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Saturday, July 26th, 2008
Friday, July 18th, 2008
9:22 am
Melissa and I went to Canoe last night. Summerlicious was a brilliant idea, and if I knew who started it, I'd thank him/her. Melissa and I have been attempting to get into Canoe during Summerlicious/Winterlicious for two years now, but because the event takes reservations from American Express cardholders for two days before opening up to the general public, the place has usually been filled before we could even try. We were finally able to get a reservation this time around thanks to a friend of Melissa's with an AE card. Were we not paying for our own wedding, we'd have made reservations at Bymark and North 44°) as well. Maybe Winterlicious...
The food was brilliant, and we took the option to have paired wines with our three courses, and it was so worth it. I had the lamb. If I see lamb on a menu, it's hard to resist. The cherry on the top of the whole evening was being told Canoe is hiring, given the card of one of the sous chefs and told to give him a call when I'm done culinary school. Tuesday, July 15th, 2008
8:09 pm • Another reason Hollywood sucks these days...
With Melissa gone to Chicago for a few days, I've finally had the chance to sit down and watch a couple of movies.
For the sake of comparison, I watched a subtitled version of the German film "Mostly Martha" (AKA Bella Martha) and it's US-remake "No Reservations". It's left me wondering (yet again) why Hollywood feels the need to change movies to suit a wider audience/be more endearing/be less intelligent. "Mostly Martha" and "No Reservations" start off nearly the same; A voiceover by the lead character about how to cook pigeon (or in the US version; quail) as told to her psychiatrist. It's nearly word-for-word. Many parts of the remake are nearly word-for-word and scene-for-scene. The US casting was obviously done to mimic the original. Hell, even the same piece of music was used in both movies. However, for some reason, the US version cuts out a lot of what makes the original such a brilliant, unique and believable film and adds it's own cliché filler. This is my breakdown of Mostly Martha for those who've seen No Reservations: Martha (the parallel in the US version is Kate) is an obsessive hermit of sorts. and her thoughts and her entire life is about food. Throughout "Mostly Martha" she's giving recipes and techniques to everyone around her, whether they care to listen or not. There's a funny and pertinent scene where Martha charges out of the kitchen and *stabs* a raw steak down in front of a client because he thinks she doesn't know how to cook a rare steak. Now, of course this scene shows up in No Reservations as well, but it's near the end, and it's not to show how much of a control freak the character is (rather, because she appears to be in an "I hate life" mood). Martha is obsessive about food, which is likely why she's the "second best chef in town". She's also sorely lacking in social abilities and emotion; she doesn't know how to be around other people, let alone an 8-year-old child. It's obvious that she's a person who only knows how to love one thing: food. The downstairs neighbour: In Martha, it's she who's doing the chasing, rather than the other way around. Her awkwardness is quite evident though, showing how little she knows in dealing with other human beings. Lina (Zoe in the US version) is a sad, depressed child who's just lost her mother. She doesn't want to eat the food being put in front of her not because it's alien, but because she's depressed. It doesn't help that her emotionally-lacking aunt is the one serving it to her. Lina doesn't smile, she doesn't do or say cutesy things. She doesn't want to be around her aunt; she wants to be with her father. Wait, her father?! Yes, there's a nice little plot point cut out from No Reservations; that Martha is trying to find Lina's father; an Italian man with whom Lina's mother had (we can assume) a one night stand. Lina sees being with her father as some sort of paradise or replacement for her lost mother. The big "run away scene" comes much earlier in MM, and it's not because Martha and the lead man aren't being nice to each other anymore; it's because Lina (after seeing video of her mother and she together) decides she's going to run off on a bus to find her father in Italy; again a reflection of the tension between Martha and she. We also find out that she's been cutting class. I can see why Hollywood felt the need to make these characters more screen-friendly; they're not very likeable – at least in the beginning. Which is why the Mario character (Nick in No Reservations) is so important. Rather than the overkill-on-the-boyishly-cute-goofball that Nick is, Mario is an eccentric man with a joie-de-vive. Lina takes to Mario long before she even gets close to liking Martha, because Mario doesn't just see her as an albatross like she does; not knowing what the hell to do with her. Mario is a counter for Martha's loneliness and social ineptitude. Unlike No Reservations, Mostly Martha (in keeping with this theme of distance between the main characters) is not full of cliché lovey-dovey or endearing scenes. Those scenes that are emotional are few and far between, but that's what makes them good. In watching No Reservations the "you don't want me!" scene makes zero sense; they're getting along just fine and Zoey (apparently) doesn't have a father she wants to run away to. Likewise the romantic moments between Kate and Nick are far more numerous than those between Martha and Mario, making them mean less for us as the audience, and completely erasing our perceived tension between the two leads. Oh, and the whole "I'm going to run away because my aunt that I barely know and this guy she works with I've known a week aren't talking"-thing is really just sad. There's also no fear of losing Mario, like there is of Nick. I suppose, to fill in all they hacked out of the 3rd act of the original film, they felt the need to add Nick getting offered a job in another city, changing the entire point of the movie. In Martha, Lina's father comes to get her and takes her back to Italy, leading to a sad and intentionally-awkward goodbye scene. After Lina goes, Martha realizes what she's lost and quits her job, goes and gets Mario, which leads to another scene where we see Martha's lack of social skills; she has to be reassured by Mario that Lina actually loves her. Another reason why No Reservation pales in comparison; the food. Now, I know a lot was made of how CZJ spent time in a professional restaurant preparing, and how much they wanted to get things right, but it still comes across as fake; like food was just a mere afterthought, rather than an important part of this movie. Take for example the scene where Nick comes over to make dinner. In MM, it's not pizza. It's a huge, beautiful spread of various Italian foods; pastas, breads, charcuteries, etc. This actually leads to a scene which (again) shows the obsessive/control freak nature of Martha; she goes into her kitchen to find it a complete and utter mess... and then starts hyperventilating. The end of Martha is not as cutesy. Martha and Mario show up in Italy, and in a montage of scenes, we're led to believe they buy a restaurant together, get married and live in Tuscany near or with Lina. And the one scene that drives Martha over the top (in a good way) is the last one, right before the credits roll. It's Martha and her shrink, and he's made a dessert with one of her recipes, and she's trying to figure out why it doesn't taste right. It again, shows her obsessive nature, but also nods to the audience that she's no longer cooking for him, but rather teaching him how to cook. It's a smart little bit, but it makes it's the icing on the cake for me, and sums up a lot about how much Martha's changed in some ways, and how little in others. I know, I'm being obsessive and overly critical, but I can't be the only one. Mostly Martha was nominated for (and won) a good chunk of awards. No Reservations on the other hand, was nominated for one lone award, mainly for Abigail Breslin playing the same cutesy little girl she plays in every movie she's been in. But really, would it have been that hard to Hollywood not to have fucked this movie up so bad, and kept it less of the cliche romantic comedy it became? If you get the chance, check out Mostly Martha. You won't be disappointed.  Monday, July 7th, 2008
12:43 pm
Our move has left us in a neighbourhood with no name. We were once bordering Yorkville in the East Annex, but I cannot find anything about the neighbourhood we're in.
