Susur vs. Stevie

back again.

kinda busy this week, so there was a delay, not that anybody reads this. HA!
last monday i got to eat at susur lee's cheaper alternative 'lee' and check out the stevie wonder concert. it was pretty kick ass, and i will seperate this post by giving my uppers and downers of each event.

lee's:

UPPERS -
great atmosphere paired with a lovely/attentive waiter with an english-like accent (added to the said atmosphere). the food was aight. the menu consisted of the popular 'tappas' approach with little appetiser like servings available for each person to pick at. we ordered a variety of vege and protein dishes, the best of both being the slaw salad for the vege team and the braised beef dish for the proteins. a stand out performance was also given to the croquettes that were served along with the garlic shrimp. the slaw, noted as the signature dish for the restaurant, was nothing short of amazing. its greatness could be associated with the fact that almost everything was deep fried, so i hesitate when i call this a 'salad'. it was very tasty and had a lot of crunch which is typically what i like to find in a slaw.the braised beef dish was extremely tender, and melted in my mouth. the sauce was lovely, mild, and didn't bring it down. the beef was paired with a potato mash that echoed the melt-in-your-mouthiness in the beef.

lastly, the croquettes made a stand-out appearance alongside the garlic shrimp. they were nice and crunchy on the outside, and lovely and soft on the inner. but, again, they were deep fried. pretty much all the dishes we had were altogether deep fried or had a deep fried component. i love my fried foods but...come on now! is that all we need to make food good nowadays? artery clogging? i'm getting sick of all the frying happening in the culinary world, but that's probably because i have injested too much of it over the last while. i mean, you turn on iron chef america, and almost EVERYTHING is deep fried. ugggh, i digress.

the desserts were also pretty dope. i made my dad order the molten chocolate dish, while i got the usual vanilla creme brulee (i order this everywhere, and get upset when its not on a dessert menu). however, this brulee was paired with candied ginger nibs & sauce (like a compote), and it was a very interesting and refreshing pairing. i definitely enjoyed it. the molten chocolate cake was obviously a hit, because, come on, its hard to make molten cake taste bad. for me, anyways.

DOWNERS -
i'm going to begin my list of downers by taking a hit on the alcohol side - my starter cocktail. i ordered a mango infused mojito. it sounded great on the menu, especially after seeing that they used a persecco instead of the traditional soda/mineral water. however, it tasted waaaay too sweet and had too much sugary syrup added into it making it taste like something of the candy variety. i could hardly drink it. but being a drinker, i grinned and bared it, and made my way onto the wine train.

secondly, their signature shoe-string potatoes. barf. i must confess, i kept on eating them out of some masochistic rage. but honestly, there was this disgusting cinnamon-y or nutmeg-y seasoning on these that made them gross. like, really gross. and considering that everything else on each plate seemed to be deep-fried, they should know what deep fried food should taste like, and not put any gross seasoning in it to make it 'avant garde'.

also notably gross, but not as bad, was the sauces they paired with the satay. there was an abundance of proteins given for the satay, which i was grateful for, because i'm an option girl. i like them. however, they should've just stuck with the traditional peanut sauce, because that was the best one. they gave two other dipping options that were not nice on the palate. i can't even remember what they were, because i don't care. it was funny to see that when we finished that dish, we collectively after one taste, avoided the other sauces and finished the peanut one. ha.

another not so great dish (we ordered a lot) was the deep fried tofu (i know, everything is bloody deep fried, so if you feel fat, don't come here and be fooled by the small portions). it was ok, but its hard with water packed tofu because there's no taste. it just tasted like any run of the mill tempura tofu from your neighborhood sushi joint. i suggest they marinate them with a garlic or chili base to give it a kick, and then deep fry it. but who am i?

all in all, it was fair considering the price and inventiveness of each dish. it was more like the atmosphere centered on the entertainment of food at this place. plus, the decor was innovative and fun. except for the bathrooms, they were boring and white. whatevs.


and, on to the concert

well, it was a packed house at the air canada centre, and everyone there was coming to see a musical legend: STEVIE WONDER. my sister, brother and i decided to buy my mum and dad tickets to see him as an early christmas present. the option came available for my sister and i to join, so i immediately obliged, even considering the crazy amount i doled out for the ticket. anywho, the uppers and downers:

UPPERS -
omg, are you kidding me? everything. this guy to me is what music should be about, to its core. well, pop music at least. stevie's been around since my parents were teens, and he's still got it, let me tell you. a great thing about this gig is that, to my relief, stevie didn't play any of his new stuff. the latest song he played was from the eighties ('i just called to say i love you'). AMAZING. he began the concert by recalling his mother's death, and explained that this is why he decided to tour again. he had vowed to never tour, but his momma came to him (apparently as a ghost) and told him to get to it. i agree.

