Dîner en Blanc Vancouver: A brand new cool experience

You know, I'm not a very 'updated' person at times as I'm usually not at the forefront of all the new hits in town. So, the question is, how did I actually get to know about this event?

Tee Hee! I'm glad my good friend is very socialized and well informed about Vancouver events. Xin went to this annual event last year and highly recommended it to me. From her description, I could totally sense that it was an exciting event and something that was very different to my day-to-day life. 

There are many rules to this event. The tradition of this event is about everyone dressing in white only for a mass picnic dinner in a secret location. Location will only be revealed at the very last minute, so everyone will be meeting up in their selected location with their relative group mates.

Oh, and another big rule is, everyone has to bring their own picnic accessories (Yes, I meant folding table,chairs and the list goes on) as well as preparing their meals unless you pre-purchase the on-site meals prepared by Hawksworth Restaurant. 

In short, it's a dinner in white as claimed by its title.

Because it sounds like a stunning picnic, getting an invitation to it is challenging. There are three phases to the application process. Phase 1 is for returning guests exclusively. Phase 2 will be open to anyone nominated by the guests from Phase 1, and Phase 3 is generally for the people on waiting list. Due to an overwhelming response, this event leaves many disappointment to people every year who fail to grab a seat. I was lucky I was one of the 3500 picnickers to join this elegant event.

We met up with our group leader and other group mates at Vancouver Art Gallery. It was mesmerizing to see a white crowd segregating in such an artistic building on a weekday, and the event concept was outstanding instantly . I could not imagine seeing 3500 people in white at the actual event when I was already fascinated seeing 300 people dressed up in the same colour as me at once, it was definitely a feast for the eyes.

This year's location was revealed to be David Lam Park at Yaletown. I had been to this park once to volunteer for a Tom Lee's Music Festival few years back, and I was a little disappointed when I saw the venue at first, as compared to last year's spectacular view at Stadium Science World. The place looked smaller and simply lacking the vow factor.

As more and more people set up their table and chairs, the entire place instantly transformed into a fancy place as though it was hosting a Gala dinner. Felt so surreal to be immersed in a romantic atmosphere as such.

One fun part of the event was the way dinner time was announced, guests would wave their napkins in the air  together to signal the start of dinner time. 

Baby and I split up the cooking task this time, in which I was in charge of the appetizer and I left the main course entirely to him. So grateful to have a man who is willing to go into the kitchen to prepare a meal for me.

My prince charming was glowing under the sun and looking good effortlessly. :)

The organizer was thoughtful to come up with some extravagant decorations, including the love balls and vintage car.

Somehow, the venue looked much better after all the decorations. It gave 'partying in the centre of the city' kind of feel.

The dinner ended with sparklers lighting and sending the paper lanterns into the sky. Every guest was given a sparkler to light up together when announcement was made. Yes, this is an event about 'togetherness' to create a uniform view. :) It was also the uniformity which made me feel magical.

While the former part was easy, latter one was definitely much more challenging. Paper lantern floats in an uncontrollable direction, hence it's actually quite dangerous to do this in a tight space with so many trees and buildings around. I did not realize this until I saw the lantern flying right across my friend's head, slightly touching his hat before going all the way up. Whoaaaa that was really nasty! I'd rather forgo the beautiful moment for safety.

Let alone the little nasty moment, I really enjoyed myself that night. :) What's more awesome than having a good meal with my lovely friends, chilling under a sunny weather while enjoying the visual wonder created by people who share the same feeling. It was one-of-a-kind experience that I'd barely have.

Vancouver Cherry Blossom Festival 2014

I did not know about the annual VCBF sakura festival until my friend told me about it this year and invited us to go together. It is a Japanese festival combining the beautiful floral scenery with Japanese food and culture, :) definitely sounds like my thing eh.

That's just the perfect time and setting to shoot some floral pictures as well!

The festival was held on the first weekend of April this year at Van Dusen Botanical Garden. We bought tickets online at a discounted price of $10.50, regular ticket costs $12. Downside about the online purchase is, tickets are strictly non-refundable, so you'll save at the expense of risking for a bad weather. 

Lol, challenge accepted! 

Thank God our group pray was heard and granted. The pouring rain on Saturday almost made me give up on praying but tada, sun just came out of nowhere on Sunday and it was the warmest day ever! Thank you, thank you, thank you! 

