The Warmth You Can Eat

Remember my last post? Yeah, I went out and got some. It turns out these Taiyaki/Bungeoppang aren't that common in this city, but I managed to hunt some places down that did have them.

Taiyaki, a snack with origins of Japan made the leap to Korea in the 1930's while Korea was pretty much oppressed by Japan. Since then, it has never left (South) Korea. Taiyaki, that is (The Japanese people left by 1945). Only now it is called Bungeoppang in Korea. They're both sold in vendors outside usually famous in the winter time. I suppose you can rate it on the same level of hotdog vendors here. Except the food is less crappy and possibly safer to eat. Oh, who am I trying to kid? Anything is safer than to eat those damn hotdogs!

Anywho, back in Toronto, current time. My most convenient choice was a place called "BnC Bakery" on Bloor. St, in between Christie and Bathurst. Where I got to see the lady working there, make them from scratch. She was even kind enough to let me briefly photograph the process as long as it would leave her out of the photos since she isn't photo-genic at all.

The process itself is not rocket science. You just need the right equipment. Notably, the fish-shaped waffle maker.

First thing that goes in is the batter.

Followed by some red bean paste, which is the filling.

And then you simply close the fish shaped waffle maker into one and wait a few minutes. Then it should look something like this.

Okay, so I made it sound much easier than how it really is. However, believe me when I say the taste was spot on. I'm sure the ones in Korea or Japan do taste better or at least more authentic, but I can't exactly get a plane ticket every time I get a craving. Although, the ones at BnC Bakery are great and I have a feeling I'll be going back there many times before the spring pops up this year. And until then, I do have my hand warmer to keep me warm on every trip to BnC Bakery.

A Gift of Warmth: Hand Warmer

I've been neglecting to write this for a while and it is way past the holiday season, but better late than never.

A friend of mine was in the country from Korea for a little while in the holiday season and managed to drop off a little gift. While it isn't anything that suits me in terms of style, it's (re)usefulness definitely gets a top score.

Its a re-useable hand warmer.

For those who aren't familiar with it, it does exactly what the name suggests: it keeps your hands warm. As the instructions say (in Korean), you simply microwave it-don't worry, it wont blow itself up and start a fire- for about 30 seconds. And keep it in your hands and just enjoy the warmth as the hand warmer itself gives off the heat it collected in the microwave. The hand warmer does stay warm for quite some time: Roughly 30 minutes. That's quite amazing.

This could just be my answer to the cold seasonal temperature of the Canadian Winter this season around. It is getting bloody cold in Toronto however, whether it is seasonal or not.

When it's not in use however, it simply looks and feels like a stuffed toy Taiyaki (たい焼き). Or to be more precise, regarding where this hand warmer came from, a Korean version, which is called, Bungeoppang (붕어빵). Both are quite tasty snacks, which are quite similar to one another and I will talk about them more in detail in the next post.

Oh, and one last thing, and my favorite feature I forgot to mention about the hand warmer: It actually smells like the actual Taiyaki/Bungeoppang. However, it tastes nothing like it =/

So Long 1800 Tequila

In a blink of an eye, several months have passed by since my last post. Upon my return, I bring nothing- absolutely nothing but bad news.


My favorite tequila will no longer be sold in Ontario. Legally.

Luckily, I was able to find an-already-well-enjoyed-bottle from one of the parties among X-mas and new year parties for sentimental purposes.


While I was on a search for the "right" tequila, I came across the 1800: Select Silver Tequila. It wasn't the cheapest tequila in the selection, but it wasn't the most expensive either. What caught my attention was the 50% alcohol level instead of the regular 40% I've been seeing. This meant I could get drunker faster! I wasn't too wrong about that. Something about the 1800 made me come back for it again and again.


The downside of the 1800 was that, since it was a silver tequila, it really wasn't meant for mixing with other drinks, unlike a gold tequila. It over powered whatever it was being mixed with. It was like mixing 1800 with food colouring. That only meant it was best enjoyed by itself. Or at least with some salt and lime.


