camerabag & curzon

I’ve been playing around with my little iPhone camera a lot lately. I downloaded a cool little app called Camerabag that automatically slaps some arty filters on your pictures, and actually makes them look pretty cool (for 2 megapixels).

This pic was snapped at our favourite new local bar: the Curzon. They have an amazing, and eclectic draft selection, an awesome bartender with a brogue (who will grab you Thai food if the kitchen isn’t open) and is ringed with rather decadent old Victorian style couches – careful, sink into one and you might never leave!

What I love about the place is that it (and the whole Leslieville neighborhood, actually) is certainly hip, but not too cool for school. It is super friendly, and cosy at the same time as being arty and unconventional – and there’s not a surly hipster to be found (Parkdale hangouts could learn a thing or two).

engagement party recipes (at long last)

I feel good today. Which is a change, because I have felt sick for the past week.

Which is probably only fair, as my life has been a little whirlwindy for the past month or so. Really, since we announced our engagement – things just haven’t stopped!

There have been Wedding Registries,
And operas about water nymphs,
And fancy birthday dinners at french restaurants,
And homey birthday dinners with the family,
And Engagement parties,
And Ben Kweller concerts,
And iPhones,
And Baseball games,
And Tweetups,
And various parties,
And assorted dinners out,
And sundry meetings…

Payback had to come sometime.

This is a roundabouts way of saying: I’m sorry. I promised Engagement Party recipes, and did not deliver. I hope this makes up for it:

With this menu, I was trying to save me and Liam as much work as possible during the party, so we could enjoy it to the utmost (since we were throwing it for ourselves). That meant things that could be largely pre-prepared, and as much finger food as possible. I knew that I wanted some kind of Chinese barbeque (or char siu) at my Chinese themed party but wasn’t sure how I would serve it to 30 (yes 30!) people.

Then my mother had a brainstorm: Pulled pork can be made in large quantity early in the day, and kept warm in the oven ’til the party. I could make southern Barbecue style, slow cooked, pulled pork sandwiches – but with Chinese flavourings.

Fusion! Genius!

So I made Char Siu pulled pork, and served it with napa cabbage slaw in a creamy ginger-sesame dressing and bought a mountain of little Chinese bakery sweet buns (they look sorta like Pullman rolls, but taste more like eggy brioche – so nummy) with a side of fried rice.

To drink there were pitchers of Singapore slings, ice cold Tsing Taos on the deck.

There were also dumplings to start (frozen ones I got Liam to fry till crispy) and for desert: a mountain of teensy tiny little mandarin oranges, fortune cookies and a tower of cherry chip cupcakes (thank goodness for Betty Crocker) with homemade cream cheese icing, and a shiny chocolate cherry on top.

It was a huge spread, and other than the frying of the fried rice and dumplings, everything pretty much got done before the party! We were able to mostly just sit back and relax, as all our closest friends poured in. In other words: it was ideal, in more ways than one.

my version of char siu (Chinese barbeque)

• 2 tbsp five spice powder
• 2 tbsp apricot jam
• 2 tbsp soy sauce (a good Chinese soy sauce, preferably)
• 2 tbsp rice vinegar
• 2 tbsp sugar – or honey
• 1 tsp chili-garlic sauce
• 5 pounds trimmed, deboned pork shoulder or butt

1. Mix well, rub onto pork shoulder or butt (marinate overnight, if desired).
2. Bake in roasting pan at 250 for 5-8 hours – until meat starts to fall apart (flipping meat every hour or so).
3. Remove meat from marinade/juices/sauce and shred. Add sauce back in and serve (meat may be refrigerated and served the next day, or kept warm, covered, in the oven for an hour or two).

PS: if your cut of meat turns out to be particularly lean, and ends up a tad dry, you can make more of the marinade to serve as a sauce in liu of the juices from the pork. I would omit the five spice and add a little oil. This is especially good if your are making it ahead of time, and reheating it later.

slaw with ginger sesame dressing

• 3 tbsp rice vinegar
• 3 tbsp oil
• 1 tbsp tahini
• 1 tbsp fresh ginger
• 1 tbsp honey
• 1 tsp toasted sesame oil
• 1 tsp salt
• 1 clove garlic
• 2 scallions (chopped)
• 1 head napa cabbage (chopped into slaw)

1. Blend all but scallions in a blender or food processor til’ thick and creamy.
2. Mix in scallions, and dress napa cabbage slaw. Serve on fluffy buns piled high with pulled pork!

