Curiously Carmen

Kishimoto Japanese Restaurant

September 19, 2014

I have heard amazing things about Kishimoto, both from my friends and also online. I’ve always wanted to try it, but know that it’s a sushi hotspot and I do not really want to wait ages in line.. 🙁

Finally, one day, timing worked out and my boyfriend took me there to try it! I was very eager, and had extremely high expectations before even walking in the front door.
As always, finding parking along Commercial Drive was a hassle but we did find free street parking that day! Yay! Kishimoto is a relatively small restaurant, and adding to the popularity= long, expected wait times. We went around 5:30pm right after I got off work, because I knew if we went around 6-7pm we would have to wait.

Walking in, you will see signs everywhere instructing guests to wait until they’re seated, no sitting down until all the guests have arrived, etc etc. Just shows how busy it gets! We waited around 5 minutes for the server to clear the table for us. Smooth sailing so far!
My boyfriend has been here before, and said that their tuna tataki ($11.95) is a must order. So, of course, being the curious food blogger I am, I had to give it a try. When the server put down the plate, I thought that she had mistaken our order cause all I saw were onions. The tuna tataki was actually under all the onions and roasted garlic. I was in love at first bite.

The tuna was incredibly soft, and melted in your mouth. It had a slightly grilled taste to it. Adding the onions, roasted dry garlic, and ponzu sauce, it was absolute perfection. My favourite dish of the night.
I knew that Kishimoto specialized in intricate plating techniques, so I was quite eager to see how our dishes would be plated! Here is the negitoro roll, chopped scallop roll ($4.95), and wild salmon nigiri ($3.00). I thought that the chopped scallop roll tasted pretty average. I really liked the negitoro roll since the tuna tasted very fresh, and had a lot of flavour.

The wild salmon nigiri also had a great, fresh, and juicy flavour to it as well. I ordered one piece of salmon nigiri, turns out that one order is actually equal to three pieces! I really enjoyed the sushi rice, it was cooked perfectly and had that distinct delicious sushi rice taste to it. Definitely worth the $3 since you get three pieces of nigiri! The “flower” art at the bottom was composed of daikon (type of carrot) sheets, edamame beans, and ginger. The candle seen at the top picture was a real candle, wrapped around a daikon sheet. Pretty interesting concept! I wonder if anyone has accidentally lit their daikon on fire…. Knowing how clumsy I am, I’m surprised I didn’t knock it over…
Up next, was our salmon oshisushi ($12.95). Oshisushi is a type of sushi made by placing all the ingredients into a box and pressing it together, hence the rectangular shape. The salmon oshisushi came with creamy sauce, crushed black peper, jalapenos, and salmon sashimi. After it is pressed, it then gets lightly torched. I enjoyed the salmon oshisushi as well, but found that after a few pieces, it was a bit too heavy for me due to the creamy sauce. I ended up requesting for a lemon slice, where I then lightly squeezed the juice onto the remaining pieces. I found that cut a bit of the cream heaviness out. Oshisushi = oishi 😉 If you know some Japanese haha…
The second oshisushi we ordered was the ebi ($12.95). This one came with cooked prawn, basil, pesto, creamy sauce, and crushed black pepper. Just like the salmon oshisushi, I found that it was a bit heavy to eat though I did enjoy the pesto sauce. There was a slightly grilled taste to these as well. I ended up drizzling a bit of lemon juice to this one as well. For those who have tried Kishimoto’s oshisushi, did you find that it was a bit on the heavy side due to the cream?

I noticed that all their desserts were made in-restaurant, so I wanted to give it a try. We ordered the house-made strawberry sorbet, which came with condensed milk topping and served with a cute wooden spoon! Our waitress informed us that it was still frozen, and to wait a few minutes before digging in. There was a very strong strawberry flavour to the sorbet! Adding the condensed milk on top, the dessert was sooo gooood. There were also bits of strawberry seeds in the dessert as well!

All in all, I did enjoy my visit to Kishimoto and left satisfied. Service was a bit slow at some points, since they had a full house. I noticed that it got busy around 6pm so I’m glad we had an early dinner. I highly recommend trying the tuna tataki here! What were your favourites?

-Carmen

PS. Stay tuned for some delicious Seattle eats next week! 😉

Estee Lauder Fall/Winter 2014 Media Preview Event (Part 2/2!)

