There’s a reason I live in Van: I have this issue with cold weather. Specifically, I hate it. I am convinced that I have poor blood circulation (or something) because I am perpetually cold. But I must have angered the gods, because Vancouver has decided to test me by being extremely freaking cold. We rarely dip below 0, but for the last few days we’ve been sitting at a nice -5 to -7. Which to me means wearing a tanktop, sweater, hoodie, vest, hat, scarf, tights, jeans, legwarmers, socks and boots. Yes folks, I have become a walking marshmallow.

There is a benefit to wearing all of that clothing though. My arms have been sore from weights at the gym, and when I wear so many layers I have issues with arm mobility because of the sheer thickness of my clothing. Therefore, I keep my arms mostly still, reducing any pain caused by movement of sore muscles. There’s always a silver lining, right?

Speaking of silver linings, another one is that the cold weather deserves warm food. (Er, maybe not such a silver lining…) I have class downtown on Thursday evenings, so my friend and I usually go for lunch beforehand. Today we went to Nuba (http://www.nuba.ca/) – Lebanese food! We had the most amazing cauliflower I’ve ever had. Normally I’m not really a fan of cauliflower, but this one was roasted and had all these spices and just general amazingness. I really should’ve taken a picture, but I was in too much of a hurry to eat it. I also had lamb kafta with delicious potatoes (I think I actually liked the potatoes more than the lamb) and really good baklava for dessert. Om nom. I also tried Turkish coffee, which was really interesting. (We’ll see if I sleep tonight.) I spent the entirety of lunch trying to figure out what it tasted like – it was really rich and smooth, but it had this aftertaste that I really couldn’t pin down.

Further inspired by the whole winter-needs-food idea, we went for hot chocolate at Leonidas Chocolate, down by the Convention Centre. Whoever thought of a hot chocolate festival was a genius. Dark chocolate and raspberry hot chocolate completely made up for the walk in the cold, though it did make me sleepy in class.

So, I don’t like to brag about my city, but I live in the most beautiful place in the world.