Cha Liu Dim Sum Shop

A while back, I mentioned that Jeff and I had started going to a dim sum shop at Yonge-Eglinton called Cha Liu when we moved into the neighbourhood. Two years later, it's still one of our favourites. As I mentioned in my earlier post about the shop, the term "cha liu" refers to small shops in ancient China, where travelers would stop for tea and snacks.



When I started writing for blogTO, I wanted to do a review of Cha Liu but discovered that it had already been reviewed several times before (see this blogTO review of Cha Liu, for example). Ah well. Hey, but that doesn't mean I can't keep writing about it in my own blog! :-)



The Supreme Shrimp Dumplings are my favourite:



Jeff's favourite -- the bbq pork buns:



Everything Jeff and I have had at Cha Liu has been delicious, and we've brought family and friends here many times. The interior is gorgeous; I especially like the ceiling painting in the front dining area:




I've always been a big fan of tiny food, e.g. food that comes in small packages or small servings. Dim sum is, as far as I'm concerned, ideal in this regard.



For those of you not familiar with dim sum: the term is a Cantonese term meaning "order to one's heart's content", is often is served in small dishes of three or four pieces each. I prefer having dim sum with several people than by myself because I can sample more dishes that way.



Our visit to Cha Liu was also an opportunity try out my new camera. All the pics on this page were taken with my Canon Rebel XTi with a Sigma 30mm f1.4 lens.

Here's a photo of Jeff with his Dad (and part of me :-)) in the mirror reflection:



Jeff's Dad, while he and Jeff were talking:



The staff at Cha Liu were very patient with my camera experimenting. :-) In the following photo, I forgot to change the autofocus from single point to auto (all) points, so the woman on the left is a bit out of focus.



I've been going through my Rebel XTi books a little at a time, taking a bunch of photos, going over them to see how I can improve, then reading more. Each session, I learn a little more. I found some of my Cha Liu photos to be a wee bit dark; next time in a similar environment, I'm going to pump up the ISO a little.



You can see other pics I took in my Cha Liu photo set.

Jeff has also been trying out my camera (when he can pry it out of my greedy hands, that is :-). Here's a photo he took using the Sigma lens by the dining room table, when I was chatting with his father:





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Pho, Guinness Marmite, Sigma 30/1.4 lenses

My recent posts on blogTO, for those interested:

Pho Vietnam: Comfort In a Bowl (photo above, taken on my point-and-shoot)

Raccoon-Proof Green Bins: Fact Or Fiction? (Part 2)

I love the Internet. Some months ago, I read that BSAG (one of my favourite bloggers and who, incidentally, recently acquired a cat -- I know a bunch of you are feline fanatics :-)) was looking for Guinness Marmite. BSAG was the one who got me hooked on the peanut butter and marmite combo so I was, of course, intrigued.

So I posted an appeal to my British friends in my Livejournal, most of whom I have met through the filking community. My friend Lissa found some in her area of Britain, and we agreed to a trade: two containers of Guinness Marmite (mailed to BSAG and me) in exchange for some maple butter (which I've sent) and an LJ user icon (which I still owe).


Lissa and me.

This sort of thing would have been so much more laborious through snailmail. Anyway, I'm quite enjoying my Guinness Marmite; I haven't yet decided if I like it more than regular Marmite, so lots more taste tests are in order. Apparently Guinness made a limited edition run of this type of marmite for St. Patrick's Day. Thank you, Lissa!



And for those not already driven crazy by my camera research, you'll be relieved to hear that I'm actually starting to narrow down my lens choices. Talking to my friend Iain helped a great deal; he owns a Nikon D80 with a AF-S Zoom-Nikkor ED 18-200mm (actually much smaller than the lens pictured above) and let me try it out on Friday night.

After taking pics for about 15 minutes, I found that the weight was starting to aggravate my tendinitis a bit. No big zoom lens for me, I think.

Iain also pointed me to a friend's Flickr account as an example of someone who uses a low light lens (Canon 50mm f1.4) as her walkaround camera. I love this woman's pics, and it looks like she leans toward the same sort of photographic subjects as I do.

