Truly grateful to have met you guys. Thank you.

I have to say, it's quite rare for me to write entries like this. I am going to be quite emotional in this blog. It's a rare sight, kind of like seeing a shiny pokemon.

Music's a big part of my life, and recently I found the song 一個像夏天 一個像秋天 in my iTunes. An English translation would be One is like summer, one is like fall. The title of the song is about how two really different things can actually suit each other quite well. Because they are so different, they cover each other's weakness. This song is quite old, and I never really paid a lot of attention to this song, but now I have. Like I've said, I dug out this song again after a few years, and looked at its lyrics; it really made me appreciate my friends even more than I already do.

This song is about how friends are so important. Sure, some will say family is more important, but I think you need both to be complete. There are some things where you can only tell your family, but there are other things where it's the other way around -- we really need friends to survive in this world. I know I wouldn't survive. I know I am pretty independent, but it's because I know if I ever need something, I can always count on my friends to break my fall.

The first verse goes like this 第一次看你不太順眼、誰知道後來關係那麼密切。我們一個像夏天、一個像秋天。卻總能把冬天變成春天. Translation would be I didn't like you very much when I first saw you, but who knew that we would become so close. We were like summer and fall, but we can always make Winter Spring again. This is very true for me; I have friends that didn't like me very much at first, but we still bonded in the end. I'm really happy.

There is one line that goes like this 如果不是你、我不會相信、朋友比情人還死心踏地. In English is If it's not you, I won't believe that friends are more loyal than lovers. There are countless cases where this had happened for me as I haven't dated in my life, but I can still feel the warmth from my friends overwhelming the sadness in my heart. Thank you.

Another beautiful line is 你了解我所有得意的東西、才常潑我冷水、怕我忘形. It's saying how you understand all the things I get overconfident about, and you put me down just to prevent me from embarrassing myself. It brings up a good point about relationship. Friendship is not friendship if all you're saying is the good part about your friend; that's really fake. Don't give me the bullshit "I like everything about her/him". That's not possible. If you're human, you're bound to find something you don't like about another human being, and it's fine to do that. That's all part of being human, BUT if you truly care about your friend, you would tell your friend the things you don't like about her/him, so the dislike wouldn't evolve into hatred or even further. A relationship built from compliments are fake, fake, fake. After that said, I am sorry if I ever hurt your feeling. I really do care about my friends, but sometimes my jokes are a bit too heavy to others.

One of my favourite line is from the song is 遇見一個人然後生命全改變. It means Life changes after meeting one person. People would think it's the other half, but this line can also work for a friend. In fact, I think it's better when it's describing a friend. How did you two get together? Because you two were friends. It's your other half when she/he was still a friend that changed your life. People think I'm very stubborn, but I always have my ears open for new ways of thinking. The thing is that I just didn't hear anything that would make me want to change my way of thinking, and therefore, it just seems like I am stubborn. What I didn't realise until I looked at this lyrics is that their words do change the way I think -- I may not change right away, but I do change the way I think. Big or Small. So everyone I met changes my life in one way or another, for better or worse. Even if someone makes me go downhill, I wouldn't blame them, it's just all part of life. Even if I sunk too low, I'm sure my friends would just pull me right back up.

Especially right now, I am like poor beyond imagine. Thanks to all my friends who are paying things for me when we hang out. Once I find a job, I will definitely repay this favour. And also, when I said I am moving, you have no idea how many people offered to help me move, or help me find a place. It really surprised me. I don't think I can ever repay this debt of friendship. Thank you for trusting me so much.

Since I'm being all emotional and all, I'd like to take this time to thank some certain individuals.

Cindy
You're like my closest friend, so I don't really need to worry about how heavy my jokes are because I know you'll know it's all okay. I can tell you anything, and you'll be there to listen. And you immediately offered me a place to stay when I said I need a place when I go back to Vancouver. Thanks.

