Seasons

The trees in the fall always remind me of traffic lights. First the leaves turn green, then change to orange, and finally transform into red before falling onto the ground. Walking on Main Mall was beautiful on the Thanksgiving weekend. Its nice to see the normally hectic campus so quiet. As the leaves all start to detach from the trees, its the most evident sign that winter is arriving. This past spring began the start of something new and the summer that followed was a mix of new beginnings, unresolved history, and getting all the necessary closure. The fall semester went by in a blink of an eye, with less than 2 weeks of lectures left before finals. It was filled with never ending papers and midterms (why call it a midterm when its not even during the middle of the term?). Also the end of Oct brought a pleasant surprise that will hopefully progress into something special. Next up: December, the most wonderful time of the year. My heart skips a beat just thinking about the holidays!! 

Reminiscing on Explore: part 1

This was our first group bonding as a class. After our class field trip to Vieux Montreal, everyone was exhausted and was in dire need of a drink. We ended up at Le Sainte Elisabeth, a bar with a terrace in the Latin neighborhood. MTL experiences harsh weather during the majority of the year so when its summertime, everyone takes advantage of the outdoor terrace around the city. Its basically a huge outdoor patio surrounded with trees in the back of a restaurant, hidden from the busy streets. It was a weekday mid-afternoon and the place was packed. We ordered nachos and sangria and just got to know each other. Ever since coming home from Explore, I've met a number of people who had also been a part of Explore but at different cities. We're like an extended Explore family, scattered across the country. Back to reading sociology essays...but whats really on my mind is my Explore family! I wonder how everyone in my niveau 7 class is doing.

Daily Essentials

 1. E.l.f. eyebrow kit (Target) in dark brown. There is a brow gel on the left side and a brow

powder on the right. It comes with a mini brush that is usable but a little hard to hold because of its miniscule size so I use the e.l.f. small angled brush to shape my brows. I've been using this product since Sept and it has been working well for its small price tag ($4). 

2. EOS Lip-balm (Amazon) in Sweet Mint. I was ordering something on Amazon and didn't reach the minimum shipping amount so I picked out this lip balm and its matching hand lotion (not pictured). I've always been a Burt's Bees lip person (I have like 10 different Burt's Bees products) so I never gave this brand a try. Its packaging is too cute and my lips seem to like it. However, no lip-balm can beat the Fresh Sugar Lip Treatment. That baby was my prized possession because it took months for me to finally purchase it. I'm waiting for that holiday Sephora discount to get another tube. But for now, this much cheaper substitute works just fine (I can get 7 EOS lip-balms for the price of one Fresh product....).

3. MAC lipstick in Retro. My mom randomly bought this colour for herself and I tried it on my lips and fell in love with it so I bought one for myself at MAC @ The Bay. It's a matte warm deep red that gives your lips a pop of colour without it standing out too much. I put on lip-balm before I apply this because it is matte therefore not too moisturizing. I put it on in the morning before class and usually its still visible by the time I get off from class, even on my longer school days until 5:30pm. 

4. Om SHE Aromatherapy Body Butter (Winners). Kelly showed me the White Tea & Bergamot scent and I really enjoy the light, clean and refreshing scent. The Mango Orange has a fruity scent. I picked up these two at the Winners on Cambie. I alternatively use the two every night after I shower. My only complaint is that the scent does not stay on the skin for a long time. Nonetheless its quite hydrating and it does have a strong initial smell.

5. Chloe Eau de Parfum (Sephora). I've been in love with this fragrance for the past year and every time I'm in Sephora, I would put some on before I leave the store. I finally bought the 1 oz. bottle in the Montreal Sephora in late May and have been using it daily. The bottle still looks full and I secretly hope it never ever runs out because it is such a beautiful scent. Usually I spray it twice in the morning and the smell lasts throughout the day. Last week a girl I sat next to in French asked if I was wearing Chloe hehehe. This perfume, along with Elizabeth Arden's Fifth Avenue are my personal favourites.

- - - - - 

I had an urge to change my blogger layout last night after importing all my private Xanga posts to my newly-created private Wordpress. It's unfortunate that Xanga users have to pay to use the site now but I'm so so relieved that all my posts circa 2007 can be imported onto Wordpress. I seldom write on my Xanga (or blogger!) nowadays but its nice to have a keepsake of the personal posts I wrote throughout the years.

