Cafe Medina

I had an amazing brunch last weekend at Cafe Medina. I've been wanting to try this place for a long time now and I'm glad I finally got the chance.

It's pretty small inside, but the uncovered high ceilings give the illusion of spaciousness.

M and I both ordered drinks because the choices all sounded amazingly good. I chose the Lavender Latte and she had the White Chocolate Pistachio Mocha. The drinks came out in these charming blue mugs that I immediately wanted to take home with me. the drink below is my lavender latte that I forgot to mix in my eagerness to have a sip, so my first mouthfuls were a bit too sweet. Once the espresso kicked in, however, I was satisfied.

For our main dishes, M selected the Oeufs Cocottes - baked eggs on smoked black cod, asparagus, lemon roasted potatoes, and goat cheese, with shaved fennel and onion salad, as well as a side of grilled focaccia. I had a taste of the baked eggs and liked it, but I preferred my own dish.

I chose the La Sante - soft-boiled egg, heirloom tomato, avocado, prosciutto, extra-virgin olive oil, and grilled focaccia. I knew I was going to order this the moment I saw the words "soft-boiled egg". This is the way I like my eggs best and it's not always easy to find. It's also not that easy to make, which is perhaps why it's not on many menus. Cafe Medina's version is a not soft enough for my liking, but it's not too bad. It's almost closer to hard-boiled, but still a bit soft and runny. I don't know if there's a proper way of eating this dish, but what I did was to finish the egg first, and then had a bit of everything together. The avocado was perfect with the prosciutto and the tomatoes. Every mouthful I took was just delicious, an explosion of tastes that's so right.

You'd think after all this we'd be full, but the main reason for our visit here was for their BELGIAN WAFFLES. I have to capitalize them. They're just THAT GOOD! The waffles were amazing, the best I've ever tasted! They're crisp and chewy and you don't need a knife to slice them at all. I think there's some malt in the batter because they're just too good.

There were numerous options for sauces and M chose the lavender milk chocolate while I picked the raspberry caramel. Again, the sauces were just as amazing as the waffles. Both of us ended up scraping every little bit of the sauce from the dishes that we could. If we were a bit less polite, I think we would have licked the little dish!

I'm definitely going back before I leave. The waffles are the best meal I've had this entire trip so far and I want to bring my parents, my friends, my relatives...

Cafe Medina
556 Beatty St.
Vancouver, BC
604.879.3114
closed on Mondays

Peony Love

It's hard to believe, but I just recently discovered the wonder that is peony. More specifically, I only learned about this posy when I stared reading wedding blogs and seeing pictures of this flower popping up in all the bouquets that attracted me. I've always known that a peony is a flower, but there was never a picture to go with the word until then. Now that I've seen it, smelled it, touched it, I think I'm in love. The above picture is on my desk right now, making me happy everytime I get a whiff or happen to look up and see the heads just looking at me, all plump and lush and oh-so-pretty.

So, of course you would think that i would have peonies in my wedding bouquet, right? Ah, therein lies the rub. Apparently, peonies will no longer be in season on my wedding day! Sob sob! If I had known then what I know now, I might have just moved up the wedding date! Oh well, my oh-so-fantastic florist assures me there may still be a slight chance of peonies on that day itself, so I am keeping my fingers crossed.

In the meantime, I'm just going to enjoy them while they last. I sense another trip ti the flower store in the next few days!

Wedding Shoes and Lost Luggage

I'm starting to panic as United Airlines has yet to locate my luggage and deliver it to me. It's in Chicago somewhere, according to their latest scan, which was over 24 hours ago. They promised me my luggage would be delivered at noon. When I phoned them at noon, they said my bag didn't make it on to the last two flights to Vancouver and that I should check again in an hour. When I phoned back, they said that they would make sure it got on the last flight this evening. When I phoned again this evening, I was told it was last scanned in Chicago and they were trying to locate it!

My wedding veil and wedding shoes are in that bag! I'm trying to distract myself from my missing luggage by blogging about the two pairs of shoes that I'm deciding between for my wedding. I wanted to stay away from traditional white/ivory shoes so I looked for something I could wear often afterwards.

The first pair I chose because I'm really liking the ruffles on it. I realize it still kind of falls under "traditional", but at least it's not white or pointy. I don't really have a pair of dressy metallic shoes currently, so these would work well for other more formal occasions later on. Or even just for a nice dinner out if I'm more dressed up. I also like the added texture the pleating gives. It's feminine, yet still simple. This is the Greer sandal from J. Crew.

The second pair I chose because I like the color and I like the ribbon. Yes, I admit I can be a girly-girl at times. I figure this would look really nice with a pair of jeans and can easily be dressed up or down. I also like that it adds a subtle bit of color to my entire ivory ensemble. This is the Augusta pump from J. Crew as well.

I think the ribbon is quite adorable!

The best thing about these shoes is they were both on sale and had free shipping when I bought them! Now, how to decide? Dilemma, dilemma! Any advice from whoever's reading out there? :)

And, writing this post did make me briefly forget about my lost luggage. I hope writing about the shoes will guarantee that they are found and returned to me...

I bought Crocs!

I bought Crocs! Yes, I gave in and finally bought myself a pair of Crocs. I've been wanting comfy summer shoes for a while now and when Endless.com offered free overnight shipping with free returns, I figured why not. Worst case I can return them, right?

Hanalei Crocs from www.crocs.com

Above are my deliciously new Hanalei Crocs. I wore them to dinner tonight and they are sooo comfortable, They're light as air and I finally believe my friends who've told me that it feels like they're walking on clouds.

I know, I know, if I want to be comfy I can always wear flip-flops or flats, but as some of you know, I am somewhat "height-challenged", meaning I am under 5'4", so I need all the help I can get.

