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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ArtScienceCamp photobooth

Wish I had more energy to post pictures from Day 2 of ArtSciCamp2, but I went to a birthday gathering afterward and now I’m about ready to pass out. The picture is from the photobooth I set up at ArtScienceCamp, which had some kickass props like space suits. More to come!

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swag table

Quick post as Day 2 is fast approaching and it will be a full day of activity. In other words, will need a proper sleep break…

A few photos from this evening, the rest from Day 1 will autoplay in a slideshow below:

Hart House

volunteers

Jen Dodd, Managing Director

science, meet art

mixing

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This weekend I shoot my first unconference, which surprisingly should’ve happened a long time ago considering how much I love nerding out the commingling of art and science. But I’d only heard of this conference from a Couchsurfing friend who introduced me to the event, and the organizers of Subtle Technologies who needed a photographer.

I love shooting events, especially the ones that raise my nerd cred. Fashion shows? Meh. Give me theatre, opera, a kids’ concert, anything else before a fashion show, unless it’s centred around recycled materials or maybe space. Someone asked me once many moons ago what I’d love to do or be if I’d excelled in another area of study. My answer was I’d be a scientist. Biology, chemistry, physics — I’m fascinated by the esoteric nature of science. I just chose a different path, away from academia. It was no coincidence that at the time (January 2002) we were standing at the top of the Griffiths Observatory in Los Angeles.

But what is ArtScienceCamp?

ArtScienceCamp (#artscicamp) is an intense but informal gathering of artists, scientists, students, engineers, architects, designers, and many others. A Friday-night party is the venue for collaboratively creating a program of events to take place the next day. Everyone is encouraged to bring a crazy idea, a work in progress, or a vital topic for discussion, and to organize a session around it.

ArtScienceCamp is based on an unconference model that has taken off around the world, with events like DemoCamp, SciBarCamp, and many more. Successful Camp events bring together people who would not normally have conversations with each other, and create a space for surprising, serendipitous connections.

Friday 7:00pm – 10:00pm: planning session & party
Saturday 10:00am – 5:00pm: unconference events

ArtSciencCamp1 presentations included:

• Mass Collaboration in Science
• Scientific Imagery in Life & Art
• Design Charrette: Models for Community Art
• Rebranding Science
• Science Tarot
• Proteins Are Beautiful

This event is brought to you by Subtle Technologies and Hart House. Join the Subtle Tech mailing list to hear about our other activities.

So stay tuned for some interesting event photos — I’ve been told there will be structures created with marshmallows!

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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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English Bay, Vancouver (Pentax K-1000 film scan)

Creativity is paradoxical. To create, a person must have knowledge but forget the knowledge, must see unexpected connections in things but not have a mental disorder, must work hard but spend time doing nothing as information incubates, must create many ideas yet most of them are useless, must look at the same thing as everyone else, yet see something different, must desire success but embrace failure, must be persistent but not stubborn, and must listen to experts but know how to disregard them.
– Michael Michalko

maintenance building - Central Park, NYC (Pentax K-1000 film scan)

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Glasgow, August 1999 with Joe (film scan)

After digging out my scanner to lend to someone and testing it to make sure it still worked, I decided to scan a few photos while it was plugged in to my computer. I do not recommend doing something like this when you’ve got lots of worked piled up, because it’s an inevitable time-sink. The ultimate distraction. You get sucked into looking at old photos and the next you know, hours have passed. Yikes! But I can think of much worse ways to spend time.

Anyway, the photo above was taken in Glasgow in the summer of 1999. (That trip was legendary — oh, the stories! In fact, it came up again when I was in England in November. Remind me to tell you in person one day, I can’t write about it on the internet.) My godson Joe was a year old in this picture, and this is him now, more than a dozen years later…

England, November 2011

One thing I noticed while looking at my old point-and-shoot photos is how terrible they are in so many ways: bad composition, poor lighting, out-of-focus, no focal point, colours washed out, the list goes on. Most of them are not even worth scanning, I just like to look at them. But that’s the reason why I let my clients pick the photos they want to print — because people choose photos for emotional value not for technical value, while a photographer can’t help but see the technical merits or mistakes (unless it’s their own photos, in which case the emotional values kick in).

It’s also interesting to see how time marches on for technology, since digital cameras weren’t around when my godson was a baby — everyone was shooting with film cameras. Now everyone is shooting with digital cameras and film is getting rare to the point of near extinction.

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