vivacova

Posted by Cher on May 21, 2013

Good Eat: Down Town Food Modern Bistro Calgary

Modern day conveniences keep our palates satisfied regardless of seasonalities and without geographical boundaries. What’s often forgotten is what our native land has to offer. With commitment to using local ingredients, DownTownFood (DTF) took us exploring the flavours of the season and of the land. It’s no easy task for a restaurant in Calgary, landlocked and long harsh Winter with major...

Posted by Jessie on Apr 14, 2013

Winery Review – Schnebly Redland’s Winery in Florida

Our dear friend, Celebrity Designer, Kiki Hamann brought us to this paradise-like Schnebly family winery. It’s the southernmost winery in the United States and it produces the most exotic handcrafted tropical wines, using no grapes! The winery has beautiful tropical gardens, coral waterfalls and cool tiki huts. They offer wine tasting daily and tours on weekends. They even have live music and...

Posted by Cher on Apr 1, 2013

Easter Brunch at Habitat Canmore

Yeah! It’s the long weekend and the weather was BEAUTIFUL! My husband and I drove to the Rocky Mountains with our dear friend for a much needed long weekend get away. We kept it schedule free, just wondered around the town of Canmore and soaked up our vitamin D with warm Spring sunshine and mountain fresh air. Rolling off the bed with the sound of running creek pass 10:30am, we were all hungry. Our...

Posted by Jessie on Feb 21, 2013

Good Eat in Calgary: Q Haute Cuisine

We recently had an amazing dinner experience at Q Haute Cuisine in downtown Calgary! We will definitely go back for more! The Chef’s table in the kitchen sounds very interesting – that may be the next thing we try! If you are a foodie and love some extraordinary culinary surprises, then I’d recommend you to try the Chef’s tasting menu at Q Haute Cuisine with wine pairing....

Posted by Cher on Dec 7, 2012

Calgary Zoolights 2012

We are four 7-year-Os tonight! 1.5 million twinkling lights got us OH SO Excited! Colourful and so mesmerizing. Over the past 14 years, Calgary Zoolights has gotten more and more popular and was voted Best Christmas Event in 2011 by Calgary’s Child Magazine. To me, it’s one of the best part of living in Calgary like our most engaging Mayor Nenshi. It’s not just for parents and kids....

Posted by Cher on Dec 6, 2012

BassBuds Earphones Review

VIVACOVA was recently invited by BassBuds to review BassBuds in-ear headphones. A pair of BassBuds was sent to us free of charge and we were very excited to open the package. It retails for CAD$85. If you buy online, you can save $30 with discount code BB75257. We got our in-house guest writer Tom, who was once a recording engineer and now a...

Posted by Cher on Nov 22, 2012

Spotted: The Barrymore Restaurant

I was in charge of making dinner arrangements for a business trip to Las Vegas. Looking for something new and refreshing, I stumbled upon The Barrymore on TripAdvisor and it seemed fitting for the occasion The taxi took all 3 of us to this relatively very retro and understated Royal Vacation Suites Hotel where The Barrymore is located. I was concerned and didn’t know why I felt I was...

Posted by Cher on Nov 1, 2012

Red Fish Blue Fish

From one of the very early episodes of Eat Street on FoodNetwork, I learned this fascinating little joint in Victoria BC Canada. Red Fish Blue Fish is always on my agenda when I visit. This time it was for a business trip. I spared a whole day walking around town with my husband, though raining, it was quite romantic. He’s been itching to try this place I’ve been bragging about, so off we went...

Good Eat: Down Town Food Modern Bistro Calgary

Posted by Cher on May 21, 2013 in Blog, Featured, Photos, Restaurant Reviews | 3 comments

Chef’s tasting menu is often our first choice on the menu during first visit. It tells uncompromising stories by the chefs, through which, unpublished tit-bits were often found. DTF’s Garde Manger chatted with us about the meal. We found that his favorite ingredient is mushroom. He experiments like a mad scientist in the kitchen. He wears trendy cap perhaps to hide his mad scientist hair from the hot kitchen (lab). Haha. We’ll be going back for the next seasonal menu for sure, and maybe get a chance to also chat with DTF’s Chef Darren MacLean in person.

