VOILA!!!!! Unveiling Vancouver's Not So Secret Location for Fatty Frissants....

What do you get when a donut and a croissant have a one night stand together? The answer is......the CRONUT.  This hybrid is heaven for your tastebuds and hell for calories and weightloss. I first heard of these when I was lazily lying on my couch wondering what to put in my mouth next when the episode of Two Broke Girls featured Cronuts. The savy traveller is still alive in me so while the episode was playing I googled "Cronuts" to find out indeed and it was a very real thing going on in NYC and thus subject to mockery on Two Broke Girls

 

Where things got really dangerous for my arteries was when I googled the words "Cronuts" and "Vancouver" together. Unbeknownst to me when I hit the "ENTER" button, the search results would lead me to a hole in the wall called the Swiss Bakery  on 143rd East Avenue.  Inspired by the Cronut craze in NYC, the geniuses at the Swiss Bakery decided to create a frenzy with the birth of the Frissant. A Frissant is a sinfully delicious Cronut under a different name so that it can be enjoyed without fear of getting hit by a lawsuit due to patent infringement.

I took the advice that came to me on multiple articles about the Frissant with the recommendation that I arrive at 9 am  and nab one while they were fresh. Every part of me felt like an animal on the wild savannah getting up early to make the first kill of day. But as soon as I bit into the Frissant (featured in the pic above), the hunter became the hunted and the question begged to be asked, was I the predator or the prey?  As I sat in the sunshine and munched away I could almost hear an evil laugh coming from the Frissant.  I was in fact the prey to the spell of this pastry to which I would be from this moment on regularly coughing up $4 until the day I shed my mortal coil and there is nothing left but a gravemarker shaped oddly enough like a Frissant..... 

How Being Billingual Helped Me Pick a Friend Out of a Precarious Situation

Like Ariel the Little Mermaid all of us have dreams and fantasies about being part of another world. And thanks to working and study abroad opportunities many of us can turn those fantasies into realities. After seeing Europe and coming back to Argentina, a good friend of mine started to have flights of fancy about working abroad and getting out of the hellhole that Argentina was quickly turning into every minute that goes by. So she set up a profile on a website for Au Pairs where they can be matched up and interviewed by potential employers.

There is a saying that goes "if something is too good to be true, it probably is"  I am writing this post to demonstrate how important it is to have good knowledge of the laws as well as good foreign language skills if you intend to be anything more than a tourist passing through. Already in Argentina cab drivers and produce sellers and such have been known to try and take advantage of foreigners especially if it is obvious that they don't have a good grasp of the language.

6 mths after my friend put out her profile she got contacted by some people in Canada that needed a live in care-giver.  Also note that my friend speaks nearly zero english and has no experience with life outside of a latino world. Naturally she told me about the experience. I told her I would be there to help and translate as needed. Nothing about this situation raised red flags in me.....YET.

Chicken, Waffles and First Class Hospitality at Yolks Commissionary

My blogpost today is my way of saying a big THANKS to the amazing people at Yolks Commissionary. Because I was so blown away at the world class customer service, I decided to put a post immediately for today and bump whatever post I had planned for another day. There are two times my mouth can't shut, firstly when its full of good food and secondly when the service has been extraordinary. And at Yolks Commissionary at 1298 East Hastings, I ended up with both.

The day began like any other day, with me waking up early to explore some of Vancouver's hidden gems. Hole in the wall places with glorious food tucked far away from the touristy downtown core. For months and months I had been hearing about Yolks Commissionary out on east hastings. I had already tried some of their food from their food truck and was completely sold. Now it was time to visit the mothership.

On a Sunday morning the restaurant opens at 9am. I arrived around 8:55 and within 3 mins a good sized crowd had already built up. When the doors open the restaurant was flooded and at 9:15 a waiting line had formed of eager beavers who had arrived 2-3 mins later than the others. The scenery at East Hastings may not be as romantic as the touristy restaurants downtown but when you see lineups like this at a restaurant in the middle of nowhere you know that you're in the right place.