Farmer's Market

Next to our apartment in North York is a public area called Mel Lastman Square. Practically everyday they have some concert, fair, or other event going on. Now that it is summer, the Farmer's Market has re-opened every Thursday. If you've never been to a farmer's market before, it is where producers bring there stuff to sale directly to the public. Really good quality food rather than the barely ripened mass production food you'll see at the supermarkets. Imagine vine ripened tomatoes that actually taste like tomato. Yummmm....

In this picture you can see tomatoes, apples, strawberries, asparagus, brocoli, peppers, etc etc etc.

Here's a few more shots. The beekive was from this table that specialized in organic honey from bees that feed on alphalfa or wild flowers.

The last shot was of this stall that sold homemade carribean sauces. I tried his sauces and found them to be mild and weak in flavour. Very close to a spicy plum sauce in fact. Of course, I didn't want to tell the guy that I've had better. Then again he is selling to Torontonians and they are not a hardy people. I've seen then get puffy and swollen from eating the "hot" peppers from the hotdog stands. You know the ones....the pickled peppers that pretend to be hot peppers and are only put out to make the weak tongued feel tough.

Anyhow I love my life right now. Here it was about 10 a.m. and I am sitting in the shade watching people go to work as I enjoy my breakfast with my gf.

Superman is Back!!

Watched Superman Returns today with skepticism. However when it was over I found myself liking it immensely. I think the reason why was because it tied itself to the Christopher Reeve era by borrowing details and maintaining the general spirit. Very nostalgic.

I was so tickled when they spliced in some of the original monologue from the late Marlon Brando. The use of the old skool movie opening credits made me feel like a kid again. But most of all when the original Christopher Reeve era music came along, I wanted to believe in Superman all over again.

My only draw back on the flick was that I felt that Clark and Lois were cast too young. I would have liked to have seen an older cast, but at least I didn't have to sit through that wussy Smallville type stuff (Hi, I'm Superman and I have problems...).

In fact, I think part of why I enjoyed this version was that Superman was portrayed as an outsider, but not full of melancholy angst and soap opera sob story sentiment. Instead this Superman was like Christopher Reeve's version in that he was the classic man. Long suffering and shouldering great burden without needing a box of kleenex to deal with it. Soldier on...soldier on...

Anyhow, go see this movie in the theater if you have the chance. It's totally worth it. Like my gf says,"It's about time Superman came back. The original superhero".

LOTR Should have studied Marketing

The monstrous Lord of The Rings musical play is grinding to a halt this Fall. After four years of production, this show is calling it quits after just a few months.

When they announced it yesterday, I heard the producers blame everything from SARS, to terrorism, to the rising Canadian dollar, to bad critics, and possibly even to Global Warming!

For true theater fans, LOTR may be too pop-culture or low-brow for them.

This play not only jumped onto the dying end of the LOTR craze, but waited a few more years just to make sure that no one cared anymore.

From what I've seen, the play is more about trying to mimic the movies rather than do some original interpretation of the book. So why would anyone pay $120 to see an adaptation of a DVD they probably own? Besides, there is no way the play can show me giant oliophaunts, flying dragons, or grand landscapes.

The movies took about 12 - 18 hours to tell the story and even then they had to edit out a lot of stuff. There is little wonder about why the 3 hour play was described as confusing and muddled.

Lastly: The idea of blaming critics is alike shooting the messenger. Could it be that the critics were right about the play being bad?

Marketing could have easily predicted this four years ago. Most everyone else did.

Dinner Time!!

Tonight my gf and I decided to stay in an cook dinner. So we went down to this great little Korean grocery store and scored some great stuff including organic tofu and good quality minced pork.

Recipe 1: Ma Po Tofu
Essentially this is a spicy stir fry of minced meat, veggies, and sauces. You can substitute any meat you prefer, and you can use any mix of veggies you have on hand.

So to start I marinaded the minced meat with minced green onion, minced celantro, crushed dried red chilis, a lot of black pepper, splash of soy sauce, and sesame seed oil. Imixed this well and left it to stand for about 30 mins.

Then we browned the meat. Some people will tell you to drain the meat well, but come on! A little fat in the food makes life worth living.

Here are some of the ingredients that will be used next. You MUST have some minced garlic, onion, minced ginger, and tofu. That already is sufficient. However we had two jalapenos, a carrot, some frozen veggies, and dried chinese mushrooms kicking around. So we used 'em.

Here's a trick I learned on another blog. Take the tofu and pre-blanch it for about 3 mins. This step is optional, but I find that it helps the tofu remain in firm cubes. Of course if you skip this step your Ma Po Tofu will be a little more "squishy" but I like it that way too.

Ok so take a pan and fry your garlic, ginger, onions, and veggies on medium to high heat. Then re-add the browned meat.

Now add your sauces. I recommend soy sauce, hoisin sauce, oyster sauce, white wine, sesame seed oil, and a little water if you find it dry.

Now add your tofu to the mix and simmer for 5 minutes with the lid on the sauce pan. To finish this dish, pour in a little cornstarch & water mixture to thicken the gravy. Serve with rice, noodles, or pasta.

Recipe 2: Shrimp Omlette
My gf treats me to this dish once in awhile. Here we see 3 or 4 eggs beaten with butterflied shrimps and minced green onion. There's also a slpash of sesame seed oil and a pinch of salt & pepper. If you have access to some farm fresh eggs or the organic ones, I recommend it. If you do you'll immediately notice how yellow the egg yolks are, and later you'll taste the difference too. Otherwise standard eggs will work just fine.

