TEA! I love tea.

I think for tea lovers, Vancouver is pretty awesome. There are no shortage of places to go for a tea fix!
Afternoon tea is especially great. Though it can get quite pricy if you go too often...
Recently had a home tea meet up at a friend's place!

 Mmm look at that spread...
The laptop at the end? It's actually a video Skype to our friend in Japan who couldn't be there in person. Our birthday toast to her :D

Close-up on some of the treats:

MY FRIENDS ARE SUCH TALENTED PEOPLE. In case you're wondering, it was all as delicious as it looked. Which is to say, so very very delicious.

Actually I think that day was the most tea I've tried in one sitting. One of the girls created a menu with about ten custom blends of tea that she fiddled with extensively. Amazing! The teas were lovely~

I made cheese scones (extra cheese yesss) and Oreo rice crispy squares!

 Good food, great company, what more to ask for?

By virtue of not being in an outside establishment, we took our time leisurely sipping tea...and maybe fangirling about certain series ahem.  /coughcough

Awesome Crunchy Potatoes...China Style!

While in Beijing, naturally you eat as the locals do.

There's a stereotype that Northern Chinese people prefer wheat-based foods (ex. noodles, dumplings) as their staples, while Southern Chinese prefer rice-based staples. #themoreyouknow

In my classes, there were even text book example phrases like: 

"北方人喜欢饺子和面条. 但是南方人觉得米饭比面条好吃." / "Northern people like dumplings and noodles, but Southern people think rice is tastier than noodles."

Hmm is there truth in this stereotype? Possibly! But as with all stereotypes, completely subjective and take it how you will. :D

Remember, as a Canadian, I wrestle with bears and eat maple syrup with everything. EVERYTHING. Mmm sugary maple goodness.

These are actually quite good btw. 9/10, would buy again

...you know the great part about above is that people really believed it. The maple syrup part I mean. Bear wrestling is part of every healthy childhood eh?

Haha note to self: write a post regarding how international stereotypes are taken in China. It's a hilarious subject and once you get past some of the ridiculous stuff, it's really fascinating. That will probably be a long post...

Anyway while not all of China's cuisine clicked with me, one I particularly liked was a potato dish called "土豆丝" / tu dou si, literally translated as potato shreds/slivers. There are many variations of the dish, but it's most commonly seasoned with vinegar and chili oil.

The thing I liked the most about it was also the weirdest. The crunchyness! The ingredients are stir fried very quickly, so that the potato retains a crunch while still being completely cooked through. 

Coming from a Western perspective, this is a bit odd considering almost every potato dish I can think of is soft and/or fluffy. 

Love both styles of potatoes though. Don't make me choose plzkthnx.

My homemade version. Could use work on aesthetics, but it tasted good.

I tried whipping some up when I suddenly had a craving for the crunchy stuff, and it was not a complete failure whoo~ 

Here are some recipes if you want to have a go at it!

http://www.tastehongkong.com/recipes/hot-and-sour-potato-shreds/

http://www.seasaltwithfood.com/2010/04/potato-slivers-with-vinegar-cu-liu-tu.html