Wo Fung Dessert

Phone: N/A
Address: 3220-4151 Hazelbridge Way, Richmond, BC
Hours: Mall Hours
Website:  N/A
Parking: Mall Parkade

Wo Fung Desert is situated in the food court of Aberdeen Centre. Despite the name, they actually specialize in Hong Kong style street snacks. They’re famous for their deep-fried chicken wings; some food-bloggers claim they serve the best wings in the city. I must investigate.

 

Snacks

Chicken Wings 7.5/10

• Served hot immediately from the deep-fryer.
• There’s a hint of ginger.
• A bit over salted.
• Light, crispy batter.
• The wings came out pretty dark, a sign that they’ve been re-using the oil for a while.
• The meat at the center of the wing was still a bit pink.

So, are they the best chicken wings that can be had in the city? Even without the drawbacks, not quite but they’re up there. The chicken wings are certainly pretty tasty; the batter was light and crispy while the meat was hot and moist. I guess it’s hard for the meat to be dry since the wings were a bit underdone and still a bit pink in the center. They must have been rushing the order due to the growing line. Now, undercooked chicken should have been a huge red flag, but I wasn’t too worried about it, the centre was still very hot and I didn't get ill from the underdone wings.

VERDICT

The chicken wings are worth ordering for take-out if you’re ever at Aberdeen Center. They are some of the better wings you could find in the city. I recommend you re-heat it in your toaster oven for ten minutes at 325°F. This reheat them back to a crisp while cooking them a bit and sweating out some of the oil. As for the best wings in the city, I still think they’re to be found at Phnom Penh in Chinatown.

Hitoe Sushi

Phone: (778) 371-4619
Address: 3347 West 4th Avenue, Vancouver, BC
Hours: 11:30am to 9:30pm
Website: http://hitoesushi.blog57.fc2.com/
Date of Visit: Apr. 03, 2013
Parking: Street Parking

Hitoe Sushi is a tiny, inconspicuous Japanese restaurant hidden in the Kitslano neighbourhood serving quality food at reasonable prices. I’ve walked by this place a few times and easily ignored the bare minimal hand painted sign. A number of cooked dishes are available here in addition to sushi and sashimi.

 

Appetizer

Miso Soup 7/10

• This soup came with the black cod miso combo.
• The soup has a sweeter taste than what I normally expected. It’s unmistakeably prepared beyond the use of (just) instant miso soup powder.

 

Chawan-Mushi 7/10

• Available on the feature menu, chawan-mushi is steamed cup of egg custard with fillings including seafood and vegetables.
• The filling was minimal, a single overcooked prawn, and pieces of scallop, some spinach, and some shitake mushrooms.
• The egg custard was smooth but also a bit hard. Overall, the entire dish was overdone

MEALS

Miso Black Cod 7.5/10

• Baked black cod served with a sweet miso sauce. Served with bowl of rice, a side seaweed salad, pickled radishes, and a pickled plum (ume).
• The cod was moist and cooked perfectly.
• Portion wise, there simply wasn't enough cod to accompany the bowl of rise. There’s enough for three of four bites.
• Side salad and pickles were pretty standard.

Uni, Ikura, and Unagi Don 7.5/10

• Beautifully presented bowl of rice topped with uni, ikura, and unagi.
• It’s not a hard dish to prepare, the problem is portioning. Underneath the bamboo leaves and scallop shell were nothing but rice

ATMOSPHERE

• Very small restaurant, only about five tables.
• A small library of manga comics are available for reading.
• Restroom was clean.

SERVICE

• Service was friendly, courteous, and attentive no complaints here.
• Complementary Pocky with the bill. Much better than mints.

VERDICT

Hitoe Sushi is one of the more decent Japanese restaurants in town. Despite the fact that the portions are on the small side, the consistent quality of the service and food make up for it. While the quality of the food was consistently on the better side, it did not create a large enough of a lasting impression for me to go out of my way to return. I would however, dine here again if I was already in the area and craving some sushi.

ARDUINO TFT TOUCH 3.2in LCD DISPLAY

 

I hooked up a 3.2in TFT Touch LCD Display to my Adriano. The applications for this are endless. Digital picture frame, a secondary monitor for my PC to display the status of my PC, and tiny touch screen applications. Is it worth investing the time to write all the necessary libraries and build these applications though? Probably not, writing the same applications for an Android Smartphone would be more productive.

