haveliwalla home cooking

Two good friends of mine create a great blog called haveliwalla home cookingdedicated to good food. Each day they create one or two great dishes and document it all for everyone to share in the beauty that is everyday cooking.

Having recently moved to Canada from Korea, she brings a unique perspective and creativity that she puts into her art and cooking. Many of her dishes combine French or Italian ingredients with Asian seasonings or vice versa.

In addition to being a talented chef, she also is an artist and art teacher, giving private and semi-private lessons to both adults and children. Goes a long way to explaining their knack with the camera. The only catch is the blog is in her native Korean. As is the case with all good food, it doesn't matter what language or culture it comes from. You'll understand it.

Interesting observation

While out the other night I came to an interesting (or at least I thought it) conclusion. In men's washrooms there are generally urinals and stalls. Using the urinals is obviously common place and they are out in the open with little to no privacy. This is normal. Strangely enough though, when a man uses the stall to pee and doesn't shut the door, it somehow seems as if you are intruding on him is the door is open. Really, this chap is afforded more privacy then anyone, yet it seems that he is the most exposed. Bizarre.

La chinoise - Pacific Cinématheque

Friday evening I attended the Pacific Cinématheque, an "art house" theatre in Vancouver showing foreign and or more offbeat films. Friday's films were two French films by Jean-Luc Godard.

I've seen a few of his films before and enjoyed all of them. "La chinoise" was no different. Very interesting and bizarre editing techniques, great colours in the sets and a funny story-line. The editing in particular was a treat as Godard used stills, shots of them actually filming the movie in the movie and other unique features.

In addition to the films being great, the theatre and experience itself was cool. The movie started RIGHT AWAY. I mean no trailers, promos or anything else. Lights dim and the movie is on before darkness is achieved. Great. I will definitely be attending other films there.

Bike the Blossoms

This Saturday April 19th, 2008 is the first annual Bike the Blossoms event, sponsored by Slow Food Vancouver. The event is being held in and around Vancouver and is aimed at celebrating the beauty of cherry blossoms, as well as taking the time out to enjoy some great locally produced and sourced products.

Slow Food is the international organization (and movement) centered around a return to healthy, locally produced and diverse food. The organization emphasizes taking the time to experience and taste different regional products, as opposed to relying on a diet of fast and mass-produced foods.

So far, there have been approximately 1,500 people that have registered for the event, it should be a great ride ... if the weather holds up! For more information check out Bike the Blossoms

An interesting take on "graffiti" or street art is KNITTA PLEASE's wildly coloured knit acts of vandalism. The crew, based out of Houston, uses half, quarter and almost finished knitting projects to decorate the urban landscape. Stop signs, parking metres and other elements presenting a suitable home for a "tag", are artfully decorated with a collar of knitted art. The crew boasts adds colour to the landscape in many other cities as seen from their web gallery. Here is just one example of the Knittas work.

While doing some research for a bit of work I'm doing, I came across this interesting project. "The Ark of Taste" is an offshoot project from the slowfood organisation that is designed to preserve foods that are at risk of becoming extinct. All participating countries have certain criteria that allow a certain food product, fruit or vegetable to enter into the "ark". Once a food is granted status, specific marketing and promotion are done to encourage the sale and consumption of this product, thereby saving it from becoming extinct.

One of the things that caught my attention about this whole project, was the idea that to prevent foods and tastes from becoming extinct, we must train ourselves to discern more and higher quality tastes. When we, as a society, begin to lose our ability to appreciate a variety of high quality flavours, we no longer desire such a broad range of products.

It's a great idea and really translates as "eat better quality foods, or be doomed to a lifetime of shitty produce". Who can't get on board with that?

The Ark of Taste

My recent trip to Montreal was fantastic. The city always revitalises me and shows me a different side. Though we went primarily for the Jazz festival (which of course did not dissapoint), the market at Jean Talon was the big winner. Fabulous ambiance, incredible local produce and products and great deals on everything. I really haven't seen a market like that since leaving the shores of Europe.

My favourite aspect was the amount of local producers and artisans. Preserves, juices, liquors and beers, cheeses and countless varieties of produce all grown within la belle province. The pride Quebeckers have for their land never ceases to amaze me and always rubs off on me.

Other big winners were a small arts festival we stumbled upon close to the downtown, finding a certain French language hip-hop CD I am interested in and meeting friends not seen since a years time. All great times set in a fabulous city.

