The Chef's improvised laksa

Call me shameless, but I totally played the sick card today for homemade curry soup. Do you know Tom Ka Gai soup? It’s my favourite soup ever — this Thai dish is my go-to meal when I’ve got a cold. It’s spicy enough to break through the congestion barrier, opens up the sinuses, cuts through to your taste buds, and it packs a lot of protein (chicken and mushrooms) and vegetables. It tastes fan-bloody-tastic and yes, it can bring you back from the dead.

In other words, I was willing to play the sick card and hit up The Chef for this soup. I haven’t been out of the house since Friday, and this cold had worked its way up into my eyes, which were swollen and tearing up so badly I was debating whether I was presentable enough to go out in public and get takeout Tom Ka Gai. I also wondered if the local Thai restaurants would make their Tom Ka Gai spicy enough. As for cooking, it was also a question of ingredients — a good Tom Ka Gai has lots of kaffir lime leaves, lemongrass, and galangal. Sheesh, a rather tall order for even a cosmopolitan Toronto neighbourhood in February. On a Sunday. In Vancouver this is easy — the best Thai takeaways were near my house, but here?

The Chef made a shopping list, started the chicken stock on the stove, and headed out to Roncy to see what he could find from the Chinese-run produce stands. He returned a short time later, unable to round up any kaffir, lemongrass, or galangal, but he managed to gather enough supplies in the neighbourhood to make an improvised laksa that totally hit the spot.

Man, did it ever. The curried chicken, mushrooms, and chilis with limes in noodles was exactly what I needed. Three cheers for guys who can cook!

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dumplings, goulash, et al

Continuing my streak of food-centric posts, I present to you an impromptu dinner at a well-established Polish restaurant in my neighbourhood, Café Polonez. I’ve eaten here once before but I think I just had a bowl of goulash and a side order of dumplings, not mains like this. The plate in front of me is in the ‘hot sandwich’ section of the menu, but it might as well have been a main. Whoa. My fellow diner could only eat a quarter of her plate and took the rest home for lunch tomorrow, with enough to share.

Those beer mugs are something, aren’t they? I got Alison to put her hand in for reference. I’d be tempted to sneak one home except I live around here. I’ll only consider it if I’m abroad! (Have you seen my cupboard? That’s how I got my Kölsch and Banks’s Bitter glasses.)

now THAT'S a glass

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Telus guessed wrong

I’ve had Telus Mobility since I moved to Toronto in 2006 and this is the first time they’ve got my birthday wrong. The funny thing is I can never take advantage of my free day of local calling because I’m never here on my birthday, I’m in another country.

Maybe I shouldn’t correct them, after all.

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extra-terrestrials are friendly

marshmallow structure

Photos of Day 2 of #ArtSciCamp with marshmallows and people from outer space may mystify instead of clarify what on earth was going on during the unconference hosted by Subtle Technologies, but this article in Toronto Social Review should clear things up. [Update: Subtle Technologies has their blog post up now, too.] I’m still working on editing and uploading the batch, but I’ll slideshow the Day 2 photos by tag of what’s been added thus far:

I joined the post-unconference dinner at Sambuca Grill on Baldwin Street, then had to dash to make a birthday party. I picked up some red velvet cupcakes along the way:

red velvet cupcakes for the Birthday Girl

Today I had dim sum with some wedding clients and I was so chuffed when they presented me with freshly-baked cookies that I completely overlooked photographing our dim sum dishes. It’s been absolutely ages since I had dim sum and I had every intention of documenting what appeared on our table with my phone camera, but this is all I got — the end of the dim sum parade:

lucky tea

Sad, considering how much food we consumed! But see the cup of tea? I was told that when a stick from a tea leaf is floating vertically near the surface like that, it means good luck. If I were remotely superstitious, I’d be out buying a lottery ticket.

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King Street West

I draw some curiosity on the street when I use my camera phone to take pictures. I do this often walking home and people stop and try to figure out what I’m taking photos of, if it’s something picture-worthy. What might not be readily apparent to a stranger is that it takes very little to draw me in for a photo. However, I am always delighted when someone asks me why I’m taking a photo because it gives me the opportunity to share my enthusiasm for the tiny (and free) things in life that give me pleasure, eg. nightlights, the inherent freedom in walking and the freedom to discover while walking.

King Street West

I am a detail-oriented person by nature, but noticing things can be practiced as well. Walking 28kms a week will make you notice things every day, especially if the route and weather changes often, and there’s a picture-taking device in your hand. It really does not matter what that device is — it can be your phone, a point-and-shoot, or a DSLR.

King Street West

Trails of light can provide infinite photographic possibilities if you can hold very still — a real challenge in stiff wind. A light reflected in a puddle suddenly becomes interesting.