We're at Jarvis & Bloor, meaning we're few streets east of Yonge, so we can't be in Yorkville; a few streets north of Charles, leaving us out of Church & Wellesley Village; too far west to be in Cabbagetown or St. James Town; and south of Bloor, excluding us from being in Rosedale. So, where exactly are we? Wednesday, July 2nd, 2008
11:00 am • It's over!
Our move went pretty well.
Despite a few minor hitches, we fell right within the schedule I worked out, and the whole thing was done in three and a half hours. We even returned the U-Haul truck at *exactly* our dropoff time. Geoff, Ken and Chris, who helped us move, stayed for a while and we played some Settlers of Catan (awesome board game, if you play 'em) and watched the city light up with fireworks. One thing living high up in an apartment building can offer, is seeing everyone set off their fireworks, as well as the larger shows from around the city. Our apartment faces east, and we can see the Don Valley and the houses and apartments on the north side of the Danforth. We saw probably 20-30 little "private" (ie; backyard) shows, as well as a large one somewhere on/north of the Danforth (anyone know what one that was?). Today is a little less busy. I'm unpacking for the most part. Melissa will be happy the TiVo is connected and working. I won it in a contest, and we got it she was apprehensive about it. She didn't like having to learn how to use a new remote control, and the channel-changing is a little slow, but she's come to love it. I have a few issues with it, but yes, we are converts and we love it. BitTorrent is still my "other TiVo" though. ;) Tonight we get to pick up the kittens. We've been looking forward to it all week, and we've already bought toys, carriers, a litter box and a few other things, though we're still in need of a bed and a scratching post. The Global Pet Foods we went to didn't seem to have smaller beds or sisal rope scratching posts. The cardboard "posts" just shred and make a mess. Life is good. :) Saturday, June 28th, 2008
11:27 am • A new addition (or two) to the family...
This may come as a huge surprise to some of you, but we're adopting 4-month old fraternal twins, and I couldn't be happier!
( pictures and details behind the cut ) current mood:
 happyThursday, June 26th, 2008
4:15 pm
Part of me is surprised.
Four months ago, Melissa and I decided to take on a more flexitarian lifestyle. For health and environmental reasons, we cut down our meat consumption quite dramatically. Generally, we're "vegetarians" during the week, and omnivores during the weekend. We probably eat meat 2-3 meals in a week (including lunches and breakfasts), with meat-based broth being used once in a while during "veggie" days. It's certainly surprised me that a third of a year has passed already. It's been interesting. At first, I was stumped for meals. I felt a little like it'd be hard to have a good, filling meal without some kind of meat product. That's certainly changed, and I've introduced a lot more bean-based meals into our diet. I've come up with an awesome recipe for refried beans that I dare anyone to tell me isn't delicious as all fuck. :P One interesting side-effect; I eat smaller portions of meat on those days we do eat it. Another is I've lost a few pounds. Not much, but a few. We both intend to lose weight for the wedding though, so when we move into the new place (Tuesday), we're gonna make good use of the gym in the building. The time living with my picky-eater-culinarily-uninterested mother and the stress-of-dating-and-relationship-fallou Oh, and for dinner we're having eggplant parmigiana over garlic basil cappellini. So there! Monday, June 23rd, 2008
Thursday, June 19th, 2008
10:38 am • The movie "Wanted"
About a month or so ago, my friend Geoff showed me the trailer to this film.