Kathleen
I'm sorry that I scared you that one time, and the other few times that I got mad but wasn't directed to you. You probably think I am scary or something. Even though we have a term for you and all, but I think that's a good thing. Keep that innocence for as long as you can because once you lose it you can never go back. (If you don't know what I am talking about, don't think the wrong way. It is very legit)

Joseph
Though we haven't talked much after we graduated, but thank you for being there during my high school years. Giving me a good reason to skip PE and stuff. And thank you for putting up with my selfish demands sometimes.

Andy D.
I was never mad at you for that bag incidence; I just lost too much brain cells to think about anything that day... To be honest, I don't remember anything after being hit. Thanks for talking to me online when I'm procrastinating.

Nicole
I don't know if you still read my blog or not, but you're one of the most life inspiring person I've met in my whole life. You're probably the one who made me think that sometimes human do need to be emotional. Thank you for helping me with homework during grade 9.

Daniel H.
Don't be surprised that you're on this list. We always acted that we hated each other, but we get along pretty well. It's a relationship built on insults after all. I really enjoy the bizarre conversations we have as long as it doesn't involve certain people/things.

Kevin
Our hobbies matched really well -- sleeping and eating, so we bonded real quickly. Had lots of fun with you around, and I'm glad you're coming to UT this coming year.

Anne
You're another inspiring person I'm glad I met. Opened my eyes to new point of views. I also enjoy reading your blogs though I haven't been commenting very much. Hope you can come to UT though the final decision's still up to you.

Lisa
Really happy that you came to UT, even though it's Scarborough. You added many rays of sunshine to my dull Toronto life during the first month. I also won't forget about the many adventures we had during I block -- real fun.

Kristie
You made a lot of classes fun -- especially social classes. I'm also glad that you came to UT. Taiwan people need to stick together, you know. And it's because of you I met a lot of other people.

Crystal
You're one of the first people I met in Toronto, so if it weren't for you, I'd probably would have no friends or something. It's because of you that I met all your roommates, and thanks for cooking for me many times. Also thanks a lot for being in my video.

Atsushi
Thanks for being there many times for me, and staying up with me during all nighters. You're always okay with my outrageous demands. Had a lot of fun tickling you...

Mike
Tthanks for taking care of me when I sleepover at your place. I also enjoyed the talk we had the other night, opened my eyes to another point of view. I really appreciate for all the things you've done for me even though we just met this year. I would really like to repay you right now, but I just don't have the financial power to do so.

Vicki
You're really open and free towards Mike, unlike some other couples whom I wouldn't name. I really like that about a girl. I had fun talking with you, too. Really bonded for just met. Thanks.

Jinglin
You're the first friend I met from UTSC. You're the one who helped me rediscover my love for photography, so you're also the one who I named the term after. It's only reasonable to do so. It's also because of you I met lots of other people. It's because of you(and Lisa) I get to meet the Shutterbugs people.

Fiona
We didn't officially talk until recently, but the awkward stage didn't last very long at all. I mean just look at the facebook comments. I'm really looking forward to hanging out with you again.

Sunny
Thanks for remembering the name of a hobo like me. Though we haven't really talked until today, but I still had fun joking around with you. To tell you the truth, I enjoy those kind of conversation quite a bit -- as long as it doesn't go into too much details.

Andy K.
I'm thankful for telling me about the program, and offering so much help. Really, truly grateful. Thanks for treating me the other day; I'll return the favour when I can. You've been helping me endlessly ever since we met, but I haven't really done anything to repay you, yet. It's a fresh new start for me in Toronto, and it's quite hard on me.

Like I've mentioned in my earlier blogs, I believe that words can't truly express one's feeling, but that's all I can do at this point and time, so I'm sorry if this means nothing to you. My feelings towards all of you are all deeper than that, but it's all feeling of friendship. My friends are not like my second family because they ARE my second family. Thanks for helping me so much in Toronto. I've never felt so useless in my life right now more than ever. I don't have the power to help anyone as I am not really in the position to do anything like that. I don't have the power to do anything I feel like doing -- totally opposite from back in Burnaby. I believe I'll make it through though, and it's all thanks for all of you supporting me.