One thing I did not manage to accomplish was renting a bike and seeing a bit more of the city on bike, however that is still on the plate and will have to wait till next year I suppose. Can't do it all and the market was really a bit one that occupied a good part of our day.

All in all, my visit was once again thoroughly satisfying. Great to speak the language again and great new finds around the city.

Haven't written for quite some time, yet I've wanted to a hundred times. Must get but in gear and make self write more and more. Ok.

One of the highlights of my summer to come is visiting the new addition to the Royal Ontario Museum (ROM). It officially opened this past weekend in Toronto, and has thus far received mixed reactions. Some glowing, others almost hateful. Really though, I can't wait to see it up close, as the pictures and plans can only say so much. I have decided I'm going to love it though.

The reason I'm going to love it is its boldness. Whatever your reaction to it, it does have people talking a great deal and is a huge focus for Toronto. The city isn't exactly known for world class architecture (the CN tower doesn't exactly count), but can now count the Daniel Libeskind designed addition among its sites to see and things to talk about. I too can't stop talking about it and haven't seen it yet.

Besides its boldness I do love the striking difference between the existing structure and the addition. One stone and Baroque, the other modern steel and glass. The lines of the addition are clean, but harsh. The addition juts out over Bloor street and demands to be seen, and seen it will be. All week tours are being offered and then the exhibits will be put in.

Regardless of my impressions, I'm sure I'll love it for some reasons, hate it for others and not stop talking about it for loads of other reasons.

** This was written quite some time ago, I only now posted it.**

Ça fait du temps! It's been quite some time since I've posted on this blog. In fact I think the one year "anniversary" of my writing came and went. Tant pis. In fact, the reason for my lack of posting is that I have been working on my french blog for a class that I am taking. Trying to force myself to improve my writing abilities in French. Maybe I should just stick to one language, instead of tormenting the multi-lingual.

The class is at Simon Fraser University (SFU), and is the first that I've taken at any school in Vancouver. The campus is a beautiful spread of concrete architecture, perched high on Burnaby mountain with a view of greater Vancouver and the North Shore mountains. Really quite spectacular on clear days. I do enjoy being back in the academic environment on the other side of the classroom. Challenging, balancing the two, but very helpful. I'm able to put a lot of what we are learning directly into practice, most times the very next day.

There really is something special about being at a school of higher learning. Just a lot of possibilities and intelligence whirling around. While I don't necessarily look at my university years as "the best years of my life", they were very formative and were filled with tons of interesting and thought-provoking experiences. Just taking this course has again, opened up lots of other possibilities and experiences that are available. I often see posters around campus for art exhibits or talks that would be fabulous to attend. Indeed I'd like to make more of an effort to see some of them.

Spring is approaching and I'm looking forward to the city coming back to life and participating in more and more activities as the days get longer and my work load gets shorter. Hopefully that will allow more time for writing and drinking of all varieties.

Body Worlds

An unbelievable exhibit that was in Vancouver for the better part of the fall until last weekend. I had slept on it for quite some time and finally got over to see it. Spectacular.

The exhibit uses real bodies to display the anatomical beauty of the human body. It uses some spectacular positions to highlight certain aspects of our physique, as well as some very interesting dissection techniques to present different views and parts of our body. Definitely worth checking out online and in the (excuse the cheese) flesh should it come to hood nearest you.

How Canadian are you?

A great article in the Globe and Mail about an issue I feel strongly about, national identity.It's something I often fret about and may be overly concerned about. According to the article, however my concerns may be justified. Focusing on the children of "visible-minority" immigrants, the article states that these individuals are identifying less and less with Canada and often integrate slower into Canadian society than their parents.

Given Canada's multicultural hodge podge, we really only have an identity if people integrate and contribute to the mix. Those marginalised, or those who marginalise themselves contribute little to Canadian culture and detract in some ways. Now I know stats can be misleading, but it is an issue that needs to be brought into the open and focused on if we are to be anything more than a land of satellite countries. Something to think about?

The "D" word

I was trying to think about when diversity could possibly be a bad thing. Take something like the concept of hot, and one can easily list many instances of when hot is good. By the same taken, one can also go on and on about when hot is not good. Hot car seats, hot lettuce, hot vodka and hot flashes are just a few examples. Diversity on the other hand, hell I can't possibly think of when you could have a negative aspect of diversity.

