I was invited for a luncheon not too long ago in the city and met several interesting young women entrepreneurs that opened my eyes to many other business opportunities in this country.   Most of these ladies that I’ve met came from all walks of life and one important aspect of these ladies were determination.   These ladies had stories to share and to me it was a learning experience, I also learned about business opportunities like  Web To Print  and franchises and what are the pros and cons on taking up the challenges of these businesses.  Real life stories – albeit not all happy ones but still an eye opener for me.  I brought home some ideas and me and PB are actually discussing about the feasibility of taking up another challenge soon since Chloe is much older now and don’t need as much attention as when she was younger.  Wish me luck now!

Chinese New Year was yesterday and as usual, a few friends with chinese kids like mine loved to gather and preserved a little of our chinese tradition even though we are so far away from home.  So a fruit basket full of good wishes for the Zhu’s at the Chinese restaurant and hoping it will bring them good luck and lots of money at the restaurant.

Some traditional chinese goodies from home for tasting and sharing.

Chloe all dressed up in cheong sum bought by her kai mah Lina from Singapore.

Eating at the restaurant, special noodles cooked for her.

Eating her favorite fried chicken with chinese noodles.

I had the buffet – yummy!

And here Ms Jasmine chomping down the peking duck with gusto – just loved the way she tried everything.

The chinese kids.

Adele and Sarah.

It was Grampie’s, Aunt Helena’s and Hyunjn’s birthday – on the same day too!  what a weird coincidence right?  so what we did?  we had a lobster feast for all of them – especially when they all do loved lobsters especially Hyunjin.  Here’s grampie cooking the lobsters now.

In you go lobster!

Grampie showing how he takes the rubber band out from the claws – very brave – I would have boiled them with the rubber band attached hahahha!

Lobsters cooking here

Grampie thinking if he should eat this lobster or not.

Almost cooked lobsters.

Uncle Jerry eating his lobsters.

Hyunjin and Shawn getting to their lobsters too.

Aunt Rainy and Uncle Garth going at their lobsters.

Birthday cake for the birthday boy and girls.

Hyunjin’s present for Grampie

Hyunjin’s present for Aunt Helena.

Aunt Helena’s present for Hyunjin – chocolates.  It was a great evening – but grammie was missing.

Normally, we don’t have supper at the New Century Restaurant or any restaurant unless we have a huge event going on, but a few days ago, my g/f and I decided to just hang out – so we went to pay the New Century restaurant a visit.  Not many people eating out that day – probably because the weather wasn’t that good.  But we ordered the Honululu Seafood plate and a plate of dumplings fried and some rice.

The fried pork knuckles were complimentary from the chef and it was pretty good even though I don’t quite like pork as much.

The Honululu plate comes with plenty of seafood and veggies and it goes great with rice.

And the fried dumpling was just as good.  We had a very good meal – only $20 in total.

There are many places in town where you can bring someone for a business lunch, just like when I had lunch with some powerful  San Diego Employment Attorney  last week.   If you’ve worked for a company in the States, you would know how important it is to know some powerful attorney because you want them to be there to help you out if you have trouble with your employers.

Of course, I didn’t need to use an attorney when my employers were from USA but it was good to know that I can count of these folks to help me out should I have any problems with my contract or pay or even if I was being treated unfairly being an Asian.  But like I said, I was pretty happy with the company that I had worked for many years ago.

My g/fs and I usually have our Fridays lunch date at noon – today we decided to go to Marco’s because we wanted the peanut butter cheese cake that they are famous for.  Unfortunately, they didn’t have it that day – we were kinda disappointed.  But the scallops were great – and fresh – we loved it.   I had baked potatoes with mine.

While my g/f had hers with a salad.

Another friend had the pork schnitzel but we had ordered another piece to share.  Unfortunately, this friend of us – only offered the piece to us – when he couldn’t finish – hahahhaah!!! so weird right?  I guess just different culture or is it a man thingie?

