Vancouver Restaurant: Firepots

Hello Vancity Girlfriends,

Winter is the perfect time for hot pot.  With many people getting the flu or cold the idea of sharing a hot pot is not ideal but we still want our hot pot so Firepots is perfect because they have individual hot pots.  Each person can order what type of hot pot they want and it is cooked on the warmer in front of your seat.

Why did we choose Firepots?  It's in Burnaby which is a convenient location.  There is a coupon in the Entertainment Book that has a 2 for 1 entree at Firepots.  I buy the Entertainment Book every year to support my niece's school so while I have it I might as well try different types of restaurants and save money at the same time.  

I tried the Fiery Schezuan Lamb which they made milder for me except for when I bit down on a fiery peppercorn.  I did eat it all up.  My friend's Tom Yum Goong Seafood Hot Pot looked amazing and I'm curious about the Satay Beef.    The Chocolate Fondue is a nice sharing dessert.  Three of us shared one and it was perfect!   Even without an Entertainment coupon, it is quite reasonably priced at $15 per individual hot pot.  It's definitely a foodie adventure.

Signature Hot Pot -Tom Yum Goong Seafood Hot Pot

Chocolate Fondue - Melting the chocolate on the warmer

Firepots Website:  http://www.firepots.ca/menu

Subscription Box Sunday - The Tasting Box from Foodie Pages

Hello Vancity Girlfriends,

Happy New Year!  We are back this year with bigger and better goals for a fabulous Vancity Girlfriends blog and You Tube Channel.  We're starting off with a monthly subscription box to review.

For January I chose a Canadian subscription box to support local Canadian food producers and growers.  It's from Foodie Pages and it's called The Tasting Box.  The Tasting Box is $14.95 and then with shipping is still comes to approximately $28 (under $30 Canadian).  We love food so let's open this up and see what The Tasting Box has to offer.  There are five products and a great variety from sweets to filtered water to relish. 

 1.  Gourmet Relish - I'm pretty excited about this one but need to go out to buy some hot dogs or sausages first.  

2.  Sapsucker Maple Tree Filtered Water - Never heard of this and can't really imagine what it's going to taste like.  Carolyn loved saying the name and you can see that vlog on our You Tube Channel.

3.  Handmade Chocolate Pyramids from Indulgence Truffles.  Of course chocolate is a win!  Love it!

 

4.  Chocolate Covered Hazelnuts from Shoko - anything with chocolate is great! 

5.  Good Greek Bakery Almond Cookies - Yummy!  It's in my tummy!

Such a great little Tasting Box, so glad we tried this one out and we thought it was a great deal for the value.  Happy it's Canadian too!  

Here's the link to check out Foodie Pages and The Tasting Box:  http://www.foodiepages.ca/popup/HQoGt0

Crafternoon: Hershey Kiss Roses

On a Sunday afternoon, I decided to turn it into crafternoon, unplug and create something new!  I found this craft idea on Pinterest and loved it because it is simple and easy to make.  You can make these for Valentine's Day, Mother's Day, or for your Teacher's Gifts, or Gratitude Gifts.  You do not need a lot of materials to create something that is pretty and great for those chocolate lovers on your list.  

1)  Hershey Kisses

2)  Cellophane paper - since my kisses were pink, blue, and green, I had a transparent colour for the cellophane wrap

3)  Stem leaves

4)  Stem wire

5)  Floral tape

You can do variations of this with what you have but the idea is to basically take two hershey kisses and wrap them together so they look like rose buds.  Then you use the floral tape to add the stem and wrap it down the wire.  Voila, you have yourself a Hershey Kiss Rose.  

Shopping tip:  Check out your dollar stores, or if you want to shop it all at Michaels which is what I mostly did, then don't forget the online Michaels coupons.