Friday
After an unexpected beginning on I-5 (low tire pressure warning— after purchasing a tire gauge, and eventually getting my tires checked at the Burlington Costco (so, so nice)), I stopped at Bellingham’s Casa que Pasa for their potato burrito. Verdict: pretty good, gigantic (I ate one-third of the ‘regular’ burrito), and a bit messy for the car, but not destination-worthy.
A quick stop at the Bellingham Trader Joe’s for some edible souvenirs and I was through the border in about 5 minutes (nexus pass!).
I stayed with friends outside of Vancouver and after some catching up, including quality time with the pets, we headed to a couple of wineries in Langley – Township 7 and Chaberton. Lovely. After that, amazing oatmilk peppermint mochas at Mink in Surrey, and then dinner at My Shanti. Naan pizza with a curry cashew cream and portobello slices- unusual and very tasty; channa masala served with puffy bread (sort of like a sturdier, puffier, more complex tasting pita); Bombay potatoes; garlic naan; pappadams with spicy green chutney, and the three of us had leftovers.
Saturday
I enjoyed my favorite breakfast, leftovers, and then we headed out for our culinary adventure.
We stopped at East-West market for reusable totes (I gifted mine, but “into the weird adult video emporium” is pretty funny).
We bought cream puffs from Beta 5 Chocolates to enjoy after dinner. I also picked up a small box of chocolates for home, but the cream puffs are where they excel. After that, our next stop was to the legendary La Casa Gelato. I loved the Thai Green Curry Peanut Butter flavor, and paired it with pumpkin cheesecake. The experience was a bit overwhelming (over 200 flavors, a factory-like efficiency with their buy-a-token-to-exchange-for-gelato system, lot to look at) but I enjoyed the wide variety of flavors available, and the sugar-cone-size waffle cones were delicious.
After that, we headed to Litchfield in Gastown, a neighborhood significantly fancier than the last time I’d visited (10 years ago?). Needless to say, I didn’t buy the super expensive incense I wanted to smell, but I did like it: Cinnamon Projects No. 2. We also popped into the flagship John Fluevog store and ogled the (also expensive) merchandise.
We dealt with less-than-ideal customer service at Butter Baked Goods (they ignored the line of customers for a while), and I’ve concluded that I’m done with that bakery (including divesting my copy of their first cookbook) as the food was not up to my standards. Though, I did buy some adorable witch fingers as a present for a friend. But cute doesn’t always equal delicious.
After that, we were in a ton of inexplicable traffic leaving the city and ended up going to a Thrifty Foods (a fancy-ish grocery store with a lot of local products) in Surrey and bought provisions for a lovely night in of wine, cheese, charcuterie (and more- home grown pears! Wild caught home smoked and home candied salmon). And the cream puffs were incredible (mine was salted caramel).
After breakfast at home on Sunday, I headed out. All in all a lovely and decadent visit!
It Should Be Delicious 