I've been back at my childhood home, an apartment in Don Mills, Toronto, painting and doing some minor renovations. 

It has been almost 20 years since I've stepped inside that place, but at once it seemed so familiar, like I was just there yesterday.

One of my baskets of leftovers from our harvest this week. Lots of kaleidescope carrots, giant zucchinis, some okra, fennel, and very fragrant lemon verbena which I am using for tea everyday.

Over the weekend, I went back home to Toronto. It was a really short trip, mainly took care of some errands with my grandfather, went to church and a BBQ with family friends. I also managed to squeeze in some time to go raspberry picking in Markham. 

I had no idea we were so close to all these farms. One side of Major Mackenzie are housing developments and small shopping centers 

And on the other side of the street are farms

Anyways, we went to Organics Farm just in time for the last of their raspberries. They were really good but I still made some of it into jam. My sister also brought home the most amazing wild blueberries. If it sounds like I'm obsessed with berries, it's because I totally am! All summer fruits really. They're only available during such a short window. 

Speaking of the farm, we've been having some issues with the tomato hornworm the last couple of weeks. Since we're not spraying, we spent a good amount of time last week searching for them, then collecting them in a jar (so gross), which we fed to the chickens. But we missed one of them and it turned into a huge moth. We spent more time trying to eliminate it than we should have. Water does not work, and neither does bleach. I don't even want to say what we ended up doing with it. Also, we caught a woodchuck. (I have pictures of all of these but I don't know if I can put them up or if anyone would want to see them anyways!) 

All this made me think of the book I'm reading, Eating Animals. One of the main reasons he cites for being a vegetarian is that he doesn't want to hurt any creature, that we should treat fish the same way we treat dogs and cats. Well, now I see that we have to kill quite a few creatures in order to produce vegetables, herbs, and fruit. Aren't they alive too, have nociceptors like us and are frightened when locked up in a small cage?

So what people normally do when they encounter a woodchuck in their garden is shoot it. It finds ways inside the garden gates, eats and destroys a lot of the vegetables, and probably tells all its friends and family about it. I don't know if it's because it was only the three of us girls trying to figure out what to do with this woodchuck and we didn't really have the heart to shoot it or allow anyone else to, but we ended up driving it a couple miles away and releasing it. May not have been entirely legal, and it will probably end up getting killed by some predator in its disorientation, but it was the best we could come up with. I wonder what we'll have to deal with in the weeks to come! 

Recent Trip to Toronto

Following my sister around downtown.

Finally got to see I am Love last night.

Labor Day Weekend in Toronto

I have 5 days off of work in a row, so I took advantage of this rare opportunity to go back to Canada again. First thing we did was go to Wok on Yonge for a Cantonese take on afternoon tea. Three types of steamed shrimp dumplings, fried mantou with smoked salmon, chicken pie, egg rolls, and scones. A variety of teas but we stuck with traditional Chinese-- Pu Li and Oolong. Every time I come home to Toronto, I put The Big Lebowski DVD on but I'm usually so tired that I end up falling asleep somewhere shortly after the Dude and Walter attempt to make the exchange with the kidnappers and... end up going bowling. Well, today I sat through the whole thing... now I want to go bowling. But we will continue with the DVDs and watch Othello instead.

Wang Peng, ni ming tian mang bu mang?



Still trying to brush up on my Mandarin =) Had a fun weekend with family and friends from California and NY. We ate lots of Chinese food, visited Niagara Falls, and went to the Chinese Lantern Festival at Ontario Place.

So the UN has called Toronto the most diverse city in the world. While I have always been fascinated by Toronto's multiculturalism, I know this claim may be hard to believe. After all, Toronto should be no different than any other large metropolitan city. But every time I'm here, I notice minute details that not only convince me that the claim is probably true, but also that Toronto embraces it's diversity unlike any other city (that I've ever experienced at least). While buying candy from the convenience store across the street from where I live, I noticed that they also sell an interesting mix of fast foods-- beef patties, spring rolls, and samosas. Maybe insignificant to people that live here, but interesting to me :)

Tofu Hua

Sweet tofu with a thin syrup laced with ginger, served at a Cantonese late-night snack and dessert place. You gotta love the name of this eatery-- Health, Herb, Harmony. Around this area, I sometimes feel like I'm in Hong Kong and that I (being an English speaker) am the one that's in the minority!

I really like driving around Toronto in the summertime, even on a cloudy day. I like looking at old houses, watching trains go by, and passing by places that our mother used to take us to-- like parks and libraries and playgrounds. Maybe one of these days we'll actually get out the car and walk around.

I assumed the weather in Toronto would be pretty similar to NYC's, but it's not nearly as muggy or hot here. Cool, breezy, and sunny. Listening to this mix while drinking a milk tea.

Oh, Canada

I'm back home in Toronto. Home, as in where my family is, not where my things are. It's 2 in the morning and I just want to say:

1. I'm glad to be with my family again.
2. It's weird/nostalgic to be in Toronto again.
3. I miss my fiance. Already.

After landing, on ferry from Toronto City Centre Airport