Another interesting feature about the 1800 that I liked, was the bottle design. If you hold the bottle upside down, the drink would go into the bottle cap. While this did pretty much nothing to the flavor, it added some entertaining value to the 1800 itself.

Now I'm on a journey to find another tequila again. Hopefully this time around, I'll find something that wont leave the province 5 months after we meet.

Double Down Invades Arteries of Canadians

The nation should be a little fatter by now as KFC's Double Down climbed up to the colder side of the border from the state side yesterday. Fortunately for our hearts, this load of fat and awesomeness is only here for a limited time.


I have tried eating it myself and it really seems like I'm eating something out of a cartoon. Having to replace both buns with, well, two (2!) fried chicken breasts really makes the whole thing greasy. So greasy, its almost guaranteed more napkins will be used compared to eating a regular sandwich or burger due to the fact everything that comes in contact with the Double Down will automatically be marinated with grease. Having no bread also doesn't help you soak up all the grease, or rather, it just lets you soak up all the grease. The weak-stomached will simply feel like throwing up at this point. The lack of any fibre also lets you taste all the sodium head on! All the cheese and the bacon in the middle simply lets you taste all that saltiness it is advised you should have a beverage with you as you will get thirsty very quickly. It also tastes like a heart attack, in your mouth.

As I was having one for lunch, I was staring at the "cooked-in-trans-fat-free-canola-oil" sign in an attempt to try to make myself feel better.


It didn't really work.


The funny part is, it's got less calories than the Burger King's Whopper! The Double Down contains 540 Calories with 30 grams of fat while the Whopper has 660 calories with 40 grams of fat. While this absolutely doesn't means jack, it's also an interesting find. If you're prepared to taste what heart attack really tastes like, at least do it with some diet coke 'cause that stuff helps! just have some green tea with it.

Yet Another Film Camera

"I swear, this is the last film camera I'll buy. No more fooling around like some collector." That is what I keep telling myself and it doesn't really seem to be working.

So enter the Minolta XG-A: now another part of my "sin of indulging."


I picked this little guy up about a week ago, and am quite happy with it. I've wasted used up a few rolls of film at Nuit Blanche that took place over the weekend and I've gotta say, this one is a keeper. Due to the lack of having a good scanner, I don't have any of the shots I took with the Minolta XG-A in digital form. There are simply negatives and prints, which I am more than happy with (for the most part).


So far, I picked up only one lens for it and see no reason to pick up another one (and I hope it stays that way for a while). The 50mm f/1.7 offers me plenty of versatility, low-light capability being one them. While it is not a zoom lens, I have a pair of perfectly fine legs that can "zoom" for me. The lack of zoom is really a fair price to pay for the sharpness in the lens you get in return.

I suppose the major reason why I'm going to be using this (for fun) is the viewfinder size. It's an actual viewfinder of a traditional SLR, what's not to like? I did a quick comparison with a Canon 5d Mk. II's viewfinder and almost lost a heartbeat due to the gap of difference between the two. For a second, I even thought I was comparing the viewfinder to a Canon 7D until my colleague stated otherwise. I can't believe I'm saying this, but I can't believe I was missing out on all this (analogue) fun for so long!

Pride

That word used to be more flexible. It could actually be used to express something- anything you're proud of. But now, things are a little different.

When the word "Pride" is used, and I say it with a capital P, one of two things come to people's mind; gay Pride and national Pride. Those two aren't exactly bad things, or bad types of pride, but with the way our society has constructed itself around the word Pride certainly comes with its drawback. The draw back is simple. We have limited ourselves verbally so we can't really use the word Pride for anything else effectively. Yes, one can say he is proud of his career success. That nearly does not have the same impact as one saying he is proud to be gay or his nation.

It took a while for our society to accept gay people, and we should all be glad we can accept this change in our society instead of sticking to the old traditional ways all the time. However, one can say out loud in the streets, "I'm PROUD to be gay!" and people can cheer. If one were to yell out, "I'm PROUD to be straight!" not much will really happen depending on what city you are in. That's the kind of impact I'm talking about. Sexuality wise, you can't be Proud, unless the church hates doesn't love you too much and others who totally love you for it.

