Saturday at Ikea

We went to Ikea last Saturday to finalize our shopping for the special one.

There are 2 Ikeas in the lower mainland one in Richmond and the other in Coquitlam. We went to the Coquitlam location because the Ikea in Richmond is about to be relocated and they had a massive sales to reduce their supplies.

We went there just before lunch so we went directly to their restaurant.

Salad

I ordered a combo: Salad, Soda, and 10 pieces of Meatballs with mash potato and gravy.

Meatballs, mashed potato, Lingonberry sauce and Gravy

Wife ordered Roasted Chicken and mashed potato (with gravy as well).



Once our tummies were filled, we wandered around the children section.

Miniature Kitchen

We saw miniature kitchen sink and workbench. Ikea seems to want to hook these kids to become craftsman as early as possible... and if that fails, a visit to Ikea followed by purchases of easy-to-assemble household items would be the next logical step.

Miniature Workbench

We're still undecided whether we want to decorate the special one's room with colorful lights or not.

Stars would be a better choice?

Cars

Definitely cars. Non-negotiable, done-deal. Little one must play with cars. Wife told me that the little one couldn't stay still. Perhaps little one had eyes set on this toy?

We were looking for storage boxes to put under the changing table. We ended up buying the plastic type as the ones above were too soft and might break down easily.

Ikea's own Baby!

We bought a mattress but decided to return it back in favor of another one from Sears. Ikea's mattresses are less firm compare to Sears'.

As usual, we did our grocery before everything else and we bought a few snacks.

One of our favorite snacks was on sale. So tempting, so delicious, and not so expensive. Must buy.

Cheetos from our hometown

We also found this snack slipped somewhere in our Snack storage space. We almost forgot we bought it a few weeks ago. It is a type of Cheetos, Grilled Chicken flavor, from our hometown.

Marie Regal Biscuits

Marie Regal biscuits is my all-time favorite since I was a toddler. My mother used to tell me a story that one time when I was a wee little kid, I would not take my eyes away from those biscuits every single time we went to a supermarket. She would hide to "scare" me a little bit ("where's mommy!") and I wouldn't even budge or noticed she wasn't around. Perhaps the packaging attracts children than Fisher Price toys.

Got our dinner from Curry King Cafe. We're not sure if they're affiliated with Curry King Express in Crystal Mall food court or not but our guess they're not.

Hainanese Chicken Rice

I ordered the Hainanese  Chicken Rice to compare with other restaurants around and was a little bit disappointed.

Scallop and Shrimp Fried Rice

Wife ordered Scallop and Shrimp Fried Rice. It was a lot of rice. A lot of rice. A lot... of rice.

We were very tired that day that we barely did anything, other than to take shower and to go to sleep, after the dinner.

What a day. The little one seemed happy that day as wife told me the level of activity was off the chart.

Restaurant: Au Wing Kee

Had a quick lunch with wife last week in a restaurant near our place because I was craving for comfort food that known as Congee.

Big Fat Juicy Chicken

Au Wing Kee looks very old from the outside and dingy from the inside. The place also smells a bit but we are used to of these kinds of restaurants especially when they have a great speciality.

Wife ordered Beef Congee while I had the Chinese Mushroom and Chicken Congee. Pay attention at those oil/fat, it's darn delicious!

Chinese Mushroom

They prepare various congees ranging from plain until the extravagant. Both of ours are considered one level away from the plain and each of ours cost $4.50/bowl. I'd say it's a catch for a quick lunch!

Actual Serving

Vancouver has a few restaurants that prepare Congee of this type where it is almost pure soup and you can't feel the rice anymore. It is  different than the congee from our hometown in which it is focused on the condiments, such as: the Chinese doughnut, the fried onion, the green onion, a bit of chicken, and spicy hot sauce, and you can still taste the rice since the preparation is different.

Hometown Congee

We definitely will come back if we were in the mood for a bowl of Congee.

Ramen and Instant Noodles

Few days ago wife and I went out for lunch at our favorite ramen place - Motomachi Shokudo - somewhere in the Downtown area near Stanley Park.

In case people don't know it is a Ramen place

We haven't been there for a while and wife wanted ramen so bad that day and there was nothing that could've held her back. Not to mention that day was cold and gloomy; a good excuse to fill our stomach.

Those wooden chairs remind us of Chinese noodle shops

It is rather small inside, I believe the maximum capacity is about 20 people. Because of such limitation, we always try to be the first guests - lining up 5 minutes before it opens.

For some reason, wife was in the mood for their Cold Ramen instead of the hot soupy version.

While I ordered our usual favourite - Nama-Shoyu Ramen.

Motomachi Shokudo is the sister "Ramen Shop" of Kintaro, which is located about 4-6 shops down the road. While Kintaro is known for its sinful pork fat (not so healthy) and a budget-friendly menu, Motomachi is the total opposite. It's more expensive, uses organic ingredients and chicken broth (instead of pork), and is not as greasy Kintaro. Still sinful though, but it's probably the place to experiment with some mod style Ramen.

VanMag wrote an article about the chef/owner behind both Ramen shops back in 2008: http://www.vanmag.com/Restaurants/Chef_Profiles/Mr_Noodle

We saw these funny looking mopeds on our way back to the parking lot. This shop rents out bikes for people who want to enjoy a day in Stanley Park without the hassle of bringing your own bike from your home to Stanley Park. Solid business model I'd say!

Speaking of Ramen, not too long ago we replenished our stock of instant noodles for the rainy days in case we were running out of food. We normally don't eat them unless we really really have to (which is very rare). I have been reducing my instant noodles consumption probably since a few years ago while wife isn't big on them except on a few rare occasions when she had a sudden craving.

This time around, we decided to get some of the unusual flavours of our favorite brands.

We also bought a few more because Ramen Rater had asked us to send him a few exotic flavors not available around his neck of woods. I was a little bit hesitant to do this at first due to the strict rule of U.S. customs and to know that there was a big chance that they will be confiscated but no pain no gain I suppose. Luckily he received them all.

Restaurant: Daimasu at Metrotown

We went to Daimasu Burnaby on Saturday because I've been craving for a Japanese food (and surprisingly was not in the mood for any other ethnic foods that day).

Ordered Katsu Don because I miss this dish a lot. I believe this is the first time I had a Katsu Don garnished with Glass Noodle. Typically the condiments are just the Eggs and Sliced Onions.

Wife ordered bento box (or known as combo box). It comes with a bowl of Chicken Teriyaki (which unfortunately has too much sauce, as you can see from the picture), a bowl of Udon, and Tempura (2 prawns and 2 veggies).

I helped wife to finish her dishes and take most of mine to go for dinner later on (probably a little bit more than half of the Katsu Don bowl).

Total cost comes to about $21.57 (including tips and tax) and could probably be cheaper by 2-5 Dollars had we ordered the typical Rolls instead of having to deal with excess Katsu Don.

Daimasu is apparently a part of restaurant chains owned by the Kamei Group, the people behind Kamei Royale in Downtown Vancouver. They have quite a few Japanese restaurants spread all over Greater Vancouver.