MARZ 格子

Marz's moved...格子已搬家

2005-05-22T13:14:00.000-05:00

Hi everyone, I've finally moved.
Here's the new address: http://www.carbonxiv.com/.
Please update (if any of you linked me)...

新地址是: http://www.carbonxiv.com/.
有連結的話, 麻煩更新一下...

================================================
Yes... Marz's been disappeared for awhile.
對啊! 格子好像失蹤一陣子了.

Didn't reply to any of your comments,
nor post any new stuffs here.
沒有回你們的回應, 也沒有新文章.

Because I just finished importing the posts from Blogger to Word Press. *Finally*
It took me 2 tries. The first failure was because I've uploaded to the wrong dir.
這其實是因為我剛剛才終於把這裡所有的文章移到Word Press去.
嘗試了兩次, 第一次失敗是因為東西被上載到不對的地方.

Originally, I was thinking I'd post the new URL here once everything's finished.
But I gradually figured that I wouldn't be able to finish all the renovation very soon.
*with the current pace*
本來想等到所有東西做完後才把地址公佈,
但慢慢我就覺得, 以我現在的速度, 要我的新家完全裝修好, 並不會是短時間內的事.

And some of you have actually discovered my new home.
HAHA =)
而且你們一些人也已經發現了我的新地址了.

So, I'll announce my new address here now.
*It's really raw, so if you go there, don't laugh at me =D*
所以我決定現在就告訴你們我的新地址.
*你們見到, 可不要笑我喔! 因為新家還是很爛, 很基本的.*

Feel free to post any comment there.
請多多指教!

testing

2005-05-20T01:03:00.000-05:00

testing 123...

...marz's new site is under construction...

Being a straight...

2005-05-17T12:38:00.000-05:00

hair person do have lots of advantages. At least you don't have to blow dry your hair everytime you wash your hair.

Saturday, I finally made the decision.

I had to straighten my hair!

I've been thinking of doing my hair for so long. But the 6-7 hour wait is just holding me back from doing it. Everytime I thought of sitting in the Salon for that long, I'd say "forget it!"

Well... It's straight now, and I won't have so much trouble w/ my hair for awhile.

Good Job Marz! (Padding my back ^^)

繼續覓食 Food searching cont'd...

2005-05-15T17:46:00.000-05:00

Dined out a few times this week, but didn't find any real good restaurant.
So-so, so-so, and so-so.

Went to the i-cook buffet near Warden and Steeles.
(Haven't had any hot-pot/shabu shabu since when?...)
Wednesday night, around 7:30p.m. There weren't a lot of customers at i-cook.
Yes, Wednesday is supposed to be like that.
But don't forget,
right now all university students are having their holidays.
Done w/ exam and not yet started summer school.

We ordered the seafood buffet for $17.99 (i.e. with $3 more, you'll get oysters, crabs, and some better veggies, plus all you can drink pops and other drinks) . The soup base we ordered was (1) Lobster base w/ 1 lb. of lobster for $9.99, (2) Mushroom soup base $3.99, and (3) Lamb + chinese herb (Dong-Guai) soup base $3.99.

The environment there was quite good. I'm sure most of the people will remember the big "round" screen TV there. It was playing S.H.E. and Jay Chou's Concert that night. The service was pretty good. They were pretty polite and often come by to see what we need.

Now, let's talk about food selections. The thing I really like it the wide variety of sauces you can mix together yourself. (that's why it's called "i cook" right!) The food quality was average. There're quite a lot of fish/crab/lobster/shrimp/meat balls you can dump and cook in the soup. Unfortunately, the shrimp and the crab there were just NOT FRESH. I was kind of disappointed. Anyone can tell the shrimp was unfresh by just looking at the texture.

I would say... the overall experience was so-so. The total came to be around $90 for three persons, and I don't think I'd recommend you going.

=================================
Went to Kelsey's on the same plaza (Steeles and Warden) on Saturday night around 9:30pm. It was a rainy night and there weren't a lot of people on the street or near the T&T supermarket.
Remember there was a period of time when I went to Kelsey's quite often. I especially liked the one on Steeles and Woodbine. It was relatively old; with the dim lights and not so many patrons, it gave me this feeling of escaping from the city and back to the 60's. Another special note is that this restaurant is not smoke-free. You can just sit in the designated area (an open area, not those little smoking room) and have a cigar or so. Yea,... but it's no longer there now. There now stand the restaurant/pub (not sure) called drInk. Haven't been there though.

Yea... back to the topic. We went to the new Kelsey's and it was kinda late for dinner time. The main reason why we went to Kelsey's was partly because it was pretty close and we couldn't think of other places, also because we wanted to have the ribs. Unfortunately, they were out of ribs! Sigh... So what we ordered was a steak, a steak fajita and an onion soup... All of them were just so-so. No surprises... (yes, what do you expect?). I found it pretty hard to get a good french onion soup... So far, I think the one at the KEG is relatively good. Still remember how salty the one was at the La Biftheque. The one at Tickled Toad was a bit different from the other ones, but it was just ok (I basically just went there for the Monday wing special.) Arh... I really love the cheese on top of the french onion soup.~~~~

==================================
Another restaurant revisited was the "竹橋" at Commerce Gate.
Suddently wanted to have Japanese noodle... and couldn't think of anywhere I could get that... so drove up to the Commerce Gate and had the noodle there.
Actually I really haven't had the noodle there before (except once I ordered a plain noodle w/ seaweed because I wasn't in a mood to eat that night). How it turned out this time? Wasn't too good. I guess I wouldn't go there (at least not when I'm the one making decision) next time. The Curry pork rice was so-so, the spicy tuna roll and the house noodle only scored a 5 out of 10. ><

MSN space...

2005-05-12T22:11:00.000-05:00

Hum~
installed the msn messenger 7.0.
lots of new features...
the first thing i'm doing is...
again
start up a new page
and occupy the name of "carbonxiv".

Here's my msn page.
Wonder if I'd use that though.

肚臍眼展覽

2005-05-12T20:10:00.000-05:00

翻著張愛玲的《流言》，看到其中的一段：

...最近我在一本英文書上看到兩句話，借來罵那種對於自己過份感到興趣的作家，倒是非常切當：『他們花費一輩子的時間瞪看自己的肚臍，並且想法子尋找，可有其他的人也感到興趣的，叫人家也來瞪看。』我這算不算肚臍眼展覽，我有點疑心，但也還是寫了。

覺得自己也有點肚臍眼展覽之嫌，但不瞪也瞪了那麼久了，還是繼續瞪／寫吧。

風采依然

2005-05-11T00:34:00.000-05:00

風采依然

從來是我討厭的咖啡店重來又覺得這裡
竟然不討厭尤其是這天約定前度見面

落地大窗的那面繁盛也好比往年
約了我的卻未見有人連手機都偷看幾遍
白日夢醒先發現前面有張我最熟的臉
百般話語瞬間浮現在喉嚨間混戰

* 風采依然現在又在我面前分開幾年性格各有點改變
再次碰頭不知有何新發現兜轉逢在又再單身那天
情感線能否再通電 *

日夜在等的約會誰料到等足七八年
我已變得夠耐性對男孩的不羈不會生怨
歷盡萬千的試煉全為接天使最後一箭
你的任性你的遲熟原來無可避免

Repeat *

風采依然就像是第一志願
分開幾年原來還留低虛線
再次碰頭收緊最長的掛念
命太短苦戀幾場大概探險總要完
流離時代願以這篇壓卷來給我還一個心願

盡量扮得很老練來問你可有對象推薦
你指著你笑得靦腆令人仍心軟心軟像以前

從前共你相約這咖啡店

還是覺得你最好

2005-05-10T22:33:00.000-05:00

還是覺得你最好
(Finally I changed the template back to GREY; Still like this better)

但我不懂說將來但我靜待妳歸來
在這心灰的冷冬共你熱烈再相逢
全是我的美夢

但我不懂說將來但我靜靜待妳歸來
在這春風秋雨中共妳願望已不同
還是有點故夢想傾吐

*一切事情驟似一絲苦惱回看妳我的路
是情是愛是緣是痛今日我卻竟都不知道
我依然而我竟然還是覺得妳最好

#即使妳離開我熱情未改
這漫長夜裡誰人是妳所愛
花不似盛開愛漸如大海
假使妳懷念我為何獨處感慨
即使妳離開我熱情未改
這漫長夜裡誰人是妳所愛

Miyabi Japanese Restaurant

2005-05-08T17:49:00.000-05:00

Several years ago, I heard that there's a pretty good Japanese restaurant in Richmond Hill, near Hwy 7 area, operated by Japanese people. I've once tried to find that restaurant, but couldn't find it. That puzzle was finally solved yesterday night.

Came to this place, Miyabi Japanese Restaurant yesterday around 10:00p.m. It's actually nearby my work place, and the area where I often go to. But for some reasons, this restaurant just didn't catch my attention at all. It's at the Jubilee Square, where you see the CIBC, and some Chinese tea houses.

Saturday night, when we went into the restaurant, there weren't a lot of patrons. There should be some reasons for it; and I think the reasons would be its outlook/location (at the corner), its opening hours and its price. It closes at 10:30p.m. most of the days (if I remember correctly, from Monday-Saturday)! The deco inside wasn't fancy at all. You can see the Japanese menu on the wall, the Japanese magazines near the entrance, and Japanese waitresses and Chef. The Japanese waitresses are extremely polite... and the Chef seems to be very professional. Everything somehow makes you feel that you're in Japan.

Looking at the menu... a bit pricy. e.g. Edamame would costs you about $4-5. We ordered a Sushi Deluxe, a Katsu Don, a Spicy tuna roll, green tea ice-cream (which is actually pretty good! Not too sweet and have the taste of green tea) and 1 pop . The spicy tuna roll was DELICIOUS!!! I love it! If there's a chance, you gotta try this! The Katsu Don was good, right portion (might be a bit small for big guys). The Sushi Deluxe was like... over $20 bucks and as you can see, the portion isn't big.

