This yr passes by so quickly, what's next?

Summer holidays officically start... looks like it'll be a busy summer for me :P
Hmm, doing a very different role for next school yr... not sure what to expect... definitely a huge learning curve... but maybe it will fit me better than the last position, who knows...

Canada Day Long Weekend Activities

Here are some ideas:

-Ribfest
-TD Toronto Jazz Festival
-CHIN Picnic @ CNE
-Toronto Island Music & Arts Festival
-Pride Parade
-Midsummer Night's Dream @ High Park
-Cavalia's Odysseo

Canada Day Fireworks
Amesbury Park – 9:45 p.m.
Ashbridges Bay – 10 p.m.
Canada’s Wonderland - 10 p.m.
Centennial Park (Ribfest) – 10 p.m.
Downsview Park - dusk
Mel Lastman Square – 10:15 p.m.
Mississauga Celebration Square – 10:15 p.m.
Port Credit Memorial Park - 10:15 p.m.
Powerade Centre – 10 p.m.
Stan Wadlow Park – 10:30 p.m.

Based on experience from previous years, I'd have to say the highlight would be the fireworks at night. And celebrations and fireworks are happening in many towns outside of Toronto as well. The best place to view fireworks in my opinion is where you can see the fireworks near a body of water (i.e. the lake) so there are no obstruction and you can see the reflection.  

Hope you will all enjoy the long weekend, I know I will :)

Luminato: The Festival of Creativity

The Encampment

1000 Tastes of Toronto

Carretilla Initiative

June 8-17, 2012
http://www.luminato.com/ 


This is my second time volunteering at this festival, but definitely not my second time enjoying the events that are offered by this festival. Most events are free and accessible by public transportation. The unique aspect about Luminato is that it offers activities in a wide range of topics, from visual arts, to dance, to music, to theatre, to magic, to food, to fashion, to literature etc. 


Last time I was just an ambassador while this year I took on a new role and was one of the Volunteer Team Leader. It was an interesting and rewarding experience because I got to manage adults (normally I'd be managing kids only!!!). This motivates me to look into this field and I'm looking to possibly enroll in a volunteers management course to expand my skills.

Ok, let's go back and talk about this year's festival. I think the 1000 Tastes of Toronto turned out pretty well. I think the distillery district was a great venue to host the event and there were a lot of variety in food choices and the price was reasonable ($5 per dish). The Carretilla Initiative was pretty cool idea as well: real-time cooking on wheels with the participants and then eating the meal together. The Encampment at Fort York is an educational project depicting memories/impact of the war of 1812. Each installation within the 200 tents are different. Personally I think the exhibit can be more meaningful if they have a sound installation within each tent explaining briefly the story behind each one.

Others such as the magic shows look interesting (e.g. blind magician, magic in the dark etc.) but each ticket costs $35 :( (only 1 of the 3 show is free). There are plenty of free concerts on weeknights or weekend nights, depending whether you like those musicians or not. The art installation is pretty limited this year... there is one in the ROM that I want to check out, called Beethoven 1-32, which uses visual arts to represent music... a very innovative idea... so looking at the painting = listening to the actual music! Should evoke the same emotions...


Have a great weekend everyone... the weather is gonna be awesome for outdoor activities!

Spelunking @ Warsaw Caves

A few weeks ago I went spelunking (aka caving) with my friends at Warsaw Caves, which are located near Peterborough (about 2 hrs drive NE of Toronto). The area has multiple caves to explore, and some caves are even connected to each other. It sounded very interesting until I looked at some reviews of the site and they made it sounds like a really hardcore sport! "Clothes may get dirty, torn... you may get bruises from crawling and climbing... there's no 'walk-in' caves..." So taken their advice, I got myself prepared with headlamp (bought from dollar store), gloves, long sleeves unwanted clothing, bug spray, running shoes... the only thing I didn't bring was the helmet.

Anyways, the caving part turned out to be ok (once you get the guts to go in as some opening are quite narrow and steep). The headlight was useful because it really was dark inside, and gloves were essential as well because your hands would be grabbing rocks around you for support to go up/down. Thin long sleeves clothing was a smart idea to stay away from dirtying/scratching your arms and from the mosquitoes... which turned out to be more of a problem than the caving itself (bug spray is a must!). We went near the end of May but probably it'd be nicer to cave at end of April/beginning of May or in autumn so that the weather would be cooler and less mosquitoes around. But once you got inside the caves, it's quite cool down there. Also try not to go after a rainy day because the rocks can be slippery to climb.

