Whole Foods (Cambie)

My sisters and I were at the Cambie location of Bestbuy the other day to look at some new movies that we could buy to watch (Yes, we still buy DVDs!).  Even though I must admit we are the type of people who loves going to the movies during opening weekend to watch new movies, we still love buying DVDs to watch at home especially when the weather sucks and we have nothing else to do. Since it was already around dinner time when we went, it seemed such a great idea to just grab dinner at Whole Foods after since 1. we haven't been to Whole Foods in a while and 2. We were really really hungry! We had to choose between Save On or Whole Foods.. and of course, we just had to choose Whole Foods! If you guys haven't been to their Cambie branch before, you are in for a treat!

When we arrived, we immediately went straight to their hot/cold food section where a long buffet line of food was calling out our names! We were so hungry that we went quite a little overboard with our excitement! (way way overboard!) On the side, they have different sized containers that you can get according to how much food you want. You can mix and match whatever you would like on the salad bar or hot food area and then just bring it to the cashier when your done. It was pretty fun getting whatever we wanted but the shocking part was when we went to pay for our food. Whole Foods actually charges you by weight, unless you prefer getting a prepackaged one or you can also ask someone to get some for you at the deli/salad/hot food counter. Since we kinda got too excited, this led us into getting too much food.. so when the cashier punched in the weight of our containers, our bill actually came out to around $70 with 3 drinks and tax! Let me tell you were we shocked! But as expensive as it may be, we did enjoy their food a lot and surprisingly we were able to finish everything! (Thank God!) It was the most expensive supermarket food that we ever got but the quality of food is non the less good! Even though it's not 5 star restaurant quality food, it can be considered as 5 star supermarket quality food.

Doughnut Adventure part 3: Outpost Mini Donuts Co.

I've been eating quite a number of doughnuts lately and let me tell you it's really really bad for my diet! But for some reason I've been craving them for like the past week or two and my taste buds are still looking for these sweet treats! Besides trying out Cartems and Lucky's Doughnuts last week, I found a new place (well maybe not new to some but it's new to me!) that specializes in just mini doughnuts in Richmond.

Mini Donuts are one of my favorite things to eat and one of my ultimate guilty pleasures that I'll never get tired of! (besides frozen yogurt). The only chances that I get to have my mini doughnuts are either I'm at Rogers Arena watching a concert or a show, whenever I'm in Granville Island or at the night market. And since the night market is only open in the summer time on weekends, it's quite a hassle to drive all the way to Granville Island when I'm craving for mini doughnuts, especially since I have to be in Richmond most of the time. So when I came across a small doughnut shop in Steveston the other day, I was just so excited because 1. It's a mini doughnut shop! 2. It's in Richmond! (YEY!) and 3. It just smelled really really good! Normally when I go to Steveston I don't usually pass by the area where the doughnut shop is but for some reason I decided to go towards the shop's direction that day and let me tell you.. It was my lucky day! You might think I'm crazy but I'm the type of person who gets excited by just thinking about food or talking about food especially when it comes to my favorites! So imagine my excitement when I saw a mini doughnut shop hidden behind a stairway! (excitement overload!)

The front of the store looks really cute with a whole bunch of mini donuts on display and when you enter the store, you feel like your entering someone's living room but only with a kitchen set up half way into the room. The girl that was helping us out was also very nice to make new ones for us and since there's only a glass that covers up the counter and the doughnut machine, you can see the machine pop out mini donuts on the spot so it was pretty cool! There are several flavors to choose from in their menu: Cinnamon Sugar, Powdered Sugar, Chocolate Icing, Vanilla Icing and Maple Icing, but we ended up deciding on just cinnamon sugar doughnuts that day. Costing at about $4.25 for 6pcs and $6.25 for a dozen (not really cheap), I really like how you can also have the option of doing a mix and match of whichever doughnut you would like in your order. This way at least you get a chance to try out all of the flavors that they offer. I actually didn't get a chance to try out the other flavors yet but I guarantee you on my next visit.. I'm gonna be getting a couple of each to bring home and try! It was also my first time going to Outpost Mini Donuts that day and I would have to say that their doughnuts are pretty darn good! I did feel guilty after though because I ended up eating a whole cone full of mini doughnuts by myself.. but it was just that good that I couldn't resist myself! (so I guess it was a good thing we got two cones instead of one or else my family wouldn't have a chance to try it!) 

Overall I would have to say that even though this place might not be the best mini doughnut shop here in BC, it is however the best place to get mini doughnuts (all year round) here in Richmond.

Menchie's Frozen Yogurt (Cambie)

I've been hearing a lot of people talk about a new yogurt place that recently opened this year that's quite similar to Yogurtland. If you guys don't know Yogurtland, it's a frozen yogurt shop that's quite famous in the US because of their wide variety of unique flavors and their vast amounts of toppings that you can choose from. So when I heard that this place was similar to Yogurtland, I had to check it out especially since frozen yogurt is one of my favorite things to eat! Normally I would go get frozen yogurt at Qoola since it's way closer to where I live. Also, my schedule requires me to be in Richmond most of the time so I didn't really have much time to go to Menchie's up until last week! I invited my friends to come along  (since like me, they are frozen yogurt junkies too!).

