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underneath the rubble

Published
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XY
on January 15, 2010
in Reflection
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I can’t fathom the devastation that has befallen Haiti - only in far away images and feelings in the pit of my stomach. As soon as I heard on Tuesday evening, my first thoughts were “Shit! Of all countries”, given its history, socio-economic and political climate. I am susceptible to nightmares and my last two nights were related to the aftermath of the earthquake…but in different locations if that makes sense - spurning thoughts about other human calamities in countries like the Democratic Republic of Congo and Burma. And on.

My friend Beth passed on this Haitian saying  “mountains beyond mountains”  or “beyond the mountains, more mountains”, which means that once you’ve climbed one mountain, there’s still another one in the distance.

I’d like to have a more hopeful outlook, but is that naive?

Ramen close-ups

Published
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XY
on January 10, 2010
in Eats
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ramen

I am craving fresh ramen noodles. In hot broth.

fresh noodles

With both a soy sauce boiled egg and soft boiled egg.  And lots of scallions.

ramen soup
The texture of the noodles pulling and yielding. Delightful density between the teeth.

new york city trip eats in 5 days recount

Published
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XY
on January 8, 2010
in Eats
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MONDAY

Breakfast: coffee with an egg, cheddar cheese and bacon croissant on the train.

Lunch: poppy seed bagel with cream cheese and chives, blood orange, and Doritos. Still on the train.

Dinner: mussel and clam spicy stew, macaroni  and cheese, seafood sausage, a beet and pear goat cheese green salad, and fries - shared between four people at Lower East Side bar specializing in beers and microbreweries. Two local beers.

TUESDAY

Breakfast: two americanos from two different places, and a ‘tie twist’ pastry while walking around downtown.

Lunch: borstch soup with mushroom dumplings, four different kinds of pierogies(cheese, potato, mushroom and sauerkraut, and meat) and a vanilla egg cream in Ukranian restaurant.

Afternoon snack: a cappuccino in local theatre slash coffee shop.

Before dinner drink: white wine at Eleyna’s and Victor’s in Financial district.

Dinner: crab fried rice in young coconut, a fried taro chip dipped in tamarind sauce and white wine in the West Village.

After dinner: beer at some jazz bar.

WEDNESDAY

Breakfast: a red velvet cupcake and an americano in hotel room and walking.

Lunch: BBQ pork buns and fresh ramen noodles in shoyu broth - with roast pork slices, soy sauce sauce flavoured boiled egg, mushroom and green onions. An extra soft boiled egg. At super popular Japanese ramen restaurant.

Afternoon snack: a strawberry smoothie and macchiato in coffee shop in Park Slope.

Before dinner snack: hot apple cider with rum and a handful of goldfish crackers playing board games by a fireplace.

Dinner: bites of in-house made baloney, pork sausage, gumbo and BBQ pork ribs. Pear and blue cheese green salad, and chopped BBQ pork sandwich with a side of coleslaw and baked beans in Southern influenced restaurant. Wine.

This is where I actually feel like I don’t need to eat again for a long while.

THURSDAY

Breakfast: croissant and large brewed coffee before going to the museum.

Lunch: oysters and bo ssam to share - bbq pork butt, kimchi, rice and lettuce to wrap everything in.  Cereal milk flavoured soft serve ice cream.

Afternoon snack: a fruit smoothie.

Dinner: a slice of pepperoni pizza and red bull in the hotel room.

Late night NYE eats: apricot wrapped in bacon, emmenthal cheese, chips and spinach dip. Lots of champagne. Some party in Brooklyn.

FRIDAY:

Breakfast: half a New York challah bagel and black coffee in hotel room.

Afternoon snack: Pretzel from the street vendor outside the Guggenheim.

Second afternoon snack: honey roasted cashews from the street vendor in Midtown.

Late lunch: two bites of cheeseburger and half of a vanilla and chocolate milkshake.

Before dinner drink: a hot chocolate with whipped cream in some fancy hotel coffee lounge.

