lets not forget the Smorgasbord! The newest word added to my vocabulary. On Sundays there is the Smorgasbord. What is a smorgasbord you ask? A buffet offering a variety of different foods ranging from ginger chicken to french fries. We opted for the a la carte though and filled our table with too much food. Just the way I like it.

Seeing that we were in such a place of significance, we had to get a group shot outside. See! I wasn't lying. Silver Dragon and its Sunday smorgasbord. I finally got to try it!

Almost everyone managed to make it out, which is sadly becoming a rare occurrence thanks to all of our different schedules.  Angela wasn't able to make it though because she had work. She was actually starting her first day at her new store with her newly promoted position. On the way home we made a stop to visit her in Surrey.

So that concludes the highlight of my Easter weekend. We all drove all the way to White Rock to eat Chinese food. As absurd as it was, it was a great adventure. Thanks Mike for inviting us!

Christmas Post

Christmas came and went by very quickly. As I've previously mentioned, most of my holiday has been spent working but in between that I had a chance to spend time with friends and family.

During one of my days off work, I visited the Vancouver Christmas Market. Heard lots about it and it seemed like a nice festive event to attend. The Christmas Market is suppose to be a German styled Christmas Market that would include stands selling Christmas trinkets and food. Sadly it was quite disappointing. I originally purchased an online coupon for a discounted entry to the market but we took our time during dinner at Prestons (which was also disappointing, I will save that for another post) and missed the entry times for the online coupon. So we paid another $5 per person to enter the Christmas market. What a rip off that was.

The market was very small and probably took about half an hour to browse through all the stands. I purchased a cup of mulled wine to see what the hype was about, also because it is drank excessively by characters in the Game of Thrones book. Mulled wine is what I believe to be wine that has been boiled with different spices like cinnamon and cloves. It was very potent, I didn't enjoy the taste at all. The entire marketplace had this wonderful scent of cinnamon wafting through it, leaving me wanting a taste of it. I imagined it was from cinnamon buns or something that was sweet. I never found the source of the delicious scent, but I did settle for a waffle. Which would probably be the highlight of the marketplace.

It was made on the spot and fluffly and delicious. Although a bit expensive, like everything else in the marketplace the prices were quite high. I originally had intended on purchasing a new Christmas ornament for my tree but had decided otherwise after seeing the price tags. We spent about an hour or so at the market, probably shorter if we did not line up to look at hand made ornaments. There was also a carasaol and a stage with people singing different Christmas carols. It was a nicely decorated marketplace but I was hoping for more Christmas trees and festive things. I don't think I will be returning again next year.

To celebrate Christmas, my girlfriends and I get together every year to exchange presents and have dinner. Winnie is a wonderful host and has been letting us have this get together at her house every year. She is also an amazing cook and whips up a feast for us. We help out but she does do most of the cooking herself.

This year she made roast beef that was mouth watering. She even bakes her own bread: we had rosemary dinner rolls accompanied by olive oil and balsamic vinaigrette. After dinner we exchange presents. We do a secret santa draw before hand. I have to admit this year I was lacking in the creative department when it came to finding a gift for my secret santee. I originally wanted to try to make a scrap-page to accompany my gift since she is a scrap-booker but I just did not have the time. Next year we have agreed that we will lower the budget for gifts and try to have gifts that are more thoughtful rather than just working off of wish lists. After all, it's not the presents that matter.

Its spending time with friends. Which we did and I believe that was the best part of the night. Yes, even better than the food. The company is what makes it all amazing. I'm glad we have this tradition of all getting together. We are constantly getting busier in our lives and its hard to have everyone together in one place, but when we do its great. I love my girlfriends and hope we will continue our Christmas tradition.

Speaking of traditions, another tradition we have is to go to Starbucks on Christmas day. Now this goes back to the days when many of us used to work at Starbucks. Some of the most memorable shifts we had were when we all worked together on the Christmas shift. It was fun because we would all be scheduled to work together (who else would want to work Xmas day?) and the remainder of the friends would come visit. So even after we all quit we still return on the day to the same store. This year was no different.

I spent Christmas morning with my friends at Starbucks. We all talked over our coffees and enjoyed each others company. Even Jon came all the way from Calgary to join us on our Christmas tradition and reminiscence of all the times we had bussed that very lobby. 

Later in the evening I got to enjoy a turkey dinner that my mom whipped up. It was a smaller gathering this year then we usually had, just some family and a couple of friends but I still had a great time. The food was amazing, the wine was flowing and the company was good. After dinner and before dessert we played an intense game of taboo and exchanged presents.

All my presents were very thoughtful. I received an e-reader since I do enjoy reading. I've always said I prefer the feel of a book but I must admit a kobo really is more convenient and much lighter than the books. Its much easier to carry around than my usual books. I also received a piano this year, quite the gift. During the summer I dabbled into trying to learn piano but fell off from it pretty quickly, I guess this is motivation to take it up again. I also received a new bracelet, its a bit sparse right now but I can't wait to start adding more charms and beads onto it.

At the end of my Christmas evening I found myself swaddled in blankets on the couch feeling so very content. It wasn't a super extravagant Christmas that I had but it was perfect. I had a belly full of food and I got to spend Christmas with my friends and family. I could not have asked for more.

Happy Holidays!