Soccer and Vancouver Guu

So after a fun night of Smashputt, the next afternoon was soccer in the rain. It was the last match of the season.  Our ringer came in and score 2 goals, but it wasn't enough and we ended up losing 4-2.  And with that, we have done ALOT worse (from '2 wins'... to 0 wins this season).....Sigggnnn

After the game, at the prompt of lil friend's friend who flew in, we took a trip up to Vancouver to meet up with another friend of lil friend who came in from HK for training.  We hit up Guu in Richmond at Aberdeen.  The food was pretty good there, and had a couple of pitchers of beer.. Mmmm... Sashimi, beer, ... lovely.

Needing more Japanese food, went to consult the original Vanc tour guide for a place to eat around the area, and landed at an Izakaya near where we had Karoake a few months back.  Tried the conch sashimi which was pretty cool, and had 6 large bottles of Asashi's between 4 people (but technically there was really 2.5 of us drinking :P)...  We did make it good deal, because it was I think buy 6 get 1 free it came out to be :)...

Mmmm... good food, good times.. another day in Vanc!

Smashputt!

Today, we were going to go to Smashputt.  Had wanted to try this last year but then we couldn't get tickets.  This year though, we could!

So to start off the night, we went for Hot Pot.  Never been to this place before, but it was surely pretty ghetto.  For one thing, there was a restriction on needing to get all types of beef that was given... and after the first order, they would serve the same thing again.. wtf!... Even though it didn't matter too much, but that really killed the AYCE concept.  Now to add to it, there was only one kind of vegetable... not that I usually mind since I eat very little of it.  But I think actually it was going bad since it tasted bitter.  Very crappy place... never going again (this was somewhere near I-District).

Afterwards, we went to Smashputt.  A mini golf + bar specially set it that only comes about a couple weeks each year.  The holes were pretty fun, but after 6 or 7, I got pretty tired waiting in line.  There was some pretty cool ones though... and not to mention I got a hole in one for one of them :). 

Funnnn night indeed!

Becoming a Lead

Today I officially become a Lead.

Few wise words given to me by others who have been doing this for years:
"Now you have to care when someone's dog dies"
"More responsibilities, more work... same pay"

Lol... Looking forward to it!

Wine Tasting At Goose Ridge (Living Social)

Utilized the Living Social coupon today to try out some wines. Went to the good ol' Woodenville area. I just realized that this might be the first time I've been to a tasting room outside that is not near a vine yard or winery.

This place looked like it was purely just for trying out wine and buying. The pours weren't that large (smallest pour I've seen), but the staff was friendly and super nice. The wines were pretty good, and the reserves' were definitely distinguishable from the non (the reserve were pretty tasty).

Right as we were about to leave, we scooted over to the winery next door, and they did two free pours just because they were trying to close. It was well worth it for them, because I ended up buying two bottles :). Mmmmmmm...

Crazy Hail Day

After losing 7-0 soccer (but not by forfeit... first time in 3 weeks), headed over to the West Side of town. On the way, it was cloudy, then it was pouring, and finally... it hailed. Yes, S.town, April... hail. Wow.

At night, went to this Lao and Thai restaurant. The food was pretty good there. First time I think having Lao cuisine. The food was pretty appetizing.. Mmm...

Mashiko - 3 bottles of sake with the dancing beast

An outing with the dancing beast, and we ended up having 3 bottles of sake (2 shown here), and the standard Omakase.  Mmmmm...

What did we eat?... See below:

Cherry Stone Clam and Kunimoto Oyster on Half Shell	Fuji apple cerviche with rockfish
Rockfish sashimi in ponzu sauce	Abalone (My favorite)
Maguro tartar with quail egg	Kale with miso glaze
Sushi: King Salmon, Coho, Albacore Toro, Kenpachi, Maguro	Apple snails
Halibut Roe and halibut	Sunba
Fried chia (tuna blood line)	Kimaki Mochi (Mochi with Black Sesame on Top)

Loving Nexus and Global Traveller Program

Loving Nexus and Global Traveler Program.

Not only is it good crossing from US to Canada, but even coming back from another part of the world. Sooo quick and simple. Turns out I don't even need to manually fill out I94s anymore!

$50 well worth it.

A Week in Germany: Day 7 - Final Train Ride and Flight Home

Having gotten to the hotel at 1am, woke up bright and early around 6am, to take one last train.

And back we come.  Germany trip... complete!

A Week in Germany: Day 6 - Dachau Museum and 1st Class Train to Frankfurt

The week in Germany was winding down.  Fully using the late check-out time of 12pm, wake up late and then proceed to go to the Dachau Museum.  Dachau was a place recommended to us by the school teacher who sat next to me on the plane when I asked about what there is to do in Munich (the teacher having been from there).  This was one of the concentration camps in WWII was.  The museum was set up really nicely and had lots of really fascinating information.  Being a sucker for history, it was a really really nice place to spend an afternoon at.  Just imaging the horrors that the people must have gone through during this time is beyond words.
For dinner, we went to another beer hall.  Just like the other one, it was very loud and noisy, but people were super friendly.  Once again, beer in my tummy.  The beer here - not much selection, but what is given is pretty tasty.

After dinner, we head back towards the train station, to take our "first class" train back to Frankfurt.  Unlike the other trains we took where we were in the second class train section, we scored these awesome tickets and would for the next couple hours be in the first class section.  Ballller!!!!

The train was pretty empty too, and added to the luxurious experience.  Combined with our Haribo gummy beers and cola bottles, we got ourselves a private booth.  To add to it all, the train conductor, seeing us an empty bag of Haribo gummies, comes by and offers the small pack Haribo gummy bears to us.  Now that's service!

Note: The first class ticket was 2 euros cheaper than the second class one.... and there is no third class 😁

A Week in Germany - Day 5: Munchen

We arrived in Munchen (Munich) at 7:30am.  Being super tired (didn't put on ear plugs 'til 3 hours before the train arrived... so didn't get much sleep) and also was feeling a bit sick, we walked to our hotel (which was < 500m from the train station) to see if we could do an early check-in.  Luckily, there was one room available and so they gave us the room!  Sweeeet!

So the first thing I did was took a shower, then totally crashed for the next few hours.  This was a swanky hotel and everything was modern looking and pretty.  The shower was also pretty nice (it was a waterfall type shower head).

Waking up at 1:30am, we then made our way to the BMW museum.  The museum was pretty cool and learned a lot about the history of BMW, not to mention seeing my dream car :).  Fully electric, doors that open upwards, and clear! 

After the museum, we headed back to the core of Munchen, to one of the famous beer halls.  One litre beers... Mmm...