The Greedy Pig + Hulk Fists

What: The Greedy Pig
Where: Gastown, Vancouver

When it was decided several months ago that Vancouver would be my next place of residence, the only thing I knew about it was that an old friend of mine from Pittsfield, Chris, lived here.

Neither Dave nor I had seen Chris in about 5 years (when he moved away from western Massachusetts), so we were excited to catch up with him soon after we arrived in Vancouver.

As it turns out, Chris is the head chef at The Greedy Pig - a bar/restaurant in the Gastown neighborhood of downtown Vancouver. We made a point to head there within just a couple of days of arriving in our new city, making our way on foot across the Burrard Bridge and straight through the center of downtown till we reached the cobblestoned streets of Gastown.

We located The Greedy Pig by the large hog sign out front, and Chris came out from the kitchen to exchange a few hugs and hellos and duuuuude it's been way too longs.

Once he shuffled back into the kitchen Dave and I posted up at a corner high-top table by the front window, ordered some food, and people-watched - Dave kindly tolerating my musings about how truly astonishing it is to see Canadian dollar bills come out of an ATM.

For dinner we each had a small side salad of mixed greens, topped with gorgeous bright red tomatoes and dressed in homemade Balsamic Vinaigrette. You could taste the local freshness of it all - I actually raved to the waitress about how delicious my salad was. She probably doesn't often hear rave reviews about their little side salads... but then again maybe she does, because it really was damn good.

Next we split a grilled cheese on sourdough that contained four different types of cheese: brie, Swiss, mozzarella, and double smoked cheddar. Nom. Nom.

It was around this time that my eyes ventured upward to the top of the liquor shelves that flanked the bar. To my delight I discovered that atop each shelf was perched a green Hulk fist:

.   you wouldn't like me when i'm... eating grilled cheese at the greedy pig  . 

Juxtaposed against the historic room and the top shelf liquor - the fists were an interesting touch and they definitely made me laugh.

Also, this happened once in 2007:

.  bump it  .

... So that's funny, too. And yes, that's a lei.

We got to spend a few more minutes chatting with Chris before we left to head back home, so I was able to tell him to his face that his grilled cheese was incredibly edible. I'm sure we'll be back to The Greedy Pig sooner or later!

I'm going to try to bring my camera with me more often when we're heading out to restaurants, so I can take pics of the food/menus/atmosphere, etc. I also hope to spend much more time in Gastown, because it's got quite a lot of character and reminds me a bit of Boston.

.   walk to the greedy pig in downtown vancouver   .

Our walk to and from The Greedy Pig ended up being about 5 miles round trip, which Google.ca defaults to telling me is just over 8 km. In other news, "Google.ca" can take their km and shove it.

Cafe Zen vs Home + My Workout

It's been raining here almost all weekend - the kind of weather that kind of makes you want to stay inside and wear pajamas all day. Despite that, we have managed to get out a bit for walks and errands and food!

I absolutely love going out to eat breakfast on the weekends, so each Saturday it's inevitable that I will drag Dave out to a diner somewhere for something eggs-and-bacon-ish.

Yesterday we went just up the street to Cafe Zen to sample their breakfast fare. We didn't have to wait at all, which sucked. (Not.)

Normally my order of choice is just two eggs over medium, bacon, wheat toast and homefries. This time I ordered Huevos Tapatios: two eggs, avocado, salsa, chorizo, cilantro, green onions, feta cheese and tomatoes, all served on top of a hot tortilla. I didn't take a picture of it, but this person did, if you're interested. It tasted just as good as it looks. It was also served with a little side dish of fruit.

We were however ignored by our waitress and didn't even get re-fills of our water or coffee. If we hadn't each had 2+ cups of coffee at home before we went out to breakfast, we probably would have been pretty peeved about that. Later we learned that our waitress had actually left the building altogether during our meal, and we were eventually (stress on the eventually, if the italics font didn't tip you off) given our check (or cheque if you're in Canada) by a different girl entirely and on our walk home even passed our first waitress as she waited for the bus on the sidewalk. Breakfast for the two of us here was about 30 Jo Bro$.

This morning I "made" a simpler breakfast at home, which I'm enjoying right now while we watch the Patriots game:  coffee, wheat toast w/ natural peanut butter, and a big 4-fruit salad.

.   apples, strawberries, grapes, banana   .

Perhaps not as fancy as the breakfast at Cafe Zen, but 100% easier on both my wallet and my health.

