The Children’s parade was last week and they had a tea party with the Mayor for the opening ceremony for seafest 2012.  It was a very hot day and the traffic wasn’t controlled properly and I felt so bad for the kids who had to wait in the hot sun for the traffic to clear before they can start the parade.  Chloe was in the parade as well and i had taken the walk with her from the Tourist promotion board to Frost park and a good thing I had on my  genutrain  because my knees would have given out if I didn’t.  After the parade, there were some cakes and pizza for the kids but Chloe didn’t have any because there were just not enough to go around – and they headed back to the camp.  What a bummer! the kids went back so hungry – Chloe complained.  I think i have to inform the organizers for next year – those kids definitely needed a cold drink and something to eat – it wasn’t right at all that every year – the kids don’t really get anything to eat and drink on such hot days.  I’m definitely not impressed with some people.

“Life is like a box of chocolates. You never know what you’re going to get”

- Tom Hanks as Forest Gump

I’m becoming more and more aware that life is so unpredictable – today is the funeral of an old/long time customer – who passed away suddenly in his sleep.  He was but very young – so this come as a shock to us and my mother-in-law who passed away in February – so quickly and so suddenly, we haven’t recovered from that yet.  They say that we should live the day as if it is our last day – and love the life we’ve got and live with no regrets and I’m really trying to.  I’m pretty sure my mother-in-law wasn’t expecting to leave so soon, nor was that customer of ours, I bet a lot of people would have done things differently too and make their life count and loved ones know that they are loved.  It’s really a sad day and recently I’ve been think about a lot of things – like  Preplanning a funeral  it’s morbid of course and some may not even want to dwell into it at all  – me neither but …  but…..  butt…..  there are pros to pre-planning a funeral if not for oneself but for someone you know might need it (but of course – who knows who will die tomorrow right?).  All is just sad I know but if I die tomorrow, I wouldn’t want PB to be at lost and don’t know what to do.  What about funeral cost – they are not cheap either.  If it is hard for me to plan my own funeral – it would be harder for my loved ones no?

I loved cooking – especially food from home and inviting friends from Asia to share them with me.  I can’t cook for PB or Chloe because they don’t enjoy spicy food like I do.  Jen from Toronto had sent some tom yum soup paste to me – and it was so easy to cook – took less than 30 mins and with some rice – my girlfriend and I had a wonderful meal that day.  Fresh mushrooms and some hot pot fish cakes and fish balls and tofu – absolutely healthy and absolutely spicy.

Chee cheong fun is my absolute favorite for breakfast and supper – when I was home but it had been a long time since I last had some – so when i saw some in Halifax at the Asian grocery store at Queens Street – it figured I should try some out.  And guess what?  I should have bought more than just 2 packets because they were absolutely yummy!  i loved them.

They may not be as good as the ones back home but something is definitely better than nothing right.  So I finished it all – in 2 days – and they were like $3.50 a pack – which was ridiculously expensive but it was good – next time I will buy more.

When I’m hungry and don’t know what to eat – I loved to cook food from home – like a plate of good wanton noodles.  The wanton is made with chicken and the wanton noodles were bought from Halifax – veggies from local Sobeys and within a few minutes – a bowl of home -cooked wanton noodles.  All the goodness from home – I guess all Asians loved their noodles and rice and we can’t go without it for too long.

I learned how to make my own wanton noodles a few years ago – after having Chloe and I cant go to Halifax as much as I would like and even in Halifax – they don’t make wanton noodles like that.  Only in Singapore and Malaysia – you find authentic wanton noodles.

I would loved to cook these for Chloe’s teachers but you have to eat it instantly to taste the goodness of the noodles.

Finally, some decent looking sushi in town – may not be the freshest but definitely more decent looking and better pricing than the ones I get from the Farmer’s market.  I haven’t tried it yet – going to do it tonite – and I will let you know what I think of it.

Dragon rolls anyone?

Gyoza found in our local Sobeys!

PB and I took a ride up to the city with his new bike to visit the Farmer’s market a few weeks ago.  He loves his  Spidi  accessories and we arranged to meet up with his cousins up in the city – to find some good food and take in the good weather and sunshine.  It’s great that we have Gary now and we can go up to the city anytime we want – and as for Chloe, she went over to Grampie to spend a day there.  To tell you the truth I was never one for riding on a bike too much till he bought this one – it’s a really comfy ride.

The only thing I don’t like about biking is I can’t bring back a lot of things from the Farmer’s market when we were there – I wanted to bring back flowers – and all kinds of food – but alas, as you can see – I can’t carry alot on that bike.  But we did eat a lot and drink alot and had good company for a good few hours and it was time to go home.  Summer has just begun and we’ve already gone up to the city twice and gone for a short holiday – I’m loving this summer very much.

I’ve always known that Rudders has live entertainment in their restaurants – but I keep missing the live band – only to find out today that they are on – on Wednesdays, Fridays and Saturdays.  But wait a minute – they are only on – in the evenings – and I’m guessing the later part of the evening too.   So this Friday I’m checking out the live entertainment with my friends at the Rudders and hopefully, they can give me some advice on the  musician s friend coupon code  that I’ve seen online – they would probably know more about musical stuff than I.   I’m looking to buy an electric guitar for a nephew – so I figured asking someone from the live band for some tips about buying it would be smart.  Rudders has good food and live music – it would be a good time for us.

After a short vacation, nothing beats coming home to some comfort food that we are familiar with -  so the first day back – I got some beef and brocolli and fried rice for lunch.  I pushed the  tv rack  to the back office and had my lunch there while watching a good movie.   Ahhhhh…! bliss !  nothing like home – home sweet home and for those who are like me who cannot do without watching a show while you eat – you are not alone. So how was the food – yummy! not too much and not too little  – just right and the price – even better.  $6.95 + tax – ask for the daily special at Lotus Garden.

We just got home from our vacation – we were up in New Brunswick but we also spent a few days in Halifax eating.  We met up with a few friends and they had trailer hitches for cars  to haul back some camping stuff they had bought from the city.  We decided on Wasabi House because it was already late when we arrived in Halifax the last day of our vacation – and Wasabi House had an after hours special  menu that offers quite a few good dishes at a discount.  Now if you pay cash – you get another 10% discount – ain’t that awesome now!

Wasabi House is pretty small – and the few of us – took up half the restaurant space – it was quite warm where I was sitting – because I was under the air-con – so the next time I’m going to remember to sit away from the air-con.  The service was good and so was the food but that would be another story for another day.  But we ate so much that night – I couldn’t eat breakfast the next day.  So if you are anywhere in the city – check out the new Japanese restaurant down on Quinpool.