patio gardening

i've been pretty happy with this year's patio gardening effort.

this is why: THINGS ARE GROWING

which, compared to last year's "summer of neglect," makes this year an utter success.

however, i think i picked up the wrong type of strawberry. the one i have is called an alpine strawberry. is alpine fancy speak for miniature?

also, watering twice a day is mandatory during these days of untold hotness and today i'm even planning on watering three times. you know, just in case.


cherry tomatoes are getting there



basil



itsy bitsy strawberries

New York City vacation footage

first the recriminations:
- sorry for the shakey images. the hd flip mino is great cuz it's small and lightweight. and small and lightweight encourage shakiness.
- sorry for not colour correcting this.

there's a lot (and I'm not kidding) of footage of the subway trains in this. i think i was too busy being in the moment to remember to capture the moment on HD. funny that.

my extensive itinerary was supplied in a previous post here

music is "Shot In The Head" by Moby

some breathing space

i'm coming out of an intense few weeks:
- daily trips to richmond to check in on my dad post-surgery
- preparing for a party on canada day
- watching about 40 films for the film festival
- my mom arriving for an 8 week visit


1.
and now that i'm on the other side of that (well, except for my mom's visit), i can safely declare that i've gained about 20 pounds and desperately need to increase my physical activity.

i've been researching yoga studios and will be purchasing a week's worth of passes at bikram's yoga on commercial drive then deciding if i like that or the more sedate hatha yoga.

coincidentally, i came across an interview on National Geographic Adventure with the researcher who is looking at those communities with people who tend to live long lives.

the article is very interesting and encouraged me even more to return to yoga.


2.
ELTEE is currently being edited by the very capable KT. can't wait to see his first cut.


3.
this has been a bonanza summer for plant growth on my patio. i'm pretty excited to taste my first tomato and zucchini. however, due to the greying of the skies yesterday and today, i wasn't able to take a picture of said LUSH GROWTH.

My San Fran trip

last week i had dragged all the video files from my san fran trip into the TRASH BIN and was about to empty it when i thought i should take one last look at the footage.

after looking at it again, i was suddenly inspired to pull together a quick montage. i love a montage! who doesn't?

some details:
- footage recorded onto B's HD flip mino @720p 30fps
- i got lazy and didn't apply the steady-cam filter nor did i colour correct this montage
- my favourite part, if you couldn't guess, is the MOMA piece. the middle cylindrical part is one big reflective piece (a mirror) and the large disc surrounding it had the visuals projected onto it from a projector hanging from the ceiling.
- music: Souvlaki Space Station by Slowdive

summer weekend report

1. nibbles with friends
- M and C came over after work this past Friday to catch up on our lives, drink Joie rose and nibble on goodies.


- M holding a glass of the rose


- we were all setup on the patio but then had to move everything indoors because the lawn mowing generated lots of dust and pollen.



2. chef for the day
- a call at 8:15am saturday to ask if B and I would be available to take over 2 spots for the Chef for a Day put on by Edible BC meant a quick get ready to be at granville island by 9:30am. not that it was really a hardship as we were soon to realize.
- we shopped for ingredients, prepared the food at the Miele showroom in yaletown and then sat down to enjoy the meals
- the expensive henckels knives and cookware were so lovely to work with i'm convinced i need to invest in some nice knives.


- chef cari infront of city seafood to pickup 3 lbs of spot prawns


- the 8 of us split into 3 groups. B and I were part of the spot prawn group cuz it's a favourite of mine. here B is snipping off the longer tendrils and legs of the prawn while it was still alive.


- one of my tasks was to poach the prawns in clarified butter for a minute then line them up on a roasting pan. notice how i meticulously alternated the alignment of the prawns. i was pretty proud of myself.


- we finally sit down to the meals we prepared. everyone was rather exhausted from 5 hours of shopping and cooking and was happy to just be sitting.


- the rhubarb crumble dessert was rather fabulous. i asked for a second scoop of ice cream.



3. main street car-free event
- spent an hour taking pictures of Brian's food table at the Blim
- i might have also bought a dress at eugene choo and some yarn


- yummy rustic italian breads and pies which all sold out by 2:30pm


- herb twists for only $1!!!