Things you see and feel in life will shape who you are in the future, and I find that friends are the most influential factor of all. It's not an exaggeration what so ever, so from the bottom of my heart, I thank all of you for being here for me. Far and near, high and low.

Thank you,
~Daniel Chou

An island of photographers.

April 2, 2010. Sunny then cloudy. Hot then cold then warm.

It all began long ago, (a week?) when Lisa asked me if I want to go Jinglin take artsy pictures with Shutterbugs, the photography club in UofT. I really like artsy stuff, so obviously I said yes. Fast forward to the day before the big day, I confirmed with Lisa about the time and place of the meeting place... because it's smart to do that. She said to be at Union Station at 12. Moving on to the big day...

I like to be early and stuff, so I got there at 11:50am even though I know Lisa and Kristie are usually late. Little do I know... they came alone, not with Shutterbugs... very late, too. I basically stood there for a good 30 minutes or so. The subway ticket checking lady kept staring at me weirdly; she probably thought I was waiting for the right time to commit a crime or something. That wasn't cool at all... but finally, at around 12:30 they showed up. party time!! Oh, another thing I found funny was how a lot of people, and when I say a lot... I mean over 10, tried to exit the station through the spinning door even though it says very clearly 'No Exit'.

So yes, 12:30, they arrived. I could start ranting about why people shouldn't be late, but I won't right now (or this post will never end). We didn't know where the Shutterbugs group were, so we did the one thing any lost people would do. Phone. Well, after the phone call with Jinglin... we got one landmark, McDonalds. We climbed over many hills stairs, walked through a dangerous tunnel underground pathway, and fought against the barbarians people on the streets. Finally, there it was, THE McDonalds *insert dramatic music*, but they were no where to be found. Yea, they moved elsewhere. Fail. Then Jinglin came and picked us up and finally we met up... speeding up the story...

I have to say, it was pretty awkward at first because I didn't know anyone from Shutterbugs besides Jinglin, Fiona, Anita, Lisa and Kristie. I met Fiona and Anita once before that day, during Nuit Blanche (please do excuse my French if I spelt it wrong). Maybe it would be better if it was an gathering of some sort instead of a club outing because I am not even in the club. I guess I was afraid that people will think about stuff like 'why is he here'... I'm pretty sure at least one person thought that actually. I could sense it. Yes, I'm magical. Actually, no I am not, it's just human nature to think about things like that, but that's another story.

Well anyways, we set out for the ferry terminal where we'll hijack ride a boat to Wards Island. It was a 10 minutes walk to the ferry terminal. Yea, you can see from the picture that the line's pretty long (totally cut Andy's head in half, too). 30 minutes later, we got the ticket, and guess what? More waiting, for the ferry.

Going off topic for a bit, I plan to make a rant about the Toronto Ferry on a separate post, so I'm just going to skip the ferry part to keep this already long blog shorter.... by a bit.

So magically, we're on Wards Island!! Told you I have magical powers... We walked around the island and stuff. While the pros are taking pictures, I try to make friends (totally dramatizing the situation XD) But omg, everyone has their expensive pro cameras that cost 4 digits, and all I have is a digital camera. *sad face* It's okay though, I'll just stick with making videos... while slowly learning the ways of still motion. Either way, the island was a good experience. It was my first time on the island, and I learned a few tricks from watching the pros in action. I also took some pictures, but of course it's nothing compare to who I was with.


I was just playing with iPhoto... nothing special





That's that for the island. And because I don't want to write anything about the ferry here... We magically appear at Habour Front at the blink of the eye. We decided to go eat sushi at this restaurant called 味彩(Aji Sai), but it was a 30 minutes walk I believe... We just kind of split into different groups because there were so many people. I walk fast, so I was with the fast walkers... namely Angela, Louise and Andy. Yes, I like to force myself to be with people I don't know -- that's how you make friends =]. I'm just skip the part about what we talked about since it's mostly you have to be in the moment kind of talks. I do have one word Angela, Louise and Andy (if they read this at all XD) though... Pigeon.

