One Week Down

First week of classes have gone well. So far nothing too dramatic has happened but there have been some bumps. It's a learning process, especially for me. I have a lot to learn.

So the iPhone 5 was announced yesterday. Seems like an improvement but I think the new connector is a strange move (read more about it here). My issue now is do I wait a little bit and get the 5 when my contract comes up OR do I buy a second-hand 4S? Also want to try an Android phone for a bit but probably won't do that because I fear having to re-buy my favourite apps. My 3S is looking a little worn these days. Don't know how much longer it is for this world.

In other news, I also went to my first canning workshop yesterday. We canned pears. It was organized and run by the West End Food Co-op, of which I've been a member for a couple months. This is the first workshop I've taken with them. It was nice. Very inviting and educational. The instructor explained everything very well. I don't know how confident I feel about canning my own food at home just yet but I'm certainly open to the idea more now than I was.

This has been a busy week but a very good week. Let's hope tomorrow goes well. And let's hope now that some of my former co-workers know about this blog they are nice and awesome about it.

P.S. Between Taylor Swift's new single and that Gangnam Style song pop music has been taking over my internal jukebox. Neither song is particularly good but they are certainly catchy.

30

Lots of things happened in a couple of days.

I recently turned 30. To avoid thinking about this milestone too much I decided to take a trip to Chicago. Spent the day driving and after checking into our hotel, we went to see WBEZ (home of This American Life and Sound Opinions). Later that night, we went for drinks with my college roommate who randomly happened to be on vacation in Chicago as well. I had celebrated my 20th birthday with him at a hardcore show in Toronto while we were both undergrads and he was still underage. This time we went to a jazz show and drank cocktails. Now he's working on his doctorate in Austin. It was great seeing him. Excellent way to spend a birthday.

Went to C2E2 on Saturday. Meet Garth Ennis, writer of Preacher and, in my opinion, the definitive run on the Punisher. I hadn't really been to a comic book convention in years and they've really changed. Wearing costumes, or cosplay, didn't really exist back then (iFanboy has a pretty good gallery from the convention). It was mostly just dealers selling their back issues and artists selling their original art work. Now it's a huge deal. Probably going to go to the Toronto convention in August.

After getting home, I've decided to go vegan for a week. Didn't realize that Oprah had already done this. Either way, it's day four into the week and I'm doing well. Don't know what the health benefits have been for me yet but still... I know lots of people who are vegans so they've been telling me what's good and giving me lots of ideas. And I'll be honest, there's this bakery that makes fantastic vegan cupcakes and I've had a couple already.

Overall it's been an exciting couple of days. I'm listening to a Bikini Kills record and it's awesome.

There's still time

Rainy Sunday morning. Nothing really planned for today except to try the only Ontario franchise of Chili's. Someone really likes it.

BBQ Weather

There's a BBQ on the roof of my building. I've been taking advantage of it since the weather got nice. Haven't made any kabobs yet but that's next. Looks like a good food summer.

Cooking Time

I've just made some bruschetta. Or at least I attempted to make some.Looks like muck to me. Hopefully it'll taste good. UPDATE (1 Hour Later): Forgot I don't like bruschetta. UFC liked it.

In other news I watched Julie & Julia last night. Well, not all of it. Just most of it. It was pretty good.

Avocado

Okay, so was I the only person who didn't know you could make desserts from avocados? Seriously. Had some day and it was tasty. It blew my mind.

Curling and Hockey

My night tonight involves women's curling and men's hockey. It's going to be a great night if they both win. The roti I had dinner was okay. Certainly isn't Island Foods, which is the best in the city.

I have also fucked up my keyboard and I can not use contractions because I do not have use of apostrophe. ARGH.

I can hear your heart beat

Making cookies today instead of (or while) watching the Super Bowl.

New Year Food

Just ate a rather large dinner of traditional Japanese food. How this food was made involved several entertaining stories, many of which included interactions with Japanese men who spoke little to no English. I've got leftovers for a least a day. Unfortunately, it doesn't last very gone. Stupid raw fish.

Meat

I really don't know how to cook meat. I can cook lots of vegetables and seafood, but chicken, pork or beef are just beyond my knowledge. And since I'm the only person in my household who eats meat, there's very little opportunity to do so. I'm pretty sure I just ate some undercooked meat so if this is my last post, I love you all and will see you on the other side.

Dragons Away!

This is who I am

I've talked about traditional and heritage from time to time. I tend to focus on the Japanese aspects more because they are not as common as the English traditions. It's the little things, like being able to purchase homemade sushi, that mean something to me. The European stuff is easy to find everywhere. Traditional Japanese, not the fancy stuff you get in high ended restaurant, is difficult to find.

It was also damn tasty.

Best News Ever?

I don't know how I should feel about this... UFC might like it.

Simple and Plain

Last night we went out for dinner to a bar that offered 35 different burgers. Some of these burgers were pretty exotic and exciting. While I enjoy trying new foods, unfortunately this doesn't translate to hamburgers. I like my burgers plain and simple. I don't know what it is. So, what's my perfect burger? Cheese, mustard, hot peppers, lecture, and when the mood strikes, some tomato. I'll tolerate almost anything but if you put relish or mayonnaise on anything you serve me I'll destroy you.

I HATE RELISH AND MAYONNAISE.

TARTER SAUCE IS THE DEVIL INCARNATED.

Thank you and goodnight.

Watch your back

Wash your neck!

So it seems that everyone loves grilling meat and then inviting people over to eat it. It's nice to be eat grilled meat.

Reason #1 for leaving Toronto in the winter

Need I say more?

First day was good. Got my D-list celebrity moment out of the way pretty quickly 'cause Rick the Temp was on my flight to LA. In economy. Shows you the state of Canadian media.

Oh, had an In 'n Out Burger. Verdict: pretty tasty but very greasy.

every everything

Sorry about the lack of posts over the last couple of days. Been busy with a variety of serious and non-serious things and now I'm back to work. But I'll leave you with this - I freakin' love sausages that have cheese in them. So tasty but so bad for you.

I might be jinxing it...

...but I think I've got another "job" writing food reviews for a local Toronto blog. I'm not going to post which one yet until they've posted one of my reviews but it's safe to say I'm pretty excited about this.

Hate to say I told you so

Made Pad Thai on Sunday. Today I used the leftover ingredients to make some more except this time I made it spicy. I like spicy food. Almost everyone I know doesn't except for my father but even he doesn't like as spicy as I do. It is very tasty. You're all missing out.

Tomorrow is a very special day. Come back tomorrow for the surprise!

A note about history and its affect on culture

This cookbook, as you can see, was published by the Toronto Buddhist Church. It's the Japanese Canadian organization, with most of its membership comprised of Japanese-Canadians, so you'd assume the cookbook would be filled almost entirely with traditional Japanese recipes. Well you'd be wrong. The majority of recipes are, in fact, "Western" ones, including how to make Jamaican curry. I must mention there is an entire section written in Japanese, which could be anything. This cookbook is a representation of the current state of the Japanese-Canadian community. Because of the internment of Japanese-Canadians during the second World War, this community was spread out over the entire country, breaking some of the exclusivity of the community. Descendants of the interned Japanese-Canadian married outside of the community, specifically with people of European heritage. In my family, all the kids of my generation are the products of such unions. We're all half Japanese and half white European. Every time I meet another Japanese-Canadian my age, they are always of mixed heritage, unless they or their parents have recently immigrated from Japan.

What I want to get my hands on is a Japanese cookbook my grandmother has that was published by the Japanese United Church of Canada (there's only one and its the West end of Toronto).