On Saturday, I walked around Buskerfest. Here are some random photos of things I saw:
Tag: events
Hogtown Smoke at a Jager Party
Last week during NXNE there were plenty of day parties. The one I ended up staying the longest in was the Exclaim! and Jagermeister BBQ.
Everybody in the Toronto music industry was around so it was nice to catch up and relax amidst a hectic week. To drink, there was free Jager shots, Monster energy drinks and Pabst. Attendees were given punch cards for food and drink.
There was a snack truck full of everybody’s guilty pleasures: chips, chocolate, candies, cookies and more. Everything free. The guy seemed lonely so I visited the truck multiple times. Apparently he was doing market research, so his data is going to have some weird Asian girl eating one of everything.
The cards entitled us to one small sandwich (or poutine) from onsite food truck Hogtown Smoke. I ordered the brisket sandwich and there was tons of meat sandwiched between the little bun! There wasn’t too much to it (no slaw), but it was tasty on its own. There was also a huge selection of hot sauce by the truck from mild to adventurous for those looking to tickle their tongue.
Nash got the pulled mushroom sandwich, mostly because while in line we were wondering what that would be like. He’s also a mushroom fan. I liked the smokey flavour they were able to injected in it.
It was a lovely day of sun, music, friends and food!
Party photos by @plafleur and Jagermeister Canada
Burger Day @ Wychwood Barns
Burger Week was last week and 64 restaurants around town put a special $5 on their menu. Yesterday, all these places gathered together at Artscape Wychwood Barns for Burger Day. Slider versions of the participating restaurants’ $5 burger were served all-you-can eat style.
The event started at 11am, but we didn’t arrive until 1:30. A few of the vendors had already given out all their burgers. If Soup Stock last year taught me anything, long lines don’t necessarily mean the best product. This pushed us to try some less buzzed places with shorter lines.
We pounced on Emma’s Country Kitchen’s line because it was short. This was a vegan burger but it was a nice light start. The crispy corn and chickpea fritter was actually very good! I could eat 10 of these.
Hey Meatball‘s slider was like a mini version of their sandwich with their signature tomato jam.
Gameday served up a classic tasting burger. I think mine was missing teh chimichurri.
New food start-up Bold Creations was the best finding of the day. Their burger was made with Boerewors a South-African sausage. Oh and there was also brie, and goat cheese. And a sauce with a kick. Definitely the flavour punch of the day.
Greasy spoon The Lakeview‘s slider had some crunchy onions.
I love The Works but I thought their (more half burger) slider was lacking the excitement that is usually found in the restaurant’s menu of 72 burgers.
Slider Revolution provided an Asian twist on our bunned friend and the other had a semi-sweet bacon jam.
We accidentally stood in Beer Bistro‘s line for fries that came in a generous portion (for free).
Utopia Cafe had a lovely Italian sausage and beef patty. It was juicy and had a spicey ketchup.
Stockyards had by far the longest line yesterday. Coincidentally we actually went to the actual restaurant on Friday to grab the full burger. It was so packed we had to sneak our burger to the McDonalds across the street to eat it. It was definitely worth the trip for their delicious chicken-fried-steak burger.
Next year I’m definitely going to try to get there close to opening hour!
Henry’s Exposure Show
On Saturday, I attended Henry’s Exposure Photo & Video Imaging Show. It was camera gear galore but there were also mini stations to practise different types of photography. I was carrying the heavy 70-200mm which I’m not quite used to yet but I was happy with the results.
Parrots in the bird station.
An alternative burlesqueish model.
There was this random couple (or so I think) posing for fake wedding photos. I edited these shots to make them softer and wedding-like.
Random girl on a motorcycle
There was this awesomely lit chair where you could sit and take your own photographs and my parents wanted some photos.
And some more random photos:
It was fun shooting in different styles and I think I didn’t do too badly!
Sodastream Kraft Launch Party
I was invited to the Soda Stream Kraft launch party last night by the fine folks at The Mint Agency. To be honest, I had not previously known about the company and went out of curiosity and of course as a freelancer, couldn’t resist free food and drinks!
The event took place at 2nd Floor Events on King Street West.The space was decorated with bottle decor to fit Sodastream’s campaign of saving the earth from bottles. The idea of Sodastream is for customers to have a system at home where they can carbonate their own water and make DIY sodas, therefore cutting down on the need to buy pop bottles.
Since it was the Kraft launch, we had the opportunity to sample the Kool-aid, Crystal Light and Country Time lemonade flavours. They were pretty good and tasted exactly like you’d expect the carbonated versions to taste like. With the exception of some added vodka, since it was a party.
The evening was catered by Brassaii who served various finger foods.
Oh, and I can’t forget about the glorious candy bar. I definitely smuggled some home.
At the end of the night, the invited guests got to take home gift bags with a Sodastream Source machine!
Here’s everything unboxed. They even threw in full bottle of the lemonade flavouring.
The normal kit comes with only 9 trial flavours. 1 of the packages makes a bottle.
To use the machine, the included bottle needs to be filled with cold water (because who likes warm soda?). Then you stick it in the machine and press down until your optimum fizziness as indicated by the LED lights. The machine doesn’t need to be plugged into anything and there was no included instructions on batteries. The first time we tried it I don’t think we pressed down hard enough because we didn’t see bubbles, but we definitely did eventually!
I had a cherry coke-lover in the house so we gave this a test.