But if you're looking for quality, this is absolutely not over-priced (in Toronto). The nigiri were very fresh with right amount of rice. The food there is very "Japanese". Another restaurant that it can be compared with would be Tokyo Sushi (that I've written about a while ago). The total (not including gratuity) was around $50.

I always write about different restaurants that I've been to. Some of them are pretty good (e.g. good overall atmosphere + food quality + price), some are okay good (e.g. some dishes are good, some are just so-so). *I actually tried not to write on bad restaurants (e.g. no good dish, poor service). Why bother? right?

I love writing about food/restaurants, simply as a record for myself - The little pieces of memories of the places that I've been to and the foods that I've tasted.

AND... if by any chance, someone out there find these records/info useful, I'd be even happier. =) but bare in mind, the taste of food is somewhat subjective. Also, experience might vary just because you changed one factor (e.g. different Chefs during different time of the day, service might not be as good during the peak hour). This restaurant is one that I'd really recommend (although it's a bit pricy)...

FYI: Miyabi Japanese Restaurant
Jubilee Square, 280 West Beaver Creek Road, Unit C1,2, Richmond Hill; Tel: 905-709-2915

Canadian NBA MVP

2005-05-08T17:04:00.000-05:00

Finally... a Canadian NBA MVP was born!

Canadian Steve Nash edged Shaquille O'Neal by 34 points to win the NBA's most valuable player (MVP) award. Nash moved from the Dallas Mavericks to the Suns as a free agent in the off-season and is primarily responsible for Phoenix's jaw-dropping turnaround from 29 wins in 2003-04 to a league-high 62 wins this season. He is the first player to lead the league in assists and be named MVP since Johnson in 1987.

Clap-Clap-Clap...!!!

Source: Globe and Mail; National Post

Collections - Cards...

2005-05-07T20:13:00.000-05:00

Went to the public library today and saw a little girl using her children library card to check out books. That made me thought of my children library cards back in the old days. When I was a young kid ... I used to go to the library very often. Read a lot of translated fairy tales. I love reading different types of books, and borrowing from the library instead of buying. I don't mind the books might have that unique "odour". I know some people really dislike library books because they're kinda "dirty"... just like bills and coins, have been used by a lot of people.

Got back home and took out my collections of cards... as some of you may already know, I love collecting stuffs. Cards such as local phone cards, long distance phone cards, membership cards, calendar cards, business cards (esp. the restaurant ones), etc..

Here's the tip of the iceberg...

Library cards from the old days. We could only borrow up to 3 books that time!!!

Toronto Public Library card.

Yuen Long McDonald's VIP card! Anyone had that?

Everyone's using the Octopus now. Do you still remember using this when you were a kid?

Single trip MTR ticket.

Remember this? The ticket protector.

Yes. I was a member of JPC. I was a good little girl.

Is Whimsy still there? It was kinda expensive at that time. So, I joined the Whimsy Club and got some free tokens each month. My favorite game was the "shooting the teeth" game.

One stamp each month indicating you've received the tokens.

Got these cards from somewhere... for SEX education. Look what's at the BACK!

What to do during holiday... if you'd like to have sex; and if you would not like to have sex. lol

tOPIC - bLOG

2005-05-06T16:30:00.000-05:00

fRIDAY AGAIN.
iT'S THE LAST HOUR OF WORK ON FRIDAY.
wIATING FOR THE FINAL CHANGE,
AND THEN I'LL CALL IT A DAY.
rANDOMLY BROWSING SOME CHINESE WEBSITES.

sEEMS TO ME THAT A LOT OF PEOPLE ARE TALKING/BLOGGING ABOUT THE WORD "blog", TRYING TO PROPERLY DEFINE THIS NEW WORD. sOME OF THEM DISAGREE WITH THAT HAS BEEN SAID ABOUT BLOG ON A tv PROGRAM. "wow" I THOUGH, WHAT A TOPIC...

iT REALLY DOESN'T MATTER TO ME HOW YOU DEFINE THE WORD "blog" OR THE ACTION OF "blogging". cOMPARED TO A LOT OF BLOGGERS OUT THERE, ESPECIALLY THE ACTIVE ONES @ BLOG-YOU.COM, MY BLOG IS JUST NOT REALLY INSPIRING/ EDUCATIVE. mAYBE IT IS WORTH-CLARIFYING THE MEANING OF BLOG TO THE GENERAL PUBLIC.

iN EVERY REVOLUTION, THERE'S ALWAYS A GROUP OF ENTHUSIASTS WHO DO SOMETHING FOR A CAUSE; BECAUSE THEY THINK it matters!

wHAT I DO BELIEVE IS... WHAT EVER WILL BE, WILL BE.

Pot Luck Saturday

2005-05-03T22:01:00.000-05:00

Date: April 30, 2005
Place: Jen's house
Event: Pot Luck gathering...

Haven't been to any "day-time" gathering/party lately. Usually, the gatherings would be dinner + karaoke that start at around 8p.m. and run til 3a.m.

Thank to Jen and Joyce, this saturday we had the pot luck gathering, where everyone has to bring a "POT" of entree, and see if we have the "LUCK" to get something good out of it. =)

It turned out very well. Everyone brought the pots (dishes).
All the dishes tastes pretty good =P~~~
We had a good time. It's always good to see our friends sometimes.
Noticed that almost half of the people there were going away this coming week or 2 weeks. Going to San Francisco, going to a Cruise trip, going to HK, etc.
Some of them are going to the Bikini Party, that will be held on this coming Saturday.
(Should I go? Should I not go?)
Arh... I want a vacation too...

Took some pictures of the dishes that we've brought...

of course this is not one of our dishes... =P

a peek into the fridge

a close shot at the blueberry cheesecake

May Snow (五月飛霜)

2005-05-03T11:43:00.000-05:00

Sitting at my office,
trying to design a questionnaire for an upcoming project.
Suddenly saw it snowing outside!
The weather has been crazy lately.
Snowing in the month of MAY?
That's a bit too much.

Last Saturday was a nice one.
Went to a friend's house for a Pot Luck.
Took some pictures and I'll post them here later.
The night was cool/cold,
which is normal in Toronto at this time.

But the funny thing was...
while we were having the delicious home-made cake,
the whole Markham and Richmond Hill area was out of electricity.
HAHAHA What an experience.
Made me thought of 1-2 years ago when the whole area of Toronto - New Jersey was out of electricity for like 1-2 days during the summer.

No light,
No computer,
No TV,...
Walked out on the street and looked at the stars...
They looked so much brighter that time.

陳百強 - 我是一個城市人

2005-05-01T22:05:00.000-05:00

Danny自述:

<<我是一個城市人>>

我生活在這世界上, 突然間覺得一切的東西都不重要, 包括名和利, 愛和恨. 我絕不是一個懶的人, 不喜歡睡覺, 但當我希望一天工作完畢需要休息時, 在床上總是不能入睡, 明天又有新的工作去做, 實在感到痛苦, 所以我想世上最幸福的人是可以一躺在床上不消五分鐘就能呼呼入睡的人. 老實說, 我寧願將我的小小名利換取它, 好使我每天都能精神奕奕, 真的比做個失眠人好萬倍. 但想想為什麼會難入睡呢? 我其實不應有太多的憂慮, 我終於知道自己的毛病, 其實是患上最普通的都市人精神緊張!

我一百分一百承認我是一個城市人, 我喜歡人來人往的大城市, 如香港, 紐約, 生活好像衝鋒車一像, 有多時就算我不用工作, 我都喜歡在中環飛馳, 因為我真的感到每天在香港的中區上班, 人的衝勁也會特別高漲. 我不代表別的地方上班的人工作率會低, 只是我偏愛中環, 人的偏愛是沒有符解釋的, 又或者我父親的店子是正正在中區, 使我特別有歸屬感吧!

也許我是比較曝光人物, 所以很多時在街上都會遇到別人的注目禮, 很奇怪的感覺. 有些時遇到喜歡你的會對我一笑, 我當然會回敬人家的禮貌, 又有些年紀小的女孩子當她們特別在市區街道上碰上我, 她們會顯得不知所措, 如果她們身旁有朋友時, 她們可能會考慮鼓起勇氣來打個招呼, 其實我最喜愛她們或他們(小朋友)的純真和怕羞. 在此我希望大家有時在街上遇到上, 就算不認識, 如果是不討厭我的話, 我是真的希望大家可以點一下頭, 這是我儘量希望做到的. 人是沒有完美的, 全世界最好的人都會有人不接受的, 我深明到此道理, 所以我特別覺得感到妙的是有時候一些拍拖的男女, 當女方見到我時會推推她的男友說: "喂,陳百強呀!", 然後那男仕很多時就算: "車,好奇咩!咁老套, 有乜好看呀, 在中環成日都會見到佢啦." 我會覺得他說得對, 因為實實在在好時你在中環會見到我, 因為我要回父親的店子上班哩! 而且我覺得任何一個人, 每人都有自己的生活方式和圈子, 不會因為我是歌手便要將自己鎖在家裡讓別人看不見我而增加神秘感. 只要自己是開心, 便不用避忌太多或太過扮0野. 真的, 只要能做到以誠待人, 不損人利己, 已經是做人成功了一大半. 我希望我能夠永遠朝著這宗旨做人, 加上我繼續努力在唱歌方面下功夫, 相信別人是會支持你的. 最後, 我這一輯相片在我們香港的中環拍, 正好代表了我陳百強是熱愛香港中環的, 特別是中環. 說不定明天在皇后大道中你又見到我呢!

陳百強

轉載自我們生命中的漣漪-陳百強

漣漪

2005-05-01T21:17:00.000-05:00

突然,
腦裡浮現陳百強的一首歌 - 漣漪.

