Schokolade Artisan Chocolates & Cafe !

The Winter Comfort (upper) and Snow White (lower) at Schokolade Cafe ($10 ea).

Schokolade has been one of my favorites for a long time, partially because it used to be super close by (before I moved, that is) but also because it is incredibly cozy and the owner is always in. And they have chocolate shaped like mahjong tiles that I love to give as gifts. Rushing from school, and K from work, to make it to Schokolade Artisan Chocolates & Cafe before the closed at 5 on Tuesday, forced us to get their hot chocolate in to-go cups. The little dusting of powder still makes them look presentable though! I should note that CityFoods actually has the wrong hours for Schokolade. They are open from 9a to 5p, not 10a to 6p.

Now while I always go in for their Squirrel Special, they were offering some intriguing drinks for the Hot Chocolate Festival this year that brought us there this week. K had the Winter Comfort, a "100% pure hazelnut butter blended with milk chocolate" hotcho, served with a chocolate-dipped hazelnut biscotti; both the drink and what little I had of the biscotti were delicious. Hazelnut is very likely my favorite flavor in combination with chocolate. I had the Snow White, a "white chocolate and steamed milk, flavoured with peppermint and rose" hotcho, served with four pieces of chocolates.. This was delicious, even though it was pretty difficult to taste the rose.

The hazelnut biscotti, and chocolates in flavors of Earl Grey, orange, jasmine, pomegranate, caramel and raspberry.

But the kind owner decided we could each have four chocolates per hot chocolate (we did not know that the Winter Comfort did not come with four pieces of chocolate until we came home and took a better look at the menu, how nice of her!). K picked all the fruity flavors, haha. And they were all delicious, suffice to say. One of my favorite times for hot chocolate is at the end of a long day at school or work, which is exactly what this was :)

Schokolade Artisan Chocolates
2263 East Hastings Street, Vancouver
Tuesday - Saturday : 9a to 5p
Sunday & Mondays : Closed

Five Sails Restaurant & Back to Bella Gelateria !

My friend J told me that he originally had Dine Out plans at the Five Sails Restaurant that were cancelled several weeks ago when we caught up over bubble tea. Hearing his disappointment about how much he had anticipated the lobster on their menu, and considering how much I adore lobster, we made reservations for four last Wednesday to try this much talked about lobster.

The feel of the restaurant is quite elegant and the ocean view makes for a rather intimate vibe, which is likely the reason they are usually a wedding banquet venue pick. Our servers and waiters were not only friendly but were fairly occupied with ensuring that we enjoyed our meal, cracking the odd joke here and there, which made the overall experience enjoyable. Now onto the food... I loved the tuna tartar; the sesame and avocado were delicious together, but one criticism I had was that I didn`t really taste the tuna. It was still a scrumptious appetizer, I was just surprised at how hard it was to distinguish the taste of tuna. Then in the main course, the fish in the lobster dish overtook a lot of the flavors for me. The sauce that normally accompanies this course likely masks that... but since the sauce contains onions, I don`t have an opinion on it. I`m sure with the sauce to complete the dish, it was really quite yummy. I did enjoy the dessert immensely too, so essentially the other courses on the menu made up for this one... But while the menu itself looked and tasted delicious, I admit to a larger appetite and the proportions were a lot smaller than I like... But oh well.

Here are the pictures that will finish off my thoughts on this $38 Dine Out experience:

A complimentary sampling of their lobster salad.

An assortment of complimentary bread.

Roasted Vegetable Terrine: Chef's salad of organic & seasonal greens.

Ahi Tuna Tartar: Crispy wontons, avocado & ginger scented sesame oil dressing.

Catch! : 1/2 Atlantic lobster, weathervane scallop and daily fresh catch.

A closer view of my lobster.

Banana & Chocolate Tango: Chocolate ganache, banana infused vanilla mousse w homemade vanilla bean ice cream.

Luxe Lemon Mille-Feuilles: Delicate layers of phyllo pastry and lemon cream, lemon parfait and fresh berry puree.

