WordPress made it fairly simple to transfer over all my Blogger posts and comments, but did not import other items; such as the list of blogs I follow, otherwise known as a blogroll. I could simply recreate the list in a 15 minute typing session; however, I decided a better idea might be to rebuild the list by sharing with everyone just what attracts me to return to each blog, adding each to my WordPress blogroll as I go.

I’ll start with the family blogs.

Karin’s Blog

My wife writes a blog called Self-Medicated (apparently, she does not like it when I medicate her). Like this blog, she began on Blogger and then moved at the same time as me to a WordPress blog hosted on a subdomain of our new site, PlayaParadise.com. She blogs about family, interesting life events, things she finds on the web, and all the other elements that are generally part of the class known as the Personal Blog. I follow her blog for obvious reasons, such as not wanting to ingest poisons inserted into my food by a vengeful, angry spouse; but also, as I’m the sweet loving person that I am, I do want to know what is happening in my honey’s life while I’m away at work and to know what is on her mind. Her posts as of late are updates on her progress towards creating a private section of our site for the family, which requires her to first learn to use Joomla, a content management software package. I just don’t have the time right now to help her much, but she’s doing great with it.

Matthew’s Blog

My stepson Matthew has his own blog with the exciting name of Matthew’s Blog . He is not a frequent poster, but generally you know that he is either extremely happy or very frustrated if he has posted, so it’s a good way for me to keep tabs on whether it’s safe to venture to his area of the condo. Lately, they seem to be happier posts, so that is good. Interestingly, his World of Warcraft character Rasgar blogs more often than he does. However, since Rasgar is not family, he’s has yet to earn a spot on my blogroll. Maybe if Rasgar showed me a little link love….

Cynthia’s Blog

Karin’s niece Cynthia started her blog before any of us, and encouraged the other members of the family to start their own. I had been thinking of starting one, but I have to give her credit for getting off her butt and doing it first. She has self-titled her blog Will-I-Ams (a play on her last name) and also writes a personal blog. Come to think of it, all the family blogs are personal blogs, so I guess I can quit categorizing each one separately.

Cynthia is a young mother who has a good portion of her day dominated by chasing after rug-rats; and as such her perspective is quite different from most of the rest of the family blogs. Reading her blog, I’m constantly amazed at all the events, functions, get-aways and activities she manages to attend while taking care of her two children. She has a lovely writing style, and I quite enjoy reading her adventures even when I don’t know the people involved.

Waltrude’s Blog

Waltrude is Cynthia’s mother and Karin’s sister. She and her husband find themselves bouncing between older parents that are beginning to rely on their children for care, and her own children dropping the grandchildren off to visit Oma and Opa. She therefore calls her blog The Sandwich Generation . Waltrude is deeply involved in her church, but also likes to sneak away for vacations with her husband. We might even have them convinced to come to Mexico with us this fall. She has not had much time to blog because of her commitments as of late, but now that the major ones are over we hope to see more from her soon.

As the oldest sibling in Karin’s family, she remembers much of the family back in Brazil and also is able to communicate with those who’s primary language is Portuguese. This is likely why she has taken on the role of informing everyone of happenings in the extended family, at first through email and now through her blog. Fear not, there are interesting items for those who are not family, an example being her recent trip report of a cruise she and her husband took from Los Angles to Vancouver.

Lucy’s Blog

Lucy is married to Karin’s brother Berto. At any family event, she’ll pull out her digital camera and be sure to document everyone that was there. If the event is at her house, she’ll have a blog post complete with pictures before you can get home. Even though my main hobby is photography, I don’t pull my camera out much at these events as I know Lucy will have grabbed group shots. She’ll need to watch out, though; I’ll likely be at it again after I get a digital SLR in a few months.

As so much of her blog is about family events, she has appropriately named it Our Family and Friends . Her latest post shows our Father’s Day get-together, in her pictures I’m the only one who didn’t feel the need to put on a coat and am therefore fairly obvious in my bright orange shirt.

Now that I’ve covered the family, expect to see reviews of my favorite blogs as I add each to my new blogroll, starting with local blogs.

Just a reminder to all the family, and anyone else that might have my on their blogroll; please update the link to point to this new blog!

Start Slide Show with PicLens Lite

After appetizers downtown at the SIP a few weeks ago, Karin and I headed towards Vancouver General Hospital to find a full meal before her 6:30 appointment for an MRI. We wanted to park nearby and walk if possible to the hospital, and so I pulled into the parking lot of the former Chevy’s restaurant on Broadway at Oak. Chevy’s used to be one of my favorite spots in Vancouver, but when I had attempted to take Karin there previously we had found it had closed. A new establishment has opened in it’s place and we decided to try them.

