Picture of the Day: Angel of Victory

A bronze statue of an angel carrying a fallen soldier

On my way to Gastown to have drinks and dinner with friends, I walked past the Seabus Terminal and Waterfront SkyTrain station that are both in the former Canadian Pacific Railway Station.

Next to it is a bronze statue of an angel holding up a fallen soldier. The work is called Angel of Victory (1922) by Coeur de Lion MacCarthy. It was commissioned by the Canadian Pacific Railway to commemorate its employees who died in World War I.

It stands on the far right of the former CPR building

The plaque says:

To commemorate those in the service of the Canadian Pacific Railway Company who, at the call of King and country, left all that was dear to them, endured hardship, faced danger and finally passed out of sight of men by the path of duty and self sacrifice, giving up their own lives that others might live in freedom. Let those who come after see to it that their names be not forgotten.

What a wonderful commemoration.

Vancouver's Latest Leisure Complex

On the sixth floor is a shallow pond and the steak house Victor

This evening we checked out the new casino complex in downtown Vancouver called Parq Vancouver, right next to BC Place Stadium.

Inside there are two floors of casinos and walk around and they're practically all Asian gamblers -- it's like walking around any casino in Macau except the dealers speak English. It was a surreal experience.

The 25-foot replica of a Douglas fir cut up intricately

There aren't one, but two hotels, JW Marriott and Douglas, an Autograph Collection Hotel. We checked out the lobby of the latter which features a reception desk that is a 25-foot replica of a Douglas fir log that's been intricately sliced up and lit from within and encased in glass. Pretty cool, until I found out it's a replica.

To the right of the reception desk is D6, a nice space for a lounge to enjoy drinks, complete with a billiard table and modern fireplace.

On the left is an outdoor space that looks into some people's condos across the street -- and they don't seem to mind -- and on the other side an up close view of BC Place in its LED glory. Tonight the fog had set in, so at first we felt like there was a canopy roof over us!

Past the outdoor space that includes a kind of shallow pond with lights is Victor, a steakhouse that also serves seafood and sushi. I've been told the Tomahawk steak at CAD$150 feeds six people. The restaurant also has a not-too-fussy vibe with lots of wood, and booth seating with green leather.

The hotel also boasts a ginormous ballroom at 15,604 square feet that holds 1,000 guests -- finally a venue for mega weddings, serving either Western or Chinese cuisines.

The interior of 1886, the fine-dining Chinese restaurant

On the third floor is 1886, a fine-dining Chinese restaurant that goes head-to-head with Mott 32 Vancouver. The latter has a more elaborate interior design, whereas 1886 -- the date Chinatown was established in Vancouver -- is more restrained but elegant with high ceilings and circular booth seating for smaller groups.

The opposite side of the room has several private rooms that can open up into one long one. One room was particularly boisterous the evening we went with mainland Chinese diners imbibing lots of alcohol with their dinner.

We were told by the manager the restaurant has been open for three months and is clearly meant to cater the gambling crowd as it's only steps away from the tables.

While this might be considered clever and convenient, the restaurant's location misses out on a huge segment of potential diners -- families. Only adults 19 years old and over can enter the casino area, hence 1886 is an adults-only restaurant.

In some ways this is good for customers who want a relatively quiet meal, but in terms of revenues, it's missing out on families who want to dine on dim sum with their children, or have Sunday night meals together.

Nevertheless, the food is pretty good overall and will raise the standards of Chinese cuisine in the city.

Parq Vancouver

39 Smithe Street

Vancouver

Tel: 604 683 7277

Xi's Look Back at 2017

Xi Jinping gives his New Year's address with two red phones on his desk...

On New Year's Eve, Chinese President Xi Jinping read out an 11-minute televised message where he went over the country's achievements in 2017.

He praised the Chinese people's "great creative forces that have burst forth" (迸发出来的创造伟力 bèngfā chūlái de chuàngzào wěilì) and listed accomplishments, such as the high-speed rail, the Hong Kong-Macau-Zhuhai bridge mostly completed, military progress, and increased health insurance coverage.

This picture was spotted on the shelf behind him

Xi repeated his commitment of promising to lift all rural residents living below the current poverty line out of poverty by 2020, and said China would "resolutely uphold the authority and status of the United Nations", be a responsible global actor and keep its promise on climate change and actively move forward on the Belt and Road initiative.

Interestingly he also observed people have encountered frustrations and admitted the Party could do more, saying the government needed to deliver on education, employment, income, social security, healthcare, elderly care, housing and the environment.

But throughout the video broadcast, viewers were more interested in the pictures he had on the bookshelves behind him than what he was saying. What were the pictures of?

Three showed him posing with different groups in the military, three were of him visiting the poor, one was about the Belt and Road, one had him posing with young Hong Kong people to mark the 20th anniversary of its handover to China, and one showed him retaking the Party oath

This photo showing his love of football was not there...

Xinhua news agency said Xi's global vision is to chart out a more prosperous and peaceful future for humanity with the joint efforts of the Chinese people and people from other countries, and the photos behind him were meant to reinforce this message.

A friend of mine who covers sports in China noted in Xi's other New Year speeches in 2014, 2015 and 2016, there were football-related pictures on the bookshelves, but this time there were none.

However, I'm more interested in the two red phones on his desk...

Picture of the Day: Homemade Dumplings

Our homemade dumplings are ready to be boiled and eaten!

Every year when I come back for the holidays, I make a batch of dumplings. Last year we used leftover turkey as well as ground pork with excellent results and even had my cousins visiting from Australia helping me wrap them.

This year we bought some ground pork and used leftover cabbage and mushrooms in the mix. There was already enough pork that we didn't include turkey this time, but forgot to add shrimp we had in the fridge.

We ate most of these dumplings tonight

My brother is amazed that I don't really follow a recipe -- I just kind of eyeball it in terms of portions, and try to make sure there's a good amount of vegetables in them.

As with every year, my mom insisted on doing a test run of the dumplings and we boiled two to see how they tasted -- I usually just go for it and wrap them all and see how they turn out later!

But we were good to go with an extra sprinkling of salt and another dash of sesame oil.

We almost used up four packages of wrappers (which we'll use up tomorrow with turkey and shrimp!) and after we cooked the dumplings, they made for a delicious dinner.

The dumplings had a nice crunchy texture thanks to the cabbage, and there was a hint of ginger too.

We've got a tray of leftover dumplings that's in the freezer that'll be good for my parents to eat!