Gohan Sushi

Address: 1815 Rosser Ave., Burnaby

JS and I met up for dinner the other day to have some girl time together. We wanted to stay around the Burnaby area. I've heard of this new restaurant that opened near my place, the reviews for it were fantastic, so I suggested we go there to try it. 

Gohan Sushi is this small Japanese restaurant that opened near Brentwood mall. The owners are not Japanese, they are actually Taiwanese I think. I was a little taken back when I heard them speaking in Mandarin, I mean, a Japanese restaurant owned by Chinese people? I couldn't help but doubt the authenticity of the food. But I figured, since we were already there, we might as well give it a shot. 

For a small restaurant, the menu was pretty comprehensive. They had the typical Japanese appetizers and rolls, but they also had some original items. We decided to order a few items to share because we wanted to try as much stuff as we can. I did my research prior to coming, so I already had in mind which items to order. We started with their popular garlic chicken karaage. It was okay. I guess I expected more garlic taste judging from the name of the dish.

Then we tried one of their highly recommended original item, rice cake sticks. What are rice cake sticks? They are really just rice and vegetable covered with spring roll and deep fried. The sticks are served with three types of sauces. This was pretty good, but the idea seems really simple doesn't it?

Finally, we wanted to filled up with some of their original rolls. The website describes Vancouver roll as "Salmon, Cream Cheese, Avocado, Tempura Butter, Lightly Fried". It was pretty delicious, although I couldn't quite figure out what the dark sauce is. 

The next original roll we picked was the Gohan roll. Hey, if it's named after the restaurant, it must be good right? This was "Avocado, Masago, Imitation Crab, Cucumber, Tempura Butter". I had no idea what tempura butter is, but it just sounded so intriguing. Anyways, the roll was decent, but it was definitely too big to fit into the mouth in one go.  

Overall, I quite enjoyed my dinner at Gohan Sushi. The food was pretty delicious and they had quite a bit of specialty items. Plus, the restaurant was nice and quiet, and the service was really good. I would return again.

Soar like the eagles

I learned something really interesting about eagles recently. Did you know that eagles can detect impending storms long before it breaks? When the eagle detects it, it would actually fly to a high point and wait for the storm to come. When the storm arrives, the wind from the storm would pick up the eagle and lift it above the storm. Then the eagle would simply set its wings and soar above the storm. Isn't this an amazing image? Here is a storm that is just destroying everything on the ground, and here is an eagle just gliding above the wind unaffected by the chaos underneath. This picture reminds me of one of my favorite verses in Isaiah,

"But those who hope in the Lord will renew their strength. They will soar on wings like eagles; they will run and not grow weary, they will walk and not be faint." Isaiah 40:31

I think this is the picture God was illustrating with this verse. When storms of life happens, we have no ways of escaping. But we have the option of soaring above the storm just like the eagles. We have the option of not immersing ourselves in our disappointments and our miseries. When we are frustrated by our circumstances, we need to look up and refocus ourselves.

Remember the bible story of Jesus walking on water? When Peter saw this, Peter asked the Lord if he could walk on water with Him. Jesus said come and Peter begin to walk on water toward Jesus. But when Peter saw the wind, he became scared and he begin to sank. So he cried to Jesus and Jesus reached out His hands and caught him. (Matthew 14:22-33) I think this is a familiar story to most people. The moral of the story is that when we keep our eyes focused on Jesus, we are not sucked into the storms of life. But once our gazes shift toward our circumstances, that's when we begin to sink.

Now the question is, how do we soar above the storm like the eagles? I guess the simple answer is, trust in Jesus's mighty power. Remember, He has the power to lift us above the storms. If our Lord can part the red sea, raise the dead, heal the blind, He can solve our problems and give us a way to cope with our circumstances. As Paul reminded us in Philippians,

"And we know that for those who love God all things work together for good, for those who are called according to his purpose." Romans 8:28

God is at work for you and I, we don't need to be afraid. As someone once said to me, if the situation is not good yet, it's not the end yet. Remember, the storms do not have to overcome us any more than they overcome the eagle. God has the power to lift us above them. Then we can soar with Him above the roaring thunder and the rising water. We just need to make that initial step to trust in Him. The question is, do you trust?

