frame worthy

New York-Style Cheesecake

2010-06-26T03:26:00.002-04:00

It was my father's birthday so I decided to bake a cake! I didn't have much time since I had school at night . Cake mix is definitely a last resort for me..but I realized there was no cake mix in the house. There was also no milk!!

I made a quick decision on what to make, just a simple New York Style Cheesecake. I haven't made cheesecake since Douglas and I's one year anniversary so I decided to take a shot at it again. I tried looking for that same recipe we used but was without luck.

New York-Style Cheesecake
1 cup Graham Crumbs
3 Tbsp. sugar
3 Tbsp. butter, melted (I used margarine)
4 pkg. (250 g each) Brick Cream Cheese, softened
1 cup sugar
3 Tbsp. flour
1 Tbsp. vanilla
1 cup sour cream
4 eggs
1/3 cup Strawberry Jam

1. Mix graham crumbs, 3tbsp sugar and 3tbsp of melted butter (I used margarine). Once well mixed with no dry crumbs, spread to the bottom of a springform pan. Flatten out and press the crust evenly. Remember to grease the sides of the pan with a tiny amount of butter/margarine/pam.
2. Preheat and bake the crust for 10 minutes at 325F.
3. Soften the cream cheese by letting it sit at room temperature or microwave it for a few seconds. Mix together the cream cheese, sugar, flour and vanilla. Beat well with an electric mixer until mixed well.
4. Add sour cream, mix well. Add eggs one at a time, mixing well on low speed after each addition.
5. Pour cream cheese mixture over crust.
(Now this is when I realize my jam has gone bad?! Panic.. but not really. I could've let it just a regular cheese cake but I was adventurous and decided to swirl in some mango nectar/juice)
6. Microwave jam and drop spoonfuls on top of the mixture. Swirl gently with a knife or toothpick, careful not to touch the bottom crust!
7. Bake 40-45 minutes or until the centre is almost set. Cheesecake continues to cook outside the oven so the center (2-3inches or so) may still be a little jiggly! It should set upon cooling.
8. Once all cool, refrigerate for at least 4 hours.

I was in a total rush while making the cake, my impatience has led to disappointing blurry photos.

*Forgot to mention, I did end up dividing the recipe portions in half. I originally wanted to use my smaller springform pan but I never realized it was so small! So this was the next size I had. There wasn't enough crust so I basically eyeballed it and made enough crust to fill the bottom of the pan but didn't bother adjusting the portions to fill the cheesecake more. The result: a very thin new york style cheesecake.

It was super yummy! The mango taste hadn't come out as much as I wanted it to but what did I expect right? I was basically using mango juice... if I had real mangoes or at least mango puree, it would have been much better. Or better yet, if I had some non-rotting jam in the house!
Cheesecake is definitely very filling.. a small slice goes such a long way.

what if we do the unthinkable

2010-06-23T00:18:00.000-04:00

doors open

2010-06-16T23:50:00.001-04:00

I’m way behind on blog posts, probably going to miss documenting about some things that’ve happened but this one was hard to pass! May 29-30(?) was Doors Open Toronto.. different historic and architectual buildings were open to the public for free. I was able to visit Le Royal Meridian King Edward, Toronto’s First Post Office and the Toronto Railway Heritage Centre.

Ah, it’s been so long but I had to find the time to edit photos and stuff. First stop was the King Edward hotel, we were bought up to the Crystal Ballroom which was apparently really famous up until 1950s. Now its just a very nice open room, they should really renovate it and reuse it, it would make such a nice ballroom. I swear I could have my wedding there!! The windows surrounding the whole ballroom was just amazing,

The view from one of the windows..

The hotel was so pretty, there were other ballrooms that we toured.

The Beatles stayed here for their visit in Toronto in 1964. :D

Next stop, we went to Toronto’s First Post Office. I came here when I was young for Doors Open and so I wanted to come again to see if I remembered anything. Obivously everything seemed so much smaller. But they still had a chance for visitors to write letters with a real quill and seal their letters with wax just like how they did it, back in the day.

The last place we had time to go to was the Toronto Railway Heritage Centre..

We climbed into this train to check out the engine part of it. It was so crowded but the guy explained how it would get extremely hot in there too cause it was a steam engine (which they obviously don’t use anymore..).

Look a GO train!

A little stop motion I made of the whole area. This semi circle thing was the train station, and the thing in the middle swivles and turns so that it can be matched up to one of the entrances into the station. Pretty impressive for taking the pictures handheld :D I was so stuck pivoting my feet though.

The place was right next to the Steam Whistle Brewery. We got free beer! I didn’t like it :(

That day I also had the chance to try macarons for the first time:

For dinner, O’Noir experience was alright. I mean I quite enjoyed eating in the dark. I don’t know why but to me, darkness always kinda relates to silence. I like how silence didn’t have to be awkward at all! I felt really quite at peace eating in the dark, although I did freak out over slippery butter. My shrimp was a bit burnt but the tomato risotto was really good! Somehow, argula always finds its way into my dishes though (it was in my appetizer)…

you found me when i got lost

2010-06-10T22:40:00.000-04:00

Harajuku, Tokyo.

Busy with midterm, I know I'm behind on some posts.. hehe.

Spring Rolls + Dessert

2010-06-01T21:58:00.003-04:00

Annie dear, I think you can work on your photographing skills. Just joking, <3 hah. Dinner at Springrolls, the service sucked. The food.. was alright. Spring Rolls has never really stuck out to me as good food. It's like overpriced Asian food that I can find at actual asian places for cheaper and better tasting.. Oh well! Love you Aney!!

Mango Sago

Mango sago with grapefruit + mango pieces

Durian Sago

First time trying chinese dessert at this place: Hung Fok Tong? (Silver Star Blvd) I don't even know the actual name. I was really excited but the desserts turned out not too good.. maybe it's cause I was used to eating the dessert I had back when I was vacationing in Asia. The mangoes were too sour and.. the mango sago was really bland - as if they forgot to sweeten it... Sad :(

victoria day

2010-06-01T21:45:00.000-04:00

So as you've probably realized, I have a tendency to blog like a week after events happen.. I don't know why but here goes, my Victoria's Day weekend

First time trying Hachitarou Sushi lunch buffet.. I got to say - I was really unimpressed. There was nothing memorable, I was craving sushi the next day! (Still am :() The service was bad.. I mean the first order of things were even all completed, we were pretty sure that our plate of sushi was delivered to the table next to us but oh well.. On top of that, we received some questionable things.. like fried shrimp (not the tempera shrimp), which we didn't even order. The sushi rolls were small and not very good in general. The tempuras had too much batter. The drinks were like water! The service was lacking as well, I swear there was some sort of communication problem and it was always hard to track a server down. Because we went on a holiday, the lunch price was jacked up to like.. $14 (I think the regular was 11.99) and we couldn't use the discount card! Overall, not a good experience at all.

Went to the driving range and well, obviously I was not dressed appropriately for it. We were going to a family dinner afterwards, I was dressed for that, not golf :P. Ended up just taking a bunch of pictures! Well, not the most flattering pictures but...

Porshe Boxster..He promised he would buy me when we grow up. YEAAH no, just joking :(. I wish!

Dinner was super good as expected, even though it was just burgers! I had a chicken burger and topped it with so many things! There were mushrooms, caramelized onions, etc. yummm. The plate was so cute too, they were paper plates but looked so real.. I had been craving burgers for so long, this definitely did it :)

Last year, we were apart for Victoria's Day - he emailed me a picture of him making a heart with sparkler, this year we were able to make one together! Yay

with her forever

2010-05-28T02:15:00.001-04:00

In Taiwan, they had these little wooden tubes(?) where people would write wishes and such on them. They were hung everywhere in certain places of town. I guess these are the equivalent of the little wooden plaques in Japan.

