J and I took out the family last night at another Dine Out Vancouver restaurant. We headed downtown to P2B Bistro and Lounge. We've been here before and really enjoyed the food. We decided to order a couple of extra appetizers to add on to the $30 Dine Out menu.
Lasqueti Island honey mussels with chorizo sausage, honey ale, tomato, artisan baguette. These mussels were huge!
BBQ duck spring rolls with spicy dipping sauce. These were delicious, hot and crispy.
Albacore tuna tataki with seasame ponzu vinaigrette, radish and papaya slaw. The tuna was delicious but the vinaigrette was a bit salty.
Panzanella salad with wilted grape tomatoes, kalamata olives, bread shards, bocconcini cheese and arugula.
Grilled Pemberton Meadows flat iron steak with salt spring island goat cheese, yukon smash, asparagus, forest mushroom and onion confit. The mushrooms were so yummy. The Dine Out menu had brocollini but I guess they ran out! The steak was a bit chewy but was cooked to a nice medium rare!
Cioppino - prawns, honey mussels, halibut, sockeye salmon and bread. The tomato sauce this was cooked in was really good and the bread was great for soaking it up.
Chocolate gianduja pate with sour cherry coulis, almond tuile and toffee brittle. This was a very rich dessert and almost tasted like Hedgehog chocolates. Definitely pick this if you are a chocolate lover!
White chocolate creme brulee. This was very liquidly so I'm not sure if the dessert was ready.
It was great meal and the service was great as well. Check out the menu at P2B here. Tonight is the last day of the Dine Out Vancouver Festival this year.
The January Funko Smuggler's Bounty box has arrived! The theme this month is The Resistance, also from Star Wars The Force Awakens. The adorable BB8 is printed on the front of the box. The box was pretty hefty....
This is what you first see when you flip over the cover of the box:
All the Funko subscription boxes comes with an iron patch and a lapel pin. We got a very cute BB8 patch this month.
And also a resistance x-wing fighter pilot. I'm not sure if it is supposed to be Poe Dameron or not...if it is, it looks nothing like him! What do you guys think?
The t-shirt this month is another Funko Pop branded one and features all the good guys in the resistance. I read that the tees come in four different colours, all with the same design. I got charcoal grey. I switched the size to small this month since the last one I got in medium was HUGE. However, I'm hoping I can still fit this after it shrinks in the wash.
The Funko Pop included is a flocked Chewbacca! Funko gave a clue earlier on that something would be flocked and I think most people guessed it would be Chewie, since he's the only hairy character in the Resistance. They didn't use a printed Smuggler's Bounty Exclusive box this time and actually reused the same box that regular Chewbacca (that looks exactly the same except without the fuzz) comes in and stuck an exclusive sticker on instead.
Here's a look of Chewbacca outside of the box. You can take the stand off since it's only attached by two pegs.
The last item is a Pop Home item - a C-3PO mug. The handle is red which reflects the red arm that C-3PO had in the new movie. Very cool! I'm not that big a fan of the Pop mugs because they are really bulky and awkward to drink from.
Here's everything that came in the January 2016 Smuggler's Bounty box. Only five items this time. I think their debut box was a lot better!
The Smuggler's Bounty box is available in Canada and the US only and
ships out every other month. The
cost of the box is $25 usd + $14 shipping to Canada ($7 shipping in the
US), with a guaranteed value of $50. The exchange rate has been dropping so it cost me over $56 this month. The March theme is Cantina - maybe we'll finally find out if Han shot first??
Check out the Funko Smuggler's Bounty if you want to subscribe to your own box! You have until March 15, 2016 to get your order in for the next one!
Watch the unboxing video for this subscription box:
I was invited by Chinesebites to attend the grand opening of Chew Restaurant on Kingsway a few weeks ago, a new Taiwanese bubble tea and snack place. The place is spacious with very cool decor.
To celebrate the grand opening, a full roasted pig was ordered. This was so delicious, with very crispy skin. Yum!
We started off with fresh water melon and pineapple juice. The presentation was amazing - the fruit was carved out and served on a tray with dry ice. I tried the watermelon drink - very cool and refreshing. It will definitely be something I order during the summer!
Next we had a sharing platter with various Taiwanese snacks. My favourite was the deep fried chicken nuggets. They were tasty with a crunchy outside but moist inside.
Clockwise from top left: Deep fried chicken nuggets, lotus root chips, Taiwanese-style kimchi, marinated pig ears, and deep fried squid.
Next we had three spice stewed chicken, which is a very popular dish in Taiwanese cuisine and some sauteed shrimp.
Another round of drinks! These were green tea and black tea with coconut jelly on the bottom and a cream on the top. It's a very rich drink and had an interesting taste - almost like buttercream!
