Family Extension

A month ago, a friend's wife passed away. Left behind 2 daughters. While he needed to travel overseas to deal with personal issues, we volunteered to take his daughters in in his absence. They're a bit older than Persephanie. Both Deanna and Survana are very mature for their age. Their parents did a great job. They make great baby-sitters too!

In the last few days, we realized the girls had been pretty sheltered. Not really going out much. It was quite shocking for them to be experiencing the things and places that we had taken them to. Having a great time everywhere we took them. Humbling to see the girls enjoy the simple things in life. 

Their happiness made us happy. 

Stopping to smell the roses...

Sweet tooth

I had a serious hankerin for some serious sweets. I wanted.. no... NEEDED some gourmet chocolate. Normally, I'd head over to Chocolate Arts on West 4th. This time we tried ChocolaTAS in Granville Island.



I've never bought a box of chocolate and enjoyed it all myself. Well.. this time is no different. o_O

Rated them just for fun. Out of 4 stars



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Earl Grey: Dark ganache from black Earl Grey tea
- tastes just like the tea
- Bonus: Buy one get one free (an extra star for that!)
Score =**
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Dent-du Mini: Dark chocolate with almond praline and nougat
- taste like HedgeHogs but with a dark chocolate cover
- had nuts in it
- I didn't get a taste of this one.. AT ALL. (sigh)
Lina's score: ****
(She also said it was the best of the bunch. (double sigh)
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Romana: Dark ganache w/ raspberry chocolate
- fruit + chocolate = WIN!
Score =****
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Chocolatas: 67% dark ganache
(it's got the company name on it.. better be good)
- Dont know what ganache is.. but, it's smooth and very 'coco-y'
Score =***
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Lavender: Dark ganache infused with Lavender
- taste like flowers or perfume.
Score =**
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Mint: Dark ganache infused with fresh mint
- it was as expected. Minty and chocolaty
Score =*
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Granville Island: no description
- has a nice graphic of the Granville bridge on it. (sorry, no bonus stars for that)
- Not really sure what it is. Lack of a description sure made a difference here.
- Lina: "tastes like Granville Island, it's fitting.. fresh fruit.."
Score =***
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Lemon Thyme: Dark ganache with a lemon and thyme infusion
- I had high hope for this one. Love citrus.. anything. But, the thyme's flavor overpowered everything. Tasted like dinner.
Score =*
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Kirsch: Kirsch flavoured ganache
- Don't know what kirsch is.
- Wow.. Super strong!! Definitely a liquored chocolate. (Google confirmed this: "cherry brandy")
- I'm drunk
Score =***
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Truffle Praline: Almond praline
- Big fan of truffles. Again, high expectations for this one.
- crunchy, smooth, smokey after taste. yummy!
Score =****

More Firsts

An awesome day for firsts:

First time at Granville Island:



First time at Stanley Park:


First time in a theater watching Dad's FIRST theatrically run MOVIE!!

*The Ridge was an awesome venue. It had a 'crying room'. It's a small room on the second floor for mothers and their crying babies. Completely soundproofed from the rest of the theater with the audio piped in!

*Yes, this was all on the same day! Awesome.