Night It Up 2013

Posted: July 12, 2013 | Author: | Filed under: Culture | Tags: , , , , , | Leave a comment

The infamous Markham “Night It Up!” festival with long stinky tofu lines is THIS WEEKEND (July 12 to 14, 2013)!!! I wish stinky tofu was available everywhere :P

niu

A video for y’all

Posted: July 11, 2013 | Author: | Filed under: Culture, Delicious, Toronto | Tags: , | Leave a comment

Hey everyone!

I took some time off of updating the blog for a while, but now I’m back! To start off, I want to share with you all an episode of  Munchies – Toronto version….GUU STYLE!!!!

Perhaps some of you may already know, I love Guu! It has been on my favourite list since I first tried it in Vancouver and I was super excited when they came over to Toronto. I like this episode because it highlights (although, if you know me, it’s just the tip of the iceberg) two of my favourite cuisines – Asian and Italian! I think to be Asian, is to be adventurous! It is the one thing you grow up learning and eventually, appreciating. And of course, what is an adventure without drunken singing?!

Enjoy!

food on film @ TIFF

Posted: January 29, 2013 | Author: | Filed under: Culture, Toronto | Tags: , , , , , | Leave a comment

Beginning in February and running until June is the Food on Film series at TIFF. It brings together foodies and film buffs, as well as culinary experts together in one place. Every month TIFF will feature a guest that will do a talk and among them, David Chang of Momofuku fame.

It’s a subscription event, which means you’re going to have to shell out for a package of tickets which is $180 for those non-members and $153 for members. I read on The Grid that TIFF may release single tickets depending on availability. Definitely don’t count on seeing David Chang if you’re banking on single tickets…

Here is the schedule of events/talks:

  • Wednesday, February 13 – Claire Stubbs on I Am Love
  • Wednesday, March 13 – James Oseland on The Trip
  • Wednesday, April 3 – David Chang on Eat Drink Man Woman
  • Wednesday, April 24 – Aldo Sohm on Sideways
  • Wednesday, May 15 – Anita Stewart on Food Inc.
  • Wednesday, June 19 – Kent Kirshenbaum on El Bulli: Cooking in Progress

Dreams of Italy

Posted: January 5, 2013 | Author: | Filed under: Culture | Tags: , , , , , , | Leave a comment

When am I not daydreaming and dreaming of Italy? Rarely.

Ever since I traveled to Italy, I could never get it out of my mind. The architecture, history, music, beauty, food and people; definitely a dream. I feel like I’ve written a lot about Italy for some reason, but whatever! It’s my favourite topic.

I just finished watching episodes of No Reservations where Anthony Bourdain goes to Sicily, Naples, Rome, Venice and Tuscany (yeah, it has been my goal to just veg out on the couch watching No Reservations for Christmas holiday. An easy goal to accomplish!). The Tuscany episode really hits me. It is truly one of the most beautiful places on earth. I don’t know what it is about Tuscany, but words, pictures and video cannot describe or do it justice.

And of course, the food. Italian food has to be one of my favourite cuisines. I’d eat Italian food for the rest of my life. Italian food is very close to Chinese food – which is probably why I love it so much. The cuisine varies so much from meaty, to vegetable, to saucy, to simple and then complex. There are offal dishes, wild game dishes, seafood, raw food…everything. *cue salivation

Italy romanced me and I can never go back to anything less than Italia. And with that, I’ll leave you all with some vacation pictures and No Reservations Tuscany :)

A culture of eating

Posted: November 30, 2012 | Author: | Filed under: Culture, Hong Kong | Tags: , , , | Leave a comment

I’ve always been a proud Canadian and nothing pained me most when I was growing up than when my family members would say “Hong Kong has everything.” I would retort with questions like, “Do they have Pizza Hut?”; “Do they have spaghetti?”; “Do they have hot dogs?” and unfortunately for me, the answer would always be “Yes. Hong Kong has everything.”

FRUSTRATION!!! And sadness when I realized my beloved country lacked many of the cool things Hong Kong had to offer despite our incredible diversity.

And slowly, I realized Hong Kong does have everything. And to my point from my I love food but… post, Hong Kong has a crazy culture like no other and eating is a HUGE part of it. I am glad I do not live there, because I would be severely obese.

Check out the No Reservations episode on Hong Kong. Anthony Bourdain describes Hong Kong beautifully and accurately when he describes it as a pinball machine. A magical place where you’re bounced around, through narrow and hidden passageways to be spat out somewhere completely different, all dizzy and drunk with happiness and confusion. Maybe he didn’t say it in those words, but the analogy is pretty close to the real thing.

part 1

 

part 2

 

part 3

 

part 4

 

part 5

I love food but…

Posted: November 28, 2012 | Author: | Filed under: Culture, Food Rants | Tags: , , , , , , , , , | 1 Comment

How does one eat soo much? Even if it’s just once in a while?

