A mini-gathering at Vancouver hosted by Anthony Lau and Teddy Tam.
Thomas & Bernadette Chow drove north of the border while Salina & Kelly Chang flew from San Francisco.
The out-of-town visitors stayed at Anthony's house in Langley, B.C.; the Chows arrived first and
checked into the "Garden View" room, and the Changs arrived late on Saturday evening and stayed in
the "Inside Cabin" of the lodge.
 

Day1: Thomas and Bernadette arrived around sunset, just in time for the Japanese dinner feature 3 kinds of beef
           (the mad, the madder, and the maddest) and after a blind test, the "maddest" was voted the most tasteful
          beef.
          After dinner, Anthony drove to YVR to pick the Changs who had flown in from San Francisco.
 
 

Day1 (Feb7): Arrived at YVR around 10:30pm Feb7

Anthony came and picked up the Chang's at YVR.

The Changs missed the delicious "mad cow" beef dinner, but got to finally meet Theo (a beagle) and Mini (a Dalmatian & boxer mix)

Day2: A beautiful Sunday morning in Vancouver. Most took the opportunity to sleep in late.
    The gang went to a newly opened Shanghainese restaurant in Richmond. It was a good experience
    as only half of what we ordered were delivered -- the restaurant was totally over-whelmed.
     Reportedly the owner and the kitchen staff had some argument thus resulting in inferior service.
    All departed with only 1/4 stomach full, and decided to fill their stomach with egg tarts from the
    bakery shop next door. Thomas Chow predicted all egg tarts would be sold out by the time we
    walk into the bakery's shop. Well, he was dead right.
    We settled for some other Chinese pastry instead. All spent the next half hour doing grocery
    shopping at a near-by Chinese supermarket.

    The ladies were busy in preparing the hot-pot dinner while the gent's filled their stomach with the
    pastries. Around 5pm, the hot-pot dinner was served. What a delicious dinner, may be we were
    all starving as none had any breakfast and little lunch.

    After dinner, we waved goodbye to Thomas and Bernadette because Thomas had to study for
    Monday's class.

A beautiful morning looking out from the deck of Anthony's house, while letting the dogs out for their morning exercise.

A huge backyard with plenty of room for the dogs to roam

Pat and Thomas were busy trying to set up the wireless network.

Anthony and Kelly took the dogs for a walk around the neighborhood, along a very nice natural trail.

Enjoying the delicious hot-pot dinner

After the human stomachs were fed, it's dinner time for Mini and Theo

Mid evening snack time

Day 3: Skiing Day

Pat and the Changs went skiing at the nearby Cypress Ski Resort. Other than the fog affecting part of the run, it was a perfect
day for skiing: windless day with packed powder runs.

The skiers joined Anthony and the Tams (Teddy, Cat, and Cindy) for a big Japanese dinner at a Japanese Retirement Centre in Vancouver

Excellent food and yet reasonably priced. Best of all, it's not crowded. Who would think of eating Japanese cuisine at a  retirement centre?

Day 4: Baking Day

Pat tried out the paper wrapped cup cake using Kelly's recipe and borrowed cups from Cat. According to Anthony the taster,
it was a success.