: crispy nigiri

: Crispy Eggplant Wonton Tempura

: Qualicum Bay Scallop Ceviche

: Smoked Mushroom Consomme

: Broek Acre Pork

: Sable Fish

: Rhubarb Panna Cotta

: Lemon Tart

: Marquis Cake

V Indicators:

1. Delicious non-alcohol beverages: yes

2. Checks on the table: 4

3. The decibel point: 67

4. The price tag: $75.00/ person without wine pairing

Good Eat: Spanish Restaurant in Miami – Casa Juancho Restaurant

Posted by Jessie on Apr 26, 2013 in Blog, Food/Cooking, Restaurant Reviews | 0 comments

We came here with the local friends. Casa Juancho Restaurant offers live music = FUN!

Food and sangria were excellent! The baby eel and roasted pepper appetizers were great! Seafood paella was delicious!!! Caramel Custard & Pear poached in red wine sauce wrapped up a perfect day with friends in Miami!

這家在邁阿密的西班牙餐廳有現場音樂。海鮮飯也很好吃！

: Baby eels sauteed with olive oil and garlic

: Oak roasted peppers from Spain filled with codfish mousse

: Seafood Paella

: Caramel Custard

: Pear poached in red wine sauce

Good Eat Review: Oyster Bar Restaurant inside Grand Central Station NYC

Posted by Jessie on Apr 20, 2013 in Blog, Food/Cooking, Restaurant Reviews | 0 comments

We walked by the Oyster Bar Restaurant inside the Grand Central Station in New York City many times in the past and didn’t get a chance to try it. This past January when we took Mom to NYC, we took her to the Oyster Bar restaurant for lunch since she loves oyster and seafood!

我們過去經過在紐約市大中央車站內的牡蠣酒吧餐廳多次，但並沒有機會嘗試一下。今年一月初，我們帶媽媽去紐約時，我們帶她去Oyster酒吧餐廳吃午飯，因為她很喜歡牡蠣和海鮮！

New menu is printed daily! 他們每日打印新的菜單喔！

Retro upscale diner décor. 餐館裝飾是高檔又復古的風格。

Heavenly lunch with a good price! We recommend this place for a great seafood lunch!

美味的午餐，價錢也不算高！強烈推薦它!

這裡也不是太嘈雜。

It’s a great place to dine when you visit NYC.

Bloom! Canine & Orchids Runway Extravaganza at RF Orchids – Southern Florida Tropical Trail

Posted by Jessie on Apr 19, 2013 in Blog, Fashion/Beauty, Just for Fun, Lifestyle | 0 comments

Celebrity Designer, Kiki Hamann’s “Bloom! Canine & Orchids Runway Extravaganza” (click the link to see photos of the event) was hosted at the beautiful RF Orchids in Florida (on April 6, 2013). It is South Florida’s oldest and most prestigious orchid farm. There are many exotic orchids on display in the lush tropical garden. More beautiful photos on their facebook page - https://www.facebook.com/pages/RF-Orchids/129023360854

RF蘭花園是南佛羅里達州最古老且最負盛名的蘭花農場。有許多異國情調的蘭花顯示在鬱鬱蔥蔥的熱帶花園。他們的臉書頁面上有更多照片！

: Stella and I had hair and makeup done, ready for the fashion runway at RF Orchids!

Note: Escorted walking tours of the private garden at 11am and 3pm on Saturdays and Sundays. It’s closed on Mondays.

注：週六和週日的上午11時和下午3時有私人花園步行遊覽。它週一關閉。

Winery Review – Schnebly Redland’s Winery in Florida

Posted by Jessie on Apr 14, 2013 in Blog, Featured, Food/Cooking, Restaurant Reviews | 0 comments

They offer wine tasting daily and tours on weekends. They even have live music and dancing every Friday nights! We had a fabulous relaxing time wine tasting in the beautiful garden with our dear friends. We tried Avocado wine, Starfruit wine, Lychee wine, Mango wine… just to name a few. Tasting cost is $9.95 USD per person and you can keep the etched Schnebly wine glass :-) We loved all the wines that we sampled and brought home a few bottles! They also brew exotic fruit beers but we didn’t get to try it. We’ll go back for sure! We highly recommend this winery to anyone who is visiting southern Florida. It’s a great experience!

