Curiously Carmen

Tractor Foods

April 14, 2014

My friend and I noticed Tractor Foods while shopping along West 4th one afternoon, and seeing we both felt like having a light meal, we decided to try it out.

As you can tell, their design is very simplistic. We didn’t even realize that Tractor was a restaurant until we crossed the street and took a closer look. When we first walked in, we were overwhelmed with how modern and nice everything looked. (Picture from 604now.com)
You will first see the salads, and other sides, like soup, that they offer. Tractor makes their food in small portions, so that everything is as fresh as possible.

All their salads looked really appetizing, and we both had a hard time choosing which one to get! I love my dark green veggies, and there was such a plethora of them here that I had to select from! Once you pick the side you want, you will then proceed to the sandwich/main course of your choice.
Since we only wanted a light meal, my friend and I settled on getting half a sandwich, with a choice of side. I ordered their grilled chicken sandwich, which came with tomato, basil, and provolone on cranberry bread.

For my salad, I ordered one of their kale salads, which came with potatoes. I absolutely loved my meal, everything was perfect about it. Everything tasted so fresh, from the crunchy kale to the cranberry bread. It was also very light and refreshing too, which was exactly what I wanted on a nice, sunny day.

The portion was perfect and I left feeling satisfied.
My friend ordered their vegetable sandwich, with an addition of grilled chicken like mine. Her side was the tomato salad with basil and bocconcini.

The bocconcini had an elastic texture to it, and had a light taste which complemented the stronger tasting, and more acidic tomatoes. The tomatoes were also very juicy as you can see in this picture! She enjoyed her dish as well!

Overall, Tractor is a great place to go for a light meal if you’re in the neighbourhood. I noticed on their site that they changed parts of the menu since the last time I went (they have different salads now) so I will come here again when I’m in the neighbourhood!

-Carmen

Suzy Nail Colour Review

April 12, 2014

For the past two years, I’ve been stripped away from the liberty of wearing nail polish due to my job. So, whenever I have a few days off, I jump at the opportunity to wear it!

Since I only wear nail polish a handful of times per year, I don’t splurge on expensive ones since they’ll probably dry out by the time I wear it.
I got this nail polish probably last year, at Suzy Shier which is a women’s clothing store. I really liked the soft, girly pink colour and it was also really cheap, so I decided to get it.

One of these cost $3, or 2 for $5. It’s a pretty good deal! I applied 2 coats to get the current colour.
I haven’t worn this since last Summer, so I forgot how fast it dried! I would have to say that it dried in less than 45 seconds, I was so impressed. I’ve never had a nail polish dry that fast and have such healthy and strong shine to it! And for $3?! What a miracle.

Also, can you notice how the top brush part is uneven from the bottom? Somehow, I can’t twist it back to its normal position no matter how hard I try. I’m glad that it doesn’t leak, or else we’d have a problem!
One of the annoying things about nail polish is their removal, especially if it’s glittery. I was in a rush to remove the colour since I was about to be late for work, but thankfully, this polish comes off so easy with nail polish remover. YES!!! Overall, I love this polish!

Pros:
-Fast drying
-Lovely colour
-Matte finish but with a light shine to it
-Easy to remove
Cons:
-Smells strongly like chemicals

-Carmen

Venice Garden Seafood Restaurant

April 12, 2014

During work one night, I was craving Chinese late night snack (aka “da-lan”) and found out from my friend Venice Garden is open until 2am!

I have been to Venice Garden numerous times, since it is a convenient location, food is decent, and they accept debit unlike most other Chinese restaurants. Since I always get the same two things here, this review will be relatively short.

But this was my first time having late night snack here, so we’ll see how it goes!
I used to come here a lot when I was a child. I think it used to be named “Happy King” and I’ve heard some sketchy rumours why they had to change it which isn’t worth mentioning.

We got here around 11:30pm, after I finished working. Normally, this parking lot is filled to the brim with people so it was quite refreshing to see it so quiet here for once.

When we got in, there was only one other table eating here. Compared to the daytime, their service at night was SO MUCH better, I can’t believe it’s the same restaurant. It’s not even due to the fact that it’s quieter so they have more time to serve us. We’ve been here during the day when it wasn’t as busy and their service is very brief and sporatic. So, it was a great surprise to have friendly service!

Incase you’ve never had Chinese late night snack before, let’s give you a quick rundown. The menu is completely different from the rest of the day. A lot of the things are deep fried, and the portions are smaller but cheaper. Some popular items are deep fried Chinese donut, congee, deep fried fish/tofu/prawns/clams in spicy salt, or fried green beans with spicy pork. The first thing we ordered was congee with preserved duck egg and shredded salty pork. This is my go-to congee, I love preserved duck egg and I could care less that it’s a health concern (well I care, but I don’t eat it that much so whatever). The amount of preserved duck egg and shredded pork that they give you is very generous.

Their congee is really flavourful, and is cooked perfectly for my taste. I also love how much green onions and peanuts they include, it makes the congee taste so much yummier! We stir in the peanuts and onions, so that the peanuts give you a “crunch” when you’re enjoying the congee. The salted pork is extremely salty, even for myself so definitely eat it in moderation! We usually don’t end up finishing the salted pork since there’s so much sodium in it.
The second thing I was craving that night was deep fried beancurd (tofu) in spicy salt. I was a bit surprised when this came because I’m used to the tofu being cut in larger rectangular chunks, but this was fine too. They gave a great amount of jalapeno peppers, so I ended up eating all of those with each piece of tofu.