The national Pride is what really gets to me and starts to really draw lines for people, which has its own ups and downs. Canada, especially Toronto literally is full of people from all over the world. People can be Proud to be whatever nationality they're. Hey, it's something you can't change so you might as well like it, right? I mean, it even brings a community together. It also separates said community from other communities, marking borders within the country, and even down to the city itself. When you go over board on this national Pride, you stop to see others as individuals as well as yourself. You begin to generalize and just throw the word "individualism" out the window. You also see other nations as nation full of faults and imperfection and think your people are God's greatest creation (Unless you're Jewish, in which case I can understand)! Even if you do suck up some of that national Pride and admit your country of origin does have some issues, you'd want Canada to do something about it. By a messy looking protest/march no less. Canada has enough issues of its own.

I could go on, but I'll end it here. Pride should be available to be used in a sentence that has nothing to do with homosexuality or patriotic national love and still have an impact of using the word to its full meaning. In fact, if it takes a word for this society to accept gay people into it, go head, take it. Heck, take other words, too. A lot of colours were already taken, anyway (and I am actually not being sarcastic).

But keep in mind a few things about national Pride (because that's the one I'm really attacking here). Keep individualism in mind. Because you want to be proud of what you did, not what your country did a long, long time ago. If your country wins something like.. let's say the World Cup. If your country wins the World Cup, that doesn't automatically make you a better soccer player, either. Sometimes, it's more about where you're heading instead of where you came from. You only have (little) control over one of the two so you should focus on that instead.

By the way, I am Proud of being able to say this stuff people like to dodge talking about. I even say this nonsense in person, too. I should be Proud of that one at very least.

Or shouldn't I..?

2nd Place

I was once a healthy man.

No, I didn't date a succubus somewhere in my youth... or if I did, I just didn't realize it, but over the many years after high school (which was... holy crap! I'm old) my fitness level have been shot down to zero. So I've been running here and there since last week, sometimes with a friend. It's great running again. I'm by no means as close to being fast as my days back in track, but I'll climb the ladder again.

Ironically, after my run, I felt woken up instead of feeling tired as I have been feeling lately. My stress is gone and I can think straight again. The answer for all my stress and tiredness was always in front of me, and I haven't taken up on that answer again until now. But this whole, running-again-diving-to-the-memory-of-my-youth got me remembering 2 important things about running; why you practice in a team, and who you're really chasing after.

We all had individual races back then. Some short distance, some long distance. Yet, we were told to practice and train as a team. Some were faster than others and the level difference was clear, but the coach didn't seem like he cared. I didn't really understand until near the end. We train as a team because we can encourage one another to sprint that one last lap or run a little further. Another reason is that, well, its relaxing. You're training for a competitive game, but this is the only time you're not actually competing against anybody. It eases your mental side, greatly reducing any kind of stress or pressure. Not to mention we were representing the same school.

The second thing I remembered, and this is probably the most important one to remember and always keep in mind fresh on the surface is who you're chasing after. This has to do with more of the mental side of things rather than physical side of things. In a race, you chase after the person in front you. If you're first, then you can feel the pressure of those behind you, waiting to run past you should they be given a chance. Friendly rivalry is one thing, but if you end up concentrating on just getting faster than another person you know, that's where it all goes down hill. Even if you do get faster than the person you chase after, you're done. You now have no more goals and can quit anytime. Not really achieving the speed you could achieve.

The real person you should be chasing after is yourself. Or to put it more accurately, yourself of near future. The you whom is just a little faster, can run that much further, and that much better than your current self. You always chase after that person, even if you made it to first place. Keep chasing after that person and you will grow almost endlessly. Because even if you do pass that person and gain the 1st place, you'll realize another one of your future selves and be back in 2nd place again. Likewise, you must also keep in mind the person behind you. The you of yesterday. That guy is what you used to be, a little slower than your current self. You slack off, and he will take your place and you'll have to start from scratch.

Either way, instead of chasing after that future self, I should be chase after my past self and get my speed back, then work on getting faster. I suppose you can say I'm in 3rd place rather than 2nd.