I'm going to end this with one of my favorite songs. I think the lyrics is a perfect fit with this blog.

Hillsong - Still

Hide me now
Under your wings
Cover me
within your mighty hand

When the oceans rise and thunders roar
I will soar with you above the storm
Father you are king over the flood
I will be still and know you are God

Find rest my soul
In Christ alone
Know his power
In quietness and trust

Cheesecake

For my family gathering, my mom asked me to make some cheesecake. Now cream cheese is probably one of my favorite items to use in baking, but for some reason, I've never made plain good old cheesecake. Why? I think subconsciously the cardiac nurse within me stops me from making something so "cardiac unhealthy". Nonetheless, here was my chance to make something I've wanted to make for a long time and share the cholesterol with a big group of people. 

 

Anyways, I made the base from crushed graham crackers. Then I made the filling with cream cheese, sour cream, eggs, lemon juice, sugar, and vanilla extract. Finally, I decorated the top with fresh slices of kiwi.

The cheesecake turned out pretty well, although I overbaked it slightly, so it was a little bit brown. Thus, I covered the brown-ness up with fresh kiwis :D

Happy baking!

Broken Glass Jello

I saw this recipe on Food Librarian few weeks ago and I could not stop thinking about it. I mean, who doesn't love colorful jellos? So of course when I had time over the weekend one day, I had to experience with this to bring in for work.

The recipe can be found here. The recipe called for 4 boxs of jello, I only had three at home, so I just worked with those. The flavor I used were raspberry, lime, and peach. It turned out to be a nice combination, although quite frankly, any flavors you use probably would have worked quite well. 

I first followed the recipe exactly. But that didn't turn out so well because the jello just wasn't solid enough. I had to re-cook each flavor and added 1/3 package of unflavored gelatin to it. As for the milky part, I also found it to be to soft, but unfortunately, I didn't have the option to re-melt at that point. Next time, I definitely would have put another half pack of unflavored gelatin.

Overall, the jello was quite well accepted. My coworkers described them as a ray of flavors in every bite :D I thought it looked better than it tasted. It really was a treat for the eye, not so much for the mouth. As much fun as it was to make this, it was way too much work. The process was very tedious and time consuming, I probably won't make it again.

Why oh why?

I had an opportunity to spend some time with my adorable three years old nephew few days ago. He is at the cute yet challenging age of asking why all the time. It is very adorable in the beginning, but after 2 hours of constant whys, it's beginning to sound like a broken record. I racked my brain trying to find answers to his questions, why? Because I loved the look of satisfaction on his little face when he get an answer to his question. Of course, this is often followed by another question, but that brief moment was beautiful while it lasted. :)

A lot of times we are just like three years old children to God. We too constantly pester God with our why questions. I mean, if you can ask God a question right now, what would you ask? If you are anything like me, you would have trouble answering this. Why? Because I have so many questions that I have trouble picking just one to ask. Especially when there is a catastrophe happening in the world, I can't help but ask these questions. Even in my own life, I have so many questions to ask God. I want to ask Him why He allowed different things to happen, why is there so much pain, why didn't this happen, why did that happen...

But the truth of the matter is, we will probably never get all of our questions answered until we see our Father in heaven. In our world, we are just too limited in our thinking and in our understanding. We will never be able to truly understand why things happened the way they did because we can't see the full picture. Is it wrong to ask God "whys" then? No, of course not, even Jesus asked why before He gone on the cross. Did Jesus get an answer to His question? I don't think so. But Jesus had the faith to trust in the Father. He knew that even though He doesn't truly understand why, whatever happens happens according to the Father's will. It says in Isaiah,

"Yet, O Lord, you are our Father. We are the clay, you are the potter; we are all the work of your hand." Isaiah 64:8

Just like the clay cannot understand the work of the potter, we too cannot understand the work of our Father. But everything the potter does to the clay allows the clay to take form and become something usable, similarly, everything the Father allows to happen to us also turn us into someone better and more useful to Him. With each molding and pressing, we are shaped more and more into the likeness of our heavenly Father. Sometimes it takes time for us to look back to understand why things happen the way they did, other times even in retrospective things still don't make sense. But what we need to know is not why things happen, but that everything happens happens for our benefit.

