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As mentioned last week, on a prior blog post, I was in Boston with the day job. Boston is a really cool city with lots of great character and appeal. Great restaurants, charming buildings, traffic to rival any big city, and people that sort of talk funny! It just so happened that The Boston Marathon was happening at the same time I was there! Here is my week late write up about what transpired around the 111th Boston Marathon.

The Boston Marathon is the world’s longest-running annual marathon in world and the standard that many other marathons measure themselves up against. Drawing the best marathon racers from around the world and being the most competitive of all marathons in all categories, the Boston marathon is sort of like the holy grail in the running world. Not anybody can participate as what ever category you are in, you need to make certain qualifing times to be part of this prestigious event.
 
This year’s 111 Boston Marathon slated for Monday April 16 would be something to remember for all the participants and supporters from over 100 countries,  as the worst Northeasterly Storm in the last 14 years was due to hit the US Eastern Seaboard and Eastern Canada. Storms like this pack some nasty weather bring hurricane force winds, snow; rain;  all the nice stuff that cause power outages, flooding and structural damage!   Perfect weather for humans to be outside trying to run a marathon too.!!
 
The Boston Athletic Association (BAA), the organization that hosts the Boston Marathon, even considered canceling the marathon a couple days prior to the event. They opted not to and emailed a very lengthy Severe Weather Advisory on Friday April 13 to all the participant mentioning the expected forecast, practical advice on what to wear and the symptoms and warnings about hypothermia. The forecast they sent out on April 13 is below and for all you Canadians, 30 Fahrenheit is about -1 degrees Celsius.
 
BAA Marathon FORECAST on Friday April 13.
“The most up-to-date weather forecast calls for a predicted Spring storm on Monday, including heavy rains (potentially 3 to 5 inches), with the start temperatures in the mid to upper 30’s. Wind will likely be East (in the face of the participants for most of the race) in the 20 to 25 mile per hour range, with gusts to as much as 50 miles per hour. This will produce a wind chill index of 25 to 30-degrees Fahrenheit.”
 
On Race Day, the forecast was still pretty ugly, but thank goodness the forecast wasn’t as bad as everyone expected. The weather was a slightly warmer and the rain and winds a tad bit lighter. I sort of felt bad for those that had to run the race as running in weather conditions like what they were facing couldn’t have been much fun. 
 
At most of the major marathons, there is usually a consumer expo for a few days before race day. The expo is fee to enter and I went in to check it out. The expo is a place where consumers (runners and supporters) can come and purchase products from a variety of different vendors. With a forecast like the one I just mentioned above, the buzz and demand from everyone at the expo was for wet, cold weather Fall type apparel.
 
“Philosophical, Physiological live in a bubble” sales professors or sales professionals may disagree with me, but ask any apparel vendor in that expo and they will say that the weather is a major contributing factor to the success of their apparel sales. Companies could have had the slickest looking summer/spring apparel products on the planet, but if there is a weather forecast like the one above and the rain is deluging down outside the expo hall and people coming in are wet and cold, these people are not going to be looking for tank tops and short shorts.
 
Everyone was panicking and asking for windproof, waterproof, hats, gloves, and other warm pieces of apparel. This was especially true from people from non cold climates; they had no idea what to wear and how to dress! This is all good if apparel companies brought their fall apparel, but most of the apparel orders are placed 6 months prior and usually the weather in April in Boston is warm, sunny, and sort of springish. So many apparel manufactures had a great spring lineup, but not very much fall/winter gear and thus lost out on potential sales.
 
On Race Day, the forecast was still pretty ugly, but thank goodness the forecast wasn’t as bad as everyone expected. The weather was a slightly warmer and the rain and winds a tad bit lighter. I sort of felt bad for those that had to run the race as running in weather conditions like what they were facing couldn’t have been much fun. 
 
I departed the morning of the race, and the weather was still having adverse affects at Boston’s Logan International Airport. My original scheduled flight to Montreal Canada was cancelled along with hundreds of other flights in and out of Boston to other eastern part of the USA and Canada. The airport was chaotic with lots of stranded travelers hoping to get to their next destinations. The airport was packed like mad, and I was very lucky to get on a standby flight on one of the last planes to fly to Montreal before all the others were cancelled.
 
