Hmm, I seem to be running out of things growing in my garden. So I'll just post our weekend harvest: yellow zucchini, zucchini flowers, strawberries and orange cherry tomatoes! We have been eating a lot of zucchini these past weeks and the flowers now that I discovered they are edible! The orange cherry tomatoes are so sweet! I love eating them.

I also have a mixture of lettuce growing but my dad scattered the seeds so now there is a mass of leaves covering the ground! I thinned it a bit today and ate the young lettuce leaves. Why waste it? They taste so tender. So good!

What's growing in your garden?

Dim sum! Haven't had it for quite a while now with the family. I used to go every week to Spicy Court with my grandpa before he passed away. Last Saturday, we went to Pink Pearl Chinese Restaurant with my extended family to catch up with each others' lives. We rarely get the opportunity to meet with that side of the family since they live far away from us.

This is the first time I've been to this restaurant. Walking in you can see that the restaurant has a very, very large space. There is more seating to the right of my photo as well.


This place still utilizes push carts! I haven't seen these in a long time. Back in the day most dim sum places used them but now it's very rare. It kind of stirs up some feelings of nostalgia. They also have a order sheet but I like being able to see the food on the carts.





 We ordered a coconut jelly dessert off the cart and it was pretty good. Tastes like coconut.

Later on, a waitress came over with plates of Durian and whipped cream wrapped in sticky rice. I have never seen this type of dessert anywhere else. The durian itself wasn't very sweet and there was very little of the distinctive durian odour that some people don't like.

Of course, there was a mandatory fight for the bill after we finished, which came to about $100 which isn't too bad for 10 people (we also had some leftovers).

Overall, the food was pretty good but there were a lot that were just average. For one thing, I've had better Xiao Long Bao and pan fried radish cakes. It was no Spicy Court that's for sure but it is good enough. 

A corn festival was held yesterday at the Kerrisdale Farmers market to celebrate the beginning of the corn harvest season. I had a little time to pop by in the opening hours to check it out.



 Freshly popped kettle corn could be found near the entrance.


 Kids were helping volunteers husk the corn, which I think were being used for corn on the cob.



There was a display of all the products that use corn. There are a lot! And there are a lot of recipes I collected as well.
 Corn on the cob was being made at the food truck area. The corn was still cooking by the time I left so I didn't get to try any. =(



Walked around the market looking at the various stalls afterwards.

 The food carts were just getting started.

I was delighted to find Rootable Chips there! I bought some of their chips at Trout Lake and wanted to buy some more but couldn't find them the second time round. They move around from market to market. Their chips are sooo good. The $5 bag I bought disappeared by the time I got home. I really need to get more than one bag!

Pâté Pastiche was also there! Yay! I picked up their forest mushroom pâté. Their vegan pâtés are made with seeds and grains and taste great with bread!

A lot of tomatoes could be found around the market. Look at all the varieties of cherry tomatoes! So many pretty colours! I have the yellow ones growing in the garden and they taste so good. Very sweet!

Peaches and nectarines are also in abundance.



I've never seen oyster mushrooms this colourful! They look amazing!




The Kerrisdale Farmers market occurs every Saturday 10a - 2p until October 6th and is found on East Boulevard between 37th and 41st Avenues. There is a lot pay parking around but it is also easy to find free parking nearby. Go check it out!

Kaya, a Malaysian/Southeast Asian Bistro located on Broadway & Oak, had their grand opening yesterday night. During the previous week, they invited everyone to come in and enjoy complimentary tapas and wine tasting. I booked a table at their first dinner service at 6pm and the place was filled already by the time I arrived with W and K.




There was complimentary red and white wine tasting at the front of the restaurant though my friend, who booked for the 9pm dinner service said they had run out by then.

I tried the Yalumba Viognier white wine from Australia. It smells good and has a fruity taste. Yeah, I'm not a wine expert.



There was a lot of Tapas to choose from though we decided not order any since there was going to be complementary ones given to us. There was a few that stood out that I wouldn't mind going back to try:  mini soft shell crab, whole wheat roti, and satays.

We were given a sampler platter of tapas. Nyona Fried Spicy Calamari, Vegetarian Curry Samosas, Vegetarian Spring Rolls with a sweet (and sour?) dipping sauce. I liked the calamari the best. It was very flavourful and it didn't taste like any other calamari I had before. The batter was different, I don't know how to describe it, but it was delicious. The spring rolls and samosas were ok. They didn't really stand out. The samosas didn't have that much of a curry flavour.

Their popular Roti Canai is really delicious. Crispy on the outside and chewy on the inside. Made fresh daily!

It came with a yummy coconut-y curry sauce. The Roti was definitely my favourite dish of the night. I was looking forward to eating it all week since I saw a photo of it! Kaya also serves a whole wheat version of the Roti.

To supplement our tapas, we ordered two dishes to share: Pad Thai ($10) and Seafood Fried Rice in Pineapple Boat ($13). The Pad Thai was delicious. A little spicy but nothing I couldn't handle. I could see myself getting this again.

The Seafood Fried Rice in Pineapple Boat was a little of a disappointment though. There were no actual pieces of pineapple in the rice (ok maybe only 3 tiny pieces), and the menu described it with having raisins & sunflower seeds, both were not present. It was also a little bland but had some kind of spice or seasoning taste. Cumin? We weren't able to identify it.


We were also giving a complimentary shot glass of mango smoothie, which was the best! Perfect to counter the spiciness of the Pad Thai. Really really yummy!

Because it was very busy, and the 7pm people were waiting in line, we were asked to give up our table for a smaller one. And for our trouble, the manager gave us complimentary dessert! They brought us Kuih Dadar which are hand rolled crepes flavored with pandan juice, filled with grated coconut steeped in Malaysian palm sugar. It is pretty good but is a very sweet dessert. Just one was enough for me. We did want to try the Warm Mango Durian Puff but since we already had the Kuih Dadar, our waitress soon brought us the bill (The line for the 7pm round was getting really long by this time).

Overall, it was a great dinner. The restaurant has a nice cosy atmosphere to it and the food was good. Still a little room for improvement but I loved most of what I had tried. I wouldn't mind going back for a second round to try some other dishes. The 8 course tasting menu, which is only $28 per person, particularly interested me.

You can check out their full menu on their website kayamalay.com.