September 16, 2014

As I was mentioning in part 1, I decided to split this post up because it would just be way too long for one post. If you’re just reading this now, these two posts are a review of the Estee Lauder Fall/Winter 2014 Media Preview Event that I went to two weeks ago. I also mentioned in the first post that these two posts will just be a simple overview of the products, as I did not get a chance to try these products well enough to formulate an opinion or review 🙂 However, I was able to bring home many of their already released products as you will see.

Out of all the products I was introduced to that day, my favourite would have to be the sculpting foundation brush on the top left, designed exclusively for Estee Lauder. I read about this brush before, but I finally got to see it in real life and hold it! The middle section of the brush is curved, and will effortlessly hug the contours of the face for effortless sculpting and definition. I feel like this brush will definitely be a saviour for beginner contourers like myself. In front of the sculpting brush, is their new perfectionist youth-infusing foundation. It contains their best selling serum, along with advanced ingredients that will create a more “youthful” appearance to the skin. There are microscopic priming beads that instantly fill lines while blurring imperfections- sounds like real life photoshop to me!

Moving on to the top right is Estee Lauder’s new Re-Nutriv Ultra Radiance Foundation. I was drawn to this one because it contains gemstones such as sapphires, rubies, and jade. To add to the elegance, it includes a blend of Gold and South Sea Pearls. These magnificent gemstones and pearls complement each other as they interact with light to create unique, vibrant colours. Unfortunately one small bottle costs $100, but a girl can dream right?

On the bottom left was the Modern Muse perfume, which smelled lovely as well. It is a blend of “sophisticated florals and succulent fruitiness juxtaposed against deep sultry woods”. Wow, I want to be able to write as beautifully as the person who wrote Estee Lauder’s PR book (which I am reading for reference right now cause I forgot what the scent was exactly, haha)
At the end of our tour, we were given an option to do the “3 minute mini makeover”, with an Estee Lauder makeup artist. There were four looks that you were able to choose from. As I mentioned in my first post, I am still trying to master the art of contouring so I opted for the contouring option.

Here is what I went home with. Thank you so much, Estee Lauder. I was in so much shock, I was definitely not expecting any gifts, let alone this many. I am super ecstatic to try all of these products out and will be doing reviews on them for sure, so keep your eyes peeled.

I am so grateful to be given this opportunity to attend such a great and organized event, thanks to Estee Lauder and the PR team. Everyone working was so kind, welcoming, and talented in what they do. I have a newfound appreciation towards this brand because of this event. Every time I walk by an Estee Lauder booth, I am reminded of the wonderful team of people behind it and I am so grateful and glad that I caught a glimpse of that at the event.

The products in this post were sent to me free of charge from Estee Lauder, and I was not paid to write this post. Everything in this post is my personal opinion and was not altered by the request of the company.

-Carmen

SpookyEyes.com Coloured Contacts Review

September 15, 2014

Disclaimer: These contacts are FDA and ISO approved, and sterile. FDA means that they are approved for use in the States, while ISO is the international health standard institution. The ISO was formed since countries have their different standards of “safe” for many products, so it’s a way to harmonize the requirements for safe contact lenses wear.

I definitely would not be reviewing this product if I did not think it was safe, if the site looked questionable, or had any further doubts about putting these into my eyes whatsoever. Rest assured, although these contacts were sent to me on behalf of the company, they are completely safe to wear compared to other contacts and I would never risk the health of my readers or misinform you guys. With that said, I do know that compared to regular contacts, coloured contacts have a higher chance of drying out your eyes. As with all products, be careful and read the ingredients properly,and use your judgement.

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Helloooo everyone! Today, I will be reviewing a product that I never wear – coloured contacts! My relationship with contacts, both regular prescription and coloured have not been great, to say the least. That is because my eyes tend to dry out really fast, making wearing contacts uncomfortable if I wear them for long hours.

I have tried many different contact lenses, different contact solutions, etc, which have helped on some days, but for the most part, they are not comfortable for me. Fast forward to the present, I only wear the daily disposable contacts probably 3-4 times a month as I find those are the most moisturizing, comfortable, and convenient.

Anyways, I was contacted by UK based sister companies DreamEyes.com / SpookyEyes.com to do a review of their coloured contacts. For simplicity’s sake, I will be referring to them as Spooky Eyes. I haven’t worn coloured contacts for over two years, so I figured I could give them a chance again and if it does work out, I can order a pair of Halloween contacts soon! Here’s how it turned out.
I was told to select three coloured contacts that I would like, and one of them would be mailed to me. I was quite excited to see which colour I would end up with! My contacts came roughly three weeks later from the UK. I received the colour green sparkle.

I was happy to learn that the contacts are manufactured in South Korea, where coloured contacts are extremely popular with the female population. That fact reassured me as I know from prior knowledge that South Korea makes great quality coloured lenses.
Here is a screenshot from the website, and what I received. Compared to the picture online, I feel that the green shade in real life appears a bit softer and lighter, which I actually prefer.

There are many different shades of green, brown, blue, and purple on their website. I’ve always wanted to try green contacts with my Asian skin and brown eyes, and I felt that these weren’t too dramatic or harsh.
I did not have any trouble putting these inside my eyes, they were like my standard contact lenses. When I first put these on, I was shocked at how my eyes looked. Although these contacts did not specify that they will enlarge the appearance of your eyes, they definitely will!

I was not used to seeing myself with enlarged pupils, let alone green eyes. This picture was taken in natural sunlight. Luckily, the colour matched my skin and eyes pretty well. If it was the green shade as seen on their website, I don’t think it would have looked as soft. I also liked how there is a bit of sparkle to it as well in the sun. How do they look in your opinion?

Since these contacts are only for cosmetic purposes, I still had to wear my glasses. These two pictures were taken outside as well, I try to use natural sunlight when possible. With my glasses on, I don’t think the green is as noticeable at first glance, but if you look longer, you can definitely tell.
Oops, I forgot to take a picture of my eyes before the contacts so here is a picture from a previous post, taken in the same spot where I took the picture above. Since I have naturally dark eyes, coloured contacts may not always turn out the way it appears, or it may not show up at all!

I’m glad that I didn’t have this problem with these contacts. I ended up wearing these for a bit over five hours, and had no problem at all with them! I actually forgot that I was wearing them until I got in the shower, and my eyes started to sting a bit when water got in.

They were super comfortable to wear, and remind me of a smooth, gel-like material as opposed to thinner, plasticky feeling contacts.
Pros:

Very comfortable to wear, smooth gel-like contacts
This specific shade was not too harsh which I preferred
Colour will show up even on dark coloured eyes
Lasts one year and retails for $28 US
Made in S. Korea, a country known for great quality and comfortable coloured lenses
Great for cosplay or costumes but the softer looking coloured lenses are good for daily wear too
Free shipping!

Cons:

Does not currently offer prescription lenses

In conclusion, I am really satisfied with these contacts, as they are really comfortable and I like the colour. They also have a vast assortment of coloured contacts, with all the possibilities imaginable. White out, UV, devil, cat eye, sparkle, anime… they have them all. Here are some I picked out on SpookyEyes:

Check them out at DreamEyes.com and SpookyEyes.com!

I’m curious, let me know what are your favourite contacts on their site and if you would you consider wearing coloured contacts for fun in the comments!

These contacts were sent to me free of charge from SpookyEyes, and I was not paid to write this post. Everything in this post is my personal opinion and was not altered by the request of the company.

-Carmen

Hamburger 2.85 Food Truck

September 14, 2014

Hi everyone!

Finding new places to eat in downtown Vancouver is definitely not hard, especially with the addition of food trucks popping up on every corner! My coworker and I had a small list of places we wanted to go to, including the famous Hamburger 2.85 food truck.

I was sold and set on going after reading Meaghan’s post on this in the day before, and thankfully my coworker agreed! It definitely did not disappoint.
Hamburger 285 is located on the corner of Granville and Pender. The menu is really basic, so don’t be expecting any fancy add ons or anything of that sort. In fact, I can’t even recall if they even sell pop.

The concept is simple, the title is simple. But their taste is definitely not simple as I will explain below. You can either order a hamburger for 2.85 (yes, you read that right, TWO EIGHTY FIVE whaaat) or a cheeseburger for $3.95. I decided on getting the cheeseburger that day.
I normally don’t go to food trucks, it’s not that I have a thing against them or anything, but I just haven’t really had the opportunity to. With that said, I’m not sure if the wait for our burgers was considered longer than usual than not. We waited around 10 minutes for our burgers afterwards, so in my opinion, that seemed longer than the standard.

They had lively, upbeat top 40s playing, which made the line up go a biiiit faster but I was really anticipating my burger! “Number 33, cheeseburger!” Yes! That was my cue and I was handed what looked like a delicious burger.
After both our burgers came, we walked down to Canada Place to enjoy our burgers….except there was one problem. I had already devoured my burger! The lettuce and tomatoes tasted extremely fresh and crunchy. The bread was thick and lightly toasted, giving it a slightly grilled taste but it had a really soft bite to it. The patty was well cooked, juicy, and flavourful.

The BEST part of this burger was their teriyaki mayo sauce of some sort. I’m not too sure what exactly the sauce was, but I definitely tasted some teriyaki and goodness, did it complete this burger!

I kind of expected that the portion would be smaller since it is so cheap, so I should have ordered a second one. If you are pretty hungry like I was, I would recommend ordering two of these delicious things. Other than that, my quick visit to Hamburger 2.85 was pleasant and I predict I will be back here before my internship ends.

Also, I am definitely going to miss the sunshine as the days get colder, so I included a beautiful view in this post as well.

What are some other good food trucks/restaurants that I should visit around the Canada Place/Harbour Center area? Please let me know in the comments!

-Carmen

Richmond Night Market 2014

September 13, 2014

(Updated Sept 2014) The Richmond Night Market is back for another Summer! I love coming here for the cheap things you can buy, even though a lot of the products are very cheaply made and questionable… and of course, the food! I went with a few friends and it was actually their first time at this night market (the new one by the casino), seeing that they are both here on a working visa from Australia. They were excited and curious to try the different food that the stalls offered. It was my first time trying the S. Korean ice cane dessert, which is basically an ice cream that comes in a “J” shaped cone and made out of cornpuff. It was truly interesting… keep on reading below to see what it looked like and how it tasted!
It was very busy and crowded the night that we went, probably because it was an ideal summer’s night.
Takoyaki and squid! The takoyaki ($6) was very chewy,delicous and doughy. The squid was very good as well. Felt kind of bad for the guy grilling the squid because he didn’t wear a mask, and kept having to hold his breath while he was cooking it. The squid itself ($6.50 for a small) was very good. There was a nice satay sauce, with a hint of sweetness and smokiness.
The famous hurricane potato ($6). Basically a lightly deep friend potato on a stick, seasoned with your choice of flavouring salt. We chose the cheddar, and it was really good. There was also a long line up for this booth, but we didn’t wait that long. There were 60 numbers ahead of us in line, but the wait was only around 10 minutes. Pretty efficient! However, I’m not sure that it’s worth $6 for a potato though, it just looks cool.
The Korean snow cane stand! They were pretty busy as well, and ended up selling out of the duo cane cone right after we ordered. It was $3.75 for the single J shaped cone, which I got below…
The cone is made out of a corn puff pastry and into a tube, which they put the soft serve ice cream into. The ice cream was your standard soft serve. As for the cone itself? I enjoyed it. It reminded me of the cereal corn puffs, only harder and less puffy. Imagine eating corn puffs cereal with ice cream, that’s basically how it tasted. The cone also did not go soggy, as I expected it to and remained crunchy until the end. It was also very clean and not messy to eat. Would I get this again? Probably, I love corn puffs!
My friend’s deep fried Snickers bar ($6). She said it tasted amazing, and loved it a lot. I’m not sure if I’ll ever try one of these in my lifetime though, what about you?
Update: Going back a second time in September, we didn’t order as much. I wasn’t too hungry, but knew I would regret not trying anything new here and end up snacking at home later. So we walked around the food stands until something caught our eyes. I am a big fan of mangoes, and I saw someone holding this mango dessert and decided to order one as well ($5.75). It came with a generous portion of fresh mango chunks and vanilla ice cream under a bed of crushed ice, topped with condensed milk. I loved the freshness and sweetness of the mango chunks, and the juices soaked into the ice chunks! The condensed milk was the cherry on top of a great dessert. I have to warn you though; it’s a really, really cold dessert so you might be cold after you finish eating this, because I sure was.
The second item we ordered was the takoyaki balls ($5.50). It came in original, chili, curry, and wasabi flavour- this one was the chili flavour. I didn’t try this, but I was told that it there a mild spice and did not overpower the taste of the takoyaki. The sauces themselves are only drizzled on the top.
Apart from food from our second visit, I also ended up buying a cute pair of fuzzy fleece socks ($4) too! My feet get really, really cold in the fall and winter so I wanted a thicker pair of socks. I am also a HUGE fan of polkadots and Minnie Mouse (I was Minnie Mouse last Halloween) so it’s a win-win situation. I’ll probably wear these as slippers around the house as the weather gets colder. I’m just hoping that these socks won’t be of horrible, cheap quality and actually keep my feet warm!
Andddd to finish this post off, a picture of some random product stands! Korean socks and iphone case stands were the most popular. Hope you enjoyed the post, now go and try the J corn cone ice cream!

-Carmen