Seven Magic Mountains + BSB Concert, Las Vegas

Usually, when W and I visit Las Vegas, there's no real reason except to sight-see and eat to our heart's content. However, this time, there was a specific purpose. That was because I had bought tickets to go see the Backstreet Boys concert (their LV residency "trial shows") at Planet Hollywood!!! Wahahaha!! I roped W into seeing my fave boyband from my pre-teen years...oh be still my giddy heart XD

Since the concert was at night, we still had the whole day free for other things. I did some research before our trip and found out that there was a unique public artwork just 30 minutes away from the Las Vegas strip in the middle of a barren landscape. It was called Seven Magic Mountains.

The artwork consisted of ginormous colourful limestone boulders stacked like totem poles. There were 7 of these structures in total with all of them standing 30 to 35 feet high! Set against the desert landscape and the bright blue sky, it was really a cool sight! This public artwork will only be there until May 2018 so it's really it's a once-in-a-lifetime chance to see it!

After having a quick dinner of poke at the Miracle Mile Shops within Planet Hollywood, W and I lined up to get inside the theatre! It was my first time attending a concert of this kind. My previous concert-going experiences were all of the Canto-pop variety which, I later found out, were very different to this show!

It was calm and everyone was sitting down before the concert began. The show began with a video montage of the BSB from their early days to their present-day works. People were still seated and jiving along to the music/video but when the boys stepped out and began singing "Larger Than Life", chaos erupted!!!

EVERYONE stood up and began dancing and singing along!! And me, being literally 5 ft tall, had to stand on my tippy toes the WHOLE NIGHT so that I could see the stage and the boys!! I also jammed out and sang along the whole night though XD. And W? Well, he also enjoyed the concert but let's just say he wasn't as enthusiastic as me and the other thousands of females in the theatre LOL.

I was exhausted by the end of the show but it was worth every ounce of energy and effort to get to see the BSB live in person!! It was definitely another once-in-a-lifetime experience that I will never forget!!

Hot Chocolate Festival 2017

Back in mid January, the 7th annual hot chocolate festival commenced! This year I was pretty excited about it. Dine Out Vancouver lacked appeal this time around for me while the hot chocolate festival menu seemed fresh and interesting. There were 29 participants offering their unique take on the chocolatey winter drink but I only tried 4 places this year (I still gotta watch my figure ya know!).

Thierry
1059 Alberni Street
Vancouver, BC

Taste of Vietnam - Hot chocolate made with Li Chu 64% chocolate (a single origin chocolate from Vietnam); served with a coffee madeleine and a chocolate dipped, bay leaf-infused ganache

I originally wasn't going to try Thierry's hot chocolate but at the insistence of K-chan, I gave it a shot. Thierry was offering their "Taste of Vietnam" hot chocolate for the first half the festival. Their other hot chocolate flavour would be available during the second half of the fest.

Although the drink was nice and smooth with a good chocolate taste, it seemed kind of plain. The dark chocolate ganache piece was a nice touch, giving my taste buds another hit of smooth rich chocolate.

Thomas Haas
2539 West Broadway
Vancouver, BC

Studying all the participants' menu, I knew I really wanted to go to Thomas Haas. Having never been to the West Broadway location (I've only been to the North Shore one), I was pretty excited to visit this shop!

Home Run (Black Forest in a Cup) - Dark (67%) hot chocolate flavoured with Black Forest kirsch Chantilly and brandied cherries; served with a baked chocolate truffle

Thomas Haas had two flavours available all throughout the festival. I knew W was not a fan of cherry so I went for the Home Run. I was definitely wowed by this hot chocolate! I, myself, am actually not a big cherry fan either but I really loved this drink!! It was more of an adult hot-chocolate though because of the boozy kirsch and brandied cherries hehe...

Hasselnuss - Milk (49%) hot chocolate infused with caramelized hazelnuts and lemon zest; served with orange madeleines

This chocolatey drink was more up W's alley. The hot chocolate was strongly infused with blitzed caramelized hazelnuts and the taste was lighter since it used milk chocolate.

Swiss Bakery
143 East 3rd Avenue
Vancouver, BC

On another snowy, wintery day, I had W take me out to Swiss Bakery so I could try their hot chocolate offering.