Menchie's was quite hard to find at first since the place is located on 2315 Cambie street which is right before the Cambie bridge. I actually missed the first time so I ended up heading down to Yaletown and then making a U-turn all the way back up. Parking may be a hassle for this place because the only available spots for you to park is street parking and also the area where Menchie's is located is quite busy so it might be a pain in the butt to drive all the way there (unless of course you live near that area).

When we went in, it was like paradise for me because there were so many flavors to choose from! When me and my friends went their current flavors were: Vanilla, Chocolate, Original Tart, Cherry Tart, Cake Batter, Red Velvet Cake, Peanut Butter, Frozen Hot Chocolate, Pecan Praline, Creamsicle, Raspberry-Lemonade Sorbet and Mango Sorbet.With so many flavors to choose from, you'd want to try them all! And guess what? that's exactly what I did! And out of the 12 flavors that I tried, I would have to say that my personal favorite was the Peanut Butter! If you love Peanut Butter, I guarantee you your gonna love this! The mixture of the yogurt is just perfect! It's not too sweet yet not too heavy, and the flavor was just right! I would highly recommend trying this if you get the chance to go there. Next in line to the peanut butter is their Red Velvet and Chocolate yogurt. These two are pretty decent in their flavors, although a little sweeter than the peanut butter, they are still pretty good choices to go for as well.

I did find some of their yogurt a little too sweet for my liking especially their Pecan Praline (way overly sweet!).  Personally however, I still preferred Qoola better than Menchie's especially when it comes to their Original Tart flavor. Although I really liked how they have a wider variety of sweets for toppings, I would prefer it better if they also had a wider variety of fruits in their fruit section (but I have to say though I really liked their cinnamon apples). One thing that I do like about this place is that they are open late (Sunday-Thursday: 12pm-10pm and Friday-Saturday: 12pm-11pm) , so if your craving frozen yogurt after dinner, you can still head over to Menchie's for something cold and sweet for dessert.

Doughnut Adventure part 2: Lucky's Doughnuts

My sister and I had quite a doughnut adventure the other day or should I say a day devoted to over indulging ourselves with sweets? Because right after our visit to Cartems Donuterie in Gastown, my sister and I went to go visit another doughnut shop in Vancouver that specializes in classic style doughnuts. Located on 2902 Main street, inside the newly constructed second location of 49th Parallel Roasters Cafe, Lucky's Doughnuts opened their doughnut counter this month to share with the rest of Vancouver their awesome talents in making these sweet

fried treats.

You can say that the flavors that they make are more focused on old school or classic flavors such as old fashioned glazed and fruit flavored cream filled doughnuts. Non the less, their doughnuts are still awesome especially when it comes to (my personal favorites) their Apple Bacon Fritter and their Mango Square doughnut. This place is also a bit hard to spot because when we were looking for the place, the address led us to 49th Parallel instead. We didn't know that Lucky's Doughnuts is actually located inside the coffee shop so we kept wandering around the area looking for their sign, but it's a good thing though that we went back to 49th Parallel and took a peek inside, because we probably would have just left without knowing that we were already at the right place all along!

With a counter set up at the front of the store and a wide variety of baked goods to choose from, we ended up deciding on their Apple Bacon Fritter, Mango Square doughnut, Old Fashioned Glazed doughnut and their Coffee Cake doughnut to try. All four of them looked and smelled really good but what stood out the most to me and my taste buds were the Apple Bacon Fritter and the Mango Square Doughnut. I was literally mind blown by the taste of their Apple Bacon Fritter! It had the right amount of apples and bacon bits that made the doughnut all the more irresistible to eat! It's the perfect mixture of sweet and savory in a doughnut and I just wanted to have more! Normally I don't eat this much sweets/fried food on a daily basis but I actually finished two of their doughnuts (Apple Bacon and Mango Square) in one sitting! Like the Apple Bacon Fritter, the Mango Square surprised me as well. When I ordered the Mango Square, I initially thought that the doughnut batter was just mango flavored but lo and behold, it also had mango filling inside it! I super love cream filled doughnuts so when I found out that the Mango Square is a bavarian-ish type of doughnut, I ended up finishing it in just a few minutes! This doughnut also reminded me of my favorite pie (Peach Mango pie) that I would always get in Jollibee. If you guys don't know what Jollibee is, it's a fast food chain that's very popular in the Philippines and having been born and raised there, Jollibee was like our favorite fast food joint to hang out/eat at after school besides Mcdonalds. Besides the Apple Bacon and Mango Square, the other two doughnuts were not bad as well but I found that their coffee cake doughnut and Old Fashioned Glazed wasn't anything special compared to the first two. Also, the Old Fashioned Glaze was a bit too sweet and heavy for my liking so I ended up only eating a small piece of it. But I guess it also depends on what kind of doughnut you like right? I mean people have different tastes so I can't really judge it for you unless you also give it a try yourself.