"For I know the plans I have for you, declares the Lord, plans to proper you and not to harm you, plans to give you hope and a future." Jeremiah 29:11

Right now the question we need to ask is not just "why does God allow these suffering to happen", we also need to ask ourselves, do I have enough faith to trust in His plans for me? Even when trials hit, can I stand strong and hold onto Him? One of my favorite characters in the bible is David. He is one of my favorite because no matter what he went through, he held onto God. Did he stumble? Yes, tons of times, but each time he stood back up and his faith unwavered. Did he ask whys? Tons of times, in fact, Psalms is filled with him asking whys and asking when his suffering will be over. But here is what David wrote in one of his psalms,

"The Lord is faithful to all his promises and loving toward all he has made. The Lord upholds all those who who fall and lifts up all who are bowed down. The eyes of all look to you, and you give them their food at the proper time. You open your hand and satisfy the desires of every living thing." Psalms 145:13b-16

Remember, God's hand is always at work. Sometimes we may not see it because it's behind the scene, but it's still there for us nonetheless. I want to end this blog with a little story.

The only survivor of a shipwreck was washed up on a small, un-inhabited island. He prayed feverishly for God to rescue him. Every day he scanned the horizon for help, but none seemed forthcoming. Exhausted, he eventually managed to build a little hut out of driftwood to protect himself from the elements, and to store his few possessions. One day, after scavenging for food, he arrived home to find his little hut in flames, with smoke rolling up to the sky. He felt that the worst had happened and everything was lost. He was stunned with disbelief, grief and anger. He cried out, "God! Why would you do this to me?" Early the next day, he was awakened by the sound of a ship approaching the island! It had come to rescue him! "How did you know I was here?" asked the weary man of his rescuers. "We saw your smoke signal,"  they replied.

Benkei Ramen

Website: http://www.benkeiramen.com/home.html
Address: 1741 Robson St. Vancouver

A group of us nurses finally met up again for our "annual" get together. The 5 of us graduated from nursing program together few years ago. Although we've all gone our seperate ways, we still strive to meet together as often as we can. We try to meet up more often than just yearly, but with our crazy schedule, it's almost impossible. But since we met up in March this year, I think probability of us meeting up more than once this year is pretty big. :D

Anyways, we decided to eat warm ramen together since it was such a cold day. We had to pick a place in downtown since JB was staying near Sunset Beach. Benkei Ramen was chosen one since it had such great reviews.

EH and I both had Shio Ramen. The website describe it as "Boiling the pork and sapping out the rich taste, this Fukuoka-born ramen contains collagen and calcium - a source for beatiful skin and strong bones. This is a recommendation for our female ramen lovers." It was absolutely delicious. In my experience with ramen, the soup is often too salty for me. Thus, I ordered the low sodium version of it, it was probably the best ramen in Vancouver.

JS had the miso ramen. The website describe it as: The Hokkaido ramen is made with rich chicken and pork soup. Cooked with our special miso sauce, it has a tasty aroma and beautiful rich flavor. It looked really delicious and JS really liked it.

JB had the Shoyu Ramen, which is the traditional standard type of ramen. It is served with nori (seaweed), bamboo shoot, and spinach. JB liked it quite a bit.

I think Benkei Ramen is the best ramen place in Vancouver. The soups were done very well and they are not overly fatty or salty compared to other ramen places. On a chilly day, ramen absolutely hit the spot.

Benkei Ramen on Urbanspoon

Did you know?

Did you know that the first electric light was so dim that a candle was needed to see its socket? Did you know that the first light bulb Thomas Edison created only lasted 13.5 hours? It took a few more years for him create a light bulb that lasted 1500 hours. Now he is accredited as the person who invented the light bulb. It was Edison who famously said: I have not failed. I've just found 10,000 ways that won't work.

Nicholas Joseph Cugnot invented the first self-propelled road vehicle in 1769. It utilized steam engine to power the vehicle. This automobile only travelled 2-4 miles per hour, and it had to stop every 10 to 15 minutes to build up the steam power. People often laughed at Cugnot and they would pass him in their carriages hollering, "Get a horse!" But Cugnot didn't let what people said faze him, he continued to work and revise his design for the rest of his life. Nowadays, Cugnot is written in the history book as the inventor of the first automobile.