Winter's Harvest - a decadent Belgian white chocolate with Genmaicha (Japanese matcha with roasted rice) paired with a leafy black sesame choux puff

Their white hot chocolate was melded with a green tea made of roasted rice and green tea powder. Although I liked the combination of tea and chocolate, the white chocolate was too sweet for my liking. Their description also noted that it came with a black sesame choux puff but it was more of a flaky shortbread cookie...

Earnest Ice Cream
1829 Quebec Street
Vancouver, BC

Just a short walk away was Earnest Ice Cream so of course I had to pay a visit! Even though I was a little full from the white hot chocolate at Swiss Bakery, it just seemed like a waste not to go! 

Spiked Hot Chocolate - a drinking chocolate inspired by their "Milk Chocolate" ice cream, topped with Amaretto-flavoured whipped cream and served with a scoop of Amaretto ice cream; both topped with house made almond brittle

Like the Home Run hot chocolate from Thomas Haas, this was also a slightly boozy drink. The light milk chocolate drink wasn't anything extraordinary but the Amaretto whipped cream elevated this to an-adult only fancy-looking hot chocolate. I actually liked the Amaretto ice cream on the side more than the hot chocolate. But hey, this is Earnest Ice Cream after all! I guess that's kind of expected? Haha!

Out of the 5 different chocolatey drinks, my favourite was the Home Run since I'm a dark chocolate fan. Now I'm looking forward to the 8th annual hot chocolate festival!

La Terrazza

1088 Cambie Street
Vancouver, BC

Christmas time is a time of gatherings and celebrations. W and I and a couple of friends decided to dress up and have a fancy night out to treat ourselves for getting through the year. K-chan suggested La Terrazza for dinner as it was a classy and refined restaurant with excellent Italian cuisine.

Wine Spritzer

I wasn't a fan of red wine so I ordered a cocktail spritzer for myself.

Calamari e Gamberi ($17.88) - grilled Humboldt squid, crispy baby calamari, tiger prawns, toasted garlic - jalapeno lime reduction

The best way to have a variety of dishes to try and save a little in the wallet is sharing. We ordered 2 appetizers, 1 entree and 2 pasta dishes to be eaten family style. We started with a grilled squid (that looked like a piece of steak) topped with some crispy calamari and prawns. The squid was meaty and not chewy at all. An interesting take on the calamari that we're used to!

Bisonte ($17.88) - thinly sliced raw bison tenderloin, grainy Dijon aioli, wild arugula, crispy root vegetable chips

I chose the Bisonte over the beef carpaccio as we don't usually have bison meat. It tasted just like beef to me but it was tasty and beautifully presented. One little complaint for me is that the menu indicated crispy root chips (as in plural, as in multiple pieces of chips) but there was one ONE PIECE of root chip that was more for garnish than anything else. Boo!!! I was expecting more!

Anatra ($34.88) - pan seared Fraser Valley duck breast, golden beet, baby bok choy, roasted cipollini, spicy apricot glaze

For our entree, we had the pan seared duck breast. It was amazingly TINY LOL... I know, this is fine dining...

Spaghettini Alla Carbonara ($31.88) - spaghettini noodle, double smoked - Applewood bacon, Nova Scotia lobster, green peas, Parmeggiano Reggiano - quail egg yolk, Parmigiano Reggiano

The pasta dishes were the stars of the night. Both the Carbonara and Giulio's Pasta were delicious and the noodles perfectly al dente. The carbonara was creamy and salty that went will with the sweet and succulent lobster meat! I think I ended up eating all the peas because both W and K-chan did not like them =__="

Giulio’s Pasta ($27.88) - taglierini noodle, black-tiger prawn, capers, garlic - pepperoncino olive oil, toasted prosciutto bread crumbs

There was only one prawn on this pasta which I understand because it's not really meant for sharing, but still... At least it was large enough that we were able to cut it into 4 bite-sized pieces. This pasta was also very savoury with a slight spicy kick to it.

Tiramisu

We all just wanted a couple bites of something sweet to end the meal so we decided on sharing the Tiramisu. It was light and creamy with a balanced coffee flavour.

All in all, a lovely meal to celebrate the holidays with friends :)