The verdict: tastes like regular cherry coke with a lot less sugar. There’s only 7 grams compared to the 25g of sugar in coke. I think the health (and taste) aspect is a bigger seller than the environmental concerns.
DIY type people would enjoy this product. I think it would also be fun to host and play bartender at a party full of Sodastream mixed drinks with this machine!
I Haven’t Been To The Science Centre in 10 Years
Yesterday Nash, my cousin William and I went to the Ontario Science Centre to check out the Game On 2.0 video game exhibition. The exhibit, located on the level 6 of the Science Centre featured vintage game art, pinball machines and of course playable games.
One of my favourites was Space War. The premise of the game was there were two space ships controlled by two players. I really liked the sounds and the shiny lights that the ships used as bullets. The three of us also spent a great deal of time playing Gauntlet (which I forgot to photograph), a hilarious 1985 hack and slash where we could play as a warrior, wizard, valkyrie or elf. The most entertaining part of the game was the game voice that announced things such as “Your wizard is about to die” or “Don’t Shoot the Food”. All the games in the exhibit were free to play so we continued the game until we got stuck in a maze.
Tron had the coolest music, but we had no idea how to play the game. Most of our lives were lost in less than five seconds. Thank god we weren’t wasting quarters!
I forgot that in Donkey Kong if you fall down the holes, you die.
They had this Virtusphere thing that sadly wasn’t opened to public yet. We talked to the staff and they said it was a virtual gaming simulation that was to open in April. The sphere was to simulate walking in a game.
Here are some other games and things we saw in the exhibit:
Egg Head Pinball Machine
Donkey Kong Concept Art
Pong!
Virtual Fighter
Centipede
Handheld Tron
NBA Jam. Will creamed me and Nash
A Slow Year- The Explanation
A Slow Year- The Box
A Slow Year. A game where you watch landscapes. Seriously.
After we were all gamed out we ventured through the rest of the Science Centre in no particular order. Here are some photos:
Evolution of Rocks
I’m driving a Space thing
All the needles point north
The Impossible Ladder
This room makes me look taller than Nash
Some hot, some cold
The Rainforest
I thought this would electrocute me
William has 45L of water in him
We’re all in our 20s and probably a bit too old to be there, but we still had a ton of fun walking around.
I Survived Woofstock [Photoset]
I finally had a dog that I could bring to Woofstock, so this was my first year. People and dogs of all types showed up. Dogs in dresses, dogs in strollers, dogs in purses. It was a day for your pup to be spoiled. Booths sold everything from modern dog houses, couches and other strange things. Here are some photos I managed to snap.
This dog looks like a lion:
Teddy got really tired so we had to carry him around. Look this painting kind of looks like him!
Teddy wasn’t very impressed we made him do this:
Someone dyed their poodles hair…
This is Teddy’s potential sibling. They were born on the same day!
Man, these dog cookies and donuts look so good I want to eat them!
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Acrobatic Mother’s Day
I had no idea what to get my mother for Mother’s Day. On Thursday, I decided instead of something superficial, I’d give her a night of entertainment, an experience. That’s how I live my life! Somehow I had managed to score tickets to the National Chinese Acrobats’ Saturday evening show at The Sony Centre. We had pretty decent seats for last minute.
The Acrobats were collaborating with the Kitchener-Waterloo orchestra, the same group that I had seen perform the Final Fantasy Distance Worlds concert for my birthday. The acrobatic stunts kept me on the edge of my seat the whole time. Man, did some of those feats make me nervous!
Even with all the visual distractions, I was really appreciating the classical works performed by the symphony. They played some classics like Stravinsky’s Firebird and Berlioz’s Hungarian March. It irked me a little when people clapped (although understandable) during some of the beautifully quiet string solos and passages. It was an experience that was both aurally and visually appealing. Mom enjoyed it, and I hope to take her to experience more of what Toronto’s entertainment scene has to offer!
Here’s a Youtube video I found of the acrobat troupe rehearsing.
Final Fantasy Distant Worlds Was Awesome
Last night I went to see an orchestra play music my favourite series of video games Final Fantasy. The tickets were a birthday present from my boyfriend. It’s one thing to hear the music in game, but it’s a completely different experience to see it all live. The composer Nobuo Uematsu was even in attendance.
–random video of a similar performance
They have a different orchestra for every location they play in; probably because it’s not financially viable to fly 70 people everywhere. It was conducted by the famous Arnie Roth who conducts mostly video game concerts. How do I make that a real career? Video game footage synced perfectly with each piece they played and I’m pretty curious as to how they did it. It is an amazing spectacle. I should have taken a camera, but I am really glad I didn’t because I wasn’t distracted by anything while I was taking it all in.
They played all my favourite songs (even the Chocobo theme) and ended with an epic singalong to SE-PHI-ROTH. It was one of my favourite nights in a long time!
Side note: My back tattoo seems to match the Distance Worlds logo.. sort of.
Gourmet Food and Wine Expo 2011 Review
Thanks to Lisa from Turn the Record Over, I won tickets to opening night of the Gourmet Food and Wine Expo.
I went for the food since I’m not much of a wine-o. How the expo works is there is an entrance ticket (which I won) and you must purchase sample tickets to try things. From what I saw yeseterday, tastings of food and wine cost anything from 1-8 tickets. Tickets are worth $1 each. Between me and Nash we had $40 worth, which was more than enough to get full off food and have enough for a couple of drinks.
Tiana Feng 