The Dinner just keeps going...
 

This place sure loves using sea salt in excess but the food is generally yummy, and fortunately, not everything is as salted, and many you can just eat around. :)

Mmm, pulled-pork poutine! And finally, not rock-hard fresh made house bread! It keeps changing in variety, but this one is pleasant if you don't hit the part of crust that's just sprinkled with sea salt as if it was a solid sheet of the stuff.

The Dinner just keeps going...
 

This place sure loves using sea salt in excess but the food is generally yummy, and fortunately, not everything is as salted, and many you can just eat around. :)

Mmm, pulled-pork poutine! And finally, not rock-hard fresh made house bread! It keeps changing in variety, but this one is pleasant if you don't hit the part of crust that's just sprinkled with sea salt as if it was a solid sheet of the stuff.

The End of the Dinner Chapter.
 

Beet Salad--LOVE beats, Heart of Romaine Salad with Anchovies sauce and bacon... did I say they LOVE an unbalanced salt filled diet? And an all sustainable seafood selection. :)

Well, Yodi couldn't finish off the poutine by herself, so that was barely touched. Must have been the JapaDog she had just hours ago. :rolleyes:

The End of the Dinner Chapter.
 

Beet Salad--LOVE beats, Heart of Romaine Salad with Anchovies sauce and bacon... did I say they LOVE an unbalanced salt filled diet? And an all sustainable seafood selection. :)

Well, Yodi couldn't finish off the poutine by herself, so that was barely touched. Must have been the JapaDog she had just hours ago. :rolleyes:

The End of Arrival Day.
 

Once we got home, Yodi barely had enough time to gather her land legs once again... Attachment 279406

When Pichu comes along and tackles her down! Attachment 279407

She is relentless! If we didn't know how much Pichu actually LOVED Yodi, we would have cause for concern. She just doesn't get how to keep her friends! Poor girl. :( Attachment 279408

Stepping on them and holding them down is NOT going to save her friendships. :( Attachment 279409 After witnessing this onslaught, I just had to save Yodi. I had tucked her in while Pichu ran around looking for her and luckily, she gave up the hunt sooner rather than later. :)

And on that note... it's time for bed? Or is it another new day already?! :eek:

Wow, I think we're sleeping in today. :p

The End of Arrival Day.
 

Once we got home, Yodi barely had enough time to gather her land legs once again... Attachment 279406

When Pichu comes along and tackles her down! Attachment 279407

She is relentless! If we didn't know how much Pichu actually LOVED Yodi, we would have cause for concern. She just doesn't get how to keep her friends! Poor girl. :( Attachment 279408

Stepping on them and holding them down is NOT going to save her friendships. :( Attachment 279409 After witnessing this onslaught, I just had to save Yodi. I had tucked her in while Pichu ran around looking for her and luckily, she gave up the hunt sooner rather than later. :)

And on that note... it's time for bed? Or is it another new day already?! :eek:

Wow, I think we're sleeping in today. :p

Friday, June 5th, 2009 - Day 2
 

We had a fairly slow second day today. It's definitely not as hot as it was on arrival day. I think I was suffering a day-after heat stroke. :p

Yodi slept in longer than I was able to. As I got hungry for being up long hours, I just had to wake everyone up and get them ready for a lunch trip. For anyone who visits Richmond, they must not overlook one of the more popular Asian malls here known for its food court on the third floor. Within Aberdeen Centre Shopping Mall, it also houses several full sized restaurant set-ups.

Since my companion had a craving for Shanghai food as she claimed she hasn't had a Shanghai soup dumpling called "xiao long bao" since months back now, I thought it would be a good opportunity for Yodi to have a taste of what Vancouver is so good at--Asian cuisine. There are quite a few Shanghai restaurants in town, however, only less than a handful make a tasty soupy dumpling to my taste and who also makes most other dishes adequately well to not just be a one-dish stop.

Northern Delicacy is one of my top choices to visit when I have a craving for Shanghai soup dumplngs, Wonton & Chicken soup, hot soy soup with deep fried Chinese doughnuts and a lighter veggie version of a fried Shanghai rice cake (the one that isn't made with greasy soy sauce, etc.). I love how their menu is bilingual and plenty of pictures. Pictures prove to be ever so helpful especially since I'm not so sure Yodi is literate. I think she tweets with some kind of dictation software. :rolleyes:

Braving lunch without the Bat Gear.
 

As it turned out, my brain wasn't functioning like normal so it had totally slipped my mind that we needed Yodi to dine with us incognito. So unlike the previous night when we had dinner, earlier, during lunch, we became a spectacle. We needed Yodi to pretend she was a stuffed toy. We almost couldn't carry it off. I believe we had left a little bit of doubt and disbelief amongst the crew working in that restaurant.

