This weekend, Dean and I took a trip up to Vancouver (our first time seeing Canada on the West Coast!). The thing I most look forward to on vacation is eating out and Vancouver did not disappoint. I recently broke up with two of my greatest loves, meat and cheese, and thankfully this was no trouble at all- the city has an insane amount of options and every place we went was delicious. :)

We met our friend Trudi for an early breakfast at The Templeton on Granville. Massive mugs of hot coffee and tea, speedy service, and awesome food! I loved the diner nostalgia: comfy booths, jukeboxes, and bubble gum with the check.

Trudi’s breakfast sundae: a pretty arrangement of granolas, yogurt, and fruit. PS: I think Trudi has the BEST tattoos ever.

Cinnamon raisin French toast and fruit salad. Nice, thick slices of toast, fried up to perfection, mmmmm.

Baked grapefruit with brown sugar and pecans- must try to re-create this at home. Dean’s nibblings of sourdough toast. Haha, I wake up starving for breakfast, Dean wakes up without an appetite at all. Our tabletop was a collage of Elvis Presley which I thought was fantastic.

Late lunch at Sunset Burgers:

Dean and I have seen a lot of burger joints- bright and trendy, simple and homey. We love them all but I have to admit being a total sucker for neon lights. And the walls of Sunset are maybe the coolest neon lighted walls I’ve ever seen. Trippy, drippy, pickle slice!

In fact, even the non-neon walls made me smile. On the food: I ordered a veggie burger in a lettuce wrap. I know, I know. I once rolled my eyes at people who did this but it was awesome. Large, well-seasoned bean patty with all the garden fixins, crisp wrap! Dean was a little less impressed because he has a severe tomato allergy and had a hard time getting a tomato-free bacon cheeseburger. We hate making a fuss so after they gave him the same burger with the ketchup just wiped off, he decided to just skip the burger and fill up on fries (which came with vinegar and were very tasty).

It’s gotta be hard to look this sultry while indulging in fast food…

Afternoon coffees:

We were super lucky to have Trudi as our guide; I don’t think we would’ve stumbled upon half the things we did without her. We sipped lattes in the loft area of Buzz Coffee. Lots of sofas and the walls are covered with paintings (I guess they change the art regularly). I got the maple latte with soy- a sweet, rich, treat before our long day of walking.

Dean and Trudi are old friends who grew up together in North London. I think it’s really neat that they both landed in the Pacific Northwest. When we got out, we found a ladybug sunning on Trudi’s bike. :)

Treats to take away:

Dean went nutso here. He has quite the sweet tooth to begin with but after spotting the British snack section, he decided to seriously load up. Twiglets, Hoola Hoops crisps, Caramac, and Cadbury Flake! FYI: Twiglets are my all-time favorite snack!

The Candy Aisle’s sweet window display of fake candies: Jawbreakers the size of beach balls, peppermint patties you’d have to hold with both hands. I think this is the closest we’ll get to Willy Wonka’s chocolate factory.

Yummy end-notes: pricey but decadent peanut butter cups at Gorilla food, a refreshing can of Irn-Bru from a hilariously grouchy Scottish woman, Dean looking all over and finally finding bacon flavored crisps, honey blonde ales and Jack ‘n’ gingers at the Two Parrots sports bar. 24 HOUR COFFEE EVERYWHERE!