I'm a little potato all mashed up.
Follow me on Twitter @depotato
My online journal of my amazingly boring life. Don't expect anything juicy. I write those in my real journal at home safe away from prying eyes. Except for maybe my sister.
Nothing at the show really caught my eye except maybe the Canucks Camero and Whitecaps car! And maybe also Subaru's sexy Sumo wrestler who was taking photos with people! Hehee! The Ford Fiesta was there again and some of them had awesome looking decals put on. I love the shininess of new cars. Too bad once in the real world, there isn't anybody that will give it a wipe down every half hour. Hahah it's a small world because we bumped into the same girl that works at these types of events AGAIN and we also saw our aunt and uncle who was also there!
Sign in started at noon and while we waited for more people to join, we had to learn a dance for the flash mob portion of the dub. The LipDub crew managed to secure a helicopter to film the mob from above! We were given blue ponchos and filmed at the back of the Anthropology Museum. Unfortunately the ponchos made everyone very hot (and not in a good way) because we kept having to run in and jump again and again for several takes!
After the flash mob portion was done, my group went to the Irving K. Barber Learning Centre to set up. The part we were responsible for was to throw all sorts of junk down from the upper floors of the library while singing of course. You don't know how hard that is! There was a lot of confusion on when we where suppose to chuck our balloons, tissue paper, beach balls and army men. I hope they don't use the last take because that one was the most disorganized.
There were horses, dogs, bouncy houses, a trampoline, cars, a Transit bus and Josh Ramsay from Marianas Trench involved in the lipdub shoot! I even got a photo of Josh as he passed through Irving Library. It wasn't a very good one since I was on the 3rd floor looking down. I didn't see everything because we weren't allowed to leave our zone and a lot of the day was just waiting around but that's the film industry for you I guess. So a lot of what the video will look like is a mystery to me.
After that was finished, we headed toward the UBC Swimming Centre for the last shoot of the day. It was a underwater shoot which had scuba divers, divers and other random people in the pool. I don't get what the sign they hung up is suppose to mean though. Does anybody recognize it?
Shooting wrapped up at 7pm. Finally after a LONG day, the LipDub crew treated us all to much needed pizza and drinks. I had a lot of fun and I can't wait to see the finished product. The official premiere will be on April 8th!
Check out the UBC LipDub website here.
We finally got inside, after oh maybe a half hour wait. I was quite pleased with the display. The lanterns were very pretty hanging from nets and I liked the LED light curtain too. It was white the first time I went. The second time it changed colours! There were also 3D white paper cut outs of sea life on display after the main display. Those were pretty cool. I liked the flying fish the best.
The Public Dreams Society also put on a parade both weekends. Basically they put on magnificent costumes and walked down Granville street to with drummers leading the way. I LOVE the fish head man! So pretty! The jellyfish man reminded me of some one in Alice in Wonderland. He talked in a funny whimsical Wonderland-type way. LOOL
I never realized that Vancouver had so much things to do before! I'm flying through my bus passes like crazy!
If you missed out this weekend don't worry there will also be another mini celebration (for the closing ceremony), the TD Bank Winter Carnival, on Sunday, February 27th, 2011 from 12:00pm until 4:00pm at Robson Square.
Dinner started off with a bread basket. I love bread and it always pleases me to have a complementary bread basket. Our party tried all the dishes except the Beetroot and Goat Cheese and Cream Spätzle with Butternut Squash. My favourite dish was the Roasted Baja Scallops. They were large and tasted amazing! The presentation of the dishes were very nice too. Each plate was like a work of art. I had the tuna for the main course and it was awesome and filling! It didn't look like much but trust me, everyone was very full by the end. I finished off with the Warm Apple Crumble. It contained a biscuit and cute little (and tasty) peach jelly cubes. We all agreed that we wanted more cubes in our desserts.
I highly recommend Ebo. I enjoyed the dinner very much!
Here is their full Dine Out menu:
Wild Mushroom Soup (V)
Purée of Wild Mushrooms, Feta Cheese, Seasonal Mushroom Sauté,
Truffle Oil
Beetroot and Goat Cheese (V)
Marinated Baby Beets, Molten Marcella Goat Cheese, Organic Lettuce,
Textures of Apples, Pine Nut Granola
Roasted Baja Scallops
Vanilla Scented Cauliflower Puree, Serrano Ham, Capers & Sultana Raisins
˜˜˜˜
Tuna
Rare Rice-Crusted Albacore Tuna Steak, Avocado Purée,
Asparagus with Serrano Ham, Chili Gastrique
Braised Beef Rib “galbijim”,
Crushed Potatoes, Braised Carrots
Cream Spätzle with Butternut Squash (V)
Slow Roasted Hazelnut Crumble, Caramelized Brussel Sprouts,
Chevre Noir
˜˜˜˜
Warm Apple Crumble
Granny Smith Apples, Raisins Coconut Streusel and Vanilla Ice Cream
Baked Marble Cheesecake
Berry Compote
I also have a new camera so I apologize for the blurry photos while I'm still learning how to use it.
