Tiana Feng

Thank You Blue Jays

October 24, 2015October 24, 2015Uncategorized1 Comment

Last night, the Blue Jays lost Game 6 of the ALCS series against the Royals. I was upset, but I realized no other team had made me care about a sport so much in my lifetime. A lot of people were in the same boat. It wasn’t just about bandwagoning or a trend, many people followed the post-season series committing time and their emotions.

As a city we united. People would share scores on buses and trains with strangers. There was even one time where some guy read out loud a play by play when in places where reception was spotty. Restaurants, pubs and other local businesses brought people together who, for the first in a while, were genuinely proud and excited of their city team.

We were lucky to have a group of players that never gave up even when their last games seemed bleak. They worked together and appeared to be the best of friends. They played some of the most exciting baseball ever, which is weird to say because it is often not very exciting. We hung to the edge of our seats with our hearts on the line. In the end our hearts were broken, but that only happened because we had a team to love in the first place.

Thank you Jays for playing the best baseball I’ve ever seen.

Valdez

October 23, 2015Food, Restaurant ReviewsLeave a Comment

To celebrate my sister’s graduation we recently went to Valdez, a Latino street food restaurant we discovered from the Toronto episode of Day of Gluttony.

The inside of the restaurant was very modern and fit with the landscape of it’s King Street West location.

Since we were celebrating something, cocktails were totally mandatory! We happened to make happy hour so I ordered a Colombian Sour which had Aguardiente, blood orange, lemon, sugar, egg white and bitters. Nash had the Tormenta Oscura with Kraken, lime and Thomas Lavers ginger beer. We also ordered a litre of Mo-Tio: Bacardi 8, raspberries, mint, ginger syrup, soda. Their cocktails alone warrant returning.

To start things off we ordered a set of ceviche tasters. We had two sets for the table of four because a set is good enough for two people. There were 5 ceviches made from albacore tuna, scallop, ahi tuna, mahi mahi and confit tuna. My favourite was the scallop which had a sweet taste. They were all super fresh and we drank the juice (which we learned we were supposed to do from watching too much TV).

The Pastels were a crunchy wonton with cream cheese and guava inside. It was delicious.

Maduro was a delicious dish of baked ripe plantain, muzzarela, honey butter. We weren’t sure what it was at first. I thought it was eggplant so I ate the plantain skin which seemed to be edible but I’m not quite sure if we were supposed to eat it. Hahahaha, well, I’m still alive.

Their tostadas had smoked chicken, guacamole, cilantro on a corn tortilla.

Chuzos a la Plancha was 2 beef skewers paired with a delicious chimichurri and arepita (a kind of fried bread).

One of our more adventurous choices was a Fried Branzino served with greens in a lemon chia dressing, pepitas (a nut) and rice.The fish was one of our favourite parts of the dinner. It was pleasantly salty and crunchy, fried to a point where most of the bones were edible.

How could we go to a Latin restaurant without eating some chorizo? so we had a chorizo sausage with potato salad and a chimichurri!

The food was so good we couldn’t resist getting a bunch of desserts too!

The first was a crepe stuffed with fried banana with cream.

The second was a ginger cookie ice cream sandwich.

Then there was a beautiful rice pudding with brûlée plantains.

Lastly was a cool play on peaches and cream with warm ice cream.

We enjoyed all the food we had at Valdez! It is definitely recommended you go with a bunch of people so you can try everything (as with all tapas).

Black Creek Pumpkin Ale

October 22, 2015Drinks, FoodLeave a Comment

Fall is a popular time for pumpkin ale so I’ve been trying what I can found. Recently I tried Black Creek Brewery’s pumpkin ale. I found it very malty and the taste of pumpkin and spices were pretty faint. It definitely smelled stronger than it tasted.

Never Lose Hope

October 21, 2015EntertainmentLeave a Comment

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Let's doooo this #selfie #jays #cometogether #the6

A post shared by Tiana Feng (@tianafeng) on Oct 9, 2015 at 6:02am PDT

Whether we win or lose this series, the Blue Jays have taught me one thing this year: to never lose hope. No matter how they have been beaten this year, they always come back fresh the next game. Even when all bets are against them, they take every chance to strike back.

I don’t watch a lot of sports, but I have been following these post-season baseball games. There’s a fire in the Jays that I admire and that is their spirit of never giving up.

I Went To My First Book Signing And Met The Bloggess

October 20, 2015October 21, 2015Books, LifeLeave a Comment

Today I went to my first ever book signing. Jenny Lawson (aka The Bloggess) was making her only Canadian stop for her new release Furiously Happy, which shares her stories on depression and mental illness in the most authentic (and somehow hilarious) way possible. Lawson as a writer has made me appreciate the bizarre, weird and sometimes hard-to-get-through moments in life. As someone who has depressive moments, this book (and her other/blog) has helped me see those times in a different way and acknowledge that I’m not alone in this fight.

I arrived 2 hours early to the 7pm book signing and was too awkward to ask anyone how things worked so I left for 15 minutes to get food. Little did I know, when I came back (at 5:15pm), people were already seated and I was put in group 3 here in the back. I underestimated that her fans would probably be just as OCD as I was.

Jenny read us the first two chapters of the book and answered questions from the crowd. I found her very humble and down to earth. Also just as hilarious as the book. She basically talks like she writes.

After answering some questions from the crowd, she signed all our books and took photos with us! She took the time have a short chat with each person as they came up. She’s such a kindhearted person and I could tell she loved hearing how we connected with the book. Here’s my super awkward photo with her.

My book signed.

Also I couldn’t help taking a photo with Rory.

County Cider

October 19, 2015Drinks, FoodLeave a Comment

This County Cider is sold in what looks like a pop bottle. It’s a dry cider, a lot like the pear one that I tried a few posts back. It’s crisp but not as apple-tasting as I would have expected. At 6.5% though, I think I will continue drinking it until Stephen Harper is not Prime Minister anymore.

Wenona Craft Beer Lodge

October 18, 2015Food, Restaurant ReviewsLeave a Comment

We wanted to watch that epic Game 5 at Tallboys but it was unfortunately packed by the time I got out of work. I decided to head over to their other restaurant Wenona a few blocks west. It has the same great craft beer, but a different type of menu. I ordered the sliders and choose to mix up pulled pork and brisket. There was also the option vegetarian but I don’t need that! The sliders were served on a steamed bao instead of a regular bun which was a nice twist. I chose to eat mine with crunchy fries.

I also had an order of plantain chips which were like bruschetta on fried plantains instead of bread.

Nash had Catch of the Day, fish and chips battered with Trailhead beer.

My drink of the night was Brickworks 501 semi-sweet cider.

I couldn’t resist getting their smores for dessert! It’s warm baked marshmallows and chocolate served with some graham crackers of course.

This place is still relatively new but it has a lovely homey vibe and is definitely a great place to watch the game that not many people around the block know about yet!

Tempt 9 Strawberry & Lime

October 17, 2015Drinks, Food1 Comment

I love cider and our liquor stores seem to have slightly different ones at other locations. This Tempt 9 cider is made in Denmark and has strawberry preserves and key lime juice. It is so sweet and refreshing that it drinks much like Kool-aid (so keep it away from the children).

In Defense of Bandwagoning

October 16, 2015Uncategorized2 Comments

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#cometogether

A post shared by Tiana Feng (@tianafeng) on Oct 14, 2015 at 6:24pm PDT

The Blue Jays are doing awesome this baseball season. They are currently in the ALCS. There’s a lot of talk and making fun of bandwagon fans. But, I don’t see that as a problem.

Why should people need to dedicate themselves to all 200+ games all season in order to be a “real fan”. It’s kind of equivalent to hipsters who say things like “I liked the band when they were playing in their garage.” It’s nice if you supported the team all along, but there’s nothing wrong with people who join in once the team is doing well.

There’s pride in the city when we’re winning. We can’t always be there 100% when they lose, I mean that’s why we end up with mediocre teams like the Leafs (just kidding). Being there when the team is doing well shows the city (as well as the people who own the team, Rogers) of the value of keeping all the current players on contract and continuously on making it better. It keeps the team putting their best effort forward to keep the respect of their fans.

Patois

October 15, 2015Food, Restaurant Reviews2 Comments

With Toronto’s flux of tapa restaurants, it’s always much more fun to go with a bunch of people so you can order a bunch of things. My friends and I recently hit up Patois, where Caribbean meets Asian food. For example, what you see above is a Jerk Chicken Chow Mein, a twist on a Chinese classic which definitely had a spicy kick.

This grilled corn with cilantro & lime was gobbled up fast. It was a bit pricey considering it only had one cob.

We had some vegetarians at our table so the Crunchy Chinese salad with napa cabbage, romaine, wonton crisps, spicy plum dressing provided some freshness in their stomachs.

These Kimchi Potstickers “Pierogi” Style Pot Stickers were stuffed with kimchi, bacon, sour cream and scallions.

I ordered my own little scallop and shrimp ball thing which was much like the traditional one with different breading and a tangy sauce of C-Plus and vinegar!

One of our favourites was definitely the O.G. Fried Chicken & Watermelon Pickle served with a sweet Sriracha sauce and ginger.

Jerk PorkBelly with Chicharron came with traditional Asian BBQ sauce.

Our vegetarian friends had their own “fried chicken” sort of with O.G. Fried Cauliflower & Watermelon Pickle.

Called the 4/20 Broccoli Buds these had roasted, hemp oil, hemp hearts, edamame hummus, Pecorino, savoury crumbles. I love roasted broccoli in anything.

To drink, I had a couple of peach-infused cocktails (that I totally forgot the name of). Whatever it was was good enough to have multiple and maybe that’s why I forgot what it was.

The plus of having multiple people is.. you can order ALL the desserts! The first was this cheesecake infused french toast. Yes, you heard that right my friend.

The second was this seemingly innocent ice cream that had a hint of jalepeno. It was definitely not for the faint of heart and we had mixed feelings throughout.