Attachment 279617 As Yodi was musing over this plate of cold appetizer made up of marinated bean curd (I think) and few pieces of enoki mushrooms, my companion was starting to get nervous with the stares she's been noticing coming our way. That is when it hit me that we had forgotten Yodi's much needed borrowed superhero powers. Finally, I did note the gentleman circling our booth staring down at Yodi until he caught sight of me watching him obsessing over our tabletop dining guest. He's one of the store managers. He put a grin on his face of huge disbelief. I should have tested my innate super powers by chanting, "They can't see her. They can't see her. They can't see her." But too late, they saw her. This includes the dumpling masters working behind a transparent glass/plastic display window. Don't they have any work to do like making more dumplings for tomorrow? :p It's rude to watch people eat--so what if we have a dog eating not just OFF the table but while sitting/standing on TOP of it too. :D

The Lunch Saga Continues
 

Yodi couldn't decide what to start on first. So I helped her out. After hand-feeding her some Spicy Wonton dumplings and a soup dumpling (I think the weekend crew is better at making this stuff though it was still alright today), I told her she'll need to eat the rest quickly on her own, and only do so when no one else is looking.

When I hailed for the cheque, the manager came along with it... He says to me, "That looks so real! I seriously thought it was real for a moment there!" I'm like, "No way. Really??" and just humoured him with a brief chuckle. :rolleyes: Phewww. They didn't find out that in fact Yodi was and is as real as they come!

Yodi must be gloating now. :cool:

Afternoon nap
 

We cruised around town a little bit but I really must have burnt all the sugar in my blood yesterday in the smoldering heat. I can barely function and lunch didn't help. So it was homeward bound for a nap and hopefully, a few chores, and of course, Pichu's much needed bath before her check-up scheduled for Saturday morning. This appointment was made before we knew of our special guest's arrival. Since Pichu is getting her nails done and ears cleaned tomorrow, I think we'll need to try to squeeze in a manicure for Yodi too! She'd really benefit from an ear cleaning. With all of Pichu's love nibbles, it wouldn't be a bad idea at all. :thumbup:

Of course, as soon as we got back and unloaded Yodi from her carrier, Pichu goes right after her. It's been a bit of an effort to keep Yodi out of sight of our little girl half the time so that we may have some peace and so that Yodi will be able to leave for her next destination in one piece!

The Second Supper
 

Since we had not planned ahead, a weekend dinner spot ANYWHERE worth eating at would be filled to capacity and beyond. Our first choice had a 30 minute wait--so they say, what if it ends up much longer? :p And I thought we'd make it an early night so that we'd get enough rest for the longer day tomorrow. Then our next choice, we drove by and found that there were already people all lined up outside so I'm assuming the inside waiting/lounge area was filled with hungry people also. This would have been a fun place to take Yodi since the owner encourages hands-on dining as that's the Indian way.

We wandered the blocks of Broadway to narrow down a place to eat. Closest to where we parked were two decent looking patio dining spots. Through some amount of debating, we decided we'll have Yodi try some casual French cuisine at Mistral French Bistro.

Attachment 279627

So we figured we'd give patio a try. This will be Pichu's first patio experience. She will not leave Yodi alone in the bag.

Secrets
 

Things were looking good. The girls were whispering sweet nothings to each other. That's what friends do, right? So we had let our guard down.

Food.
 

We didn't notice when a pedestrian crept up and came by with her little dog. Shortly after they went out of sight and our peace still has not yet returned, a skateboarder comes zooming by. That did not help matters. Suffice it to say, Pichu was not invited to share our table with us. Yodi rose to the occassion and tried her best to set a good example by not following Pichu's suit.

Main Course
 

I wasn't very hungry so I shared some of my seafood bouillabaisse with Yodi as hubby figured the side plate of greens was good enough for our little guest. :rolleyes: However, neither Yodi nor I ate much of the dish because the curry tasting sauce just didn't work out. Since when has curry made it into traditional French cooking? Shows how little I know, I suppose.

The hubby just had to tease Yodi with a cut of his steak frites. He didn't give it to her... He's such a meanie.

Dessert.
 

Since we had skipped dessert yesterday, we figured we should at least treat Yodi to dessert this time around.

Upon leaving, the very sweet Mrs. Owner was startled that our "dog" wasn't moving and seemed a bit different from when we arrived with her... Yes, Yodi fooled yet another human. This time, Yodi got mistaken as Pichu. LOL