The reason for my train of thought came about while running through a slightly dodgy part of town. The area is a little run down, and suffers from some poor planning. It is, however in the process of revitalising itself thanks to some changes. I got to thinking about diversity while running through this area, because a friend had mentioned how building densely populated answers wasn't always a good thing in terms of planning. I agree, but density is needed to bring in adequate amounts of people to make a number of things viable. Transportation, a bustling street life and a mix of shops/services. Density by itself would not bring all the aforementioned things, but diversity sure would get you closer to that.

Building diverse living accomodations, diverse building types and trying to keep a mix of ethnicities in an area will all foster the types of places that are worth living, working, playing and being in. There is so much mono everything, and it seems like every time you stop there is a bit more. I say think diversity in everything we do and we'd all be a hell of a lot better. Although, if we all were thinking diversity, could diversity in itself be considered mono?

La vacance

Visiting family and friends in Toronto was a great experience. Never ceases to amaze me how easy it is to feel "at home" again after having been away for months. The conversation never dies and the only strangeness comes from the temporary nature of the relations. One week just isn't enough.

Seeing as many people as possible was great. Had the chance to see some friends that I haven't seen in quite some time which was excellent. Again though, it makes me sad when we get up to leave and I realise it will be months maybe even a year before we catch up again. There being no shortage of great places to be in and visit makes it even tougher to peg down when our next coffee will be.

Going downtown was great as always. Such a great feeling being in the mix of so many people and cultures. So many lifestyles crossing pathes over and over again. I especially enjoyed popping into the Opera house, which is a state of the art building. Gorgeous and another great landmark for Toronto.

A list of "to do's" awaits for the final days of my vacation. Not all of them are banal which is uplifting. We'll see how many end w/a line through their heart.

I <♥> polish.

Not quite sure what it's been lately, but I have this insatiable appetite for polishing my shoes. It's kind of crazy in fact. I don't own a hell of a lot of pairs of nice shoes, but they are all pretty decent and all nice leather. I procrastinated forever on polishing them, but now I just can't stop.

It is such a relaxing activity, and when I'm done my shoes look fantastic. Not exactly a groundbreaking past-time, but there is something simple and good about it. A bit of a throw back, versus disposability 101 lifestyle. Makes you want to buy very good quality and have it for awhile.

Not to knock China, since really they are just better at filling our lust for cheap goods, but seems like it's all about cheap "now" goods. Most things are so poorly made you barely have them for a season before they are pilling, fading or just combusting. Kind of refreshing to actually have something that you can care for and enjoy for a few years. My shoes from France were a pleasure to polish as they brought back all sorts of fond memories of walking around the great capitals of Europe.

Bringing my shoes back to life, also brings memories of people, places and times back to my mind. Unlike the shittily made goods we buy, those memories will last forever wit a bit of TLC.

Et les jours passe.

Depuis le commencement du mon travail, je me sens très à laisse. Je travais dur, et des fois je me sens un peu confondu. Mais, en general, j'aime bien mon travail, je le trouve stimulant et il y a plusieurs options pour development. Je suis très content avec la vie d'enseignement.

One of the few things that I do find challenging about my job is the quickness with witch time flies by. The weekly barely has a chance to start before it finishes. It's literally like a dog bent over it's bowl about to eat and then the bown gets gruffly snatched away. C'est fou! Nonetheless, it provides ample opportunity for nourishing other interests.

Ces jours la, je recherche des cours du francais, et des maitrises. Je pense à faire un maitrise en francais. Ca serait un défi bien sur, mais pas un défi insurmontable. J'aurais du travail à faire, et j'aurais améliorer mon niveau d'écriture beaucoup. Ca m'aiderait beaucoup en mon travail, mais en plus c'est mon but d'etre capable à parler et d'ecrire le francais presque parfaitement.

For the moment I will continue to do research for courses and continue to pursue my options. So far so good. On verra.

Inside out

The other night while trying to get to sleep I read a bit of an article about windows. Not exactly a real earth shatterer, but interesting all the same. One of the points in the article that jumped out to me, was the author's remark about windows being one of the few parts of your house that can be seen from the inside and outside. I found it a curious remark, and with more than 30 centimetres of the white stuff on the ground, I've been staring out of my windows all weekend.

In thinking about the window remark a bit further I realised that there aren't a lot of things that both you, and those on the outside of your house, enjoy equally. Even then, you don't necessarily enjoy them equally, and each's vantage point is different. There is something in common though that is shared through windows whether we like it or not.