Upon entering the Rugby Beach Club Grille, I was greeted with a familiar room. The restaurant has been renovated to give it an oceanside feel, but the layout has not been changed, largely I believe because it has always been comfortable and works well. Formerly TVs hung from the ceiling throughout the room so that every table would have a view of the sporting event; these have been removed and the ceiling is now covered with large large bamboo stalks. The large TV covering one wall of the lounge remains, and many people were sitting in the bar area awaiting the Canucks game. The built in tables remained as before, as well as the bar and open kitchen kitchen; with everything having been refinished.

The decor did have me worried a bit, as there was a nautical theme and we are not big fish fans; but we did not have to worry as the menu was extensive. In addition to numerous salads, the appetizer menu had nine seafood items, but then had eight non-seafood items. We started with an appetizer of Ribs, Ribs, Ribs. As the name and picture implies, there is three flavours of ribs in this starter; Mesquite Rye BBQ, Caramelized oy and demerarra sugar, and Cajun dry rub. I think we might have been cheating a bit on Karin’s diet, as vinegar is something she must avoid right now; but a little shouldn’t hurt too much. Each of the ribs was meaty and flavourful, and we gladly licked our fingers afterward. I would definitely try this again, which could be a problem as there were many other tasty items from which to choose.

Looking at the main menu, it seemed that everything was extremely reasonably priced, even priced too low to believe. It took a little to realize the reason; all items on the menu come unaccompanied. If you order a steak, that is all you get on your plate. Vegetables and carbs are ordered separately, and the portions for these sides are enough for two people. As Karin and I are both watching the number of calories we stuff down our gullet, eating out has been a nemesis as almost any plate is almost half carbohydrates. Too top it off, we have had even more trouble eating out as of late due to Karin’s need to avoid the foods to which she is allergic. We had stumbled upon the perfect restaurant for us completely by luck!

Just like the appetizer menu, there were numerous choices when we choose our main course. In addition to the seafood section of the menu, there was a separate sections for shell (shellfish are fine by us, and I think I’ll try the prawns next time), chicken, vegetarian, turf (lamb), steak, ribs and surf & turf. Within each section there is numerous choices. I suspect that the separation of the sides from has allowed a much more extensive range of choices, as the chef did not then feel the need to have a unique starch and vegetable combination with each choice. With such a wide range of choices, you would think we would have had different things, but we were both attracted to the filet mignon, though I had mine with blue cheese topper. Without the sides, each filet cost $11.95! When was the last time you had filet mignon for that price?

Skipping the carbs, we had roasted asparagus with balsamic drizzle. Again, this was a bit of a cheat for Karin due to the vinegar. We had not been steered wrong, there was definitely enough vegetable for the both of us. The portions were just right, but had we not stopped at SIP earlier in the afternoon for an appetizer, we might have had two vegetables dishes, thereby having a filling meal without the starches and still at a very reasonable price.

While the ability to make your own main and side dish choices did fit our dietary needs perfectly, I also liked the idea purely from the point of view of being able to pick what you enjoy eating. Many a time I have been out and have seen something that seemed quite tasty, only to realize that the accompaniments were not something that I would enjoy at all. The Rugby Beach Club would also be the perfect place to go when some have a limited diet and others do not.

As we left, the crowd watching the Canucks game was just beginning to get into the game, and it was only Karin’s appointment that kept me from proposing we stay a while. This will definitely be a stop again in the near future. Overall, I’ll give the Rugby Beach Club Grille a 7.5 out of 10.

For more pictures, click on any of the above and explore the others on our Flickr site.

Technorati Tags: Vancouver, Amateur Geek

Start Slide Show with PicLens Lite

I am trying to keep with my commitment to write a bit of a review for each place we go out to eat, and will therefore be writing two different posts regarding our experiences on Tuesday as we stopped for food twice. I’m sure it must not seem like we are not on the budget we claim to be, but Karin and I do avoid going out to eat as much as possible in order to keep the unnecessary expenses low. That is why the attentive reader will have noticed that most of our dining out is in Vancouver despite the fact that we live in Abbotsford; we normally eat out only due to circumstances, such as being in Vancouver for appointments. The other main reason we will eat out is if Karin’s son Colby is visiting from Kamloops, but in either case expect our reviews to be of reasonably priced establishments. Fancy dinners out would require quite the special occasion.

Yesterday we were in Vancouver as Karin had an appointment for an MRI of her jaw. I too was supposed to have an appointment at the dental lab, which we had planned for the same day to help the budget, but the lab needs more time and that is rescheduled for Monday. We kept our original plans to depart Abbotsford in the early afternoon, and therefore had several hours in Vancouver before we had to be at the hospital at 6:30.