I hope this person's wish comes true. So cute..

terroni

2010-05-28T01:29:00.001-04:00

I was really craving Italian food after that past week of all japanese food (sushi like 3-4 times that week?!). I've been to Terroni before however, knowing that their menu was fairly large.. I decided I should go again to try something else!

Terroni on Adelaide St. is the only location I've been to so far, however there are 3 locations in total in Toronto. This location is actually kind of unique. The restaurant is located inside a former York County Courthouse so the inside is unlike any restaurant.

Last time I came here I was with a large crowd but this time I only went with the two of us.. and boy was it crowded! We were seated in between a large group and another pair but... honestly, our tables were so close together that all I could listen to all night was the conversations next to me. The tables were so crowded that the waiters/waitresses had to squeeze in between the tables...

Anyway.. on to the food..
They had so much to choose from in their menu. All the dishes are in Italian though; there is a little english caption right under it however, the food vocabulary used is probably not very common to most people. We had to google a few words but there is always the waitress/waiter you can ask! With so much on the menu, I had such a hard time choosing what to get but what I realized was.. there wasn't a lot of chicken choices on the menu, if any at all - which I found was very strange...

For appetizer..

Fried Calamari - strange I can't find it on the online menu.. they had a grilled calamari also but after a bad experience with grilled calamari at Oliver & Bonnaci.. we've learned to stay away from the grilled.

When this arrived at our table, we were a little confused. There was only the calamari and lemon slices. No sauce in sight.. At first we thought maybe the waitress forgot to give it to us but .. we came to a conclusion that the dish probably doesn't come with the sauces (other tables didn't seem to have them either!). So the calamari was .. a little weird but not as bad as the one we tried at.. Joe Badali. That was the worst calamari yet :( This dish probably would have been really good if there had been a really good sauce too!

This time I ordered a pizza:

Li Pecuri: Tomato, Mozzarella, Goat Cheese, Sundried
Tomatoes, Arugola, Parmigiano

To be honest, I really didn't like this at all.. I realized I really hate Arugola. It's all that green herb that you see in the picture. To me, it has such a bitter taste and.. it's just really strange overall. I couldn't stomach much of the greens but together with the pizza, the strong taste was definitely toned down. The Arugola really just ruined the pizza for me. I was sad!!

He ordered a pasta:

Tagliolini in Canna a Mare: Homemade Tagliolini with Fresh Clams, Fresh Mussels, Calamari,
Scallops and Tiger Shrimp in a Light Tomato Sauce ( This pasta
is not served with Parmigiano to highlight the delicate flavours
of the shellfish; following ancient Italian tradition )

His pasta was okay.. I think he liked it. All the pasta at Terroni are freshly handmade so it was nice to have a taste. It was a nice al dente texture. Not a favourite of mine as cheese is a definite must have... and I prefer white sauces over tomato sauces!

I couldn't finish the pizza so didn't order dessert.. I much prefer the first visit I had to this location:

Al Salmone: White Pizza with Smoked Salmon, Italian Cream,
Mozzarella, Capers, Red Onions, Fresh Tomatoes

Smoked salmon is always really good!! Italian cream and mozzarella really went well with each other. This is definitely something I would order again.. too bad I was daring this visit and decided to go with something else!

Panna Cotta:

This was the first time I tried Panna Cotta. I liked the actual cream part itself however, they drizzled some kind of vinaigrette on it, which ruined it for me, but otherwise it was very tasty!

P.S. As I mentioned earlier, the interior design of the restaurant is very unique! The washrooms are in the basement and it's kinda really creepy actually! There are jail cells down there that are used as wine cellars now..
The washroom sinks!

Terroni
57 Adelaide Street East, Toronto.

university college

2010-05-23T19:02:00.000-04:00

The University College Review of 2009.
It's been so long since I submitted those pictures (the three pictures on the left pages), I didn't even realize which ones were published until I got my hands on a copy. Pleasant surprise I guess.. funny how the last two pictures were taken before I even owned a dslr.

Clocks

2010-05-18T01:22:00.000-04:00

I have this thing with taking pictures of clocks. I don't know how it started and I don't know what it is, but I think they make for such pretty and interesting subjects.

Cupcakes!

2010-05-17T20:21:00.000-04:00

So since it's summer and I've still been procrastinating on my summer school work..I decided to bake today!

I decided I want to make cupcakes.. but I couldn't find any cupcake liners! Good thing I found some silicon cupcake trays lying around in the basement from last summer. These are environmentally friendly and easy to wash!

I like chocolate cake a lot more than vanilla cake.. so I decided on just plain chocolate cupcakes. The frosting I have is also vanilla frosting so I thought the contrast would work nicely :)

Ingredients

* 2/3 cup all-purpose flour
* 1/8 teaspoon baking soda
* 1 teaspoon baking powder
* 1/4 cup and 2 tablespoons unsweetened cocoa powder
* 1/8 teaspoon salt
* 1 tablespoon and 1-1/2 teaspoons butter, softened
* 3/4 cup white sugar
* 1 eggs
* 1/4 teaspoon vanilla extract
* 1/2 cup milk
Makes 12 medium sized cupcakes (~8 regular size cupcakes)

1. Preheat oven to 350 degrees F (175 degrees C). Line a muffin pan with paper or foil liners. Sift together the flour, baking powder, baking soda, cocoa and salt. Set aside.
2. In a large bowl, cream together the butter and sugar until light and fluffy. Add the eggs one at a time, beating well with each addition, then stir in the vanilla. Add the flour mixture alternately with the milk; beat well. Fill the muffin cups 3/4 full.
3. Bake for 15 to 17 minutes in the preheated oven, or until a toothpick inserted into the cake comes out clean. Frost with your favorite frosting when cool.

*recipe copied from: allrecipes - chocolate cupcakes

Obviously, using silicon cupcake trays, all I needed to do was grease them a little bit so that taking the cupcakes out would be easier. Also, instead of butter, I used margarine because that's all my house has. I baked mine for abour 22 minutes, not sure why it took so long but it was perfect! I poked each and every cupcake to make sure it was baked well enough! haha.

For the frosting, I used Betty Crocker's whipped frosting. For the light brown frosting, I mixed in a bit of chocolate condensed milk.

YUM :D

Guu Izakaya

2010-05-12T16:16:00.002-04:00

My friends and I decided to drive up to Alliston, Ontario to explore and pick up a friend. The town is .. really tiny. There’s one main street that stretches like a 5 mins car ride. Too bad the weather was really bad and rainy.. we couldn’t walk around anywhere.
We all drove back to Toronto and went for late night KBBQ. The late night special at Korean Grill House (Miland & Finch) is only around $8.99, and a dollar extra each for all you can drink! It was our friend’s birthday so we got him a soju bottle and we all took shots. I never knew soju tastes so disgusting.. I didn’t get to take any pictures because the seating was really crowded and so I left my bag + camera in the car…

This isn’t Alliston… it was just from the drive back to Toronto. The weather was looking a little bit better ..

We took our friend around downtown the next day.. we were able to use a group day pass. $10 for all the traveling we did! It was such a rainy day again so not many pictures at all, so sad.

We stopped by Yorkville, just to show her the area and the nice cars… Of course, we went to Summer’s again. Toronto Pothole I think by far is the best flavour..