The Wright brothers are famously known as the inventors of airplanes. When they first set out to create a flying machine, people laughed and ridiculed them saying it's impossible for humans to fly. But the Wright brothers never let the discouragements stop them, they continued to work on their flying machine. After 12 years of trials and errors, they finally had their first sustained flight that lasted 12 seconds in 1903. Then five years later, Orville made the world's first flight of over one hour in Virginia as a demonstration for the U.S. army.

Now why did I list all these inventors? I listed them not only because I find the history fascinating, but also because all these famous inventors have one characteristic in common, perseverance. They all strove on in spite of difficulties, obstacles, and discouragements. As Christians, perseverance is an important characteristic we need to develop. Why? Because in our faith journey, we are or we will face ridicules, discouragements, and even persecution for our belief. We will face situations where we have to endure and persevere through. Jesus warned us of this,

"and you will be hated by all for my name’s sake. But the one who endures to the end will be saved." Matthew 10:22

Scary isn't it? But here is the good news. Jesus said in Matthew of those who are persecuted for His name sake,

"Blessed are you when people insult you, persecute you and falsely say all kinds of evil against you because of me. Rejoice and be glad, because great is your reward in heaven, for in the same way they persecuted the prophets who were before you." Matthew 5:11

So next time when you are insulted or persecuted for Jesus's sake, don't be disheartened, remember to stand strong for your reward is waiting for you in heaven.

Like it says in Matthew, all the prophets and apostles were persecuted greatly for their faith. Paul wrote in 2 Corinthians of all his sufferings. He described how he has been in prison, flogged, exposed to death, lashed, beaten, stoned, shipwrecked, hungry (2 Corinthians 23-28)... I mean the list just goes on and on. I can't even begin to fathom what Paul has been through. My own suffering just seem so pale compare to what Paul has gone through. But here is what Paul wrote in the same letter,

"For our light and momentary troubles are achieving for us an eternal glory that far outweighs them all." 2 Corinthians 4:17

 Like the past inventors facing ridicules and discouragements because of their inventions or their unconventional ideas, we too face jeers and misunderstanding because of our faith. People will make fun of us for the decisions we make, for the lifestyle we choose, for our focus in life... But like the past inventors, we too need to strive on and keep our eyes fixed on what is to come. There is no denying that perseverance is a hard lesson to learn, but it's a pertinent lesson nonetheless. There will be times when we feel alone and frustrated by the discouragements and judgments we face, but remember that we are not actually alone. Our Father in heaven sees everything and He will never leave us to fend for ourselves.

"Be strong and courageous. Do not be afraid or terrified because of them, for the Lord your God goes with you; he will never leave your nor forsake you." Deuteronomy 31:6

Michi Waffle & Espresso Bar

Address: 1319 Robson Street, Vancouver
Website: http://michicafe.com/category/store-info

JB totally made my week when she messaged me told me she is coming for a visit. I've been bugging her for so long to come, finally, she took that ferry and crossed that water. Since we were meeting the nursing gang for lunch as our little reunion, JB and I decided to meet up for breakfast first to get some "J and A" time :D We had a lot of catching up to do, I haven't seen JB since my visit to Victoria in September. Anyways, since JB was staying near English Bay, I wanted to take her to one of my favorite waffle places nearby.

As the name suggest, Michi Waffle is best known for their coffees and waffles. The owner of the cafe is Japanese, so not only do they have the typical flavors of Belgian waffles, they also have waffles with an Asian twist. The price is a bit on the pricey side, but I love the food and the ambiance of this place, so I totally think it's worth it.

I started with cafe latte. It was creamy and delicious. The latte art was a bonus. Apparently this is quite a simple design according to the professionals, it amazed me nonetheless.

JB had the mango orange ice tea. I had a sip, it was pretty delish.

As for the waffles, I couldn't resist the matcha (green tea) flavor. It was nice and crunchy on the outside, soft on the inside. I really liked the texture of the waffle. Although the matcha flavor was a bit too subtle for my taste, I was hoping for a more distinct matcha flavor.

