haiku of the week

Friends went to Circa
Danced with fierce drag queens all night
New path for Richmond?

Photo via Rollin and Scratchin.

inspirational quote of the day

As always, via the Inglis billboard:

It's never the wrong time/ to do the right thing

Wait... does that mean that there's no time limit to rectify a situation by doing the right thing? Or is it saying "Don't be lazy/scared and procrastinate doing the right thing. You can do it!" Hmm...

queen's park punctuation spark

The government wasting taxpayers' money. No f-r-e-a-k-i-n-g way! It's like snow in Toronto. (Whoa!)

W.h.y d.i.d t.h.i.s h.a.v.e t.o. g.o. t.o t.h.e m.e.d.i.a? Didn't the MPP have something better to do with his time?

walk and talk

CBC reports that scientists at Simon Fraser University have led a team to the creation of a knee brace that can covert walking into electricity. The energy generated is enough to power small electronic devices like cell phones or iPods.

...in the immediate future, he sees it being used to help power medical devices such as prosthetic limbs or implants such as pacemakers or neurotransmitters. He says those devices in the future could be implanted alongside the energy harvester.

Prototypes for a vehicle using the same technology are being created. A first peek below:

weight loss challenge #3: new (chinese) year, no resolutions

I've been fairly careful to not over-post on the weight loss challenge. Once a month isn't dangerous though, eh? Since starting, I've "lost" about 7 pounds (read why it isn't actually seven pounds) and that seems normal to me. I've started eating five small meals a day. I get out more. I'm probably also ditching the weight from holiday binging.

The trend line now has me reaching my goal by week 11. Nope, this won't happen. It doesn't really account for the logarithmic nature of weight loss. As the weeks go on, the values will keep minimizing. I expect to reach it by week 14 or 15. The trendline is amusing though: if it were true, then by week 18 I'd become one of those ridiculously androgynous skinny Asians. Yikes!

inspirational quote of the day

From the Inglis billboard:

A successful person/is an ordinary person/focused

Ahh...

happy year of the rat!

Happy New Year everyone! Find some helpful New Year tips at Torontoist!

inspirational quote of the day

From the Inglis Billboard on the Gardiner:

The most wasted/ of all days is/ one without laughter.

savoury for you

Preserved Snacks

Preserved snacks play a large role in Chinese junk food. Most Canadians are familiar with beef jerky, but less with preserved calamari and cuttlefish. Seafood is preserved either in a sweet peppery sauce (similar to jerky) or dried. Dried cuttlefish is chewy and a little spicy, but mostly tastes like MSG. Yum! While the seafood jerky can be sticky and messy to eat, the dried seafood can be eaten anywhere: it's even sold as a concession at the cinemas!

In addition to seafood, preserved plums and ginger are snacked on too. The preserved food comes in sweet, salty, spicy, or pickled varieties and is sold either prepackaged or, more traditionally, from large glass jars. The fruit and blossoms of a plum tree are culturally significant for their beauty and play into many of the Chinese myths and legends. Ginger, a mainstay in Chinese cuisine, is eaten not only for its spicy taste, but also for its medicinal purposes, such as reducing nausea and helping to combat colds and coughs.

Potato Chips

While the West loves condiments-inspired potato chips, like ketchup, sour cream, and salt and vinegar, the East prefers more carnal flavours such as shrimp, chicken, and, amazingly, gyoza (Japanese dumplings). The Chinese have traditionally made chips from rice flour rather than potatoes.

The most popular are shrimp chips (also known as prawn chips), served alone or with chicken during celebrations such as weddings and for the New Year. The chips, which can be coloured red, yellow, and green, start dehydrated, but expand when placed in hot oil. Shrimp chips are crunchier than potato chips and have an interesting crackling texture on the tongue, similar to Pop Rocks. The chips are best fresh and don't taste the same out of a bag. Instead, try shrimp crackers, which are less greasy, but as tasty as the original chips.

If only Canadian chip makers could follow this lead. Imagine flavours like fried chicken, maple and salmon, or deep-fried Mars Bar? We guess chili and garlic chips are a start.

hot joints to rock it to

Missy knows how to knock your socks off.



Jay-Z knocks the rest off.

winner winner winner

I've announced the winner for my Free Spice Girls Tickets Contest!

Congratulations!

two tongues

Sitting in a café in Montreal, I don't understand most of what's being said. I already knew that would be the case, but it doesn't make it any less disappointing. Why isn't French mandatory until students are 18? Learning a second language has practical uses (aside from Quebec, it can be used in parts of Nova Scotia, Belgium, Switzerland and, of course, in France). In addition, learning a new language enables the brain as well.

Did we have two official languages as a compromise? How stronger would our work force be with an automatic bilingualism? We're not living in the 1900s anymore where learning a new language is seen as some infringement on our identities. If we want to be global, we have to communicate in more and in better ways. Businessmen are already learning Spanish and Chinese to compete in the new economy. With two languages under our belts, it'd be that much easier to say, "Pourquoi pas une autre?"