Dinner: pork soup dumplings, hot and sour soup, Sichuan wonton in red oil, sliced conch in red oil, diced lotus roots, sauteed loofah, braised whole fish, red pork cooking in wok, Chongquiing dry and spicy chicken, rice and tea. Beer, orange slices and fortune cookie. Shared with seven people. Eating with ten.

SATURDAY:

I go home at 8 am unbelieveably stuffed and 5 pounds heavier. I do not eat all day until 9 pm. Where I consume a hot dog with kim chi, grated carrot and thai basil, fries and a salad.

slow food fermentation style

Published
by
XY
on December 13, 2009
in Eats and Food Culture
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I put the slow in slow food.

Why?

Because I am possibly the slowest (and somewhat meticulous) vegetable cutter or slicer. Seriously! Ask my friends and lover(s). Food projects take me a long time to undertake, which can be a downer when the outcome is not so great (beef jerky=winner, sour pickles=downer).

My fermentation projects, sour pickles aside, have been successful. I made sauerkraut following Sandor Katz’s Wild Fermentation book in the summer, which I love a lot by the way, using cabbage from Tony’s farm, dill, garlic and black peppercorns. And it turned out quite terrific if I do say so myself.

homemade sauerkraut

I’ve never really been a fan of sauerkraut to be honest until I made my own. My mom, eclectic cook that she was, used to make sauerkraut and boiled potatoes and sausages for dinner, her ode to Germanic cuisine. And I wasn’t really a fan of the sour combination that came from store bought jarred sauerkraut. Homemade sauerkraut tastes alive with its tangyness, tickling the tongue, and as it ages continues to change.

My newest lactid acid creation is root kimchi (or a type of panchan, Korean side dish) which I made with daikon, carrots, turnips, Jerusalem artichockes, as well as garlic and green onion tops, late autumn relics from my garden.

fermentation goodness

Both of these took me awhile to prepare in my usual fashion (I gave up on the mandolin since I almost always nearly slice myself) and I also let those sit out for over 8 days. Salt is magic, bringing out the brine and creating fermented goodness. Soy sauce, fish sauce, sour pickles, miso! So delicious! The fact fermented foods are healthy is secondary to me. I also love the idea that fermentation is a practice that is thousands of years old, as I have always romanticized ways of preservation, noting that climate and temperature, the environment are huge factors in the final product. As Sandor signed my book, “Fermentation Fervor Forever!”

Root kim chi

Yes indeed.

passed down histories

Published
by
XY
on December 2, 2009
in Food Culture and Reflection
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For quite awhile now I’ve been thinking a lot about family histories and the immigration experience and how disjointed different generations can become. A lot can be lost. Language, stories, practices and traditions. Beliefs. I’ve always been jealous of friends and acquaintances who are able to recite their family history and who have a good sense of where they come from and who know their ‘family traditions’. One thing in particular that sticks in my mind, and also my belly and taste buds no less, is family recipes.

In the last while I’ve been mindful of the fact that a lot of recipes and foods I’ve grown up eating at family gatherings are at risk of being lost after my parents & aunties & uncles’ generation dies off. In my father’s family none of my cousins can really cook, and definitely not Vietnamese foods. Only one of my cousins in my father’s side of the family, out of 20 or so, can. Morbid as I am, I’ve been wondering, after our parents die, who will be making the banh xeo, the thin yellow pancakes filled with bean sprouts, shrimp and pork? The sup cua maw, the crab and fish egg soup? The goi, ’slaw’ salad of pickled carrrots, onions, daikon, shrimp and slivers of pork ear?*

I’ve made a vow to learn many of the dishes I’ve been eating for years and years in hopes I can become a guardian, a custodian of family recipes.

