Sunday, August 15, 2004
Wednesday, August 11, 2004
Micro-Lobsters
So Tyatt was very excited yesterday. She was like "Oh my gosh I have to tell you this. I found this page for Michael Lobster".
"Michael Lobster?"
"Yeah.. Micro-Lobsters.." (oh.. right.. not some guy.)
".. they are like tiny red lobsters and you get this tank of them and you don't have to feed them."
(right.. I have heard of self-sustaining ecosystems-in-a-tank before)
"and then they shrink!"
What?! I thought it was a hoax. She then showed me this page and the more I thought I was a joke. But it wasn't, apparently.. Even a prominent Hawaii newspaper talked about them. Now I think that's quite a cool thing to add to my cubicle at work.
And the shrinking part? If you don't feed them they eat micro-alge and bacteria, but being mal-norished next them they shed their shell the new shell will be smaller because the micro-lobsters have slimmed down. :)
"Michael Lobster?"
"Yeah.. Micro-Lobsters.." (oh.. right.. not some guy.)
".. they are like tiny red lobsters and you get this tank of them and you don't have to feed them."
(right.. I have heard of self-sustaining ecosystems-in-a-tank before)
"and then they shrink!"
What?! I thought it was a hoax. She then showed me this page and the more I thought I was a joke. But it wasn't, apparently.. Even a prominent Hawaii newspaper talked about them. Now I think that's quite a cool thing to add to my cubicle at work.
And the shrinking part? If you don't feed them they eat micro-alge and bacteria, but being mal-norished next them they shed their shell the new shell will be smaller because the micro-lobsters have slimmed down. :)
Wednesday, August 04, 2004
Japanese Plum Wine
Tyatt and I first tasted plum wine on our JKH trip back in 2002. We had it at a crab restaurant in Sapporo called Sapporo Kani Honke and we fell in love with it ever since. It's hard to find good plum wine here in Toronto though -- we've never had better plum while then in Sapporo and PLEASE do not buy that crap sold by the LCBO. Through Mr. Kaji at Kaji Sushi we found a brand that is palletable: Hakusan plum wine.. made in Napa Valley though.. but good nonetheless.
Anyways, today while surfing I found a website that gives a simple receipe for DYI plum wine. Now if I can find the ingredients shown.. :)
Anyways, today while surfing I found a website that gives a simple receipe for DYI plum wine. Now if I can find the ingredients shown.. :)
Thursday, July 29, 2004
Random pictures
So I was reading slashdot today and in the comments to a story today is a link to a page that uses google image search, and posts queries using common digital camera image-naming conventions. The premise is that many people do not bother to rename their pictures before they post them on the net, and by searching these camera-generated filenames you can truely come across random pictures!
That was an interesting experience. I went to check it out, not expecting much. In fact objectively speaking it *was* nothing much. Many many ordinary pictures of ordinary people doing various oridinary things. Pictures of kids with icecream all over their face and neck. Kids running around play spots. People on stage giving a speech or singing songs. Performances of groups of people. People having dinner, at a party, drinking [insert your favourate alcholic drink].
But on further reflection, that's not ordinary. I don't know these people.. that makes the pictures ordinary.. I bet if I asked them they can tell me a whole story behind the picture! Oh yeah that guy drunk themself to the point of passing out because he.... Yeah this was her presentation on .... and she completely aced it. Tonite was his birthday but so and so didn't show up... I felt like I suddenly met a shitload of people and they all told me a short snippet of their lives when I saw one picture of their countless albums.
hmm.. yeah.. it's very zen.. I should sleep soon.
That was an interesting experience. I went to check it out, not expecting much. In fact objectively speaking it *was* nothing much. Many many ordinary pictures of ordinary people doing various oridinary things. Pictures of kids with icecream all over their face and neck. Kids running around play spots. People on stage giving a speech or singing songs. Performances of groups of people. People having dinner, at a party, drinking [insert your favourate alcholic drink].