Speaking of health, I signed up for a new gym membership here in Vancouver the other day, at Steve Nash Fitness World (LOLOLOL Canadians love Steve Nash). It's pretty big and MUCH more crowded than any gym I've been at before. Also, it stinks. Like a hockey team's locker room. It does however have a Ladies Only room for strength-training, which so far I appreciate much more than I expected to. The entire gym is generally pretty disorganized - with weights/equipment lying around everywhere and a "grab a weight from someone else the second they set it down" type of "every man for himself" atmosphere.  There are "Please put your weights back on the racks" signs all over, but perhaps Dave and I are the only ones at the gym who know how to read? Not sure if this particular gym relationship is going to be a lasting one, but I'm willing to give it a chance for a little while.

We had to talk ourselves into going to the gym at all last night, and we finally did around 6pm, knowing that the gym closes at 7pm on Saturdays (wack). For that reason, this workout was shorter than usual, but I'm very glad I did it anyway. 

I thought I'd also blog about my workouts here, which you're welcome to read, skim, or skip. I'll also include links to videos or resources where you can see what each exercise is and how it's performed. (I do this for my blog at work sometimes, too!) Working out is definitely one of my interests, as anyone who has ever gotten into a conversation with me about fitness knows. I have my job to thank for this and consider it to be one of the most important things that I've gotten out of my nearly 5 years with the company. Being exposed to so many different workout ideas on a weekly basis has made me feel like I never have the excuse of being bored with my workout routine. Plus, each workout is usually demonstrated and thoroughly described by a certified fitness professional, so it's not just "ideas" I'm getting - it's actual fitness knowledge. 

10/13 workout;

10 mins elliptical

12 overhead press, 12 lbs each hand

40 Brazilian crunches

on exercise ball, 10 lbs each hand:

   - 12 chest press

   - 12 close grip chest press

30 crunches on exercise ball, holding 12 lbs

12 deltoid flys, 8 lbs each hand

40 leg lifts + 6 lb medicine ball pullover (I usually do these with 8-10 lbs, but I can't find anything in this gym! 6 lbs was all I could locate)

24 plank row, 8 lbs each hand

40 weighted side bends, 12 lbs each hand

12 deltoid raises, 8 lbs each hand

- :30 plank

- 20 plank glute kickbacks

- 60 "swimmers"

Do you have a gym membership? If so, do you use it as much as you want to? 

An Indian Dinner at Home

Last night David made us an Indian feast for dinner. I wasn't angry about it. We always enjoy going out to Indian restaurants, but this time Dave brought the Indian restaurant into our kitchen. He is a fabulous cook - I am one lucky girl!

Some noms to nom:

Chicken, cauliflower, green peppers, onions, tomatoes, and tikka masala cooking sauce, served with white rice, mango chutney and naan bread. It was delicious, made our apartment smell awesome, and he made enough that we have plenty for leftovers. Whoop!

Urban Outfitters Dust Nail Polish

I made my first-ever purchase from an Urban Outfitters the other day, picking up two new nail polishes.  I don't normally shop at Urban Outfitters, but there is a store just up the street from me now and they lured me inside with the "50% off sale" signs that were plastered all over their front door. I almost bought a really pretty green dress as well but decided there wasn't a great need for me to buy a tank top dress in Canada in mid-October.

My two new nail polishes are called Dust and Lollipop and I don't own anything like either of them - and I own a lot of nail polishes which may end up being blogged about pretty often.

I haven't tried Lollipop yet, but have been wearing Dust for a few days now. (Not because it's lasted that long; I just keep reapplying it because it's so cool to look at on my fingertips.) It's a mostly-clear, slightly blue-tinted base with a fine navy blue sparkle in it, infused with two other glitters - one fine (but not as fine as the blue sparkle) silver and one chunky silver.

The below picture shows what it looks like with 3 coats plus a top coat, but you can keep layering it for even more opacity:

.   in natural light  .

.   inside  .

.  Urban Outfitters' Dust  . 

I'm pleased with this polish and am excited to try Lollipop as well, which is even more interesting than Dust! These polishes were being sold at 2 for $8, so not bad for a cool polish. They're $6/each otherwise.

Do you wear nail polish? Do you not give a crap about it? What's your favorite brand/polish?

Vancouver Restaurant: Cactus Club Cafe

What: Cactus Club Cafe
Where: Along Sunset Beach in Vancouver

On Saturday night David and I made our way across the Burrard Bridge to walk along Sunset Beach.

