When visiting Richmond, once I’ve filled my belly with Dim Sum at Fisherman’s Terrace , I like to wander around the Aberdeen Centre rubbing my belly. I took a friend there a while ago and she was fully in awe. Yes, she is from the Northern Territories, so anything other than Canadian Tire is pretty exciting to my friend Raisinette. So, the reason her excitement was notable was that she had just returned from a multiple week vacation in Japan. But to see the sparkle in her eye as we entered Daiso you’d think she’d never been outside the Communities of the Yukon. I have never been to Japan, but I guess I always assumed it would be MORE exciting than a store in Richmond that sells the majority of its stock with a two dollar price tag. Judging by Raisinette’s reaction, this is not the case.
Some of my previous $2 finds have included: a child-size chair, a stainless steel mug with a yellow plastic handle, soy sauce containers shaped fishies and cutesy chopsticks. Our big find on this trip were the Fruit Picks. Another way to get kids to eat more fruit (or anything really), skewer it with a cartoony animal pick. It makes snacks less messy and more fun (always a winning combo with small children). We also bought kid-size chopsticks with a case for Young Fresh Chef’s lunch kit. He has already taken cucumber rolls in his lunch (which was my first attempt at sushi rolls, I don’t think Tojo has anything to worry about).
Our other stop in the mall was Qoola. Young Fresh Chef and I had already been to their Denman location to sample their wares. So, we already knew to order the mochi as a topping on their tangy frozen yogurt. The nice thing about Qoola is that it is not a direct rip-off of Red Mango, like a certain colour & fruit monikered chain. Qoola also offers waffles and slushes and has more of a health/eco ethos.
To balance that, we also hit Beard Papa up in the food court (best food court in the known universe, at least the parts of the universe that I’ve known). Beard Papa is right next to Frappe Bliss, a Taiwanese shaved ice milk treat that Young Fresh Chef and I tried before, but haven’t been back. I think the proximity of Beard Papa MAY have something to do with that! Anyway, Beard Papa sells fresh oversize cream puffs. I remember asking Exec Chef if he knew why it was called Beard Papa, I got my answer the first time I saw our son dive into one. When he came up for air, the lower half of his face was covered in whipped-cream custard and icing sugar, the only thing visible was his huge grin. Raisinette was pretty hyped about the cream puffs, apparently, she hadn’t encountered any of their 230 outlets in Japan. I was starting to doubt that she had actually been there at all.
Of course, she did bring back gifts as proof. Manga stickers for Young Fresh Chef, and for me, she knows me so well, fruit picks topped with hearts! There was her evidence, there’s no way you could find anything like that outside of Japan, right?
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