I walked away thinking, "Wow, this movie looks bad!" Geoff however, said it looked cool. My argument is that they've taken all these things they think will be cool and glued them together to form a movie. And I don't mean a *few* things, but everything they could think of. Curving bullets? Really? Is there anyone on the writing team with any kind of knowledge of 9th grade science, let alone physics? Combine that with the fact that handguns are really not very accurate. No, really. All the wonderful spot-on shots they make in movies are not realistic. When I was 16, my uncle took my brother and I to a firing range, handed me a 9mm Beretta(he's with the RCMP, and I believe this was his second piece), showed me the proper way to hold it, took off the safety and told me to "empty the clip" at a positioned and absolutely still clay pigeon 8 feet in front of me, behind which were several bales of hay. I couldn't even hit this brittle piece of clay, about 5" in diameter, less than a car length in front of me. And this was not the first time I'd ever used a gun. I was pretty damn good with a .22 rifle at this point, and could (and probably still can) easily hit a bulls eye 30 yards away. I know there's supposed to be a certain suspension of disbelief, but there comes a point where that pre-requisite for suspension of disbelief becomes an assumption that the audience is completely stupid. And are we not tired of the "your father was great at doing XXX, you must be too!"-plots? My father excelled at social awkwardness and sociopathy, does that mean I'm probably brilliant at it? Now, I'm sure that this movie will do moderately well at the box office. Drooling men (and some women) will go to turn themselves on seeing Angelina slink around with a gun and tight clothing. Others may go because they like Morgan Freeman. But a good number of the audiences will be people who don't care that there's no substance and just want to see the style. The Matrix was a great movie, but it seems to have set in motion an idea in Hollywood that the way something is shot with the camera, the special effects used, and the improbability of doing something (and the successful pulling off of that something) are somehow the most important aspects of a film. People walked away from the Matrix thinking how cool it was. And I admit, the shots were awesome and the style was awesome. But all of that revolved around the story, rather than the story revolving around how "cool" something can be made to look. Maybe it's just me, but damnit I'm tired of seeing crap like this. I've got a brain, y'know, and I can use it. I don't buy movie tickets to sit in a seat and drool for 90 minutes. Thursday, May 29th, 2008
5:00 pm • A reason I'm happy we're moving on July 1st...
Howcome? 'Cause any stove will be better than the one we currently have to use.
Why? This stove's burners are extremely lacking in any calibration (if such a thing can be done). I cannot easily maintain a simmer on the large burners. Any number on the dial between 1 and 10 will eventually bring a liquid to a full boil. In order to get a simmer, I have to carefully position the dial about a third of the way between 0 and 1. I shouldn't have to do that, really. Given how bad most people seem to be afraid to turn their elements on high for anything other than to boil water, you'd think a stove manufacturer would give those intermediate steps some actual usable *heat* value, rather than merely being a gauge as to how fast you can bring something to a boil. Of course, current Electrolux ads are touting the "boil water in 90 seconds" ability of their new induction ranges, so I shouldn't be surprised... Friday, May 23rd, 2008
11:54 am • Recipe Time!
It's asparagus season here in Southern Ontario, so I thought I'd put up an asparagus recipe. I made this just the other day in fact. It's lighter than other cream soups, and is not as rich as winter soups. It's quick, relatively easy, delicious as all hell and it's perfect for this cool spring weather we've had:
Cheddar Asparagus Soup 1 tablespoon oil (neutral tasting is best) 1/3 cup onion (preferably cooking onion), diced 1/3 cup celery, diced 1/2 lb asparagus, cut into 1-inch pieces (bigger stalks are better, but leave the woody ends on) 4 cups chicken or vegetable stock or broth 1/4 cup milk (1% or 2% is best) 1/4 cup half & half cream 1/2 teaspoon dried mustard powder 150g (about 1 1/2 cups) old/aged cheddar, grated 2 tablespoons butter 2 tablespoons flour salt & pepper to taste 1. In a stock pot over medium heat, cook onion and celery until softened. 2. Add asparagus and stock, and allow to simmer until the asparagus is fork-tender (about 10 minutes) 3. In batches, pour the stock (with the veggies) into a blender and blend until smooth. Be careful never to fill your blender beyond the half-way mark. Hot liquids burn like hell when they explode out of an over-filled blender. Start with light pulses until it's safe to turn onto a full puree. Set aside in a separate container with a pour spout. *** Note: At this point, this is actually a very delicious and extremely healthy (and pretty) pale-green soup. It could be served as is after a little bit of seasoning. For the heartier cold-spring version, continue to step 4.*** 4. Lightly rinse out and dry the stock pot, and over medium-low heat, melt butter. When butter stops sizzling, whisk in flour to create a roux and stir regularly until it starts to smell nutty and roux has just barely taken on any colour. 5. Whisk the mustard powder and blended soup into the roux, and bring up to a medium heat. 6. When soup has thickened, bring the temperature down to low and (while stirring) add the cream, then the milk, and then the cheese. When the soup is smooth, season to taste and serve. Serves 4 as a meal and 6-8 as a soup course. Friday, May 16th, 2008
9:56 am • And in non-Top Chef related news...
I picked up an old bike on Freecycle. It's an older Peugeot and depending on how well I can restore it, it'll become a primary source of transportation around the city, as well as a source of exercise.
It's not in the greatest of shape, but the frame doesn't have any rust, and nothing's warped, so hopefully a new paint job and some TLC should get it into nice condition. If, when all's said and done though, I do want a new bike anyway. A cruiser, specifically. Something nice and suits me. It'll take a few bills to buy however. It's gorgeous though.
9:26 am • Top Chef = Love
Anyone here watching season four of top chef? I watched Wednesday's episode last night (Bittorrent is my TiVo, baby!) and...
( Cut for potential spoilers... ) Wednesday, May 7th, 2008
3:49 pm
No offence to any who still may be living there, but my hometown of Orangeville is full of really dumb people. Social darwinism has somehow never taken hold there:
http://www.orangevillebanner.com/news/a **edit** This is a town... That has had Lobsterfest for dozens of years, despite being landlocked and 1000km from the nearest lobster. That built an opera house, despite having a population (26,000) too small to support it. Where the town council *continually* tries to find ways to make money off of tourists, including (but not exclusively), A busker festival, a blues & jazz festival, maple syrup festival, dragon boat races, renaissance faire. shakespeare festival, etc., etc., etc. Many of these attempts have failed miserably. Where the largest employer in town is Wal-Mart. Where hanging out in a Tim Horton's parking lot is considered an honourable past-time activity. Where, when the locally owned movie theatre went out of business, was turned into a religious film theatre (part of Ontario's wonderfully ignorant bible belt!) Where the majority of woman I knew who still live there have had one or more "accidental" children and work primarily to support their enormous drinking habits. Where life loses all hope, and if you've not moved away by age 25, your soul will shrivel into nothingness. Wednesday, April 30th, 2008
Tuesday, April 29th, 2008
6:00 pm • The perils of (mostly) self-employment
One of the pissers of working for yourself from home is that you don't have additional health insurance unless you go out and get it yourself.