我們朋友，名設計師，琪琪哈曼，帶我們來了這個世外桃源般的Schnebly家族酒莊。這是在美國最南端的酒莊。它產生最奇特的，手工製作的，熱帶水果酒，完全沒有用葡萄做的酒！該酒廠擁有美麗的熱帶花園，珊瑚的瀑布和清涼的夏威夷風情木屋。

他們每日提供品酒的服務和週末遊覽。他們甚至每週五晚有現場音樂和舞蹈！我們有一個美妙的下午，與我們的親愛的朋友們在美麗的花園內放鬆品酒。我們試了酪梨酒，楊桃酒，荔枝酒，芒果酒…這只是僅舉幾例。我們很喜歡我們品嚐的水果酒，也帶回家了幾瓶！品酒的費用是每人$ 9.95美元，你還可以保留Schnebly酒杯做記念！

他們還釀造水果啤酒，但我們沒有機會去嘗試。我們肯定是會回去的！我們強烈推建這個佛羅里達州南部的酒莊。這是一個很美好的經驗！

Easter Brunch at Habitat Canmore

Posted by Cher on Apr 1, 2013 in Blog, Featured, Food/Cooking, Restaurant Reviews | 8 comments

Rolling off the bed with the sound of running creek pass 10:30am, we were all hungry. Our local friend suggested we check out this restaurant called Habitat located at Grande Rockies Resort for their Easter Brunch. It’s $25 a head, simple offering with full flavours. Traditional Easter ham was served with amazing fruit compote. Besides the regular brunch buffet items like fresh herb scramble eggs, sausages and bacons, Eggs Benedict, flaky pastry and fresh fruits; Habitat revealed a bit of its famous dinner menu charm with curry cauliflower soup and red wine beef stew that stole my husband’s heart before noon hour.

Brunch doesn’t seem to be a regular routine at Habitat. May be it’s an Easter special. Humorous and attentive service sure made me want to come back and try out their lunch and dinner indulgence.

Good Eat Review: Brunch at Lougheed House in Calgary

Posted by Jessie on Feb 28, 2013 in Blog, Food/Cooking, Restaurant Reviews | 0 comments

Lougheed House is a historical house full of history. It’s located in downtown Calgary (on 13 Ave SW between 6 & 7 St). Most people don’t know that they also have a restaurant there – call “The Restaurant.” It serves lunch from Wednesday to Sunday (11am to 2pm MT) and brunch on Saturdays and Sundays from 10am to 2pm. The food is always good. They use as much local food as possible. It’s a lovely place for a nice brunch on the weekend with family – they take reservations & it’s kid-friendly. You can also make reservation to have private function.

Lougheed House是位於卡爾加里市中心（13 AVE SW, 6及7街之間），一家充滿了歷史的建築。大多數人不知道，他們還有一個餐廳 – 供應午餐從週三到週日（上午11時至下午2時MT），週六和週日早午餐從上午10時至下午2時。他們盡可能地使用當地的食材，他們做得食物總是很好吃。春夏時，可欣賞他們著名的花園。這實在是個和家庭人享受早午餐不錯的地方。

: My Knight? ;-)

: Egg Benedict

: 自製蘋果派配香草冰淇淋

Good Eat Review: Lazy Monkey in NW Calgary – Taiwanese Casual Food

Posted by Jessie on Feb 26, 2013 in Blog, Food/Cooking, Restaurant Reviews | 2 comments

卡加利的台灣小吃 – 懶猴

Lazy Monkey is a Taiwanese restaurant in NW Calgary. It’s a small family operated restaurant. They offer some popular Taiwanese comfort food and a variety of the famous Taiwanese bubble tea drinks.

We visit it pretty often. :-)

Some of our favourite items:

Chicken Thigh with rice
Spring noodle soup
Dry ribs
Taiwanese version of “popcorn chicken”
Coconut toast
Bubble teas: My hubby’s favourite bubble tea is half sweet Passionfruit Green Tea with pearls (“bubbles”). Mine is half sweet Lychee black tea with pearls. If you like dessert flan (like me), then you must try “Pudding Milk Tea” – I usually ask “no sugar” for the milk tea since the pudding is already sweetened. You can try it “half sweet” for the first time.

