I thought I might be writing about casual food in terms of the Hong Kong style cafe we were looking forward to trying in Hong Kong but I will write about the bakeries instead. It frustrated NPY but I don’t need a sit-down meal with a side of rice or noodles to call it a meal; I’m happy to nosh on snacks throughout the day and bakeries filled that need for me. Happily, they were trustworthy places for the most part and NPY would join me and pick out some …

Food was one of the points we were amply warned about regarding going on a tour in Beijing. NPY’s parents and sister said it was plain awful and skipping out for a KFC meal was the best one on the Beijing leg of the trip. My relatives who have done several China tours between them said the food was alright, which goes to show you how NPY and I come from different places. My mother, the true Cantonese food snob, doesn’t think much of any other region’s food; she would …

I’ve been saying it for something like five years how I would go back to Hong Kong and I waited out the uncertainty of grad school and new jobs and saw the 20th anniversary of my last trip roll by last year. This year, I came back from my May trip back to Halifax resolved to make it happen. Keeping it simple with a tour package in Beijing and the only other stop in a city vaguely familiar to me, Hong Kong, made it possible. NPY’s head was spinning at …

Life has been crazyyy! And by life, I do mean work. In the past two weeks, I can’t remember how many times I stayed really late at work, and not without some company. We took on a lot after we got our grant out the door in September and naively thought it would be a “quiet” fall, but I’m really proud of my department, for all we can take on, the services we provide, and our capacity.

I started a craft “project” about a month ago after seeing an Etsy project …

(I originally wrote this around and after December 23, 2007. It has been edited a little for clarity. It’s been really nice to finally publish some stuff that’s been languishing in my drafts and unbeatable to take a walk down memory lane.)
When I arrived at the big (new-ish) terminal at Toronto’s Lester B. Pearson Airport on Sunday morning with very little sleep and much stimulation from the night before, I had a little cry. I was leaving again and I was flooded by all the decisions that once took …

Apparently I wrote this in June 4, 2009. It is still quite relevant especially for some upcoming events….
Yesterday, I met up with two others in our group who are free, uninhibited, and fun- and sun-loving enough to kill off the night at a chill patio in downtown Vancouver. We talked about fun summer plans and infeasible-but-fun living arrangements. We ate and drank in such a way that is entirely unsustainable (so we won’t do it again for at least a week). We were self-congratulating about our current obligation-free lifestyles and …

My introduction to the idea of collection miniature bottles came from seeing my Toronto aunt’s mini-perfume bottle display. (Isn’t everything better in miniature?) Now, that is a normal and presentable collection to have.
“Collecting” the miniature lotions from hotels I’ve stayed at, not so much. Whereas I would be loathed to use mini-perfume and empty those bottles of the liquid whose colour may be contributing to the bottle design, I’m less reluctant to use the lotion. I have so far been a bit reluctant to use and then dispose of the …

I don’t know which website has the most comprehensive Toronto restaurants listings+reviews (like I believe dinehere.ca in Vancouver to be), so I’ve uniformly linked every restaurant to their Urbanspoon page.
Asian Legend. Sweet Gallery. Il Gelatiere. dozo sushi. Gui Hua Tang. Restoran Malaysia. Chili Secrets. New Choice. Oh Geul Boh Geul. Simple Bistro.
Asian Legend
We met up with family (two uncles and one married cousin with his wife) and I was sooo relieved that we did not dine at our stand-by regular restaurant, Scarborough Grand, although had we dined at a traditional …

Just a few years ago, I only had the faintest idea of when American Thanksgiving occurred. In Canada, we get it out of the way in early October while Americans get around to it in late November. I did not realize how important or long a holiday it was for them.
Besides my secret impression that Vancouver is a very American city, it just cannot be faulted for being located very close to the border, right? Another reason why I love where I live: it’s like a straight line drive from my …

Sometimes I feel like I do not need to live in Vancouver to “keep in touch with my culture”; except for the personal touch of being in a city that is about 15% Chinese, a lot of my daily fix comes through the Internet and other widely available resources.
With the magic of RSS feeds piped through Google Reader, I get sufficiently bombarded with Asian information from the few feeds I subscribe to.
It seems the longest-standing pillar of blog-style Asian-American information is Angry Asian Man and NPY has noticed how much stuff I’ve seen …