After a rough, bumpy flight to Montreal, there was 5-10cm of wet snow on the ground and I waited a few hours for another delayed plane to fly from Montreal to Vancouver. Thankfully I managed to get back to the mild weather of the West Coast on the Monday as if I didn’t make that standby flight, I would have been stuck in Boston until the Wednesday or Thursday due to the backlog of people! My luck wasn’t 100% as I did lose one of my pieces of luggage for about 3 days. Air Canada finally delivered my luggage to me on the Thursday.

Slowly I am getting my Boston Restaurant reviews done. They will be good recommendations! Stay tuned.

Cheers,
-Brice

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I came across an interesting article/topic today. Here is another one of those “Where do we draw the line on science” topics.

The UK Based news paper, The Guardian Unlimited , reports that weather scientists in Tibet China, have figured out how to make snow from the clouds by a method called cloud seeding. The theory behind cloud seeding is accomplished by injecting Silver Iodide particles into the clouds in the sky. Scientists claim the silver iodide particles turn to ice crystals within the cloud and then they fall from the cloud as snow flakes to the earth.

When I first heard of this, this is one of those things that I think humans shouldn’t be messing around with. Altering Mother Nature’s plans are never really a good idea as you never know how she will react.

Also Silver Iodide chemicals into the atmosphere falling back to the earth? Is this stuff safe for the environment? Can you drink the water from the melted snow? Is it good for the soil and humans in the area? If I lived in that area, I would be concerned with questions like this. There is always 2 trains of thought when it comes to scientific advances. I’m not too sure if humans should be altering and controlling the weather at will.

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The day job has been a bit of a grind lately. Just got back from cold, windy, wet Boston and gearing up to head out again…I am hoping to get some Boston restaurant reviews up soon, but in the time being, check out this video clip I came across. This guy has way way way too much time on his hands, and I’m sure he is good at real Ping Pong too.

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For those of you that read my Freestyle Audio DMP blog post on March 25, 2007, and the internet’s most comprehensive Freestyle Audio DMP review on Futurelooks.com I have some great news for those that want to purchase one of these units. Freestyle Audio is having a limited time Spring Sale on the 512mb and 256mb models. 

The limited time offer enables you to purchase the 512mb unit for $99 (regularly $169) and the 256mb unit for $69 (regularly $139) . They even offer you Free Shipping!

Spread the good love and if you want to pick up one of these units for your water activites, click here for more information.

Cheers,

-Brice

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After a painful red eye flight via Montreal Canada earlier in the week, I find myself in Boston Massachusetts with the regular day job. I have a couple good restaurant reviews coming up that I hope to post up in the next couple days. Traveling with the regular day job always means work work work 24hrs per day, so my Blog posts this week might be a bit sporatic. Hope all is well.

Cheers,

-Brice

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About a month or so ago, I had this crazy idea in my head that I was going to take up Telemark skiing. Now to give you an idea I snowboard and when I snowboard, I usually snow slide with those 2 planker wanker skiers and the banter and trash talk about the entire skier/snowboard ideology is always rampant. I have been on my snowboard for about 13 years now, and the last time I was on skis was about 15 years ago. 15 years ago, I wasn’t a really good skier anyhow.

So I had this idea that I was going from one extreme of snowboarding to the other extreme of Telemark skiing with no real knowledge of alpine skiing in-between. With an idea, requires action. If you have ever considered Telemark skiing or are a Telemark skier, you know that Telemark gear is not cheap. Luckily a good friend of mine was selling his 1 season used 2006 Scarpa T1 boots. I bought them and he helped me “bake” the thermal fit liners to my feet. As for the skis and bindings, I am still looking for gear. The few times I have tried this sport I have rented equipment.

I try to keep in pretty good shape by doing a variety of different sports and activates in my spare time. This Telemark thing is an entirely new ball of wax. I have only attempted Telemarking about 3 times.
 