Food in the past two months

What better way to summarize the past two months in food than to collage my top 9 most mouth-watering meals?
A brief description of each, along with a few background stories (from left to right, top to bottom): 

1. Who goes to Montreal without eating poutine? No one. I ate so much poutine (and fries in general) that I didn't want to see another potato by the end of my trip. La Banquise, open 24 hours, is the king of poutine in MTL. Anything edible you could possibly imagine, combined with fries and gravy and cheese curds. I ordered "La Danse" which was poutine with chicken, onions, bacon, and pepper sauce.
2. After Mass at Notre Dame, we went to Eggspectation with high expectations (hahaha). I ordered the avocado egg benny. The avocado texture was a novel change from the normal english muffin. May be a little overwhelming for some because avocado has a heavier aftertaste but its perfect for avocado lovers like myself!
3. Smoked meat is another Montreal must-try food. We went to Schwartz's on a rainy weekday so we managed to miss the usual massive line-up. The picture of the amount of smoked meat looks overwhelming compared to the two little pieces of rye bread but it was absolutely delicious. I found myself craving for it only a few days after my first visit. Sidenote, there is a competing restaurant right across from Schwartz's called Main Deli Steak House. It also sells smoked meat and I tried it a week after. The verdict is that I can't taste the difference between the two; therefore, both were equally good! Schwartz is a must-experience tourist diner but if you want to skip the line-up, go to Main Deli. Same quality smoked meat in a roomier, quieter dining area.
4. The Montreal style bagel is often compared to the New York style bagel. I've never had NY style bagels so I can only comment on the MTL one I had from St. Viateur Bagel. The bagel had a crunchier texture than what I normally have at Tim Hortons. My Poulet St Viateur came with basil dressing and a macaroni salad. I had a bite of Joel's BLT and the bacon made the bagel 10x better. His was comparably more delicious so I know what I'm getting next time! St. Viateur competes with Fairmont Bagel for Montreal's best bagel title but the two bakeries are relatively different. The former sells savory bagel sandwiches whereas the latter (which I also tried) has more varieties of bagels but they only come with the choice of cream cheese. Fairmont Bagel, however, is open 24 hours!
5. We attempted to go to L'Avenue three times before finally succeeding. The first time was on a Sunday late afternoon (closed). The second time was on a weekday for dinner (we thought it was all-day brunch). Third times the charm. Except we waited two hours in line. Mmm Sunday brunch, probably not the best idea. But it was THE. Best. Brunch. Ever. The seasoned potatoes and the chorizo egg benny was heavenly. Ugh the egg benny was seriously perfection. My mouth is watering as I reminisce on its taste. I'd definitely hit up L'Avenue if I were in town again, except maaaaaybe not on a Sunday.
6. I was a frequent visitor at Juliette et Chocolat, a cozy and at the same time spacious dessert house where servers wear adorable red hats.  There are two locations (St. Denis & St. Laurent) in downtown MTL but I ended up always going to the latter because it was a tad bit closer to West Rez. I had the crepe in the picture above on my 2nd visit here. White chocolate filling with hazelnut ice-cream, top with a plethora of fresh fruit. What a spectacular combination. Derek and I shared this and we were both so, so satisfied! I've also had the milk chocolate fondue and another crepe, which were both equally delicious. The ingredients are rich and of high quality. I love this dessert house and wish it was open in other parts of Canada!
7. La Taqueria is literally one of those hole in the wall restaurants. Its on Hastings so its location is a bit sketchy but once inside, I was greeted with a busy line-up with taco enthusiasts. It was 4 for $9 so Derek and I both chose 3 meat tacos and 1 vegetarian taco each and ended up sharing all 8. The corn tortillas came with generous toppings and there were jalapeno peppers and carrots in a separate basket on the table. The tacos were juicy and fresh; however, it was a little difficult to distinguish between the different tacos. ("I think that was the fish one..." "No, wait...THIS one is definitely fish..." "Are you sure? I swear its chicken...") The tiny restaurant was packed by the time we left and on our way out, the guy behind the counter yelled "Bye Isabel!" with a big smile. Haha he remembered my name!!! I made fun of Derek because he didn't say his name. +1000 points. Favourite restaurant ever.
8. I searched up this easy recipe online and added a few ingredients of my own. At Isa's kitchen (lol), I cut the chicken breast in half and stuffed it with red bell peppers and parmesan cheese. Then, I spreaded mayo on the top and bottom of the chicken, and put it in the oven. I found these cute looking assorted coloured baby potatoes at Save-On and spread them with butter before putting them in the oven along with the chicken mid-way. I love boiled veggies because of the softer texture so I put the carrots and broccoli in boiling water for 10 minutes while chicken was cooking. It wasn't a time-consuming meal and it tasted great. The light veggies on the side balanced out the rich, cheesy mayo chicken. Yay for the first time using the oven on my own! 
9. By the end of July, I was harsh craving some quality sushi. I heard good reviews on Tokyo Joes so I went to give it a try. There is unlimited self-serve miso soup, and you can never go wrong with miso soup. The size of the specialty roll in the photo above was huge! Among the 3 of us, we had 4 orders and at the end of the meal, we were stuffed. Tokyo Joes' decor is less formal than that of Charcoal or Mega Sushi (my two fave sushi restaurants) but its price is more affordable and the sushi quality isn't any less than the two. 