When Conan and I went to Asia, we toured around Hong Kong, Taiwan and Macau. It was a fabulous time and we visited the most food glutenous places in the world. I was there a bit longer than Conan and before he came to meet me, my stomach was still full from trying to digest food from a week prior. It was just crazy…and oh so delicious. Right now, I wish I was in Taiwan, eating some stinky tofu, and then in a moment sitting in a crazy second floor brisk restaurant at a table my uncle just falsely assumes another family identity to secure said table and eat the most amazing Taishan food.

*breaks out of food trance*

But in reality, by the end of our trip, I wanted nothing more than to starve myself for the next few weeks because I was never hungry. Admittedly, I can’t keep up with everyone else in the game of eating, it’s a culture that I wish I could participate in, but my stomach just doesn’t stretch that way.

I don’t know how people do this, but they do. This is a moderate night compared to my experiences in Asia and Vancouver, but it’s still crazy.

Anthony Bourdain’s Guide to Eating and Drinking in NYC: Munchies

Ray Kurzweil talk last night, singularity and the Law of Accelerated Returns

Posted: October 19, 2012 | Author: | Filed under: Culture, Not about food | Tags: , , , , , | 1 Comment

CAUTION: This has nothing to do with food. If you want to read about food, skip this post ;)

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Last night I attended a lecture/talk by Ray Kurzweil. For those unfamiliar with him, check out these links here, here and here. As I’ve been telling my friends and those on the internet that care – it was an awesome talk! Many factors contributed to the talks awesomness.

Although I feel the talk was great, inspirational and thought provoking, I did walk away with many questions and obviously, critiques. I find the points I am about to make can be loaded and provide opportunities for discussion and debate, so I’ve decided to separate my thoughts into several posts rather than in one long essay.

The questions and critiques I have are:

  1. “Technology increases mankind’s intelligence”
  2. The Law of Accelerated Returns and our natural resources

I might add more topics, I don’t have my notes in front of me :P

But enjoy!!!!

Caution: Art

Posted: October 1, 2012 | Author: | Filed under: Culture, Not about food | Tags: , , , , | Leave a comment

For the past 6 years Nuit Blanche has created an opportunity for an art explosion across downtown Toronto. It’s a great event for all those who love to create art, those who love art and those love to stay up late with a whole bunch of other like-minded people.

I have a love/hate thing for Nuit Blanche, not so much hate but it’s always soo freaking cold!!! As I generally dislike cold temperatures, it’s not a big deal :P

And for those who missed Nuit Blanche, a cool and short video of few of the many great installations at this years event.

TIFF Food Truck Mania

Posted: September 6, 2012 | Author: | Filed under: Culture | Tags: , , , , , | Leave a comment

The Toronto International Film Festival is among us again! Every year I’ve a few friends who fight their way through the masses for a glimpse and/or a chance to “fondle” George Clooney, Brad Pitt and Ryan Gosling. Although it would be nice to be Ryan Gosling’s girlfriend, I just don’t have the energy to fight the ones who would DIE to have it, but that’s just me.

I do, however, have time to join in on “food truck mania” and indulge myself in film and food.

Check out this year’s TIFF Food Truck schedule!

Happy celebrity film watching!

One day we will ONLY DREAM of sushi…unless…

Posted: August 30, 2012 | Author: | Filed under: Culture, Food Rants | Tags: , , , , | Leave a comment

My dad has been in the seafood business for a long time, as far as I can remember at least. At one time in my childhood he subscribed to a fishing magazine. It was a great resource for me as it listed, with pictures, the various types of fish that were sold on the market. So when there was an opportunity at school to conduct a research project, I jumped at the chance to research about overfishing.

Overfishing at that time when I was in elementary school was a huge issue and today, well I can only imagine. We are running out of natural fish resources, we’ve been polluting our oceans and our efforts in farmed fishing have been marred with issues. While watching the very appetizing movie, Jiro Dreams of Sushi, I salivated and admired the dedication to the craft, but near the end of the movie, Jiro lamented on the decline of fish/seafood quality and the future of sushi.

This relatively new documentary, Sushi: The Global Catch, really brings to bear the issues at hand and the bleak future for future generations to enjoy sushi. And despite my craving to eat at Kaji, I feel guilty for being part of the problem.

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