Side tracking for a bit. Yes, I noticed that I am skipping a lot of details, but this post is getting way too long, and it's 5am.

So magically we're at restaurant because time-skip (don't ask). Kristie, Lisa, Angela, Andy, Peter, Shane, and Simone sat around me, so it was a good chance to get to know them =]. They were all cool people, real glad to have met them. I could go and list out why I like them, but look at the length of the post already, so I'm just going to move on to the food.

It was all you can eat, so people tend to order too much. Andy and I were saving stomach (though I didn't really stop eating... lol) just in case we need to clean any leftovers. The food was okay, all you can eat quality, which is not THAT good... just edible. Yes, I have a very high standard when it comes to... everything in life actually -- especially friends and food though. Their dessert was lower than all you can eat standards. Egg pudding was so watered down, and the mango jelly is powdered. And they didn't give me all the mango ice cream that I ordered D:!!! On top of that, they didn't specify at the beginning that there was a one hour ordering time. Their service was good at first, but it went downhill... I was pretty disappointed. Well anyways, it was still fun. =]

On the way back, I get to talk to Andy a bit more, and I found out he's also from Taiwan!! =D!! Yay Taiwan people unite!! He says he also like karaoke, so I'll definitely invite him the next time I plan a karaoke (which is when I have $$...) =]

That's basically it for the island trip with Shutterbugs. It was awesome. Glad I went, even though I was hesitated because of all the strangers at first. =]

PS: Woah, look at how long the post is... and I didn't even go into full details. Oh the power of going off topic.

Can't wait to see the new friends again, someday =]
~Daniel Chou

Analyzing Life - (im)possible??

So if read/skim through my last post (which was posted like 10 minutes ago), you should know what this post is going to be about. EVEN IF you didn't, the title should be enough clue. Let's just get to the point, shall we?

One more thing before I get started: This is just my opinion, feel free to agree/disagree with me. Start a debate, whatever. It's your life.

Like I've said Life's complicated, so it's better to separate them into subjects, but do keep in mind that they all connect somehow.

First I want to talk about generalizing life. Everybody does this. Everyone categorizes 'similar' things together. Example of those would be classifying books by genre, alphabet, author, etc. It works for inanimate objects like books because they don't change and grow; they also don't think for themselves. When it comes to living things, it's a whole different story. Scientists classify animals by their body structure, so it's still reasonable. Vertebrates, invertebrates, two legged, four legged, birds, worms, mammals, etc. I don't really have really have a complaint for that because they are all facts. Yes, animals evolve and stuff, but they won't change THAT much each generation. Significant changes to body structure won't come for a good hundred or so generations, if any at all. I'm okay with all the above categorizing. The one I am really annoyed with is how people... I guess another word for it is stereotype.

One simple is example is how people discriminate against so called 'races'. White, Black, Yellow, Brown, Purple, Rainbow, Whatever. I don't care. We're all human, and sorry to say, but that's one race, not ten thousand. So what if his skin colour is white? Does that mean he's white and eat McDonalds every day? Does that mean he's bad at math? Does that mean he fits into all the so called 'white stereotypes'? The first step is to stop stereotyping people. Just because you don't stereotype, doesn't mean you don't group similar people together.

People group similar personalities together. Example would be that people often classify me as 'lazy', which I can't entirely disagree. Pretend bob, an imaginary friend, is 'lazy', then people will tend to group bob and me together, and therefore, we're 'alike'. I completely disagree though. I am lazy about certain things, and he's lazy about certain things. Sure there might be overlaps, but the level of laziness will still differ. 'Lazy' just happens to be the example I am using, but this applies to all the personalities and traits. And that's why it's impossible to find a person who thinks and acts like me; therefore, people shouldn't say things like "He's a lot like you" because no, he's not like me. We're different individuals. So next time if you want to group people together, put everyone in their own category. I wish I could explain more, but feeling is something that can't be expressed in words...