I'm hoping these will be my perfect pair of summer shoes. And I did buy more than one pair of shoes at endless.com, but I might return one pair. I'm still thinking about it. This free overnight shipping is a dangerous thing! Good thing I'm off to Vancouver in two days...I need some time away from the instant gratification of free overnight shipping.

Look!

I know this may seem totally random, but yesterday I went to Valley Fabrics in Northampton to purchase fabric! Yes, fabric! I've been bitten by the sewing bug. I don't even own a sewing machine, so I don't know why I'm buying fabric. Valley Fabrics is actually closing their doors for good and having a liquidation sale, so I couldn't resist dropping by. Look at what I ended up with! The red gingham oilcloth is NOT part of my purchase. :)

I have some ideas for what I want to make with each fabric, but nothing's set in stone. For now, the most important thing is to actually go buy a machine! It's so difficult to know what to buy. There's too much information! The first dealer I went to recommended the Janome DC2010 for $399, and upon further research, I found out that it's the exact same model as the Kenmore 19110 for $299 at Sears.

Is the $100 difference worth the free sewing lessons and repair included with the Janome? Another advantage of buying from a dealer is that they accept trade-ins for upgrades. Then again, I also kind of want to get one of the so-called "better" machines like a Bernina or a Pfaff. Or maybe I can get my mom to bring me a used industrial model from Manila when she goes to Vancouver for the wedding, haha. Somehow I don't really see her lugging a machine through customs! I don't even know if there are any extra machines in the workshop.

There's also a used Husqvarna Viking Prisma 950 for sale on Craigslist at $100 with everything included. Any advice from anyone out there?

In the meantime, back to fabric, here are my favorites from my purchase yesterday: Garden Friends by Jay McCarroll. I hadn't even started watching Project Runway when he won! I also don't kow why these appeal to me so much since I'm not really the "quirky" type. My tastes usually run towards classic or preppy or feminine.

Hopefully, next time I talk about sewing, I'll have decided on a machine already. And in crochet news, I've decided to try crocheting my bridal garter. This should be interesting.

Crocheted Throw

photo from FCL Style

Since I started crocheting, I've started noticing that there are so many crocheted items for sale out there! For example, I saw this today on FCL Style and the first thing I thought was "Hey, that's crochet!", immediately followed by, "That looks easy to make! I can do that!", and then "$98 for that?"

It's funny how I'd rather make it myself than shell out close to $100 to purchase it, but if I were to really think about it, the time it would take me to crochet that is definitely worth more than $100. The yarn itself may not be that expensive, but labor? It's a good thing I quite enjoy crochet because that way, I don't think about it in terms of labor cost.

I even already have the top and bottom colors on hand! Not in the quantity needed to actually make it, but I just thought it was a nice coincidence. So, I may make an attempt at this when I have more time, meaning after the wedding!

Another reason I love our rental...

...is all the flowers that keep popping up unexpectedly! I never know what to expect! First were the pink flowers in the backyard. Then the mint leaves by the side door. And now, this! Just outside the front door! I only noticed it now because we rarely use the front door. I tried getting a better shot, but it was windy and it was difficult to focus on moving flowers. :)

Sneak Peek

Here's what I recently completed. I'd ask you to guess what is is, but I think it's fairly obvious, right? A more detailed post will follow.

Quick dinner and Strawberry Shortcake

After a quick trip to the Fish Elevator last Saturday, we got home to a still fairly sunny day. H and I wanted to eat on the patio again and were both feeling quite summery. As we still had some strawberries in the fridge, I decided to make stawberry shortcake. This was super easy to make as nothing was made from scratch! It was all just assembly. My excuse is that we don't have any equipment yet, although if I were really determined I could have cobbled something together just using a fork and an oven. Then again, sometimes it's easier just to do things the lazy way, right? So, I started with the strawberries. Just slice and toss in a bowl with some sugar to macerate, then chill in the fridge while baking the biscuits.

The green stuff is the recently discovered mint that's growing outside our back door. I thought they were just leaves! It was H, who got close to the leaves while trying to figure out how to turn on the tap (much more complicated than it sounds, I assure you!), who discovered that they were actually mint. So delicious and smells amazing! For the shortcake, I just used the Pillsbury Buttermilk Biscuits in a can. They were very easy to make. The only change I made was to sprinkle the tops of them with some sugar before baking to make them more suited to dessert. Once the biscuits are done, slice them in half, top the bottom part with some Cool Whip, and then top with the macerated
strawberries.

Then top with the other half of the biscuit, dollop on as much whipped cream as you like, and cover with more strawberries.

Add if that's not enough, add even more berries so it's overflowing onto the plate!

These tasted so good, and I still can't believe how quick they were to make! Maybe I'll keep making them this way even when i eventually get proper baking equipment!

Now, lest you think all we did was eat dessert, we also had a proper dinner. Again, it was one of those quick dinners that I turn to when I didn't really have anything planned out beforehand. Pasta! More specifically, beef sauce spaghetti. I don't think it can be called bolognaise. :) It's basically just toss everything in that's in the fridge. So, there were mushrooms, parmesan, cherry tomatoes, tomato sauce, onions, salt, pepper, soy sauce (yes, soy sauce!) and some worcestershire. And the ground beef, of course. This pasta never tastes the same whenever I make it, but it always tastes good. Perfect for a sunny evening out on the patio. Mmmmm....

Spring!

I was in the process of uploading pictures for a post when H suddenly called and said we should go see a movie, so instead of a full post, this is what you're getting for now.

The flowers in the backyard garden have been flowering for the past weeks and I couldn't resist cutting some to enjoy up in our guestroom/study/craft room.

I don't even know what kind of flowers these are, but I was glad to be able to enjoy them briefly. They;re all dead now, haha, including the ones in the garden!