JB had the summer delight waffle sundae. Although we were nowhere near summer time, in fact, it was actually snowing outside that day... hey, we could always hope right? This was absolutely delicious. The vanilla ice cream on the top was perfect, nice and creamy with fresh vanilla beans. The waffle was crunchy and the fruits were fresh, it was a perfect combination. Every bite was heavenly. Now who doesn't love ice cream for breakfast right? :P

Michi Waffle & Espresso Bar continue to be one of my favorite place for breakfast. I've already decided what I want try the next time I go. I mean, mochi flavored waffle sounds intriguing right? Oh, and I just found out that they have an afternoon tea special. Apparently, from 12-6pm on weekdays, they have waffle + gelato + cappuccino for only $6! Now who should I drag to go with me?  

Pho Hong Vietnamese Restaurant

Address: 5975 Kingsway, Burnaby

After snowboarding on Cypress Mountain, JW, FW and I went to for some Vietnamese noodle soup. Since it was -11 on the mountain, some beef noodle soup is just what we needed. Since we were dropping JW home first, we decided to go to the Vietnamese place near her place.

Pho Hong is a small Vietnamese restaurant situated in the heart of Burnaby. The service is typical of Vietnamese restaurant, quick and unfriendly. There is limited parking in the back, but lots of street parking along the roads nearby.

As the name suggest, Pho Hong is best known for their Pho. For those that's unfamiliar with Vietnamese cuisine, Pho is a Vietnamese beef noodle soup with a variety of beef cuts including steak, flank, brisket, tendon, tripe... At Pho Hong, you have the option of picking the cuts you like with your soup. We all picked the soup with a variety cut, so it had a bit of everything.

Like any Pho place, it came with basil, lemon, pepper, and bean sprout as garnish.

Overall we enjoyed our time at Pho Hong. The food was pretty delicious and it hit the right spot. 

Words to God

A coworker of mine approached me during our break one day with a question. She asked me how do quadriplegics pray to God when they can't kneel down before Him. At first I had trouble understanding her question, then I realized that she thought the only way we can pray to Jesus is by kneeling down in front of our bed or in front of an alter, like how prayers are depicted in pictures. I explained to her that praying is like talking to Jesus, we can talk to Him anywhere and anytime. It's interesting that people often assume there is a particular way to pray, whether it's our body position or the words we use. The truth is, praying is like talking to a friend, you can tell Jesus you thoughts and feelings. It doesn't have to be poetic or Shakespeare like, it just have to be from the heart. Jesus doesn't care how we pray, He only cares that we pray.

"And why you pray, do not heap up empty phrases as the Gentiles do, for they think that they will be heard for their many words. Do not be like them, for your Father knows what you need before you ask him."

I have to admit, I have not been a very diligent prayer. I too often become lazy and complacent. It's only the last year that I've truly understood the power of prayer. What used to stop me from praying is the assumption that Jesus already knows everything. If He knows my thoughts and my prayers, then why do I need to say anything? While this may be true, He still want us to talk to Him and to build our relationship with Him. I mean, think about the time when a friend calls you just to talk and to share with you his/her thoughts or problems, how did it make you feel? I think for most of us, we feel honored and happy that our friend is willing to confide in us, we feel trusted and relied upon... often, friendship strengthens and relationship grows stronger. This is what prayer is all about. It's about making that time to talk to God. It's about building relationship with God. It's about getting to know God. Often when we know God more and more, we change more and more. Soren Kierkegaard, a Christian philosopher in the 1800s once wrote, "prayer does not change God, but it changes him who prays."

Of course, the other part of prayer is asking God for what we need or desire. I don't think there is anything wrong with that. In fact, Jesus wants us to do that. 

"Do not be anxious about anything, but in everything by prayer and petition, with thanksgiving, present your requests to God." Philippians 4:6

Here He reminded us not to be anxious and entrust everything into His hand. He told us to present our request to Him. But what if you don't even know what to request? Have you ever faced one of those situations where you don't even know what you want or what is the best for you? In those situations, how do you pray? Paul reminded us in Romans that in those situations, the spirit intercedes and prays for us.

