Vancouver is just a 2-hour flight from Sacramento, so this year’s ASRS meeting gave me an excuse to take my wife and son for our first family trip abroad. Our Airbnb was centrally-located downtown, so we made good use of local transit upon arrival. Inspired by a recent NY Times article, we headed to Richmond for a self-guided food tour that began with a fluffy pineapple bun and silky tofu-fa, and ended with excellent spicy wontons and lamb noodles from Xi’an Cuisine, although we disappointingly missed out on the sold-out cold noodles. Next morning, we changed our plans from the UBC campus to Queen Elizabeth Park. Though we just missed the transient bloom of the corpse flower at Bloedel Conservatory, we enjoyed Westley’s interactions with the tropical birds. Lunch at Long’s Noodle House was an amazing find for soup dumplings and both sweet & salty soy milk, but the Hainanese chicken and laksa at Hawker’s Delight was unimpressive. The afternoon concluded with Frommer’s walking-tour through Gastown and Chinatown, with a brief stop at Dr. Sun Yat-Sen Classical Chinese Garden en route to Kissa Tanto, where we enjoyed some amazing Italian-Japanese fusion. On Friday, with newly-purchased jackets and creamy coffee buns from Lonsdale Quay, we rode train, ferry, and bus to Capilano Suspension Bridge. The shaky, narrow bridge was no obstacle for our toddler, who navigated the treetops with aplomb. Further north at Grouse Mountain, the Skyride ascent provided a panoramic view of Vancouver city. The death-defying daredevil at the Lumberjack Show was unnerving to watch, as were the swooping owls and falcons that led to Westley whipping his snooze-shade closed, but the grizzly bears enjoyed his attention before we departed. After a late nap, we headed to the Richmond Night Market. A $25 splurge for a 6-pack entry helped us skip the 45-min line before we immersed ourselves in meat skewers, senbei crackers, roti mac-n-cheese, rainbow mixed dumplings, Korean-style pork belly, dragon beard candy, stuffed crab claws, matcha mochis, stinky tofu, grilled squid, egglet with ice-cream, and golden milk tea. I spent Saturday at the conference while Melody and Westley wandered around Vancouver Aquarium in Stanley Park. We met for lunch at Marutama Ramen, then parted again for my ad board and case presentation until dinner at the Royal Dinette. On Sunday, we returned to Richmond to visit the International Buddhist Temple, followed by another go at Xi’an Cuisine for their spicy wontons and cold noodles, Peanuts taro coconut boba tea, Top Shanghai’s soy milk and XLB, HK BBQ Master’s roast/BBQ pork, and Dynasty’s steamy dim sum. After awaking from our ensuing food coma, I presented at a Zeiss symposium while my family chilled at a nearby playground. We spent our last full day on Granville Island. After landing early via aquabus and browing stores and galleries, we embarked on a Foodie Tour where the highlights were duck prosciutto and a fresh honey-dipped donut. We supplemented with bison poutin and free masala chai, then ate more at dinner with my cousin Steven at Kirin, including fresh spot prawns, Peking duck, and scallop fried rice. Despite the occasional struggles with our tempestuous 2-year-old, we look forward to returning again to sample Vancouver’s amazing Asian cuisine in the near future.

Our plan for a lab retreat to South Lake Tahoe was almost foiled when our Airbnb hosts told us that they had accidentally double-booked our cabin. Fortunately, they found another property to put us up in and offered to refund the costs, making the lodging essential free. Some lab folks had already made a Costco run a few days prior, and dropped off loads of beef, sausages, eggs, OJ, milk, bell peppers, tomatoes, mushrooms, and other fixings to store at our house. This made for some creative arranging in the car trunk along with Westley’s luggage as we headed out Saturday morning. After stopping by McDonald’s for a potty stop and breakfast, we headed to the Eagle Falls Trail, parked on the side of the road, then made the short hike to the top of the falls. Westley was no fan of being strapped in the baby carrier, wailing “too tight!” as I ascended the steep, rocky steps, but managed to stand briefly in the water. We shared some hot dog biscuits with a local chipmunk for lunch before checking into the rental. Westley fell asleep quickly for his daytime nap, which gave us the opportunity to unpack and shift furniture around to make room for his pack-n-play. After he woke up, we joined my labmates at Pope Beach for badminton and volleyball. Westley helped with sand castle-building but did not brave the water. Thunder and lightning drove us back to the cabin, and we rigged a patio umbrella over the propane grill for burgers, skewers, and corn. The evening concluded with a group picture followed by an intense game of Pandemic over refreshing watermelon. After a restless night of Westley tossing and turning in bed, we awoke to eggs, sausage, and pancakes for breakfast while watching France defeat Croatia in the World Cup finals. We efficiently cleaned up for check out, then headed back to Pope Beach for more relaxation before driving back. The busy traffic and lack of a rest stop led Westley to wake up to a meltdown in the last part of the trip. To recover, we feasted at Tasty Kitchen followed by durian pancakes and mango with black sticky rice at the new Sweet Honey Dessert in Davis. With just two days before our trip to Vancouver, we’ll have to plan quickly!

We decided to visit the Bay area Japan Center on July 4th for some lunch and shopping. Despite not knowing the traffic conditions and both of us being on call that day, we took a chance and made the last-minute decision to go. Fortunately, the drive was smooth and all the stores were open. After shopping knick knacks at Daiso, we waited in line at Marufuku Ramen for delicious hakata tonkotsu ramen and karaage, although Westley’s favorite was probably the matcha soft serve from Matcha Cafe Maiko. We returned in time to grill some burgers and hot dogs with Emmeline and Eugene, who stuck around for MarioKart after Melody got called in and Westley went to bed. We spent the following weekend focused on Westley’s potty training. Having blocked off the weekend with no other activities planned, we let him go commando and bribed him with chocolate chips and stickers to encourage independence from diapers. We missed his first poop on the floor at the blink of an eye, but he slowly got the hang of it, although not enough to transition to the bigger potty at daycare. Back at work, the new academic year meant new fellows, new students, and new projects. We took advantage of in-law childcare after work on Fridays to check out new restaurants like Ming Dynasty and Allora which were both excellent. At home, we have also been interviewing landscape designers and our neighbors’ front yards in preparation for some upcoming landscape renovations. Finally, with the rising costs of my GoDaddy hosting services, I liberated myself from their contract and moved the website to BlueHost. Citing itself as the recommended provider for WordPress, the migration has not been too painful, although I have noticed slower speeds and latency for refreshing updates. We’ll see how the new Xephalon.Net 3.0 holds up!