I will let my pictures do the rest of the talking since photography walk was the whole purpose of my trip.

Haiku section

One of our goals (I shall say, my friend's main goal) was food hunting. We immediately rushed to the food stalls after entering the garden just to avoid the huge crowd since it was almost lunch time when we arrived.

Hehe, the 4 of us lined up at different food stalls just to save time.

Otonomiyaki

 Takoyaki

 Osaka ball: Slightly smaller than the takoyaki but the coating was crunchier. It was filled with prawns and some carrots with teriyaki sauce (3 choices available) as topping. I like this much better than the takoyaki, it was bite sized and so rich in seafood flavour!

 Zakkushi: I was told that the meat sticks were cheaper in this festival. 3 for $5 as compared to the average $2 per stick in the restaurant, what's your say? I personally dined out in the restaurant before so I knew it was not a cheap eat and the portion was relatively small. Food wise, the taste was great but not impressive enough for me to splurge on another meal again. Good Izakaya place but definitely not the place to fill your hungry stomach.

The surprise eat of the day came down to this sushi mochi. I thought it was Salmon nigiri at first glance but my friend revealed that it was mochi made in the shape of sushi! Even the 'wasabi' was specially made of green bean paste. That was just... impressive work! Or food art I shall say.

This festival also acts like a mini cosplay event as it gathers some anime lovers to dress up in their favourite anime costumes. They were so professionally dressed up from head to toes and photogenic!

Despite I feel cold for them~~~

 Busy capturing sakura pictures

We met a new girl friend who taught us professional posing for pictures. Hence the successful heart shape. You know that.... I can't do it alone without our friend's professional guidance, seriously!

I also saw this funny Totoro who looks very reluctant most of the time. I know... it was not his fault but just the way the costume was made. But seeing his slanting mouth really cracked me up, wondering if it was Edison Chen hiding in the costume.

What's more really funny.. this Totoro wears slippers!

How often can I catch a moment like this eh? You really made my day, Totoro!

I had a good day exploring this festival, thanks to the good buddies and sunny weather. It is an annual event so I hope I can be there again next year. :) And pray for another sunny weather, of course.

Happy bee flying past October and soon November

Did some photo shooting of the falling maple leaves last Sunday. Music is my main source of inspiration, photography is another. Seeing things through the small lens simply bring the world to the next level. Many things look much simpler, clean, and full of emotions through the tiny hole.

Moved into a new studio last month.  My previous landlady decided to sell her unit so I had to look for a new place to stay, hence the opportunity to consider renting a studio. Living in a studio is a first-time experience for me, so I was very excited about it despite the rent, that’s the price I’m willing to pay for a complete personal space.

J Now I don’t have to tolerate with dirty and sensitive room mates, and have the whole kitchen and living room entirely by myself. I can also invite good friends for afternoon baking or dinner. These plans cheer me up so much and motivate me to earn more money so that my savings plan is not delayed by the higher rent.

Celebrated my 24^th birthday last month and held home parties with all my good friends. That was the most comfortable birthday celebration I had in these past few years. Not only I wanted myself to fully immerse in a relaxing environment on my big day, I hope my friends would feel comfortable as well by not having to cramp with other people in restaurant, wait for long line ups or suffer from a long walk in this cold weather.

J  Since I'm living by myself now,  I think it’s just perfect timing to have a home party without any interruption.

Celebrated with Kareshi on the exact day and I was too lazy to dress up for fine dining after work, so I decided to make things simple and buy take-out foods. I managed to get some onion rings after work, that must be birthday luck because these puppies are usually sold out when I go there after work. Movie with take-out foods with Kareshi by my side, not too bad of a celebration eh J

Tried out a new cafe, Fanbourg, at Downtown with Xin. I love their macarons! The crust is baked to the right texture and filling is not too sweet, just nice for my liking. I’m really embracing tea time with my girls and chat about anything together while enjoying good desserts. That simply makes my weekends more lovely and fruitful.

Attended good friend’s convocation in SFU. I began to go to SFU more frequently since I started dating with Kareshi, feels like I’ll discover something beautiful about this place upon every visit. Haha I found a nice fish pond this time!

