The Adventures of Andrew Maurer

Woke up and was delighted it was the weekend. Got up slowly, and had some leftover potato pancakes along with a bowl of muesli. I studied for a bit and was somewhat successful; I’ve got the start of some monetary policy notes now which is good. While flipping through the Westender I found a 2-for-1 coupon for a Singaporian restaurant on Davie street.

Kam’s place doesn’t look fabulous from the outside. It’s got a nice entrance sign along with a typical neon “open” sign. It was really quiet when we first walked in, in comparison to the busy street outside. We asked to sit by the window, where the tail end of the day’s sunlight was still shining in. I had the “ginger pork” and Katie ordered the “red curry chicken”. We also each ordered the “coconut rice”, served steaming in a banana leaf. It was presented very nicely indeed. We decided to split the entrees, and both were quite good. Though I thought the ginger chicken was fabulous. And the rice was something unique, with a subtle hint of coconut. I wonder if it was cooked in coconut milk as opposed to water. Or perhaps some desicated or shredded coconut was added to the rice pot. Either way it was excellent, portions were huge, and the food was very tasty. We had plenty of leftovers for lunch the next day.

While perusing the dessert menu, we came across deep fried banana along with mango ice cream. It sounded bizarre so we decided to go for it. As pictured, it was presented very nicely and the heat of the banana contrasted nicely with the cold ice cream. It’s one of those things that tastes far better than it sounds. It was great having it, though I don’t think I’d order it again, being almost the price of an entree.

Met up with Mike, Alena, Kyle, and Kyle’s friend Marco at my place later on. We had a bit to drink, spent some time catching up, and went out to the Naam (another Vancouver restaurant I like very much). I had a pot of the Catnap tea, my first time experiencing Naam’s very own creation. It’s a blend of peppermint, chamomile, rosehip, clove, linden, and sage. I liked it very much, having only really been cultured to breakfast and Earl Grey tea. I will definitely have tea at the Naam again. I may go so far as to try getting into loose leaf tea at home.

The next couple days will be spent further preparing for my exams and enjoying Thanksgiving dinner at home.

Game theory midterm – check! Schoolwork for the week – check! Crepes and Nutella for the day – check! I made an interesting dinner today of potato pancake type things. They involved grating potatos, mixing with grated cheese, caramelized onions, cilantro, salt and pepper, and a dollop of olive oil. They were quite tasty indeed albeit a tad greasy. They were accompanied by an Argentinian Cabernet Sauvignon.

The plan for the weekend is to get all my midterm studying out of the way, to have Thanksgiving dinner at home, and to have a study session with my honours macroeconomics class. I’m happy it’s Friday. I also hear Mike, Quinn, Kyle, et al are back in town so I might see them at some point. I haven’t seen them since the summer, it would be good to catch up.

This picture is of the wall in my bedroom. Whenever people walk past on the sidewalk I can see their shadows against my wall. It’s like a movie set

Went to Costco today to restock on some essentials. 5Kg of oatmeal, Early Grey Tea, bananas (I haven’t been eating enough fruit), enough Canadian bacon to last me a long time, and a 35 pack of “Red Rave” energy drinks. Sure, my mum always tells me they’re full of nothing good, but if they can help to keep me awake they’ve done their job. Caffeine just doesn’t do the trick for me. It was actually the first time I’ve been to the Costco downtown. I’ve always been surprised that a store that big could survive in downtown Vancouver with the exorbitantly high land prices and all. It was great having the skytrain go right to the front door, so there wasn’t too much walking involved.

I cheated again today on my picture. I took this the other day I made crepes, and had them again tonight so I figured it would be a suitable shot. Let it be known that midnight crepes are defined as those which are served after midnight but before breakfast. The meal takes name from when the first crepe is served. Unfortunately I didn’t have any Nutella left, so I went with brown sugar and lemon tonight. Delicious! I discovered Nutella with a spoon a couple days after purchasing it. All I can say is that it didn’t last long. It might not sound all that desirable, but try it, there’s no going back!