I was stupid and.. thought Chinatown was at Spadina/Bloor area. Haha, so I took the excuse to try out Fresh. I ordered a wrap:

Grilled Vegetable and Pesto Burrito
grilled red pepper, zucchini & sweet potato with pesto, vegan mayo, tomato, lettuce, cucumber, red onion & alfalfa sprouts.
The wrap was delicious! Although it probably would’ve been amazing with cheese however, to add any kind of cheese, it was $2 extra.. not very worth it to be honest. I will come back to this restaurant for sure! There are so many things I want to try on the menu..

We walked around Chinatown + Kensington Market.. Due to the weather, we weren’t able to show her around UT campus but.. we did get to our dinner destination, Guu on time! We got there right at 5pm (their opening time) and stood in line for 5 minutes! We got seated at the Bar seats.. and we got to see the bar lady make different kinds of drinks! The place was a lot smaller than I anticipated but still interesting.. our bar seats had no backs! Lol

Their menu reminded me of a little coupon book.. Although they had a lot of choices in the menu, no one suggested dishes except for me and I felt bad!! Poor girl, there was actually a lot of pork and beef in the menu.

"ABURI SALMON" Lightly seared atlantic salmon sashimi
with ponzu sauce and wasabi mayo
This dish was soo good, the salmon was lightly seasoned on the edges and the sauce was perfect! I normally don’t eat wasabi as it’s too spicy and strong tasting but the wasabi mayo used here was just perfect.

"SALMON NATTO YUKKE" Chopped salmon sashimi with seven friends(Natto, shibazuke, takuan, wonton chips, garlic chips, green onion and raw egg yolk). Mix them up and wrap it in NORI seaweed.
There was salmon in this, so I decided why not just try it?! Little did I know.. I’m honestly not very keen on eggs, let alone raw egg… The waiter mixed all the ingredients together for us and you wrap it in the nori to eat it. It was a very interesting dish with its gooey, weird textures. I didn’t enjoy it very much but I think my friends enjoyed it more than I did.

"TAKOYAKI" Deep fried puffed octopus balls served
with TONKATSU sauce and mustard mayo
This is surprisingly the first time I’ve tried takoyaki.. I really should’ve tried some street vendor ones in Japan but.. I don’t know if we ever came across one. This takoyaki dish was just perfect, the right amount of dough and octopus. The sauce was so yummy too!

"ODEN UDON" 2 kinds ODEN and boiled UDON noodle in ODEN soup
I honestly had no idea what I was ordering here but we ended up with this and it was pretty good! Nothing spectacular.. In our udon, we had taro jelly, bamboo shoot and radish. We had the hardest time and laughed about what the frig that brown thing was. We originally thought it was some kind of animal… as we didn’t get to choose the oden for our noodles. The taro jelly was .. not the greatest but my silly bf liked it, I think just because he likes jello…… lol. It was bouncy and squishy. I think I prefer normal taro better!

"YAKIUDON" Pan fried udon NOODLE with beef and vegetables
After reading countless reviews, this dish seems to be one that many have been satisfied with.. so despite the fact that there was beef in it, we ordered it anyway! The sauce and noodles were really really good! I love udon!

"HOTATE BUTTER" Pan fried scallop with soy sauce and garlic butter
The scallops were nicely seared and once again, the sauce was amazing. The green onions and sauce put together with the scallops.. yumm..

Overall, the experience was great.. not sure if I’d go back again unless I was feeling rich. I mean it’s hard to get a decently priced dinner and be completely full from it! I think this begins my search for the perfect Japanese restaurant.. in Toronto. The food I ate in Japan has spoiled my taste buds and I’m honestly so determined to find, in Toronto, that amazing ramen, curry dish, tonkatsu (their pork tasted amazing.. I had to eat it), tempura, etc…

I can’t wait till I get older so I can go back to Japan again !

sometimes

2010-05-10T22:23:00.000-04:00

Sometimes I'm still paranoid that people will steal my pictures.

rural

2010-05-10T17:48:00.000-04:00

We decided to drop by ACI for a short trip. It was nice to see all the teachers again, though I had already seen them a month or two prior. It’s weird that some have really terrible memories… as if I didn’t tell them about my whole life the other time..

Anyway, afterward we planned to go to either dynasty or rural.. just for the sake of it. Although the food at rural isn’t the best tasting or even anything special, it’ll always have special meaning – as I’m sure it’s the same for some of you girls.

They still had their little lunch menus out. I didn’t pay much attention to what it was.. because that’s when I realized how much my diet has changed within these past years. I remember always just ordering from one of the two lunches choices, really just out of convenience and price! However, this time, all they had was a beef dish and a pork dish. Maybe it was just bad luck that none of the choices were chicken.. which resulted in a long and difficult decision on what to eat.

After what seemed like forever, I decided on some shredded chicken noodles and he picked chicken with black bean sauce.

(stupid me, I forgot camera was still in manual.. and I’m too lazy to upload an edited version.)

My noodles were okay. I don’t know if it was because there was a lot of chicken in mine or.. I’m not sure what it was but I really just got tired of the meat and he helped me finish the chicken. It’s sad how I’m so wasteful all the time..

The pictures above and below were taken with the Tamron macro lens I hardly ever use.. so I figured if I just stuck it on my camera.. I’d be forced to use it!
Honestly, it’s rather inconvenient since it takes things so close up but when macro shots are needed, it’s lovely!

We were bored at the bus stop.. he takes pictures quite well, don’t you think? :D

when i look at you

2010-04-26T02:39:00.004-04:00

Exams are finally over! Despite summer school starting in a week or so, I’m so happy to be done. This exam period was by far the worse one I’ve ever experienced.. there was honestly no exam I felt good about afterwards. Good thing my marks weren’t that terrible during the term or else.. =\

Anyway, Easter weekend was awesome and food-filled. Jees, I don’t even remember doing anything other than eating, and more eating. AYCE sushi, two easter dinners and pho. And.. probably other stuff that I forgot to take pictures of.. well other than the cupcakes!!

In no particular order..
After AYCE sushi (I forgot what the restaurant was called… the price and quality of the sushi was really good though!), we headed towards Yorkville to grab some Summer’s Ice Cream [see post] that I’ve been craving since last summer! This time it was a bit underwhelming but I still love it none the less! Perhaps it was the flavour I got, which I don’t even remember the name of anymore.. Still super creamy!

Pad Thai from Thai Express is one of our favourites. The one at Markville Mall doesn’t do it justice though! The Chicken Souvlaki from Mr. Greek is also one of our favourite, though I’m sure it’s more of mine than his. I love the potatoes and rice, along with the tzatziki sauce- its like heaven! Relaxed food court lunches :D

Easter dinner 1: I didn’t take pictures of the actual meal.. Here’s one of the cakes we had for dessert. I, myself, didn’t try this one but isn’t it cute how there’s a cake just for Easter?

His cousin’s house is so beautiful, the table we sat at had a tulip centre piece. Ahh, I’m such a flowers girl.

Pho at Pho 88 (Warden & Steeles location) is also one of our favourites. Yes, if you’ve noticed the trend, we do go and try to eat all our favourite foods when he comes back – even if it’s just for three days!

Because we’re such picky meat eaters, we order the BBQ Chicken Pho. The chicken and pho come separately so the chicken still has crunchy texture to it. I prefer this way better than the just the regular Chicken Pho! This soup base tastes as good as the regular beef pho.. not sure if it’s the same though.

Cupcakes decorating, so fun but so messy!

His cupcake decorated… The dinosaurs are attacking the fish and pigs apparently. So silly!

Aww, he made the letters and his sister made the heart. hehehe

Easter Dinner 2: After a long ride to Cambridge, we jumped around on their cousins’ trampoline to burn off some energy. Then it was food time! Looking at the pictures now makes me so hungry!