We strolled along till we became a little hungry, then decided to stop at the Cactus Club Cafe, a beach-side restaurant with a nice looking patio. We opted to wait the approximately 25 minutes for a free table, and I'm glad we did.

Sitting on their heated patio (these patio heaters are one of my favorite things about the West Coast), I felt like we were in Miami (not that I've been there, hah!!) - beside a the beach but looking at city skyscrapers.

We decided to split an appetizer and ordered soups as our main courses. We also uncharacteristically ordered a couple of drinks - the "Cohiba" was both lemony and minty, with muddled blackberries and what the menu claimed was vodka... however neither one of us could taste any of the latter. For $8 each, they weren't the most expensive drink in the world, but a little steep for something that had next to no alcohol in it! They were definitely delicious anyway.

The chicken quesadilla that we split as an app had pesto and cranberries and was served with something like a Ranch dressing. It all tasted incredible and I'd definitely order it again (if we hadn't already vowed to never eat at the same place twice!).

For my main course I had a butternut squash soup that was served with an apple foam and was lightly dressed with a basil oil and topped with a seared scallop centerpiece. David had a won ton soup with jumbo prawn that he also seemed to enjoy. I am permanently compelled to order the butternut squash soup any time I see it on a menu, because I absolutely love it and don't come across it often enough when dining out. This version did not disappoint!

All in all, our meal eaten by the beach while watching the sun set was really wonderful. The patio also offered beautiful views of the ships that are parked out in the English Bay, which all light up in a sparkly display once it's dark outside.

Our walk to and from the restaurant totaled about 4.5 miles round trip (or 7.24 km, as I'll have to become used to figuring out!). I love taking walks after a meal - do you?

Welcome to Vancouver!

Today we have been in our new apartment in Canada for 1 week. We've unpacked and put 99% of everything away into its new place, and have begun the process of making this new apartment our actual home. Dave did the bulk of the unpacking while I worked 7-3pm Mon-Fri this past week - he is very good at putting a home together, and having moved 5 times in the last 4 years, he's had plenty of practice.

We love Vancouver so far, are very pleased with our apartment and are infatuated with our neighborhood. The apartment is more spacious than our place in Portland, with much newer appliances. It's completely carpeted which I actually kind of enjoy - my toes aren't as cold and I'm less inclined to put on a pair of slippers. There are tons of closets, perfect for all of our (read: David's) stuff (read: climbing/hiking gear). The closet in our bedroom is a walk-in, which I have already gotten way too used to. Spread out and hang all of my clothes in as many places as I feel like? Don't mind if I do.

Our apartment is barely 2 blocks from a beautiful beach, with an amazing view of the mountains and West Vancouver, as well as a nice skyline view of Vancouver's downtown. We have endless choices of restaurants of all types, and have vowed to try not to go to the same restaurant twice. Two years won't be nearly enough time to sample all of this food!

Last night we went to Ikea and Home Depot, both of which are basically mandatory trips to make within a week of moving anywhere. We picked up a few things for the house and a ton of plants to put out on our balcony:

We've gone on several beautiful walks since we've been here - walking over the Burrard Bridge a few times already to go over to the downtown area.

.  Burrard Bridge .

The entire city is very fitness-geared, with bike lines everywhere and tons of people walking/jogging/biking to and from work. I'll write more about that in a later blog.

There are so many amazing things to see here, and I can't wait to blog about it all!

doh!

well i moved to cape cod, so that's news. sweet house? check. beach just down the block? check. working from sweet home office with brand new macbook? check. friends? DOH!!!

yeah, oops, i forgot how to make new friends. i haven't had to do it since i think 6th grade, and i've just been cruising along ever since - sort of a snowball rolling down a hill just accumulating friends and acquaintances along the way. latching onto friends of friends and then claiming them as my own... it's been way too easy. so now i'm plucked from the bowels of boston (a timely metaphor, as i happen to be in boston today and it does indeed smell like hot shit) and plopped unceremoniously into this quaint little beach town.

within a couple days of my moving there, though, falmouth surprised me with titillating news stories about drug rings and shootings and buildings on fire. why, just this past weekend an 18-year-old drove his truck into the atlantic ocean. that story ended tragically for the driver, yes, but i can't fault the town for its ability to surprise a newly transplanted western-masser-turned-bostoner-turned-year-round-cape-codder like myself with its abundance of breaking wacky news.

here's an oldie but a goodie - "no no no" by destiny's child (a 98 classsssssssic):



peace oot
(that's canadian for "bye")