I cuss a lot. Content is opinionated. There is the possibility of my posting copyright images or materials, but I do not claim pictures as my own unless otherwise stated—they belong to their rightful owners and I will lead you to the source as often as I can. I am not a bacon vendor. I am unsure if Atlantis exists. You are not a chair, etc.
I don't really remember how I ended up at Las Marg. I think I had initiated a Facebook message amongst friends to try to catch some of the Dine Out Vancouver wave that happens mid January to the beginning of February every year. We agreed to go to Las Marg, but there was something silly like how we couldn't access the Dine Out menu if we didn't have reservation.
We went anyways to hang out and ordered off the regular menu.
I'm not going to lie at all-- I was pretty indifferent about going to a Mexican food place. I'm not Mexican, but I have tacos or chili every month, and it just so happened that I was caught during a week when I had already had Mexican food twice. My taste buds were pretty tired of that genre of food, so this review might be a little... biased. I'm not sure if that's the word, haha. But it's going to be skewed because of my very Mexican week prior.
I had never been to Las Margaritas prior to this. I was really surprised at how freaking dark it was in the restaurant. It was lovely though-- the decor made it seem very much like I wasn't in West Van anymore. If there was a dance floor and really loud music, I would've felt like I was in that one club scene from Dirty Dancing: Havana Nights ... LOL
Before I left home, I perused the online menu and Urbanspoon to see what I wanted to eat. After some research, I knew I was going to order the Pancho Villa Tostada and I really REALLY wanted to try Jarritos. I was super excited for trying Jarritos than actually having the food, haha.
Here's the shot of my PVT:
And here are some of the things my friends ordered:
The food wasn't elegantly presented, but I honestly think it's ridiculous to expect legitimate Mexican food to be presented like a piece of artwork. I mean, the ingredients they work with are refried beans. Refried beans will usually be ugly, haha. I enjoyed my meal, the price was what I expected it to be, (PVT for $11.50, I believe,) and I had stuff to take home. And I always love taking food home, because for some reason, I end up sooooooooo hungry when I get home from ANY restaurant.
I don't think I'm going to go back if I have a choice, simply because I already eat enough Mexican food as is-- NOT because I don't like the place. The restaurant is charming and I consider their food, comfort. Our server was really busy but supremely nice. I was also hella pumped because I got to keep the Jarritos bottle and I collect bottles, so that was a plus. =) People should give this place a try if they don't know anyone who already makes a good batch of homemade Mexican food.
Here is my finaaaaaal evaluaaaaaation:
FOOD ♥♥♥♡♡ | SERVICE ♥♥♥♡♡ VALUE ♥♥♥♡♡ | AMBIANCE ♥♥♥♥♡
So I just came back from the theatre with my chums and we saw Hansel and Gretel: Witch Huntersin 3D. And, well...
AH MAH GAH
AH MAH GAH
AHH
AHHH
AHHHH
AH MAH GAH
...
AHH
ahhhhhh ahhhh
omggggggg sooooo GOOOOOOOOOOOOOOD AHHHH AHHHAHHH OMGOSH OMGOSH ACK \\sjsadkjfqkwe@#23434tkwenrfn,mqw3jek'p I DON'T EVEN UNDERSTAND I DON'T GET IT HOW IS IT SO GOOD WHY IS IT SO WONDERFULAHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHH
But yes, alright, okay, I swear I can make it through this blog post in one lovely piece. Or, er... maybe one kind of... teary, slobbery piece of person. Uh.
ALSO, a disclaimer before you get any further. There MAY BE SPOILERS. This is my first movie review type of thing and I am trying my best not to reveal too much because I hate spoilers myself... So at least now, if I slip up, I've warned you !
I saw the trailer andwasn't too impressed by it at first to be completely honest. My first impression of it was that it was very clever to take an old tale by the Grimm brothers and to revamp it. It looked like one of those beefy movieswith otherwise zero plot but glorious, copious amounts of bullet shells and blood and gore. And I'm not really sure if I make it known, but I'm quite the fan of lighter, unrealistic blood and gore. I watch American Horror Story, so maybe that will give you an idea of what I mean.