"Likewise the Spirit helps us in our weakness. For we do not know what to pray for as we ought, but the Spirit himself intercedes for us with groanings too deep for words." Romans 8:26

In the past few months, that's how I've been feeling. I feel like I'm faced with situations that I simply have no idea what I want. I don't know if I want to step forward or backward. I simply don't know what to do because I am scared of the result. In these situations, I just kneel before God and I just pray for peace. I pray for His guidance and His protection. Then I ask the Spirit to intercede for me and to pray for me. Then I can just sit back and relax knowing that whatever happens, my God is in control.

I'm going to end this blog with a quote from Philip Melanchthon, a German reformer that collaborated with Martin Luther during the great reform. "Trouble and perplexity drive me to prayer and prayer drives away perplexity and trouble."

  

The One Restaurant

Address: 5908 Kingsway, Burnaby

Website: http://theonerestaurant.ca/

P and I are meeting up for the first time since we met in class at church. Since we are both such big fans of bubble tea, we had to go for Taiwanese food for our "first date". I originally wanted to take her to Pearl Teahouse, one of my favorite bbtea place in Burnaby, but apparently they don't open on Wednesdays...Of course, I didn't find this out until we got there. Anyways, I took P to a Taiwanese restaurant nearby that's highly recommended by a friend. 

The One Restaurant is quite a hip restaurant. The inside is decorated with vibrant colours and funky shapes. There are limited parking spots in the front, but I didn't have a problem since it was a weekday.

Since we are both such bubble tea nuts, we had to order some drinks. P started with a large honeydew milk tea with pearls. She said it was great.   

I had a small caramel milk tea. It was delicious. The pearls were done very well, sweet and chewy, just the way I like it. It came with this weird little piece of branch-looking plastic decoration, I thought it was a bit odd and out of place.

Then for dinner, P had braised beef with rice.

I had the Satay stirfry noodle. It was delicious. It was a huge plate of food, I probably only finished 1/3 of it.

Overall, we had an awesome time at The One. I'm so grateful for this opportunity to get to know my sister in Christ. It was a great time of sharing and encouragement. Thanks P. Great food and great company, what more can I ask for? 

Chocolate Avocado Cupcakes

We had quite a few ripe avocados around the house, so I had to find a way to use them up. I wanted to make some guacamole, but my family are not very big on dips, so I decided to make something sweet instead. Baking wise, there is not much you can do with avocados. The recipes I could find mostly were mostly shakes and whips, but I did find one recipe that suggested using avocado in cupcakes. Since I have such a soft spot for cupcakes, I could not resist.

Okay, before you say "ew", hear me out first. Avocado is every cardiac nurse's favorite food. It is very high in monosaturated fat, which lower cholesterol and reduce the chance of heart disease. It's texture is almost like butter, but it is much healthier. So since its texture is so butter like, the recipe I found actually calls for the use of avocado instead of butter in baking. So I followed the recipe and I got some very healthy chocolate cupcakes out of it.

The cupcakes looked like cupcakes and smelled like cupcakes, but they did not taste like cupcakes. They were much denser than the cupcakes I'm use to and they were also not as moist. However, they were definitely healthy, there are no doubt about it. I had absolutely no problem feeding them to my family.

I decorated the cupcakes with the avocado frosting suggested by the recipe. I was not a big fan of the frosting. First of it, the shade was green put me off a bit. It was all natural coloring, but it was weird nonetheless. Secondly, the frosting was much runnier than regular butter frosting so it was super hard to work with. Finally, the texture and the consistency of the frosting were not right.

In conclusion, as healthy as the idea of avocado cupcakes may be, I don't think I'll try it again. Maybe I'll give the cupcakes another try, but I will definitely not make the frosting again. Sometimes you need that little bit of unsaturated fat to taste good. :)

Put on God's glasses

As a nurse, I have the privilege of meeting people of all different shapes and sizes. I don't mean that just physically. I encounter people of all walks of life. They are of different race, class, profession... They all have different personalities and they've all had different life experiences. That's the beauty of my job, after all, heart disease does not discriminate. =D This is also one of the reasons I love my job; there are not many jobs out there that allow you to meet so many types of people, listening to some many life stories. Over time however, I begin to notice that with some people, it's really easy to bond with them and to develop a soft spot for them, while with others, it's much harder. I don't know how else to say this, but sometimes in life we meet people who simply just push our buttons.