These dumplings had a juicy morsel of pork inside. A perfect meal for a cold day in the winter.
We also tried some hot pot. One was spicy and one was regular. There were lots of fish and meat balls and glass noodles. Mmm.
Last we had some blanched pork served with green onion and some sauce.
Make sure to check out Chew Restaurant to get your fix of Taiwanese food! The full menu is available on Chew Restaurant’s Facebook page.
Disclaimer: The food mentioned above were provided
free of charge by Chew Restuarant. The opinions expressed
in this post are those of Savvy Shopping, Deals and Reviews and have
not been influenced in any other way.
My Nerd Block Classic subscription box has arrived! The January 2016 theme was Neverending Stories, with nerdy stuff from Game of Thrones, Lord of the Rings and Harry Potter. I ordered this with the 50% off Boxing Day code back in December and crossed my fingers there were some good stuff (I was still sad I didn't order the December box with all the Star Wars items!).
When you open this box, this is what you see:
The first item is a journal from The Neverending Story. It has a very soft leather cover and a red bookmark for you to write your own neverending story! The Neverending Story was a book turned into a movie from my childhood and I remember watching it several times. I think it's time for a re-watch.
Next was the t-shirt from Shirt Punch. It's a Harry Potter themed shirt, with a Deathly Hallows symbol, with the Resurrection Stone as a skull with Harry Potter's lightning scar. I think this looks a little too creepy for me to wear.
Another Harry Potter item! A pretty hefty keychain with the Hogwarts crest.
The only Game of Thrones item in the box - a Funko Legacy Collection series 1 action figure. I think Daenerys Targaryen is the best out of the series. I'm sad they did not include a Funko Pop Vinyl toy instead, as I don't collection action figures.
One more Harry Potter item - a film cell book mark. This is pretty neat because everyone gets a different cell from the film. I got one with Harry on it.
Only one Lord of the Rings item?! It was only an art print featuring Bag End.
Here's everything that came in the January 2016 Nerd Block Classic box:
The Nerd Block starts at
$19.99 USD month to month, plus shipping and HST. The February
subscriptions are open now and will include stuff from Deadpool and Batman.
It's Dine Out Vancouver month, which means lots of good food! I went out with the girls this week to E.B.O. - they are a restaurant located inside the Delta Hotel in Burnaby. I've been here several years ago for Dine Out and really enjoyed it, and the menu looked yummy this year so I thought I'd go again!
Maple Cured Pacific Provider pink salmon – smoked sour cream, sunchoke, compressed Asian pear, apple pearls.
I thought everything was delicious, and I especially liked the Vietnamese Coffee in a jar dessert. I was quite full so it was definitely worth the $30! Check out the restaurants participating in the Dine Out Vancouver 2016 Festival, on until January 31st!
The subscription box addiction continues! There was actually a 50% off discount code during Boxing Day, so J ordered the Sci-Fi Block over from the folks at Nerd Block. Since Nerd Block is based in Canada, this box arrived a lot faster than all the previous subscription boxes we had ordered.
There was not specific theme for the January 2016 Sci-Fi Block, but they did say that there was going to be goodies from The Terminator, Dr. Who and The Matrix.
The first thing we pulled out of the box was a Funko Pop vinyl from The Matrix, featuring Agent Smith! This is an older one, but it's always fun to get a Funko Pop and makes the box worth more, since Pops tend to go for $10 and up in Canada.
Next was a black t-shirt with a schematic of a Tardis from Dr. Who. I love schematic designs.
There was a Iron Giant 4 button set. The Iron Giant is an animated cult classic from the 90's and has some big names narrating including Jennifer Aniston, Harry Connick Jr. and Vin Diesel. I remember watching this movie as a kid, and I think it's time for a re-watch.
Some filler items were Dr. Who stickers. There was an entire sheet as well as an individual decal that had a few variations.
Another Funko item! A T800 Endoskeleton Funko ReAction figure from The Terminator. I'm not sure of the popularity of ReAction figures - it seems like a lot of subscription boxes have been using them as filler lately. This one is pretty neat though (scary looking!).
There was a blind bag included, which I love. This one was a Star Trek Skele-Trek, which is an odd combination. I guess people really like skeletons and zombies. We got Data (I think? It's hard to tell...) but the neck part looks like it was bent, so he is hunched over.
Here's all the goodies in the January 2016 Sci-Fi Block:
The Sci-Fi Block starts at $19.99 USD month to month, plus shipping and HST. The February subscriptions are open now and it sounds like another neat
box - the items included something from Star Wars, Alien and The Guardians of the Galaxy. Keep in mind our dropping Canadian dollar before you subscribe though!
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