Rain or Shine Ice-Cream: Is Ice-cream even weather dependent?

I first noticed Rain or Shine Ice-Cream on 4th street where they had a huge line up on a rainy day, all jokes aside. Then I noticed they had recently opened a second location in Cambie Village on Cambie and 18th.

Ice-cream has recently gain popularity in Vancouver with gelato slightly trailing behind. But really, who can resist ice-cream? Even I have to admit I'm suddenly more attracted to ice-cream too. In fact, I don't think ice-cream is even weather dependent. 

Rain or Shine Ice-cream has really unique flavours including "the keepers" (London fog, honey lavender, salted caramel, etc.) and "the seasonals" (rosemary olive oil with candied pine nuts, powell street dive bomb porter, rhubarb ginger streusel, etc.) You'll probably have a hard time choosing which flavour to get, but thank goodness, you can ask them for a sample before ordering. One scoop is $4.50 and add 50 cents and you get another scoop of another flavour. We decided to get the Flight (4 flavours) for $9. 

The Flight (4 flavours) $9

From left to right: Rhubarb ginger streusel, Salted Caramel, Blueberry Balsamic, Rosemary Olive oil with candied pine nuts.

Rhubarb ginger streusel: if you like ginger, go for it. It was not very flavourful, but you can definitely  taste the ginger and there were also bits of ginger in there

Salted Caramel: It's what its name says. It was both sweet and salty at the same time, which definitely played with my tastebuds. It was a tad too sweet for my liking. We did notice that out of the 4, this one probably had the highest melting rate. Is it because there's salt in it so that lowers the melting point? 

Blueberry balsamic: Very unique and my second favourite out of the 4. You can definitely taste both the blueberry flavour and balsamic vinegar. They go together quite well and the blueberry flavour did not taste powdery or fake, but like actual blueberries. 

Rosemary olive oil with candied pine nuts: My favourite out of the 4. The rosemary flavour was very unique and the pine nuts in the ice-cream made it super tasty. I've never tasted ice-cream quite like this one! 

Their ice-cream is made fresh with natural and whole ingredients right in house. Doesn't that sound healthy? With natural and whole ingredients and unique flavours, it is no question that this place will have customers coming back rain or shine! 

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Pâtisserie Für Elise: High Tea in a Super Cute House!

Think pink. Think princesses. Think tea party. Pâtisserie Für Elise in Yaletown is all that, and more. This is absolutely the perfect place for a bridal shower - so it was exactly what we did. We held a bridal shower here for my friend and they had a special room for us for 2 hours, which was perfect.

Because Pâtisserie Für Elise is actually in a heritage home itself, there are 2 floors of this high tea location. The main floor is a bakery shop where people can just go in and buy their products while high tea is on the second floor.

Once I stepped inside the house, I felt like I was in a dreamland of a princess. Everything was so detailed, adorable, and looked delicate, including their waitresses, whom were all wearing a very cute dress. I wish I had taken some pictures of the decor, but I was just too focussed on surprising my friend and living in the moment! Pâtisserie Für Elise offers their afternoon tea set menu for $30 per person with your own choice of tea.



Their menu of teas has an elaborate description of the teas, so you can get a good idea of your tea. Their selection of tea included the classics: honey scented black tea (apparently exclusively imported by them), Jasmine green tea, Earl Grey, and the more unique: creme brûlée, blueberry yogurt, to name a few.

First, we were our choice of tea with our own tea pots. It also came with a sandglass timer which is exactly 2 minutes so we know when the tea is done seeping. On our tea cups, we got a little birdie strainer for catching the tea leaves. Look at how delicate the cups look!



Secondly, we were then served a very delicious blueberry panna cotta. Smooth and creamy, light and refreshing, and not too sweet - absolutely perfect.

blueberry panna cotta

Then came our 2-tier of goodies! The bottom tier consisted of the savouries and the top tier were all the sweets. There were 4 of everything as we sat 4 per table.

