Gentle Confrontations

Was really lucky and got to go back to Vancouver and Calgary for a couple of weeks each.

First, Van:

A walk with Jeff and Michelle's dog, Jing Jing.

It was so nice to walk in a dense forest and not die of humidity and sweat. 

A little corner of Megan's place.

I experienced so much kindness and generosity on this trip that made me melt with gratefulness. This was one of those moments - a picnic with Will and Sarah.

The main event of the Vancouver trip, going away for the weekend to Gibsons with my most favorite people in the world.

I turned 29. Thank you again everyone for celebrating it with me :)

Then it was off to Calgary:

My parents had moved from Singapore back to Calgary (where my brother also lives). When planning my trip to Canada, I wanted to spend as much time as I could with them, so 2 weeks sounded about right. But when I was in Van, slight feelings of dread and anxiety came back to me when I began to think about it. I wondered if I gave too much time for it and if it was going to drive me nuts. It's a hard place for me, I either have a really good or awful time there. And whether it's one or the other is mostly due to the nature of my thoughts and what I do on each trip. Because of where my parents live (a bit of a drive from the center) and Calgary's sprawling nature, I have the tendency to just hide. And it's especially easy to do when you have amazing parents, a nice place to stay and don't know anyone in the city. But if I peel myself away from that, Calgary is good to me (I guess this attitude really applies to anything in life). I can't tell you enough how good it was this time. So much so that it has made me confront questions that I've been trying so hard to avoid and forget - ones revolving around the direction of my life. After putting these thoughts off for so long out of fear of what my answers would be, it was a relief to finally admit some things, and once I did, weights had been lifted. I've been using Bali as a base for the last couple of years and I've decided that as much as I've loved it (and still do), lately I have just been struggling to make it work and feel sustainable to me. I can't make it work. I don't want to either at this moment time.

And I am excited now for what the next possibilities could be.

Menu design for Elephant Cutlet.

Really looking forward to consuming some crème anglaise, haven't had enough of that stuff in my life so far. And the sausage - it's homemade and probably being made as we speak at Windsor meats - so cool!

You cominggggg?

Elephant Cutlet

Alex and Ken are doing a pop up restaurant at a space over by Crab Park. It's called Elephant Cutlet and the name and concept was inspired in part by this. They were really inspired by Ludwig Bemelmans, the author/illustrator of the cute little Madeline books. This is my sort of homage to Bemelmans. I think this poster is really funny - the shapes are supposed to be really abstract pieces of meat, one of them kind of looks like a severed elephant trunk, but I was more going for a rack of ribs.

Also, I think it's worth showing the other direction that I proposed for the poster:

This is the more elegant, sort of mysterious version - because the dinner is a pop up and at a sort of obscure place. But the boys chose the first direction - wanting to be whimsy and getting away from the "coolness" typically seen in design in the restaurant industry.

Fine by me!

Anyways - come out to the dinner - it's simple, delicious home food and it'll be really cozy and affordable - and oh yah, I'll be there and it be nice to see your faces!

mountains.

Hi:

On a couple of whims, I bought a few herb plants: basil, rosemary, and mint. I had always wanted to grow my own herbs, it always irked me when I would spend a dollar on basil and never finish it all. What a ripoff! I never knew how satisfying it would be to have your own plants.  They were always kind of a whatever thing to me, getting nothing more than a glance or a passing thought. But jeeze, I get happy from just LOOKING at them. I LOVE THESE PLANTS. A friend was telling me how plants were like pets to her and she loved them so much and I was like, yes, plants, nice, next subject. But I completely understand where she is coming from, smelling them, seeing little buds grow, the burst of green, it's all too much. 

I am so proud of this pie! (Recipe here) The meringue! 

Then on Monday, hiked the Chief with a bunch of pals: 

I was so nervous about going up this big ol' mountain. I had done the Grouse Grind last year and had gone into it with little expectations, if anything, to do fine, but oh my god that mountain kicked my ass and I felt like my mind and limits were truly tested that day. I was told that the Chief was somewhat the same in difficulty level as the Grouse Grind, if not harder, and that...was really discomforting. But I am like, man, just do it, what are you going to do anyways on a Monday other than stare at a computer for the entire day, this is a better use of your time and body. 

And it was a good thing I did. It wasn't nearly as bad as I thought it would be, and hanging out on the top of a mountain is cool. 

Then we went to the beach:

(contrary to what you may think from looking at this picture, the water was really cold)

(contrary to the slight grimace on Tom's face, the beach was really nice.)

I am off to Calgary tomorrow for 6 days, and I am very excited. Thanks for seeing me off on a good note Vancouver. 

Talk soon.

Witnessed/Ruled

The last bits of February:

Vancouver 2010 Party city is over. :(

Pal from Calgary, Adam Zendel came down to see some of the Olympics. This is at W2 in gastown. 

Okay many of you must have been here:

Wasn't it insane?!

Thanks Vancouver Winter Olympics 2010 for Wilco, fireworks, all the gold medals (and other medals), intense game and competition watching, people, and being here, it sure was fun and I feel so lucky to have witnessed and experienced all this. Safe to say, you ruled. 

hello all.

So it feels like the last few days have been spent chasing everything free and interesting that is happening for the Olympics, and holy crap is it ever exciting. 

lol. 

Okay this is no secret, but I was seriously so beyond stoked to see Wilco at Livecity the other night. When we got to the site, the line was incredibly thick and so long that just when you didn't think it could get any longer, it did. But we got in the line and it seemed like it was going to be the longest wait or near impossible to get in, but it moved surprisingly fast. It only took 45 minutes (I know it may sound long, but I was too excited and it felt pretty short) and once we were in it was the coolest feeling ever to see such a big, wonderful favorite band of mine (for FREE!) at this huge world wide event (the OLYMPICS!), such a great summation of things in one moment in time and man, WILCO. They played such a long set too, which was a nice surprise as well. 

I have no idea what happened here, but it's kinda nice.

Chinese New Year!

I so very like tulips and especially these ones that I bought from the corner of Granville and Broadway (2 for $5!)

This is such an exciting time and I am so glad to be here and around all these people doing all these things and man soooo gushy.