Curry King Cafe

Address: #5-4250 Kingsway, Burnaby
Website: http://www.currykingcafe.com/

NC's favorite restaurant is Curry King Cafe. So when he heard that PW and I were meeting up for lunch, he invited himself along and took us to his number one restaurant. Let's put it this way, NC has been there so many times that the waiter automatically gave him a 10% discount when he handed us the bill... Hey, not that I'm complaining, who doesn't love a little discount right? We also each received a bowl of soup on the house. Anyways, Curry King Cafe is a small Chinese restaurant in Burnaby along Kingsway. They have a small parking lot in the back with only like 4 stalls. The service here is like any other Chinese restaurant, rushed and abrasive.

Since NC loves this place so much, we let him order whatever he wanted. So we start with Singapore style Fried Vermicelli. It was probably my favorite dish here, slightly spicy with just the right amount of flavor. Often with fried noodles, I tend to find them too oily. Not the case with the vermicelli at Curry King, it wasn't greasy at all. 

The second dish we shared was sauteed beef with mixed vegetables. This was pretty good as well, although I did find the beef to be a little too chewy for my liking.

NC also highly recommended the plain congee, so we had to order that. To be fair, I've never been a big fan of plain congee, I always found it tasteless and bland. So I wasn't a big fan of this, although I did appreciate the glutinous nature of the congee.

The last dish we shared was the sweet and sour pork with pineapple. It was exactly as the name says, sweet and sour. I quite liked it, the pork was well done.

Overall, I really enjoyed Curry King Cafe. We polished off every single dish without a problem. If I was in the mood for Chinese food another day, I would definitely come back and order these dishes again. NC sure knew what he was talking about.

Changing Course

Pastor John shared a message the other day that really spoke to me, and I wanted to take this chance to share it with you. He started the service with a joke.

One night the captain of a tanker saw a light dead ahead.
He directed his signalman to flash a signal to the light which went.....
'Change course 10 degrees South.'
The reply was quickly flashed back...
'You change course 10 degrees North.'

The captain was a little annoyed at this reply and sent a further message.....
'I am a captain. Change course 10 degrees South.'
Back came the reply....
'I am an able-seaman. Change course 10 degrees North.'

The captain was outraged at this reply and send a message....
'I am a 240,000 ton tanker. CHANGE course 10 degrees South!'
Back came the reply...
'I am a LIGHTHOUSE. Change course 10 degrees North!!!!'

I thought this joke was hilarious. As I chuckled to myself at the joke, I also came to realization that this is a mistake anyone of us could make. What do I mean by this? I mean, often in life, we are set in our ways to do things a certain way. Or we plan ahead and we are determined to choose a certain path in life. Unfortunately, life doesn't always happen according to our plan. We don't always get into the school we want, or get the job we want, or even meet the people we want to meet. Even when we pray, we pray for the things our mind is set on. Then when things don't go our way, we get mad at God and we question Him why He didn't answer our prayers. The truth is, sometimes, we expect God to cater to our needs and our desires. As people, we all have to ingrained sense of importance. We sometimes feel that we are entitled to certain things in life. Then when life doesn't happen the way we want it to, we throw tamper tantrums and we question if God really loves us. If He really loves us, then why isn't He answering our prayers?

We are like the captain of the tanker in the joke, we have this sense of self importance. We believe that things need to alter their course in order to make room for our plans. But God is like the lighthouse, He doesn't need to move to make room for us. He was there first and everything is set into place. We expect God to cater to what we want, but why should He? He is the sovereign God! He sees and knows everything, and we will never be able to comprehend that. One of my favorite story growing up is a Chinese fable about a frog that lived in a well. The frog spent his entire life in the well looking up at the sky. He thought what he saw out of the well was the entire world. He thought he understood everything that happened outside the well because he spent his entire life looking at it. Then one day he got out of the well, that's when he realized how limited his understanding really was. Our understanding of our situations and everything around us is limited just like the frog. We only see a small portion of the big picture. So even if we think we know what is the best for us, that may not really the case. God said in Isaiah 55,

"For my thoughts are not your thoughts, neither are your ways my ways, declares the LORD. For as the heavens are higher than the earth, so are my ways higher than your ways and my thoughts than your thoughts." Isaiah 55:8-9

Just like the captain of a tanker cannot ask the lighthouse to change its course, we too cannot expect God to alter His plans to fit with our desires. Sometimes it's about keeping an open mind about our situation. It's knowing that even though things are not going the way we expected or hoped for, our God is in control. It's taking that leap of faith to trust in the seemingly impossible. God never said by coming to faith we will receive everything we've ever wanted, but He did promise this:

"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

Bubble Queen

Address: 8700 McKim Way, Richmond

SSJ and I met up for bubble tea the other day. I've been wanting to try Bubble Queen since forever, so this was my opportunity! Bubble Queen is known for their flavored egg waffles and funky bubble tea flavors, so that was what I had my eyes on.

Bubble Queen is a really small little bubble tea joint in Richmond, it's so small that we actually missed it a few times looking for it. There were only 4 tables inside, I would imagine it is probably quite hard to find seats on the weekend. But since we went on a weekday, we had all the seats we wanted.