An example of that would be 'love' and 'hate'. When you say you 'love' something, do you ACTUALLY love it 100%? I doubt it. There are probably some other feeling mixed in your 'love' -- it's not pure love. I am not saying those other feeling have to be a bad thing; I'm just saying that it's not pure. You probably used the word love because out of all the feelings you feel towards the thing you're describing, 'love' has the highest percentage. A way to fix this? Not really. You can't say stuff like "I 40% Love you, 10% thinks you're weird, 10% thinks you're lazy, 2% annoyed at you, and the rest think you're pretty." You're not going to get anyone that way. That's why artists are so powerful; they express people feelings in ways we can never express in words. It doesn't matter if it's through a movie, poem, song, photo, drawing... etc. They are all tools that we use to express how we feel about one thing. It's not just for looks.

(offtopic)
Let me go off topic for a bit. Not as many people appreciates artsy movies as we used to. A lot of people rather watch action movies instead of thought provoking movies. I mean, just look at all the recent 'hit movies'. Avatar, Transformers, 2012... need I list more? I don't mean people shouldn't watch them at all... it's just that people seem to enjoy those more than they should. Action movies requires minimal brain work, so it's good for when people want to relax... You know what I mean... I hope.
(/offtopic)

Woah, this post got really long... I think I am just going to end this before it turns into an essay. Maybe I'll do a part two or something... Maybe

One last thing before I end this post though. A lot of people say I don't express my feelings to people, but you know... it's really hard to explain all this in 5 minutes or so. My thought process is quite complicated and explaining this would require a lot of work, so I prefer just not explaining at all.

~Daniel Chou

Hanging out with Friends & Lisa's Birthday

Photo Album for the day

Artsy Pictures Updated

Yup, I'm trying to catch up to my blogging, so I am not going to waste time waiting for pictures to upload and stuff. Since facebook uploads the picture so much faster, you can look at the pictures there. I also updated my Artsy picture album. Anyways, on with the blog!!

I met up with Crystal, Melody, Jocelyn and a new friend Annie to go eat lunch together. The food was pretty nice, but it's really nothing special -- just good chinese food, haven't had those in a while. After the good lunch, we went to have some bubble tea~!! We sat and play cards & uno. 'Tis fun. I successfully convinced them to come to Eaton Centre with me because I want to pick up my game (Edgeworth game, will be doing a review on it pretty soon). The deal is that I have to shop with them, which I don't really mind. They went to Zara, and Garage... I believe. We talked, and I got along pretty well with Annie. After the shopping we went back to residence. I said goodbye to them and went out again soon after for Lisa's dinner.

She originally planned her dinner at Hard Rock Cafe, but apparently it was closed. Instead, we went to a Italy? French? Restaurant called Verona. It was a good 'fail'; the food was SOOOO good. I had a hard time deciding what I want to have because everything sounds so delicious.

wow, I think it's my first time using the adjective delicious in this blog even though I talked about food so many times already

I am not a big fan of meat unless it's steak(medium rare), but this restaurant cooks its meat until it's just right. It's not too hard to chew, but it's also fully cooked. The sides are just so wonderful, too. The Risotto is like the BEST risotto I've ever had. I have no problem going back even if it's on the expensive side. It's totally worth its value.

And I had a bit of Lisa's prawns and scallop. OMG MMMMMMM!!!!!! The tiger shrimp is like OM NOM NOM. Yea I don't know how to describe it... it's just so ON NOM NOM-y. The scallop was like BETTER than the ones I had in Guu, and the ones in Guu was above standards already. That's how good it is.

Lisa got her first alcoholic drink because she was legal... or she thought(explain later). It was a Long Island Iced Tea. I tried a sip, it was pretty good. Taste like Iced Tea, like the name suggests, but like Lisa? (or was it Sarah?) said... it was the powdered iced tea. Still not bad, for a drink with all alcohol content.