We had been wanting to try out SIP Resto Lounge downtown Vancouver on Granville Street, but had driven right past it last time. Checking the map ahead of time this trip, we knew that it was directly across the street from the Chateau Granville. It is lucky that we had checked, as it was hard to spot the restaurant without knowing exactly where to look. This area of Granville is one of the few remaining areas downtown that has not seen major renovations, but as the renovations are ongoing a block away and there is now 20 storey condo buildings one street over, SIP was wise to move into this location now. They are still hard to spot between the seedier businesses, but we found it this time and parked nearby.

After picking up some guitar strings for Matthew at Tom Lee Music up the street, we returned and found that SIP was just opening. It is situated in one of the old, narrow buildings in the area; and the necessity of a fire exit at the back leaves no room for a separate kitchen. Instead, the bar that stretches along one wall is half liquor bar and half open kitchen, with bar stools along the entire length. Most of the seating is small, high bar tables with stools around them, save for the tables along the opposite wall that have benches against the wall and bar stools on the opposite side. We asked to be seated in one of those seats so we could both sit on the wall side and check out the rest of the establishment. We were the only customers other than a couple of people sitting at the food bar who may have been regulars or may have been staff yet to come on duty. The bartender was bringing in and sorting the week’s liquor order through the back door.

One of SIP’s main attractions is that everything on the menu is cooked with liquor. The Casa salad’s dressing is made with Finlandia Lime Vodka, the filet mignon is marinated in Jack Daniel’s, and you can finish with a Mocha Bailey’s Crème Brulle. We checked out the menu, and decided to start with two Grilled Satays and the “World’s Best Crab Cakes”. The satays are each a single skewer, and so they only cost between $2.25 and $3.50 each. We tried a chicken tender seasoned with garlic, chardonnay and jalapeno peanut dip and a beef tenderloin flavoured with jack daniels and tarragon garlic aioli. Both tasted good, though I think they would have been even better with a beer, but due to the time and our plans we both were drinking Diet Pepsi. I did notice that in an empty restaurant, people do notice more when you take pictures of your food.

The crab cakes were much better than anything I’ve managed to make at home. They were small, but still held their shape when bit in half. The tops and bottoms had been perfectly grilled, offering a crispy exterior while the interior was a tasty blend of crab, shrimp, garlic and Grey Goose L’Orange sauce. I could have eaten this entire appetizer myself.

As we were the only patrons save the people at the bar that clearly knew the staff, we could not judge the atmosphere very well. It also did not help that this lounge themed restaurant had bright sunshine shining in the front windows; it did not fit with the decor. Opening time was not the best time for a first visit to a new restaurant, but we did experience enough to tell that there is great potential for SIP to be an enjoyable place to eat, drink and observe. We therefore decided to not have our main meal here, instead we will come back when we are downtown for an evening and enjoy a full meal while people watching.

Overall, I give SIP Resto Lounge a 7 out of 10, but will revise that after a visit for a full meal.

Show on map

Start Slide Show with PicLens Lite

Last week Karin and I were in town for my dental implants color matching and we had noticed when driving by that the restaurant on the ground floor level of the tower beside the library seemed to have been replaced with a pub. So Wednesday night, when my dad and I had parked under the new pub on our way to the Canucks vs Predators game, it did not take too much arm twisting to convince my dad to try it.

The Library Square Public House is in the ground floor of the small tower in the northeast corner of the block, directly across the street from the main post office. It is a large bar that is simply decorated but comfortable. It was quite packed, both with people on their way to the game, those planning to watch it at the bar, and “suits” having an after work drink before heading home. Because of the crowd, we could not get a seat, but rather ended up standing at the DJ’s area between the bar and kitchen. Despite the crowd, the beer was nice and cold and a waitress was attentive of us throughout our stay. This was pleasant, as I am used to establishments with half the crowd not being able to keep the beer cold due to the pace they are pouring it and not being able to get timely service.

Due to traffic on the way to the game, we did not have the time to find a meal elsewhere as we had originally planned, and so we took up the waitresses offer of menus. We did not have anywhere to place proper meals, so we ordered a plate of chicken wings (it was Wings Wednesday, and a plate of about 20 or more was $5.00) and a order of popcorn shrimp. From our vantage point we could see that the kitchen was very busy, but our food arrived quickly. They set our food out right on top of the plywood cover over the DJ’s sound board, and we ate our fill. The food was quite good, and I will definitely return for a proper meal.

After the Canuck’s win, we stopped again for one beer on our way back to the car. The bar was now less crowded and the DJ was playing tunes. We were able to appreciate the good sound system that pumped out the music, but still allowed you to talk to the person beside you.

I was quite impressed with the Library Square Pub, and now have a new favorite place for the area. An excellent route to a game or concert if one had time would be a stop at both the Kingston Taphouse and Library Square.

Start Slide Show with PicLens Lite