the performance was amazing. i danced to all the fasties(living for the city, superstition, higher ground, signed sealed delivered, i'm yours!, etc) and almost cried at all the slowies (lately, ribbon in the sky, my cherie amour). actually, i did cry at 'my cherie amour' because that is my ALL TIME FAVORITE stevie tune. they had a nice sort of intermission with a blind percussionist that blew the roof off the house. he was awesome. then they showcased the 3 OTHER PERCUSSIONISTS in stevie's band! yeah, there were 3 of them. in total, stevie had an 11-peice band behind him with 2 backup singers. UH-MAY-ZYNG. everyone was dancing and having a great time the whole way through. i loved it. i clapped so hard during the show, my hands were swollen and hurty. and my dad was soooooo happy, holding my mum's hand almost throughout the whole set. i cannot tell you how great it was, and his voice was on point! he even got glenn lewis on stage to sing superstition but his warbling could not compare to stevie's impeccable voice. the set almost lasted about 3 hours, and the expensive tickets proved they were worth every penny. a truly mind-blowing and inspiring experience.

DOWNERS:
the wine. the only kind they had was like horse pee. but thank god, mummers and dads took us to get some santa marghereta after the concert at the royal york. LOVES THEM.

symphony and bad atmosphere

yo,

back again.

going to be a short post, because i have no time. who knew blogging was so time consuming?

anywho, on saturday, i went to check out the symphony and heard some good music. the dude pictured at the top right was the composer of the night. he was funny and british, and his name is Peter Oundjian.

the second half was better than the first. the musical arrangement by some eastern euro dude named Mussorgsky from the early 19th century centered his whole piece around the beginning to 'tical' by the infamous M.E.T.H.O.D. MAN. i laughed to myself each time it revealed itself in the songs, and it was kind of hilarious because i knew no one in that room had a clue what i was laughing at.

another notable part of the symphony that night was the 5 minute tune 'nimrod' by Elgar. it was really good because it was short, and awesome. this was the 2nd song played after the orchestra played o canada (yawn). then after that, before the half-time or whatever its called, this 18 YEAR OLD played us some chopin from his first piano concerto, or piano concerto no. 1 if you want me to be exact. it was a big yawn again on my end because i almost fell asleep like eighty times. it was too melodic for my liking, if that's possible. plus i guess i was envious of the 18 year old after reading her bio. the girl is in med school and has won every piano and charity award available to her. being one of the best pianist in the country, girl doesn't know if she wants to be a doctor or piano player yet. so she's going to spend the 8+ years or so in school to find out. good luck with all that.

then we went to dhaba on king, a block away from roy thompson hall. the food was amazing, and i had a white wine and butter poached lobster to start, finishing off with some butter chicken and saag paneer. the naan bread was incredible. the table decided to get the garlic naan, and it complemented the dishes well. the only problem i had with this place was the service. i'm going to personally blame it on 'restaurant makeover' because they were featured on the show that week, and i expect that they were dealing with way more customers than ever before. plus, they didn't seem to have a maitre d' or head of the house or front houser or whatever. i'm guessing they ironed out all the food and decor issues in the show and then forgot about everything else. one example of the poor service was the timing on the food; they brought out my lobster appetizer first, and nothing else for almost 10 minutes (there were four of us there in total). so, bad manners aside, i had to start eating before everyone, because lobster gets cold real quick. but it was really good. then the butter chicken came out and it was amazing. i paired it with some saag paneer and garlic naan and went to heaven. amazing.

i'm bored - first edition : dim sum/rivoli/GEORGE!

this is my first post.

i recently decided that it would be a good idea to start a blog because i don't really like my current job. in an effort to figure out what the remainder of my life is going to resemble, i thought that maybe writing about my two favorite things could be some sort of a vessel to guide me from my mundane experience as a corporate administrator. at the moment i am desperate to find some answers, and quite frankly, i'm tired of people asking me "what are you going to do with your life?"

so, here goes:

yesterday, i went to catch a documentary at the NFB (Canada's National Film Board = free movies and occasionally a spread of dipables and fair chardonnay). i went with my pals rosie, jason and evan. we were also quasi-celebrating rosie's birthday (she hates birthdays, so it was kinda not her birthday but just a fun-night-thingy). the documentary was about Haiti and the hypocrisy of its presence of child slavery. there were two documentaries, but because this blog is loosely based around food and music, i will focus on the first one.

the documentary, 'Child Slavery: The Hypocrisy of Haiti' centred on the behind the scenes look at those affected by child slavery. this was partnered by an appearance of a celebrity (?) musician from Canada i guess, named 'George'. he even did a performance for the poor nation. i don't know what good this could have done, as he only had what appeared to be one song to perform, and took his shirt off at the end noting in a post-performance interview "i don't know why, but at every performance, i HAVE to take off my shirt! *inane laughter*" i thought it was an endearing undertaking for this kid to go over to one of the least developed nations in the world without having any concept of what was going on. i also felt he connected with the audience when trying to explain what was going on in Haiti and the children's experience as child slaves. after realising that the target audience was 15-25, i further understood the involvement of 'George'. i had no clue who this guy was, but being 23 and at the older edge of the target audience, i probably wasn't intended to know who he was. anyways, it was a good effort by the production teams of plan (used to be foster parents plan) and mobile jam fest.

