It's a good day

Yesterday at the soup kitchen I volunteer at, Pastor Brad showed us a video made by Louie Schwartzberg. It was an amazing video with beautiful pictures, heart warming music, and a great message embedded within. It is a video about gratitude and contentment, and a video that remind each one of us just how blessed we are. All we need to do is open our eyes and look around us, open our ears and pay attention to the sounds around us, open our hands and feel the various textures surrounding us, and open our heart to the beauty of the day. My words cannot express just much this video struck me, so please check out the video yourself by clicking on the link below. I've also posted the narrative in this post in case you need a second glance. I hope after you finish the video, your heart will be filled with thanksgiving and gratefulness. Not only that, I pray that gratefulness will turn into a blessing to all those around you. Enjoy.

Gratitude - Narrarated by Brother David Steindl-Rast, pictures by Louie Schwartzberg, music by Gary Malkin

 

Gratitude

It’s not just another day in your life, it’s the one day that is given to you today. It’s given to you. It’s a gift. It’s the only gift that you have right now, and the only appropriate response is gratefulness. If you do nothing else but to cultivate that response to the great gift that this unique day is, if you learn to respond as if it were the first day of your life and the very last day, then you will have spent this day very well.

Begin by opening your eyes and being surprised that you have eyes you can open.

Look at that incredible array of colors that is constantly offered to us for pure enjoyment.

Look at the sky; we so rarely look at the sky, so rarely note how different it is from morning to morning, with clouds coming and going. We just think of the weather, and even of the weather we don’t think of the many nuances of the weather. We just think of good weather and bad weather.

This day, right now, has unique weather, maybe a kind that never in that exact form will come again. The formation of clouds in the sky will never again be the same as it is right now.

Open your eyes, look at that.

Look at the faces of people who you meet. Each one has an incredible story behind their face, a story that you could never fully fathom. Not only their own story, but the story of their ancestors. We all go back so far.

And in this present moment on this day, all the people you meet, all that life from generations and from so many places all over the world, flows together and meets you here, like a life-giving water if you only open your heart and drink.

Open your heart to the incredible gifts that civilization gives to us. You flip a switch and there is electric light, you turn a faucet and there is warm water and cold water, and drinkable water. It’s a gift that millions and millions in the world will never experience.

These are just a few of an enormous number of gifts to which you can open your heart.

And so I wish that you would open your heart to all these blessings and let them flow through you, that everyone who you will meet on this day will be blessed by you. Just by your eyes, by your smile, by your touch. Just by your presence.

Let the gratefulness overflow into blessing all around you.

Then, it will really be a good day.
—Brother David Steindl-Rast.

Lessons from the three little pigs

Yesterday RN, EN, and I went to see the gingerbread house displays at Hyatt hotel. All the pieces were nicely done and they were all so creative. There were Harry Potter quidditch game inspired gingerbread house, toy story houses, Charlie brown theme, the Grinch themed , and many others. As I admired each one of the display, one of the ones that caught my eyes was the one based on the story "The Three Little Pigs". For those of you who are unfamiliar with the story, it's basically a story about three little pigs building their own houses. The first little pig built a house out of straw, the wolf came wanting to eat the little pig, so he "huffed and puffed and blew the house down". The second little pig built a house out of sticks, the wolf came and he "huffed and puffed and blew that house down" as well. Then the third little pig built his house with bricks. The wolf came wanting to eat the little pig, but he could not blow the house down no matter how hard he huffed and puffed. Now most us grow up listening to this story. We all know the moral of the story, don't take short cut, spend time and hard work on building a strong foundation so that when danger comes, all the hard work will pay off.

When I was thinking about this story, I was reminded of another story. This story though was told by Jesus in the bible as recorded by two of the apostles, Matthew and Luke. Jesus said:

"Therefore everyone who hears these words of mine and puts them into practice is like a wise man who built his house on the rock. The rain came down, the stream rose, and the winds blew and beat against that house; yet it did not fall, because it had its foundation on the rock. But everyone who hears these words of mine and does not put them into practice is like a foolish man who built his house on sand. The rain came down, the streams rose, and the winds blew and beat against that house, and it fell with a great crash." Matthew 7:24-27.

The moral of the story is the same. Jesus is not teaching us how to build houses, He is teaching us how to build our faith and our spiritual life. Jesus reminded us that it is important that we spend time building a strong foundation in our faith so that when we encounter trials, we can withstand the temptations and frustrations. Let's face it, as part of life, we will face situations that will make us just want to throw up the towel and give up. We will meet people who will be like the big bad wolf that just want to huff and puff and blow us down. We will face the storms of life that makes us feel like we are drowning and we can't find anything to hold onto. If our foundation is not built on a solid rock, we will be swept away or we will fall down with a great crash. Now how do we build a strong foundation? Jesus made that pretty clear too, we need to put into practice all the principles and lessons we learned from the bible. This include study God's words, use our gifts in serving Him, worship and praise God, spend time in prayers...

I think for most of us, this is something we know. But knowing is one thing, doing is another. I find for myself, my spiritual life fluctuate. Some days I am diligently laying the bricks to build a strong foundation, other days I get a little bit lazy and I mix in a bit of straws and sticks. But I am reminded that we some times need to be our own building inspector and evaluate different areas of our life. Some times we need to be critical with ourselves so we can get back on track building that foundation.

In the end, anyone can build a house that will stand firm when the sun is shining and the wind is still, but it's the storm that will truly test the foundation of the house. So let us not build sand castles that will be swept away by the waves, let us build our house on the rock Jesus Christ!

"Do not merely listen to the word, and so deceive yourselves. Do what it says." James 1:22

Be still

I'm sorry I haven't written anything in a long time. This time though, I do have a fairly good excuse. I had laser eye surgery over a month ago, so I wasn't allowed to overstimulate my eyes for the last bit of time with bright lights; this of course includes computers. Now what have I been doing during my recovery time? The truth is, not much. Especially for the first week, there were a lot of restrictions. Basically, I wasn't allowed to do anything I normally enjoy doing, including exercise, read books, use the computer, bake... I couldn't even go outside as the UV light was too dangerous for my sensitive eyes. Now I've always been a woman on the move. I'm always busy with things to do, places to be, people to see. So being forced to spend an entire week at home doing absolutely nothing was excruciating. So what did I end up doing you ask? A lot of cleaning! I have to admit, my room has never been cleaner. Of course, I also spent a lot of time listening to podcasts from various churches and I had a lot of time to pray. I prayed a lot for my friends, for my family, for the future, for faith and growth, and for changes. 2011 has not been an easy year. Life did not pan out the way I had hoped for. Many plans had fallen apart and many hopes have been dashed. Now I am at a period of my life where I am faced with even more decisions to make and more situations to come to term with. I guess this is all part of growing up. And frankly, I am a little scared. I'm scared of making mistakes, I'm scared of hurting people, and I'm scared of living in regret, and I'm scared of what the future holds.

But as I kneel on my bed in prayers, I was reminded over and over of the same verse:

"Be still, and know that I am God; I will be exalted among the nations, I will be exalted in the earth." (Psalm 46:10)

It is such a simple verse, yet, it is profound. A lot of times, we are like a hamster stuck on a wheel, we just keep on running, but we are going nowhere. We exert all these efforts trying to do all these things and trying to solve all these problems, but things often get worse, not better. Then we run faster and work harder trying to solve the issue, and we are stuck in a perpetual cycle of going no where. I am reminded that it's time to jump off the hamster wheel, it's time to be still before Him, it's time to just wait and see what happens. Sometimes, we just need to hit the pause button and let God do what God does. We need to relax and trust that He is God, not only that, He is a loving God who has our best interest at heart. Then whatever happens next happens, but no matter what, His name will be exalted!

"Come to me, all who labor and are heavy laden, and I will give you rest. Take my yoke upon you, and learn from me, for I am gentle and lowly in heart, and you will find rest for your souls.For my yoke is easy, and my burden is light.” Matthew 11:28-30

Oyama Sushi

Address: 5152 Kingsway, South Burnaby

Okay, this is like my first food blog in over three months. It's not that I haven't been eating out or stop indulging in all the good food, it's just I haven't had time to blog about them. My pictures on my phone are so back logged that I'm still blogging about restaurants I ate at back in May...

So here we go, here to catching up. So MC and I met up back in May for dinner. We decided to go for Japanese, since I was craving for Japanese after being away for three weeks. But I forgot that MC doesn't eat raw stuff, so that did limit our options a bit. After debating for a long times, we decided to order a mix of rolls and udon.

The vegetarian udon came first. It was decent, the udon noodle was nice and chewy, just the way they are suppose to be. The soup had pretty good flavors.

Then we had the yam tempura roll. I'm not a big fan of yam tempura roll period, I always find them a bit bland. Oh well, nothing a little soy sauce can't fix.

MC was nice enough to let me order Alaska roll. She didn't touch the raw salmon at all, so we know where all those rolls went. Alaska rolls here are quite different from other places I think, I've mostly seen the salmon wrapped inside the roll, not lying on top... Either way, it was pretty good. The other thing that was really interesting was that the salmon was marinated, I liked the flavor, but it's definitely not a conventional Alaska roll.

Finally we had the dynamite roll. I've always been a big fan of dynamite roll, I mean who doesn't love deep fried prawns right? I found the rolls are bit too big for my liking, I definitely had to pick it apart before devouring it.

 

All in all, I quite enjoyed my time with MC at Oyama Sushi. It's always fun to eat in a mansion on a creaky floor, it has its own vibe and feel. I find the price pretty decent and the food pretty good. 

 

Taking off the mask

I ran into a coworker recently and she asked how I was doing. I just smiled and told her that I was doing okay. She looked at me and said, "you are always so happy, you never seem to have any problems." When I heard her comment, I was surprised, I didn't know what to say, I just smiled some more and nodded along. Now thinking about it, it was an interesting comment to hear. It is true that I have many things to give thanks for, but I am not without problems. No one go through life without facing hardship, frustration, or sadness. Everyone at some point of their life faces pain, loss, judgment, disappointment, and everything else that makes us feel like we've fallen into a hole and we just can't get out. This kind of got me thinking though, why would my coworker make this comment? Why does she think that I never have any problems? Then I realized, it's because she is only seeing the mask I'm wearing on the outside. My coworker has only seen the smile on my face, but she has never seen the pain I was feeling behind that smile. She has only heard the happy things I tell her, but she has never heard my cries at night. She has only seen the mask I wear on the outside, but not the raw "me" underneath.

All of us wear masks. We all wear masks for different reasons, and we wear different masks with different people. With some people, we wear thinner masks that hid our emotions and frustrations, with other people, we wear a thicker mask, a mask that mostly hides who we are and how we feel.

We all wear masks for different reasons. Maybe it's because we don't want people to worry about us, or maybe it's a trust issue, or maybe we are hiding our insecurities and our brokenness as a means of self preservation. Whatever the reason maybe, we all do it, we all put on our masks to hid our real self and our real emotions.

The truth of the matter is, sometimes in life, it's necessary to wear a mask. Sometimes we do have to keep a smile plastered to our face in order to function in our day to day life. We don't always have the luxury to break down that mask and expose our raw self and our true emotions. If we explain to every single person that ask us how we are doing how we truly feel, we would never be able to get anything done.

At the same time though, it's exhausting wearing a mask. It's exhausting pretending to be something we are not, it's tiring pretending everything is going well when it really feels like our whole world is falling apart. We all know that wearing make up all the time is damaging for the skin, the skin needs to breath and be exposed to air. I think our real self and our real emotions are the same, they need to come out from the hiding once a while too. We need to vent out our frustrations, we need to cry out our pains, and we need to talk about our disappointments. I guess what I'm trying to say is, we all need those few special people in our life that we can take our mask off in front of. Those people who we can confide in and trust with our deepest secret and pain. They are the very people who won't stop caring about us even though they see just how broken we truly are underneath that mask. This is what a true friendship is, and I am so thankful for the special people in my life. C.S. Lewis once said: “Friendship is unnecessary, like philosophy, like art… It has no survival value; rather it is one of those things that give value to survival.” Thank you my friends for adding meaning and value to my life. It says in Ecclesiastes,  

"Two are better than one, because they have a good reward for their toil. For if they fall, one will lift up his fellow. But woe to him who is alone when he falls and has not another to lift him up! Again, if two lie together, they keep warm, but how can one keep warm alone? And though a man might prevail against one who is alone, two will withstand him—a threefold cord is not quickly broken." Ecclesiastes 4:9-12

We know we can take our mask off in front of our friends. But you know who else you can remove your mask in front of? That's right, Jesus! He knows exactly who you are and what you are all about. He knows your passions, your hopes, your fears, your pain, your sadness, your disappointments, and so much more. He will never judge the person underneath that mask because He knows you, every bit of you. Even the things you are too fearful or embarrassed to tell anyone else, He knows it all. King David wrote in Psalm,

"O Lord, you have searched me and you know me. You know when I sit and when I rise, you perceive my thoughts from afar. You discern my going out and my lying down; you are familiar with all my ways. Before a word is on my tongue you know it completely, O Lord." Psalms 139:1-4

Our Lord knows each one of us intimately like He knows David. He knows our thoughts and our heart. One song I've been listening to recently is a song called Better than a hallelujah. The lyrics of the songs reminds us that we can pour out our miseries to God, and that the honest cry of a broken heart is better than a hallelujah to Him. So let us not hide behind our mask in front of Jesus, He wants us to show our brokenness and pour out our heart before Him. So come before Jesus, confide in Him, take off you mask and get real with Him! 

Amy Grant - Better than a Hallelujah

A lesson in surrendering

I've learned over the past year that we have very little control over our circumstances. No matter how much we try to fight it, no matter how much we cry or throw temper tantrums, if something is not in God's plan for us, it will not happen. Does this make me sound resigned? Perhaps. But that's not necessarily a bad thing. People often say that God doesn't close a door without opening a window. For most people, when a door closes, they will go and look for a window. But not me; I'm the person who will throw myself at the door, do everything I can to pry that door open. Only when I'm bruised and bleeding all over with no energy left, that's when I will give up and look for that window. Sounds silly doesn't it? Yet, I think it's something a lot of us do. Why is it so hard for us to let go of our hopes or expectations? Why is it so difficult for us to accept that some things are the way they are for a reason? I think it's because we are letting our desires take hold of us. We are letting what we want take precedence over everything else. It says in Isaiah,

"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

I think this is something we all know. But "knowing" something is one thing, and "accepting" something is a whole other thing. It's hard for us to let go of our own desires, especially if it's something we so desperately want, something we would do anything for. It's hard to let go because letting go means giving up, it means surrendering. But as Christians, isn't that what we are called to do? We are called to surrender our all to God, this include our desires and our expectations. Paul wrote in his letter to the church of Philipi,

"But whatever was to my profit I now consider loss for the sake of Christ. What is more, I consider everything a loss compared to the surpassing greatness of knowing Christ Jesus my Lord, for whose sake I have lost all things. I consider them rubbish, that I may gain Christ." Philippians 3:7-8

Paul remind us in these verses that we need to let go of all things, so that we may gain Christ. What does that mean? It means that when we let go of our own expectations and our own plans, we grow more in Christ, both in our relationship with Him, and our likeness to Him. In a way, we are like water jugs filled to the rim with our own wishes and hopes. But if we don't pour some of that water out, we can't make room for His plans. God has amazing plans for you and I, but sometimes because we are holding on to our "dirty water", we are not allowing God's fresh and clean water to fill us and our life.

As I meditate on this, one story that I was reminded of is the story of John the Baptist. When John the Baptist's disciples came to John to complain about the fact that Jesus is getting all the attention and respect, what did John the Baptist say? He said: 

"The bride belongs to the bridegroom. The friend who attends the bridegroom waits and listens for him, and is full of joy when he hears the bridegroom's voice. That joy is mine, and it is now complete. He must become greater; I must become less." John 3:29-30

I think this is a great reminder for us. As we mature in our walk of faith, we must let our own desires and expectations dominate us less and less, and we must let His plans and desires direct us more and more. Chinese philosopher Lao Zi once said, "when I let go of what I am, I become what I might be." I think this saying is quite fitting for us Christians. We need to let go of who we are and what we hold onto so tightly. Only then, He can work through our life for us to become who we can be.

No doubt, this is a very difficult lesson to learn. For me, I am just starting to grasp this. I am still trying to come to term with a loss I've experienced. I'm still trying to accept that this is all a part of God's plan. I am still trying to let go of my own desires and hope. I've fought a good fight, but I am bruised all over. Even then I'm still not quite ready to let go completely, but I'm learning, learning to let go one finger at a time.

God grant me the serenity
to accept the things I cannot change;
courage to change the things I can;
and wisdom to know the difference.

During the dark times...

Okay guys, I know I haven't wrote anything in a very long time, two months and 23 days to be exact. I have no good excuse, I've simply been too busy. Then I went on a month long trip, and now I'm back, picking up not exactly where I've left off. Life is still hectic, filled with lots of ups and downs, but I am thankful for every moment of everyday. I am a true believer that everything happens for a reason, and our God is in control and He has amazing plans for each one of us. So if you are going through a rough time right now, hang in there, one day it will all fit together.

We all go through various trials in life. Lets face it, no one lives a life full of rainbows, and colors, and dancing stars. We all face different situations where we feel pain, anger, disappointment, frustration, or all of the above. What do you do during this time of difficulty?

I think all of us are the same. When we go through trials, we are focused on ourselves. We are focused on our pain, our frustration, our disappointment, our anger, our sadness... We pray hard for ourselves and our situations. We ask others to pray for us. We question why things happen the way they did. We lift all that we feel, all that we say, all that we do before God. We ask Him to guide us and give us peace. Is there anything wrong with that? No, I don't think so. Because as we spend time reflecting, questioning, and praying, it is often during this time that we grow closer to God. Now why am I writing this? Because as I go through a time of trial feeling weak under the weight of the baggage I'm carrying, I am doing exactly all of the things I've listed above. I am wondering though, besides praying for myself and focusing on myself, what else should I be doing? 

Recently, my question was answered. I was reminded of what Jesus did and said during His darkest time. When He was on the cross facing the physical pain of the cross, hearing all the jeering and laughter of the people He loved, bearing the weight of all our sins, feeling the separation from the Father, He only said a few things on the cross. First, He asked for forgiveness from God for the very people who wronged Him.

'Jesus said, "Father, forgive the, for they do not know what they are doing." And they divided up his clothes by casting lots.' Luke 23:34

The next thing Jesus said was to the criminal hanging beside Him. The criminal repented his sins and asked Jesus to remember him,

'Jesus answered him,"I tell you the truth, today you will be with me in paradise."' Luke 23:43

After this, Jesus saw His mother and John while He was on the cross,

'When Jesus saw his mother there, and the disciple whom he loved standing nearby, he said to his mother, "Dear woman, here is your son," and to the disciple, "Here is your mother." From that time on, this disciple took her into his home.

If you noticed, in all the examples, Jesus did not focus on Himself, instead, He was focused on the people around Him. First He prayed for the people who were persecuting him, then He comforted the criminal beside Him, then He asked John to take care of His mother. I mean, during the hardest trial of Jesus's life, He did not just focus on how much He was hurting, He attended to the needs of the people around Him. Isn't that amazing? How many of us can do that? We don't even need to put ourselves in that very situation. Even in our everyday situation when we face a hard trial, when our heart is aching with sadness and frustration, how many of us can honestly say that when we come before God in prayer, we spend majority of the time thinking about other people's needs and not thinking about our own needs? I admit that I can be selfish, I spend much of the time licking my own wounds and praying for the people I've hurt, but not enough time caring and praying for the people around me. I can be so involved in my own little world that I stop noticing people all the buzz around me. Through this I am reminded, reminded of what I need to do during a time of hardship, what I need to do during a time of pain. It's not to say that we can't question God or pray for ourselves, because even Jesus did that on the cross (Matthew 27:46), but it is a reminder for us to look up once a while from our misery and see the world around us.

In the end, I guess all I'm trying to say is, when we are going through a rough patch in life with our head down, sometimes we need to make that effort to look up and see the needs around us. Jesus gave us a great example of how He went through the biggest trial of His life, He looked beyond His own suffering to help others. What about us? What will we do during our time of darkness and suffering?

"Do nothing out of selfish ambition or vain conceit, but in humility consider others better than yourselves. Each of you should look not only to your own interests, but also to the interests of others." Philippians 2:3-4

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!