I love Dim Sum. Even bad Dim Sum is okay with me. I just enjoy the experience, the way you're never really know what you're going to get, and how you can try a lot of different things because all the portions are small.

So this weekend I headed out for some Sum (yep, I said it) at Golden Ocean Seafood Restaurant in Kerrisdale (near 41st and Arbutus).

It's delicious! I took my parents who are in town for a few days and sort of difficult to entertain, as I wrote about last week. I chose Golden Ocean because I knew they'd enjoy the authenticity of the place (servers bring around stuff like tripe and chicken feet in addition to more North American friendly stuff) and it's almost always packed, mostly with native Chinese speakers, who you'd imagine would know what to look for when it comes to getting good Chinese food.

Know what I don't get? I don't get how really specialized little bookstores survive. As much as I love them, I don't know how they manage to stay in business when faced with the Chapters and Borders and Indigo boom. At least, I don't know how they manage it EXCEPT in the case of Barbara Jo's Books to Cooks, which is just so lovely, it can't help but thrive.

Orignally located in Yaletown, then on Granville Island, a 2nd Barbara Jo's recently opened up on W. 2nd Ave.

It. Is. Charming.

So last week, I had the worst muffin I've ever had in my life. It was small. It was a barfy green/brown colour. It was sickeningly sweet and had a strage texture. I think it was infused with green tea, and to be fair, was probably some kind of cake (like a matcha cake) and not a muffin at all, but regardless, I hated it. That said, I got it from a really cute little place. :D

That place is SAWA Tea & Craft. It's an adorable little tea shop located in the Waterfall Building on W. 2nd Ave. (between Kits and South Granville). It's a tiny, but beautiful little store. Lots of white, lots of lovely teapots on display. And other than the muffin, I enjoyed everything I picked up - like some tea and a bunch of flyers about the events they host.

So my parents are coming to town. For most people, this isn't exactly news. For me, it's fairly noteworthy because in the five years since I moved out here to live full time, they've never visited me. Not once. (They're Torontonians. The Toronto-focussed sort you read about. Sad, but true.)

Anyway, they're coming and I'm trying hard to work out a schedule of fun things to do with them while they're here. I'm finding it really difficult. I mentioned the Aquarium to my dad, for example, and he was definitely not down with the idea. Ditto Granville Island. (They've done lots of that sort of thing before, apparently.) They want, my father said, to experience "the natural beauty of BC". That's it, that's all.

I'm no actor, but I like pro-actor initiatives. It seems like a tough job in some ways, at least, if you're not one of the lucky, famous few. So with that in mind, I thought I'd let you know about the Walking Fish Festival call for actors.

Organizer, the Upintheair Theatre Society, is now accepting Actor Resumes for The 5th Annual fest. It's one of those indie theatre things, that brings together writers, directors to create new, original theatre. The results are sketchy at best - I'd bet money that some of the plays that get mounted will be seriously painful - but it seems like being a part of it would be fun.

Let me start off by saying that this post is just me telling you a story about something that happened in our fair city the other day. It was something weird, so I thought you might like to hear about it.

Here's what happened:

I'm out the other morning, minding my own business, patronizing my local Starbucks (I know, I know - you hate them), and I notice a lady with a baby. I've seen them around before.

The baby is about 10 months old, I'd guess (though I don't know much about baby development). He's old enough to sit up, anyway. And his mom (I assume) seems to be having a bit of trouble. She's got her coffee, the place is crowded, she doesn't seem to have a stroller, etc. I guess she has to go to the bathroom because while I'm ordering my coffee, she plops junior on one of the wooden chairs at a table for two and goes off to the john.