The first time was a dismal failure, talk about a gong show all over the hill. The 2nd time somewhat of a failure and still an unsuccessful event. The third time I sort of ended up in the ball park of taking 1 step forward and 2 steps back.

This Telemark sport has to be one of the hardest things I have ever tried to do. On top of being an extremely difficult challenge, my legs and the rest on my muscles in my body are screaming in pain. I can only attempt to Telemark ski for about 2.5-3.5 hours and then the leg muscles just shut down.

My friends think I am sort of nuts, and they think I should have maybe started out on normal skis before taking on the Telemark thing. I just learned how to hold my poles properly, now if I could figure out what to do with these poles that would be another step in the right direction!  I just hope that maybe one day in the ever so distant future, I can ride the Telemark like The Mt. Tremblant Blue Angels ski patrol. Check this clip out. They make Mt. Tremblant look like a fun place with no snow and they really really make Telemark skiing look really easy. No other mountain I have been to has a ski patrol that can ride like these guys!

This should be an instructional video! Enjoy…

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Chada Thai Fine Cuisine Restaurant Review Coquitlam B.C.

Earlier this week I went for dinner with my mom to a fairly new restaurant name Chada Thai Fine Cuisine in the forever growing city of Coquitlam, British Columbia. Both of us had never dined here in the past, and wanted to try something a bit different.

My mom loves to go out to eat, but trying to get her to try new cuisines like Indian or Thai is sometimes difficult, as she doesn’t like things that she doesn’t know and she definitely doesn’t like anything spicy!

If you live anywhere in Coquitlam, Port Coquitlam, Pitt Meadows, Port Moody, you will know exactly where this place is, when I tell you it is right beside the Save-On-Foods on Lougheed Highway in the same complex as Chapters, Van City, Starbucks and right across the street from Coquitlam Center. The location is a good one and right in the center of all the shops and services in Coquitlam.

Chada Thai Fine Cuisine is located @ 107-2991 Lougheed Hwy, Coquitlam BC V3B 6J6, 604-464-5300. Click here for the Google map.

Like most small restaurants in the suburbs, weeknights are usually pretty slow; Chada Thai Fine Cuisine was no different on this Wednesday evening. My mom and I entered around 8:15pm and there was only one other guy in there eating.

The first thing you notice about Chada Thai are the windows. From the outside, you notice that all the windows that face the street are all covered from top to bottom with black drape. The only way you know this place is open is from the neon “Open” sign in the window. I thought this was sort of strange to have the windows all blacked out, but I realized right away when I walked through the door. The black drapes create a nice cozy intimate feeling and offers some privacy to people sitting near the window from all the pedestrian and motor traffic that is constantly passing by outside.

 

When you walk through the door the second thing you notice is the amazing smell of the aroma of the restaurant. Visually when you enter, you are stepping into a very tastefully decorated Thai themed restaurant. There are many authentic Thai decorations such as masks, traditional Thai head dresses, fancy looking mirrors, Buddha statues, candles, wood carvings, and jade statues all over the restaurant.

Chada Thai is owned by a 30 something Brian Machesi formerly from the Four Seasons hotel in Vancouver and blends his passion for Thai cooking with his extensive knowledge of fine European cuisine.

The pricing on the menu items at Chada Thai is definitely on the higher end. Entrees range from $16-$20 and appetizers from $6-$9. I tried to get a take out menu from Chada Thai, but I found out that owner Brian Marchesi doesn’t believe and offer the take out option; sort of an interesting concept.

His reasoning behind the “no take out policy” is his belief for using the finest quality of ingredients in all his menu options. He doesn’t believe that cooking fine Thai sauces for 6-8 hours just to toss them in a styrofoam box to have someone reheat them hours later is justified for the quality of ingredients he uses.

The menu items looked awesome and I really wanted to try a little bit of everything, but I have been guilty of having my eyes much larger than my stomach on many occasions. Whenever I visit a new Thai restaurant, my baseline for judging the quality of the food is of course the Pad Thai and some sort of Thai curry dish.

As my mom doesn’t like spicy, we ordered a Mild Pad Thai and a Mild Yellow Curry. At $15 for the Pad Thai and $17 for the curry, I was expecting something really good!