Lisa got drunk, and she went crazy in the restaurant. Jumping on tables and screaming.. kinda embarrassing...... JOKES!!! Don't get mad Lisa :P~

We had yet another one of Sarah's cake. Mmm!! Good stuff.

Omg, and the service for this restaurant is so good, like beyond expectation. I love this restaurant.

We went for Marble Stab(ice cream place) after the food, and Yum... ice cream. XD!!! This hobo guy came in the store and start asking for money. The SAME hobo guy asked me for money when I was in that store eating ice cream, too. But I am really good at ignoring people and pretending they don't exist, so it didn't really bother me at all. Mmmm ice cream~

Then finally we head for the subway to go home(and here comes the story why Lisa wasn't legal when she was drinking). She was born at around 11pm, but when she drank her drink, it was 8pm. 3 hours too early :P!!!

After I separate with them I headed to Melody's place to play some Mah Jong. I met some people. I didn't stay there for very long though.. came back and started on the Edgeworth game. =]....

This is also the day where I announced that I am bankrupted. FAIL!!!

I'm finding a job though, so hopefully, I'll find one soon.

~Daniel Chou

Kristie's Birthday~

Um... Yea. This thing over there (below), also known as the Inukshuk is sitting right in the middle of the field on my campus. From this view, only the the right leg is destroyed, but in reality... it's much much worse... So there you have it, Destroyed Inukshuk, my new masterpiece... joking.

Destroyed Inukshuk

Anyways, back on topic. This post is about the day I celebrated Kristie's birthday, which is kind of ages ago. We went Karaoke at Bar+ Karaoke. There's not much to talk about since we're just singing one song after another. However, there's one song that intrigue me a lot. It's a song sang by Sarah and Vicki, a cantonese song. The MV(yes, we get real MV's! XD) for that song is so intense, and the lyrics(from reading it since I don't understand cantonese) is like a dialogue of a couple fighting. It's amazing how people can accomplish things like this. So that's karaoke. *inserts a picture of a spinning ball*

The legendary spinning ball

We then head to this Japanese Restaurant named Guu. There's a few in Vancouver, but this is the only one in Toronto.

Guu Logo

Guu Exterior

Guu Door

Anyways, the line up was extremely long, and they don't take reservations unless it's over 20 people... so yea, we waited for a good hour or more. Their service was crazy, so that made up for the waiting time. How Crazy?? Well, when we went in every employees literally shouted Welcome(in Japanese), and there's a coat rack for our heavy jackets. A quick look at their menu~

Front Menu

Back Menu

Note: Wasabi is Hot!!

We ordered lots of good food.

Scallop

It's scallop with some really good sauce... I don't know what it is. The scallop is not too chewy, but still chewy -- just like how a scallop should be. I gave this dish a 9/10. Minus one point for being not filling at all because it's $7. =___=

Guava Juice

I also had this Guava Juice. It's nothing special, but it brings back a lot of Taiwan memories. Guava Juice USED to be something I can only drink in Taiwan, and it's like the best juice ever.

Takoyaki

Okonomiyaki

Their Takoyaki and Okonomiyaki is not only real tasty, but also very special. They have a hint of wasabi in it. I never had Takoyaki or Okonomiyaki like that, truly special.

For other people's food go to my facebook album on Kristie Birthday here

This quality of food for this restaurant is really good, but the portions are a big small... so the price is more on the expensive side. I can taste that they use really good quality ingredients, thus the expensive pricing for the dishes.

After eating, we went to a Starbucks so that we can eat the cake that Sarah made, but Starbucks doesn't allow outside food, so I bought myself a hot drink and we left for McDonalds

Me and my hot tea?

That's my hot 'iced shaken lemonade'. Yea, I got my usual drinks, Black Tea Lemonade, but they ran out of lemonade, and they also ran out of cold drink cups. That's totally a hot drink, y'know.

Anyways, at McDonald, we at Sarah's cake and went home. The cake was so good, and she made it herself.