I broke a tooth on the weekend. One of my molars broke off an iceberg on a particularly tough piece of overcooked pork. I had a feeling the tooth has been cracked for a while, weakened by the previous dental work in it. It's not so bad. Not overly sore, despite missing about 1/5th of the tooth. However, the way it broke left a jagged, hook-like piece of tooth that stabs my tongue every time I try and talk. A blessing or a curse, you decide. I will probably need a crown, but then again the tooth might be so far damaged that I need an implant. I won't know until I get to a dentist. A pricey fix, at the least. The good part of it all is that Melissa and I have now been living together for over a year, meaning her company's dental insurance covers me as a common-law spouse. Yay for common-law! :) In the mean time, if I speak to you and I sound like I'm drunk, it's just because my tongue is swollen from being speared with tooth edge. Saturday, April 26th, 2008
11:47 am
Well the TTC is on strike, and I'm angry.
Why? Well, aside from the fact that it puts a kink in my plans for today (heading out to Brampton), it's a selfish, selfish strike. It's not for safety reasons. It's not for health concerns. Forget the fact that we've seen the fare increase from $2.10 to $2.75 in just the past couple of years. It's selfish for five very extreme reasons. 1) The contract the TTC was offered this past week was fair. Fair enough for the ATU president to offer it to his union. It's a guaranteed 9% increase in pay over the next three years (exactly how many of us are THAT lucky, huh?). It included the desired 100% pay benefit for sick and injured workers (again, how many of us have that luck?). 2) The price of gas is near all-time highs. Shutting down the TTC puts more cars on the road, meaning the price of gas is going to increase (basics of supply and demand). It also means multitudes more pollution going into our atmosphere, and as a result, our lungs. 3) Canada's economy is very much tied to the US. The US is on the brink of (if not already in) recession. We're close too. The TTC moves 1.5 million people. Toronto is the largest city in Canada, the fourth largest city in North America and the economic heart of this nation. Aside from some of those 1.5 million people now potentially losing money from not being able to get to work, those businesses lose money to the tune of millions –potentially billions– of dollars. Part of what they're fighting for is job security. Guess what? EVERYONES job security is in jeopardy if we're forced into a recession to due their going on strike. 4) The TTC guaranteed they'd give 48 hours notice if they were going to strike. We got a mere hour or so. They said they feared retaliation from riders, given some yelling at TTC employees when the contract negotiations were going on this week. Really? Do they think there won't be MORE retaliation, yelling and general distrust for the TTC after they broke their word and stranded tens of thousands of people last night? Like somehow, if they get the deal they want, that people's anger with them will suddenly go away? 5) We've seen the TTC go from profitable in the early 90's, to the most cash-strapped transit system in Ontario. Sure, the Harris government did that 10 years ago. But it still doesn't discount the fact that the TTC is *not making money*. A disruption in service costs them (and by proxy, the taxpayer) money. You can't get blood from a stone. We Torontonians have been held hostage enough by the TTCs poor service, continual fare increases and constant issues. They're making enemies every time something comes up. I'm a hardcore socialist. I believe that people should have the right to strike if they're getting treated unfairly by their employers. But when the union strikes because they *aren't* the highest-paid transit workers in the area, or that they aren't being given extremely generous benefits that others could only dream of, then their motives are driven by greed and selfishness, not disparity. If I *weren't* a socialist, I'd *almost* wish that someone would pull a Reagan and fire them all for striking. Monday, April 21st, 2008
2:59 pm • Living Spaces
When Melissa and I moved into our current place, I was in love with it. It's an awesome building; It's right across the street from a major subway station; it has amenities like ensuite dishwasher, washer & dryer. It has building amenities like a security guard in the evenings, keyless entry, a hot tub, and a BBQ for residents. We're right on Bloor. I thought it was fantastic.