Comparing their doughnuts to Cartems' however, I would have to say that Lucky's doughnuts have a denser quality to their doughnuts and have sweeter glazes. Price wise, Lucky's is a couple of cents more expensive than Cartems and as I recall, they charge about $3.25 - $3.95 for a piece of doughnut depending on which flavor you get. Lucky's do make good quality doughnuts but if I have to pay more than $3 for a doughnut before taxes, I would rather just buy more of Cartems' doughnuts (it's way cheaper and they have more unique flavors to choose from). Overall however, I would have to say that Lucky's doughnuts is more of a hit or miss kind of place. They do make good quality doughnuts but the variety and taste of the flavors that they offer may just be so so for some. Personally for me, I still like Cartems' doughnuts better but because of their Apple Bacon Fritter and Mango Square doughnut, I am officially a fan of this place as well.

 Apple Bacon Fritter (Insanely good!)

 Left to right: Old Fashion Glazed, Apple Bacon Fritter, Mango Square, Coffee Cake

 Close up of the Apple Bacon Fritter

Doughnut Adventures part 1: Cartems Donuterie

I love love everything about doughnuts! The soft cakey texture that it has and the impact of sweet flavors that you get as it melts in your mouth.. it's just one of the best guilty pleasures that mankind has ever made! Writing this post is actually making me excited! Because I'm so thrilled to share with you guys our doughnut adventure last Saturday to two of my new favorite doughnut shops here in Vancouver.

Normally, I would prefer eating mini doughnuts rather than normal ones but these two doughnut shops converted me into a crazy doughnut loving girl! When I say crazy, I meant going on a doughnut frenzy with my sister and eating/trying out an equivalent of 4 1/2 doughnuts (calorie overload) all in one day! This doughnut adventure that we had started after we had lunch in Richmond on a Saturday. We didn't actually have anything planned after and we had nothing else to do so we just decided to head over to Gastown to do some window shopping since the weather was nice enough for us to go walk outside. I figured since we were already in the area, we might as well pay a visit to Cartems Donuterie to grab some of their awesome doughnuts to eat/try out and bring home. Our first stop on our doughnut adventure led us to 408 Carrell street, where Cartems' pop up shop is located. The store may be a little hard to find at first because the sign outside is quite small but unlike other doughnut shops in Vancouver, Cartems' doughnuts are very unique in their flavor and just insanely good! Their doughnuts were light and moist but at the same time were still full of flavor! The amount of toppings/glaze on each of their doughnuts were just right and the sweetness level is just perfect! It's not too sweet and it's not bland.. it was just perfect! Everything about their doughnuts is balanced out right down to it's core! Even in their ingredients, everything that they use come from local businesses and farms so not only does Cartems make great doughnuts, they are sustainable in their actions as well! (double thumbs up for Cartems!). 

They had quite a variety of flavors to choose from that day but out of all that they had, we decided on getting the Naomi, Bee Sting, Carrot Cake, Blueberry Ginger, Cinnamon Sugar, and Citrus Dust. I've actually been reading a lot about Cartems' Earl Grey and Maker's Bourbon Bacon on other food blogs as well and I was really really curious to try it! but unfortunately they didn't have any of the two that day! (Bummer!) but I guess this just gives me another reason to go back to Cartems another time. Out of the six that we got,  my personal favorite is the Bee Sting, I just couldn't get enough of it! They use their special house honey and infused it with Cassia flowers for the glaze and then finished it off with Parmesan and a crack of fresh pepper. The combination of the flavors was just perfect that I was really sad when I finished eating it because we only bought one! (At least now, I know which one I should buy more of on my next visit!) Another thing about Cartems too is that their doughnuts aren't cheap, it costs about $3 for one, $15 for 6 and $27 for 12. It's a bit pricey for a doughnut but If you think about it your mostly paying for the taste and quality of their doughnuts. I guarantee you though that paying $3 won't seem so bad anymore after you've tried it because they do make great tasting doughnuts!

Overall, I would have to say that Cartems Donuterie is one of the best places to go to for doughnuts. Even though the price may be a bit more than other places, I think it's worth paying every penny for the uniqueness of the flavors and the quality that you get. This is also one of the reason why Cartems is one of my favorite go to spots when it comes to doughnuts because they are just really good at what they're doing and it clearly shows in the products that they make.

Left column (Top to bottom): Carrot Cake, Cinnamon Sugar and Blueberry Ginger

Right column (Top to bottom): Naomi, Bee Sting and Citrus Dust 

After excitedly buying a box full of doughnuts at Cartems, our doughnut adventure didn't exactly end here and to think we already have enough doughnuts for 6 people! We actually ended up going to another shop up on Main street that has one of the best tasting Apple Bacon Fritters in town! (for me at least). So stay tuned for part 2 of our doughnut adventure on my next post! :)