- i couldn't resist taking this photo for J who has claimed that "feather headbands are the devil's playground"

the past week

family bbq_______
had a bbq at my brother's last week. my dad and nephew were checking out B's mino flip.



my dad checking out the mino and expressing slight amusement



my nephew holding onto the hockey stick and the mino unwilling to choose one toy to play with. those are my sister-in-law's hands about to wipe away his bloody snot. um, yuck.


here's a short video of what the mino captured that afternoon bbq.

family bbq - june 3.2009 from chinalily on Vimeo.

thrift store finds_______
i scored some major finds at the value village on edmonds/kingsway as well as the burnby hospital thrift store. on that same day i also got an unbelievable deal on a pair of club monaco houndstooth pattern pants and silky black top - both for $29 each.


sierra patten from ironstone - i picked up 8 plates and 5 bowls. now the search for more pieces begins. in the meantime, i'll be moving out other plates.



the most awesomest desk lamp EVER! it's got the sleekest profile ever. not a single percentage of body fat on this one. i love this thing.

New York trip: a summary

instead of providing a eye-numbing list of all the places we went to and delicious things we ate, i'm going to offer some interesting moments that i remember.

moment #1
- being at the airport 3 hours before a flight to the US and hearing B agree to letting me dictate airport arrival times next time

moment #2
- after taking the red eye to new york and being lucky enough that the hotel had a room for us at 8:30am, then falling into our king size bed and waking up 3 hours later to find we both fell asleep fully clothed and hadn't even unpacked.

moment #3
- the hipster server at the expensive hipster asian restaurant was skinny, wore super tight WHITE acid wash jeans AND had 7 pens in her right side back jean pocket; seven pens all lined up in a row.

moment #4
- the bow-tied server at the max brenner chocolate emporium remarked to B and I as he gave us our bill: "you're my most mellowest table today."

moment #5
- overheard at a fancy italian restaurant by a blond-hair, blue-eyed, born into wealth woman in her late 60s to her artist friend: "it's a masters of sustainability or sustainability economics, whatever, it's at Columbia which is an ivy school."

moment #6
- sitting in a tea house partly owned by moby (yes, that moby) and not hearing a single moby song being played. instead i hear a lot of wilco and a pair of hipster boys talk about ben affleck non-stop for 20 full minutes.

moment #7
- while watching the play "desire under the elms" from the second last row in the theatre, i can barely make out the expressions on the actors but i am almost blinded by brian dennehy's overly whitened luminescent teeth.


..........
ok, ok here's where and what we did

day 1 - sunday
- arrive in new york at 6am and go to the hotel and nap for 3 hours
- have late lunch at momofuku noodle bar: eat the best ramen i've ever had. the house sake was smooth and complimentary. the steamed pork buns are not to be missed.
- giggle like teenagers at standup show, Sleepwalk With Me, by Mike Birbiglia.
- nap
- have late late dinner at momofuku ssam: have amazing raw seared fatty beef with ponsu-marinated cucumber
- long walk back to hotel

day 2 - monday
- muji: clothing/housewares/stationary chain from japan. i buy 2 dresses, a top and a raincoat.
- go to Queens for the MOMA off-shoot, PS1 art gallery and see lots of video art from the 1970s plus a great pool installation
- uniqlo: a clothing chain from japan with lots of cool graphic tees
- strand books: a huge bookstore that stock new and used books together. i pickup 2 books on knitting
- max brenner chocolate restaurant: i order a humburger and a cheesecake. yummy. i enjoy some of B's shake and hot chocolate
- muji: another quick visit

day 3 - tuesday
- Guggenheim: great exhibit on frank lloyd wright. they have a disappointing museum shop.
- i have a bit of a meltdown
- muji a third time
- dinner at fancy italian restaurant, convivio. the best pasta.
- go to the cake shop (an indie live venue) to catch Nick Krgovich perform. we also catch someone who does a 80s electropop cover of a kris kristopherson song.

day 4 - wednesday
- lunch in a korean restaurant that also services vietnamese and chinese food. i'm all confused.
- go to the photography art museum and see lots of beautiful fashion pictures from the 1920s to 1940s.
- line up for an hour to get rush tickets to a play
- line up at post office to send a card to work and a card to my nephew
- line up for 30 mins to order a burger and shakes from a place called the Shake Shack. i'm slightly underwhelmed.
- wander around B&H, the venerable electronics good deal place. i look at field recorders. B looks at cameras.
- meet up with B's friend and have drinks then have late night perogies which are pretty great.

day 5 - thursday
- MOMA for 3.5 hours: i really like a rousseau painting and also an exhibition on leon ferrari
- have some chicken on rice from a street vendor.
- rest up at hotel before the big epic dinner
- dinner at the prestigous Per Se. even the pepper is heavenly. the server asks us: "are you foodies?" as we're obviously not wealthy.


day 6 - friday
- The Metropolitan Museum: it's amazing and i'm dazzled and also art-ed out. there are 2 rooms of picassos and a whole room of rembrandts and van gohs and... i'm enjoying original (and large) pieces of robert longo
- i spend almost 30 minutes in a yarn store
- the most amazing edamame hummous was had at the tea store/restaurant, teany
- flight home