Sarah's cake for Kristie

~Daniel Chou

Year of the Tiger~ RAWR???

On S.A.D. (also known as Single Awareness Day) this year, it was also Lunar New Years, so I gathered with my sister and we had hotpot in Chinatown.

You know when you're in Chinatown when you see things like this...

Oh, the wonders of Chinatown... No more commentary needed.

Before going to hot pot, we stopped by a bookstore. My sister was looking at cookbooks, so I looked around, too. I saw this book called "神奇番茄" which means Magical Tomatoes, but they translated as Wonderful Tomatoes (hence why I've been using a lot of 'wonderful' in my blog). There's this one recipe in that book that teaches you how to make tomato mousse. You know, like chocolate mousse, but instead it's tomato. I thought it was pretty interesting....

After a while, we got to the hot pot place... and what else do we do. We eat =] Unfortunately, I didn't take any picture of the hot pot, but there's really nothing to take. It's just a bunch of raw stuff being cooked in a pot.

My sister's friend has something really interesting in her wallet though.

Yes, it's made from a real $20 bill. What's funny is that the face is on the from of the POLO shirt(it's not even just a T-shirt XD). It's like the face was the design for the polo shirt. Funny stuff.

Anyways, after the food, I went to my sister's place in Mississauga because I wanted to play Beatles Rock Band. My dad bought a lot of little magnet plushies you stick on your fridge not long before, but since I have no fridge I have a reason to shove it all to my sister =] (yes!). I finally see it for the first time when I went to my sister's place. They look interesting I must say. Can't say they're completely useless, but they are pretty useless. Some designs are okay.. (by the way, if you want any of them, contact me.), but the Ladybug one cracked me up. I laugh for a good 2 minutes when I see the ladybug one.

I took a picture of every single one, so voila~

Lion

Giraffe

Reindeer

Blue Cow?!

Koala

Sheep

Duck

Dog

Of course, how could we forget the lovely ladybug~!!

Ladybug???

~Daniel Chou

Chinese New Years Eve!!

Surprise Picture!! THE INSIDE OF A MOUTH!!!

Okay, I lied. It's just this picture with flash on.

I went to Scarborough to celebrate new years eve with Kristie, Lisa and Sarah. We had a wonderful dinner at Sarah's residence -- blasting my music (Sam & Kurt's album -- The Covers).

Sarah sure can cook, and Kristie sure makes good steak! (except I don't have any picture of the steak....). Yup, the dinner was good. And yes, all I did was eat. =]

After dinner, Kristie brought out her 年糕(rice cake)... thing. It's sweet and stuff(dessert). It was good already by itself, but Lisa and Sarah said they always had it with eggs.

Before

After

It's a whole different taste, but both are good. =]

Oh! Did I mention that I whipped the eggs? (See, I helped. Don't judge me! D:)

Hmm? What am I doing?

Just poking the eye socket out =]

See, the eggs are crying.

Then I killed them. Oh well.

Yes, I wasn't fooling around AT ALL. Anyways... while eating the rice cake, we played my Monopoly World Edition. Yes, putting it into use for the first time ever =D!!!

We all started with 15 million, I ended up with all the transportations, utilities, and the red blocks(all hotels) and 28 millions. Did I mention I also had Montreal and TAIPEI?!?! =] I'll not go into the details because I don't really remember them either. LOL

Anyways, I'll end this blog with some Artsy Pictures I took during that day.

I don't know where all the sparkles came from. It is NOT photoshopped.

The Soup

The Lamp

~Daniel Chou

History in the making!!

Feb 11, 2010 == A very good day. =]

So first, a quick story leading up to this day. Atsushi and I planned that Thursday, we're going to a Japanese restaurant because I said I wanted Takoyaki (and he knows a place). Lisa then messaged me not long after asking me if I knew about this lunch thing happened on Thursday, which I have no idea. Lisa said the lunch is at 12, so I asked if Atsushi wanted to go there first, then Takoyaki later -- he was fine with it.