Blueberry cream cheese cake – yummy!   We did have a awesome lunch and thanks to my g/f  – H for the lunch.  And interesting conversation followed with lunch about the different dating culture we have  – from the West and East.  It was interesting indeed, while we learned that dating for most men here in this town means hanging out at the guy’s place, for us Asians dating means going out and eating and going for movies, walk in the park and beaches – meeting up with friends.  Yes, a very interesting conversation.

Valentine’s Day is just round the corner and I’m sure you’ve been asked what you want to do on Valentine’s day.  Sometimes, I wonder why the men don’t take the initiative and be a little romantic even though one had been married for many years.  I know of a friend who had a blast one year – when the spouse bought some  cheap brass instruments  and blast the horns at their home during dinner with a few friends.  Being romantic need not be the classic candlelight dinner, being romantic can be  a lot of different ways and if music is something your spouse like, why not pick up a cheap musical instrument and surprise her with hamburgers in the garden, I think that could be very romantic too – serenading the wife or girlfriend.  This Valentine, don’t make the excuse of being together for so long, that you cannot inject some fun and spice into your life.  Come on ! you only lived once!

I love eating at the outlaws – Aunt Helena cooks lots of stuff to choose from and today she had thought that my g/f was visit – therefore, she had a feast brought out.  Unfortunately, my dear friend didn’t come – so I gotta eat extra and brought home some for her.  Appetizer of  oriental mix spring rolls and dumplings  - baked of course from M & M’s.

Garlic bread for starters.

Followed by very yummy lasagne.

Salad.

French bread.

Timbits was our contribution – heheh!

And a chocolate roll made by Aunt Helena.

Yummy!

And apple crumbled – they were yummy yummy!

Sometime during Christmas, we went up to the city because we were invited to an opening of a cigar bar in the city.  As a food blogger with lots of following, you get perks like this – and even though I’m no cigar smoker, I loved buying cigars for my father-in-law and my ex-boss from Spain.  Yes, I still keep in touch with him because he was so good to me when I worked for him – those were the 2 best years of my life.   Anyhow, coming back to the cigar bar – they had a  cigar auction  and it was awesome because I bought some good stuff just in time for Christmas presents.

Cigar bars are very common back home – for those who loved the cigar and wants to have a drink and try different kind of cigars.  My previous bosses were club members of various cigar bars and they used to entertain there a lot.  I met some very interesting and intelligent business people at these clubs.  If you haven’t been to a cigar bar before, you should check it out sometime when you get a chance.

Sunday lunches are precious to me because I get to go out and eat with the spouse and even though he doesn’t like food as much as I, I still think that it’s a good idea to sit together and have a meal.  Chloe loves eating out although she only eats either fish and chips or nuggets and chips – limited selection for her because she is still so fussy.

But she is happy to eat with daddy once a week because she is after all a daddy’s girl.

PB had his favorite fish chowder – and even then I don’t think it’s much.

Jin Jin had a veggie pasta.

We shared a bruschetta together.

I had a lasagne – but I had wanted a seafood one but don’t like the creamy texture, so I settled for a regular lasagne.

We shared a peanut butter cheesecake together.  Of course I had coffee and Jin Jin had earl grey tea and PB had water – Chloe had apple juice.

A year ago today, my brother-in-law decided that he had to stop drinking and get his life back together.   He drank all thru’ Christmas till New Year’s day and he knew that he had to get help.  Unfortunately, in our small town, we don’t have  alcohol treatment facilities  and when he went to the hospital to seek for help, the doctor told him that he didn’t have a spare bed to help him.  How tragic was that?  This town really needs a good alcohol treatment facility – not many – I’m just asking for one.  Can you imagine asking for help and being turned away.