Here's the trailer, so you might make an opinion of it all yourself:
Coming back from watching it, I took another gander at the trailer... And I really do not feel that it did the actual movie justice. It didn't represent the experience well in the sense that the movie was actually better than the trailer. And it's weird, because I don't think that's ever really been the case for me. I find movies have a tendency of either 1) getting all the good bits and putting them in the trailer so that the movie actually falls below your expectations, or 2) the trailer is equivalent to the hype, like it usually is with anything Marvel, I find.
Ooh, update! I just found this trailer, which isn't really aired because it has a mature rating. So be warned, there's a lot more blood in this trailer. I just realized that maybe that was why the previous, generally more publicized trailer didn't really represent the movie quite as well. I had forgotten than not everyone is over 18 =p
This is definitely more representative of the actual movie, and it does give away too much I think. But there's still lots of good stuff in the movie itself, so it's not too bad !
I won't go into the plot because I really need you to go see this movie, and hopefully I motivate you to at least get curious about all this H&G, buttttt the plot was so odd that it ended up working quite well. It reminded me of Sucker Punch, Snakes on a Plane and Abraham Lincoln: Vampire Hunter. They all have staying power in the memory because of how kooky they are.
Also, seeing grown-up versions of childhood characters has always been something that has appealed to me, so this was great to see two hot (HOT) siblings kicking witch booty.
The dialogue was base, but there was effective use of the script. Excellent comedy pockets here and there. It is, after all, classified as a "Action/Adventure/Comedy/Horror" movie (thanks Google,) so I guess asking for a nice juicy script would be too much because time has to be made for all of the blood and the jumping around and kicking witches.
Something I do with movies is that sometimes I view them andassess them as stills, or photographs. If there are stills that I would want to hang up on my wall in my bedroom, then I know that this movie has done it for me. And I'm pretty picky about what I put on my walls. I also did film for a year in secondary school, which kind of ruined movies for me in a way because I sometimes see them from the filming perspective. I turned that off for this movie and really just focused on consuming the story-telling, but the shots were generally average. Nothing going on like breaking the rule like The Matrix did with a 360 rotation, haha. There weren't any still images or super beautifully filmed tidbits that I would seclude and surround myself with, unfortunately. Anything to do with the siblings in the candy house, watching the witch burn is lovely though. That was the bit that I favored most aesthetically.
Something that got me real good through, and thatI am thoroughly impressed with though is the costume and make-up of all the witches. Hooooooooooly crap, I have so much respect for the people who conceptualized the witches. There were so many of them and I loved that each of them was unique in appearance and ability. They were pretty ugly, but ugly in a beautiful way haha. I am so damned impressed with dem witches. Here are some of the ones you'll get to see =):
I almost died at the beginning of the movie for another reason entirely. There was a shot of a bow and I swear I knew subconsciously that Hansel's weapon was NOT a bow, but I freaked out in the theatre for a little bit until I rediscovered that Gretel's weapon of choice was a bow. I was like "HNGGGGGGG HAWKEYE IS HANSEL IS HAWKEYE WITH BOWWWWWWWWW YEAAAAAAAAAAH!" But no, it was Gretel with the bow... LOL.
Hansel's designated weapon was a really big gun. Which my friend pointed out one-third through the movie, looked a lot like a dick. I didn't even think about that and throughout the rest of the movie, I couldn't un-see Hansel's "ween-gun." THANKS ELLEN LOL.
HAVE YOU BEEN RUINED YET?
WHOOPS, SORRY.
I went to see this movie for the opportunity to chill with my friends and fan-girl about Jeremy Renner but ended up liking this movie much more than I have liked a movie for awhile, (The Avengers.) SO YEAH. THAT IS MY FIRST EVER MOVIE REVIEW, I AM ALIVE ='D
SO SO SO
MA RATINGS:
PLOT ♥♥♥♡♡
"CLASSIC TALE, NEW TWIST" as they say. Not a super-creative concept, actually quite simple, but it got a lot of mileage from that.
DIALOGUE ♥♥♥♥♡
Packed a lot in there for a script with a very lean script.