However, it's lost it's lustre for me. When we rented, the owners said this condo was immensely quiet. That's turned out to be a lie. I don't mind the subway noise – It's not that loud and we've become completely used to it. It's the other noise that's driving me bonkers: Starting in January, there was ongoing construction in the parking garage. A jackhammer noise that resonates through the entire building, almost all day long. That seems to have ended just a few weeks ago. Our neighbours upstairs seem to have watched far too many episodes of "Flip That House". They've been doing construction for the past few months. Hammering, sanding, banging at all hours of the day. Apparently, he's not been apprised of the noise laws here in Toronto, stating that there's to be no audible construction at certain hours during the week, and on the weekends. The other night, he was hammering at 1am. Other days, he started with a power saw at 7:30am. He's done most of this on weekends. Add to that the healthy dose of noxious chemicals I've taken in from his sealing of his new hardwood floors. There was a slight chemical smell in the back of my nose for three days straight. Given that he did that in late february, it was impractical to open the windows. Then there's the night that he and his girlfriend/wife/whatever had a huge (and quite audible) row. Of course, Melissa and I listened out of sheer entertainment purposes only. ;) A neighbour down the hall from us, has acquired themselves a puppy of some sort. A puppy that has separation issues and starts barking the minute the owner walks out the door in the morning, and doesn't stop until (I'm assuming) it's hoarse and can no longer make a sound, sometime around 11:30am-noon. Thankfully, the condo corporation sent out a notice to the owner about the problem, and that puppy is less noisy. Our condo rental is attached to the back of a Holiday Inn. At one time, we believe the condos were actually part of the hotel and while we can't enter the hotel from our side, they share the same fire alarm system. Every once in a while, some idiot adult or child in the hotel chooses to pull the ear-piercing fire alarm. Like, for instance, at 6:45am this morning. The alarm goes off and we hear (there are loudspeakers in the apartments and rest of the building): "Attention, Attention: We are investigating an alarm in the hotel. Please stand by for further instructions." That's fine and dandy. Except, if you're going to make people wait for further instructions, why don't you turn off the alarm? Why let it run for 20 minutes? Why not reactivate it if it does turn out to be a fire? This type of incident has happened several times since we've been here. Besides the noise, this apartment has two smoke detectors, within a foot of each other. Both happen to be right outside the kitchen, in the direct line of the oven. One is fine. It's a main detector for the building's system (the one previously mentioned). We've never set it off, and I suspect it takes a fair amount to do so. The other is a standard smoke detector, except it's a hardwired model rather than battery operated. It goes off if you so much has as open an oven turned up to over 400°F. Making pizza (@500°F) or bacon (@450*F, as baking it keeps it flat and renders off most of the fat) becomes a chore when I need Melissa to be waving a tea towel near the detector so that it (hopefully) doesn't go off. Even having a hot pan on the range can trigger it. Heat alone is what usually makes it ring and smoke is a whole other kettle of fish. Yesterday morning, we made bacon. Yesterday morning, it got so bad (with only a modicum of smoke) that I was standing on a chair with a full-sized floor fan held three inches from the detector. It took me standing there for two minutes with the fan to make it turn off. On several occasions I have seriously debated risking electrical shock, potential fire and damages to our landlords to rip it out of the ceiling with my bare hands. Our hood extractor is a useless microwave extractor with LOUSY vent routing. We pay quite a bit of money for all of these wonderful pleasures. With school and the wedding coming up, we need to save money. So when our lease is up, we're going to be moving. We're not sure where yet. It'll be cheaper, and likely not as nice. But we also know that our rent is slightly higher than what we *should* be paying for a place like this. While I'll miss the good parts, there are a lot of things I'll be happy not to have to deal with. *sigh* Tuesday, April 8th, 2008
12:41 pm • Kitchen of the Future(1999), circa 1967
Funny how similar things are to this video, and yet how much we as a society need to get away from it:
Monday, March 31st, 2008
8:09 pm
The last year or so, I've become more and more interested in where food comes from. Did you know that if you buy fresh garlic in North America, that odds are that it's grown in China? About 95% of all garlic on sale here comes from China. We could just as easily grow it here, but we can't offer it at ultra-wal-mart discount prices. Speaking of which, Wal-Mart is the world's largest purchaser of food. They have (and have used) the ability to manipulate the food production industry to their will (and insanely cheap prices).
I'm not turning granola hippie with dreads who's going to be participating in the next PETA protest (don't get me started on those hypocrites). I could never do the 100-mile diet, as I love things like coffee, vanilla, bananas, chocolate, citrus, avacadoes, seafood and other things that just don't exist in Southern Ontario. But I do try and eat as local as I can. We as a society NEED to learn these things. Of course none of this is new. I've discussed this stuff in previous entries. But for those wanting to learn more, there's a great podcast out of Kootenay (British Columbia) that discussing stuff like the industrialization of the food industry, the social issues related to food, the quality of produce and it's production and other things of that sort. It makes for a great primer into what goes into the things we eat. I suggest everyone takes a listen. At the very least, just take a look at the website: http://www.cjly.net/deconstructingdinner We are so reliant on food, as a source of nutrients, nourishment and community. It's important that we learn more about it, as we've been so ignorant about it for so, so, so very long. Tuesday, March 11th, 2008
12:18 am • Karma: Acts of kindness beget Royal Doulton?
A number of things have happened lately that have given me the chance to do right. I mean sure, little things happen every day. You hold the door open for someone, you let the old man in line behind you go first. But, these were less ordinary, and seemed to happen in conjunction with our actions for the day. I just need to give a little background to explain what all has happened.
