It’s been 2 years since I’ve gotten the Canon T3. Before I started photography, I only use Photoshop tools such as Level and Curve to edit my JPEG photos. I didn’t know the limitations of JPEG images until I discover RAW image format and Adobe Lightroom.

My photography friends were the one that showed me how to use Adobe Lightroom to edit RAW image files. At first I find it very tedious having to edit every photo for it to look “nicer”. But then I noticed that I am able to turn no-so-ideal images into decent ones! Ok I’m not saying you can take a really crappy photo and turn it into an award winning one. But photos that might not look good straight out of the camera can get a make over in Lightroom. So now, unless the image is super blurry or way over or under exposed, I’ll keep it and see what I can do when I post-process it.

Here are some recent photos I took when I went to Faubourg for afternoon tea. There were a lot of clouds that day, with the sun occasionally breaking out. As we were leaving the cafe, I wanted to take images of the pastries inside the display window. I do not have a polarizing filter for my lens so there was quite a bit of reflection from the window. This, combined with the cloudy weather, made the image look quite dull. Here are the two “best” image I had of the pastries from outside the cafe. I managed to get rid of some reflection by taking the photos at an angle and having the camera very close to the window:

After adjusting the images, they now look like this:

The before and after is quite different right? There’s so much you can do with Lightroom. Even after a year or so of using this software, I have only explored the basic functions to improve my photos. Eventually, I’d like to play around with it to add different photo filters/styles such as high contrast black and white, vintage and lomography.

2013 Mother’s Day dinner part two is dining out with my mother in-law. Al made reservations at PiDGiN because I told him that it’s the same chef (Chef Makoto Ono) that opened Liberty Exchange and Liberty Private Works in Hong Kong. Like with all the other restaurants that I go to, I always check out their menus online (if it’s available) and what interested me about PiDGiN is that they serve their food “family-style”. At the time I wasn’t sure what that meant but I did noticed that they did not have dishes separated into categories such as “appetizers” or “entree”. So my guess was that you order dishes to share, like at Asian restaurants.

The decor in the restaurant is very different. It seems to be made for group dining. The menu come in little white clipboards with magnets so it can be attached to the magnet board that runs along the wall of the restaurant. It’s such a handy way of keeping the menu near the table so customers can order more dishes without asking for the menu. Also along the wall are space where they keep extra bowls. Like in Chinese restaurants, where they will switch your dirty plates for a clean one after eating items  such as crabs and lobsters, our waiter at PiDGiN helped us switch our bowls after we had our soup dish.

We looked at the menu and decided on what to order. However, we’re not sure of the portion size so we inquired with our server. He told us that dishes near the top are lighter, so he’d recommend 1-2 dishes per person to share with the group. Dishes near the bottom of the list are dishes that are heavier and he recommend 1 dish to share between 2 people. So we’ve decided to go with the following dishes:

• Daily Special – I couldn’t remember what it was, but it was a soup.
• Beef Tartare
• Humpback Shrimp
• Foie gras rice bowl
• Braised Beef
• Half Duck
• Elk Ssam

For drinks (see above photo), we ordered Osake (came in that interesting glass bottle) and since I’m driving, I got the Willow. It’s a drink made from tea, lime, mint. It’s super refreshing and tasted like a mojito. Aside from the daily special, here are photos of every dish (description from PiDGiN’s menu):

[beef tartare, wasabi tobiko, miso cream cheese, cucumber] 

[humpback shrimp, citrus, celery]

[foie gras, rice bowl, chestnuts, daikon, unagi glaze]

[elk ssam, red cabbage kimchi, brown butter juniper]

[braised beef, fennel, soy lime syrup]

[half duck, carrot cake, oranges, spices]

All the dishes were super delicious. My favourite would be the half duck and the portion size is the largest. It’s also the most expensive dish on the menu.

Lastly we had to try dessert. I don’t think I can walk out of a restaurant without eating desserts. We got the peanut butter parfait with banana sauce and coffee gelee, and the ovaltine mousse toffee.  The peanut butter parfait was so good I wish I had seconds.

I’m definitely thinking of coming back here. Although it can be hard to find parking, I’d like to take my parents here as PiDGiN’s dishes and dining experience is quite unique.

This year, we took my mom to Gyu-Kaku for Mother’s Day dinner. Gyu-Kaku is yakiniku (grilled meat) chain restaurant from Japan. I’ve been here once before and I love grilling their beef tongue. If you’ve never had it before, I recommend you trying it. It’s not gross looking or anything like that. It looks just like a regular slice of meat. I don’t think my parents had been to a yakiniku restaurant before it’s a new dining experience for them.

[Harami Miso]

After studying the menu, we decided to order separate dishes rather than going with their combo menu. I personally think that there are way too many “non-meat” items in the combo, such as salads, appetizers and rice/noodles. I’m a meat person and when I’m at a yakiniku, I’m only interested in grilling meat and -maybe- some veggies. We ordered a whole bunch of mean, lots of beef, some pork and duck in different marinates. We left out the chicken because it didn’t look to special. For the veggies, we got the mixed mushrooms. In case the guys get hungry, we also ordered 2 bowls of rice. The portion for the rice was quite big actually and definitely enough for 4 light/medium eaters.

