Here and There

Last Sunday was spent inside as there was snowstorm in effect for Greater Toronto and surrounding area.

The night before

It was snowing heavily. See the car on the sidewalk ... it's the snow plougher

Blowing snow

Ice on my window

It gave one the feel of tranquility just by looking at the snow falling down ... blowing away ...

Splenda has a new competitor :P

Sales must be good by guaranteeing customers' expenditures

This is my favorite

I did not intend to make fun of anybody’s English or language and I am not the one who has the most perfect English of all. But this is just funny. There is one brand of noodle which is John’s favorite and I just noticed this on the packaging under cooking instruction or as is printed on the packaging “Cooking Direction for Tasty Noodles”

……While water boiling, make flame weak to avoid it overflowing, or add a half-cup ……


Hihihi …. And I am going to stop making fun of others now.

Christmas is approaching so it’s time to shop for Christmas gifts *Doh* … but the spirit of shopping is in the air … and to elevate the spirit … every store in town has a “SALE” sign put up. It is about two weeks to Christmas and I’d better kick start my spirit now in order to get all the *cough* un *cough* necessary gifts ready. As there is going to be a snowstorm in town later today, I’d better head out now … till next time!!

It is mid November; I can’t believe winter is just around the corner. Average temperature now is around 8 by day and -1 by night and it will keep dropping as we approach winter. How I wish the weather is warmer, how I wish temperature is not going up and down, day and night … The other day I was talking to Finche who lives in LA and she told me that winter in LA usually is like around 15 degree Celsius … … … that is like Autumn in Toronto … how unfair!! As much as I appreciate winter, I hate the cold. But having survived winter in North America, one has learned the essential tricks to survive the downfalls of winter:

1. The air can become very dry. When I said air, I meant air inside the house (apartment, etc.). As the heater is turned on, humidity in the air is reduced, leaving our skin very dry. For those working with documents, paper cuts happen most often during this season *Ouch!!* . Survival tips: lots of hand or body lotion. Lip balm is also of utmost importance.
   
   
2. Apart from survival tips no.1, there are gadgets which can aid in reducing dryness in the air. Meet the humidifier! This thing lets out humid air. Thank god there is such thing as humidifier.
   
   
3. If you are outside working or walking, a good, good winter coat is essential. However, winter coat alone is not enough as the coldness will eventually get to you. Therefore, hats, shawls and gloves are very important too. Also, a good pair of boots or shoes is essential.
   
   
4. Driving can be difficult especially when there is wet snow or if there is freezing rain which makes the road icy and slippery. Survival tips: Drive according to road condition. Driving during winter shall by no means be treated the same as driving during the non-winter months. Get ready and head out early to allow extra time on the road.
   
   

It will be a big hassle not to have/do either one of the above for winter. Well, if you live in a house or some place lower level, you probably don’t need a humidifier. And if all of the above is utilized/applied, one can sit back, relax and enjoy the great winter for most of the good things happen during winter … Christmas holiday, parties, New Year holiday, more parties … Oh, now I can’t wait for winter.

I was trying to understand how plastic bags, bottles, containers, etc have bad impact on the environment. Well, the impact is more than bad. I was standing in my kitchen yesterday staring at the pile of plastic bags we have accumulated from all the trips to the stores (grocery, department stores, pharmacy, etc.). Now, there are only two of us in this household and we are already collecting so (oh) many plastic bags, imagine the piles in households with more than two. Time.com said that every year, more than 500 billion plastic bags are distributed and less than 3% of those are recycled. In one other source, it is said that clear plastic debris which got into the ocean might sometimes be mistaken as food by some sea creatures including birds and turtles. Moreover ... some durable plastic takes hundreds of years to decompose and bottles and containers will never decompose. This can only mean that:

1. Since more and more sea creatures are unconsciously eating plastic. We are also eating it with our fish, shrimps, crabs, etc.
2. As it takes forever for bulky plastic to decompose, we are looking at the future of life with plastic. Even scarier, 50 years from now, we might be living among landfills (think about it, plastic takes hundreds of years to breakdown, diaper takes more than 500 years and styrofoam 2000 years)
3. Refer to point no.2. Plastic will eventually rule the world because we, human, only live up to 100 years at the most and plastic lives 3 or 4 times longer or even forever.
   

We have got to do something about this before plastic takes over our lives. We should all:

• Re-use and re-cycle bags and containers
• Buy re-cycled products, as far as possible
• Bring out awareness in others about the danger of plastic ruling the world

Come on, we can do it!!

A radio station here has been airing a program called 'Beat the Bank' and it's on every Monday to Friday at certain time slots. This program has been rolling once every year for the past four years. The rule is ... be the tenth caller and you will have the chance to win up to one million dollars (the first 3 years, then they got smart and reduced the prize to up to $500,000.-). Now, there had been winners and one winner got $500,000.- in one call. It's unbelievable, I mean ... it was practically impossible to get through to the station since a million people were also calling at the same time. I even got to think that maybe the radio station had intentionally dedicated the line to receive only selected callers .. well I don't know, maybe it's only in my imagination. And talking about imagination, for the people who didn't bother to call, that's including myself (okay, I did try a few times ... but the line was always busy!!), We can only imagine how it's like to win a million bucks. If I had a million dollars (that left me with only about $750,000 after tax, charity and miscellaneous), I would:

1. Buy a house
2. Treat my family and friends
3. Go travelling
4. Treat myself to a huge shopping spree (or if I still have the money .. two huge shopping sprees!)
   