I have a lot of kitchen gadgets. Useful ones, mind you. But I love my kitchen gear. Sadly though, I've never had a decent set of dishes, ever. Now, I'm not talking fine china that I only take out when guests are around, but I've never even had a set of all-matching dinnerware. It's all been a mishmash of stuff I've bought, mixed with stuff given to me, and stuff that magically appeared in my collection (I swear, they're breeding). So last weekend, Melissa and I met up with her mother to go shopping. I don't think we were looking for anything specific, but the ladies had been wanting to check out the Bed Bath & Beyond in Richmond Hill. Neither had been to a BB&B, so it was an adventure for them. Well, neither was impressed with the store, and given there was a winners nearby, we'd decided to go to it. As we were walking away from the car, we saw a car hit another parked car. The driver got out of the car, uninjured and surveyed the damage. We continued walking, figuring she would do the right thing. But as we were about to enter Sears Home (next to the Winners), we saw the driver get in the car and take off. Not, however, without us getting her license plate number as she drove away. So, we wrote a little note, mentioning what had happened and the plate of the driver's car and left it under the damaged car's wiper. But, I got a twinge that said I should leave my phone number. And so I did. We went into Winners, and looking around (I always hit the home section), I saw these gorgeous rimmed Royal Doulton soup bowls, which happened to match a set of teacups Melissa will be using for our wedding centerpieces. I've wanted some decent bowls, and figured they could fit into my mishmash of dinnerware. Melissa and I bought a few of them, and we walked back to the car, where we caught the owner of the damaged (victim) vehicle sitting in her car. I explained that we left the message, and that she should have the police call me if they need a statement. She thanked us profusely saying we were such nice people and that many people wouldn't do that sort of thing. Later, the police did call, and I gave them a full statement. I felt good the rest of the day, having done a nice thing. During the week, I decided I really liked our new bowls, and wanted to get more. So, we went out on this past Friday. As we were approaching the subway, an old woman slipped right in front of me on the sidewalk. I rushed to ask if she was okay, which she said she was, and I helped her get up. She seemed alright and thanked me. I smiled and nodded and we went on our way. Knowing that Homesense and Winners are the same company and carry the same products, we went on a hunt to find these bowls. After several hours and five stores, we managed to find six more dishes (making a total of ten). Melissa happened to mention to me that when she was in Montreal a few weekends ago, she saw much more than the bowls in this style. Having received my tax refund early (seriously, I got it in *less* than eight days by e-filing long before it's due), I thought "maybe I should look for more". Melissa worked a half-day on Saturday, so I figured I'd venture out on my own, and hit some Winners that we didn't get the day before. Nada. Nothing. Well, I did manage to get a good deal on a wood-chip box for the BBQ, but I wouldn't necessarily consider that a boon. When Melissa got off work, we decided we were going to head west, and hit the Winners & Homesense stores in Etobicoke. Well, we hit two, and then got hit ourselves by the storm. Frozen, wind-burnt and wet, we ended up going home with nothing (our last stop; a Homesense; was closed early *because* of the snow). After five more stores it would appear the city has been cleaned out of all of these dishes. Yesterday comes around, and our plan was to visit Melissa's parents (as we do fairly often), and have her mom to take us to a few stores near her in Mississauga. As we were leaving our building, there was an older, blind woman having trouble at the side gate. Due to the snow, she seemed unable to find the door handle and the electronic lock (our building uses security fobs). We walked up and announced we would help her. We unlocked the door and let her in, and received gracious words. Another good deed on another day. We began our hunt again. We got to one store and they had ten of the bread & butter dishes, four luncheon plates and a dinner plate. We bought them all. We went to another store. They had a single luncheon plate. We bought that. And, in a bit of a weird turn, I suggest we go to a Winners in Oakville as our next stop. Now, there were others much closer we could've gone to, but this one was calling me. When we got there, it was like hitting the jackpot. They had just about everything we didn't already have. They had eight dinner plates and more luncheon plates than we needed. We were ecstatic, and of course, we bought them. So now (save for one dinner plate and including the teacups Melissa previously bought) we have ten seven-piece dinner settings of Royal Doulton "Simply Platinum" for an average price of about $3.50 a piece – less than a lot of the stuff currently at Ikea. Now mind you, this is a set that (before it was discontinued) was running roughly $1100 CDN for a 45 piece set. I feel pretty lucky. We got good deals and are now using a very nice set of china as our everyday plates. I'm sure many of you don't understand, but after years of eating off a mix of corelle, discount ikea and various other chipped/ugly dinnerware, I'm loving it. Now, normally I'd chalk it all up to good shopping. But, I do find it kind of funny that the days we found the stuff we wanted, were the days we went out of our way to help other people. Is it karma or the rule of threes? Who knows. I know I shouldn't, but there's part of me that'd like to think it's just good stuff returning back. It gives me hope that good does beget other good, and the luck we get is the luck we make. And I must say, I've been pretty lucky this last couple of years. Friday, February 29th, 2008
11:05 am • Eats and stuff...
Recently, Melissa and I decided to adapt a more flexitarian lifestyle. We both want to lose some weight before the wedding and the added health and ecological benefits are a bonus as well.
Our goal is pretty simple: avoid meat dishes for most days of the week. Not all days. I mean, we both love a good, rare steak. But, we just want to eat meatless for 4-5 days out of the week. This of course, does not include dairy or eggs, and we're not excluding broth, but keeping our intake of that low as well. Melissa likes the idea. She lost a fair amount of weight when she was living in Japan, as she ate mostly vegetarian there. Though, I think, more out of a dislike of the meats used and preparations taken. Don't mention squid balls or chicken feet to her. Trust me. At the very least, it should be an interesting experience. NOTE: This is not a "moral" decision. All creatures in the animal family subsist on the death of other living things to survive, be it plant or animal. To me, the death of a carrot or a chicken for food purposes holds the same value. If both lived a good life and were treated well, I have no problem ingesting them. It's the cycle of life, and without it we die. current music: The More You Ignore Me (The Closer I Get) - Morrissey
Sunday, January 13th, 2008
1:00 pm • An essay on why the truth is scary...
Y'know, it's interesting how little care or thought goes into food today.
