Anton's Pasta Bar

Hungry after a long day of picking up furniture, we decided to go to Anton's in Burnaby with a friend of mine to sate our hunger.  We went on the early side, around 5:30, and there was a small line up as usual, but we were seated quickly anyway and given some complimentary rolls and butter.

Anton's is known for their huge portions, so we didn't order any appetizers.  Instead, we each got a different pasta dish.  

Flowerbunny got the Penne All'Emiliana (Italian sausage, bacon, fresh tomatoes, basil, black olives & feta cheese in a light extra virgin olive oil).  She got it without the olives as she doesn't liked them.  It was pretty good, and the feta was a nice touch.  I think the olives would've added a lot though!

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Michael's Wilton Cake Decorating Classes

I love to bake, but always wanted to learn how to decorate my cakes and cupcakes! I've always wanted to take a cake decorating class and finally looked into some options for this year. I saw a course at Vancouver Community College in their Continuing Education Paper and contemplated about taking the class since it would have cost me $300. By the time I decided, the classes were already full!

I chatted with a friend and she suggested that I take the Wilton Cake Decorating Classes offered at Michael's. She took all the classes and she said she learned a lot. One Saturday afternoon, while walking down Broadway, I saw an ad at Michael's for 50% off their cake decorating classes! I walked right in and registered for the class. $18 for the class is a pretty good deal! For $18, you get 4 classes, each running 2 hours long. But the $18 only covers the classes and not the materials. When you register for the class, they will give you a barcode which you can use to get 10% off the supplies. All supplies you will need to buy yourself. The cost does add up, but it seemed to be cheaper than the VCC option. The great thing about buying supplies at Michael's is that they always have a 40% off coupon. I bought a cake decorating caddy with most of the tools, some piping tips, cake caddy, cake turner and a can of the Wilton frosting.


I already went to 2 classes and have learned quite a bit. The first class covered all the basics of how to fill the pastry bag, how to make icing, the different icing consistencies and how to bake, torte and ice a cake. I didn't know that there were different icing consistencies that should be used when decorating! Thin for icing cakes, medium for everything else and stiff for roses. In this class, we had to bring in 6 cookies where we used for piping practice.

6 Cookies Decorated with the Star Tip

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Northern Delicacy

My friends and I always have some trouble deciding where to go for dinner. There's always some back and forth and some "I don't know... what do you feel like?" and some "I'm good with anywhere. Just pick a place". After some discussion, we decided to go to Northern Delicacy which is located right inside Aberdeen Mall.

When we arrived, the restaurant wasn't very busy and we were seated right away. The interior of the restaurant was simple and modern. But the booths there looked uncomfortable to sit in...It looked like solid wood and there were no cushioning visible.

After looking through the menus, we decided to order 6 dishes. And xiao long bao (soup dumplings) is of course one of them!

Xiao Long Bao

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Golden Spring Szechuan Restaurant

Flowerbunny wanted to go back to this Szechuan place that she'd been to before, as she was in the mood for something spicy.  I'd never been, so we invited a couple of friends, and off we went!

The restaurant wasn't too busy when we got there, so we were seated immediately.

We perused the menu for a bit, and then made our order.  As you can see, on their menu they rate each dish according to the level of spiciness.  We only ordered one 'three chili pepper' dish, the fish hotpot.  They asked us how hot we like things, and we went with mild, so I guess they also adjust the spice factor relative to that request.

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Well Tea

In the mood for some cheap eats, we decided to head to the Well Tea's downtown location as it was close by.  After being seated we noticed they had these buttons on the table to call over the waitress when you wanted something.  Options included a call for beverage refill, asking for the bill, or just a general call.  I thought this was a pretty efficient way of getting around the usually lousy service that you get at most Chinese places.

 

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