Following our meal at Five Sails, we realized how close we were to Bella Gelateria. And I had been meaning to return for another hot chocolate, so there was no better opportunity. Rushing to beat their closing time (we had a late reservation at Five Sails due to the high volumes of people wanting to try their menu), we hurried across the street and down the block to grab ourselves some hot chocolate and gelatooo.

Back to Bella Gelateria for their London Foggy ($7.50).

We really did not need to worry because while they do close at ten, they struggled to turn away customers for long after we had arrived and purchased our hot chocolate. This time, I got the London Foggy to go. It is their Earl Grey hot chocolate. I found that the dark chocolate in combination with what must be their Earl Grey gelato was a nice blend. They separate the gelato bar by putting it in a separate cup for you when you get your drink to go: this was nice compared to the previous post where the gelato bar was placed on the saucer right next to the warm cup of hot chocolate (melting it). It was just the thing to finish off my downtown experience that night! Did I mention that I actually really like their to go cups? Yummy. I hope they bring this back next year :)

Ro Sushi & French Made Baking on a Sunday !

Yesterday, we decided to try this sushi place that had caught my eye because it shared its name with a sushi place that used to be on Broadway (between Cambie and Ash St), on a block that is now entirely under construction. Ro Sushi has relocated to a block down from its previous location, right across from the Michael`s Craft Store. We went there right after we picked up Project Life by Becky Higgins from Michael`s, which is a really cool scrap-booking project that I`ve wanted to start for months now. (Give this a Google if you`ve never seen it and there are a lot of great examples on YouTube if you`re really curious! It is unlikely that I will be blogging about it much because it is a way of keeping more personal life events.) They`ve re-designed their store front and redecorated. I really like the new interior, it feels cleaner and I especially like the smaller size of the restaurant.

Tray E on their menu, called the Passion Sushi Tray for  $30 before tax.

K and I got a tray to share between the both of us, yumm. It`s not Minami or Miku for sure, but it`s decent sushi that is fairly affordable at a pretty populated intersection and area. Good stop for lunch break if you`re near by or on the way to somewhere, considering it is a mere two blocks from Cambie and Broadway. Not to mention, their waitress was all smiles, and my cup of tea was never empty! After sushi lunch, K and I were off to find ourselves something sweet..

French Made Baking is not a new stop for me, because their macarons were the first that I had ever tried two years ago now. The beauty of it all is the variety of macarons every time that I go into a macaron shop are different. This box here contains caramelia, le noisette (hazelnut), le jasmin (jasmine), matcha, le cassis (blackcurrant ganache) and marron glacé (chestnut white chocolate), and was K's purchase. Despite how delicious these are, our intent was not for macarons but for another stop of the hot chocolate festival...

Six macarons for $10 including tax at French Made Baking!

Beyond the Milky Way at French Made Baking for $4, tax inclusive.

French Made Baking was offering their Beyond the Milky Way: a pear, almond milk and 72% dark chocolate hotcho (dairy free). Unfortunately, I have taken ill and perhaps did not get the full experience of this drink, but there is a strong pear aftertaste that lingers with a stronger dark chocolate taste. I quite liked this, but K (who is also at the onset of being sick) found that he couldn`t taste much of the pear himself. This drink will be offered again on January 31st, February 5th and 10th if you`re interested in trying it for yourself, I thought it was a great way to wrap up my weekend :)

French Made Baking
81 Kingsway St, Vancouver
Monday : 12p to 630p
Tuesday - Saturday : 10a to 630p
Sunday : 11a to 430p

Leonidas Chocolates, Hapa Izakaya & Bella Gelateria !

More hot chocolate hopping with K, as well as sampling Hapa Izakaya`s Dine Out menu along the way because the three locations today were all no more than a block away from each other. How convenient, right?

Leonidas Chocolates, right by the Convention Centre!

Our first stop today was my first stop last year, at Leonidas Chocolates [click]. Now in the dark I did not see much of a point in attempting to get a photo of the store front with my point-and-shoot, but Leonidas has one point that is kind annoying for first-time-goers which is their lack of outdoor signage (they are between the "EzeeRiders" and the Subway, which both have super bright signs).