生活靜靜似是湖水　全為你泛起生氣
全為你泛起了漣漪　歡笑全為你起

生活淡淡似是流水
全因為你變出千般美
全因為你變出百樣喜
留下歡欣的印記

植物亦似歌　那感覺像詩
甜蜜是眼中的癡癡意
做夢也記起　這一串日子
幻想得到的優美

個性屬性

2005-05-01T03:08:00.000-05:00

Had a IDD chat w/ Grace in Auz for over an hour^^ So happy~
Made me wanna do a horoscope test.
Got this from MSN.com.tw

您的個性中有
40%雙魚座的多情浪漫，
30%金牛座的務實穩定，
20%牡羊座的熱烈進取，
10%處女座的務實完美...

您的個性屬性比例如下：
十二星座：
雙魚　40%
金牛　30%
牡羊　20%
處女　10%

二元：
陽性　20%
陰性　80%

三態：
氣態　50%
液態　20%
固態　30%

四象：
火象　20%
水象　40%
土象　40%

最近忙乜？ (Whatz up?)

2005-04-30T12:08:00.000-05:00

最近忙乜？
好忙，兼好黑仔。
可以出錯的地方會出錯，
無理由出錯的地方都出錯。
時運低，只好事事小心，
多休息，打醒十二分精神。

有眼可見。
以前的 GREYish MARZ 版面已經不在。
換來的是這個新“ mk 格子?版面。
找到上年到山東旅行時影的相，
剛好用來做版面相。

從一開始 Blog 以來，
打中文的時候，都會用國語來打。
用國語讀起來好順暢，
但用廣東話讀起來就好似怪怪咁。
今日心血來潮，用廣東話的詞彙來 blog。
好似親切好多。

呢幾年來，我的國語大有進步，
當然有賴我的國語男友。
但同時，每日唔係講國語，就係講英文；
唔係聽國語歌，就係聽英文歌。
（當然，亦因為廣東歌的水準不太高）
依家好似又係無一個語言講得好。
連廣東話都退步。死未？

Download ?好多歌。
有蔡依林的《野蠻游戲》、
楊千嬅的《Single》、
薛凱琪的《Funny Girl》、
王啟文的《老鼠愛大米》、
徐若萱的《狠狠愛》、
F.I.R.的《無限》等等.
（支持正版的人一定會杯葛我）。

未有時間認真聽，隨便聽聽好似仲未有驚喜之作。
F.I.R. 的 Love x 3有點似MISIA Love is the Message裡的歌。

吃、喝、玩、樂

2005-04-28T00:37:00.000-05:00

吃、喝、玩、樂，
還有工作。

最近有點忙。有時候想，這一份工作是不是我想要的呢？
不是因為忙就不想做。而是很多時候都覺得力不從心。
大學時候，這一方面我是最差勁的。
也從來不打算過要向這一方面發展。
但你問我，我有哪一方面是特別好的，
或是十分喜歡的，我又講不出來。
吃、喝、玩、樂？太多了也會厭。

從小時候開始，我就是太平均了。
文科，理科，商科，每一科都拿。
成績也不分上下。
惟一一科，可能是經濟比較好吧。
但後來又覺得好像還好。
’張張刀，無張利’。

工作的時間過得特別快，
我知道甚麼都是需要時間，
去摸索，去了解，去開闢。
但迷糊的時候，有時候會有點難過。
有一些人很小就知道自己要幹嘛。
有一些人就會走好多路才會找到路。
我想後者也不一定不好。
走多路，看多點風景吧。

Nightmare

2005-04-26T22:15:00.000-05:00

Had a terrible nightmare this morning:
I got a non-curable cancer.
Felt that I was dying.
Couldn't even walk on the stairs.
I was frightened.

Frightened.
A word that seldom came from marz.

Maybe I'm just a bit stressed out lately.

Marz in World of Warcraft

2005-04-24T21:05:00.000-05:00

Marz in World of Warcraft
Originally uploaded by Marzk.

Marz as a rouge in WoW.

1st time @ East Side Mario's

2005-04-23T19:28:00.000-05:00

East Side Mario's...
Still remember the first time I heard of this name...
Long time ago, I heard that there was an East Side Mario's in Waterloo...

I've been thinking of visiting this restaurant for a long time.
Don't know why. I just didn't go in every time I drove by.
Finally, I was there.

Ordered:
Seafood Linguine (which comes with unlimited salad and garlic bread)
Tuscan Turkey Club Sandwich
Iced tea, and finally...
the Napoleon Ice-cream lasagna!!!

Overall experience @ East Side Mario's...
Didn't meet my expectation.
The Seafood Linguine was a bit dry, with extremely shrunk mussels...
Turkey Club was a bit small. Looked like the one I'd make for my breakfast.
(You should try Montana's Turkey Club, which looks more like a Club sandwich!)

The service was ok until we spent lots of time trying to locate our waitress for ordering dessert. She only came by our table once when we were having our meal. She never came back to see whether we've finished our meal... or if we need anything (such as paper napkin or the bill). Ok... then we finally found her and ordered the dessert, Napoleon Ice-cream lasagna!!! with vanilla, chocolate, strawberry ice-cream between layers of crepes... and strawberry sauce and white chocolate flakes. That reminded me of the 1L "3 color ice-cream" that our family had when I was a small girl in HK.

The dessert was actually pretty good. With the layers of crepes, it gave us a totally different feeling =)
Didn't feel guilty at all after I had this... you know, it was Friday.
And you gotta reward yourself for a whole week of hard work! ^^

Napoleon Ice-cream lasagna

Stars of Thai Cuisine (泰萊軒)

2005-04-23T02:47:00.000-05:00

Friday. Went downtown for a presentation.
Finished some work, and went back up for lunch.
Felt like it was a reward time for ourselves.

Today we came to this place near First Markham Place.
It's a Thai restaurant, called "Star of Thai Cuisine" (泰萊軒）
When you're driving on Hwy 7, facing West,
you'll see the bright yellow restaurant name besides the Kinko's and Blind to Go.
There was a Chinese restaurant called 大城小聚.
But I've never been there. Maybe it was the location.

Surprisingly, there were quite a lot of patrons in the restaurants when we came in.
The walls are in pastel yellow, with some traditional Thai deco.
The first thing I noticed was its fork and spoon.
Look at them, aren't they huge?!
We pictured ourselves as the knights in the medieval times...
With huge forks and spoons and all the silvery utensils. lol

What I ordered was the lunch special ($8.95),
which came with the soup of the day...
and 2 choices from the selections of "delicacies" (as it was stated on the menu)

The soup was actually pretty good.
Haven't had any creamy soup since I stopped working downtown.
(I used to get some extremely creamy chowder soups at lunch.)
So, I took out my camera and took a picture of this half-finished soup.
Um... the color is also yellow, which matches the whole theme.
It was a chilli creamy pumpkin soup with a hint of coconut favour.
Really like it.

The entree I choose was the pineapple beef + curry veggie w/ rice.
It was so-so. The beef was actually a bit cool (I mean "not hot").
The portion is a bit small for a big guy. (For me, just right)
I can say, I'll deduct a lot of marks because of the entree.

Some other comments would be...
- The waiting time for the entree was a bit too long.
- The space between table was a bit too tight. Since the tables and chairs and all the utensils were quite big, it would be much better if they could leave more space in between tables.

FYI: Stars of Thai Cuisine:
3150 Hwy 7 E., Unit 1, Markham, ON., L3R 5A1; Tel: 905-946-9466

古都魯味茶坊(Koto Tea House)

2005-04-21T12:25:00.000-05:00

一家很"台"的茶坊。
大概兩年前去過。
最印象深刻的是它的棺材板。那時候簡直是愛上了它！
在多倫多，好像沒有看過其他有賣這一道小吃的地方。
也是的。在多倫多的台灣人畢竟也不多（尤其跟溫哥華相比）。
所以很多賣珍珠奶茶的地方也不會很台。
緣續園是其中一家比較大的台式綜合餐廳。
現在在Hwy 7也開了一家大的,叫Go for Tea.

古都魯味在Yonge St.上；位於Yonge St.和Hwy 401的西北方。
小小的一家（其實也不太小，可以坐五六十個人左右），
在一個不起眼的小建築物下層。

昨天再次來到這家店。
感覺依舊。
沒有很多客人。（也不知道是不是我們來的時間問題）
買了一杯雞蛋奶茶，一個棺材板，一個豬腳飯，一個台式肉粽。
共二十二塊。價錢很不錯。

到底是不是因為我好餓，
覺得雞蛋奶茶超級好喝。
它的珍珠又很不同。特別好咬。
豬腳飯一般，有點太辣。

期待好久的棺材板外殼依舊好脆，好香。
（當然也好熱氣啦）
但內裡的湯好像有點不同，
沒有以前的濃／好喝。
有一些雞胗，好好吃。

台式肉粽跟廣東的粽子不同，
裡面沒有蛋黃和豆。
各有各好吃。

棺材板像棺材嗎？

打開來看看

台式肉粽

FYI: Koto Tea House:
4664 Yonge St., Unit 13, North York, ON., M2N 5E1; Tel: 416-225-8880
Delivery available from 6p.m. - 1a.m. for min. order of $20 (before tax)
Deliveray area: Between Steeles Ave. and York Mills; Between Leslies St. and Bathurst St.

Looks like me?!

2005-04-21T00:59:00.000-05:00

Saw this on bubu's blog wonderland...
It's kinda cool.
You got to create a model for yourself and try on different clothings.
Just created this for fun.
Does it look like me?!

If you want one, you can visit here.