This year I went to Gramercy Grill with a bunch of friends. Their Dine Out menu was $28 and they had a fair selection dishes and also add-ons if wanted. I thought the food was faily good. I really enjoyed the Seared Ahi Tuna as the appitizer. My friends said they enjoyed the other appitizers as well. We were a table of five and we each ordered different things to try. The Cream of Cauliflower soup looked very good and so did the Triple A Beef Tenderloin Carpaccio which was the other one I wanted to try out. The main course was Braised Australian Lamb Shank. It was very succulent and the meat just slid right off the bone. I tried a little of my friend's Wild Mushroom & Asparagus Risotto and it was delicious! For dessert I tried the Crème Brule. It was cold and the sugar was melted and only crispy in the middle but it did taste very good cold.
The food at Gramercy Grill was good but the portions may be a little small for some people. Customer service was another matter. We had to wait a LONG LONG time between courses. I don't know if it was just us because another table came about when we were just finished the main course and waiting for dessert and they finished around the SAME TIME as us! We had to wait about 15 minutes just to get cold desserts! Yes ALL of the desserts were cold or room temperature! It shouldn't have to had taken that long to bring out. Then after when were paying the bill, we told them what to charge on the individual credit card and they them took away only to return 10 minutes later to ask us the amounts again! Was it because we didn't order any extras or wine or coffee? It shouldn't matter. All patrons should be treated equally!
I don't know if I will be returning. Good food, if not paired with good customer service leaves a sour taste in my mouth.
Here was their Dine Out menu if you want to ever try them out:
Appetizer Choices:
Cream of Cauliflower Soup
Hearts of Romaine Salad
pancetta lardons, crispy capers, grana padano cheese, roasted shallot & garlic vinaigrette
Triple A Beef Tenderloin Carpaccio
truffle aioli, crispy capers & grana padano
Seared Ahi Tuna
sesame seeds, seaweed flakes & pea shoots orange ginger vinaigrette
Entrée Choices:
Oven Roasted Sablefish Filet
miso, ginger & tamari cream roasted baby carrots & asparagus, vegetable spring roll
Wild Mushroom & Asparagus Risotto
grana padano & mascarpone cheese
Cherry Creek Free Range Chicken Breast green onion mashed potatoes,roasted baby carrots & asparagus, truffle tapenade
Braised Australian Lamb Shank
merlot jus, butternut squash puree, roasted baby carrots & asparagus, pickled celery & carrot
Butternut Squash Agnolotti
sautéed spinach & tomato sauce, topped with grana padano cheese
Angus Triple A Beef Tenderloin
additional $5
garlic mashed potatoes, roasted baby carrots & asparagus, shiitake mushroom merlot jus
Baby Back Ribs & Blue Cheese Macaroni additional $5
house made whiskey barbeque sauce
Dessert Choices:
Lemon Tart
local berry coulis & whipped cream
Pecan Pie
cardamom caramel sauce & whipped cream
Warm Flourless Chocolate Torte
caramel sauce & whipped cream
Duo of Cheeses additional $4
Crème Brule
There is always the threat of the "Big One" looming in BC, ever since more than ten years ago I think. And I had heard we were overdue for one and it was rather anti-climatic when none really did occur. The last earthquake we experienced was the aftershock from Seattle and that was back in high school. It was rather funny at the time because I felt it shaking before everyone else and I was looking around the classroom to see if anyone else felt it but the everyone was acting normally and the teacher kept teaching. I was tempted to raise my hand and ask if it was an earthquake but more tremors started up and my teacher screamed "OMG IT'S AN EARTHQUAKE!!!!"
So now everyone can practice drop, cover and hold on after all these years of going soft with no earthquakes. It never hurts to be prepared. Which reminds me that I still need to put together an earthquake kit.
You can find out more about the ShakeOut here at http://www.shakeoutbc.ca/.
The one-year anniversary of the 2010 Winter Olympic and Paralympic games is fast approaching and there are events going to be hosted everywhere in February. One of these events is a film called With Glowing Hearts: A Vancouver 2010 Social Media Story. This documentary will talk about how social media had a huge and positive impact during and after the games for the people living in Vancouver by letting everyone tell their own story. For a limited time, tickets to the screening are free! Request tickets here: http://www.eventbrite.com/event/1203033305/?ref=estw
Watch the trailer here: