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.

Rice pudding

The other day I had the strangest craving for some rice pudding. I was at the supermarket, so I was just going to pick some up to satisfy my craving. But all the rice puddings came in packages of 6, and I definitely didn't want to buy so many, so I decided to stop being lazy and make my own. So I got home, after few hours of slaving in the kitchen, voila, the pudding is ready.

The recipe I used can be found here. The recipe was okay, I had to make a few changes to it though. The next time I make this, I probably will use cooked rice instead of simmering it. I found the rice a bit hard. Aside from that, I thought the pudding turned out well, very creamy and not overly sweet.

Happy cooking!

Never changing God

Every since JS and I met on our mission trip in April, we've been meeting up for breakfast at least once a month at the exact same restaurant sitting in the exact same booth. Every time we meet, we have a great time catching up, trading stories, and encouraging each other. We started calling that specific booth in that particular restaurant our "hot date spot". As I think back about the last year we've known each other, we both have been through a lot of ups and downs in life. We've both been tossed in various storms of life, fell and stood up, gained some and lost some, rejoiced in our blessings... A lot of things changed during this almost one year period, but our "hot date spot" remained the same. In a life full of uncertainties and changes, it was comforting to have something that was constant. Something that remained the same over time.

Our circumstance is not the only thing that changes around us. Everything around us changes. People change, relationships change, trends change, environment changes, our body changes, technology changes... Remember those good old Walkmans? I still remember my first one. Then there was the Discman? I still remember how cool those were. Then the MiniDisc Man, MP3, MP4, now just everything in a phone. I know I sound really old when I say this, I'm only in my twenties and all these changes happened in my life time! Of course, not all changes are bad, a lot of changes are for the better. I think it's good to embrace changes sometimes. It's just that it's scary how fast things are changing around us and how hard we have to work to keep up with all the changes. In a society where things are changing constantly, it is comforting for me to have something constant, and our God is that constant, He never change.

"For I the Lord do not change; therefore you, O children of Jacob, are not consumed." Malachi 3

Why is so important that God never change? It's important because it means everything about Him never changes. His mercy never changes, His love and forgiveness never changes, His provision never changes, His promises never change, His grace remains the same, and the list goes on and on. So next time when you are frustrated or discouraged by the ever changing circumstances around you, pause for a second and think, no matter what, our God remains the same. In other words, in an ever changing world, we have a never changing God.  

The analogy I can think of for this is being in the eye of a hurricane. What do I mean by this? Although hurricanes are violently destructive with wind and rain, right in the middle of the hurricane which is known as the eye, is calm and peaceful. In the eye of the hurricane, there is no wind or clouds. A lot of times in our life, it's like we are in middle of a hurricane where everything around us is changing at an alarming speed. But God is like the eye of the hurricane, in Him we can find peace and consistency, in Him there is rest and calmness. 

"Jesus Christ is the same yesterday, today, and forever." Hebrew 13:8

Earl Grey Cupcakes.

For Valentine's day, I wanted to bring something sweet to small group. I found a earl grey cupcake recipe I've been dying to try, so this is my opportunity to test it out.

The recipe can be found here. The recipe turned out to be perfect. The only change I made was adding two bags of earl grey tea instead of one. I highly recommend putting two tea bags in because otherwise the tea taste would be way too mild. As for the frosting, I omitted the lemon flavor because I didn't have any lemons at home, and I think the lemon taste would be too overwhelming compared to the mild earl grey taste. Next time though, I probably will add some earl grey to the frosting to get the flavor to pop even more.

Since it was Valentine's day, I had to do some love theme decorations to go with all the festivity in the air. These were some of my pitiful attempts.

Happy Baking!

Patiently wait

Recently I learned an important lesson on waiting for God. Patience has never been my strong suit. I don't like waiting, period. This applies to every aspect of my life. There is the saying that God never closes a door without opening a window, but I think sometimes there is a time gap between the closing of that door and the opening of that window. I trust this saying with all my heart, but I often get impatient waiting for that window to open. So what do I do? I try to take control of the situation and make my own window. Of course, often this does not work. Often I just make things worse, not better. I forget to wait for the Lord, I forget to rely on the Lord, and I try to get God to do things according to my timing, not His.

Some people might ask, is it so bad to try to do things for ourselves? God help those who help themselves right? I agree. I think God always demands 100% effort from us in all that we do. Jesus said in Matthew,

"Ask and it will be given to you; seek and you will find; knock and the door will be open for you. For everyone who asks receives, he who seeks finds; and to him who knocks, the door will be opened." Matthew 7:7-8

Note that He didn't say, "it will be given to you, you will find it, and the door will be open for you.". No, He told us to ask, seek, and knock. These are the things we need to do, then God will do the rest. But often, we fall into the trap of expecting something to happen just because we did our best. We expect to see result right away just because we've done everything we could. Then when things don't happen according to our timing or our way, we get disappointed and frustrated with ourselves and with God. The truth of the matter is, sometimes even when we put in everything we've got, things still might not happen the way we wanted. We can't control God's timing and His will. Our prayer will be answered according to His timing and His purpose.

"There is a time for everything for everything, and a season for every activity under the heavens." Ecclesiastes 3:1

For me, waiting is a hard lesson to learn. But slowly, I think I'm beginning to get a hang of it. To me waiting for God is kind of like sailing. When we go sailing, we have to be prepared. We set up the sail, we adjusted the rudder, we set the centerboard, we do everything we need to do to start sailing, but if there is no wind, our sailboat is not going anywhere. It is the same in life. When we want something to happen, we entrust it in prayer, we put in our 100% and do everything we need to do to prepare for it, but if it's not God's will or His timing, it is not going to happen. David wrote many times how he is waiting on God. My favorite one is the reference in Psalm 130.

"I wait for the Lord, my soul waits, and in his word I put my hope. My soul waits for the Lord more than watchmen wait for the morning, more than watchmen wait for the morning." Psalm 130:5-6

For me this verse is most illustrative because I understand so well how it feels to wait for the morning to come. Every time I do a night shift, around 3 am is the hardest. I keep looking at the clock waiting for the night to be over and for the morning to come. At that point, I am battling to stay awake and alert, and I am trying to find something to occupy myself to speed up the process. However, no matter how dreary the night is, I know for sure the morning will come. The sun will rise and the darkness will fade. This is something we have confidence in. This should be the same for our life. No matter how bleak the situation may look, we need to have the confidence that God will answer our prayers and show us the way. Right now, just like the watchmen waiting for the morning, we too are just waiting for that first ray of light.