方家小館 (Fang's Restaurant)

2005-04-20T12:47:00.000-05:00

星期六，好友生日。
一行十三人到位於萬錦廣場的方家小館晚餐。
很久之前已經聽過方家小館的名字。
但種種原因，到現在才是我第一次的“拜訪”。

一進去的感覺很舒服，覺得地方很新，很整齊。
(儘管它已開了幾年了)
聽說它與萬錦的鼎泰豐是同一個老闆開的。
但這家鼎泰豐跟台北的那一家卻應該是沒關係的。

訂了一個小包廂。

首先上來的是雜錦拼盤，
上面有紹興醉雞、鎮江肉、五香牛肉、滷豬舌頭等冷盤。不錯！

然後來三籠熱騰騰的小籠包。
方家的小籠包是我看過的數一數二的多肉汁。
薄薄的皮下，包著一湯匙的肉汁，怕肥的就免問了！

生菜蝦鬆，一片生菜包著滿滿的蝦鬆，還有一些炸香脆。
咬起來有蝦的彈牙，有香脆的香，也有生菜的清爽。

芋茸香酥鴨看起來一點都不像鴨，比較像是兩個大金蛋被切成一塊塊。
味道不錯；芋頭跟鴨本來就很搭配。粉芋頭吸收大肥鴨的油，剛剛好。

一道走油元蹄一上桌就引起了大家的注意。
兩個大豬蹄，燜得很軟，外面的皮油亮亮的。
味道卻一般。

松鼠星斑看起來是很多人的最愛。
外表十分討好。橘紅的甜酸醬加上雜果，好開胃！

醬爆溫哥華蟹一大碟，卻因為麻煩吃，很少人問津。
(除了Kelvin伉儷以外)　吃了一塊，覺得還好。

砂鍋醃篤鮮是我最期待的。
因為上一次在大上海的實在是太太太好吃／喝了。
砂鍋一上桌，每人一碗，
一看，看到那五花肉好像不太對板。
一喝，喝得淡而無味。
一吃，那筍子一點都不鮮。
天啊！我想這道湯是方家的一大敗筆。

百頁豆苗剛好清清胃口。豆苗有點老。

銀耳蓮子湯甜甜，覺得好滋潤，學Angela講:　好幸福喔！
一塊一塊方形的豆沙鍋餅，有點飽，沒有吃。

埋單每人加幣三十二（港幣兩百塊）。ＯＫ啦。
但老實說，我應該不會再去。

FYI: Fang's Restaurant
First Markham Place, 3225 Hwy 7 E. Unit 3, Markham, ON., L3R 3P3; Tel: 905-947-9969

下午五點

2005-04-19T15:59:00.000-05:00

從客戶那裡回到公司。
今天天氣真好。
多倫多每年都是這樣，
一轉眼就好像從嚴冬變成炎夏。

剛剛開車在路上，
迎著風的感覺讓我好想到沙灘去。
五點鐘，
聽著FM 103.5，
星期一到五的下午五點，
它都會放一些 Techno。

並不是特別愛好Techno,

但我來說，它真的有助提起精神。
（又不會擾亂精神）

尤其是在這種時間...
如果不好運氣，
遇到大塞車的話，
我也會聽它，
要不就聽FM 91.1的 Jazz.

Took a picture on my way back to office.

416 B-day PT

2005-04-17T21:58:00.000-05:00

Happy Birthday to Addison!

12:15p.m. Sunday.
Finally crawled out of bed.
Luckily don't have any hangover from last night.
Haven't been that drunk for a long time.
The uncomfort last nite was even worse than the time I had my B-day PT last year.

I guess I shouldn't have drunk so much.
Shouldn't do that next time... (that's what I said last time too ><)

6:00p.m.
Wowed for a few hours. Finished some quests.
After today I'd stop playing for awhile...

10:55p.m.
Suddenly thought of what J said last nite...
I should try to visit at least 1 different city/country each year.

Another weekend's gone.
Monday-Tuesday,
Wednesday,
Thursday-Friday.
There's another weekend.
Friday nite,
Saturday-Sunday.
Another weekend's gone.

Friday

2005-04-17T11:38:00.000-05:00

What a wonderful Friday evening.
Yesterday. Left office at around 6:00p.m.
Driving on the Hwy 404,
Didn't expect there would be traffic.
While I was stuck in the traffic,
I took out my DC and took this...

Got an email from Jac.,
After all these days, Yorkdale Mall's new wing is finally open!
Mango (MNG) is also opened in Yorkdale Mall.
A really good news to lots of girls.
(although this MNG is kinda small...
and the styles are a bit different than what I had in mind...)

STOP thinking I'm a Shopperholic.
Compared to the girl in the Shopperholic series,
I'm nothing.

I'm a careful buyers.
I don't want to regret on any purchase.
Went to the new Sephora at Yorkdale.
It's a bit bigger than the one at Eaton's.
Similarly attracted lots of ladies,
and of course many of their BFs/Significant Others (SOs).
Some of those guys were actually enjoying themselves there =)
Some of them were just waiting outside the store.
Coz ladies can easily spend an hr in Sephora...

If there were a place where guys could rest,
with lots of good men's magazines and maybe...games, computers,
that would be perfect!
At least some of the ladies won't be worried about their SOs being bored.
or... being allergic to the heavy smells of all the cosmetics and skin care products.

Finally I made a purchase...
A facewash foam, and
this cute mini lip-gloss set~
I seldom put lip-gloss/lipstick on...
But I think it's a good buy because I get to try on different colors =)
Maybe once I've found the color I like, I'll put it on more often.

Work?!

2005-04-14T17:54:00.000-05:00

Yea, some of you might be wondering why I'm always online blogging today.

Today's Thursday, and I do need to work.
Actually I'm still at work right now.

7:00p.m.
I'm thinking... I'll be too tired to go workout tonight (again).

But there is some moments when I just can't get anything done/get any further...
unless someone get back to me.

This is one of those moments. I don't like this.
Of course! Who would like this?

It'd be nice if someone can pass me a bottle of Lipton's Ice Tea now.
Compared to Nestle's Ice Tea, I really like the Lipton's...

BUTTON

2005-04-14T17:42:00.000-05:00

Surfing Surfing,

Created this little icon/button for this blog...
Just for fun... Wonder if there'll be anyone using this to link to me.

If any of you wanna create one,
you can click here.

PSP!!!

2005-04-14T15:17:00.000-05:00

wowowow....
No matter you like PSP or not,
No matter you are going to buy a PSP or not,
You gotta see this!

Something about Blog.

2005-04-14T14:16:00.000-05:00

Have been blogging in Chinese recently. So, it's time for some English.
Yeah... Blogging in English is actually so much faster/easier for me.
Just that... sometimes it's easier for us to relate ourselves to the things/events that are written in Chinese. And sometimes I just felt like blogging in Chinese... in order to precisely and concisely express my feelings at the moments.

Browsed around the Net lately, and saw a lot of bloggers talked/wrote about the anti-Japan issue in China. Maybe it's because I'm located far across the ocean, I can't really feel how intense it is yet.

Feeling tired these few days (again?!),
thought of a lot of things to write,
started writing/blogging on some topics,
but none of them got finished.

Yes, lots of ideas...
but ideas never get translated into actions.

When I first encountered the Online Diary long time ago,
I thought it was a stupid idea...
Who would want to post their diary online?
Who would like to read someone's diary?

But gradually, this diary idea has a nice camouflage...
Blog, which came from web-log.
A lot of people started to keep their web-log.
Keeping the web-log then became blogging.

Yes, I do have to admit that I'm quite into blogging.
Otherwise, I wouldn't be able to keep blogging almost every other day since I started in Oct. Count, count, count... oh my god. It's been over half a year already!

Blogging should be fun, should be spontaneous in certain sense,
Most importantly, blogging should present no pressure to the blogger.
But keeping a blog can incur invisible pressure.
Pressure that came from having the discipline of keep blogging.

Someone said if you can keep doing a thing for 3 months,
you can establish a habbit and keep it up after 3 months.
I agree. The first 3 months are the most crucial parts.
But I've already passed that stage.
Sometimes, I even thought I should get this blog hosted.
Because Blogger is so cramped lately.
But I'm afraid that someday I would suddenly out of ideas.
Or... to be exact, out of the discipline to translate ideas into actions and words.
Another thing is...

The more blogs I read, the worse I feel about my blog.
This little Greyish Marz is neither informative, nor entertaining.
The design and the writing skills were just so raw/rough.
I am surprised it still has some readers.
To those who are reading this right now... Thanks!

活該

2005-04-11T23:03:00.000-05:00

很累。
還不是自己找來的？

這兩三天共玩了超過十個小時的 World of Warcraft，
好久沒玩，一玩就停不了，連升三級，
結果眼睛超累的。

現在又在Blog.
還是快點睡，
明天還要上班。。。

黑色幽默？！

2005-04-10T20:23:00.000-05:00

Lee Adam Herold's Chopping Block series

脾氣

2005-04-10T18:00:00.000-05:00

一直都覺得自己是個脾氣很差的人。
不太懂控制自己的情緒。
很有可能，某年某月會殺人不眨眼。
但如果你問十個認識我的人，
（尤其是那些我在加拿大認識的朋友）
可能九個都會說我像羊。
不會兇，不會發脾氣。

小時候的我，
會因為一些很小的事情而很“抿憎”。
把床墊被單全都丟出去，
有很多東西都給我摔破摔爛。
就算摔破的是我心愛的東西，
我也不會後悔。
不是說我家教不嚴，
我覺得就是太嚴了才會這樣。
心裡的感受壓抑得太利害，
不能表達，慢慢也就不會表達了。
會哭、會破壞、會寫一些東西發洩。
但不會溝通、不會解決問題。
這可能也會成為以後我對待自己的小孩的反面教材。

後來上了大學，
做運動、跑步就成為了我抒發情緒的方法。
不開心嗎？憤怒嗎？煩惱嗎？
跑它一兩里就好多了。
對身體又比較好，一舉兩得。
跟哭、摔東西、喝酒、吸煙相比，
這樣好像比較有建設性。
當然有一些人會去唱歌，
那也很好啊！
有機會的話一起去吧！

現在的我，
好像很難有那一道火氣。
有甚麼好氣的呢？
世界上甚麼人都有、
甚麼事都可能發生。
那麼快又一個禮拜，
那麼快又一年，
那麼快又一輩子了。

快受不了啦﹗

2005-04-08T21:14:00.000-05:00

天啊﹗Blogger最近實在是太差勁啦。
Load又 load不到，post又 post不到。

Hectic rainy day...