CHARACTER ♥♥♥♥♡
I thoroughly enjoyed the sibling chemistry between Hansel and Gretel. They were the perfect duo who played off each other. Something I particuarly enjoyed is that they fit both as two very close siblings, as well as a potential couple. I find that, in other shows or movies, the siblings are too much of siblings or that they are built so that you kind of expect something incestual. But here, it's like a "predictable question-mark," if you will. I'm not really sure if this is making sense, but it makes sense in my head LOL.
OH, and again, they're SUPER HOT.
VISUAL AESTHETIC/FX ♥♥♥♡♡
Costumes ruled, over-all make of the film was average. And I still don't know what's up with that ween-gun. It looks awfully prop-ish too.
Also, this is kind of off track, but Gretel's cleavagewas
PERFECT.
EVERY.
TIME.
Damn it. DAMN IT.
MUSIC ♥♥♥♡♡
A lot of rock in there, which I thought was typical but still really enjoyed. And I found it quite funny that they didn't really use dramatic orchestra music instead, but it matched the idea of revamping this story with lots of blood and bullets.
FEELS ♥♥♥♡♡
Do I feel that the story pulled me into wracking emotion, as in intense joy or intense anger or intense sadness? No, not really.
FAN-GIRL DEATH LEVELS ♥♥♥♥♥
But, on another note, I did almost die a couple of times from seeing Renner this and Renner that... LOL
Overall, I give "Hansel and Gretel: Witch Hunters" my fragile fan-girl heart and a ween-gun up LOL
Now, I will leave you with a lot of Renner gifs so that you may not sleep and possibly explode, if you are anything like me!
I know, I know, I posted a similar image set a couple of days ago.
But this one is a little different because you can see my face. I just uploaded this to Facebook and I usually put stupid, artsy one liners to go with my profile pictures. For this one, I was thinking about saying "People have told me that I try too hard. And I'm afraid they might be right."
But I didn't feel like Facebook and its audience really needed that from me. I felt that I needed to explain that to myself. I think another big part of why that line popped into my head was triggered by watching this video a couple of days ago:
It is for a play my old friend will be in. And there was just so much about identity in it. Questions I thought I knew how to answer, but I really don't. Or I'm learning how to at the age of 22.
I've always had an identity problem. I grew up naturally as a louder kid, but the culture of my parents got them to mold me into something that I, now that I look back at it all, feel that I was never really meant to be. I had a hunch that there was something up because I went to elementary school with kids who were allowed to be loud and mischievous. I feel kind of angry because I don't really think I got the full "kid" experience because I had so many restrictions. But really there's not much use reminiscing about that now because that was the past.
Except not really, no, I still deal with the same problems. My parental units still have these beliefs that blockade me from being what could be the true me. That's what frightens me-- I care so much about other people think. I'm picking up on this better now, but I still have it in me, and sometimes it can be poison.
So that's what that caption meant to me. There were times when I would try so hard to be something I wasn't really, and it would show. I still do that sometimes without fully meaning to. And it frustrates me, because I can never really hit the in-between of all of this. I know I will if I keep trying, but right now, the feedback I've gotten is either that I'm trying too hard, or that I can't be this because it's "unacceptable." And I have unrealistically high standards, so often things are not enough. But you can probably see the problem here. There's not really a place where all of this intersects. I need to work to break all of these down to find a common ground.
I just ended up putting this as the actual caption of the photo:
i've gotten over the fact that i can't really be the conventional beautiful, and it's alright. since when was i ever conventional?
That's enough reflection for now. But I'm on my way, and that's more than I can say about the last while.
I FULFILLED MY DREAM OF HAVING A TEA-PARTY. IT WAS LEGIT.
Now that I got that out on the table, I can move along... LOL
For a joint birthday thing, my God-sister and I went to have high tea. Its something that we talked about doing but had never actually done. Until my sister found out about this cute little place in East Van, had gone with a friend, and had told me about it.
People who know me know that I'm cheap. And I had always been hesitant to go to high tea because of 1) the price and 2) the "uppity-ness" of it. People who know me also know that I'm not exactly the girliest girl on the planet. I have chipped nails and I wear XXL flannel mens sweaters. And when I can, my feet rejoice in the glory of my sister's maroon Doc Martens.
