Curiously Carmen

Bon Macaron Patisserie

February 11, 2015

Hi everyone!

Maki hopped on a ferry to Victoria over the long weekend, and surprised me with a box of macarons from Bon Macaron Patisserie! I’ve never heard of them as I’ve only been to Victoria once for a high school field trip, and also because I don’t have much of a sweet tooth. I also don’t understand the crazy macaron phase that everyone obsesses about but to each their own =)

But enough of me rambling on, I’ll get to what you are all here for =)

First off, can we talk about how cute their mascot is?! It’s a French sir macaron hehehe! After browsing through their site, I learned that Bon Macaron is owned by two good pals who were born, raised, and educated in France, before settling down and opening their store in downtown Victoria.
Inside the mini box were six assorted flavours! They looked so cute and dainty. Maki picked out random flavours for me, but avoided their savoury macaron section. At first, I was a bit disappointed hearing that because I’m sure you all know how much I love my savoury foods over sweets! But she told me they were pretty disappointing and some were really gross, so I guess savoury macaron flavours don’t go well together.
They were all so cute that I couldn’t help putting them all on a plate and making it look nice. Macarons unite! Since we both didn’t know what all the flavours were in the box, I was left to taste test each one and figuring out which flavour it was based on their website. I think I did pretty well, there were only two that I couldn’t figure out exactly but good thing my friend remembered.
The first one I tried was the tangerine chili, it even had sparkles on it if you look closely or open the image in a separate window! I hope that the sparkles are safe for consumption LOL! I loved how this wasn’t too sweet and had a custard filling inside, there also wasn’t much of a chili taste which I preferred. Yum!

When I first bit into the second macaron, my thoughts and taste buds went from weird -> yummy -> weird -> yummy -> I’m not sure how I feel about this anymore. Originally, there was a strong spicy cinnamon and chai taste to it. Then, it started to taste like bananas. I really enjoyed the banana part, but I wasn’t a fan of the strong cinnamon taste. This was either the chai or banana flambe macaron, it seemed like it was a mix of both flavours.
Up next was the chocolate pear, I didn’t see this on the menu but my friend remembered the flavour. I didn’t taste the pear, only the chocolate. They use a dark chocolate filling, so it wasn’t super sweet. I enjoyed this one as well =)

The light pink one was the raspberry. Compared to all the other fillings I had tried so far, this one was a lot sweeter. The raspberry tasted like the candy flavour, instead of the raspberry fruit. I also noticed that the amount of filling that they give here is a lot less than at Theirry’s or Soirette, but that doesn’t bother me!

One of the classic flavours, good ol’ chocolate. If you’re looking for something original and want to keep it safe, this one is the way to go. Just like the pear chocolate above, this chocolate macaron wasn’t too sweet and tasted like it was made with dark chocolate. I liked the lightly dusted cocoa powder on top as well!

Last but not least! I had no idea what flavour this was. I wrote down mini notes on each of these because I figured I’d probably forget and all I wrote for this one was ??? LOL! However, I asked my friend and she said it was the bubble gum flavour. Now that I think of it, there was a slight hint of bubble gum, but it tasted more like a plain macaron except hot pink.

4665958_orig — Picture from EatDrinkVictoria.com

Overall, I really enjoyed the macarons and was left with a happy tummy. Each of the macarons were made with great quality and tasted great even though it had been a couple of days since my friend bought them. The outside shell was slightly hard but when you bite into them, they are soft and a bit moist and chewy. A bad macaron would be super hard, crumble, and crack, leaving you with nothing but a mess and a macaron corpse.

I only had a few small bites of each since I was planning on going to bed soon, but wanted to try them since they were still relatively fresh! I’ll finish the rest of it off today >=). It is recommended that the sweet macarons (ones that I received) should be consumed within three days, and the savoury ones to be consumed within one day.

Special thanks to my wonderful friend Pauline for being thoughtful and surprising me with these treats! =)

What are your favourite macaron places?

-Carmen

Purebread

February 7, 2015

The latest and most popular bakery has hit the streets of Vancouver by the name of Purebread, which also has locations in Whistler. I have been eyeing Purebread since their construction days, as I pass by that area when I go to work each morning.

I remember their clever “coming soon” sign back in the Fall- your breakfast is t o a s t , with each letter in toast printed on a fake piece of bread. I had a feeling it would be hit among Vancouverites, and I was correct!
We came around 2 pm, and there was no lineup but most of the seats were filled up. It took us a bit to absorb all of the seemingly delicious pastries in front of us… there was so much to pick from! I’m glad there was three of us so that we could share and get more, as opposed to just coming alone.
I wish that Purebred would put a brief description on what is included in each pastry item, as I’ll explain below. All the food is behind a tall clear glass and is covered.

I ordered the avalanche bar because it looked pretty good and it reminded me of a rice krispie bar, which I haven’t had for awhile! However, when I took a bite I was a very disappointed. It didn’t specify that it was a peanut butter bar! If I had known, I wouldn’t have ordered it. I do like peanut butter, but not in pastries.

I gave some to my coworkers and ended up packing it back home as the boyfriend is a serious peanut butter addict. He thought this was simply amazing and was on cloud 9 after gobbling the whole thing up (in 5 seconds).

My coworker had a tough time deciding as well, but ended up chosing the raspberry brownie. It was moist and chewy, and wasn’t overwhelmingly sweet. It came with a layer of tart raspberry and custard inside.

I liked this a lot more than my avalanche bar… sorry, I’m still sour over how they didn’t bother to mention it was a peanut butter pastry >=( But I guess lesson learned, I’m going to make sure I ask what’s inside anything if there’s no description offered.

The last thing we got was a whoopie pie, made with two very sweet oatmeal cookies that were hard instead of chewy. The filling and oatmeal cookie went really well together, but it was a bit messy to eat. As you bite down on the cookie, the filling on the opposite size will ooze out.

Purebread is a good place to try out, the quality of the pastries is noticeable and service is friendly as well, with reasonable prices. Just be sure to ask what is inside the pastry if you’re not sure what is inside to avoid disappointment like I did.

However, they’re still relatively new so I shouldn’t be too hard on them – the quality was there, and I probably would have LOVED the bar if I was an avid peanut butter fan.

-Carmen

Amie New Bloom Cleansing Wipes

February 6, 2015

Hi everyone,

It feels as though I haven’t written a beauty post in so long! Truth be told, I’ve been quite busy this past month so I’ve just been using simple products that I’ve already mentioned previously. My skin was breaking out due to stress last month and I’ve recently rediscovered and reloved by Lush herbalism cleanser and it has seriously helped clear my skin so much.

Giveaway update: I have already drawn the winner for my Cetaphil skincare set giveaway, congrats to Naomi for winning! Take a look at my Instagram to see how the winner was determined.

Okay, now on to the actual review!

Amie had sent me these facial wipes, which came at a perfect time because I was just looking at trying out different cleansing wipes.

These come in a standard packaging, like the ones used for baby wipes. I like the size of the packaging, as it is compact and travel sized, I don’t think I would have a problem bringing these with me if I go on vacation (someone take me to Hawaii right now please, Vancouver is in the middle of a wind and rain storm right now).

The sheets are damp, and not bad to work with (eg. it is not super thin so that it tears). I decided to test these out while wearing full coverage makeup, I would say it removed around 70% of my foundation. I rarely wear foundation so this isn’t a problem for me.

With that said, they are not deep cleansing wipes but probably something you could use after washing your face to give it a “final” clean before moisturizing.

As always, Amie’s products are free from parabens, mineral oils, and animal extracts. These wipes include pomegranate, cranberry, and green tea extracts, which explains why they smell so wonderful.

These would be really great and convenient to use after a gym work out or hiking. Or, if you’re a person who is constantly on-the-go, these would be great to stash in your purse or car in between appointments and errands.

What are some of your favourite facial wipes? This is the first facial wipe I’ve owned so I’m open to trying new ones 🙂

Thanks for reading!

-Carmen

Press product featured, all opinions are my own.

{Food Truck Compilation} JJ’s Trucketeria, Guanaco, and Super Thai

February 3, 2015

Food truck invasion! I decided to compile these 3 food trucks into one post as they seemed like it would be three very short posts on their own. These places are a compilation of two visits with coworkers during the Street Food City festival, which was part of DOVF. But, most of these you can have without Dine Out Vancouver. I should have included Vij’s food truck in here as well, oops!

Guanaco is a Salvadorean cuisine food truck, I think it is the only one of its kind in Vancouver but correct me if I’m wrong. I wanted to take a walk around the food truck festival and my coworker decided to come with me as well!

I had already eaten, but I was in the mood for a small snack which is why I settled on this place. My first choice was The Reef food truck, but their Jamaican patties looked kinda gross in the warmer so after walking around three times, I decided to just come here. Ugh indecisiveness.

I ordered two of their snack sized tacos, chicken and chorizo. I felt like a small snack, and felt that $5 would be a reasonable price.

The chicken was tender, while all the vegetables were fresh and crunchy. I liked the addition of fresh onions and loads of cilantro! The taco shell was soft and doughy, with a bit extra powder.

DSC04610-300x168 — Photo credit: Blast Media

Super Thai: On that same day, my coworker ordered the chicken pad thai from Super Thai. I didn’t try any, but she was happy to offer her opinion on it.

She liked how it was warm and comforting on a cloudy day, and said it was pretty flavourful and not watery like other pad thai that she’s had.

However, near the end, a lot of the noodles started to annoyingly stick to the bottom of the take out box, and took too much effort to un-stick. Perhaps it’s the texture of the noodles that makes it do that.

She also thought it wasn’t worth the price she paid. I also think it’s worth nothing that they were sold out on half their menu items by 2 pm that day. I wanted to order the coconut curry rice but there was none left! =(

JJs-Trucketeria-1 — Picture from Follow Me Foodie

JJ’s Trucketeria: While I went to Vij’s, two of my coworkers ordered from JJ’s instead. Funny story, none of us actually knew the name of this place. I didn’t take a close look at the place, and my coworkers didn’t see a name on the truck.. so we just referred to it as the yellow food truck.

I’m not even sure how we figured out the name, LOL! As you can see from the picture, half the name is on the covering which you’re not able to see unless you’re far away, while the other part is covered with their menu.

Flipino BBQ pork, fried egg, and garlic rice. My coworkers were nice enough to share with me as the portion was too big for just one person. The meat was very tender and well seasoned, while the fried egg was cooked perfect and oozed onto the garlic rice.

My favourite part of this was the garlic rice! Although I only had a few bites, I loved the slight garlic flavour. This is perfect Asian comfort food on a rainy day.

Although, I would recommend having gum or mints handy due to the garlic rice.

That sums up my food truck adventures last month, including Vij’s Railway Express!

What are the names of your favourite food trucks? Better question, what is your opinion on food trucks- love ’em, or prefer a traditional sit down meal?

Thanks for reading!
-Carmen

Vij’s Railway Express

January 31, 2015

Hi all!

While I was walking around on my lunch break two weeks ago, I noticed that the Vancouver Art Gallery had been overtaken by food trucks- Dine Out Vancouver: Street Food City! The next day, I brought my coworker here and we explored all the food trucks. I wasn’t too hungry that day, but we decided to all come back a few days later and have lunch together here.

Well, our luck couldn’t be worse when Friday afternoon rolled around, and it was pouring buckets and buckets of rain. Remember that Friday two weeks ago? Yep. We spent the morning peeking out the office, hoping the rain would have stopped but nope, it had no mercy on a group of hungry office workers.

After making three ~~very indecisive~~ rounds, I decided to try Vij’s Railway Express. I helped out at Follow Me Foodie’s 6 Course Discourse last year, and had the chance to work with Vikram himself (Well, I only helped him set up and change presentation slides, but that was still pretty cool). He was a truly humble, funny, down to earth and kind man- so why not try his food truck?!

When my eyes saw this on the menu, I knew my decision had been made. Seared Pacific cod in a mango-sour cream curry, $12.

For $12 in 2015 and not that big of a portion (this picture may fool you otherwise), we are not talking cheap eats here unless you are a high roller with no lunch budget. But this was worth the mini splurge and I had no regrets.

I guess $12 at a restaurant is average or even cheap, there is a common misconception that food trucks are cheaper but it’s not!

The cod was flaked off perfectly, and was very fresh. It was drowned in the mango-sour cream curry sauce, which was creamy and had a mild spice to it. I definitely tasted the hints of mango, but not the sour cream. It also came with a soft and thin piece of naan bread and a cumin-basmati rice.

Everything extremely aromatic and cooked with quality, the Pacific cod was just perfection. I felt like it this dish belonged on a fancy bone china plate in a upscale restaurant, in contrast to a take out box in the food court. If I was rich, I would order this weekly but sadly, I am not.

Sometimes, it’s worth the mini splurge and to try something you haven’t had before. I’m definitely glad I made that decision and left with a happy tummy.

To end this post on a fun note, here is a throwback picture to January 2014 with Vikram Vij and John Bishop! I met Mijune of FollowMeFoodie back when I used to interview and write articles on university alumni, she then asked me to help out at her Six Course Discourse event.

-Carmen

PS. I made all those sponsorship and chef bio slides! =) So rewarding to see your hard work blown up on three big huge screens, haha!