2005-04-07T15:13:00.000-05:00

It's a rainy day today... Greyish sky.

Luckily Marz isn't too Greyish today.

Just a bit tired from work.

Was awaken by a long distance call this morning at 3a.m. damn...

Sometimes I would wonder if I'm actually good at multi-tasking or not.

Running so many project at the same time...

I'm always amazed how my boss could handle that.

(Yea, I know that's why he's my boss.)

Well... work is work, it was my choice.

There're ups and downs in every work,

but the ups and downs are magnified here...

Well that's what I like,

how can I complain?

玫瑰 (Rose)

2005-04-05T09:43:00.000-05:00

突然想寫一篇與玫瑰有關的文章。

玫瑰是愛情的象徵。
不同顏色的玫瑰又有不同的意義。

紅玫瑰是愛﹔
白玫瑰是純潔﹔
粉紅玫瑰是親切﹔
黃玫瑰是歡樂。

在西方宗教及文學裡，玫瑰非常重要。
「玫瑰」代表著聖潔，
讓我想到前陣子看的達文西密碼 (Da Vinci Code)...
還有Therese Schroeder-Sheker的玫瑰頌(Rosa Mystica)

不知道是在甚麼時候喜歡上玫瑰的。

（記得小時候最愛的是太陽菊，
不是那種大大的，黃色的；
是比較小，粉色的那種。
可能也跟瑪格麗特的名字有關吧。）

其實...喜歡的並不是它的型態，而是它的氣味。

很多人說薰衣草讓人精神舒暢，
但對我來說，在芸芸花卉裡，
玫瑰特別讓人感到舒服、溫暖、幸福。

用玫瑰花蕾泡茶，
聽說可以能治療憂鬱情緒、調整胃腸不適。
也不知道有沒有那麼神奇。

平常日子裡，不太會聞到新鮮玫瑰花。
如果是你真的喜歡玫瑰的味道，
這裡是一些我蠻喜歡的玫瑰用品。。。

Shu Uemura Rose Depsea water
Fresh Rose Face Mask
Jurlique Rose Hand Care Cream

Another Aries...

2005-04-03T03:03:00.000-05:00

Happy Birthday to Hil.

Today's Hil's birthday, so we went to Galaxy for K. Our mission of getting Hil drunk was finally proved to be unsuccessful. Anyway, it was a nice party.

Thinking of all my friends, I think I particularly know a lot of Aquarius (and 80% of them are girls!!! Most of them seem to have unique and independent thinking, they are smart/intelligent in different fields) and Aries (50/50 M/F; well... my mom's actually a Gemini instead of a Aries since she's using the Lunar calender)... Most of the Aries that I know are friendly and playful. But don't get me wrong, I'm not saying they're not smart... I just think that they tend not to reveal that they're smart. Underlying that playfulness and fooling around, they know what they are doing.

Arh... tonite was the daylight saving adjustment night... which means we are losing 1 hour. i.e. less 1 hour of sleep. damn...

The Distillery - History District (Toronto 1832)

2005-04-02T20:44:00.000-05:00

April 2 - Mom's birthday and Grace's birthday...

Happy birthday ladies...

April in Toronto should be warm and pleasant, but today's weather was terrible. Cold, rainy and snowy. Hopefully, it would be the last snow for this season.

Wanted to go to Distillery District long long time ago. Finally, we went there today. It's a very nice place to visit, especially during the summer. You know, it's so cold in the winter especially when you go near the Ontario Lake. For those who haven't heard of Distillery District: It's the former Gooderham and Worts Distillery located in downtown Toronto. For almost a decade, it has been used for movie shooting... e.g. Chicago, X-men, Against the Rope, Bullet Proof Monk, etc... In Dec 2001, the Distillery was purchased by Cityscape and it was officially opened in May 2003.

Gooderham and Worts Distillery

Remember once I saw someone wrote in his blog that he found Distillery District in Toronto resembles the Grenville Island in Vancouver. Yes, I think they do have some similarities - both of them are artistic places where you can find unique galleries, boutiques, one of a kind craft shops, and fine dining; and both of them have an "industrial past".

The first thing that catched my attention was the Balzac's Coffee shop. Maybe it was because of the movie, Balzac and the Little Chinese Seamstress, that I watched for my Mandarin class assignment 1-2 years ago. Another reason was because of the photos from Tommy that I saw before. I really like the metal electric candelabra (always find this so elegant...) hanging high on the ceiling, and the European-style tables and chairs...

Balzac's Coffee

Then we went to the Mill Street Brewery and tried one of their best sellers, Tankhouse Ale. Some people found it very smooth and pure. But I found its taste a bit too strong. Heard that the Original Organic is lighter. But I didn't try coz I've already had two cups of coffee. To those who like coffee, you may wanna try the Coffee Porter.

Mill Street Brewery

How can I not talk about food/restaurant... Finally we came to this nice restaurant called The Boiler House. Some of you might have already seen this place on TV. When we were there around 2p.m. on Saturday, there weren't a lot of people. Maybe it was because of the bad weather. So, we just had tea there. There was live music. You can see at the top of the picture, there was a guy standing there performing. The design of this restaurant is warm and very layback... There were some strange wooden cubicals for two at the front... pretty cute, but I wonder if the spacewould be enough for two people if they ordered a lot of plates... =P Maybe next time we'll come here for dinner. Oh... another thing is that... they do have some unique washrooms, unisex washrooms just like the ones on airplane... of course these ones are more wooden instead of metallic/plastic.

The Boiler House

Last but not least, if you ever go to the Distillery, you ought to go to the Sandra Ainsley Gallery, where you can see lots of AMAZING glass artwork... oh my god... Of course, photographing is prohibited, otherwise, I'd take some pictures and share with you guys... and that's why you should go there. ^^

What is MARZ?

2005-04-01T12:24:00.000-05:00

What is Marz actually?

It's the name that I usually use for any games that I play... GBA and on WOW.
It's the my online nickname.
It's a short form of my name.

It's also...
A live space in Shinjuku, Japan.
An Industrial Hip-Hop artist from Chicago, US.
An independent artist from Germany.
A distribution company in Sarasota, US.
A Sun Solaris Consulting Company
and...
A village in Austria!!!

Radio again!

2005-03-30T23:24:00.000-05:00

Finally...

I've abandoned the idea of Radio blog since I tried and failed to get it running in January - because the Geocities doesn't support php. (I think I've mentioned this in a previous post.)

Thank to the tutorial site "Tokyo Heaven", my little radio is finally up and running! YEAH!

So happy...^^

But one thing... there was some run-time error things coming up today, and I didn't know why. Maybe it's just because of the Geocities. Now I can see it running ok, no error message. If any of you encounter any error message, plz let me know~

Yup Yup...

FYI - Radio Blog

What English Speaking Country Do You Belong In?

2005-03-29T22:25:00.000-05:00

Funny... I wouldn't expect this though...

You Belong in the UK

Blimey!

A little proper, a little saucy.

You're so witty and charming...

No one notices your curry breath

What English Speaking Country Do You Belong In?

Mango in Toronto!

2005-03-27T22:31:00.000-05:00

OMG!!!
Finally Mango is here in Toronto... Nono... I should say Mango WILL BE here in Toronto.

During the long weekend (although it's not looong at all, just one more day off), went downtown Eaton Center and surprise surprise... just like the way it surprised me when I saw Sephora was coming to town last year.

My love for Mango started when it first came to Hong Kong and started up a store at Festival Walkin Kowloon Tong. I like its style and cutting, especially the pants. The price is reasonable and the quality is pretty good. (note: In China, Mango is now branded as MNG because the name Mango has already been registered there.)

I've been looking for Mango since I came back to Toronto in 01, unfortunately Mango just didn't exist in the Canadian market. Now this Barcelona-based company is going to open five stores in Toronto and Montreal in the first half of 2005 and plans to open a further 25 stores across Canada in the next five years. Another thing is that Mango is not in the US market yet (which is a bit out of my expectation).

For more info about Mango in Canada, click here.

Around 1-2 years ago, Zara, a Spanish brand owned by Inditex, came to Toronto and offered an alternative to us. ( good news to many ladies =p). To me, Zara and Mango do have some similarities... They both offer pretty good quality clothings for a reasonable price (middle price range), and they are both Spanish. To certain extent, these two companies are very close substitutions - i.e. competitors.

Now Mango and Zara is coming to Canada. I can feel the competition is heaten up... which is a good thing to us.

From experience, there're usually some product line differences for different countries even under the same brand. Plus, they are outsourcing more production to China and other countries with lower production costs. Hopefully this Mango will still be the same Mango that I liked...

324 B-day PT

2005-03-26T23:59:00.000-05:00

Prelude to Easter long weekend...
March 24, 2005 (Thursday)
7:30pm
419 Music Bar & Steakhouse.
Vincent's B-day Party.

7:13p.m.
It was a crazy busy day before the long weekend, lots of deadlines, lots of work. Exhausted.
Have been to 419 once, but didn't go in because there were some functions going on at that time. It was originally a place Chinese place where middle-age gentlemen and ladies came for ballroom dancing. So, I thought it should be pretty nice and large.

7:30p.m.
Arrived 419. We were led to the first few tables near the entrance. The place was nicely decorated, with the "crystal lights" on the ceiling and big sofa on the floor. I haven't been to such a comfy place in Toronto before. Especially after a long day of work, lied back on the sofa, had a drink, it's like in heaven...

There should be three 419 Special drinks - "藍色情挑", "夕陽之戀" and "玫瑰..." (unfortunately, the Rose one was gone before I can take a picture of it) According to Allen, the little umbrella was there because originally people thought that it prevented the ice in the drink from melting... Just like the little piece of lemon is stuck on the bottle mouth of coronas to (originally) prevents insects from going into the drink in Mexico.