I love how my potatoes fill up a quarter of the plate. I love potatoes!! Woops, top left corner are potatoes too (scalloped potatoes), so half the plate….. haha. There was also turkey and chicken, but obviously… potatoes > meat.

Gorgeous cupcakes for dessert!! I couldn’t get over how pretty they were, home made by their cousins too! These definitely topped the ones we decorated earlier… hah

I could really use some cheesecake now…. mMMm.

So summer’s here! There’s going to be lots of exploring places and trying out new restaurants and foods. That means more food pictures and reviews! So excited!

(...I tried tagging this post 'food' times three, only one shows up. :()

Art: you may find yourself

2010-03-25T15:33:00.002-04:00

A new exhibition has opened at the DMG. This one is called 'You May Find Yourself' by an artist named Peter Smith.

He liked using scraps of woods, wooden blocks, stuff from dollar stores, etc. These collages are honestly so interesting to decipher and look at. Each one is filled with so much life, every inch of each piece is different. I'm not going to lie, I'm not entirely sure of the meanings behind each piece..
He especially liked using globes, and often made things related to urban sprawl and consumerism. Peter was able to use objects that people often threw away or didn't value much into intricate pieces of artwork.

Peter Smith had schizophrenia. It would be amazing to just take a glimpse inside his mind and understand why he made certain pieces as they are.

Unfortunately, he passed away late last year. :( RIP

The show is running until April 14!

Food: Johnny Rockets

2010-03-02T00:00:00.002-05:00

A busy Friday night led to a rushed dinner decision. I’ve been trying my best to stay away from chain restaurants or .. larger chain restaurants at least. Red Lobster and Pickle Barrel had huge line ups anyway so we decided to try out Johnny Rockets. It was such a cute little brightly lit diner.
Located at Yonge and Dundas Square, the atmosphere was lively inside and out!
The cooks/waiters even did a song and dance at the front of the diner. So cute!! I honestly wanted to run up and dance with them..

Each table had a little old school music player, though that one didn’t work – there was a larger one near the door. Obviously I was way too excited when I heard we could choose songs to play – I chose Happy Together by the Turtles. Yay, love the music of that period.

On to the food.. I order a grilled chicken sandwich while he ordered a chicken club sandwich. Fries had to be order separately so he ordered sweet potato fries and I, just regular American fries.

The sweet potato fries with the chipotle sauce.. I believe was pretty amazing. My burger was average, a little too meaty for my preference but we all know my meat tolerance is close to none. Other than that, the burgers and fries weren’t bad.

The overall meal was a bit pricey though, especially since fries were a separate order.

We had planned to head to Frans for breakfast the next day but.. didn’t happen so I look forward to that! :)

Chicken Club Sandwich

Grilled Chicken Burger

Sweet Potato Fries

Food: Jump

2010-02-18T14:52:00.001-05:00

I didn't get a chance to participate in winterlicious this year so getting out and eating at a nice restaurant was a nice change.

We visited Jump: Cafe and Bar. This restaurant is apart of the Oliver and Bonacini and Canoe chain. The location was super convenient, you don't even have to step outside from the subway station.. it's all connected!

Jump had a really nice atmosphere. Everyone was in suits and I guess that's because it's right under business buildings.

The food was pretty decent, not the best I've had but very interesting and enjoyable! We all daringly ordered the drink of the day - Mango peach juice!
The drink could have been colder but other than that, pretty good. Don't know about it being worth 5 dollars though..... haha.

Mango Peach Juice

I ordered ..The Veggie Plate, which was honestly one of the busiest meals I've ever eaten. There were so many things on the plate to try! What I loved most was definitely the sweet corn goat cheese souffle. Weird, it didn't taste like egg at all - it was amazing! I love corn and I love cheese :)
The portion of rice was a bit too small for my liking. It felt like a spoon really but I guess considering the amount of other stuff on the plate.. it was alright. The veggies were really strong vinaigrette-like tasting but they worked pretty well with the plate, balanced out with the souffle, rice and mushroom cutlet.

The Veggie Plate: grilled vegetables, with sweet corn goat cheese soufflé
mushroom cutlet and jasmine rice

Fettuccini with Gulf Shrimp: filetto di pomodoro, garlic, tomato, basil and extra virgin olive oil

Grilled Top Sirloin Steak Sandwich: ciabatta bun, caramelized onions, roasted red peppers,
horseradish mayo, Swiss cheese and sweet potato fries

I might come back to check out their dinner menu just because their lunch menu didn't have many choices that were suiting for me - hence the veggie plate. :)

Crafts: Hearts Mobile

2010-02-18T14:24:00.001-05:00

Just (not) in time for Valentine's day..

A mini mobile with hanging hearts !

Materials:
2 popsicle sticks
string
red and pink construction paper
scissors
glue

Time needed:
15-30 mins

1. Criss cross two popsicle sticks, making right angles. Using string, wrap around each corner several times, to make the popsicle sticks cross tight.
2. Cut four long pieces of string and individually wrap them around the center of the cross and branch out to one of the popsicle sticks. Tie two knots to secure the string. These four strings will be the strings your hearts will hang from.
3. Now you should have four strings hanging from each end of the popsicle sticks. Using pink and red ... or whatever colour construction paper, cut out hearts (or any other shapes if you'd like!) in duplicates. There needs to be two copies of the same heart/shape.
4. Position the hearts wherever you like on the strings and glue them on sandwiching the string.
5. A paperclip can be used as a hook. Hook one end to the wrapped strings in the center of the popsicle sticks cross and the other end, wherever you'd like to hang the mobile.
6. You're done! :)

Step 3.

The final product

Crafts: Papermache Snowman!

2010-02-13T23:50:00.000-05:00

I figured I should start a series of crafty creations. Remember not all these ideas are just for kids!
Most of you know I work part-time teaching children arts and crafts.. so I should have ideas from every week!

Though this winter has been extremely mild without much snow..today I will be talking about this papermache snowman!

It's fairly easy and can be done with children from 4 years old. Obviously, more help would be needed for the younger ones!

Materials needed:
two balloons - one blown big and one small
newsprint/newpaper
white tissue paper
felt
white glue
water
scissors
paintbrush
masking tape
(styrofoam cup)

Time needed:
3 hours + drying time (overnight)

1. Rip the newsprint/newspaper into tiny pieces.
2. Blow one bigger ballon for the snownman's body. Using the glue mixture and a paintbrush, paint the newspaper pieces onto the ballon. Around 2-3 layers of the newsprint need to be on the balloon. Then an additional 2 layers of white tissue paper need to be painted on.
3. Let dry sitting in a styrofoam cup. Repeat step 2 for the smaller balloon.
4. While both balloons are drying, cut felt to make the accessories and eyes, nose and mouth for the snowman
5. Once the balloons are dry, cut a bigger hole in the big balloon where the balloon opening is. Remove both balloons from inside the now hardened body and head. Then stick the smaller balloon into the hole, using masking tape, tightly tape the two balloons together.
6. To cover the masking tape, use white tissue paper to layer on top.
7. The facial features and accessories can now be glued on!
8. And..you're done! :)

Step 5.
This wasn't mine! Important to note though, try to make sure the final tissue paper layer is stuck on flat!

Just another example. The facial features and accessories can be glued on prior to taping the head and body together.

The final product!

..I already have another craft lined up. Here's a sneak peak.. in the Valentine's spirit :)

<3

Good Intentions

2010-01-31T00:00:00.001-05:00

So I work at the Doris McCarthy Gallery at school, every four weeks or so, a new exhibition is put into place. I was fortunate enough to be helping out during the opening nights of the exhibition! So here's a bunch of pictures from the event.

The exhibition is titled Good Intentions by Jon Sasaki, a Toronto based artist.
The premise of the whole show is the idea of having good intentions and earnestly trying hard to achieve something but failing miserably. You'll understand more with pictures..

So first off, this welcome mat.. it's being put there for good intentions however, seeing it's white and all fluffy and pretty - it obviously is not a good choice for a welcome mat. The artist's intentions were for the mat to actually get dirty and gross by the end of the show.. It's on its way there.

This is a blow up doll however, the air blowing into it never seems to be strong enough to get it all the way up. You actually have to be in the gallery to see it in action, all it does is.. hopelessly flop up and down. It really makes you feel sorry for it! Good intentions..

I realized I didn't have photos of the short films that were displayed as artwork throughout the gallery. However, this is a shot of most of the work. There were three video installations in this room and another in another room. All of them went along with the theme.. For one, a person is seen trying to climb a ladder to reach somewhere up high. It is never seen what he is trying to reach or get to however, he is seen constantly stacking ladders on top of one another. It indeed is kinda nerveracking to see it.

This piece was also apart of the exhibition. It's a real person pretending to be a statue. Named Spirit of Individualism..

Artist talk for the evening

The gallery also got a new mascot, so cute!

Free snowcones are also being given out as apart of the exhibition. The idea of giving out snowcones in the middle of the winter seems bizarre but obviously with good intentions of generosity!

Good intentions is on until Feb 24th! You're free to come visit me on Wednesdays.. I'll personally make a snocone for you :) heh

down and gone

2010-01-14T15:29:00.001-05:00

Last weekend, yeyea, I really enjoyed the sun glares!!

half way out the door

2010-01-08T19:43:00.001-05:00

Taken in Japan.

I don't know why but these architectural/geometric-ish photos have been catching my eye since I'm just randomly picking pictures to edit.

There's really no way to reach me cause I'm already gone

2010-01-07T23:49:00.003-05:00

I love airports.. just as I love train stations.

I love these shots.
These were taken at the HK airport.
Yay.

but i would just stand and stare

2010-01-06T20:00:00.001-05:00

throw back to the summer.
I took a gazillion pictures during my vacation. I.. just haven't had enough time to edit them all. I believe the more I look through the pictures, the more treasures I will find!
These three aren't the greatest but they will suffice for now! I took these all on a moving double decker so yeah they are kinda blurry. Oh well :)

I would like to blog more often, even if I nothing to say.
I guess that could be a new years resolution.... what else?
- improve studying habits, stop wasting time (ie. now)
- spend less money on food!
- i miss my girl friends :( spend more time with them :(
- take more pictures, be more assertive with it?
- eat healthier, no chips everyday!!
- be more loving, thankful, and grateful..
- improve interpersonal skills -__- im socially handicap :(
....I can't think of anymore at the moment. I will add more later if I have to !

all good things

2010-01-02T02:39:00.002-05:00

The holidays are winding down and I’m glad I’ve been relaxing and busying myself enough to not have time to blog.

I don’t even know how to do this.. be prepared for a long long long post.

Lol. k.. skating! I guess no outdoor skating this year.. maybe next year?

Hehe, worthwhile trip because I learned to skate backwards! Woooh

Boring Christmas Eve spent at home.. but very exciting Christmas! Got to open tons of presents from my own personal santa and his famfam, hehe. I’ve already started using, eating (yes, I get snacks for Christmas :D) and wearing most things already. Headed over to his cousins for Christmas dinner.. mmm.. love the food. I didn’t get to take a picture of the food.. but there’s cookies!

There was a santa picture on a chocolate piece of the dessert!

Boxing day shopping was .. horrid. I got nothing… Anyway, after that fail.. went to get ice cream at marble slab! Ice cream on a rainy day.. is not bad! I ordered cheesecake with marshmallow and cookie dough addons and he ordered… peanut butter banana with chocolate chip addons (how boring!!). haha. Mine didn’t taste amazing though…. Bad choices on bad part still. Waffle cone was pretty good though..

Raptors game against Detroit Pistons. My first basketball game! It was pretty exciting!! But I was stupid and forgot my zoom lens! :(

Sat around Union station to waste some time :)

I love being at the station, reminds me much of the Nuit blanche exhibition. I would honestly sit there all day and just people watch.. places like this and airports!!
Dinner at Joe Badali’s. Maybe it was cause I ordered the wrong things..or I don’t know. I didn’t particularly like this place. The calamari was really disgusting cause the batter had no seasoning whatsoever. The dessert was amazing though and made everything better. I don’t even recall the names of the pastas.. these Italian restaurants and their menus.. For dessert we got Brownie Cheesecake!! It was so delicious.

Finally got the see the girls for a Christmas dinner! Thank you secret santa ;)

The rest.. can be found on my picasa. You’re smart if you stalk me on the regular and already know! Anyhow, just ask me or… something

Wow this post is sooo long!! New Years Eve! Could have been better… but spent with the ones I love so that’s all that matters..

Japanese noodles for long life.. hehe.

He does all things graceful. I swear. Haha.

Japanese new year celebrations today..at his grandma’s place!

Dessert was amazinggggg, mud pie and some jello cake thing!

Hi baby. (Japanese babies are the cutest!)

Played some games, made a 3 year old friend, and he showed me books he read when he was young.. heh.

New years reflections/resolutions next post… way too long. Jees -__-

maybe two is better than one

2009-11-22T16:10:00.002-05:00

:( hehe. haven't blogged in a month+. School has been doing its job at owning me and my social life.

Last weekend was kinda amazing, he came back! First night, we went to try Joey Bravos. It was his second time there and my first.. It was actually okay. The restaurant was basically empty, except for the bar. The calamari was soooo good! Except  They didn’t have the sour cream sauce.. I had a smoked salmon pasta and I think I was a bit too happy and distracted to realize whether or not it was good. It was just mediocore I think. Not bad though!

For dessert, we shared a tiramisu :P

Next morning, he made me breakfast :) I hate eggs, but omlettes with loads of cheese and other stuff + lots of salt and pepper is fine. Haha.

Yes I requested for hot dogs and cherry tomatoes in my omelette.

Went to school and class then took a walk down the valley.. to take pictures!
The trail started off with this tree!

So obviously, we had to be in on the love! :D

I honestly had no idea where we were going but we found bridges to take pictures on :)

The sky was getting dark super fast although it was only like 4 something :( so we had to go but the sunset was a great backdrop :P

No lie it was so scary walking back to school through that forest trail. Holy crap :(

Next morning, he came to pick me up from work with a rose :) eeeeeeeeeeee :D Went to church to help out a bit then out to dinner with the family at some white, no seriously white Chinese restaurant. Everyone eating there was white.
Went shopping on Sunday with no luck, I’m so picky and small. I hate shopping and not getting anything :) Wanted to go sushi buffet but we went too late, it was going to be dinner rate :( So we just ordered a sushi platter and.. pigged out.
Monday morning, he woke up early to join me in class again :) Went to the school restaurant, Rex’s Den for lunch. The food was cheap but bad. You honestly get what you pay for. I ordered buttered chicken and he ordered chicken pasta.. The nacho also didn’t have enough cheese! And no sour cream again!

I think that was a big enough update/post, cause honestly within this month +, this weekend was the most interesting. So.. 5 days out of.. 5 weeks I actually did something with my life other than studying my life away. I know, you’re all jealous -___-'.

Near to you

2009-10-12T22:40:00.005-04:00

Thanksgiving weekend couldn't have been better.. spent with friends and boyfriend+his family.
I should be studying right now but.. nope, just waiting him to land.