Afternoon Tea at Patisserie Fur Elise

Savouries (bottom):

Proscuitto, brie, and fresh basil in a croissant - very yummy and a great start to the platter

Cucumber dill finger sandwich - simple, yet refreshing

Asparagus and mushroom quiche - loved the flaky pastry

Almond strusel scone - especially good with their homemade jam

Cheddar and pancetta scone - really liked the tad bits of green onion and pancetta

savouries

Almond strusel scone and proscuitto, brie, fresh basil sandwich croissant

Ok, so after the platter of savouries, I already felt quite full. Probably from all the butter. But as the saying goes, we girls have a second stomach for dessert! The top platter consisted of:

Honey madeleine 

Macaron

Maple pecan daisy tartlet

Tiramisu

Mini Für Elise

Sweets

From the sweet platter, I especially liked the maple pecan daisy tartlet and the mini Für Elise, similar to a strawberry mousse. It was smooth and had great strawberry flavour. 

I was absolutely stuffed after all the savouries and sweets! Overall, I really liked this place because of the atmosphere and the fancy, princess feeling I got while having high tea here. It was absolutely perfect to hold my friend's bridal shower with all the girls. We also had privacy as we had the private room in which we could place gifts and party favours, which I shall show in another post. In fact, I also played a couple of videos I made from my laptop here. Here is a group picture!

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Matcha Green Tea Waffles [Recipe]: Super easy!

I finally tried making waffles! Waffles are one of my favourites - either for breakfast, afternoon snack, or dessert! Recipe below!

Ingredients

I used the Hamilton Beach Waffle Maker. It's very easy to use, and extremely easy to clean as well. Put in batter, flip, wait, flip, done!

Matcha Green Tea Waffles

Ingredients: 

1 egg

1/2 cup flour

1/2 cup milk (I used Flax Delight)

1/2 tsp baking powder

1 tsp matcha powder
2 tbsp sugar
Topped with: Raspberries + Nestle Chocolate Syrup

Procedure:

1. In a bowl, mix together sifted flour, baking powder, matcha powder, and sugar thoroughly.

2. Make a hole in the middle and crack in the egg and pour in milk. Mix it until you get a smooth batter.

3. Depending on your waffle maker, you may want to butter the inside. Heat up the waffle maker and when ready, place 2 scoops of batter in the centre. Close the lid, wait for a minute, flip it over, and wait another 2 minutes. The waffle should be crispy on the outside, while soft in the inside.

4. Serve with chocolate syrup (or maple syrup) with fruits of your choice.

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Cafe de l'Orangerie: Japanese-style Spaghetti (Great First Date Location)

A hidden gem as it is located on West 73rd Ave in the residential areas, so I had not even heard of this French x Japanese cafe when my friend suggested it. French x Japanese reminds me of Moii Cafe, but that one specializes in crepes while this one features Japanese-style spaghetti, which is spaghetti with a much lighter sauce as compared to Italian sauces.

Creamy Tomato Spaghetti may look a bit plain as you can't even really tell if there's sauce or not, but trust me, it tasted very creamy (though not overwhelming). If you're a fan of creamy spaghetti like me, you'll enjoy this dish!

Creamy Tomato Spaghetti $9.80

Ponzu is water-based citrus sauce, kind of like vinegar. I know that ponzu is often used in Japanese cuisine, so I wanted to try it with the pork on rice. The pork was tender and I really liked it. The sauce was very appetizing and I loved the citrusy tinge that it brought to every bite.

Onion ponzu pork: pork sauté on rice with onion ponzu sauce $9.95

A popular item on their menu is the masago de creamy spaghetti. Even though this one is a creamy pasta with the same spaghetti, it wasn't as creamy as their Creamy Tomato Spaghetti. It had bits of seafood and masago mixed within the noodles, which created a unique texture to it.