This kind of got me thinking though, why is it so easy for us to get along with some people, and not so easy with others. Why is it that some people we meet we click with right away? While others we just can't get a good feeling about? I think it's because we all see people through our internal filters. Whether we want to admit it or not, we all have our own biases. These biases develop over time through our upbringing and our life experiences. Then when we view the world and the people in it, we see them through these filters. These filters allow us to pass judgment, to think negative things about someone, and to condemn others. Because of these filters, certain things or people simply get on our last nerve. But the truth of the matter is, each one of us is just as capable of getting on other people's nerves! We are just as likely to push other people's buttons.

We all know what Jesus says about this. Jesus teaches us to love our enemies (Luke 6:27). He teaches us not to judge others (Luke 6:37). We all know this, but how many of us actually practice this on day to day basis? I for one have not. Especially when emotions runs high and the anger rises, I am definitely not utilizing these principles. But Jesus said:

"So in everything, do to others what you would have them do to you, for this sums up the Law and the Prophets." Matthew 7:12

The truth is, nobody wants to be seen in a negative light. Nobody wants to judged on what they've said or done. Everybody wants to be seen in a positive way, to be encouraged and loved. Since it's hard for us to love and accept certain people because we see them through our filters, then maybe the first step is to get rid of our filters and see people how Jesus sees them.

It's kind of like putting on a pair of dirty glasses. When the glasses is dirty, everything we see is going to be dirty. Everything and everyone we look at, we can't see them clearly. Our vision is compromised, thus, our understanding and empathy is affected. But Jesus' glasses is clean. He sees things and people around us much more clearly. He sees things for what they are and people for who they are. With our dirty glasses, we make the mistake of looking at people critically, judging and mislabeling them, but Jesus with His clean glasses, He sees them with love and compassion. God doesn't look at outward appearances, He sees what's inside; He sees each person's potential. Remember the story of God choosing a king for Israelites out of Jesse's children? Samuel saw Eliab first and thought to himself surely this is the one, but God said to Samuel,

"...The LORD does not look at the things man looks at. Man looks at the outward appearance, but the LORD looks at the heart." 1 Samuel 16:7

Okay, not to be cynical or anything, but I don't think it's ever possible to fully get rid of our filters or our dirty glasses. But I think it's about making that effort to put on God's glasses and see people how God sees them. It's making that conscious effort to stop thinking that negative thought about someone. It's looking at a person and think, Jesus loves that person as much as He loves you and I. It's trying our best to look at someone in a positive light. Finally, it's putting away our own dirty glasses and try to peer through God's clean glasses.

“Give, and it will be given to you. A good measure, pressed down, shaken together and running over, will be poured into your lap. For with the measure you use, it will be measured to you.” Luke 6:38

Crave on Main

Address: 3941 Main St, Vancouver
Website: http://www.craveonmain.com/

Crave on Main has been one of my favorite places for brunch for some time now. It's hard to describe exactly the type of food they serve, I guess it's what you call "international". The restaurant itself is not huge, but big enough for comfortable seating. There is a beautiful large patio in the back, it was of course too cold for that, but it would be perfect in the summer. As for parking, there are only street parking around the restaurant, which can be hard to find depending on the time of the day. Anyways, so when a few coworkers wanted to get together for a brunch date, I couldn't resist but recommend this place for our get together.

As for the food, I had my favorite item there, California Benny! It was as delicious as I remembered. The eggs were done perfectly, it was just a heavenly combo.

SS had the Smoked Salmon Croissant. She said she would highly recommend it.

RG wanted something from the lunch menu, so she ordered the Penne Pasta. It came on the side a delicious roasted chicken breast.

RG's sister had the Dungeness Crab Cake. It came with a side of apple salad and mix green salad. She said the crab cake was delicious and filling, but the apple salad was a bit odd. 

I highly recommend this restaurant to anyone looking for a good brunch place. I don't think their lunch or dinner menu is as well known, but their brunch menue is to die for.