fried rice

• 4 cups cooked, leftover rice
• 1 carrot (grated)
• 1 red pepper (diced)
• 1/2 cup frozen peas
• 2 cloves garlic (chopped)
• 1 tsp sesame oil
• 2 1/2 tbsp soy sauce
• 3 eggs
• 2 tbsp oil (vegetable)
• 2 scallions chopped

1. Pre-heat pot (or wok) with 1 tbsp oil.
2. Saute vegetables in frying pan with sesame oil, and garlic until peas are de-frosted.
3. Fry rice in hot oil in pot, until rice is warmed through – scraping bottom of pot continuously to keep it from sticking.
4. Add vegetables to rice, remove pot from heat.
5. Add remaining 1 tbsp oil to frying pan, add eggs and 1/2 tbsp soy sauce, and scramble.
6. Add scallions, soy sauce and scrambled egg to rice, and serve.

visitors

I grew catnip in my little deck-top herb garden this summer, and though it is long dead, it still attracts kitties from across the neighborhood.

Our little ones are very territorial though. They hate all other kitty visitors. I am usually alerted to a friend at the back door by crying, screaming, or even occasionally a hiss.

This just makes the whole thing more entertaining for me, of course.

If our small, furry guest looks friendly, I go out to give it a few pats, and maybe even let everyone share a treat (which definitely helps to calm the kitty anxiety – I think this tactic works well for small, furry children as well).

iGoogle

Productivity has become a bit of a hot topic in my life for some reason this week, so I’m going to share something with you all that has changed my life.

No, really.

It probably has something to do with the onslaught of wedding planning, as well as the capabilities of my iPhone, as well as the inability of my brain to hold on to pertinent information, but I am becoming a sucker for any and all automated ways to keep my life organized.

The number one way I do that these days, is with iGoogle.

Some of you more tech savvy kids out there are going to be nodding with me and going: yeah, duh, Google is the greatest thing in the universe.

But I also know, quite personally, that some of you are going: Waaaaaah? Eye-whatsa-oogle?

iGoogle, is kinda like MyYahoo used to be (if you ever used it). Except for it works.

It’s a customized Google landing page, where you can add little boxes (or widgets) that gather feeds or information from all the various internet sites you may use from day to day. Twitter, Facebook, GMail, Flickr, RSS feeds for your favourite blogs via Google Reader (which you should also be using!), Google Docs, Last FM, MySpace, BBC news – there is a widget for pretty much everything you could come up with.

No more wasting your time, clicking through all your bookmarks, no more missing out on pertinent information. Every update, for everything, on one page, topped off by one of a large number of adorable themes that change based on the time of day (the one I use is called Teahouse, and there’s a matching GMail theme to go with it!).

So, now you know. Use this knowledge, and thank me later.

my first tweetup

So, yesterday, as we were sitting at the dentist, word started spreading on Twitter that LeVar Burton was hosting a tweetup at a bar in Yorkville.

Since Liam had the afternoon off due to dentistry, we started talking about it – how it might be interesting to go.

Liam was a huge Trekkie as a kid, as were most of his friends growing up in Thunder Bay, so he was all for going. I on the other hand waffled for little while. While I was certainly familiar with Star Trek (though never self identified as a fan) I was definitely a Reading Rainbow fangirl:

If you knew me as a child you know one thing for certain: My nose was in a a book 90 percent of the time. Watching Reading Rainbow made me feel a little more normal about my love of literature.

Suddenly, I realized that the little kindergartner inside of me would pretty much black out at the opportunity to meet one of her heroes. I had to do it.

So we went.

And it was amazing.

LeVar is pretty much one of the kindest, most genuine, most attentive celebrities I’ve ever met. He made time for everyone in the room. I was able to tell him how much I appreciated what he’d created in Reading Rainbow, and he really seemed pleased to hear it.

This all probably sounds silly to most of you, but he pretty much fulfilled a childhood fantasy for me, and I’m still floating around today, on a little bit of a high.

So here’s my advice to you: if you ever get the opportunity to do something you wanted to do as a child, but may have thought you outgrown: don’t think twice, do it! Your inner child will be eternally grateful.

birthday present

Ok, so I never managed to get those recipes up – and they are coming, I promise, but I have been distracted by my birthday present – which finally got here at the begining of the week, and on which I am writing this very moment.

That thing is, my friends, an iPhone.

Yes, yes I have become one of those people.

To be fair, our contracts had run out, and Liam got a great deal – although I did tell him there was no need for something so extravagant.

But here it is, the precious little thing, and I already love it dearly.

So thank you to my boy. You figured out my hearts desire, even when I myself didn’t know what that was.