Anyhow, fast forward a year later, my brother-in-law haven’t touched a drop of alcohol since and he is now driving again after 10 years.   Yes! 10 years!  We are all very proud of him but wished that he had an easier time when he needed help and that the rehab center in the hospital would be more sympathetic to people like him instead of turning him away.

Tomorrow, we celebrate his milestone – but it’s sad that my mother-in-law who passed away a month after he quit drinking isn’t here to share this happy moment.  Olivette, here’s to you ! both Richard and Chris are good boys ! you can rest in peace now.

I know you are envying me by now – and I’m envying myself too – live lobsters at $4.99 a pound???!!??  yes !  the fishermen gets only $3.50 a pound for their catches.  Almost seems so unfair I know when they are probably selling like $20 a pound overseas. But yes, these hard shell lobsters are going cheap here and you would think that I eat them often but not really, because I get them at fishermen prices – so you can imagine how much i have eaten during my years in Canada.

A customer of ours own a fishing boat and every time he comes in with lobsters, he drops like a bucket or two to us for years – and after many years when Grammie started to have allergy with lobsters and can’t even boil them at home, we’ve decided to lay off lobsters for a while.

But yes, if I wanted lobsters again, I know who will give me some.

As a mom, we usually have to bring our kids out with us if we want to meet up for lunch or supper with our other friends, therefore, it would be awesome if the family restaurants around here has tvs mounted on the wall with  premier mounting  and has cartoon channels on them instead of news or sports.  It would make sense for family restaurants to have areas set aside for families with children to have some sort of entertainment, so that the adults can have a proper meal and play catch up right?   I see in UK – where some of my friends are permanently, they have special cafes like that for kids and moms – and I would love to see something like this in this town.

Every chance I get to go eat – is with my kid and my g/fs kids – as moms we just loved bringing our kids along but sometimes, it would really be nice, to be able to chat and the kids are being entertained.  This is Kai from Petawawa – and we only get to see him maybe twice a year – isn’t he too cute or what!

Food is always good at Jungle Jims of course, we have no problems with the food and service excellent as well and our favorite waitress was there working – so excellent ! Lynette had the festive meal – this was some sort of BBQ chicken bites.

Curly fries and chicken fingers from the Safari Kid’s menu for Chloe.

Fettuccine for Ms Jasmine from the kid’s menu.

Burger for Josh – i think this is a BBQ Bacon Cheddar – for $10.99.

A steak for Lynette – that comes with her festive meal.

I had the breakfast menu – but shared my sausages with my g/fs.

Extra crispy bacon.

Jumbo Shrimp Stir Fry

Huijing got some mexican thingie I think.

And this chicken burger  for Kim.

Yummy! lots of food and lots of drinks !  now if only we can entertain the kids with some mounted tv in the restaurant – it would have been perfect – don’t you think?

If you are a food blogger and loved food as much as I do, you will know that Sandy’s Gifts Store is a gourmet/chef’s paradise .  In this store, I found some really cool gifts over Christmas for my friends and family.  Everything priced reasonably and wrapped and gift bagged personally by owners of the store – Sandy & Ken.

Everytime I walked into this store, everything in the store is eye candy to me.  They are all so pretty and so beautifully stacked and everything so meticulously cleaned.  The warmth of this store speaks volume, you really feel welcome, as if you coming home to visit.

Sandy Gifts store has gifts for every occasion and any occasion.

My favorites are kitchen gadgets and you cannot go wrong with these gifts.

For the corn lover like my daughter – Chloe, she would love to have this.

For a guy or boy – no problem – Sandy has them in boy’s color as well.

More kitchen gadget to make your food look pretty.

Yummy hot chocolate for Christmas/winter  - with a bunch of marshmallows.

More treats for your loved ones – and don’t forget the variety of tea and specialty coffee at Sandy’s Gift store on Main Street, downtown Yarmouth, they may have moved but not far away from their original store.  Friendly service and unique gifts – try Sandy’s.