Masago de creamy Spaghetti $9.80

A common Japanese dish, but one that you won't get bored of as I would call it a classic - chicken teriyaki on rice. It came with some fries and greens.

Chicken teriyaki on rice $8.50

When I saw chocolate fondant on the menu, I really wanted it because of 3 main reasons: 1. I love cutting open a dessert and having chocolate flowing out, 2. it was really cold in the restaurant and I wanted something warm, and 3. I wanted to see if it'd actually take 15 minutes (as the menu stated). 

All their desserts are made in the house, so I guess I can understand why it'd take 15 minutes to make this one. However, I was hoping it'd just come in a plate instead of a cup so that I could see the chocolate flowing out. It was nicely baked, but not the best I've had. 

Chocolate Fondant $4.95

I love matcha and I just had to try the matcha green tea pudding parfait (what a mouthful!). It came with a big scoop of ice-cream, sweetened red beans, and also my favourite mochi. So, basically it consisted of many things that I liked.

Matcha green tea parfait pudding $6.95

Even though this picture doesn't look very appetizing, but it shows the green tea pudding, which was very tasty as there were two different layers! I thought all the elements (ice-cream, pudding, mochi, and red beans) all went very well together. I would definitely choose this dessert over the chocolate fondant.

As it isn't in a busy location, this place wasn't busy when we were there. We got to stay as long as we wanted and it's a really nice cafe to meet up with friends to chat. However, we couldn't stand the temperature in the cafe - it was really cold! I don't know why, but they really should have cranked up some heat. I think the room temperature is just as important to guests because we couldn't enjoy the food or ourselves fully as the coldness was constantly in our minds. Also, I can't think of why they're a French x Japanese cafe other than the French name. Nevertheless, I'd definitely like to  come back to have some more Japanese-style spaghetti. 

P.S. I think this is a great first date location! Nice, cute, quiet, and affordable yummy food! Did I mention the tempting dessert too? :)

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McDonald's Cinnamon Melts

Yes, a post on the restaurant that's known worldwide - McDonald's. I love how McDonald's comes up with different items on their menu every now and then. When I was a kid, I would be ecstatic when we take a trip to McDonald's, nevermind the happy meals. I also vaguely remember having a birthday party at McDonald's in the red boxcar, or am I just imagining that because I don't see the red boxcar at McDonald's anymore. What I do remember really well is playing at Burger King's ball pit and playgrond.. my goodness, that was so much fun.

McDonald's Cinnamon Melts

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Kirin Seafood Restaurant 麒麟海鮮酒家: my favourite dessert

When a baby turns one month old, it is a pretty big deal in my culture. They can finally be brought out to be formally introduced to extended family and relatives at a banquet celebration In one of my previous posts, I mentioned about my cousin's new baby and the celebration we already had, but today was a much larger one. 

I feel like Kirin Seafood Restaurant has been constantly winning awards these past few years. I've been here for both dim sum and dinner and they don't fail to impress me with their high-end customer service, seafood, and of course, prices. I've only come here with my family and when I eat out with my family, I struggle to take good pictures. I wonder if other food bloggers have faced troubles like this.  It's difficult to stop everyone from indulging into a dish when it is placed down just so I can take a picture and I hate to be a pain. Plus, my family is especially fast at getting the food and even serving it to each other. 

Kirin Seafood Restaurant

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Kam Do Restaurant & Bakery 金都餐廳餅店

I love bakeries and freshly baked goods. Among the abundant Chinese bakeries here in Vancouver and Richmond, Kam Do is my favourite for winter melon cakes (alternatively called sweetheart cake). In Chinese, they're called 老婆饼, which directly translates to "wife's cookie". Why such a name for a pastry? There are a few legends that describes the origin of this pastry. One legend says that winter melon cakes were invented by a man and dedicated them to his wife. His wife had sold herself in return for money that was needed for medicine for her father-in-law.