And after the above four, I figured I would still have some money to put in the bank and earn interest (yihaaaa!!)

Duh ... I'm gonna stop here and leave you to imagine. What would you do if you had a million dollars .... my dear dear dear friend? :P

1. My other half
   I’m not a mushy type of person so I’ll do this short. I think John is the man who can really bear with me hehe … I don’t think he’s one of the most patient people on earth but most of the times, he’ll let me have my ways. For one thing, he’s my biggest supporter.
   
   
2. Limlut
   For those who don’t have a clue, Limlut is a sisterhood of Lim sisters. Oh, also thanks to the incidental founding of the word 'Limlut' *wink*. The other night, Cing (my second sis) was telling me that she missed the time we (the four of us) spent together. As a matter of fact, the time spent with them was one of the best times of my life. I am sure they all agree that when we are together no matter what we do, we are happy. No fancy holiday or expensive dinner needed … on second thought, either one might elevate the happiness in all of us :P I really missed those days too (just thinking about it makes me teary). But now that we are apart, I still feel happy when we are all together in one of those chat boxes of MSN messenger. And this leads to the third thing which I’m grateful for.
   
   
3. The Internet
   It just occurred to me that we never know who found the internet. Anyone??? Without the internet, life would be meaningless for I keep in touch with everyone through the internet – messenger, email, internet phone, webcam – especially with my family, sisters and friends as they are all over the places. Also, the internet is now one of the top sources for news, knowledge and entertainment. So, internet guy … merci!!

According to statistics, in 2004, Canada received 235,824 immigrants. The top ten sending countries were China (37,280), India (28,183), Philippines (13,900), Pakistan (13,011), Iran (6,491), USA (6,470), Romania (5,816), UK (5,353), South Korea (5,351), and Colombia (4,600). See!! No wonder Chinese and Asian restaurants keep mushrooming in Toronto. Chinese, Vietnam, Japanese, Korean, Iran, Malaysian, Thai … you name it, we have it. But, let’s concentrate on Chinese food for this time (we'll talk about something else other than food next time). I think I can safely say (without someone hitting me) that Toronto has one of the tastiest Chinese food around. I particularly enjoy Dim Sum (Cantonese) and some Shanghainese food.

Among my favorites:

• Congee Wong – http://congeewong.com/
  This is a Chinese restaurant operator which owns a number of restaurants under different names (Congee Wong, Congee Queen and The Sugar). Basically, Congee Wong and Congee Queen serve Congee, but not only that … they also serve rice, noodle (soup, fried, etc.), rice (fried, hotpot, etc), side dishes (dumplings, fried chicken, etc) …. and the list goes on. Sometimes I wonder how the cooks inside the kitchen juggle so many varieties of food especially when these restaurants are always (more often than not) packed! Then the Sugar is one new line of restaurant which serve mainly desserts like GuilingGao (Chinese herbal jelly), sesame soup, mango pudding, etc. Oh, they also serve lunch and dinner. Smart!!! As a treat for your eyes, I have taken these snap shot while dining out with friends at Congee Wong the other day.

• Ginger and Onion Restaurant (no website)
  This one is on top of my favorite restaurants. Not only are the food delicious, they are also priced reasonably. In Chinese, the restaurant’s name is Kar Yan Kung (which sounds like additional salary increment). From morning to afternoon, they serve dim sum and by night, dinner. For dim sum on the weekend, I would choose to go somewhere else because there is always a long queue here. Dinner is a joy (beware, at times there are also line ups). Diners are served complimentary soup and a variety of desserts to choose from. I especially love the sweet soy custard (dofu hua) … believe me, they have the ultimate dofu fa .. ever!!

• Diamond banquet hall – no website
  This banquet hall also serves Dim Sum, lunch and dinner. I love dining here because the atmosphere is quite elegant with chandelier and nice nice dinnerware. Maybe because of the atmosphere and the dinnerware, but I feel that the dim sum here is made for (more) fine dining (portion is also smaller). I haven’t had dinner here yet so far.

• Elegantview Chinese Restaurant – no website (duh!)
  Again, this is the place for dim sum, lunch and dinner. If you are looking for okay-taste-okay-price dim sum, then this is the right place to go. Dinner .. I wouldn’t suggest going here just because I had one bad experience in the past. We were bringing guests to have dinner here and we waited about 40 minutes for our food to be served. We were hungry .. and angry!

• Din Tai Fung - http://www.dintaifungusa.com/
  This one has international chain and serve Shanghainese food. Anyway, they claimed that they were voted by New York times as one of the top ten restaurants in the world. Hmm … of course, I like the steamed pork dumpling (Xiao long bao) and hot and sour soup .. but top ten? Well, their hot and sour soup is one of the best around and I also like the marinated bamboo shoots (so yummy). The marinated spicy beef tendon we ordered during our last visit was yummy .. but I felt that they put too much MSG … coz we felt this extreme thirst later on after dinner. I'm also pretty concerned that they don't have Canada as one of their location.
  

Since Korean is not Chinese (at least according to John) … I’m gonna stop here. Till next time!

Season with adequate amount of salt and black pepper. When I say adequate, I mean generously coz these veges really need the salt and pepper to bring out their flavors. Next, wash your hands (and you are wondering why). Using your hands, toss all ingredients to mix.

Place an extra layer of aluminium foil on top of the vegetables, it's not necessary to seal the edge. The extra layer of foil will prevent the vegetables from burning before they get cooked through. Bake for about 40-45 minutes. It's done when the veges appear to soften a bit.

And voila ... !!