Long weekend-Togo Sushi, Kimchi hotpot

Happy belated Canada day!! 

After a 3 day weekend, going back to work was definitely hard.. When I went in the office this morning, it was half empty.  I guess everyone is using up their vacation time wisely and making their weekend a 4 day weekend! It was gorgeous today and it would've been nice if there was no work today as well:(

Anyways! This weekend, I went to Richmond Centre Togo sushi to visit my brother.  Togo sushi is  a Japanese food franchise and there are 5 locations in Vancouver.  My brother works in the one in Richmond Centre as a sushi chef.  (I was just looking at the website and apparently there is one in UBC? I've never seen it before!!)

My brother was kind enough to buy/make sushi for my boyfriend and I.

Negitori roll, spicy chop scallop roll, and House roll (house roll has prawn tempura, spicy tuna, smoked salmon, cucumber, and crab meat.. my brother also put in salmon just for us :) )

The sushi is inexpensive and it's pretty good for its price.

AND... 3 spicy tuna rolls.

we couldn't eat all of them so friends had to help out

Then.. to celebrate Canada day, we decided to cook something.  I thought it would feel more like a celebration to cook something at home and eat it together like a big family.  We couldn't decide on what to cook and in the end.. we cooked the most non-Canadian food ever... (but who cares, we are asians..:p)

KIMCHI HOTPOT (woooooooo ahhhhh)

 I made the base by boiling dried anchovies (used a lot in Korean soups) and threw in some chilli powder,chilli paste, kimchi, kimchi liquid and little bit of chopped garlic.  We just bought the kimchi on that day and I personally prefer fully ripped kimchi.. I think it would've brought a stronger flavour to the soup base.

Other ingredients

udon noodles, sukiyaki meat, onion, mushroom, enoki mushrooms, green onions

mmmmmmmmmmmm OM NOM NOM

We ate our dinner as quickly as possible and then ran to the pool/hot tub to finish off our day. 

I am going to cook this next time when the kimchi ripens to see how different the taste is.

I will be uploading more posts about this weekend! stay tuned!:)