I've tried many winter melon cakes from many different Chinese bakeries here, and I have to say that I fell in love with Kam Do's after the first bite. Be gentle with them as the outside is flaky and delicate, but the inside is filled with a paste that makes it chewy. I think Kam Do does an excellent job of making the outside flaky as well as the taste of the paste and the degree of chewiness. And as you may know, I love chewy food! 

老婆饼 Winter melon cake

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Europeans Breads Bakery

Europeans Breads Bakery has many retailers, but only 2 cafes and I visited the one on Fraser Street (4324 Fraser St.). This bakery values artisan baking and everything is made by hand. Upon entering the shop, I could sense the comfortable environment where people can sit down for some pastries and coffee. 

Napoleon cakes, poppy seed slice, light rye bread

I got a slice of poppy seed roll ($3), 2 napoleon cakes ($2 each), and light rye bread (~$5). The poppy seed roll was rich in poppy seeds, but overall, I found it too sweet. The cake was also quite heavy and not the usual soft angel cakes that I like. However, it may go great with tea if you are a fan of that type of cakes.

As this is an authentic European bakery, I had high expectations for the Napoleon. I love Napoleon cakes, but I've only tried them from Chinese bakeries. Unfortunately, the Napoleon cake from this bakery was a disappointment. It did not taste like the ones I've had before and it did not taste good. It really makes me wonder how Napoleons cakes from France would taste like.

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T&T Green Tea Cake Pastry

As I've mentioned in my previous post about Bon Crepe, green tea is one of my all-time favourite flavours. My mom surprised me with a green tea cake pastry from T&T today! I think this is one of their rather newer products as I've never seen it before. I have definitely noticed that T&T have been constantly creative with their products and developing new products for consumers.

T&T Green Tea Cake with
pastry surrounding

I don't think I've had cake with a pastry surrounding it before, so I was very excited when I first saw this. It looked extremely good to me and I do really like how its wrapped in a crust-like pastry, which adds a twist to typical cakes. Indeed, this was very good, but I wouldn't say extremely good. Inside, the cake is soft and moist at just the right level of sweetness and a tasty green tea flavour.

The outside of the cake makes the cake more interesting to eat as it adds a bit of crispiness to it. However, I think I would enjoy just the green tea itself without the pastry just as much as the pastry is more on the oily side. I try to limit my consumption of things that make my fingers oily as that adds extra calories. Nevertheless, a slice of green tea cake with pastry once in a while is nice for a change.

Bon Appetit! 

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Bonne Crepe

One of my favourite desserts is crepe and Bonne Crepe is absolutely my favourite place for crepes in Vancouver. Located in downtown on Robson Street (and Bute St.), it is a part of the Konbiniya Japan Centre, a Japanese market with lots of authentic goodies, such as pocky, mochi, and bento boxes. You can order from the street window that they have or inside the store.

Bonne Crepe offers Japanese-styled crepes, which are different from French crepes. One thing you might notice right away is that Japanese-styled crepes are much chewier while the French crepes are crispier. Also, while the usual way of eating a French crepe is with knives and forks on a plate, Japanese crepes are usually eaten just handheld.

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Free Menchie's Frozen Yogurt on Grand Opening Day!

Who doesn't love froyo? Who doesn't like free things? Today and tomorrow (Feb. 18 & 19) from 12pm to 5pm, the first Menchie's in Vancouver will be celebrating their grand opening on Cambie (and 7th) with free froyo! Yum + Yum! They are also offering free instant photos with their cute mascot between 2-4pm.

Choose and mix your favourite flavours from caramel apple to cake batter then top it off with a variety of chocolate, nuts, fresh fruits, and popping bobas! You can't go wrong. And you don't have to feel guilty about indulging because it's full of "live and active cultures" even though it tastes just like ice-cream. In fact, while I was there, somebody said "ice-cream" and the manager said that the word "ice-cream" is like a swear word in their shop!

Choose and mix as many flavours as you wish!

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