Tiana Feng

The Great Instagram Purge of 2014

December 28, 2014Social Media, TechnologyLeave a Comment

Last week, Instagram went through a giant purge of bots. That meant a great deal of users lost followers in some way. Some lost thousands. I only lost 40, but it still felt like a lot.

I’ve never ever bought followers nor am I a huge user of hashtags, because I know they contribute to a lot of the bot numbers. But I guess they still managed to find me in some way. Instagram’s not like Twitter and there’s not so many tools out there for moderating your contact list (nor do I trust most that exist). I’ve never really used any strange “marketing techniques” to garner any of my current followers (on any social networks). I am a very big advocate on the attitude of “if they want to follow you they will”.

I’m a very big believer of influencer marketing, a topic that is now of heavy debate in Singapore. I think that’s what prompted me to write a post on the matter. This Instagram purge was very necessary for the network to know it’s real users and to reveal who their true influencers are. While Instagram still has yet to be infiltrated with ads, it has a lot of potential to be very valuable to advertisers. Hell, the other day I saw my first “sponsored ad”, one by Ferrero Rocher, my favourite chocolate in the world. How they knew that, I don’t really know. All I know is, Instagram’s ad network will be very targeted.

I’m not freaked out about social media and advertising. I’ve kind of always dove nose-first into it. We make unconscious decisions about everything we purchase and are surrounded by ads and marketing almost everywhere we look. I will just remain being myself everywhere online.

If you’d like to connect with me on Instagram you can find me here: http://instagram.com/tianafeng!

Bits & Pieces from PEI

December 27, 2014Life, VlogsLeave a Comment

I haven’t vlogged in a while but here are some bits and pieces from my trip to PEI. I ended up taking more photos than video.

Hello Zomato

December 26, 2014Food, Social Media, Technology1 Comment

There’s no doubt that the food scene here in Toronto is huge. There are plenty of restaurants, events, bloggers, apps etc that cater to all kinds of food lovers.

Recently, I became a blog partner on Zomato, a new restaurant discovery service that is impressive enough to take out Yelp and Urbanspoon. What makes Zomato different is that all the information collected on restaurants is done by actual people (working for Zomato). This results in accurate and up-to-date menus, phone numbers and existence. So many restaurants come and go on a weekly basis that this information is vital.

A unique feature to Zomato are it’s Collections, a series of curated lists with a common theme. Current ones include “Christmas Events”, “Great Breakfasts” and “Terrific Thai”. They also have an app as beautiful as the website. Users can bookmark restaurants, upload photos, call restaurants and more. Refined searches are available where users can circle (or heart) part of a map and discover the type of cuisine they are looking for in the area.

For those looking for something to cure that Foursquare itch (because Swarm sucks), Zomato also has a check-in option! It has it’s own social network where users can follow others and “heart” and comment on photos and more. I’m a newer user to Zomato but I’m enjoying it so far and already have so many restaurants bookmarked.

I had the pleasure of hanging out with some of the Zomato team, and they are awesome people but more on that later!

If you’d like to follow me on Zomato you can find me here:

https://www.zomato.com/tianafeng

Now to go back to bookmarking a million delicious places on the app!

Merry Christmas and Happy Holidays!

December 25, 2014Art, Life, Pets, Photography, Teddy2 Comments

I’ve got some crazy catching up to do on blog posts but thank goodness for the holidays! Since it’s Christmas I thought I’d share some photos of my day with you.

Teddy waits for his turn to open presents:

However, he’s actually afraid of the bag:

And a few random shots of the fresh turkey we cooked:

Hope you had a lovely day and rest of the holidays!

Desserts Baked in Apples

December 7, 2014Food, Recipes3 Comments

The winter holidays means a lot of potlucks and dinner parties. If you need ideas for interesting twists on traditional desserts how about cheesecake or apple crumble baked inside apples?

I tried the Cheesecake Stuffed Baked Apples recipe from Creme de la Crumb. They are best eaten the day of and have a nice creamy texture.

Apple crisp inside apples is simple if you know how to make apple crisp already. Sautee apples with brown butter and cinnamon, stuff the apples, sprinkle with oats and voila!

Apples have been on sale lately and I’m constantly thinking of other creative ways to use them. Let me know what types of things you do with yours!

