Tonight, we joined our family friends the Lais and the Tans for dinner at Hoi Tong. Karla couldn't join us because she was supposed to be well on her way to Hong Kong. However, due to the weather and Cathay Pacific's lack of consideration, she was still sitting on the plane waiting to depart as the airport worked to defrost the runway. If only they told her that when she first checked in at around 1pm for her 2:30 flight! Instead they said they would be leaving on schedule. However, about 5-6 hours later, there she was, still sitting on the plane at the airport. She finally texted during our dinner that they were about to take off. Did I mention that they had to change their route to stop in Seoul because the airplane staff could not exceed working a certain number of hours and, therefore, would have to change crews in Seoul? What a hassle!

Hoi Tong had been a favorite of ours, particularly my mom's, for their dim sum and Chinese food. When I lived in Vancouver with my parents we rarely went to Richmond unless someone invited us to eat in Richmond or we had to go to Costco or see Dr. Chang or visit my grandmother. Otherwise, we stayed in the Vancouver area where we live. For Hoi Tong, however, we would make the trip to Richmond for dim sum on Sundays because it was that good. To those of you who are not familiar with Vancouver, no, Richmond is not far from Vancouver at all, it's actually really close, but we were just too lazy to drive all the way there. After all, we had everything we needed in our part of town.

So when Hoi Tong closed down its small restaurant on No. 3 Road in Richmond we were pretty disappointed. We had especially loved their fan guo, these deliciou soft but glass-like vegetable dumplings with the wrapper so translucent that it revealed the finely chopped vegetable fillings inside. We didn't realize that it had actually just moved to an even smaller space in Richmond, which is where we ate tonight.

The food was not as good as I remembered, I found the steamed fish a bit salty, the fried rice too soft and the fried shrimp balls too oily. The lobster crab noodles, however, were delicious!! I also really enjoyed the winter melon dish with salty ham sandwiched in between the winter melon layers, yummmm!! The company, as always, was easy and fun, filled with chatter and laughter keeping us warm as the snow continued to fall outside.




After dinner my dad and I went over to Auntie Grace and Uncle Julien's house (the Tans) who live on the street right behind us. My dad had been looking forward to seeing Uncle Julien's guitar collection and I had been wanting to see Auntie Grace's latest artwork. She is an amazing artist who paints and draws in a beautiful studio she has at home. When we got to their house, their huge and beautiful tree that stands right in front seemed to glow as it twinkled with dots of snow along all branches. It was as if the tree was spreading its powdery branches around to embrace us. Unfortunately, my pictures of the tree just don't do any justice. I was still admiring the tree when we left the house.



I found Auntie Grace's new work really inspiring. She's currently using charcoal and I've always loved charcoal because you're not dealing with colors, just contrasting of varying shades of grays. It's also a medium that's incredibly forgivable, you can always add and remove as much as you want and mistakes are very easy to fix. I haven't painted or drawn in a long time and I think I might just start again after the holidays.

She is not only extremely talented but really creative with what she paints and draws as well. For example, right now she is working on a clown theme, something she's always wanted to do. It reflects her whimsical and fun side, something I've always found in Auntie Grace, though her poise and politeness does conceal it at first. Her beautiful studio is large enough for her to have live models sit for her and right now she's having a woman sit and pose on a child's bicycle wearing a red, round clown nose, I just loved it when I saw it! I love the medium she used, I love the subject and I especially love the concept. Visit her web site to check out more of her works www.gracewstan.com



Take a look at Auntie Grace's studio, I love it. It's big and has all these customized shelves for her supplies and tools. It's bright and airy, perfect for painting during the daytime, and it's got enough room to throw your easels, canvases and creative mess around. Someday, I want a studio of my own in my future house... Lots of natural lighting, large enough to dance and run around in... Amazing speakers and sound system for music to play while I paint and high ceilings to hang paintings of all sizes...Windows and ceilings that open up completely so that I can feel like I'm painting outside on good days...creatively designed customized storage for all my tools and supplies..Someday...