King Street West

You experience so much more as a pedestrian than a driver. When you’re driving, distraction can be dangerous. Aside from intersections, pedestrians can be happily distracted and not endanger themselves.

King Street West

I drive recreationally and to photo shoots, but there is no routine. If I had to commute by car every day, I think I would go bonkers. I’ll pay more to live in the city just so I can get to places on foot and not turn into a Point A-to-B-to-A automaton in a car.

King Street West

Public transit is never perfect, but I’m all for improving the transit system as much we spend on improving roads.

King Street West

King Street West

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twinkly

I was in the Distillery District this evening to pick up prints at Pikto when I took these photos with my phone. A minute later I spotted a group of ladies trying to get a photo of themselves — presumably with the twinkly lights in the background — but had given up by the time I reached them. Hurrying a little, with my prints in one hand and a freshly-poured coffee from Balzac’s in the other, I caught up to the group and offered to take their photo.

They responded with an enthusiastic “Yes, please!”, so I assembled them while one lady gave me her Canon point-and-shoot. I showed her how to take the camera off Auto and find the Night Portrait setting. Then I took their photo and showed them the results on the LCD.

My explanation for what the camera was doing in this setting was completely drowned out by squeals of delight. I don’t think they listened to a word I said after that, they were too excited over how the the ambient light appeared in the photo.

I had to laugh. It’s OK that they weren’t listening, it’s enough that they were excited over being able to take night photos.

“I’ve never figured out what my camera can do,” the owner said.

“Well, now you know one more setting… and you’re going to use it, right?”

I can’t tell you how many times I’ve showed people how to use the night settings in their point-and-shoots. Whenever I walk home past the CN Tower, Chinatown, or City Hall. When I’m visiting other cities. When I’m in restaurants. It’s pretty frequent. And practically any camera over $20 has this feature, yet it has remained mysterious and invisible to most point-and-shooters. I’m oh-so-slowly working to change that, one group shot at a time.

not bad for a phone camera

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I walked home in rubber boots again today, waiting for a snowfall that didn’t happen — or hasn’t happened yet, since it’s just a matter of time before we get another one. The weather has been rather wonky the last few days, swinging from frigid on Sunday to practically balmy yesterday (balmy meaning having to ditch the scarf and gloves but not quite the coat). Today was blustery but a rain jacket got me home, not a winter coat. But enough weather talk…

I took King Street home to drop off a roll of film to get developed at Toronto Image Works and prepaid it (ouch, the scanning doubled the price), thinking about the cost of photography in general and how far the cameras in mobile phones have come since their early days. There was once a time when people bought mobile phones and the cameras were merely an afterthought, a negligible value-add. These days, I think many people are buying iPhones for the built-in cameras and the apps made for them.

It sounds ridiculous, but of all the iPhone users you know, how many people actually use it to make phone calls? Now, how many people use it to take photos? I’d say more photos are made than phone calls. But probably the same can be said for Android and Windows phones.

And here I am to prove that point. After I dropped off the film, smarting from the thought that I just prepaid for 24 photos I haven’t even seen yet (pre-digital, this statement would sound absurdly obvious), I took photos in low light with my phone to see how it would perform. The first photo of the CN Tower was pushing the capability of the device, but the two below are quite decent.

The Fake Polaroid effect was applied in Picasa, which I have not used for nearly eight (!) years when I switched from PC to Mac. You may recall that in 2004, Picasa was only available on Windows.

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Sorauren Park

I had a productive weekend, which meant I was planted in front of a computer most of the time, but I did venture outside yesterday for a walk around the neighbourhood with an Americano to give my eyes a break from the screen.

Weather: sunny but cold. All you need to do is bundle up and walk briskly and then you soon forget about it.

There’s a derelict building next to Sorauren Park that I’ve wondered about; I’m sure if I dig around I can find out something about it. There are plenty of photographers who get a kick out of trespassing, but I’m not one of those. I’ll content myself with taking photos from the legal side of the fence with my phone camera.

Wabash Avenue

Wabash Avenue

You can tell which car is mine because I would rather wait for the temperatures to melt away the snow than remove it myself.

one lazy car owner

More pics of my walk below:

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Cardinal Rule, Roncesvalles

Winter officially began weeks ago, but today was the first real snowfall. I walked home after most of it melted away, but it turned to treacherous ice once evening took hold and I was further away from the city centre (where the streets are heated by steam).

I think all that walking was negated by the bowl of poutine, but it was a welcome spot of warm comfort food mere blocks from my house. I may end up stopping by Cardinal Rule more often.

Cardinal Rule, Roncesvalles

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hello snow

There’s a skylight right over my bed, so I know what the weather is like as soon as I open my eyes. It’s a far cry from yesterday, when I was driving a patient in the early morning — it was pouring rain then and continued into the evening.

Not today. The walk home is going to be messy!

Xena checking out the new white world

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