Chloe loves inviting her friends for lunch with us during the weekend.  And Boston Pizza is one of the places that we bring them because they do have a kid’s menu but no fish and chips in their menu.  One cannot even order a half and order of fish and chips even though you can for pasta.  Unfortunately, I’m not a fish person, so Chloe had to eat chicken fingers whenever she goes to Boston pizza – and she doesn’t really like the chicken fingers here – I don’t know why.  Probably not as tender as other places or the ones made at home.   We always feed the friends whatever they want to eat and they usually enjoy a treat out to anywhere that serves children food.  Boston Pizza is quite kid’s friendly because they do have boxes of kiddies stuff for the kids to enjoy and occupy themselves with but sometimes they don’t have the box, so the kids had to share a container of used crayons – which I’m not fond of.  But yes, kids do eat at Boston Pizza.

This was the other birthday cake that we’ve ordered for Chloe’s birthday celebration in school.  This one is from Sobey’s – a lot cheaper and they provided us with candles for free.  The cake was just as good, not as much frosting but who needs more frosting than this right.  So the next time, i will order from Sobeys instead.  But Chloe is a lucky girl, 2 birthday cakes for her birthday and 1 more home made by Aunt Helena.

We wanted to try something different at Boston Pizza this afternoon, so we both ordered half an order of Seafood Fettuccine even though we could have ordered the full order for $17.95 and then split it among ourselves.  The seafood fettuccine wasn’t bad at all but we prefer the jambalaya that we’ve been ordering thus far.  It didn’t have the umph that we were looking for – I guess we just loved our spicy too much.

Cory a customer for a long time and now turned into a very good friend gave us some lobsters – and knowing that I don’t know how to cook them, the Chinese restaurant – on Main Street – New Century helped me to cook them.  So me and my sister from another mother – had the best lobsters ever!  Ginger and spring onions lobsters ! yummy to the max and two of the above boxes for each of us.  Thank you so much Cory !!  when can we have some more – muahahah!!

PS :  These are true Canadian lobsters – fresh from the water !

Chloe had her birthday party at the bowling alley last week and of course like every birthday, we went out to order her a birthday cake and since we really liked Superstore’s decoration better for cakes – we went there.  The cake was definitely great – and the icing on the cake was even better – lots of icing – and the price as compared to Sobeys was like $5 more and no candles to offer you.

We also bought another cake from Sobeys and even though it doesn’t have as much icing as Superstore, it was just as good.  Personally, I don’t like too much icing but for the kids – of course, the more icing the better.  The other cake was for Chloe’s school – that way no one misses out on her birthday party.  The next time, we will order from Sobeys instead.

Whenever we are in Halifax, we try to go for dim sum – and this trip I was hoping to order more because I had my sister from another come with me to the city.  But overall, it doesn’t seems like we’ve had a lot.  The hor fun was really good as usual but the kid just wouldn’t eat it.  PB ate some but not a lot – but the hor fun is by far the best I’ve had in Canada.

Then we had radish cake – pan fried – it doesn’t have a lot of small dried shrimp in them but it did have some mushrooms and chestnuts.

Fried wanton with mayo was something I wanted to try new – and it was ok – with a huge ball of shrimp in the middle.

We ordered 2 glutinous rice because the brat would only eat this – but alas, it came so late and the poor girl was starving and didn’t eat a lot.  This trip up to halifax – Chloe definitely didn’t eat a lot at all.

This is how the glutinous rice looked like.  The Great Wall in Halifax does have one of the best dim sum – authentic that I’ve eaten here in Canada.

Chloe eating with chopsticks of course – showing off.

And my special find this trip – was egg tarts – so yummy! to die for – they actually don’t have it anymore – but they specially made some for us.  So nice of  the people from The Great Wall. Located in downtown Halifax – Bedford Row – right off sackville street. Dim sum serves every sunday from 11.30am – 3pm but don’t be too late because all good stuff will be sold out if you are late.