But another thing about me is that I would rather have food over many other things. Example-- I really don't own any pairs of jeans. I just steal them off my sibling. We were shopping one day and there was jeans for sale for like, $5, and I decided to save that money for Qoola. Of course. Because food is a good enough reason. So I really don't have much hope of buying pants for awhile... lool.
La Petite Culliere is located in the charming neighbourhood of Mount Pleasant. To be quite honest, I did not even know that that neighbourhood was called such, and I'm a 20 minute bus-ride away ... Ah, this is the sound of me breaking the walls of my ignorance down.
No but seriously... LOL. Oh my goodness, focus. FOCUS.
After adventuring through their very lovely website (lapetitecuillere.ca) I found out that their price for high tea was dead cheap. To be quite honest, it wasn't only the price that drew me in. Being an appreciator of aesthetics, their website did it for me.
When you first enter it, you are struck by a beautiful logo, consisting of only an image of a teaspoon. It's circular, with lace edging the sides, and the text is this antiquated type script that reminds me of something I feel I might find on the tickets of those boarding the Titanic. It's beautiful. Below this, you see a picture of the view from the store as of 1908. And I love old Vancouver. And there it was.
Enough about their gorgeous website though...
I went on the 19th and it was a very crisp, chilly but thankfully bright morning. My God-sister lead me to the place, and I was surprised to find that it was tucked into this place that I passed quite often with my family on trips, but never noticed. The feel that their location adds to the magic of their tea house in the way that it's not there unless you want to see it. There's something mysterious and lovely about it, I can't really put my finger on it. It just reminds me so much of things I'd read in fairy tales as a kid, and mangas as a teen.
I entered and was really just ... perplexed, in the most positive sense of the word. I could easily see how the place could look like any other restaurant if it was bare-walled, like Vietnamese Pho shop, or a bubble tea place.
However, this was not so. There was all this old, bulky, charming wood furniture that, at times, looked mismatched. Don't get me wrong though-- this was an all-good kind of mismatched. There was a cupboard filled with English bone china right by the door. There were several tables spread across the floor, all with plush seats accompanying them. The place was so homey. It felt like a thrift shop too somehow, but not like a Goodwill-- like a thrift shop you might step into if you lived in 1908. (Although I am unsure if they had that going on then, haha.)
The table set-up was weird but very cute. There were lovely table-cloths, gold lamps, and the sugar bowl really stuck out for me because it had sugar cubes in them. And I don't remember ever actually having access to sugar cubes before. (Weird.) There were also cactuses and cows! This pleased me to no end. Someone had just mentioned these cows in my advertising class and most of the class had no idea what the hell she was talking about. BUT NOW I KNOW.
This is the description of all the lovely wicked dainty things I ate with attempted daintiness:
A selection of two miniature sweets, two finger sandwiches, one
miniature scone, fruit preserves, and Devonshire cream.
I ordered their "Darling Darjeeling," (SO CUTE,) for my choice of tea. It was so
good, I don't remember what it tasted like. Part of me thinks I'm also
just saying that just to go back. I'm actually straining my brain,
sitting here at the keyboard, trying to remember what it tastes like. I
CAN'T. IT'S LIKE TRYING TO REMEMBER A DREAM. ITS FADING. WAH. I should go refresh my memor... Heh heh ;D
I had no idea what Devonshire cream was and I was asking my God-sister all the time about what to use for what. Which is kind of nuts now that I think back because it was just a bunch of spoons and forks and cream and jam. Yep, that's what anxiety mixed with learning looks like LOL.
I won't tell you more details about what the minature sweets and finger sandwiches actually were because I really think people should just go find out themselves. I suppose that that's probably really contradictory for a foodie blogpost, but I actually do feel like I'm enough of an advocate of this place that I should let it continue to hold its mystery. All you need to know is that I enjoyed every bit and I thought that the price was quite reasonable, considering that similar foods that you would try to buy at other bakeries and shops would probably add up to the same price as what they were giving you here. Not to mention that I got a good three cups of tea out of that. Which was very surprising.