The rest of the article dealt more with the aesthetic beauty inherent in certain windows, which coincided with me succeeding at finding some sleep. My curiosity had been peaked though and found it a decent little thing to ponder while staring out from the inside of the snow globe the last couple of days.

Damn, Orwell was smart.

Recently I was listening to talk radio program on the CBC. The issue of closed circuit cameras in public places to "prevent" crime was being discussed. Most of the people in favour of the cameras felt their civil liberties being infringed was worth the personal safety they felt with the camera presence. Many of the people against the cameras felt there are more effective ways to deter criminal activity, without infringing on civil liberties. Either way, Orwell was smart.

Truth be told, I don't exactly know what I feel about it. Simple truths, crime is bad and no one should feel unsafe in their own city. On the other hand, has our society deteriorated to the point that we need to be watched 24 hours a day in order to act correctly, or to feel safe?

The cameras have had some some positive results in the U.K, where they are used in certain trouble spots in and around London. What is frightening though, is whether the efffectiveness of these cameras at reducing crime in public spaces will then be used as a justification to place them in what we deem to be more private spaces. This could range from residential street corners or even certain homes. Both Canada, the U.S and Britain have wrongfully arrested certain individuals suspected of terrorism. Would we use these cameras to monitor residences of "suspected terrorists" or other individuals perceived to be societal threats?

Definitely a slippery slope issue. We are always moving closer and closer to a Big Brother model of society. At war with Europe one day and another territory the following. The placement of cameras in public spaces would reduce crime, but only in areas with cameras. Crime would then find a new home not under the watchful eye of BB, would we follow it anxiously with more cameras?

Hmmmm.

It's strange the effect the suburbs will have on you. I still feel connected to what's going on on a bigger scale, yet I don't feel AS intrigued by the minutiae of daily life.

One of the biggest reasons is the reduced number of interactions I have with unknown people. I either cycle or drive to work now, instead of taking the metro. Riding is great exercise and low environmental cost, while driving is warmer, allows me to drink my coffee and listen to either music or talk radio. Neither, however puts me face to face with hundreds of people and possibilities.

Not having those chance meetings or small "events" makes it more important to seek out variety and diversity. Already I have noticed a difference in myself. Even when I sat down to write, I had to search my brain for what to blather about. A few months ago, numerous banal and trivial little occurences would have tickled my fancy. Good to realise I suppose, scary all the same.

It ain't easy.

Having now completed just under a month of work in my new position as a teacher, I am slowly starting to strike a balance between work and extra-curricular life. I mean I am not one to let work consume me, however it isn't that easy. I do care about my work and want to give my best. It ain't easy though, finding the balance between work and personal life.

Some people may not feel guilty half assing something. I am not one of them. If I'm going to do something, hell I want to do it well. The question is though, at what point do you reconcile yourself with the fact that you want to do a good job, and are giving your best effort, but you are not willing to give up your whole life for it? This is probably much more dramatic then it needs to be, but is an interesting question many new grads and workers probably feel.

My personal life is too important to me. I have a number of goals I want to achieve in my career, but a number in my personal life as well. Balance is that ever elusive state that I am searching. Though closer I come to achieving it, the more likely I am to get excited about a new project and throw it all off.

Monsieur Michael

I know exactly when it happened officially, but really I'm still not sure when I became a teacher. For the last 3 weeks I've been standing at the front of the classroom and doing my best to teach young impressionable minds the belle langue that is french. Really, teaching is a bit of a misnomer, I'm just trying to make them not hate the language.

So far so good though. Besides always feeling like there is something else to do things have been going quite well. Teaching is not brain surgery, but one definitely has a lot to juggle if you are going to do it successfully and with the students' best interests at heart. From finding and creating meaningful activities to figuring out fair and accurate ways to assess their learning there isn't much time for grinding fresh roast coffee and people watching. Dommage.

Overall, it definitely feels like a step in the right direction for me. I enjoy the feeling of being in the classroom, I love being able to speak french everyday and I think the kids, while numbingly frustrating at times, can also be a breath of fresh air. Having thought of myself as youthful, I quickly realised how out of touch, or better yet, just how far away I was from my students' mental states. There's no better way to put it other than "ils sont des enfants".

Christmas seems a ways off, but the weeks are flying by. I need to keep writing and maintaing what's mine. So far so good.