Chris Martin, the band’s chemistry, and energy was unbelievable.

Here’s a clip of the Mylo Xyloto concert finale:

I took this picture when our server brought the live Alaskan King Crab out to our table before cooking. For those who shudder at the thought of seeing their food alive before eating it, this is pretty standard when you order seafood in good Chinese restaurants. They do it so you know what you’re getting and you can see how fresh it is.

After much oohing and aahing, we christened the crab Larry. He was a 9-lb crab with thick long legs and meaty claws. Exactly what you want in a crab.

Our crab was prepared 3 ways:

The legs were cut in half, steamed, and slathered with minced garlic. I loved how there wasn’t any need to poke or probe the crab to get the meat.  The joints were deep fried in a mix of salt, pepper and garlic. And the shell was used to serve fried rice with shrimps, scallops and a slightly sweet cream sauce on top. Everything was delicious and devoured in record time.

It is worth mentioning that Alaskan King Crab at Fisherman’s Terrace is a bit more expensive compared with other Chinese restaurants. Our crab came close to $300, which was about $27 per pound. In most Chinese restaurants you pay $20 or less per pound. Nevertheless, we enjoyed our dinner immensely.

Until next year!

(Forgive the bad quality of the photos. I was using my phone’s camera.)

Housse de Racket’s synth-pop sound permeated the walls of Electric Owl last night. The French duo is on a North American tour, which kicked off at SXSW in Austin.

Pierre Leroux and Victor Le Masne was infectious on stage and got the crowd going despite not being a sold out show. Blame the long weekend for the poor attendance. If you don’t know who’s who, Victor is the one with the Burt Reynolds-esque beard/on drums and Pierre is on guitar. It’s a unique set up in that they play multiple roles because they both sing.

The duo did an hour long high energy set playing songs from Forty Love and their current album Alesia. I don’t understand a word of French but that didn’t stop me from dancing when they played “Roman” or clapping along during their performance of “Apocalypso”. I am still waiting to hear “Champions” live. Encore, encore!

Check out their website to see if they’re playing in your city.

I love hot chocolate. So when I saw Tourism Vancouver’s Last Call for the 2012 Hot Chocolate Festival blog post, I must admit, it got me out of bed pretty quickly.

There are 13 chocolateries participating this year, with a tantalizing line up of hot chocolate concoctions.

• Bel Cafe
• Bella Gelateria + It’s to Die For Banana Bread
• Beta5 Chocolates + The Juice Truck
• Chocolaterie de la Nouvelle France
• CocoaNymph
• French Made Baking
• Gem Chocolates
• Leonidas Chocolates
• Mink – A Chocolate Cafe
• Schokolade
• Terra Breads
• Thierry Chocolaterie Patisserie Cafe
• Thomas Haas

I called my friend and we settled on Thomas Haas in Kitsilano.

They had 3 flavors to choose from: Classic Hot Chocolate with Soft Caramel and Fleur De Sel, Extra Dark Chocolate with Fresh Vanilla and Hazelnut with Hazelnut wafers.

I ordered the classic hot chocolate and I loved every last drop of it. The chocolate was rich and frothy and you could feel the bubbles in your mouth. It almost had the same texture as Spanish hot chocolate, but obviously not as thick. If you’re wondering what “fleur de sel” means, it is actually the French word for sea salt. You could say the inspiration for this drink is the exquisitely sweet yet salty salted caramel. Bonus: Thomas Haas served this with their dense and chewy sparkle cookie.

My friend decided on the hazelnut hot chocolate (pictured above). I am not a fan of hazelnut infused chocolate. No not even Nutella, and yes I know I am alone in this. But if you do like hazelnut then you will like this drink.

The Vancouver Hot Chocolate Festival ends this week. Be sure to make your way to Thomas Haas and try the drinks for yourself.

Glittery nail polish is a huge trend right now and almost all brands have been coming out with their own version.

What I’m wearing is part of China Glaze’s 3D glitter collection, so called because of the varying glitter sizes. I love that with just 2 coats my nails were completely opaque.

With plenty of glitter nail polish to choose from, it’s hard not to find something you like.

But if you’re still not sold on the idea – here’s a great peg I wish I saw before I had my nails done.

Love Maegan suggests painting your nails a nude color and then adding a stripe of glitter to one side of your nail. Isn’t it pretty?