Friday: Dim sum with friends at an awkward time of day but was so fun! I totally didn't think of taking pictures..
I wanted to go to summers to get ice cream but dim sum was sooo filling so maybe the next time he comes back? :(
Changed, and was almost late but it was like pouring outside :( Decided to walk to Il Fornello instead of streetcar... why? :( But anyway got there and.. almost everyone was there already.. oopsies lol. hehe, it was lovely to see everyone again. and the presents! <3 Then just hung out for a bit afterwards..

Saturday: Morning walk to haircut place (so nice and peaceful!). His haircut lady was commenting on how I've matured through the years since she met me.. that was sweet of her and nice to know :). Stopped by mcdees for a quick breakfast. lol, waited around while he got his hair cut and decided to walk around st. lawrence market.. Our second breakfast consisted of a hot crepe with chocolate, hazelnut and walnuts. It was soooo good! Then walked towards Smoke's Poutinerie, I got the traditional while he tried the chicken peppercorn. That was pretty good!

Sunday: Family thanksgiving dinner at his house. I can't say enough how much I love their family gatherings and just their family in general. There's always so much food and people. And the baby cousins! The most adorable kids ever.. they've grown so much since these past two years. love love love <3 Played Beatles rockband, it was pretty fun :) It's nice to know most songs and try out the harmonizing.. Continued playing with just the sisters after the guests left :) hehe.

Monday: Needed to get working/studying.. so just studied for most of the day. I say we are pretty good with staying with studying tasks except for food distractions. Haha, had dessert from the night before (apple crumple and pumpkin pie) for an afternoon snack. MMmmm so good!! After that.. tried to study ... lying down in bed - not a very good idea! Fell asleep until dinner.. haha. Turkey soup for dinner from turkey last night, so delicious :) Then it was goodbye time :(

Wow it took me so long to type all that, his plane probably landed alreadY? yay. So pictures time, didn't take much really.. :(

Chicken Parma .. it was okay! not amazing but was a surprisingly large portion!

Linguine di Mare

delicious birthday cake.. omg. so good.

so come home cause i've been waiting for you

2009-10-07T00:17:00.002-04:00

Sushi at .. Sushi Tower? I don't remember.. wasn't the best meal ever. The sushi was kind of.. lacking and the soy sauce was way too .. salty.

Nuit Blanche was kinda a disappointment. I never.. realized how crowded it's gotten.. I remember it's first year, there was like.. like not even half the amount of people I saw Saturday. It's getting too overrated.. though I wish I was in a better mood and had more time to explore some of the more hidden works.
My favourite was.. the Imminent Departure at Union Station Grand Hall. Something I could relate to at least and it was just so creepy, so gorgeous and so mysterious at the same time!

2.5 more days!

somebody to love

2009-10-06T23:46:00.002-04:00

Oct 1: Art show thinger at school, had 5 of my photos on display. It was okay... All stars afterwards! First time.. lol.

the sea of love

2009-09-27T18:42:00.002-04:00

Distracted from doing school work, I decided to make the DIY heart bokeh for my prime lens!
I used left over cardboard from the build it yourself pinhole camera, it took like 2 minutes.

Result:

The effect is that the .. normally circular bokeh would be in heart shapes! It's still bright outside for now.. so this is a picture of my night light in the hallway. lol

Very exciting! I'll maybe take more pictures later when the sky is actually dark :) Yay.

Oh, I've also started shooting in raw format. We'll see how that goes, it eats up memory like no tomorrow but at least I have two fairly large memory cards!

tonights going to be a good night

2009-09-26T22:51:00.003-04:00

On thursday I was bad and I grabbed a 24 and started doing the crossword on it. Newspaper is leisure to me, picking one up is deadly because I know I won't be studying any longer but instead, would be reading the newspaper or doing the crossword.

It's so hard to resist though, newspapers are everywhere around campus! Anyway, back to Thursday - I was so surprised I was able to finish so much of the crossword. Back in... grade 11(and 12?), he and I used to do the 24 crosswords everyday. He would bring one in every morning and we would pass it back and forth in class/lunch to work on it together. Okay, so he claims I got mad often, and I did.. it is frustrating working with someone that is 23082309 times smarter - someone who fills in all the word spots before you even get to any. But anyway, on Thursday, I finished most of the crossword by myself and was so proud! I had never done it before, I swear this is the closest I've gotten - and ever will.

Today I sent him a picture of the unfinished crosswords and just like.. 2+ years ago, we worked on finishing this crossword together again! I'm not going to lie, I was a little mad when within seconds of receiving the photo, he filled in 3+ words already. It was the same kind of jealousy I felt back in the day, LOL. Anyway, eventually he still needed my help ;) We finished it; "we're a good team".

Some things never change <3

(1000) days

2009-09-24T23:11:00.001-04:00

Early morning this morning! Breakfast at Markham Station, I hate eggs but I guess I like every other breakfast food :P

(lol, i wrote that but never got the chance to post it cause i was getting too tired!)

It was our (1000)th day, Sept. 21. I thought of dedicating a whole post.. or something. I wrote like half and felt bragging-ish so that will likely not happen anymore :P

a friend like no other <3

are we humans or are we dancers

2009-09-13T00:05:00.001-04:00

Woke up early to head downtown for CTEP orientation. Boring but got free lunch! Oh.. and I finally met my first utsc friend! Makes me want to go the Athletic Centre to meet people.. haha

Walked through campus again, always such a sad time now. :( I regret not feeling more grateful last year of such a beautiful campus :( The new facilities and just everything. Ughh, couldn't find textbook at bookstore and walked back through campus to Yorkville area.

H&M sale was still on, I've gotten a lot of things from there lately. It's so easy.. things actually fit!!

Then we headed to Summer's. Trying to find the place was struggles but holy,. was it worth it. The ice cream was like heaven.

I ordered Toronto Pothole. SOOOOOOOO GOOD. and the waffle cone!!

Then walked to Flo's Diner, the little spiral staircase up to the diner was cute. The interior was so cute also, they also had a rooftop patio type thing however we wanted to see the inside!

We both ordered the same thing: Turkey Burger with mushrooms, caramelized onions and feta cheese topping with a side order of fries + coleslaw.

The burger was okay. The toppings were really good except the actual turkey patty was too hard and dry. Fries were pretty good too!

Walked down yonge to tiff events at yonge+dundas. Nothing really going on except for the free outdoor screening.

So tired, need to start doing homework tomorrow. :(

2009-09-11T01:50:00.002-04:00

School today was bad. I hate utsc so much already.. I can't imagine 4 more years here. Makes me want to transfer again except.. I don't have the money to move to queens :( Gotta suck it up.

I wanted to make a video of how shitty the place is. My classes are mostly in the basement of some old building. nice and dark with concrete walls.. if you think your school sucks, you don't know utsc. ... There is no phone reception anywhere. I was sitting right beside a window and barely could get one bar of service!!

Went out to Main St. tonight. It was nice.. <3

Cafe Mocha.. I can never decide what to order and sometimes I don't feel as spontaneous as other times.

Need more nights like this!!

the soles of your shoes, all worn out

2009-09-10T01:49:00.001-04:00

Had quite the day today.. I got my long awaited haircut, brought a textbook, met up with friends, had frozen yogurt at Cefiore, then thai at some thai place.. forgot the name, sold a textbook then home!
Too much walking... went from yonge + bloor to university + college to spadina + bloor. Wow that makes it sound like not much but I had to lug around 4 textbooks for most of that journey :(

yayy

green tea yogurt with pineapple, mango and kiwi toppings :) soo good.

finally!

Then we walked across the street to this thai place.. it was so dark and squishy inside!