And that got me thinking more about what kind of photos I take. I tend to shoot pics in low-light conditions, with a focus on people and close-ups of objects (like food!). I don't actually use the zoom on my Canon PowerShot that much because it's more difficult to get a sharp image; I prefer shooting at higher res and then cropping instead. So I think I could possibly get away without a zoom lens, at least in the beginning.



Philip Greenspun also offered me some advice on Photo.net (where he's CEO and editor-in-chief, though I've been a fan of his since his Travels With Samantha):

"http://www.photo.net/equipment/building-a-digital-slr-system/ is our standard article on the subject. If your main goal is improved performance in low light, the best starter lens would be the Sigma 30/1.4 (captures photos in light 1/8th as bright as a consumer zoom). If you're willing to go up in weight and cost, the Canon 5D body does offer superior low light capabilities (the starter lens there is the Canon 50/1.4)."

I can't afford the Canon 5D, but I started checking out the Sigma 30/1.4. I know it hasn't got a wide a field as some other lenses, but I'm pretty excited about the image quality and low-light capabilities. I may get a less expensive 18-55mm to supplement the 30 and then (if needed) get a higher quality wide angle lens later on. Unfortunately it doesn't look as if Vistek or Henry's carries the Sigma 30, at least not on the Web site, but I'm going to investigate if either would order it for me.

Anyway, I think that the best course for me is to make sure I'll actually be able to USE the camera without worrying about my tendinitis, then get lots of practice using a digital SLR, THEN think about what additional lenses I need.

Thanks to everyone who has offered camera advice on Facebook, Livejournal, Photo.net, DCresource.com, and especially Ray and Iain for letting me try out their cameras. At this point I'm leaning toward the Canon Rebel XTi unless Jeff wants to get the Nikon 18-200 lens to use with the camera himself, in which case we'll go with Nikon.

The fellow I spoke with at Vistek, though, had a good point. In the end, the type of camera and lens isn't nearly as important as having a good eye when taking photos. So I'm going to try not to obsess too much longer over the choice, actually go ahead and BUY my new camera/lens, and then start improving my craft. :-)



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Will Write For Chocolate, grilling, and herbal teas

(Update: Happy birthday to David Barker today!)

Just realized that I never posted about Will Write For Chocolate being updated last week, sorry.


Jeff and his brother, at breakfast.

Jeff and I have been eating out on our back deck more often these days. I've been getting a lot of grilling tips from Grilling For Dummies by Marie Rama and John Mariani, recommended by my friend Luisa. I tend to like cookbooks that don't just give recipes but that also offer extra info like the science behind particular cooking techniques and general principles about why certain combinations of ingredients work. Despite its lack of luscious colour photos, Grilling For Dummies is packed with useful info, plus some excellent recipes as well.

I'm going a bit nuts over grilled vegetables. They taste SOOOOOO much better than vegetables cooked the regular way. My friends John and Kristen got me hooked earlier this year after inviting me for a bbq; I like the sauce that John brushes onto vegetables before grilling them: a simple combination of oil and soy sauce. I've also been experimenting with one of the marinades suggested in Grilling For Dummies: olive oil, balsamic vinegar and chopped fresh basil. Yum.



I've also been experimenting with make tea from different fresh herbs in my garden. My favourite: chocolate mint tea! I also love lemon balm tea, and even experimented with thyme and peppermint combined. When I'm in the mood for tea, I'll start boiling some water and go browse my herb garden, pinching a leaf or two here and there, tossing them into a mug. As for my numerous basil plants, I've been using them heavily in soups, salads, and sandwiches. Next year, I'm going to try growing different types of basil. Hmm...I wonder what basil tea would taste like?



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My first restaurant review up at blogTO!

Woohoo, my first restaurant review is posted on blogTO.com this morning! Please do visit, and feel free to comment there if you like the post. :-) The restaurant I wrote about: Chai on Bayview Avenue, one of Jeff's and my favourite brunch spots.