Jamaican Kiss with Liege waffle ($7.35) & Boho Secret with Marron chocolate ($7.35).

Interestingly enough, their festival hot chocolate menu (like last year) had more drink options than the list on Cityfood [click]. Not that I`m complaining. Each drink came with a choice of a macaron, Liege waffle, cheesecake, scoop of ice cream or a piece of chocolate. I had the Boho Secret hot chocolate, described on the menu as a "72% dark Belgian chocolate flavoured with peppermint, turmeric, honey and pepper." It was definitely dark chocolate alright and I could taste the peppermint in the aftertaste. The honey was visible in the cup but perhaps I could have mixed it better because I really couldn`t taste it as I drank it. Though it looks small, I picked a chocolate because Leonidas is a chocolate shop and I really liked the Marron which is a praline and coffee chocolate. Delicious but it will unsurprisingly alter the taste of your hot chocolate if you eat it before you drink your hotcho.

Closer look at the Jamaican Kiss hot chocolate at Leonidas.

K had the Jamaican Kiss hot chocolate, which was said to be "Belgian milk chocolate flavoured with coconut, pineapple and rum" with a Liege waffle. We agreed that we could taste the pineapple (along with bits of the fruit itself) and of course the chocolate and I might have detected a hint of rum, but the coconut taste was either missing or completely overpowered. Both drinks were not too thick, not too sweet, nor too strange of a combination of flavours and enjoyable. The guy behind the counter was very polite and friendly, and even offered us a tasting of their raspberry macaron, how sweet! You can still try these, and all the drinks at Leonidas because they are offered daily through until Valentine`s day :)

Hapa Izakaya at their Coal Harbour location.

Having meant to try Hapa Izakaya for years since I`ve had a number of missed events there, I was delighted to see it on the list of restaurants participating in Dine Out Vancouver. They are offering, rather than a three course menu, a four course menu [click] for $28. Here`s what we had, without further text needed really. Everything was delicious, and the proportions were just right (actually the beef tataki was a little on the small side, just a little).

First course! Beef Tataki: lightly seared AAA beef with sesame-chili sauce (we both had this).

Second course! Oyster tempura served with miso-vinegar and shiso (I did not have the pickled red onion that K did).

Third course! I had the bacon wrapped scallops: BC scallops, bacon, soy-butter sauce with mixed greens.

K`s third course! Grilled chuck steak: Shiyo-Kouji marinated AAA chuck steak, fresh cucumbers and chili oil.

Fourth course! K`s arrived first, yaki udon with stir-fried chicken and vegetables.

And my final course! The seafood ishiyaki with scallops, halibut, ika, soy stock, cheese, shiso and yuzu skin.

One thing that I definitely learned at Hapa Izakaya is that most of their dishes had some form of onions. It is unlikely I have ever mentioned the allergy so I will allow my friends who know me well to laugh as they imagine my pain as I picked them out carefully. I admit I gave up on the last dish. On a final note, I enjoyed the progressive increase in the size of proportion they gave per course, it was a very satisfying meal. 

Monkey`s Uncle ($7.50) and Black Magic ($7.50) with To Die For banana bread at Bella Gelateria.

Our final stop for the night, Bella Gelateria [click] was a block away. Since my discovery of this gelato shop last year for this festival, I have been back for their gelato several times. This year, they had these gBars to accompany their hot chocolates. The 'g' presumably standing for gelato, because they are frozen gelato bars that you mix into your hot chocolate (I don`t know if you can tell, but they`re served right next to the hot chocolate which melts them pretty quick so mix mix mix!). K had the Black Magic which was a black sesame and matcha gBar with an 85% dark hot chocolate and white hot chocolate mix. I had the Monkey`s Uncle which was a banana bread flavoured gBar with a 64% dark hot chocolate. The gBars were actually quite delectable by themselves and make these hot chocolates a little more unique than just a drink that is entirely prepared for you. The To Die For banana bread was super moist and I got a progression of flavours, beginning with cinnamon, salt, a nutty flavour followed by banana of course, that just melted in my mouth. Good as always! I am very tempted to be back to Bella Gelateria if I get the chance. Oh they do serve all their drinks through to Valentine`s day as well, and you can have just the hot chocolate without the gBars if that is what you prefer.

