canadian shopping haul (aka i love maple)

(Vancouver, Canada).  I didn't really expect to buy anything on my trip to Vancouver other than maple candy.  I know they are basically glorified sugar cubes, but I have a soft spot in my heart for them.  It's very difficult to find maple candy in Los Angeles (other than at specialty stores around Christmas) and have you noticed how expensive real maple syrup is lately?

Anyways, so there I was roaming around for something uniquely Canadian to purchase.  For the first day or so, I failed miserably.  Most of the retail shops I saw were the same as those in Los Angeles.  Actually for the most part, being in Vancouver was a bit like being in the financial district of San Francisco or Seattle... It really didn't feel like I was out of the U.S.

But ultimately I saw a few items that caught my eye.  What were they?

hotel review: l'hermitage hotel in vancouver

The front of the hotel with funny fat cupid face.

(Vancouver, Canada).  During a recent trip to Vancouver - my very first to Canada (yay!) - I had the pleasure of staying at the L'Hermitage Hotel in downtown Vancouver.   I had researched a fair bit on tripadvisor and booking.com and other sites, and decided on this boutique hotel because of the rave reviews and the central location.  (I also considered the St. Regis and the Fairmont Waterfront but they were a bit more expensive even with off-season rates.  Coincidentally my workplace booked me into the Fairmont Waterfront after my personal trip in Vancouver so I will be reviewing that hotel in the near future.)

This will obviously be a good review, but what did I especially like about L'Hermitage?

how to take the subway from the vancouver airport to downtown vancouver

One of the views from the subway.

Using the subway is a cheap, fast and efficient way to get from the Vancouver airport (YVR) to downtown. When I arrived in Vancouver on a weekday, Mr. Sazy Rock and I paid 9 Canadian Dollars (CAD) per person for a one way ticket into downtown. On the way back to YVR from downtown on a weekend, he and I paid 2.75 CAD per person for a one way ticket. It took us about 30 minutes for a one way trip. In comparison, as of this writing, a taxi to downtown would cost at least $31 plus tip one way. It is cheap and easy to take the subway (especially if you're a solo traveler or traveling with another person with minimal luggage), so why not use it?

Below is a guide on taking the subway in pictures:

48 hours eating and drinking in downtown vancouver, canada

Vancouver.

Vancouver has a great reputation for eating and dining. On a recent work related trip, Mr. Sazy Rock and I took the opportunity to test whether that reputation had merit. I thought that it's a fun eating city. I did gain five pounds in a span of 48 hours. But, I did it so you don't have to.

Top Restaurants

restaurant review: chambar in vancouver, canada

Chambar Restaurant.

Chambar Restaurant (pronounced sham bar) in Vancouver has been receiving a lot of praise for the food and the drinks. In addition, as we ate and drank around the city, several bartenders and restaurant proprietors have told us that Vancouver's craft cocktail scene first started at Chambar. Their website has also cheekily referred to the dining experience there as "civilized debauchery." So, on our recent trip to the city, Mr. Sazy Rock and I were very excited to check it out. 

On to the review:

restaurant review: blue water cafe + raw bar in vancouver, canada

Blue Water Cafe + Raw Bar.

During a recent work-related trip to Vancouver, Canada, Mr. Sazy Rock and I dined at Blue Water Cafe + Raw Bar in the Yaletown neighborhood of downtown. Despite the depressing rainy weather, the welcoming atmosphere inside and the impressive food gave us a pleasant introduction to the city's food scene. 

On to the review:

sazy rock's top 10 best restaurant dishes (to date) around the world

If you haven't figured it out yet, I really like to eat - and not necessarily healthy foods - when I travel. Eating while traveling makes me happy. In this first of my top 10 series, I will be sharing my top 10 restaurant dishes so far. I've excluded the US because I live there. I also reserve to change my mind about what should be on the top 10 tomorrow -- only because there's so much tasty food out there. So, without further ado, here they are:

1.  Various dishes at Azurmendi near Bilbao, Spain
This restaurant just outside of Bilbao served delicious, local, seasonal and beautiful food. The lobster on lobster dish was absolutely simple yet so tasty. The truffled egg was not simple but, biting into the yolk just showed how a great chef can elevate a simple egg into something ridiculously good. Oh, and the foie gras ash was so rich and creamy I thought I died and went to heaven. Okay, I loved a lot of dishes at Azurmendi, which I reviewed here. In fact, I'll just say that, in the past five years (and probably more), Azurmendi served the best dishes I have ever eaten anywhere (including in the United States).

Five of around 19 dishes served at Azurmendi. Clockwise from top left: lobster with lobster cornet,
foie gras ash with a block of foie gras underneath, squid, mullet, and egg yolk infused with black truffles.

Gran Reserva Jamon from Joselito's.

2.  Jamon Iberico de Bellota at Joselito's in Madrid, Spain
Technically, Joselito's is not a restaurant but a store where you can get Jamon Iberico to take home or eat in the store. When I visited, they offered different kinds of Jamon Iberico de Bellota, which came from black footed Iberian pig fed on acorns while freely roaming the dehesa of the Extremadura region of Spain. The best kind I tasted was the Grand Reserva, which was aged for up to five years before being carved. The resulting ham was nice and fatty (I'd like to think that the fat was good for me because you know, it's acorn fed). When I ate it, the thinly hand sliced piece practically melted in my mouth.