I don't mean just that people want convenience, but that there's so much that's hidden from us, or generally not known by the public. It makes me wonder why anyone would buy processed foods these days. Sure, eating out at a restaurant every once in a while is fine, but there are people I know who SURVIVE off eating frozen meals, pre-packaged meals and fast food. Our food supply is probably one of the most important aspects that affects our lives. Do you know where your food comes from? Can you read an ingredient list and even understand it? Do you know what's truly good or bad for you? It makes me wonder if anyone even wants us to know. For years starting in the mid-1980's, Partially Hydrogenated Oils were pushed as "healthy", relative to saturated fats like butter. And so, manufacturers started using PHOs in just about everything. PHOs are man-made, artificial fats. They don't occur in nature, at all. You may know them better as Trans Fats. Remember all those margarine commercials that pushed themselves as being healthier than butter? Guess what? Margarines are almost entirely PHOs. And while butter does increase bad cholesterol levels, it also increases good cholesterol levels. Butter doesn't cause insulin binding, conserves Omega-3 fatty acids already in the body, doesn't cause arterial inflammation, and doesn't interfere with Delta-6-desaturase enzyme function. PHOs do the inverse of all I've listed. In the long run, knowing what we know now, guess which option was healthier? Butter. Yes, butter is healthier than margarine. It shows us that rather than change their eating patterns, people would go for the quick fix solution, which in the long run does more harm than good. On top of PHOs, we're being bombarded by imported foods at an enormous rate. Not just the stuff we can't grow here in Canada (Oranges, Bananas, etc), but fruit of all sort that we can grow just fine is being shipped here at amazingly low prices from China. A recent article in Now points out that the fruit is so cheap from China that the fruit we produce is being exported. How does that make any sense? We produce apples in BC and yet we ship them overseas because we buy apples from China? Aside from just the waste of energy used in those transactions, we don't know exactly how Chinese apples are grown. There's no Canadian oversight over pesticides used, etc. Think of it as selling the blood from our bodies to replace it with blood bought elsewhere because we can get a pint extra. Not that I have anything against Chinese farmers, but it's becoming quite evident than in China's ambition to be the world's largest exporter of, well, EVERYTHING, they're cutting corners along the way. A lot of them. Especially in the environmental departments. It's one thing to buy a toy with lead paint, as that's not meant to be ingested. It's another to buy a piece of fruit irrigated with lead-, cadmium- or mercury-laced runoff from the electronics plant up the river. Basically, we're greatly increasing the risk of poisoning ourselves so that we can have pears that are 20 cents cheaper per pound. We've also seen the rise of e.Coli tainted food as huge produce and meat factories rush to put stuff out as fast as they can. People look at countries like Italy and France, where the rates of heart disease and other health problems are statistically much lower than the UK and North America. It's paradoxical in a way; They eat richer food and drink alcohol on a regular basis, and yet somehow they're healthier? It's not some big secret. There's no wonder-vitamin coming from the soil they raise their food on. They exercise more and rely less on chemical-laden pre-processed food. They make more of their own food, or buy it from (non fast-food) restaurants. They buy more seasonal produce, rather than rely on stuff that's shipped thousands of miles. After decades of cheap and convenient food, we here have lost our sense of what's good or not. Our children are brought up to think, or learn socially that vegetables are disgusting. We lean towards the stuff that's higher in sodium, fat or sugar, rather than pure taste alone. When I was a child, we rarely ate any vegetable that wasn't corn or peas. I never developed a taste for a lot of the food I know love, because I wasn't exposed to it and I had to learn about these things on my own. I would never have touched asparagus 20 years ago, and today one of my favourite side dishes is to lightly sauté a half-pound of green asparagus for a few minutes with about a tablespoon of extra virgin olive oil, minced garlic and a pinch of salt, all in a frying pan. After a minute or so, you turn the heat all the way down, cover the pan and let them steam themselves into tenderness. Mmmmm. I remember my mother, about 15 years ago, coming back from a tour of France complaining about how much walking she had to do in Paris and how there were stairs everywhere. It's evident the French don't go to the gym to get the exercise I mentioned in the paragraph above, they just walk more places. Our society has grown to rely on vehicular transport so much that there are subdivisions being built in North America without sidewalks. I know people who will drive to a mall 3 blocks from their house, and I can't help but think, "what a waste." I encourage everyone out there to pick up a copy of the 75th Anniversary Edition of The Joy of Cooking and read it. It's a bible for cooking. It's one of the best references you will ever own and it's hard to think of an ingredient, technique or piece of knowledge that isn't referenced in it. On top of which, it'll give you 4000+ recipes. To me, it's one of the most important books in my collection, and I encourage everyone to buy it. More than just a good cookbook/reference, people need to know where their food comes from. Learn about what makes a good steak, or how to grow your own herbs, or even just pay attention to where the produce you buy is grown. I just wish we would smarten up as a society and realize the importance of the food supply. It's what makes us, us. Literally. **Addendum** Something that really bothers me of late, is that so much processed food advertises that it has "real xxxx". Like drinks saying "Made with 35% REAL juice!". WTF?! Don't you want it to be ALL fruit juice? What's wrong with real? Is "real" so rare now that it's to be a selling point? That saddens me. Wednesday, December 12th, 2007
2:04 pm • Re: The great LJ evacuation of 2007
I've been working on something the last week. It's an "LJ evacuation kit" if you will; it's a package of PHP scripts (MySQL required) that will parse exported livejournal files and either allow you to set up your own blog (with a good amount of the functionality of Livejournal, with added functions like a search function that actually works), or will insert the parsed XML files directly into MT, WordPress, etc. It will be set up with ease of use in mind, especially when creating your own blog. It's not designed to be a replacement for other CMS systems, but rather a replacement for LJ.
When it's fully completed, I'm thinking about packaging it together and charging $5 for it. I'm looking for opinions as to whether people out there would use it. WORK IN PROGRESS: http://www.thetaoofzang.com/?mode=blog As of right now, all friends only/private stuff is properly hidden. Logins would of course, require my setting them up. Monday, December 3rd, 2007
12:30 am • The account of my trip to Montreal, the death of Mondo Fritz and my getting engaged...