Continue reading ‘passed down histories’

Community

Published
by
XY
on November 7, 2009
in Reflection and Uncategorized
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A couple evenings ago on my way home, I met a friendly elderly man. It was very cold and I was sick of being stagnant and waiting for the Parliament bus so I decided to walk towards Castle Frank station, at the very least moving to stay warm. It was just getting to be dark, and as I was crossing the street, a man, perhaps in his 70s dressed in a toque and carrying a rucksack on his back, looking like he was planning to travel far, approached me comfortably and asked if I was walking east, and if so we could keep each other company - walking with someone always speeds up the passing of time when it is cold - which always seems painfully slow when you’re on your own. I told him that I was actually walking towards the TTC station but would be happy to walk with him even for the short little while.

He asked me where I was from. I told him where my parents were from and where I was born. Since he had asked me, I asked him too where he was from.

“Nowhere,” he said with much indignantly, “I do not have a country… as the Americans have destroyed my homeland. Yugoslavia does not exist…”

And so we talked about American intervention and invasions, commiserating over world politics for perhaps 5 or ten minutes. I am not sure. It was just a short connection, one that felt so normal and natural. One that should happen more on cold blistery evenings as well as sunny warm ones. Ones I get to engage in regularly working outdoors in the neighbourhoods that I work in.

Continue reading ‘Community’

A typical visit from my parents

Published
by
XY
on September 26, 2009
in Uncategorized
. 5 Comments

Whenever my mother and father visit they bring me food and household items. Usually my mother will call and ask if I need or want anything. I will usually say that I don’t. Today my mother called at 10:30 am and asked if I needed moisturizer. I initially said no but then recanted. She asked if I needed anything else and this time, I was clear that I didn’t. Not that that matters.

So my parents arrived two hours later with my aunt in tow. Not only did they bring me moisturizer, but my family swarmed me with the following:

  • a jar of homemade pickles made by dad
  • a bag of purple and green tomatillos that my aunt picked from who-knows-where
  • little packages of beef jerky, dried apple chips (from Costco I can imagine)
  • rice pudding cups and yogurt (also Costco items)
  • a giant opened bag of parmesan flavoured baguette crisps (Costco!)
  • a bunch of bananas (”Eat a banana a day!” my mom stated as she came at me with the bunch)
  • a gallon of vegetable oil
  • a bottle of extra virgin olive oil
  • loose packs of gum
  • two litres of soy milk
  • dried sausage cut up in a bag
  • a Chinese moon cake
  • a box of Ziplock bags
  • a  roll of parchment paper
  • a roll  of plastic wrap
  • two tubes of toothpaste
  • four bars of soap
  • toilet cleaner
  • 1 24 pack of toilet paper rolls (SCORE! I hate buying toilet paper)

I probably forgot something. Oh, on top of the moisturizer, my mother also gave me a tube of lipstick and lip gloss. I don’t wear lipstick, or lip gloss even, ever. Essentially the aforementioned donated items are a result of my parents still not being used to having the kids moved out of the house and their inability to resist a deal or sale. And my mother wanting to pawn off some of the stuff she hoards in the basement that she discovers she has too much of.  Also, I have a feeling they are worried that I do not make enough money and want to just genuinely help me by furnishing Steven and I with ‘essentials’.  It’s not bad for the most part, but I basically end up with more things that I don’t really use or use quickly. I still have three rolls of aluminum kicking around.

,

Behind a rose berry bush

Published
by
XY
on September 2, 2009
in Reflection
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I feel so behind the Internet. I can’t keep up. Honestly, I am not sure if I want to at times but I am backloaded with stories(and photos) I’ve been wanting to share. Not to mention ideas and questions I’d like to work out in the written form on a public forum. It used to be effortless, to blog and interact, yet it’s been awhile since I’ve been regularly interactive.

waters

So many projects to finish. So many more to start.