7:45p.m.
Once almost everyone's there, we started ordering... There was a wide selection of seafood appetizers. Some of the plates that we ordered - Escargot, Cocktail Shrimps, Fried Coconut Shrimps, Fried Scallops, Fresh Oysters, Lobsters, BBQ chicken/mushrooms, Mussels (Champagne/cream sauce), and main entrees such as 419 special steaks, lamb chops, pastas...

The overall quality was okay, except the fresh oysters wasn't very good. The portions were right, except there were too much lamb chops. Taking the price, quality and everything into account, it was worth going to 419. For such a buffet, the price is $19.99 per person (plus $5 if you want to order from the special menu, where you get better stuffs like seafoods), Monday - Thursday. The special drink is $3.99 each. I actually really liked the Rose one I had...

419 escargot

419 appetizers & lamb chops

FYI: 419 Music Bar & Steakhouse - 505 Hwy. 7 East, (Commerce Gate), Unit 234, Markham ; (905) 709 4419

Visited countries...

2005-03-26T03:49:00.000-05:00

Late at nite,
finally watched 2046 yesterday,
i can't say i was totally into it when i was watching it.
but its background music still linger in my mind now...
i think i like it, just like how i liked the other movies by him...

Came across a blog - Room #2046 @ Hong Kong
saw something on blog 2046 - something that helps us visualize our footprints
where we've been, and where we'd like to go to
i really wanna travel around the world (well... who don't wanna do that?!)
day (night) dreaming...

create your own visited countries map
or vertaling Duits Nederlands

Still sick...

2005-03-22T19:27:00.000-05:00

How long have I been sick?
Last, last Friday I started to have a sore throat.
Officially declared sickness on Monday.
Today's Tuesday, the 12th day of sneezing, sore throat, and just starting to cough.

Is this called flu?
I remember I had a flu shot this year,
but it seems not working on my body.
Maybe it just prevents me from spreading it to other people.
Luckily, not one person I know got this from me.
Everyone beside me is healthy.

Stay healthy guys...
I thought I wouldn't get this either...><

And thanks everyone for the caring messages.

東北餃子王

2005-03-19T23:07:00.000-05:00

對對對。我是一直都在生病，但星期六的晚上我還是出去吃飯了。
本來想去銀星小廚，但實在是太多人了，所以就到那附近的「東北餃子王」試試。
「東北餃子王」位於Midland & Finch 西北角的Scarboro Village(士嘉堡村)內。
在外面看並不是很吸引，但裡面的人可真多。
晚一點到就要等位置。

沒有很精緻的裝潢，牆壁上有用隸書寫的菜名，
靠近大門、窗口的地方掛著兩條大紅花布窗簾做裝飾，
還有大電視播放著與食有關的中國劇集。
真的挺有中國大陸的感覺。

看到大家都吃的很爽的樣子，很快我們也點了幾道菜。
第一道是三個白菜肉丁包子，普普通通啦。
誰知道第二道一來，我們就被嚇了一跳。
看看?才六塊多，那麼一大桶飯。把我們當成飯桶是不是？
還好味道也不差。
蟹粉小籠包很不錯，但要減肥就免問了！
啊是不是因為有蟹黃，所以我的病情惡化呢？！
糖醋排骨味道不錯，第一塊夾到的剛好很好，其他的就好像有點肥油太多了。
皮蛋豆腐有點失望。

吃到捧著肚子，才發覺沒有點他們的餃子，
天啊，他們的餃子一碟有一打，太多了。
看看有沒有機會再來，再試試。
但可能機會不太大。

滷肉蛋飯一大桶

蟹粉小籠包

糖醋排骨、白菜肉丁包子、皮蛋豆腐

Sick...

2005-03-17T13:17:00.000-05:00

Have been so sick since Monday evening...
Sore throat, headache, whole body aching, chill...
Couldn't do anything.
Today is the first day of obvious recovering.
Finally...^^get back to work.

中午忙裡偷閒

2005-03-14T14:42:00.000-05:00

好累好累。
有點頭痛。

脖子好酸。

看著電腦，
等一下又要開會。

昨天與好友講電話，講到一點多。
她在香港工作，剛好是午餐時間。
要讀ＣＦＡ，因為人人都在讀。
壓力好大，也不知道到底自己真正喜歡甚麼。
在加拿大回去香港的朋友不少。
大家都有自己的原因：　
家人在香港，
另一半要去香港，
在加國找不到工作，
或是自己想要試試。

不同的理由，
有著一些共通點；
畢竟是外國人的地方，
加上加拿大可是「萬稅之國」，
要賺大錢也要繳多稅。

一個加國大學商科（Ｂ－ｃｏｍ／ＢＢＡ）畢業生，
第一份工作，平均應該有兩萬八到三萬加幣年薪。
除稅後，有兩萬二／三左右，
亦就是每月港幣一萬二／三。
可能比在香港工作的收入多一點點。

但以工作的步伐與環境來講，
加拿大應該比香港少一點緊張與擁擠。
有同事在這裡工作到九點半，
已經差不多是最後離開公司的人。
在香港，他九點半離開，
還有整公司的人在工作。
那以平均時薪來說，加拿大比較高。

但加國有消費稅，安大略省十五巴仙。
加上又會給小費，所以平常開支也不少。
在香港的開支也不少，
因為會ｓｈｏｐｐｉｎｇ得比較瘋狂。><
結果都是存不了錢。

交通方面，在香港要坐車；
暑假時回香港，又覺得交通費變貴了。
一天來回兩個地方，輕易花掉三十塊。
在加拿大就要開車。
燃料費，保險費，保養費，汽車耗損。
真的要看看你是怎樣開車才能估計。
很難比較。

其實，對剛畢業的人來說，
可能兩地的收入／支出差額差不多，
在加拿大生活比較舒適，安穩。
在香港就是比較多投機或發展機會。

大上海飯店

2005-03-13T23:59:00.000-05:00

Now Playing... Karma Police by Radiohead, haven't heard of this for a long time...

自從星期五中午吃了一個紅燒牛肉麵之後，喉嚨超難過的。不應該怪那個那麼好吃的牛肉麵，只怪我喉嚨不爭氣。好像好久沒有試過這樣了。小時候的我身體不太好（雖然現在也不見得好到哪裡去；還是手冷腳冷，不夠氣），以前更誇張，吃一點點辣的都不行，連喝阿華田都會流鼻血。痛了兩天，今天好像比較好一點。

昨天跟一對剛剛移民到多倫多的夫婦還有他們的小孩（才一歲半，好好玩）出去，到ＩＫＥＡ買東西。逛了好久，我知道我好遜，以女性來講我的逛街功力是很爛。星期六的ＩＫＥＡ是超多人的，逛到我眼睛、腿跟腰骨都好累。然後離開的時候買了一個他們叫做Ｆｒｏｚｅｎ　Ｙｏｇｕｒｔ，其實是軟雪糕的來吃。他們的這種軟雪糕好像又有一點不同，不會像大部份的那麼軟、沒口感。它是比較實的，好像以前的軟雪糕。然後又開了一整天車，到他們家、到我們家。最後晚上到松運樓吃晚餐，叫了一個四和菜、還有焗生蠔。但那個京醬骨有點失望。

今天晚上，跟一些香港的舊同事到位於 McCowan and Steeles 附近的大上海飯店。因為其中有一兩個人是上海人，所以選了這一家蠻正宗的上海菜。一行十七人，點了很多菜：
首先來一個大拼盤：有燻魚、油爆蝦、大轉彎（雞翼）、五香牛肉、海蜇皮、豬耳、等等。
然後有：清炒蝦仁、糟溜魚片、蔥爆羊肉（本來是叫牛肉的，只是他可能聽錯了）、賽螃蟹、南翔小籠飽、鮮肉鍋貼、沙鍋醃篤鮮（用百頁結、筍子、咸醃五花肉做的湯。超好吃、好喝，肉很肥，但最終我還是把它吃光光！）、還有一道是烤鴨子加飽子（不知道叫甚麼名字）
最後當然還有好好吃的高力豆沙啦！

好飽、好飽。肥死了。
我會再去的。

FYI: Address: 250 Alton Towers Circle, Unit C5, Scarborough, M1V 4P1
Tel: 416-291-8282

10種食物靚皮膚

2005-03-13T22:06:00.000-05:00

據美國《僑報》報道，食物與皮膚之間有密切聯繫，皮膚科專家總結出10種對皮膚有好處的健康食品。

西蘭花：含有豐富的維生素A、維生素C和胡蘿蔔素，能增強皮膚的抗損傷能力，有助於保持皮膚彈性。

胡蘿蔔：胡蘿蔔素有助於維持皮膚細胞組織的正常機能，減少皮膚皺紋，保持皮膚潤澤細嫩。

牛奶：是皮膚晚上最喜愛的食物，能改善皮膚細胞活性，有延緩皮膚衰老、增強皮膚張力、消除小皺紋的功效。

大豆：含有豐富的維生素E，不僅能破壞自由基的化學活性，抑制皮膚衰老，還能防止色素沈著。

獼猴桃：富含維生素C，可干擾黑色素的生成，並有助於消除皮膚上的雀斑。

番茄：含有番茄紅素，有助於展平皺紋，使皮膚細嫩、光滑，常吃番茄還不易被曬傷。

蜂蜜：含有大量易被人體吸收的氨基酸、維生素及糖類，常吃可使皮膚細嫩，有光澤。

肉皮：富含膠原蛋白和彈性蛋白，能使細胞變得豐滿，減少皺紋，增強皮膚彈性。

三文魚：富含歐咪伽－3脂肪酸，能消除一種破壞皮膚膠原和保濕因數的生物活性物質。防止皺紋產生，避免皮膚變得粗糙。

海帶：含有豐富的礦物質，常吃能調節血液中的酸鹼度，防止皮膚過多分泌油脂。

Cancer?!