Also like how they hold convocation ceremony in an open space, the blue theme effortlessly makes the ambience look more peaceful. Friends joked to me, saying I should have gone to SFU since I love blue so much *pointing fingers*

Woke up to a beautiful sunrise one morning and that gave me the energy boost to start work.  I guess that’s one of the reasons I love living in high rise building, the view up here can be breathtaking at times.

It’s almost the end of the year again and I’d say 2013 is definitely a year to remember, it’s more of a year of mental changes in preparing myself to become fully responsible of my life regardless the people around me.

常常觉得，无论身边有没有人照顾，也不能停止对自己未来的生活铺路，也不要一直无止尽地等待别人跟我一起准备以后的生活。时机到了，自然会有一起生活，一起承担责任的时候，所以在那之前，先想好自己的未来就好。

5 things that make me a happy bee 2

 I gain positive energy when I'm constantly reminded on the little things which make my day so peaceful yet blissful. :) It's not hard at all to find things that will lift up my mood every day, simply because there are just so many events taking place in every second, every minute, and every hour. Thus, I decided to make positive writing as a habit and share the happiness around.

July had been a great month, both leisurely and academically. I tried to manage my leisure time wisely to make sure that I did not rot at home for some meaningless activities only. It's always about achieving the balance between soul and body to me, and this appears to be a continuous learning process in my life.

1. We revisited Deep Cove to picnic with friends in mid July. Learning from the last lesson, we decided to bus this time to eliminate the possibility of not getting a parking space. Deep Cove is my new favourite because it is spacious, less crowded, and it gathers all sorts of outdoor activities in one place (hiking, picnic, kayak/paddleboard, sightseing)

Highlight of the day fell on the 4 brave girls who took up the challenge to hike for 2 hours with sandals. It was absolutely unintended but hiking was a spontaneous idea we came up with upon arrival, and we didn't want to let go the chance of hiking the Baden Powell Trail. So there you go, challenge accepted!

I had to say, it was crazy but quite fun at the same time, because we saw some people doing the same thing along our journey. But I felt worth it after watching the view on top. It was simply spectacular and breath taking.

  Feels so good getting close to the Mother Nature once in a while.

2. Shopping for cheap deals has always been my hobby because I'm not a branded person. I prefer getting various clothing styles for the same price.

 I can't keep things to myself when it comes to getting cheap deals,  feel lacking for not sharing my achievement :P

I was doing minor shopping for my Hawaii trip today because I was short of sandals. Every time when it comes to buying accessories, Adrene is my first place to go because of its price, wide variety and sizes along with acceptable product quality. I knew this place wouldn't disappoint me, got 2 sandals and 1 beach bag for $15. No Frills should consider sharing its motto with Adrene. Seriously, such a price can't be beat, even for online shopping!

2 phone cases for $8, thanks to ebay! 

3. Apart for all the social activities, I didn't forget to fork out some time for beneficial thing. Company sent me to first aid training last Saturday. It was an 8-hour course, primarily teaching basic skills to help an injured person at first hand. 

I used to join Red Crescent Society when I was in high school, and attending this course kinda made me reminiscing those time when my friends and I would go for extra-curricular activities on Saturday to learn all sort of first aid skills, let alone the nasty marching session under the uber UV-poisonous sun lol. Can't believe that was 7 years ago! T_T

 

4. Went back to UBC for paid studies, and I took this opportunity walking around my former school to witness the changes since I left school. So my tuition fee was spent on a new fountain, student union building 2 and other endless constructions. Nowonder I heard a new motto coined to UBC- 'a place of construction' instead of 'a place of mind'. Based on my observation, it can't be a false statement at all lol.

Anyway, July is the rose-blossoming season :), as you can see in the pictures already. Although I'm not fond of flowers, seeing the garden being coated with multi colours still lifts up my mood.

5.  July was also the month of catching up with good friends and chit chat till the end of the day :). I'm glad we took advantage of the good weather and spent some time at the beach, since I didn't really get to step foot on the beach this summer. 

Lovely Xin also brought me to a new cafe- Panda Cafe, which incorporates reading manga and eating in one place. Food was average there, but the quiet atmosphere and private rooms catered for individual gatherings made up for it. :) Definitely a good chit-chatting place and an ideal hangout place for Otaku.

With the end of July, I shall welcome the eighth month of 2013 in a slightly exciting tone :) Hawaii, I'm coming!!!