排骨飯 Deep Fried Pork Chop with Rice

雞腿飯 Deep Fried Chicken with rice

Good Eat in Calgary: Q Haute Cuisine

Posted by Jessie on Feb 21, 2013 in Blog, Featured, Food/Cooking, Restaurant Reviews | 0 comments

If you are a foodie and love some extraordinary culinary surprises, then I’d recommend you to try the Chef’s tasting menu at Q Haute Cuisine with wine pairing. You can pick the number of courses and how many glasses of wine you prefer. It’s a great restaurant for a special occasion and for foodies.

Take a look at our delicious 8-course chef’s tasting menu dinner below: (which included a dessert “cooked” with liquid nitrogen by the table side! Super cool!)

dessert cooked with liquid nitrogen

Everything is made and sealed in the kitchen

mini assorted desserts

toasted marshmallow + camomile tea (in the tube below the marshmallow)

Until next time… Cheers!

Like Q Haute on Facebook & Follow Q Haute on Twitter

You can see the menu and book your table on their website - www.qhautecuisine.com

冬蟲夏草的價格比黃金還貴！Chinese Caterpillar Fungus – Dongchongxiacaojun is good for your health but bad for your bank account

Posted by Jessie on Feb 18, 2013 in Blog, Food/Cooking, Product Review | 1 comment

這近兩個月，我一直在咳嗽！沒有喉嚨痛，就是乾咳 – 似乎是來從肺部深處。很惱人。我喝完了一個朋友為我做的冬蟲夏草泡的草藥酒。蟲草有止咳化痰、平喘的功效…它確實很有幫助 – 治好了咳嗽藥都沒用的咳，我喝了大概八-九天 (一次只要一小口. 我都只是在晚上睡覺前喝)，就不咳了。。所以，我也想要自己去做另一瓶，未雨綢繆。

還好我去商店之前做了點研究，發現冬蟲夏草的價值比黃金還貴！好的每兩(約$38克)大約是要$2,300加幣，好貴喔！但它真的很有效吔! 想了很久，還是去買了一小盒（約19克），它耗費了我一個LV包的資本… 它的售價為$999.99CAD，但是，我還價到$900CAD。我數了包裝盒中的冬蟲夏草。結論是每支冬蟲夏草約$10元加幣。我把整盒冬蟲夏草放入一瓶45％酒精的威士忌。十至三十天就是草藥酒了。如果有咳嗽，一次只要一小口. 我都只是在晚上睡覺前喝。

注：你喝完整瓶的草藥酒後（一瓶應持續一年以上)，你可以用酒浸泡過的冬蟲夏草煮雞湯或加入任何菜餚。冬蟲夏草是可以整個吃掉到的，別浪費了！

I’ve been coughing for almost two months! The dry cough is so annoying!!! I don’t have a sore throat but the dry cough seems to come deep from the lung. I drank the last bit of Dongchongxiacaojun herbal liquor, which a friend made for me a year or two ago. It really helped – I had a sip of it every night for about 8-9 days and the dry cough stopped. So, I looked into making another bottle of it myself in case I need it again in the future.

It was a good thing that I did my research before I went to the store. I found out that Dongchongxiacaojun is valued more than gold ! I bought a small box of it (about 19g) and it cost me a LV bag… well, close… it’s priced at $999.99CAD but I negotiated down to $900CAD. I counted the number of “sticks” in the box. It’s about $10CAD per stick of “winter worm, summer grass.” I put the entire box of it into a bottle of 45% alcohol whiskey. It doesn’t matter which brand. I bought Maker’s Mark because I wanted to try it since it’s in the recent whiskey news. My friend used Crown Royal Whiskey before. It should be ready to drink after 10 days. Some sources says it’s better after 30 days.

Note: after you drank the whole bottle herbal liquor (the bottle should last more than a year or two since you only need a small sip of it each time. After you finish the bottle, you can cook the alcohol soaked Chinese Caterpillar Fungus in chicken soup or any dishes. You can eat the whole thing.