2005-03-10T14:16:00.000-05:00

I know this is stupid, but I just felt like trying all the horoscope tests on the site.

Here's what I got...

47% Aries (牡羊座)
40% Taurus (金牛座)
60% Gemini (雙子座) *
73% Cancer (巨蟹座) ***
47% Leo (獅子座)
27% Virgo (處女座)
40% Libra (天秤座)
33% Scorpio (天蠍座)
67% Sagittarius (射手座) **
53% Capricorn (魔羯座)
47% Aquarius (水瓶座)
47% Pisces (雙魚座)

Wow... What a Cancer I am...

Repost: Priceless Hangover

2005-03-09T17:11:00.000-05:00

Got this from email, I like this..

Jack wakes up at home with a huge hangover he can't believe.

He forces himself to open his eyes, and the first thing he sees is a couple of aspirins next to a glass of water on the side table. And, next to them, a single red rose!

Jack sits down and sees his clothing in front of him, all clean and pressed.

Jack looks around the room and sees that it is in perfect order, spotlessly clean.

So is the rest of the house. He takes the aspirins, cringes then he sees a huge black eye staring back at him in the bathroom mirror, and notices a note on the table:

"Honey, breakfast is on the stove, I left early to go shopping-Love you!"

He stumbles to the kitchen and sure enough, there is hot breakfast and the morning newspaper. His son is also at the table, eating.

Jack asks, "Son...what happened last night?"

"Well, you came home after 3 A.M., drunk and out of your mind. You broke some furniture, puked in the hallway, and got that black eye when you ran into the door."

"So, why is everything in such perfect order, so clean, I have a rose, and breakfast is on the table waiting for me?"

His son replies, "Oh THAT!... Mom dragged you to the bedroom, and when she tried to take your pants off, you screamed, "Leave me alone, lady, I'm married!"

Broken furniture - $85.26
Hot Breakfast - $4.20
Red Rose bud - $3.00
Two Aspirins - $.38
Saying the right thing, at the right time.........Priceless.

紅絲帶

2005-03-08T10:32:00.000-05:00

紅絲帶 (Red Ribbon - a song by Kelly Chen)

每次我收到每份精美禮物時
我也會深感慶幸兼有份歉意
誰人在全世界慶祝之時　在戰火中逃亡等天處置
但我卻正與你　佈置派對營造細雪降下時

我已有禮物　他有嗎　當我要喝便有茶　不快樂嗎
怎麼我尚要挑剔今年的煙花
誰在肚餓　誰在街邊執紙箱起破陋的家
拆開紅絲帶仍念掛　哪個有禮物給予他
若然我快樂有餘可轉贈嗎　若與他分享更歡樂嗎
每次與知己暢聚小菜晚飯時
我會當一種禮物天厚待賦與
同時在遙遠處有許多人　垃圾堆中流連饑荒處處
但我卻正與你　吃喝說笑然後跳進了泳池

個個有禮物　他有嗎　休假約約下午茶　不快樂嗎
出年我或會披起珍珠色婚紗
其實每日無盡禮物多出的經已能幫他
結起紅絲帶提自己　共他分可以嗎

Really?!

2005-03-07T00:59:00.000-05:00

Another test I saw in wonderland,
I thought I should score more than that...

You are 47% Pisces

How much do you match your zodiac sign?

Movies

2005-03-05T23:42:00.000-05:00

Since when did we stop going out for movies?! Have been wowing all these days, there seems to be no time for movie anymore. This week, I've unexpectedly watched two movies. One is the Hitch, a relaxing, funny movie (Will Smith, Sara Melas). The other one is Forgotten (Julianne Moore).

Hitch is within expecation, although I found the first half of the movie funnier and the ending could be better. The message was good though - there isn't really a formula/tactic to get the one you like/love, but just to be yourself. What Hitch has done, in the end, was to give people courage to approach their loved ones. There are of course many points in the movies where we couldn't help laughing (the walkie-talkie, the bulky fat guy parts... don't wanna talk too much about that in case you wanna go see the movie).

Forgotten, a DVD bought long long time ago. Finally, watched it because the WoW server was down! It was a bit disappointing. Not as twisted as I thought. The whole idea was there, but I don't think it was handled well. Don't wanna talk about the details, and I wouldn't recommend this movie to you.

Gift from Tommy

2005-03-03T23:37:00.000-05:00

Nicely wrapped gift from Tommy... What is inside...?!

Cute dolls from Japan =)

my brain?!

2005-03-03T14:47:00.000-05:00

Your Brain is 53.33% Female, 46.67% Male

Your brain is a healthy mix of male and female

You are both sensitive and savvy

Rational and reasonable, you tend to keep level headed

But you also tend to wear your heart on your sleeve

What Gender Is Your Brain?

Restoran Malaysia

2005-03-02T17:21:00.000-05:00

It was a pretty nice afternoon, although with a little bit of snow. Had lunch w/ Tommy in the 905 North area. Lots of friends are living in that area these days. 16th Ave. or Major Mackenzie no longer seem to be very far North. As you may know, I'm also working near Hwy 7 now.

Today's Restaurant is Restoran Malaysia on the South-East corner of Bayview and Major Mackenzie Ave. About 5 min. drive from my workplace. Haven't seen Tommy since I'm back from Asia and he's back from Japan. If it wasn't because Tommy suggested it, I would never go to that area or be able to find this restaurant. It's actually located near the McDonald's at that corner (just in case you want to go and try this sometimes)

The first thing I noticed was the tables in the restaurant. There are different Asian-style patterns painted (or coated) on each table as you can see in the pictures below (our table); and many patrons are westerners. Then we ordered a Singapore Chicken Rice (海南雞飯) and a Fu-jian stir-fried noodles (福建炒麵). Haven't had Singapore Chicken Rice for a very very long time. One day while driving to work, they were talking about that rice on the radio - where we can find good Singapore Chicken Rice in Singapore, the types of chicken used, and also the new chinese movie that is called 海南雞飯, starred by 張艾嘉.

The rice is actually pretty good. If the rice is softer, it would be excellent. The stir-fried noodles that I had a few forks from Tommy tasted pretty good! Better than I originally expected. The noodles have a "elastic" texture, and the taste wasn't very heavy. Saw the tea (Malaysian Style) that Tommy was having... I guess I may try that next time. Total for two person was around $20 (gratuity not included).

Singapore Chicken Rice (海南雞飯)

Fu-jian stir-fried noodles (福建炒麵)

English/中文

2005-02-28T15:13:00.000-05:00

Have been browsing a lot of blog sites lately. One thing that I noticed was that most of the sites are very organized and they tend to stick with one language.

Yes. What that means is: The sites are either in English or in Chinese, not both.

I've been blogging on the same page using both English and Chinese since early-October 04 when I first started this site. And I didn't see anything wrong with that.
(I know. There isn't a right or wrong here; plus not a lot of people really care)

At first, visitors mainly came from the Americas (-8 time zone). However, I've also noticed that I'm using more and more Chinese in the blog, and more visitors are coming from the Asia (especially HK +8 time zone).

To me, using both English and Chinese on the same page just doesn't look right anymore.

Especially to those who can't read Chinese, it's just a waste of time that they have to scroll through the Chinese mosters (improperly-decoded Chinese words).
*I'm assuming most HK people can read some English.

So, I'm considering restructuring the GREYish MARZ.

If you have any suggestions/recommendations, please let me know =)

豆漿油條

2005-02-27T11:52:00.000-05:00

於2004年06月推出的一張專輯：林俊傑的《第二天堂》。當時看到它，並沒有想要聽它的衝動，但大半年後的今天偶然聽到它才發覺很不錯。
《第二天堂》裡的江南相信很朵多人已耳熟能詳；另一首歌豆漿油條也很可愛的喔！

喝純白的豆漿　是純白的浪漫　
望著你可愛臉蛋　和你純真的模樣
我傻傻對你笑　是你憂愁解藥
你說我就像油條　很簡單卻很美好
我知道你和我　就像是豆漿油條　
要一起吃下去　味道才會是最好
你需要我的傻笑　我需要你的擁抱
愛情就是要這樣　它才不會淡掉
我知道　有時候也需要吵吵鬧鬧　但始終
也知道　只有你對我最好　豆漿離不開油條
讓我愛你愛到老　愛情就是要這樣　它才幸福美好
我知道　都知道　你知道　你都知道　好不好
別偷笑　笑　讓我知道(就好)
我喝完熱豆漿　卻念著還想要
你吃完金黃油條　愛情又要再發酵

Birthday...

2005-02-24T21:07:00.000-05:00

Just wanna say thank you again...

This year...is the first year that I haven't called out everyone for Karaoke/ big gathering night, haven't got drunk,etc... If it wasn't because of KT's last-minute message, I might have just stayed home. I'm just too lazy to organize something. Maybe it's also because I just stepped into another stage. (I mean...in my mind, there're certain stages, especially for female, distinguished by certain age point. To me...I'm not really ready to think I'm already XX years old. Time is running fast)

Some pictures taken... If you wanna see more, let me know.

Birthday Dinner @ Sierra; blouse from Ruby

Birthday Cake from Dad

Monitor from Erix

Hand-cranked Music Box from Katrina...