But caving was definitely an interesting experience! The caves were actually bigger than I thought (originally I thought you'd have to duck and crawl a lot inside and maybe bending arms and legs to fit inside). This closed caving was different than open caving at Greig's caves at Bruce Peninsula or Scenic caves at Collingwood. Too bad we didn't stick around to see the "kettles". Will definitely go caving again in the future!

nothing goes right

Haven't written a personal post in a longggg time...
doesn't mean that everything is :)
in fact... the same thing is still :(
 

Weekend of June 2-3

Korean Town Spring Festival
June 1-2
K-town around Christie/Bloor
FREE
Festival to celebrate Korean culture and food
http://www.koreandanospringfestival.com/index.htm 


Unionville Village Festival
June 1-3
Unionville main street, around Toogood pond area
FREE
Lots of fun activities include parade, bed race, boat race, market, concert etc.
http://www.unionvillefestival.com/index.htm


Sage Fair 
June 2-3
Metro Toronto Convention Center
Admission: $10
An exhibit that promotes healthier and greener lifestyle 
http://sagefair.com/



Sounds like the Riverside, in the Raw Festival
June 2
Queen Street/Broadview Ave.
FREE
Art walk, salsa, music, bbq etc.
http://www.riversidedistrictbia.com/site/
 

Kinton Ramen Review

Do we finally have authentic Japanese ramen in town?  Some may say yes because Kinton is run by Japanese (same chain as Guu Izakaya), and not by Chinese (Ajisen) or Korean (Kenzo).  (There are other smaller ramen places run by Japanese, like Konnichiwa and Niwatei... maybe I should do an overall ramen review post someday...)

Shio Ramen with Pork Belly

Gyoza

This place is fairly busy, though the line-ups are not as crazy as Guu as selection of food is limited. I think it'd be hard for large groups of friends to sit together and it's not the most ideal place to talk (surrounding sound can get quite noisy as the servers yell welcome and thank you every few mins) or impress your date. That is because the seating is too crowded to be comfortable, and if you are unlucky like me, who happens to be seating in front of the large pots of boiling soup base beside the open kitchen, it's difficult not to sweat in this intense amount of heat. 


I ordered a shio (salt) ramen with pork belly and a serving of gyoza (dumplings). The pork belly came as one big piece in which you can clearly distinguish the fat from the meat. If you prefer something more leaner you can choose to have pork shoulder instead of the pork belly. Hmm...I thought the meat could be marinated more. The texture of the ramen was bang on though! However, the soup base was disappointing. Usually shio ramen comes with a relatively clear soup base... instead my bowl was murky... with fat tissue on the top layer! That made it hard to drink the soup afterwards because it didn't look appealing with all that fat disperse in it. I did drank a spoonful afterwards but it wasn't anything spectacular... I saw them put lots of fatty porkbone in it... and that was what I tasted... pretty bland taste... can't detect the seasalt.... The complimentary egg was only half broiled, which was a nice surprise if you like running yolk. The gyoza tasted pretty good with very thin pastry and very juicy. But portions were kind of small.  

In short, I'd try Kinton again. But I definitely won't be ordering shio ramen. Hopefully the soup base would be more flavourful in Shoyu or Miso? But when I glanced over at the other bowls they had the same amount of murkiness... 

Do check out their washroom, the mirror's kind of cool. 

I can't wait to try Momofuku when it opens in August in Toronto... 

Food: 3.6/5 (texture of ramen is pretty good, but the soup is so-so, pork belly is ok)
Service: 3.8/5
Decor: 3.5/5 (similar decor as Guu, but the seats are even more crowded)
Price: Ramen about $10 each (tax/tips extra)

Location: 51 Baldwin Street (if you are there or have to wait in line, I urge you to check out Baldwin St as it has some interesting restaurants and shops!)
Phone: 647-748-8900
No reservations and be prepared to line up.
Website: http://kintonramen.com/