So at 11:30 I got to Atsushi's house to meet up with him to go the this restaurant called La Fenice. We got there around noon, just on time. Lisa and her friend, Jinglin are already there though (damn we lost D:). We went in the restaurant and our face went like this ---> OoO.

The restaurant was so high class; every customer going there was wearing suits and dresses. Everyone except us. We're wearing hoodies, t-shirt and such -- so out of place. We all got one appetizer, one main course, and one dessert because it's all that for $20.

I got this Mussel thing for for appetizer

Zuppa Di Cozze
Mussels in light tomato and white wine broth with garlic and fresh herbs

It was not bad, but for a 'high class' restaurant I kind of expected more. This just taste like a bunch of mussels with this sauce. As for the main course I got...

Cioppino Di Gamberi E Calamari
shrimp and calamari in a light tomato broth with garlic. fresh herbs and chili flakes

It was just okay, too. Nothing really special that makes me want to talk about it, so I'll just move onto the dessert.

creamy chocolate ice cream with a gianduia centre, covered with crushed almonds and hazelnuts, dipper in dark belgian chocolate

This is the only dish, which I thought was good. You can't really go wrong with dessert though... Still, the dessert was good, but nothing special. I was the only one that got this while the others got this

creamy amaretto ice cream with a mocha centre, covered with amaretto cookie crumbs

I think I'm gonna stay away from coffee desserts from now on (after the Apricot Tree failure). Group picture!!!

Left to right: Lisa, Atsushi, Me

All the pictures from this restaurant was from Jinglin(which I stole off of her facebook XD)

After this lunch, we walked to Eaton Centre to get our crap sorted out. I had to return something to the Apple Store, Atsushi exchanged stuff at the Apple Store, and Lisa bought an ipod using my credit card. We then headed to the Japanese restaurant for Takoyaki.

Not long after we're here!

Manpuku entrance

This wonderful place known as Manpuku. First have a look at their menu.

Back of the menu

Front of the menu

I know there's not much selection, but quality is what matters =]. I came here to eat takoyaki, so of course that's what I got. Two orders of takoyaki and a milk tea. Lisa got just the milk tea, Jinglin had the takosen (takoyaki and senbei), while Atsushi had the takosen and milk tea. (Yes, I know I ordered the most and we just had lunch).

Failed Artsy shot of the milk tea

I don't know what this milk tea is, but it's good. I love it. The bottle is so pretty, too!! If I ever go to Japan, I'm gonna buy so much of those!! =]

Super good Takoyaki!!

It was so good. They cook to order, so it's fresh, but you have to wait 20 minutes. The inside is soft, but the outside is crispy. The dressing they used is so good, too. Lisa said she couldn't taste the octopus, and I didn't really pay attention so... In my defense, a good takoyaki is good when the octopus doesn't stand out; it blends in with the rest. I wouldn't like a takoyaki where the octopus is way too chewy or something.

I looked at Atsushi and Jinglin's Takosen, too. They were really interesting. I think I might get it next time.

Takosen before squished

It's basically Takoyaki being sandwiched by two senbei(rice crackers). And yes, when I said sandwiched, it means you need to squish the takoyaki. It should look something like this:

Takosen after squished.

Yup! It looked so good. Mmmm. Next time I go there, I'm gonna try the Udon or the Don =]! Thanks Atsushi for introducing this place to me.

Enough about the foods. In the first restaurant, it was still pretty awkward, first time meeting, plus the high-class restaurant tension. It lightened up a lot when we're at the Japanese restaurant though. We talked a lot (mostly me). I talked about some pretty dark and deep stuff, and I wouldn't usually do that if the situation was awkward, so it's a sign that the atmosphere was pretty good.

Today was a really good day. After around 4~5 attempts of trying to introduce Atsushi to Lisa and Kristie(and vice versa), it FINALLY worked.

Lastly, here are some artsy pictures that I took recently.

It's that really good milk tea from the Manpuku.

Carbonated water with different concentration of cranberry juice.

~Daniel Chou