Leonidas Chocolates (Vancouver Convention Centre)
#29-1055 Canada Place, Vancouver
Monday - Friday : 10a to 7p
Saturday : 10a to 6p
Sunday : 11a to 6p

Bella Gelateria

1001 West Cordova Street, Vancouver

Monday - Thursday : 8a to 10p

Friday : 8a to 11p

Saturday : 11a to 11p

Sunday : 11a to 10p

I had a great night tonight in this small three block radius downtown. Definitely going to return to Bella Gelateria, just a matter of when and hope to get better photos next time ;) Good night everybody, and happy hot chocolate hopping!

What I am Reading : The Tale of Genji / Genji Monogatari !

Surely there is a mutual agreement that course readings are more often than not quite dull, so when I finally got my hands on the Tale of Genji for an Asian studies course, I was appalled by the thickness of the novel. It is a translation of a story written ten centuries ago in the eleventh century, making the language and culture unimaginable: this has been a fairly challenging read. (Because of its thickness and small text, my closest friends have heard me endlessly reference it as 'the brick' implying the book's literal resemblance to a brick and the difficulty of the literature.) Luckily, class lectures have been wonderful at supplementing media and vasts amount of background information to ensure that we have some insight into the time period of Genji. I marvel at how a novel can transcend so many centuries, and I admit that I have become very curious about aristocracy during the Heian period in Japan.

Reading from the perspective of a twenty-first century female (and born in Canada for that matter), I can assure you the treatment of women in the Tale of Genji certainly will not make it a pleasant or leisurely tale. But it is captivating nonetheless, even as a translation. It was written in 54 separate books, or installments, which is sadly not incredibly suggestive of how they are pieced together. Not to mention that the number of characters introduced is endless, there must be hundreds. The lack of record for women in general, and the fact that they are not named for themselves but by location or the men they are associated with, makes tracking the characters (not to mention the true name of our author) nearly impossible. Even the men are referred to by their rank in court, which is ever changing and rising, so an overall understanding of who is being referred to might give you a headache (props to the translators of Genji). The background information required to understand Genji and the Heian period would take so long to cover that I likely will have to sit here and write a novel of my own to explain it (and there probably are novels that do just that, now that I think about it, there are even Genji scholars who devote their careers to studying the long monogatari... but this site does a quick enough summary if anyone is interested: click). We have already spent more than a month focusing on it in class and are barely half way through the chapters.

This week we began watching Genji Monogatari: Sennen no Nazo (Tale of Genji: A Thousand Year Enigma), a film released in 2011 about the monogatari and Murasaki Shikibu (a nickname for our author with what little that we know about her) plays a role in it as well. I have discovered the discrepancy between reading the sexual violence and violation that befall women and watching it happen as censored as possible in a film. More than half the novel is left out of the film (naturally, it is a whole 54 chapters long with over a hundred characters) but I quite like this article, it captures the film really well: click. While Genji is not represented nearly the same way and they make some major plot changes, it is still really enjoyable (though not entirely accurate which is no surprise if they have to cut out so many chapters and still appeal to a twenty-first century audience). It can get a little confusing at times because we are constantly switching between Murasaki Shikibu's world and the fictional one she is creating.

At chapter twenty-six in the brick, I am still finding that understanding all of the literature rivals trying to understand Shakespeare's plays without Sparknotes haha. Thankfully the Royall Tyler translation of the text also provides a large number of foot notes to bridge the gap between the text and our modern world. I am thoroughly enjoying it and if anyone is looking for a challenge, oooh this would be the one :)



First image retrieved from: [click]
Second image retrieved from: [click]
Third image retrieved from: [click]