Overall, I thought that this tofu was too soft for my liking. Yes, I know that soft tofu is good, but I was craving the firmer and rectangular chunks of deep fried tofu restaurants normally use for late night snack. The tofu they used remind me of the Sunrise tofu dessert, which didn’t feel that fitting but the boyfriend thought it was fine, so it’s probably just me.
This was not from the late night menu, but the lunch menu when we came a few months ago. I love spaghetti bolognese. I find that this place doesn’t have the greatest spaghetti bolognese, but it’s not atrocious either. Their sauce has more tomato flavour to it, making it more acidic tasting. The acidic taste takes away the rest of the flavour of the dish.

Overall, Venice Garden is a decent place to eat Chinese food if you’re in the area, but it’s nothing too special. Their service is sporadic, and minimal at best unless you go during late night. I would love to try more of their late night dishes but there was only two of us, and we didn’t want to stuff ourselves with that much food.

-Carmen

Acme Cafe

April 10, 2014

I love brunch. I even eat brunch for dinner sometimes.! Maybe it’s just me, but having brunch is one of the best starts to a day. This visit was from awhile ago, but I had a lovely time at Acme Cafe.

Acme Cafe is undeniably one of the more popular places to have brunch in Vancouver. It is located in the DTES (Picture taken from www.flavourhunter.com).
I love the interior of Acme Cafe. It is very welcoming, clean, and simple. Acme cafe also offers a huge pastry selection as you can see! I don’t have that much of a sweet tooth, but it still looks very appetizing! Yum!
Baked eggs benny- $10.75. This is their signature dish, and it did not definitely did not disappoint! We were a bit surprised when it came out because we’ve never seen eggs benny done like this before.
Eggs sunny side up- $10.75. Read my blurb on their kitchen grill story below, it will relate to this dish! The eggs were cooked perfectly sunny side up. I love how there were onions on top since I am a huge fan of green onions.

My friend doesn’t like bacon so I was lucky enough to have it! The bacon was cooked well too, it wasn’t super oily or greasy. Underneath was the bed of hash browns which was perfectly seasoned as well. The side of fruit tasted really fresh too.
European breakfast – $9.50. This normally comes with proscuitto, but you were able to substitute it for smoked salmon at no charge. When I first saw this on the menu, I was sold because it had smoked salmon. My friend was going to order this too, but instead ordered the plate above because it sounded more filling and worth the price, which I agree.

The cantaloupe tasted pretty fresh, as did everything else. Overall, I thought that this plate was average. The smoked salmon, of course, was delicious, but I don’t think that it was worth $9.50. Maybe I should try it with the standard prosciutto next time…

One thing I found interesting about Acme is that they do not have a grill. The waitress pointed out their stove, which looked like the one from my own kitchen! I was quite impressed that they were able to run such a successful restaurant without a restaurant-stove top, but hey, they make it work so props to them!

All in all, I enjoyed our visit to Acme Cafe and would definitely come back here. I probably wouldn’t order the European breakfast again, but order the baked eggs benny which is their specialty.

-Carmen

First Impression- My Beauty Diary Mask (Sake Yeast)

April 8, 2014

First off, I want to say that I rarely use Asian facial masks like these. In fact, this is only my second time using one of them! I got this as a gift from my friend, who went to Asia in the Summer.

I was just feeling tired tonight, and had some time to kill so decided to re-energize and vitalize my skin! I know that this brand is hugely popular among Asian countries, so I was quite excited to try it. The only other Asian facial mask like this one I’ve used is the Innisfree brand masks, which I will be using to compare my first impression with MBD!

As I mentioned before, I used the sake yeast one. From my knowledge, MBD carries a bunch of other masks, such as strawberry or black pearl. The sake yeast one claims to be whiten and moisturize. The package was the size of my hand, just to give you a rough idea.
The Innisfree mask that I used was pretty fragile, it did not take a lot to tear it. For that reason, I was a bit wary and very careful in opening this one.

To my surprise, there was actually another harder sheet inside which was used to protect clumsy people (like moi) from tearing it. I was off to a good start. This mask was so much easier to unfold and apply to your face with the other sheet.
The plastic sheet also made the application process waaay easier than my experience with the Innisfree mask. I had no problems with it. When I put it on, a wave of refreshing, cold, liquid hit my skin. It was instantly awakening and there was a cooling sensation to it. I felt so much more energized!
After 5 minutes, the mask was still super, super cold. I felt like I had dumped ice on my skin. There was also a lot of liquid serum from the mask that was starting to drip.

Eventually, I had to take away my pillows because the angle my head was in was making the liquid drip down to my neck, which got really annoying. I kept having to wipe my neck and pat the dripping liquid onto other parts of the mask. After 20~ minutes, it got better since the mask was starting to dry. However, the whole time, my face was very cold!

Be sure to take this mask off over the sink in case there is still excess liquid, you don’t want that to drip all over your clothes! My skin was still covered with the product, so I decided to just pat it and leave it, instead of rinsing since that was what most bloggers did. It dried after 10 minutes and as I write this, my face feels very soft and refreshed!

(PS. Do you love the cat on my eyes? Hehe. I look freakish with this mask on, and I’m not about to let the internet see that stuff. Let’s name her Polka.)

Pros:
-Easy to apply due to the extra sheet
-Cooling sensation, making your skin feel refreshed and energized
-Light but pleasant scent
-Skin feels energized & soft afterwards

Cons:
–Serum drips everywhere, you have to lie on a completely flat surface (no pillow)
-Serum can drip on your neck since it’s so liquid-y
-Product instructions are written in Chinese, good luck deciphering it unless you can read Chinese (That’s what Google is for! Yay!)
-Not sold in major Western drug stores/retailers, TNT or online is your best bet

Summary:
-Would use this product again, but maybe press out a bit of the serum before applying
-A box of 10 sheets sells for around $16 USD on Amazon

-Carmen