But on further reflection, that's not ordinary. I don't know these people.. that makes the pictures ordinary.. I bet if I asked them they can tell me a whole story behind the picture! Oh yeah that guy drunk themself to the point of passing out because he.... Yeah this was her presentation on .... and she completely aced it. Tonite was his birthday but so and so didn't show up... I felt like I suddenly met a shitload of people and they all told me a short snippet of their lives when I saw one picture of their countless albums.
hmm.. yeah.. it's very zen.. I should sleep soon.
Wednesday, July 14, 2004
Crime and Punishment
So with my $25 Chapters.ca gift card my HPYs gave me, I bought a literary classic «Crime and Punishment» by Dostoevsky. Well.. and also «War and Peace» by Tolstoy, but I've only started to read the first one.
I've only finished reading the introduction written by Joseph Frank.. dunno if that's the guy who did the translation or what.. but what he did was to provide the historical and personal context up front to shed light into the mind of the author when the novel was written. Anyways, this should be my GO train reading for the next while.. at my rate of reading (15 pages a day) I am guessing maybe a month?! Doh.
Thanks HPYs!
Oh, so why the Russian authors? In Grade 11 I took this English course in which everything we read are from Russia or Eastern Europe: Tolstoy, Kafka.. etc. Well except «Waiting for Godot» by Samuel Beckett, who's Irish.. but what the hey. In fact «Waiting for Godot» is still my favourate play, while Kafka is still one of my favourate authors.
Then again, go browse through my novel book case and you'll see an interesting collection of authors: Orwell, PKD, Kafka, Asimov. Now add Tolstoy, Dostoevsky, and Cervantes.. You tell me :)
I've only finished reading the introduction written by Joseph Frank.. dunno if that's the guy who did the translation or what.. but what he did was to provide the historical and personal context up front to shed light into the mind of the author when the novel was written. Anyways, this should be my GO train reading for the next while.. at my rate of reading (15 pages a day) I am guessing maybe a month?! Doh.
Thanks HPYs!
Oh, so why the Russian authors? In Grade 11 I took this English course in which everything we read are from Russia or Eastern Europe: Tolstoy, Kafka.. etc. Well except «Waiting for Godot» by Samuel Beckett, who's Irish.. but what the hey. In fact «Waiting for Godot» is still my favourate play, while Kafka is still one of my favourate authors.
Then again, go browse through my novel book case and you'll see an interesting collection of authors: Orwell, PKD, Kafka, Asimov. Now add Tolstoy, Dostoevsky, and Cervantes.. You tell me :)
Tuesday, July 06, 2004
Chef DB?!
So I was searching online for some Toronto restaurant info and HMMMM! I came across this website that attempts to catalog all the chefs that work(ed) in Toronto and cross-references them with restaurants around town. It is a bit incomplete, tho.. must be work in progress.
Thursday, July 01, 2004
Our dinner at Perigee
So I wanted to surprise Tyatt and took her out to dinner at Perigee. Of course after I asked her to come downtown she kinda immediately guessed that Perigee is our destination so yeah. DOH.
Interesting name of a restaurant too.. Perigee means
The very concept of this restaurant is quite interesting.. and last I checked, unique in Toronto. When you enter the 2nd floor dinning room the first thing that catches my eye is the large open kitchen. The second thing I noticed is the number of tables and where they are. There are very few tables in sight, and a handful of them are right up against the sides of the open kitchen. Ha! Chef tables! Of course, I've seen all these wonderment before when I went to scope the restaurant out one lunchtime at the urging of my coworker. We even got to talk to the co-owner, Victor Brown.. Cool. Of course Tyatt had already read all about the restaurant prior to going and she wasn't suprised either.
When I reserved the table pour deux I asked them to give us something front and centre to check out the open kitchen. Well, we got it.. a table for two where we both face the kitchen! The only problem is that there is this black support column in front of us too so a bit of the view was blocked. The other problem I didn't anticipate was that being so close to the kitchen the table is bound to be a bit warm. So if any of you plan to go and are sensitive to heat like I am, don't wear clothes that are too warm. :)
Chef Pat Riley was there with two sous chefs and two other kitchen staff. Five of them danced around in the kitchen stage throughout the night. We were very impressed that they still managed to produce dishes promptly, and that Chef Riley was still able to personally explain each dish to the diners sitting at the chef tables.
