Vancouver BC – Pup & Grub

Cannelés Bordelais

The cannelé is one of my favourite pastries, second only to a double-baked almond croissant. It’s a small caramelized cylinder flavoured with rum and vanilla bean, hailing from the Bordeaux region of France. One of my goals is to successfully bake a batch of cannelés, but doing so is no small feat. Achieving that perfectly…

Tangram Creamery

On Friday we visited Tangram Creamery. Their langues de chat ice cream cones were too intriguing to pass up. Langues de chat are thin buttery cookies (a little bit like tuile), often sandwiching a layer of chocolate. As an ice cream cone, they were perfect. While Tangram’s ice cream was great (I had vanilla bean),…

Butter Bakery & Cafe

My mom and I have been loyal customers of Butter Bakery & Cafe ever since it opened in 2007. My mom quickly fell in love with their perfect scones, I couldn’t get enough of their homemade Oreos, and when Stella came into our lives in February 2010, she quickly became frequent consumer of Butter’s buttercreams….

The Prettiest of Ice Creams

There’s something about getting ice cream on Friday nights that makes me so happy. When Stella was still around, Friday evenings were often spent either at Rocky Point or at Steveston, where we would grab ice cream (double chocolate raspberry at Rocky Point, vanilla bean gelato at Steveston) after she was done running along the…

Starbucks, Skittles and a Wedding

We were in Vancouver for five days last week, but it felt more like two. It was a busy five days. The first few days were spent at various coffee shops around the city trying to pump out papers while trying to squeeze family and Stella time and last minute errands in between, followed by…

Ice Cream Cravings

I was sitting in a tax class this morning, and all I could focus on was my giant ice cream craving. It was raining out and all I wanted was to be in bed, Stella next to me, with a pint of Rain or Shine’s vanilla. It’s creamy, speckled with vanilla bean, and I just…

Hub

I love trying new restaurants. I don’t care if they end up being terrible – I just love the experience. Over Christmas break, we went to a restaurant we had never been to – Hub Restaurant. It was an on-trend craft beer + moules frites type of place. I loved it immediately, but I’ll be honest,…

Sugar, Chocolate, Baking

At the end of every Christmas dinner, I tell myself that I am done with sugar, that I’ve eaten enough stollen, flan and almond genoise to last a lifetime. But without fail, breakfast the next morning always consists of a slice of my grandma’s flan and sticky caramel sauce. And no one ever beats me…

Christmas at Home

Christmas puppies. Thomas Haas pick-ups. Chocolate and sugar for days. Christmas morning at Kits Beach.

This Time Tomorrow

This time tomorrow, I’ll be reunited with my favourite girl and spicy wontons.

Pecan Brownie

I had a pecan brownie from Cupcakes today, and it was decadent: filled with caramel and topped with cream cheese buttercream. It was good, but I prefer my brownies simple, with a little less pecan. Actually, I prefer zero pecans. Cupcakes 797 Thurlow Street Vancouver BC