As I've mentioned before, I've been hired by blogTO for their Books/Lit and Food sections. blogTO is a Web site about Toronto culture including the arts, music, film, fashion and food. I did ask if I could post about music as well, but apparently they have more than enough music bloggers. :-)

For the Books/Lit section, I'll be interviewing Toronto authors, editors, publishers, specialty printers as well as profiling bookstores in the city. If you know of a person or place in Toronto you think should be interviewed or profiled, please do let me know. I'm mainly looking for people or places who haven't already been profiled a zillion times before, more independent / small business than mainstream.

For the record, my policy re: restaurant reviews is going to be the following: I'm only going to review restaurants I like. This doesn't mean I won't have some minor negative comments sometimes, but with so many small restaurants struggling to keep afloat, I see no point in bashing one publicly. I'd rather use the space (and my time) to promote restaurants that deserve to be promoted.

I had a WONDERFUL time at the Dust Poets concert at The Stream
in Orangeville, by the way. More details in an upcoming Blathering.

Below: Dave, Tom and Sue in T&S's new car!






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The coolest clock in the world, best chocolate shop in Toronto

Happy birthday to my friend, Joey Shoji!

My friend Parki, a.k.a. Brian Parkinson. has made the coolest clock in the world. This model is called "Prayer." It's ethernet enabled (http, ntp, osc). Parki has a knack for turning ordinary household items into works of art. You can see the clock and other of his amazing creations -- and like the clock, some are for sale -- at his site:

Push-Pull-Twist-Turn.com

Jeff and I went to a party last night in honour of Parki's impending departure on a mega motorcycle trip across Canada as well as the birthday of our friend Roxanne. Before the party, we dropped by Soma.



Soma (55 Mill St. (at Cherry St.) Distillery District, 416-815-7662) is one of Toronto's best-known chocolatiers, and according to this review is the only chocolatier in Toronto to make chocolate straight from the beans.



In addition to a wide variety of chocolate made in the shop and imported chocolate, Soma has a cafe area in which you can order from a variety of hot drinks, including their famous Mayan Hot Chocolate (voted "Best Hot Chocolate" by Toronto Life Magazine) while nibbling on fregolata or other baked delicacies.



Soma also offers homemade gelato. Yesterday's flavour offerings included pomegranate, Ontario blueberry, milk chocolate, mango, roasted almond, Thai coconut, pistachio, caffe latte, dark Venezuelan chocolate, lemon sourcream, Madagascar vanilla, and roasted hazelnut.



But the focus, of course, is the chocolate. Jeff and I don't tend to visit Soma often because of its upscale prices and somewhat inconvenient (for us) location, but the chocolate is well worth the occasional treat. As far as I'm concerned, a visit to Soma qualifies. :-)



My favourite: Butter caramel dipped in Venezuelan dark chocolate with a sprinkle of Fleur de Sel.



I allowed myself to have ONE of the above mouthwateringly amazing chocolates. As I've mentioned before, I've been told by my doctor that I need to lower my blood sugar, so I'm reserving real chocolate for special occasions.

So I was delighted to discover that Soma makes sugar-free chocolate:



I had a tiny piece last night after we got home...it's VERY GOOD!

It's been about a month, by the way, since I started cutting back on refined sugars. So far, it's been easier than I expected. I used to crave sweets after every meal, but now I only crave it occasionally. There are far better sugar-free alternatives than I expected, but I'm never tempted to over-indulge because of side effect warnings. I'm eating more fruit to satisfy cravings, but I also don't deprive myself of sweet indulgences completely.

I'm exercising more and my form-fitting clothes are a tad looser. But I'm also well aware that the coming months will be the real test, to see whether or not I can successfully adopt my new eating habits as a (potentially) lifelong strategy. So far, the payoffs have been well worth it.

Anyway, I made it through a visit to my favourite chocolate store in Toronto with only one "real" piece of chocolate (though sorely tempted), so I figure I'm doing okay. :-)



I created the illustration above for Illustration Friday. This week's theme: "Citrus."



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