Now take a heavy bottomed pan and add a generous splash of olive oil. Turn the heat up to high and don't pour the eggs in until the pan is damn hot. If you don't your eggs will stick to the pan and you'll be eating rubbery browned egg scrapings from the pan....not good.

Flip the omlette once. If the omlette is too big to handle, don't be shy to cut it into more manageable portions. Then serve on a paper towl to absorb extra oil.

Dinner is served! Fast and simple meal that is totally easy on the wallet. No need to eat sauteed onions and saw dust any more!

Toronto Pride Night

So Sunday night was the last night of the Pride Week festivities in Toronto. We had to go back and see for ourselves what it was like. Especially since there were a lot of free music concerts and such.

We weren't the only ones with that idea. It was super crowded!

Here's a few shots of some of the more colourful people:


Of course there were some more seedy scenes that night, but I decided I didn't want to put that on my blog. No need to submit you all to some of the horros of that night. Let's just say that I am really tired of seeing dudes wearing "ass-less chaps".....

We then went to see this cool jazz band called Swing Rosie. They are a sweet trio of ladies from Montreal doing old skool swing era music. It was pretty good. The photo didn't turn out so well, otherwise I'd point out which singer got hit in the head when a gay cowboy though a string of beads at her.

Here is a shot I took of this dude who tried to slip through the pedestrian barriers to get closer to the band. Unfortunately his butt was too huge so he got stuck. Its ok though cause the crowd managed to push him through. It was a group effort. We all clapped as his wife soothed his damaged ego.

It was a great night. Lot's of different people were out. Don't be fooled by the Pride Week ocassion. There were so many straight men and women out there, it was like a sexy night club exploded on the street. The only other time you'll ever see so many topless women will be if you pay a cover charge.

I had to snap this last shot of this carribean food stall. The smell of spice and charcoal, the florescent light, and the fruits just reminded me of some great street food I've had in exotic locales around the world. Pride Night was fun.

Street Mattress: Feeling the Realness

www.streetmattress.com

I used to visit this site back when I was working. StreetMattress was a great way to steal time from the man. I even posted a couple of shots myself back in the day.

Essentially it is a funny site where people from around the world submit photos of disgarded mattresses and describe the curcumstances . Strangely enough this site has a large following. It's a pretty good way to waste some time. Take a look for yourself. Come on, don't be stuck up! You know you want to. I suggest going for the sweetest meat and click on "The Untouchables" catagory.

Larry's Market

Today we went to the famous St.Lawrence Market here in downtown Toronto. It's full of your butchers, fish mongers, groceries, cheeses, etc. Lot's of interesting things to see and street food to eat. Just a tip for anyone who wants a deal, go during the last hour of the day becuase that's when they start dropping prices like crazy. Not everything is up for sale but you just might find a good deal anyways.

Here's a cool shot I snapped at this great butcher's stall. I thought it was kinda funny. The butchers here smoke their own meats and includes ham hocks, sausages, and of course the bacon. Yes. Twice smoked bacon. I haven't been able to find any bacon as great as the bacon I got from Winnipeg at this little german shop. However this place isn't bad. I believe this is the kind of bacon you can eat without frying it (at least that is what the germans do).

But aside from the red meats there is also the fish. Damn I love open makrets!

Show Your Pride Toronto!

Ok so after the pain of Korea's World Cup defeat subsided, and the worst restaurant experience I've recently had now behind me, my gf and I made our way down to "Gay Street". It's Pride Week in TO and since it was Friday night, I thought it might be interesting to go and see what the stink was all about. Wow!


The party was totally on! These Winnipeg eyes were confronted with scenes usually reserved for the movies or late night cable TV. But I gotta say that inspite of the weird mix of homosexuals, queens, transvestites, lesbians, and all those in between, it was really a healthy atmosphere. Everyone was just out for a good time and living life.

These are a couple of the bars down in the Gayborhood. Lub (pronouved "lube") and Sailor were of course making me giggle so I had to snap a few shots.

Now this person here totally confused me. On the one hand this is a shot of a very attractive woman....or is it a man? Which team is she/he batting for? I didn't want to ask as it was kinda rude and her companion was a giant dude.

While walking up and down the party, we came across some really interesting samples of marketing. May be I should forward them on to Paul Cubbon and see what he thinks:


ps: We came across an outdoor beer garden that was setting up a stage. They were blasting out Bhangra music so I immediately remembered when Asif showed me Russel Peters: "We're Indian...and were gaaaaaay!"

SORRY KOREA!!

Today I went down to "Korea Town" to watch the Korea/Switzerland match. Who would have thought that the Suisse could play so well?

Anyhow the excitement was pretty high and Koreans love to cheer. Too bad The Red Devils lost or it would have been a super party in Korea Town tonight.

Here's some shots of the bar I was in, the crowds spilling out of the pubs, and the police who were ready for the riot if Korea actually won!

Blog Open for Business

So just to get everyone caught up to this point, I left Vancouver back at the beginning of June to begin my MBA internship with Greenpeace here in Toronto. I'll be living here until the Fall when I move to Hong Kong to finish my MBA degree on exchange at the Chinese University of Hong Kong. YaY for me!

I am still getting used to Hogtown, but it is growing on me everyday. I gotta admit that World Cup Fever is especially kick ass here since this city is extraordinarily multicultural. Here is a photo I snapped one day after gorging myself on good dim sum with my gf.

So anyways, look for more posts to come.