A simple library for this display is already available. I’ll look into writing a simple app the next time I find myself with too much time.

Ruger 10/22 Ultimate

The Ruger 10/22 is one of the most popular semi-automatic rifles out there. They’re reliable, affordable, versatile, accurate, and easily maintained. With such a large following behind them, all kinds of after market parts are available. A complete custom precision rifle can be built to your specifications with only aftermarket parts.

This post documents the changes made to a Ruger 10/22 Carbine to convert it into a target rifle. With the exception of the trigger group, all the upgrades made to the rifle are relatively simple drop-in replacements. The most difficult part of this conversion would have been obtaining the different components needed to complete this project because availability of aftermarket parts isn’t the best here.

A shout-out to the members of Canadian Gun Nutz and Rimfire Central for knowledge they shared to make this project a possibility.

Disassembling the 10/22

The Ruger 10/22 Carbine

Here’s the Ruger 10/22 Carbine that will serve as the base for this project. No modifications have been made to the rifle, except for the addition of a 3-9mm Bushnell scope.

Removing the Stock

Removing the barrel band.

Removing the takedown screw.

The safety catch needs to be halfway between safe and unsafe positions in order for the action to be removed from the stock.

The stock now simply slides off the action of the rifle, allowing me to change the internals of the rifle.

Disassembling the 10/22

Trigger Work

The trigger group is the mechanism that initiates the firing sequence. The pull (or resistance) of the stock trigger is set to 6-8lbs.  A lighter trigger pull is ideal on a target rifle because it minimizes the amount the rifle is pulled off target when the trigger is squeezed. For this project, the professionals at Brimstone bought the trigger pull down to 2.5lbs.

The trigger group easily separates from the receiver by removing the pins indicated in the figure above. Simply push them out. I used hex screws. Do remember to set the bolt in the closed position first.

Here’s a side and top view of the trigger group before it was sent it off to the gunsmiths for modifications.

Here’s the trigger group after a three month long wait. Notice the internals in in the top-down view has been cleaned and polished? Below is a list of all the work done.

• The trigger pull has been brought down to 2.5lbs.
• There is no noticeable movement when pulling the trigger, just crisp and sudden click.
• An auto-bolt release modification has been done; the bolt now closes without having to fumble with the bolt lock. Only pulling the bolt further back is necessary.
• The disconnector, and hammer has been polished for to reduce friction of the internal mechanisms for smoother performance.
• The hammer has been reshaped.
• A wider red trigger has been fitted and installed into the trigger group.
• The trigger return spring has been replaced with a torsion type spring and an over travel stop.
• The magazine push release has been replaced with a larger red pull release to match the red trigger.
• The sear is replaced with a adjustable sear.
• An over-sized safety is installed.

In short, the components of the trigger group have either been replaced or polished in an effort to change the feel of the trigger and make the rifle marginally more accurate.

The Receiver and Bolt Assembly

The internals of the receiver can now be accessed with the trigger group removed, but the barrel was removed too so the receiver would be more manageable. It will be replaced later anyways.

Here’s the bolt assembly, bolt buffer, and charging handle separated from the receiver. The stock steel bolt buffer is replaced with a Tuffer Buffer polymer buffer. This will eliminated metal on metal contact when the bolt is pulled back, removing that metal clang when the bolt is pulled back. Moreover, it should dampen vibrations within the receiver during semi-automatic operation and theoretically improve accuracy (marginally).

No modifications have been made to the bolt, however, it can be polished to reduce friction for smoother operation which could improve accuracy (again, marginally). A polished bolt is mainly more for aesthetics.

The casing extractor in side the bolt has been replaced with a Volquartsen Edge Extractor (on the right in the figure below).

This is an upgrade made not to (marginally) improve accuracy, but rather, improve functionality of the rifle with my aftermarket components. This new claw has a a sharper edge, allowing it to better clasp the casing of a spend .22LR round and extract it from the action of the rifle. This new extractor is necessary as the new barrel I am using (further detailed in the the subsequent subsection) has tighter tolerances; the round just fits through the barrel so the casing may difficult to remove.

Upgrading the stock aluminum alloy receiver to an aircraft-grade aluminum receiver was considered. However, such an upgrade would offer only a few benefits. The rifle with the upgrade would be (marginally) lighter, however, this target rifle will be shot from a bench or from the prone position where a bipod will endure most of the weight of the rifle. With the a new receiver costing as much as a complete new rifle, the upgrade will be held off (for now).