Craft Beer & Music

November 25, 2014Drinks, FoodLeave a Comment

A few weeks ago, I photographed the 4th Annual Big Smoke Fest hosted by Tall Boys. The night featured a great music entertainment as well as a fine section of craft beers.

The most memorable beer I tried at the event was a mysterious one from Nickel Brook Brewery. They had over 10 varieties at their booth but I was drawn to a mysterious bottle with a black label and the numbers 11 05. The friendly rep told me that it was a barley wine beer that had been aged for a year on exactly November 5th. It had a striking 11% alcohol but was smooth and sweet.

You can see the entire photoset of the night on the Tall Boys Facebook Page.

I Went to A Zine Fair!

November 23, 2014Art, Crafts/DIYLeave a Comment

A few weeks ago, I attended my first Canzine, a zine and underground culture fair in Toronto hosted by Broken Pencil Magazine. There were a lot of things for sale from indie publishers including zines, comics, prints, posters and more. It was an inspirational experience and motivated me to want to maybe create something for Canzine 2015.

I did however contribute a comic to Static Zine‘s “Milestone” issue which I was lucky enough to pick up in colour! Static is put together by some good friends and contains all sorts of stories and art based on the issue’s theme.

I received this adorable drawing by comic artist Sam Noir.

On our way down the stairs, we were approached by a strange man selling comics from his trench coat. His name was Steven Trigg and his book “Things I’ve Thought” are illustrated jokes that are so lame they are awesome. Nash ended up buying a copy.

If you’re interested in zines and pretty paper, one of my friends write a great blog about them called Paper Trail Diary.

The Big Orange Lunchbox

November 11, 2014Food, Restaurant Reviews, TravelLeave a Comment

While in PEI, we did a ridiculous amount of eating and I thought some places deserved their own posts. One of these places was The Big Orange Lunchbox.

We happened to be in PEI during Porktoberfest and there was plenty of options for the pork lover here. I thought I’d go all out and get what was named as the 50 Shades of Pork (pictured at top of post). It was an island pork chorizo patty, topped with BBQ pulled pork, tomato bacon jam, carmelized onions, fried mozarella sticks and mustard aoli. This thing left me in a delcious coma but it was all worth it.

Nash and I kind of fought over who would order the 50 Shades of Pork but ultimately I ended up winning. Anyways he ended up getting something totally different and got the scallop burger. We weren’t sure if it was going to be scallops grinded in a patty or not but it turns out there were a couple of juicy fresh ones between the bun.

If we stayed longer in PEI, we probably would have visited this place like 10 more times as the menu had so many other goodies to eat!

I Finally Have My Own Internet!

November 9, 2014Life, TechnologyLeave a Comment

I don’t think I mentioned this previously, but last month I made a big leap and moved out of my parent’s house for the first time (going to University didn’t count). It was also the same month I had the important trip out East to my best friend’s wedding so I decided not to hook myself to internet until I returned.

That explains why I haven’t been posting as frequently as I used to here (and elsewhere too). My sister also somehow used 95% of our phone data in 3 days. I had access to the internet at the boyfriend’s place and when I was out east, but I find it hard to write and generate ideas when I’m hanging out with other people. It was interesting being slightly disconnected for a month. I found myself doing more household chores, cooking, going for walks, reading, doing the things that I would have normally thought I had no time to do. It’s amazing how much time I can waste staring at a screen just because it’s available.

I finally became connected again with Teksavvy. As a first time user, I can honestly say that I was very happy with the customer service I received. They were able to accommodate the fact that I was only available on weekends for installation and I have a Mac Air with no ethernet ports. Within 10 minutes, I was connected. I love having 24/7 access to the internet again, but that doesn’t mean I won’t occasionally drop it to appreciate other things in life a little more.

Anyways, I have a backlog of delicious and pretty things to post, so lookout!

PEI Adventures Continued

November 1, 2014November 1, 2014Life, Photography, Travel, World3 Comments

The majority of my PEI trip involved wedding-related activities. The wedding took place at the PEI Brewing Company. We spent some time there making necessary preparations and I snapped a few photos during regular hours:

This fella sounded like a real life version of Catbug.

The family of the bride and groom rented out cottages for the week. The view from there was peaceful and beautiful.

We were frequently greeted by a friendly fox:

One of the nights we attended an all-you-can-eat dessert event in support of PEI’s Autism Society. We were spoiled with delicious treats:

We had our nails painted by her mother: