Eat Around the World

Hey y'all. Check this out. Last Saturday went over to Sachi, Mihoko and Dave's house for dinner and we all made a dish each. Sachi made Malaysian vegetable curry (her boyfriend Dom is vego), Mihoko made ma-puo tofu, Dave made Japanese salad dressing for the salad, Yuki made kim chi with pork and I made my Morroccan style beef with couscous. Oh my god the meal that night was unbelievable. Dave's sister and her boyfriend came, Unes the last member of the house was there as well and later two more stragglers came. This is becoming a bit of a regular thing now as two weeks prior I had dinner with them (plus and minus a few guests) and met some really nice people.

And to think this all started with working at Second Cup, a chain coffee shop (known in Australia as Gloria Jean's, which I used to work at during uni!), where I met Sachi and Yuki. And through Sachi I've met Mihoko, who took me salsa dancing last Thursday night. Mihoko is a top shelf salsa-er, we had so much fun. My body ached for two days after. And through Mihoko I've met Neil, who gave me a lift to Ikea - sweet.

I realise this blog sounds rather elementary. It's the end of a long day and I just want to get this out instead offering any thing insightful. But things are looking better in Toronto these days anyway. Least I'm never short of a good meal! Bon appetite!


L: Unes, Mihoko, Dom, Yuki, Sachi; R: Yuki marvelling at my Morrocan beef.


L: Dinner is served in the backyard; R: Mihoko's tofu is tre authentic.


L: Almost scraping the bottom of the pot; R: They loved it!

TIFF Me!

For the first time in Toronto, I actually felt like I was IN Toronto. I've said before in the past that this city lacks a certain personality, or character, but from September 7 - 16 when the Toronto International Film Festival was on, the city was alive. There was nothing but good things said about this city and how the people of Toronto year after year welcome the diversity of films and give great reception to all the A-List celebrities that come to the red carpet.

Scoring free tickets from work, my colleague and I went to see the closing film of the festival, Amazing Grace, a British film directed by Michael Apted (of documentary series 7-Up etc fame). The director himself spoke about the film before the screening. It is the story of William Wilberforce who lead the bill to abolish the slave trade in Britain. Whilst it may not have been the usual choice of a Saturday night movie, the film is very well done with plenty of witty dialogue, fused with great drama giving the subject matter the importance it rightly deserves, bringing to life one of history's unsung heros. Wilberforce is in fact buried at Westminster Abbey. All in all an uplifting and inspirational film with a faultless cast. 5 stars.

Not to take away from the importance of a film like Amazing Grace, but I was actually more impressed with the fact that my friend saw the new Jude Law film a few days earlier, and actually sat in the same row as Jude Law himself. Yes, she saw the man in flesh and blood. In the theatre. Just a few seats away. The luck of some.