I started this post more than 3 weeks ago and abandoned it until now. I would suck at deadlines. Top 9 places visited this summer coming next. Hopefully the post won't take as long. Hehe but I doubt it.

Too late at night for any of this to make absolute sense

I lied. It would be another 3 months since my last post. I've been wanting to write since I got back from my Montreal trip but I just keep continuously delaying it. Tonight I was supposed to watch PLL and sleep early to study all day tomorrow for my midterm on Friday. Right when I started this course, I told myself that I have no excuse not to earn a high grade because its the only course I'm focusing on for one month. Except...the significance of doing well on the midterm has quickly slipped off my priorities list because its past 2:30 and I'm still wide awake. Things don't always go as planned, eh? 

I signed up for the Explore program (5-week French immersion course) in early January and was put on the wait-list for weeks after the "lottery acceptance draw" in April. I was pretty much set on staying home for the entire summer when I finally got my congratulations email from UQAM. Well, ending up in Montreal for Explore was one of the best things that has ever happened to me. My friends have been asking me how the program was, and I can't stop saying "it was really really really good". They want me to explain why but there's just too much I could say so I just stick with "it was just really good". First of all, the people I met made my trip absolutely remarkable. Normally, I surround myself with the same type of people because it brings a kind of comfort and security. In the program, I met (and more importantly, got to know on a personal level) people from all kinds of backgrounds and of all ages. My French oral teacher is an Egyptian who spoke six different languages. My French grammar teacher is possibly the most charming, gentle, and handsome Quebecois ever. Side-note: The whole female population of UQAM is probably glad that he doesn't wear a ring which could mean only one thing: s-i-n-g-l-e!!!! (hahaha). A 29 year old soon-to-be high school teacher who rode motorcycles, and I became good friends and surprisingly we always had a lot to talk about despite our 10 year age gap and completely different lifestyle. Another friend whom I became close with majored in horse science. Yes, there is such a major and no, she's not in the same faculty anymore because she chose to major in French instead. Everyone in my class was simply amazing and now I have friends in almost every province across Canada! 

Even though our classroom was located in a sketchy neighborhood with SDF's roaming the allies and sex shops directly next to our building, I'm so glad I was placed in UQAM. There are murals, churches, and spiral staircases at every corner. Its a place with so much culture that clearly distinguishes itself from the West Coast. Not to mention its wonderful, mouth-watering smoked meat. Schwartz. I could eat that for every meal for the rest of my life.

I want to remember all the little details I spent in my five weeks in Montreal: lining up two hours for brunch, outdoor concerts featuring francophone artists, the clubbing weekends that somehow always ended in pouring rain, and most importantly all the precious friendships. I look back to the month-long program and there are so many things that make me smile. There will be so much reminiscing for the weeks, months and years to come. 

I was supposed to go back to LA after Montreal but Marine Dr. decided to offer me housing starting mid June. So here I am back in the 604 taking up my housing offer. Its been good being back in Vancouver. My new unit has all that I need and want in a living environment. Its new, convenient and spacious. The weather has been perfect and very exciting news - I just bought my own magic bullet!!! Smoothies all day in the sun. Life is so so comfortable here. 

On another topic, I spent all of May thinking about the time I would spend in July with him. It was exciting to know that we would have one month together before our year apart. But then Montreal happened and gone were the nights where he was the last person on my mind before I went to bed. In fact, he was barely on my mind at all and just like that, the spark disappeared. Regardless of the initial strong feelings, there is no strong foundation. When both people stop trying, what's the point?

And, you. I started to count down my days in Montreal because I was looking forward to come back and reconnect with you. The same you who has been popping up in my life from time to time for the past five years. You are the same 2008 you to an extent but actually so different in so many ways. As crazy as this sounds but I've always held on to the thought of us being "us" again. Tonight has changed that. I don't ever know how to feel about you because you always trigger a different emotion. There is absolutely no coherent way that I can explain how I feel about you. Our talk earlier is the reason why I'm still up at 3:30. Its a lot to process in one night. 

I'm going to end this post with what I started with. Things don't always go as planned. But sometimes it's alright. Good night. Here's to hoping I'll be productive tomorrow studying for my natural disasters course!