When I opened the menu, I was overwhelmed by the selection of choices. They all sounded delicious and different, I had the hardest time deciding what I wanted. They had combos and flavors you can't find anywhere else. Finally in the end, I settled for Mango Slush with pearls and mochi balls. It was delicious. The mochi ball's texture was similar to the pearls, but they were mango flavored so it added a nice kick to the drink. The slush itself was good, although it wasn't anything too special.

SSJ had Mango Avocado Slush with pearls. It was absolutely amazing. I never would have though mango and avocado could work so well together, but it was a perfect combo. I would return to Bubble Queen over and over just for this.

 As for the egg waffle, SSJ and I shared a green tea waffle. It was nice and crispy on the outside, chewy on the inside. Each waffle had a bit of red beans in it, it was an interesting twist. Although the concept was super cool and different, the green tea flavor and the red beans were barely detectable. I would still try their other flavor egg waffles, just with a little less expectation of intense flavor.

Overall, we had a wonderful time at Bubble Queen. I really enjoyed both the egg waffle and the drinks. I can't wait to go back to try their other items!

Joe Fortes Seafood & Chop House

Address: 777 Thurlow Street
Website: http://www.joefortes.ca/

I wanted to take my parents out for dinner the other day to celebrate a special occasion, I've been wanting to try Joe Fortes, so this was my opportunity. My dad and I are both carnivores, so Joe Fortes was perfect for us since we both love a good steak. My mom on the other hand, prefers seafood, which is fine since Joe Fortes apparently can do seafood as well.

Joe Fortes is a very beautiful restaurant with a very classic look. I loved the large chandelier hanging above the entrance. It's definitely not one of those places you can wear jeans and flip flops into.

As for the food. My mom and I started with their clam chowder. It was alright, nothing special about it. Dad decided to not order an appy, he wanted to save room for the steak, such typical Chinese thinking, lol.

For main course, dad and I of course had the steak. I had the small 5oz, he had the 10oz. I have to say, it was a very good steak. I like mine medium and I thought it was grilled to perfection. The peppercorn sauce was pretty standard, but it was pretty good nonetheless. 

As for my mom, she opted to have the seafood option, salmon. She quite enjoyed this,

As for dessert, we shared two options. One was the tiramisu. It wasn't impressive at all. I found it really bland, it actually tasted like a slice of chocolate cake instead of tiramisu.

The other dessert we picked was Crème Brûlée. Although I'm not a big fan of Crème Brûlée in general, I thought it was pretty good. The sugar coating on the top was nice and crispy, and bottom part was very creamy.

Overall, the ambiance of the restaurant was wonderful. The main dishes were good, but the clam chowder and the desserts are not as good. My advice, just eat the main and save your tummy for the great dessert places nearby.

A Father's Embrace

Yesterday when I was heading to church, I drove pass a father with his little toddler in front of a house. The father and his son were playing when the mother approached from a distance. The little boy looked up, saw his mother in the distance, dropped what he was doing and ran toward her. The mother kneeled down, open her arms toward the boy, and he ran into her arm. It was such a simple scene, and it's a scene I've seen many many times. But for some reason, yesterday, I was mesmerized by it. Both the look on the mother's face and the toddler's face captivated me. As I drove to church, I pondered why this scene tugged my heart ever so gently, yet so powerfully.

One of the worship songs we sang at church that day was a song called "Forever Reign". Part of the lyrics goes like this:

Oh, I'm running to your arms,
I'm running to arms
The riches of your love
Will always be enough
Nothing compares to Your embrace
Light of the world forever reign

You are more, You are more
Than my words will ever say
You are Lord, You are Lord
All creation will proclaim
You are here, You are here
In your presence I'm made whole
You are God, You are God
Of all else I'm letting go

Tear streamed down my face as I sang this song, and I realized why the scene in the morning captured me. Like the mother waiting for her child to run into her arm, our Heavenly Father's arms are wide open waiting to embrace us. Our Father is always waiting for us with open arms, but a lot of times, we are the ones that are preventing ourselves from running to Him. Maybe it's because we are scared, or because we are ashamed, or because we are lost, regardless of the reasons, our Father is waiting patiently.

Remember when we were little, how safe and comfortable we felt in our parent's arm? As we get older and older, we are taught to be independent, and it's less and less appropriate for us to seek comfort in other's arms, even if they are our parents. We go on each day trying to solve our own problems, fight our own fights, find our own ways... But sometimes, all we really need is a pair of arms to hold us tight. Sometimes we need a pair of arms to rely on. Yesterday, I was reminded of the Father who is always there for me with open arms.

We all know the story of the prodigal son. It's a story about a son taking his inheritance and left his father. The son went somewhere and spent all his inheritance. When he was hungry and tired, he remembered how easy life was at home and he came back home (Luke 15:11-22). Then the Father not only took him back, but he had a celebration for the returning of his son. My favorite part of the story is this:

"But while he [the son] was still a long way off, his father saw him and was filled with compassion for him; he ran to his son, threw his arms around him and kissed him." (Luke 15:20)

Like this father, our Heavenly Father is also just waiting for us to come back to Him. He too is waiting to wrap His arms around us. He doesn't care aobut the mistakes we've made or the weight we carry on our shoulders. He is just waiting for us to come to him. Like a child finding peace and comfort in a parent's arms, may we find peace and rest in His arms.

Hillsong - Forever Reign