1. Melissa took me to Montreal for my birthday (Saturday)
On the morning of Saturday, November 24th, we got up at an insanely early morning to get to the airport for a 10am flight. We got in and met up with Melissa's old friend Diane, and from there we went straight to Pointe-Claire, the place of birth for both myself and Melissa. Funny that, huh? Both of us were born in the same town in the same hospital, and meet each other a province away. Kismet if there ever was such a thing. We got to the village and headed straight to Gigi's. Melissa loves their pizza, and I see why. So... Very... Good. We went back to Dianne's place where we settled in and later had dinner. We also went out to a few bars later in the night with Dianne's daugther Maya. We left Maya early and spent the night at Dianne's. 2. Lazy Sunday The next day, after a hearty breakfast of scrambled-eggs-on-toast-a-la-Zang, we headed downtown. Rather than waiting in the cold rain for a half-hour for rushed seats at Schwartz's for killer smoked meat, we went a few doors down to Coco Rico, who possibly have the most delicious, silky roasted potatoes on the planet. Oh, and the chicken was pretty good too. Mmmmmm, Portuguese food. That was also when I noticed that Mondo Fritz was closed. It seems for good. Paper over the windows is *never* a good thing. Apparently it's due to the ongoing, never-ending construction along St-Laurent, which has been going for well over a year. A few months ago a city spokesman urged businesses in the area to hold on until November, when it would be completed. Well, when I was there on November 25th, it was no where near done. We went shopping downtown, had some coffee (why does Toronto not have any 24-hour Second Cup cafés?) and got checked into our hotel. We stayed at the lovely Holiday Inn Select on Viger - A gorgeous Asian-themed hotel, with a huge room all for us. Melissa's sister's boyfriend picked us up, and we headed over to her grandfather's place in Dollard, where we had a lovely dinner with a bunch of her family. We then had to go to the airport to meet up with Melissa's friend Kaori, who was visiting Canada from Japan, and staying with us here in Toronto. We stopped on the way to pick up a smoked meat sammich from Abie's, which was later consumed voraciously. ***Another in a life-long pattern of strange meetings; While waiting for Kaori, I spotted a friend I haven't seen in almost 10 years pass by. I shouted his name and we chatted for a bit. Odd that I should be in a Montreal airport then, at that exact time, to see someone I knew from a small town in Ontario. 3. The Engagement (Sunday Night). After visiting with Melissa's family and getting Kaori settled in her hotel room, we settled back in ours. We lay on the bed, cuddling and talking. With my birthday being (officially) only a half hour away, she gave me one of my birthday presents; a titanium ring, which I'm now currently wearing on my thumb. *** I'm interrupting here to mention that I'd already decided to ask Melissa to marry me, which I would do on the date of our second anniversary -- Feb 14th, 2008 (yes, our first date was on Valentine's Day). The engagement ring is my great grandmother's engagement ring, which is a family heirloom and I believe is now over a hundred years old. Melissa gave me the titanium ring, and was coy and said "this means you belong to me forever!", to which she said, "you know, if you asked me, I wouldn't say no." It was all incredibly sweet, and I replied "I can't. I don't have the ring. I need to do it the right way.", but eventually I caved and, holding this beautiful, sweet girl in my arms, asked her to marry me. She said yes, of course, or I'd not be smiling right now. We're both practical people and in agreement on the following: our plan is to have a *very* small wedding. In the area of around 25-27 people. There's no way we could invite everyone we know and love. Her family alone accounts for nearly 50 people. So I hope those who want to be invited and aren't, are not terribly insulted. The majority of those 25-27 people will be immediate family, with a few extra close friends thrown in for good measure. We will however, have a big party shortly after (perhaps right after the honeymoon), where we'll invite all our friends. Because of the impromptu proposal, the ring is not yet on her finger. I need to get it from my mother's care. 4. My Birthday: A Foot-Tour of the City and The Closure of Chez Cora. On the Sunday morning, we got up and the three of us took the metro to Peel station, only to discover that the Chez Cora on Stanley is closed. WTF? I've been there before, and it was quite busy. Every Cora's I've been to has a line-up to get in. I'm not sure what would cause this Cora's to close. It will be missed. From there, we took a bit of a tour of the financial district, and then up to Melissa's former stomping ground: McGill University. We walked around the campus, and then took a walk through Westmount. Some damn nice houses there. We also met a very friendly kitty on the street. She was pregnant and about ready to pop. We could feel the kittens moving in her belly! It was very cool. May I point out that in Montreal, they seem to have a more european approach to food; Less low-fat, low-carb, marketed-as-healthy-but-nutritionally-vo We then went to La Patisserie du Gascogne. That's all I'll say about that. We went back to the hotel for a small rest, and then we met up with friends for (my birthday) dinner at Café Santropol. Prior to visiting Santropol, my view of sandwiches was that they were mostly lunch fare; hardly a meal to fill one up, let alone taste like heaven. And believe me, I love sandwiches. I just never thought of them as dinner. So I was a *little* apprehensive when Melissa said that's where she wanted to take me. I will never question her culinary judgement again. Santropol served me the most filling, satisfying and delicious sandwiches I've ever had, period. Melissa and I ordered the Killer Tomato and Yalapa Moon, which we split with each other. Oh, my, god. So good. Insanely large. Delightfully delicious. Their Dulce-de-Leche Cheesecake was sinfully light and smooth. We were quite full and tired after that, so we went back to the hotel, and walked up past Notre Dame. Were it not cold and raining, we'd have stayed longer. 5. Greasy Spoon Good-Byes. Given that Cora's was closed, Melissa took me to Moe's (AKA: La Casse Croute du Coin), a place she discovered in university. It's a greasy-spoon diner straight out of 1957, and serves some damn good (and cheap) breakfasts. Kaori, due to jet-lag did not join us for this morning jaunt. From there, we strolled over to Simon's; Melissa's favourite store in Montreal. I can see why, as it has a certain charm over the more common department stores around these parts. After some short shopping, we went back to our hotel, got Kaori and checked out. We met up with Melissa's sister and grandfather in the West Island, and found our way to a Cora's, where we told them about the engagement. Delicious eggs benedict were consumed. Everyone was happy. Our train for Toronto was not leaving until 6pm, so we had plenty of time to kill, and we took a little car ride with Melissa's family along the lakeshore. Oh, and of course we stopped and got bagels. The rail back was not as smooth as we were expecting, but the car was pretty empty. Kaori's jetlag had taken it's toll and she slept for most of the 5 hour trip. It gave Melissa and I lots of time to make wedding plans and agree on a date. We started an excel wedding spreadsheet even. :P I'm tired now, so I'm off to bed. Perhaps later I'll tell of the last 5 days back here in Toronto. |
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I Am Zang