It is official. Fall came last(last) weekend for me. I came to that conclusion at the end of the social justice retreat I had managed to attend (at the sort of) last minute with a group of youth and adults that work in the same neighbourhood that I do. Amazingly this retreat was held at a camp in Algonquin Park so I got to canoe, kayak, swim, laze about on a dock and sit around a fire for four days while also attending meetings, workshops and panel discussions. Moreover, I got to meet and listen to many interesting people.

obstacle track

Coddled in the basking glory of the Muskoka wilderness, I got to bond with people I had only merely known as acquaintances or even as an elusive name on an e-mail I’d been copied on in passing. Moreover I got to mull over a few things I’ve had on my mind.  I had time to think without the usual distractions. And it was that much more fantastic being surrounded by fresh air, pine trees of all sizes, rocks (woohoo Canadian Shield!), freshwater, wild animals and stars. The retreat took place at a summer camp that normally serves 300 youths and kids from July to August as it is filled with kitschy camp memorabilia, themed inscriptions on colourful wooden signage (i.e. “The Hedonistic Girls of 1998”) adorn the walls of the Main Lodge, listing names of campers and counselors past, but also informally paying homage to the popular culture of the times (one of my favourite signs from 1991 was shaped like a cassette tape, just before CDs became the norm). Camp Arowhon has been around since the 1930s.

Continue reading ‘Behind a rose berry bush’

Mint moment

Published
by
XY
on August 5, 2009
in Uncategorized
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Paul, a regular garden club  goer in the winter, came into the Winchester garden yesterday.  A dedicated indoor gardener at the age of 7 or so, he has a tendency to make a mess and say quirky things. He picked some mint leaves during the garden tasting tour that he absolutely went crazy over - declaring  matter of factly to his buddy “Mmmmmm! This smells so good! I am going to stuff this leaf up my nose… and call it my lucky leaf.”. He left the garden clutching the mint right under his nose, ready to go through with his claim.

Will Allen article in the New York Times magazine

Published
by
XY
on July 20, 2009
in Education, Food Systems and Urban Agriculture
. 0 Comments

Growing Together in February

A couple weeks ago Kerria sent me a link to the New York Times magazine feature on Will Allen from Growing Power. Reading it only reinforced, fortified, intensified my admiration for the man. You should all read it to be inspired!

I was so fortunate to meet Will and furthermore attend his community food systems workshops at Growing Power in Milwaukee, Wisconsin. A bunch of us Toronto urban agricultural and aspiring urban agricultural folks took a road trip back in February of 2008 to learn about composting on a large scale (inspiring the development of the burgeoning FoodCycles project) as well as building an aquaponics system, beekeeping, sprouting on a large scale scale, red wigglers, vertical growing and starting up a community project from below. Will Allen even gave us an extra specialized workshop for us Toronto-folks so committed to the cause he is and wanting to help his neighbours.aquaponics system

Will Allen's worm handsTouring the site and seeing the various aquaponic systems raising tilapia and perch (the most commonly eaten fish in the area) and growing watercress or other greens all at the same time in a closed loop system was mind opening. Seeing the goats and chickens, hoop houses, giant piles of compost and rows of worm bins. Seeing the volunteers and the youth interns from Chicago and learning about all their other projects in the region.

The whole weekend was also a bonding experience with fellow Toronto urban agricultural enthusiasts - getting to drive with Ian, Liz and Ashlee through Michigan, Indiana, Illinois and in Wisconsin was so much fun, even if scary and frustrating at times. We got lost in the “Lansing Tladybug loveriangle”, stopped at so many gas stations in which we’d ogle the wide array of junk food and pickled egg jars, as well as had to figure out how to get back on track countless times. It was ridiculous. We ended up arriving in Wisconsin like two or three hours later than everyone else.

Apargoats goats goatst from their commitment to implement and support urban agricultural projects, what makes Will Allen and Growing Power extra, extra special is their non-dogmatic approach to sustainability, that “people do the best they can”. One thing I absolutely abhor about the environmental movement is the snotty and “high-moral” ground attitude that many people and organizations embody and exude. It can be a very elitist and classist movement! But that’s another entry (or quite a few). Their strong belief in social justice and desire to empower and include all people of colour and all income levels is refreshing in a food movement that tends to lack diversity.

Needless to say, I think things just fell into place for me after I attended Growing Power and witnessed how things could be in Toronto.

Go to my  Flickr account to see more photos of my trip.