The menu at Perigee is a tasting menu. You are offered a choice of a 5, 6, and 7 course meal. We got the 6 course menu, and each of us had two half-glass of wine, one white and one red. The usual questions are asked of us about allegies and preferences. We asked that we get gamey meats for the main course, and ask the server to suggest wine for us based on the menu.
Our menu:
Interesting name of a restaurant too.. Perigee means
The point in any orbit nearest to the body being orbited.An interesting application of said definition to the culinary arts.
The very concept of this restaurant is quite interesting.. and last I checked, unique in Toronto. When you enter the 2nd floor dinning room the first thing that catches my eye is the large open kitchen. The second thing I noticed is the number of tables and where they are. There are very few tables in sight, and a handful of them are right up against the sides of the open kitchen. Ha! Chef tables! Of course, I've seen all these wonderment before when I went to scope the restaurant out one lunchtime at the urging of my coworker. We even got to talk to the co-owner, Victor Brown.. Cool. Of course Tyatt had already read all about the restaurant prior to going and she wasn't suprised either.
When I reserved the table pour deux I asked them to give us something front and centre to check out the open kitchen. Well, we got it.. a table for two where we both face the kitchen! The only problem is that there is this black support column in front of us too so a bit of the view was blocked. The other problem I didn't anticipate was that being so close to the kitchen the table is bound to be a bit warm. So if any of you plan to go and are sensitive to heat like I am, don't wear clothes that are too warm. :)
Chef Pat Riley was there with two sous chefs and two other kitchen staff. Five of them danced around in the kitchen stage throughout the night. We were very impressed that they still managed to produce dishes promptly, and that Chef Riley was still able to personally explain each dish to the diners sitting at the chef tables.
The menu at Perigee is a tasting menu. You are offered a choice of a 5, 6, and 7 course meal. We got the 6 course menu, and each of us had two half-glass of wine, one white and one red. The usual questions are asked of us about allegies and preferences. We asked that we get gamey meats for the main course, and ask the server to suggest wine for us based on the menu.
Our menu:
MENU FROM TUESDAY JUNE 29 2004
[unless otherwise stated, the dish listed first for every course was served to Tyatt, the latter to me]
Amuse
Fried skate wing
Mussels with apple celery root slaw
Course One
Salad of squid with sesame-crusted oyster mushrooms and kabayaki sauce
Nicoise style "scotch egg" with artichoke vinaigrette
Course Two
Grilled baby octopus with creamed leeks
Seared diver scallop on a tomatoe oxtail compote
Course Three
Lightly seared tuna on sauteed rhubarb and cherries with diced foie gras
[This is Tyatt's extra appetizer that replaced her cheese course]
Course Four
Wild game tartare "maki" wrapped in beef tenderloine with a napa cabbage slaw
Foie gras torchon with poached white asparagus and cherries
Course Five
Braised lamb shoulder "navarin"
Veal tenderloin with roasted provimi veal sweetbreads and braised greens with a dijon sauce
Course Six
Monarch cheese with crispy pork, white pepper meringue and charentais melon
[This is my cheese course]
Course Seven
Lemon balm "flower pot" with cajeta, chocolate granité and apricot compote
Bannana chocolate parfait
Thursday, May 20, 2004
New look on my blog!
Apparently after not having updated my blog for a long while there is all these new stuff that one can do to my blog! So, I've updated the look of the blog (from a choice of new templates from blogger.com).. haha. NOW I feel like I've accomplished something today.
Monday, January 05, 2004
Day 2 (or is it 3?!) of my cold-turkey caffine cut-off
Urgh. So I've decided to cut my caffine cold-turkey. I've had it with restless nights and the dreaded cycle of tiredness and caffine boosting. So, I've cut it. No more milk tea thrice a day. No more yummy coffee. But man, do I feel horrible.
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