I have my game theory midterm tomorrow. It’s 2am now and I’m going to get back to studying. Oh how the long weekend beckons!

My Spanish midterm was alright. This is definitely the moment where I’ve seen that unless I buckle down to work, I’m going to struggle a lot this term. On that note, I decided to not go to longhike this weekend. I’ve been looking forward to climbing in Squamish for weeks now, but I realize that sometimes I’ve got to put school first. This is one of those times.

Picture is of Koerner Library at UBC. It’s close to a few of my classes, so I go there occasionally to study. Every Wednesday we have a fraternity meeting and tonight I was elected treasurer of the Phi Delta Theta pledge class. I think it’ll be good having some added involvement in the fraternity. Since I don’t live there, I need to start involving myself in other areas. I’m still working on learning everyone’s names.

Getting this photo was unbelievable. I pulled out my camera and within two seconds, a security guard came to question me. I was told that without the manager’s permission, pictures including other people or employees were forbidden. I spoke to the manager, had to give my name, student number, and contact information, and then had to get the picture verified by her. Unbelievable!

Later went to dinner at La Notte, a few blocks from here. Tuesday night is pasta night with all pasta at $7.99. The restaurant was quite full for a weeknight. It had a nice mood to it, with mostly older people, and an Italian feel. The Linguine Al Pesto was very good and I came out quite satisfied. It’s great experiencing the different restaurants of Vancouver and finding the highest utility per dollar.

Last night was my first all-nighter of this year; I expect it won’t be the last. I, as always, left my assignment until the day before it was due. Fortunately now I understand game theory better than before. On the down side, there’s still a lot to do over the next few weeks – a development assignment due tomorrow, a Spanish midterm wednesday, and a game theory midterm Friday.

The evening is still young at the moment, so if I crack down to work right away and finish as much as possible, I’ll be able to get some sleep tonight. Leftover curry for dinner was excellent. Rice doesn’t fare terribly well in the refrigerator but the curry doesn’t loose any flavour. I’ve added to my list of things to do going down to the Indian area of Fraser St and picking up some more bulk spices. My inventory is starting to run too low for comfort. Oh, and I bought 10lb of potatos and 10lb of onions on Sunday for $2.47 each. I can’t believe how cheap they are. I think my diet is about to substantially change.

On the topic of cooking, I cooked some crepes for breakfast this morning. They were fantastic. And oh so inexpensive – flour, eggs, milk, and a topping. I had homemade mango syrup on the first couple and nutella on the others. The mangos were given to me by John, my landlord. Both him and Christina are great. Although not having flipped crepes for at least a few months, maybe a few years, I picked it up pretty quickly. I caught the crepe imperfectly once or twice, causing it to folder over on itself, but this was easily fixed with a spatula. A great way to start the morning!

On another note, I cheated on my photo of the day today. I didn’t use my camera much, and don’t have any suitable photos. This one’s from yesterday and was one of the first photos taken with my 17-40mm. Having the wide angle is great! And it’s so sharp too. Sometimes the 50mm is just too far on the telephoto end. I’ll try not to cheat again!

This weekend was supposed to be all about studying and getting ready for my midterms coming up, but I decided to cook a wok of curry as I haven’t made it in ages. Curry tonight really made me realize that curry made properly is one of my favourite dishes. I also bought a news lens for my camera today – the Canon 17-40mm L lens for $650. I picked it up from Frank at King Edward station, and it looked as good as new – in the box with manuals, plastic, and everything. I was impressed. Hopefully some great pictures to come! (My picture today was from the 50mm)

I bought my new used Canon Rebel XSi body for $475 yesterday and a Canon 50mm f/1.8 lens for $130. I’m happy it’s the weekend because my life has been stuck in the on position without much time for relaxation. Not that this weekend will be any less busy; I have most of my midterms coming up over the next couple weeks and a big wad of assignments due. It’s occasions like these that really test the mettle of a student. I hope to be writing two weeks from now that everything went perfectly. That means that it is crunch time this weekend. On that note, I will get to work! Bring on the all-nighters!