[Kobe Style Toro Kalbi]

From my memory, here’s the full list of items, with the marinates in brackets, that we’ve ordered for the six of us:

• Tuna Tataki x 2
• Harami Miso x 2 (Miso & Tare)
• Kalbi Short Rib x 3 (Tare Sweet Soy, Shio White Soy & Yuzu)
• Premium Beef Tongue x 1
• Kobe Style Toro Kalbi x 1 (Ponzu)
• Thick-cut Beef Tongue x 1
• Horumon (beef large intestine) x 1 (Shio White Soy)
• P-Toro x 2 (Shio White Soy & Miso)
• Yaki Kamo Duck Breast x 2 (Shio White Soy)
• Mushroom Medley x 2
• Rice x 2

Our favourite dishes were the premium beef tongue and the duck breast. You only need about 30 seconds to cook the beef tongue and for the duck breast, cooking it to medium rare or medium is best in my opinion. The Kobe style toro kalbi is yummy as well but the fat caused a lot of flames on the grill which scared all of us. The least favourite item is the horumon (beef large intestine). I didn’t try it but my parents and brother did. They said it feels like a ball of fat and not that tasty.

[Mushrooms (foiled package), P-Toro, Yaki Kamo Duck Breast]

Overall, I enjoyed eating at Gyu-kaku as it’s probably the only place where I’d be able to grill beef tongue. I can’t wait to travel to Japan and try the authentic experience. I’m sure they have a lot of foods for grilling that we don’t have in Vancouver.

I started photography about 2 years ago when my husband gave me my first DSLR, the Canon T3, as our “pre-wedding” present. Since then, I’ve tried to learn photography by shooting at everything from flowers and buildings to weddings and events. Of all the different types of photos that I’ve shoot, my favourite would be wedding/events since I like the fact that the photos actually tell a story. I’ll be able to practice more wedding photoshoots this summer and in order to prepare myself, I am using Bandit for shooting practice.

Bandit is quite hard to shoot. He is constantly moving and it’s hard to know what he is going to do next. I also don’t prefer to use treats to make him look or act a certain way as I prefer to capture him doing whatever he is doing for the most natural expression. I find that if I use a treat to lure him, he will always look the same in every photo.

Here’s the latest photoshoot with Bandit where we made him jump and introduce him to a new toy.

[Above: Bandit at 13 months old. Below: Bandit at 10 weeks old.]

Before I move on to the breakdown of the budget for this wedding, here are some things I am assuming are not needed or that the bride/groom will be doing to save cost. It might not work for everyone. But my friend did say she just want to save money and is willing to explore options. Here’s the list of the items that are not included in the budget:

• No printed invitations
• No wedding cake
• No wedding gown (she said she will just buy a nice dress so she can re-wear it)
• No tux for the groom
• No dowry items (gifts for the bride’s family) except for the roast pig and cake cards
• No rings (I’ve exclude cost for the rings from this budget)

Here is the budget breakdown and details for a $5,000 wedding that includes a Chinese banquet. To cut cost, I’ve planned the ceremony at the restaurant. You can view each sections’ details by expanding it.

• Ceremony & Banquet = $3,322.40

  Banquet Location: Fortune House Seafood Restaurant
  Number of tables: 4
  Cost per table: $588.00
  Subtotal on Food: $2,352.00
  Tax & Tips (5% + 15%): $470.40
  Alcohol cost: $300
  Total: $3,122.40

  Ceremony Location: Fortune House Seafood Restaurant
  Officiant: $100.00
  Marriage License: $100,00
  Total: $2,00

• Dress, Makeup & Hair = $300.00

  Dress: $120.00
  Hair & Makeup: $100.00
  Shoes: $80.00

• Flowers, Wedding Favors & Photos = $490.00

  Bridal Bouquet: $100.00
  Parents’ Boutonnieres: $40.00
  Wedding Favors: $50.00 (material for baking cupcakes or other treats for the guests)
  Photos: $300.00 (estimating $150/hour)

• Gifts for the bride’s family = $450.00

  Roast Pig: $150.00
  Cake Cards: $300.00 (estimating at $10/card)

Total Cost is $4,562.40 

As you can see, there is a lot of stuff missing in the above budget list. I wanted to add in tux rental for the groom but that’s another $120.00-$150.00 that can be saved. Also I didn’t add taxes to some of the items above, which the $400.00 should be able to cover.

The tea ceremony can be done in the morning. Photos will be taken by friends/family. I could add in an extra hour for photos at an estimate of $150.00 an hour but I wasn’t sure how important this is for my friend. I’ve only allocated $50.00 for the wedding favors. With such a small wedding, it shouldn’t be hard to pull out some DIYs for wedding favors that you can get family and friends to help with.

Remember that all the above prices are estimates only. What do you think? Could this be your wedding?