With the bolt removed from the receiver, now is also a good time to replace the charging handle.

A red charging handle to match the trigger and magazine pull release is used. Performance wise, the weight of this new charging handle is different, it will (negligibly) affect the bolt during semi-automatic operation.

Barrel

A new barrel would be the single best one can make to the Ruger 10/22 upgrade to improve accuracy.

A 20 inch .920 Green Mountain Fluted Bull was chosen. Keep in mind, when installing a new barrel, the notch on the barrel should be aligned with the extractor on the bolt.

Barrel installed. It will be left free-floating against the new Hogue stock (detailed in the next section). Hopefully, barrel droop will not be an issue.

Putting it back together

Barrel

Everything will be put back together in a Hogue Overmold Stock.

The Hogue stocks have the benefit of being coated in rubber, making them more comfortable to hold than the factory stock. They also have swivel studs installed allowing for the installation of a bipod or sling.

I also replaced the stock takedown screw with this new Volquartsen takedown screw which utilized a hex key instead of a flat head screwdriver. Why? I lost the stock screw. The benefits of this new takedown screw is that it can be tighten tighter by hand easier with a hex wrench.

Rifle Scope

Seen here is a Bushnell 3-9mm rimfire rifle scope, weaver rings, the factory rail (which will later be replaced with an red anodized rail) and some Blue Loctite to hold everything together. This low budget scope offers very bright magnification.

Rail installed. The charging handle wasn’t replaced in this picture.

Bipod

The purpose of the bipod is to act as a forward rest for the rifle and reduce motion when aiming the rifle. Installing the bipod was pretty straightforward. Simply the adapter onto the forward swivel stud on the stock, and then the rail onto the adapter. Next, install the bipod onto the rail.

THE FINSIHED Product

Rifle Scope

Function tests were performed with dummy rounds, just to ensure everything works. The hammer strikes the rounds when the trigger is pulled, and the bolt extracts the dummy rounds (most of the time). Everything appears to be good.

The next steps are to take it out to the range, sight in the scope, and fire off a few rounds.

Salam Bombay

Phone: (604) 681-6300
Address: 217 - 755 Burrard Street., Vancouver, BC
Hours: Daily, 11:30am to 10:30pm
Website:  http://www.salambombay.com
Parking: Meter parking along street.

Salaam Bombay is a contemporary Indian restaurant located in downtown, Vancouver. In addition to an a la carte menu, a buffet is available during lunch hours. They also have a wide selection of wines available.

 

BuffeT Line

• Twelve items excluding rice, naan (served to your table), and condiments.
• Varied selection of curries, however, the selection of appetizers and desserts can be wider.
• Most items were refilled regularly.

 

Chickpea Bean Salad and Mixed Greens Salad

• The two salads were the only two appetizers available.
• The mixed greens were a refreshing contrast to all the curries available and served as a palette cleanser

 

Butter Chicken and Tandoori Chicken

• The butter chicken was very heavy on the cream and was lacking on that distinct tomato flavour.
• The tandoori chicken was my favourite item on the buffet line. Some of the pieces were a bit dry and this item doesn't seem to be refilled regularly, so some of the pieces were a bit cold.

 

Seafood Curry and Beef Curry

• The only seafood I found in the seafood curry was calamari.
• The beef curry was very reminiscent a beef stew, but spicier.

 

Shahi Panir and Vegetable Spinach

• The gravy of the shahi paneer (paneer is a South Asian fresh cheese) was very creamy and filling.

 

Bitter Melon Yogurt Curry

 

Kheer and Fruit Salad

• The kheer (rice pudding) was very watery. Some condiments like nuts, spices, or raisins on the side would have been nice.
• The fruit salad had chunks of cantaloupe, strawberries, and watermelons.

 

ATMOSPHERE

• Clean and modern dining area, all the tables had white linen.
• Small lounge at the front by the bar.

SERVICE

• Service was quick, attentive, and professional.
• Water was refilled quickly.
• Plates were quickly cleared as soon as you get up to get another round of food.

VERDICT

I’m not as familiar with Indian cuisine as I’d like to be. The buffet line here at Salaam Bombay had a varied selection and gave me the opportunity to try several new dishes at once. However, the line-up of food could have had a greater selection. I had trouble differentiating the taste of the gravy of several of items, they were all quite creamy and heavy. All-in-all, it was a good foray into Indian cuisine.