oh jeez, i'm a beginner at this blog thing, and just realised i forgot to mention two good meals i ate prior to the documentary screening.

after being awake for about 15 mins, mum reminded me that we were going out for dim sum with my sister at 12pm (it was 11:44am at this point). i was so excited, you have no idea. i've never been to a full out, formal dim sum in my life. ya, i've had my odd dumpling, but nothing like i was told to expect. we went to the bright pearl on spadina in the heart of china town. i was a little sketched out climbing the stairs to the place as its surroundings were curious. some of these doubts were taken away as we entered a giant hall with what seemed like 100 tables. we were seated immediately, and given menus, but we were also told that we could chose some selections from a cart.

the carts we interesting. we didn't really know what we were getting, but we seemed to collect an arrangement of shrimp dumplings followed by some scary looking short ribs that mum attacked, an eggplant dish, bean curd dumplings, and some sort of pork dumpling-type steamer. it was all very tasty, except i didn't attempt a taste of the suspect looking short ribs, but mum seemed to like them. the shrimp and porky-type-dumplings were awesome, and the hot sauce was a great compliment. then my sister ordered chicken in a black bean sauce on a steaming plate and some eggplant egg drop soup. both were excellent, except the soup's vegetables tasted like they came from frozen and left much to be desired. the chicken in particular was nice because it tasted very lean and smothered in an msg type sauce that made you want more. it was an awesome lunch, and i would definitely come back again.

however, the meal was quite pricey for a lunch. it came to $71.00 for the three of us. i found this odd. granted, we did eat more than we should have, but to be honest i'd rather go across the street to swatow and shell out $15 for more food that is equally as awesome. but i guess you pay for the 'ambiance' of the 'great hall' and food carts. whatevs.

the next meal i had out was a light one, because dim sum definitely filled me up for the remainder of the day. before we went to the documentary screening, the gang with the addition of jackie, went out to the rivoli on queen street for a bite and a few drinks. i got a pint of stella (only 3 beers on tap, blah) and ordered a caesar salad. i know, i'm boring, but i was extremely full and unadventurous. the other orders included burgers without buns and salads instead of fries', and mushroom burgers with sweet potato fries. evan agreed to let me share his fries with him, because sweet potato fries are my favorite. maybe. it depends, actually. the reason i have conflicting views is because of the lack of consistency. it is hard to find a good sweet potato fry. the best i have EVER tasted in my life were from gold ol' mark's north 44. they were amazing. very thinly cut, not huge like everywhere else i've tried. we would even order them after they took them off the menu, and they would oblige. one of the best restaurants i have ever been to ever. i digress. back to the rivoli: the salad was average, but the croutons surprised me. they were lightly seasoned and easy to get on the fork. however, i do not think they were fresh. the bacon also seemed to be of the 'one minute microwave' variety, and had little taste. the dressing was fair, and i could taste the anchovy. now, being a partial enemy to the anchovy, i don't know if this is a good thing, but it kinda put me off. the sweet potato fries that i sampled off of evan's plate were you're usual pub take on the sweet potato fry: thick cut and soggy with a boring mayonnaise sauce that makes you think of the potential amount of cholesterol that's about to clog your arteries. but there was an awesome chili/hot sauce condiment in the middle of the table that upped the ante on the fries substantially. it was great, because my beer was looking for something to cool down in my mouth. all in all, it's what you would expect for a $20 meal. nothing too fussy, nothing too satisfying, but good enough to set you up for the night.

the last meal i will post about today was the leftover pizza i heated up at 3am. i got home after a night of cultural happenings and a late night dabble into Korea town for some karaoke. ya, i drank waaaay too much, and beer at that. i never drink beer anymore, so it was kinda wierd to be that shmammered off of the suds. i do find though, when i drink beer i have to eat to make a nice pillow in my stomach to soak up the what could be bile in the morning. so, i chose to eat the carbiest thing in the fridge: leftover pizza from ferros on st. clair. mum and dad ordered a bunch for them and a few friends who came round, and i asked if they could kindly save me a few slices because i knew they would be greatly appreciated following my exploits. what i found in the box was half a pizza of prosciutto/hot pepper/black olive combo and half a pizza of the grilled vege kind. they were both stellar heated up in our toaster oven. the anticipation for the cheese to bubble was excruciating, but once it was done, my stomach could not be happier. even though this meal was totally against my battle with the bulge considering the time it took place, and amount of 'bad carbs' ingested, it was TOTALLY worth it. i don't regret it at all, and will run for an extra 10 tomorrow.