September 2012 – Tiana Feng

Mexican Food at La Revolucion

September 27, 2012March 27, 2013Food, Restaurant ReviewsLeave a Comment

Last week we dropped by La Revolucion at the corner of Keele and Dundas in the Junction. The place is very modestly decorated and I didn’t know at the time, but there is also a back room that holds live shows sometimes.

I ordered the Chicken mole enchiladas. Usually I’d be turned off by brown mush on my food (and I was totally hesitant), but when I tasted it, it was quite the experience in my mouth. Traditionally mole has around 20 different spices and I definitely tasted a variety in these enchiladas. I gobbled it all up.

Nash had the taquitos which were brighter in colour (more appetizing looking). They were crunchy and delicious.

Maybe we’re just giant eaters but I kind of wish there were bigger portions. I guess we were supposed to order more than just one dish each. The food is fresh and delicious but a tiny bit pricey if you’re on a budget!

JPod – Douglas Coupland

September 17, 2012Books, Entertainment1 Comment

Recently I read Douglas Coupland’s JPod and thought that it would be more appropriately titled “I FUCKIN’ HATE DOUGLAS COUPLAND!!!”.

The reason for this is he writes himself in as one of the book’s most annoying characters. He makes references to himself at the beginning and then appears at very odd moments during the book. The plot in the 3rd part of the book revolves around the main character’s (Ethan) friends and family talking about this secret project with Coupland that is completely confidential. Ethan is left out of this investment until the very end. When you find out what it is (an electronic globe of some sort), it is an underwhelming end to the book. What does a globe have to do with a group of people who code and create video games?

This book left me a bit conflicted. While it was a very and fun read, the plot left me underwhelmed and disliking the author. I’m not sure if that was Coupland’s intention, but if it was than he was successful. It was really fun to follow jPod’s office antics. The characters themselves were all damaged and unique in their own special way. The things that happened were extreme and took really unexpected turns. Some things were blown out of proportion though and in some ways I wish the story was more believable. Maybe he was aiming for that “WTF” factor but it resulted in the book having very little substance.

Ethan’s mother runs a marijuana grow-op and gets herself into trouble with men (and women) who fall in love with her. His father is a wannabe actor who has an affair with Ethan’s schoolmates. His brother sells sketchy real estate. They all become friends with an Asian mobster kingpin in charge of human trafficking. Entertaining, but bizarre. I just wish the end had more meaning or point to it. In the end I was left unsatisfied.

Board Games: Blokus 3D, Q-Bert and Formula D

September 14, 2012Board Games, Entertainment1 Comment

Here’s another round of interesting board games from Snakes and Lattes.

Blokus 3D Game was 3 dimensional take on the original game of Blokus. The difference was that in this game you had to touch the sides of one of your blocks (where as in the original you can’t) while building the required 3D shape.

The game comes with a few templates of 3D things to build and diagrams of how they look depending on the amount of participants. The object of the game: to get rid of all your blocks. The challenge came when building the 3D object, not all pieces were the right fit.

Next we found this Q-Bert Board Game. It dates back to 1983, and totally looks that way.

The goal of the game was to take turns being Q-Bert and getting more pegs than your opponent. Your opponent played all the nasty characters such as Coily, Slick, Ugg, green and red balls. The game was complete with flying discs that would take Q-Bert to safety.

I grabbed a random racing game called Formula D.

The game worked like a regular roll-the-dice and move type of game except with cars on a road. It also involved shifting gears and protecting your car parts from dying. There were enough pieces for up to 8 players. The first one to get to the finish line, or the last to be destroyed was the winner.

That’s all for now, I’m sure I will explore some more board games soon!

The Book of Lost Things – John Connolly

September 10, 2012Books, EntertainmentLeave a Comment

At first glance, The Book of Lost Things by John Connolly entices you with it’s beautiful golden cover and a leaflet that describes adventure. It appears to be a beautiful little fairy tale for children. However it is anything but that.

The book isn’t really geared towards children as there is plenty of violence and gore. In addition, the first half of the book I found really hard to get through because David, our hero, spends most of it mourning over the loss of his mother.

The book also ruins some classic fairytales by twisting them in morbid ways. There’s the Crooked Man who is a parody of Rumpelstiltskin, Little Red Riding Hood who had sex with a wolf and basically created the twisted “Loups”, a very obese Snow White and a few others.

This all just to teach a little boy that he should not hate his stepmother or be jealous of his step brother. It’s definitely a tale for adults who grew up on fairy tales and maybe explored the realms of Brother’s Grimm. It definitely wasn’t one of those you can’t put down type of books. Major plot holes were resolved in a quick manner towards the very end. In the end I was left unsatisfied.

10oz Burgers At the Purple Onion

September 6, 2012March 27, 2013Food, Restaurant Reviews1 Comment

The Purple Onion, located in the Junction neighborhood of Toronto is more known for it’s all-day breakfasts. However, I can’t seem to go to a new place and NOT try the burgers at least once. So I did and they were 10 oz.

I forgot the name of our burgers and their website doesn’t really name them but mine had onion rings, carmelized onions and mushrooms. Nash’s had bacon, carmelized onion and mushrooms. And did I mention the patty was 10oz? All for only $8.95. A great price for the amount of food.

The burger patty itself had pieces of onion in it that added moisture and flavour. It was a simple but decent burger. We’ll be frequenting the Junction a ton for the next little while, so we’ll be back to try their infamous breakfasts in the nearby future.

Unplugged For A Day

September 5, 2012September 5, 2012Art, Photography, Social Media, Technology2 Comments

With a view like this. Who needs the internet?

As my previous post mentioned, I went to my uncle’s cottage last weekend. It was 3-4 hours up north, and a boat ride across the lake. I was surrounded by nature and 3G was sparse.

I previously wrote a post, Could You Give Up the Internet for $50 million? where I admitted that I could not give it up. However this weekend unplugged for a day I learned that I was able to (at least for a day). I also realized that there were benefits to it. It was stress-relieving. I didn’t need to constantly check my e-mail, think of what to tweet or give a damn about what my friends were posting on Facebook. I didn’t even have the urge to instagram photos of our BBQ’d food.

Instead I taught Teddy how to swim, went hiking and took some breath taking photos of my surroundings. The only time I did use my 3G was to download Sky Map, an app that names all the constellations in the night sky.

Though I will probably not quit social media or the internet, sometimes I wonder how much of the real world we’re missing as we sit in front of blinking screens.

It’s a big and beautiful world out there.