 Some restaurants give you complementary bread to tie you over while your meals are being prepared, Chada Thai serves you these really fancy looking shrimp chips with shaved carrots, cabbage, and lettuce, drizzled in the most amazing tasting sauce and a heavy expensive looking white rectangular plate.  I have no idea what the sauce is called, but whatever it was, it was awesome. Nice and sweet, and complemented the shrimp chips and vegetables perfectly.

The Pad Thai was the next dish to arrive at the table. I would have to say the presentation of this Pad Thai was the best I have ever experienced. The oval shaped bowl that the Pad Thai was served in was really nice. The Pad Thai in the bowl was even more impressive. The peanuts were sprinkled on the top and the shaved cabbage on the side, with the sprouts evenly mixed through out.

My first bite into the Pad Thai was heavenly. I could definitely taste the freshness of the ingredients and individual tastes of all the ingredients. The prawns were really large and cooked to perfection and most importantly, the Pad Thai sauce and noodles were perfect. The sauce wasn’t too saucy or over bearing but just enough to cover the noodles. The noodles were cooked in such away where they didn’t clump together or taste dry; literally perfect.

The Vegetarian Yellow Curry was our second entrée. The presentation of this entrée was even more impressive that the Pad Thai. The curry came served in a simple yet elegant square white bowl, on a bulged rectangular shaped plate garnished with Thai rice, mixed salad with that same tasty sauce on the on the shrimp chip and a fancy decorative swirl.

I personally like my curry on the hotter side, but as mentioned above my mom is no fan of spicy foods. Our mild yellow curry I have to admit was really good.  The favors of the curry sauce were extremely tasty and had a great infusion of different curry spices.  Although we ordered the “mild” curry, the aftertaste of the curry in your mouth was delicious and it did give just a right amount of spice. This curry goes in your mouth with no type of curry heat, but as you chew on the rice or the other pieces of food that is cooked in the curry sauce, the flavors of the fresh curry spices are released. This gives your mouth an entirely different sensation and taste as you chew and swallow what is in your mouth.  My mom even commented on the aftertaste and the complementing, yet tasty small bit of heat left in your mouth.  If you like Thai Yellow Curry, this one would be a winner in any curry lover’s book.

The only food that I wasn’t really “wowed” with this evening was the rice. Everything else was amazingly delicious. This is a totally personal preference and the rice at Chada Thai is 110% editable and really really good like all the other food I had this evening. Thai rice is usually a bit more clumped together, moist and stickier, whereas I typically like my rice a bit drier and more individually granular.

Our bill came to $37.08 before gratuities. The service this evening was really good as we were the only table in the restaurant at the time. The question would be is the value of the food worth nearly $40 for two people eating Thai food in Coquitlam? That is for you to decide for yourself when you go there to eat.

If you consider, $40 for two people eating at a casual dining restaurant like Milestones, Earls, Cactus Club, The Keg etc, $40 is nothing. Places such as these charge similar prices for their entrees and appetizers.

The business card for Chada Thai is a tent-looking card printed on all 4 sides. Check out the pictures below.

Chada Thai is not like Khai Thai to Go in Kitsilano that I wrote about last month. Click here for the article.  Khai Thai to Go in Kitsilano is half the price, yet I think just as good or better than Chada Thai.

With this said, I would definitely go back to Chada Thai and I would recommend people go to Chada Thai if they wanted to experience some excellent some high quality authentic Thai food in the Coquitlam area served at a near fine dining level with a great atmosphere. You know you are going to get a good meal for your dollar as owner/chef Brian Marchesi is adamant about quality of ingredients and creating dishes that appeal to all your senses.  The food here is really good, and if you feel like treating yourself and your partner to a nice meal and evening out, check out Chada Thai..

Ranking  (out of 5 stars)

Food – 4.50
Service – 4.25
Washroom Cleanliness – 4.00
Restaurant Ambiance – 4.25
Plate/Cutlery Cleanliness – 4.75
Value – 3.25

Overall rating: 4.17

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