Tag Archives: festival

Festival of Lights at VanDusen Botanical Garden

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The Festival of Lights usually run from mid December to early January at Van Dusen Botanical Garden, every evening from 4:30pm to 9:00pm,  during the holiday season except on Christmas day (December 25).
Friends, couples and families can enjoy dancing light shows on Livingstone Lake every half an hour, meet Santa, watch performances and see over a million twinkling lights to get you into the holiday spirits.

Admission is $14.25 for one adult (prices are subject to change from year to year, please check their official site for current admission prices). It can get pretty chilly, so bundle up and take lots of photos :D

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Entertaining:carrotcarrotcarrot    Cost for Admission/Food: N/A

Atmosphere: carrotcarrotcarrotcarrot    Location: carrotcarrotcarrot

Euro Fest 2014

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idearabbit-europeanfestival5Main stage with performances

There are many festivals in Vancouver, but this has to be the first one where the ticket is a whopping $15 just to get in. Most of the booths are ones that you’d likely see elsewhere selling crafts and food related to the theme. There was a main stage where performers entertained the visitors. Many of the countries booth were with some pamphlets and it wasn’t really experiencing the countries but felt more like a trades show.

I ordered Bratwurst and pop $10 which was very good but otherwise, it wasn’t worth the $15 admission fee. Being in Europe in 2008, 2013, and again this summer, you don’t sense the real authentic European culture at the fest. I would say that the Powell St Festival for the Japanese community portrays a much better scope of the festival – and it’s free. Still, it was good to check out the Euro festival with friends, but I don’t think I will be returning.

idearabbit-europeanfestival idearabbit-europeanfestival10Model of Neuschwanstein Castle in Germany which Disney’s castle was based on. I’m really hoping I get to see the real one when I go to Germany next month!! idearabbit-europeanfestival8 idearabbit-europeanfestival7 idearabbit-europeanfestival6 idearabbit-europeanfestival4  idearabbit-europeanfestival2 idearabbit-europeanfestival1Native stage

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Entertaining: carrotcarrot    Cost for Admission/Food: carrot

Atmosphere: carrotcarrot     Location: carrotcarrot

Sala Thai on Burrard – Dine Out 2013

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SalaThai on Urbanspoon

Dine Out Dinner Menu @ Sala Thai
Neighborhood: Downtown

Cuisine Type: Thai

Dinner Menu Price: $28 (appetizer, entree and dessert)

 

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Appetizer:

idearabbit-salathai3     Spicy marinated chicken salad with Thai herbs & tomatoes, Thai-style egg nest with pork & shrimp filling
or

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Spicy Tom Yum seafood soup

Entree:
idearabbit-salathai6Roasted duck on sautéed bamboo & bell peppers in thick green curry sauce, duck fried rice
or

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Stir-fried assorted seafood in Thai turmeric curry, onions, bell peppers, celery & cream

Dessert:
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Deep-fried coconut ice cream, crispy crepe, pandan leaf and mango sauce
or

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Baked squash & custard with Thai banana chips

There were two young hostesses that greeted us with smiles. We were seated by the window which my friend was happy about. It was my first dine out for Dine Out Vancouver Festival. It was $28 per person which included an appetizer, entree and dessert. We ordered everything opposite so that we could try out the entire dine out menu. The restaurant was very comfortable and spacious, the servers were very friendly and happy.

First, the appetizers. The spicy Tom Yum seafood soup was super sour, but in a good way. The soup was room temperature, so eating soup a bit cold was odd, and wondered if that was supposed to be like that. I should have asked for a knife since the large prawn was difficult to eat with fork and spoon. Still, I enjoyed the soup.

The chicken salad was very interesting and flavourful. The cilantro really added to the flavour. The salad was very refreshing, though as you got closer to the bottom with all the sauce, it too was quite sour, as if I was drinking juice straight from some lemons. However, out of the two, I would have to say I liked this salad over the soup. My friend agreed.

The roasted duck was cooked really nice. Super soft, with a sweet sauce. Went really well with the vegetables and rice. Delicious!

The seafood curry was impressive visually. At first it almost looked like it was a lobster, but it was a jumbo prawn. The turmeric sauce was excellent, and again, went well with the prawn, vegetables and jasmine rice. We tried eating all the meat from the prawn, even trying to get some out from the arms, but the outer shell was super prickly with thorns which made it a bit difficult to eat.

The deep fried ice cream was amazing. The combination of the crispy outer shell, the cold melting vanilla ice cream and coconut was so yummy!! Presentation was also superb.

Baked squash with custard was very interesting. I never thought I’d see squash as a dessert, but it went really well with the custard. The banana chips were crispy, and went well with the strawberry icing – which at first looked like strawberry ice cream.

The food was wonderful, service was top-notch, and the restaurant has a nice comfy atmosphere. I totally recommend it. Each time we finished our plates, we were given new plates, and was looked after very well. It was the second time for Thai for my friend, and he totally fell in love with it that he said he was going to come back for another dine out with his parents. 2 thumbs up!!

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