I ordered pad thai (chicken) because.. what else is there to order at a thai place? haha. I like pad thai anyway! :P

Tiring day, first day of school tomorrow at 8am! :( ughh.

giving you a reason to stay

2009-09-09T23:52:00.002-04:00

So today I finally cut my hair! It's been two years since I've been to a salon to actually cut my hair and.. its grown so long. I finally couldn't take it anymore.. though I wish I could've had more to donate. So I chopped off.. like 12 inches I think of hair. or even more.. there was too much measuring and discussing at the point she was cutting it. But anyway, defnitely longer than 10 inches.. just so I can donate it to an organization that makes wigs for people with cancer and have to go through chemotherapy + loss of hair.
I haven't decided what .. organization yet, either the pantene one or locks of love. But that can wait... I'll just have a big strand of braided hair lying around for a while.

So ... here it is:

I tried to smile cute to make the haircut look better. haha. :)

we were always meant to say goodbye so stick around

2009-09-05T22:32:00.004-04:00

the actual pictures! in an album

This roll has been my best one yet from this fisheye.. probably because I actually have people as subjects this time. :D
love love the fisheye :)

do you know what's worth fighting for

2009-09-05T21:18:00.003-04:00

I haven't updated in so long.. last two weeks of work ended. I guess I was just lazy and nothing's been going on esp. since now the boyfriend is gone. haha. loser :(
Work's been tiring, this last week - we went to centreville at centre island. It was pretty fun, who knew a little kid ferris wheel would be scary? The 6 year olds weren't even as scared as I was, I swear :(
I was also able to finish my roll of fisheye, finally!

light up, light up as if we have a choice

2009-08-27T01:35:00.002-04:00

last day tomorrow - I'm not ready.

such great heights

2009-08-23T03:25:00.003-04:00

Went to the ex yesterday. Almost didn't bring the battery for my camera, devastating so I got my mom to drop it off at work for me. So glad that happened. I also took pictures with the fisheye but I'm still not done the roll of film so I still gotta wait! Film's exciting like that.
I guess it was fun to just walk around and such. Didn't go on any fold up rides, haha.. Brought chocolate, ate corn, funnel cake, shawrma, and spent so much money on drinks. The place was so crowded!

I made a video earlier today. Pretty proud of myself since I didn't have a tripod with me or anything and everything looks pretty still!!

<3

now i can't do any of that here

2009-08-18T01:11:00.004-04:00

The Kikkerland Pinhole Camera DIY Kit.
My progress below, it wasn't very simple but I hope I can get at least a few shots from it. I love how the inside already looks worn out but iunno, its just paper so I can't expect much.

Gotta experiment, maybe tomorrow.. I still gotta finish my fisheye roll of film!!

are we just going to wait it out

2009-08-17T23:23:00.001-04:00

new Imogen Heap album: Ellipse..
I love her
Don't think I'll ever get sick of this album.

like an apple in a tree, hidden behind the leaves

2009-08-17T02:46:00.002-04:00

Went down to Harbourfront the other day, uhh.. yesterday. It was too hot to sit down to enjoy..

Went to cool off at the Power Plant Gallery. Contemporary Art.... very interesting. Some of it is super scary and confusing though.

The Simcoe Wave Deck? Bridge? Newly built this year. It's so damn steep I almost died with flats that have no grip. It's pretty cool though!

Went into Bounty, the store at the actual Harbourfront centre. I picked up a Paper DIY Pinhole Camera kit.
Pictures later when I'm done. It's taken me a few hours and I'm stuck. :( Not very easy :( But the cool thing is .. is that it uses 35mm film! Perfect :)

Dinner at Montana's. Had the Penne with Goat cheese. It was pretty good!! Oh we also ordered Calamari again and it sucked so much. The portion was super small and the sauce was like.. sweet and sour sauce. They weren't even crispy at all.
Dessert and games night at his home :)

because i said i'd make it work

2009-08-14T23:10:00.003-04:00

This week went by fairly slowly.. it was safari week at work so the kids made paper mache animals. I thought they ended up to be the cutest things ever. :)

can't take my eyes off of you

2009-08-14T22:02:00.004-04:00

Went to see Jersey Boys at the Toronto Centre for the Arts last. Loved the show, they all sing so well!! It was on the main stage at the centre and that's where my choir performed Carmina Burana. Pretty amazing and how I'm familiar with the centre/back stage and stuff.

Had dinner at Ichiban Sushi before the show. The restaurants around that around aren't very interesting..

We always eat so much :( but always so good! lol.

After the show we went to eat more so grabbed a snack from wendys. Root beer is disgusting :(

wandering and wondering

2009-08-10T00:59:00.002-04:00

rainy days

five hundred days

2009-08-09T02:43:00.007-04:00

Finally watched 500 days of summer, very good movie - loved the cinematography so much. A little heart broken from the movie itself but it was really good still, so cute! Went to Jack Astors for dinner, too loud for dinner :(

calamari ... I know all the food pictures I post up are all the same!! Yucky red sauce and not crispy enough :(

chicken bowtie.. which I've had before. I swear I've had every chicken pasta dish on their menu. This was.. okay.

chicken parmigiana.

It was still early but was too full for dessert so dropped by Chapters. I love Chapters dates - don't think they'll ever get boring. We walked around, sat around, had starbucks while we went through quiz books/iq books together 8).

We picked up the book: All About Us. lol, cheesy but it's super cute. We started on the warm up part and it's funny to think back to like the grade nine days. I love how we both knew what outfit he was wearing the first day we met/saw each other in class.
The book has different chapters/sections such as 'Favorites', 'Before Us', 'Uncomfortable Moments'. Each person gets to put their own answer to each question - really fun and great for dicussion. So as per usual, I skipped to the last page and read it.

The last question: Considering everything you have learned from this book, you are now convinced:
_ your partner is still the person of your dreams
_ your partner should no longer be your partner
_ you almost wish you had never met your partner
_ you and your partner need counseling
_ you need to be more independent
_ sometimes its better not to know
_ you are _ gay _ straight
_ you married your __ mother __ father
_ your relationship is more solid than ever

I'm so curious as to what we'd come up to when we finish the book. haha. It'd give us something to do when he's gone since we can't work on our actual journal/scrapbook in real life.

Work starts tomorrow, not that excited or maybe yeah. I wish some of the cuter kids would come back :(

this is why i wait while you're gone

2009-08-05T23:40:00.003-04:00

Work today, raced him home and I won :D haha, I secretly made him jello while he wasn't home yet :D
I've been wanting to go outside and take pictures so yay.

my favourite thing to do: sitting on the bench swing outside :)

Had hunters for dinner, so good!!:

-____-

greek salad!

cheese bread

chicken souvlaki with rice and potatoes! mmmmm

I had to stand on a baskbetball to be that tall. LOL

why am i still awake

2009-08-05T03:53:00.002-04:00

Work restarts tomorrow but I swear.. summer's basically over. It feels really weird, he's ending work this week and I'm starting.

I need to print a whole bunch of our pictures again. Maybe he'll be cool and stick them all over his wall so girls can see when/if they go into his room. haha. (yeah right -___-)

swayed by your love

2009-08-04T00:32:00.002-04:00

2009-08-02T18:08:00.004-04:00

this past week I..:
- stayed home for the whole week :(
- really didn't do anything until this weekend
- went to vaughan mills and barely brought anything
- ate at red lobster
- watched a few episodes of himym
- mcdees for breakfast
- oh boring week :( but lovely weekend :)

cheese bread = amazing! and oily!

fried calamari with brocoli. nice and crispy but sauce was lacking.. kinda tasted like ketchup?!

snow something crab legs. HUGE crab.

caesar salad - too much dressing :( couldn't finish the end

my spicy shrimp jambalaya. I don't know what's with me and ordering spicy things cause I clearly can't handle spicy. -___- I couldn't finish :(

one heart for valentines, one heart for his birthday

2009-07-31T23:55:00.003-04:00

Moleskine - customized planner, originally uploaded by f.chiuphotography.

so this is the 'planner' I stayed up to work on.
Some pages are prettier than others and some were just.. sloppy.
Watercolour was used but this isn't the watercolour moleskines so colours bled through pages and was very messy but whatever.

