It's only been like a year since I last posted one of these. I've been taking photos around recently, but I've constantly been forgetting to put them up and take them off the phone.




This one is taken at the Vancouver Waterfront side of the Seabus terminals. Winter isn't so much fun because of the cold but it also means that the sun rises pretty late. Monday, Tuesday and Wednesday are all early morning classes for me, so this was often my view while waiting for the boat. Unfortunately, I wasn't able to catch a photo of the actual sunrise, so this one will do.


Recently snowed a bit in Metro-Vancouver. I say Metro-Vancouver being the main city; suburbs like Surrey, Coquitlam, Abbotsford and Chiliwack got much, much more snow. That and the photo is taken in North Vancouver, which is it's own city, apart from Metro-Vancouver. Anywho, the weather's already started to warm up a bit from the -10C that we were having last week, and most of the snow has been cleared by the rain which has been walling non-stop since Friday.

Photo taken at Capilano University.


During a walk, I noticed that there was considerably more snow at the top of the hill than at the bottom. Perhaps it's because this area is almost completely shaded from the sun. When the snow melts away, this area usually still has their snow for another day or two.


Photo of the street I used to live on. It hasn't changed much in the 5-6 years since I moved. Unlike the top of the hill in the previous photo, the snow melts away very quickly here as there's no shade from the sun.


Street sign photographed while on my walk. Many people have mistaken Commercial Street with Commercial Drive. They're in very different parts of the city and have led many people astray.


These Tamarind candies are delicious. I'm almost certain I've put them on the blog before, but they're good enough that I'll put them up every year. I like the sweet ones a heck of a lot more as they're more likely to have the seed already taken out. These ones are 50/50, though the light heat that they pack is quite nice. ^^; I think I might have finished 2-3 of these by myself in the last two weeks.


Around Chinese New Years, the family gets all sorts of dried Chinese foods; some for offering to ancestors (it's a prayer thing), others for snacking on during the holiday. Pictured is a dried persimmon. Doesn't really taste like a fresh persimmon...or really look like one either. It's got a bit of a smoky taste to it, and is fairly dense. They taste great with tea too.


Picked this up yesterday. I've been looking for these ever since I read Shigatake's 「ハバネロたん」 series and finally found them at an Asian specialty store yesterday. These are Habanero flavoured chips, and aren't actually as spicy as they packaging makes them to be. They've got a bit of heat, but also have a bit of the habanero's burn which hits the back of the throat. A few of these won't hurt a bit, but the whole bag might leave you running for a glass of milk.


Also picked up yesteday. This jade...figure I suppose is of a goat, my Chinese astrological Zodiac. I've got it now, but I really don't know where to put it. For those who aren't familiar with the Chinese zodiacs, here's the article on Wikipedia. Unlike the Western Zodiacs which are assigned by birth-month and day, the Chinese zodiacs are assigned by year and rotate cyclically each year in units of 12 (the total number of Zodiacs).


For those who don't know, the Chinese Lunar New Year is tomorrow (Monday, 23rd), so we've broken out all the decorations. This should be a lion, coloured red for good luck, though I'm not sure that something this size will scare away any spirits... Last year's Chinese New Year post is here for more on the Lion Dance. Please ignore the fact that it's numbered 92 while this one is 102. ^^; 10 posts of these posts in a year isn't very impressive.


This year is the year of the Dragon, possibly the most prosperous of all the Zodiacs. Kids born in the year of the Dragon are said to be fated to great fortune and prosperity, though I suppose getting there requires some elbow-grease of your own. I heard somewhere that this year is specifically the year of the Black Water Dragon, linked here. I'm not familiar with the whole element things, so I haven't a clue about what this means. If you do, leave a comment to explain!