And you know, I'll give you a hint on the food with the following pictures LOL
In terms of service, there were two young women who took care of us. And they really did take care of us. They came back multiple times to ask if we were doing alright, and the frequency was good enough that it wasn't too spanned out and it wasn't ever annoying. I believe that the tea house is run by an Asian family, which makes me feel even more enthusiastic about their cause. There is something heart-warming about independent, local businesses, but it was cool to see that there was a family involved with this. I think I might've seen a little brother in the kitchen ^_^! I'm a big fan.
Another thing that I found cool was that they were Asian. I don't mean to be racist of course, but high tea is something I more associate with the English. Tea ceremonies and green teas are the Asian connection I make. It was really nice to see that cross-over, and to see something that was a little more unconventional, in my eyes at least.
Another quirky thing about La Petite Cuillère is that their servers were dressed the part. And one was kind of younger and awkward, so I felt really at home because I'm so very awkward too LOL AWKWARD PEOPLE UNITE.
All in all, I think La Petite Culliere is a place I will be revisiting in my future, frequently. Everyone who is into tea should give it a try. I can't wait until the next time I go =)
Here are my ratings !
FOOD ♥♥♥♥♡ | SERVICE ♥♥♥♥♥ VALUE ♥♥♥♥♡ | AMBIANCE ♥♥♥♥♥
Now, to stop dreaming about Darling Darjeeling and to get on that homework... Drat = |
I'm not sure what the title means, apart from me starting piano at nine.
Anyways, I decided to ditch homework and get something I feel has been wanting to be completed for a long while-- a piano cover. I was appalled to find that I started on this song in February of 2012. I thought it was only six months since I started, but no, its been almost a year.
It occured to me awhile ago, but I've only started to take it seriously recently-- that our lives are basically, eventually, defined by what we leave behind. The ash after the embers have gone out. It sounds kind of odd, maybe grim when I phrase it like that, as if I'm preparing for my death or something, but no. No, I just mean that only from working on yourself will you start to become your own David.
So I started working. And one of the things I've wanted to improve upon is my ability to consistently practice the piano.
And yeah, instead of sitting my butt down and doing homework, I opted to
do about 40 takes (on top of the 30 takes I took last week) to finally
get this bit out of my system.
I have had the fortune of being published in a lovely poetry and short fiction anthology at my University called "THE LIAR." I was thrilled to find some people wanting to read it so below are the two of my poems that have been published. Thank you for your interest and your love~
- jen
***
true
love
soft spoken and soft bodied
with a will of solid gold
she drew me fancy lines
telling me of romantic worlds and
a life of billed greens and greener grass
turns out all she was was green
i left this place seeking
a calmer love and an earned dollar,
less lipstick marks on collars of my
soft white dress shirts
less flashing lights and high percentage drinks
so
asleep, shirtless, on a summer evening
i had found myself in a beautiful place
but this time, a place self-earned.
my truest love lay besides me, and
the stars were tired, fading out, giving in to morning.
that was when i heard a 'click'
i guess i shouldn't have been surprised to see her there
still greener than the money that filled her empty life.
but there was something else, a colour i'd never noticed before
red
somehow, i could it see it on her hands,
but worse—
i
could see it in her eyes.
***
over you
i’m running my mouth
on the gasoline that you’ve filled me with,
lighting a fire
on a star-shined road.
your flesh is warm
and i would expect so
but your heart is cold
and with your eyes of stone,
i wonder.
i wonder about the stars
and how god can dim their brightness
or
let them burn spots into your eyes.
i’d like that, over you.
you hold the key
and i’m waiting to be unlocked.
pray me well,
because i’ll always wait.
Posts
I don't really remember how I ended up at Las Marg. I think I had initiated a Facebook message amongst friends to try to catch some of the Dine Out Vancouver wave that happens mid January to the beginning of February every year. We agreed to go to Las Marg, but there was something silly like how we couldn't access the Dine Out menu if we didn't have reservation.
We went anyways to hang out and ordered off the regular menu.
I'm not going to lie at all-- I was pretty indifferent about going to a Mexican food place. I'm not Mexican, but I have tacos or chili every month, and it just so 
happened that I was caught during a week when I had already had Mexican food twice. My taste buds were pretty tired of that genre of food, so this review might be a little... biased. I'm not sure if that's the word, haha. But it's going to be skewed because of my very Mexican week prior.
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