I used one page for every school week.. I figured it's a waste to have a daily one. I mean I procastinate until the end of the week anyway. When I used to use an agenda, I'd have to write the same thing over and over again each day because I hadn't accomplished the previous day.

So this way, I can just list on each page for the whole week..

These pages only filled up like half of the notebook, the other half are dedicated to doodles and lists.

So really I can't time the music correctly.. It's kinda annoying but whatever. Music = beginning of Muse - Ruled by Secrecy.

stop motion of things.

2009-07-31T15:02:00.002-04:00

Stop motion of things., originally uploaded by f.chiuphotography.

I was bored the other day.
It's a lovely song anyway!

insomnia at its best

2009-07-31T05:37:00.003-04:00

I'm staying up for no real reason except to paint..
Originally I wanted to buy a large moleskine planner except they're pricey. I'm too broke at the moment to afford any!
I do have a pocket moleskine notebook that I decided to rip apart and.. go crazy on. So now in the process of decorating this little pocket one into a 'planner'. I figured if I make it nice and pretty and colourful, I'd want to do things written in the planner...

taken in hong kong

it's a shame my posts never relate to the pictures

drawing for the feeble minded

2009-07-31T05:29:00.005-04:00

kite, originally uploaded by Marc Johns.

Today I discovered Marc Johns - and I'm in love! ahh.

too badoriginally uploaded by Marc Johns.

garbage bag by Louis Vuitton originally uploaded by Marc Johns.

I can't afford polaroids

2009-07-29T16:25:00.002-04:00

sunshine, just thought i'd make it a little cheerful

2009-07-29T02:24:00.009-04:00

Watched the movie Sunshine Cleaning today. Reminded me a lot of Little Miss Sunshine which one of my favourite movies!
The little boy in the movie, Jason Spevack is adorable too!

Loved it

Next to watch: 500 Days of Summer

The Time Traveller's Wife (Aug 14 :()

where everybody knows your name

2009-07-27T21:58:00.004-04:00

one day late :(
this week i..:
- finished gg season 2
- had food poisoning? :(
- so I puked
- made a dinner+dessert with ready-made food
- had a nice dinner with the girls!
- went out three days/nights in a row :O
- had mashed potatoes x2!
- had baton rouge/o&b for the first time
- had spring rolls for lunch

Went to Katsura restaurant today for Japanese food! So expensive but pretty good cept for hidden wasabi in the sushi :( I ordered Medley of Sushi with Anmitsu for dessert. :) Love the grandparents!

I didn't take pictures.. felt too formal.

falling in love at a coffee shop

2009-07-24T02:22:00.004-04:00

Dinner at Oliver and Bonacini:

had grilled calamari for the first time - not good :(, served with capers and anchoives. weird..

O&B Macaroni and Cheese - pretty good. very filling but I love cheese!

Fish and Chips... haha. with sweet potato fries.

just bring me to venice, everything will be alright

2009-07-22T01:12:00.004-04:00

Missed blogging for a day or two. I can't even keep up, I feel like I've been busy but really. not. I spent the whole yesterday watching almost the whole season 1 of gossip girl. :| Finished the last two episodes over at his house today, while waiting for him to get home!

My camera ran out of batteries, couldn't take pictures.

Taken in Tai Po, HK.

i never thought id be in love like this

2009-07-19T18:33:00.003-04:00

this past week I've:
- missed out on summerlicious :(
- haven't gone to the beach yet
- took pictures of a textbook
- had tons of fun with the girls
- finished a whole large bag of miss vickies
- gone out without make up
- had viet food x 2
- had japanese food made by koreans
- attended a party
- attempted to golf for the second time
- stayed home all day
- scanned 2349238 of pages
- tried reid's dairy ice cream for the first time
- had dinner with his extended family

Totally random order.

Taken at home.

and i close my eyes

2009-07-17T22:39:00.002-04:00

Taken at home.

my brains not working with titles atm

2009-07-17T02:17:00.000-04:00

Taken at Pearson Airport.

Depressing photo except I'm not very depressed at all.
I'm just too tired to search my files for a happier picture.
Driving range today, golf is hard and my wrists are retarded.

nowhere else but you.

2009-07-16T00:01:00.000-04:00

Old pictures.

Taken at New Wasaga Beach.

sunlight glare

2009-07-15T00:25:00.000-04:00

I was too tired last night to post any recent pictures.
Driving range sometime this week.. I don't know how to golf 8).

i heard it's prettier at night

2009-07-14T01:56:00.000-04:00

Taken in Hong Kong.

Taken in Tokyo.

I want black and white cows at the zoo.

2009-07-12T23:30:00.001-04:00

Day at the Toronto Zoo. Good weather but kind of chilly.. I think I'll get some nice shots after some editing.. Here's a sneak peak for now!

tiger!
Taken at Toronto Zoo.

wild horses i wanna be with you, growing caution to the wind.. I'll run free too.
Taken at Toronto Zoo.

Then we went to eat at Pickle Barrel!

Calamari as starter. Always good.. wherever we go, at least to me!

Panko Crusted Basa Fillet. lighted crusted basa fillet, pan sauteed & topped with Asian bell peppers & mushroom sauce. Served with brown basmati rice.
Didn't enjoy this, surprisingly. The sauce was way too strong with some sort of distinctive bitter aftertaste. Mushroom sauce? =\

Fish and Chips! Always good :)

you look better in fisheye

2009-07-11T22:19:00.000-04:00

Taken at New Wasaga Beach

Taken in Caledon.

I can hear every word you're saying

2009-07-11T15:45:00.000-04:00

Dined at 5th element:

Sesame Tuna Tartar with Romaine Heart and Capers

Bacon Wrapped Scallops with Soy Reduction and Californian Greens

Methi Crusted Tandoori Chicken with Yellow Curry Sauce and Basmati Pilaf Rice

Peppered Atlantic Salmon with Yellow Curry Sauce and Basmati Pilaf Rice

Orange Mango Cheese Cake with Elder Berry Syrup

The food was good, washrooms were ugly and tables were too close to one another.

More often than not, we're listening in on other peoples' conversations than having our own. We don't intend on eavesdropping but when we do try to speak to each other, we can't hear each other. This happened twice today.

drawing in my mole skin, a paper bag prince

2009-07-10T01:47:00.000-04:00

Finished 14 pages of my moleskine. Many more to go..

paper bag prince.

there's crows outside my window

2009-07-09T18:42:00.001-04:00

Tired face today so this is what happens.
Strike day 23983098 :(

days like this, so unpredictable

2009-07-09T00:47:00.000-04:00

This blog thing is getting to me. Maybe scratch the photoblog thing.. or maybe not. We'll see.

Ramen today at Kenzo on Dundas West.

Sapporo-style ramen. It wasn't super but wasn't bad. The bowl was huge, too bad I couldn't take a full shot. I couldn't finish half of it.

hibye.

Even if the sun shines bright..

2009-04-24T01:14:00.000-04:00

things go wrong,
I'm upset.

A little less personal

2009-04-15T22:18:00.000-04:00

photoblog on it's way!