一切還好。

2005-02-24T14:00:00.000-05:00

很久沒有聽陳奕迅的歌。
並不是他的ｆａｎ。但有時候聽到他的一些歌，覺得不錯。
在他投向另一家公司的時候，他出了這一張新曲加精選。
第一首是全新的「一切還好」。
第一次聽就愛上了它。。。

轉眼間和你未見便寂寞一千三十四天
揮過手含了白箭道別的光景真像昨天
別拉扯認真點情緒何以到低點我的天
他要走無法倖免你要冒一些風險

不緊要當天放棄我的是你
今天你也有被放棄了那個滋味能從頭做起
其實我曾一個闖絲路比失戀更糟
其實我寧願你不那麼好得不到也好
其實我還好期望你還好我已經太知道心要靜才好

失去的唯有認了在冥冥中他不屬你的
得到的越看越化幸運光景都只是借的
大家總是舊相識無疾而終也增長了見識
親愛的憑你悟性為何沒想到珍惜

不緊要你的心永遠不斷轉
他迫你再愛大既會變了你不願寧願給你選

其實我們都很想得到都跟天對賭
其實壓力高得比天更高自卑點也好
其實我還好期望你還好我已經太知道理想可以不高

不緊要當天放棄我的是你抑鬱我有過但我戰勝了那滋味

其實世事總有好不好不只得你好
其實我們專喜愛得不到的手鬆點也好
來吧我還好期望你還好你肯跟我傾訴都算好
其實我們都很想得到都跟天對賭
其實壓力真可以比天更高心松點也好
來吧我還好期望你還好我太想去知道

壞消息也好我都我都衷心跟你講您好您好

10 Places of My City (Encore) - Yuen Long, Hong Kong

2005-02-23T01:00:00.000-05:00

(encore)

還是忍不住要寫一寫香港；可是我寫的並不是整個香港，
而是一個在位於香港西北部的地區－－元朗。

如果你不太認識香港的話，就讓我來解釋一下吧！
香港分為香港島、九龍、新界三部份；而新界也包括了離島。
元朗是我長大的地方，在新界的西北部，可以說是很接近中國邊界。
（以前還沒回歸前，還是頗有楚河漢界之感的）
要知道多一點香港地理，請按這裡。
從前以為元朗很小，但今天看到有關資料，才知道原來它的面積是首五大之內。

對於元朗，我有著很深的感情。
對於住在香港島或是九龍的人，他們可能並不太認識元朗。
也是難怪的，從前（我的小學年代）
我們從元朗到九龍要坐差不多一個小時的６８Ｍ巴士到荃灣，然後轉地鐵。
要不然就是坐６８X巴士去旺角。如果要去香港島的話，就差不多要兩個小時了。
最初的時候還會暈車，所以會帶一些酸梅之類的東西，現在想起來也很好笑。

元朗市的每個角落，我都差不多去過。要從裡面選十個地方卻不是一件易事。
下面很多地方都有著我小時候的記憶...

(一) 聿修堂－－位於體育路上的一個文娛中心，在公共游泳池的（東面）對面。
在還沒有元朗劇院之前，它就是元朗區最主要的表演場地了。小學年代，常常到那裡看舞蹈表演，自己也在那邊表演過。小學的畢業禮的時候也是在那裡舉行。久而久之，也就對它有了感情，結果中學也選在趙聿修唸了。然後，有更多機會在那裡活動。例如每年開放日，歌唱比賽，畢業典禮，平日的學校集會，等等。現在回想起來，還是覺得那時候真幸福，有一個那麼好，音響超棒的地方。

(二) 永年士多－－在教育路上，商會中學和煤氣公司附近。
真的沒有吃過那麼好吃的車仔麵...油麵、豬腸、豬紅、魚蛋。

(三) 又新街公園－－當然是在又新街上啦。
一個在我第一個家的附近，每年中秋節晚上，我們一群小朋友就會到那裡玩蠟燭、燈籠。是一個晚上吃飽飯逛一逛的好地方。

(四) 恆香老婆餅－－最讓我回味的一個香港小吃。
位於大馬路的東段，它可謂是元朗的標誌，坐車進元朗的必經之地。以前在它的門口還會有一個免費電話給大家用，所以有很多人都會相約在那裡。恆香的月餅也是我喜歡的。

(五) 大會堂旁邊的鞦韆
初中的時候，常常在大會堂學東學西，下課後會到那裡旁邊的球場旁盪鞦韆。一直以來我都很喜歡盪鞦韆，好像很孩子氣的。但每次盪鞦韆都覺得很舒服，很愛那種感覺。甚麼都拋諸腦後了。

(六) 炮仗坊
位於元朗戲院附近的一個很舊的小休憩區，小時候會有很多的路邊小吃。（現在已經沒有了）但你還是可以看到許留山的老舖、一些麻將館子、布匹店、粥店、還有很多老伯伯在休憩區下棋。

(七) 大坑渠
以前很臭很臭，走過它的時候要掩鼻子。不知不覺習慣了，政府也把它蓋好，現在的人應該不會再覺得很難過吧。可愛的是，馳名的Ｂ仔涼粉就是在這條大坑渠旁開始的。

(八) 媽廟路旁的荒宅
不知道現在還在不在了。小學的時候經過看到它，總覺得它很恐怖，聽說很久很久以前成龍在那裡拍過一段電影。不知孰真孰假。

(九) 大馬路麥當勞
第一家在元朗的麥當勞。當時可謂每天都人山人海的。上下兩層，上面很多時候都會聚集一些中學生。現在進門的地方也有一些雪糕、甜點賣，真方便。

(十) 元朗屯? (新區)
已經（終於）拆掉的元朗屯?位於安寧路旁，大榮華酒樓附近。在屯?內有著眾多小小的單位，每家每戶因為相處了好十幾/幾十年，大家都十分熟絡。「三枝香」的曬衣服型式、火水爐的氣味、打麻將的聲音、學校鐘聲等等已不復再。雖然是很舊很窄的地方，但卻非常有人情味。

FYI: technorati or del.icio.us

Happy B-day to Marz

2005-02-22T03:22:00.000-05:00

Just a quick update on Marz.

Yea, haven't seen her around for a while (well... not too long, just a few days).

Wanna say thank you to all of you who have sent me icq/msn/txt msg, e-cards, e-mails, gifts, invited me to dinner & MJ, etc. etc. etc...

To those in other parts of the world, I also wanna say I miss you guys/girls.

I would post any photos/posts when I have time.

Bakeries in Toronto

2005-02-19T17:45:00.000-05:00

I have been thinking of writing a blog on this bakery topic since long time ago.
But I was just too lazy to initiate til I saw the cake that Kelvin and Luzia bought from Tokyo Bakery for the engagement party. It is a mixed berries mousses cake; not too sweet, nicely decorated. The only thing was that the chocolate word "LUZIA" was spelt like "LUEIA". Kelvin was teased by us because of that. ^^

In Toronto there are several Chinese (and some western) bakeries that I personally find pretty good:

- Dynasty Bakery 皇朝餅店 (4002 Sheppard Ave. E. Unit 106, Scarborough; i.e. N.E. corner of Kennedy and Sheppard; 416-609-0391); they have lots of "puffy" (i.e."so-pei" 酥皮) baked stuffs. e.g. 叉燒酥, 酥皮蛋塔.

- Jin Cheng Bakery 桃園金城餅家 3 locations:
(1) 395 Bamburgh Circle, Scarborough; i.e. Bamburgh Circle + Warden; 416-502-3232;
(2) 3636 Steeles Ave., Unit 138, Markham; i.e. Steeles + Warden; 905-502-3232;
(3) 5418 Yonge St., Unit 18; i.e. Finch + Yonge; 416-733-9300
They have a wide selection of bread, cookies, cakes, and also some Taiwanese style cakes/breads. Of course these days you can find their stuffs at T&T supermarkets. But their store still carry a better selection. Stuffs that I like: 奶酥包(puffy custard bread), 刈包(Taiwanese style bread w/ pork, peanuts and preserved veggies inside) , 萍果批 (apple pie), etc..

- Tokyo Bakery 東京餅店 (4385 Sheppard Ave. E.; 416-335-5500)
Surprisingly, their cake is pretty good! I gotta try their other stuffs later.

- Pacific Mall... There's also one small store in Pacific Mall that sells good western cakes (small size 1 person cakes, birthday cakes, and wedding cakes), but I forgot the name of that store. You can also get ice-cream from there. I think it's on the same aisle of the Postal Office.

- Maxim's cafe & patisserie (648 Finch Ave. E., Willowdale; 416-730-1080)
Located near Finch and Leslie. This is actually a restaurant(+cafe), where you can order meals or desserts. I really like their meringue, and black forest cake (remember one time I bought their black forest cake during the summer, and they used the fresh bing cerries)

- Bakery Nakamura in J-town
Nice western/Japanese style cakes and breads!

- Sen5es - How can I not talk about it?
An upscale bakery & restaurant located at downtown Toronto's SOHO Metropolitan Hotel. Another location (bakery only) is in Bayview Village. Good taste + Nicely wrapped, but a bit expensive though ($6+ for a little one person cake).

Snapshots

2005-02-18T16:46:00.000-05:00

Got an email from Angela, hahahahaha...
Take a look when you have time... or if you're too bored.

無奈的男人們:
http://www.mandom5354.com/photo/2005/041223a/041223.htm

10 Places of My City - Toronto

2005-02-17T18:15:00.000-05:00

今天上班的時候有點空，在網上到處看，看到這樣的一個題目...10 Places of My City；在我城市裡的十個地方。我在想，其實有點想寫香港，又有點想寫加拿大多倫多。畢竟我在這兩個地方都生活過，時間也差不多一樣長。但最後，我還是選了多倫多。其中一個原因也是因為還沒有人寫。

多倫多(T.O.) 位於加拿大的東岸。它與香港的時差為十二個小時，每年冬天大概十月到三月份，會改冬令時間；所以現在多倫多比香港慢十三個小時。今年多倫多並沒有很冷，大概最冷的時候有零下十幾二十度（不連風速）。

＊＊＊＊＊＊＊＊＊＊＊

又過了一個多禮拜了。本來這篇文章是在二月八日開始的，但今天已是二月十七日了。（其中一個原因當然是我打中文的速度問題啦！）所以我覺得這篇文章還是用英文打比較好。希望大家不要見怪！要不然，不知道要到何時才能完成了。＞＜

10 Places of Marz's Toronto:

(1) Eaton Centre

Located in downtown Toronto (Dundas St. and Queen Street to be exact). It is a shopping centre where every tourist visits whenever s/he comes to Toronto. It used to be the flagship location of the Eaton's department store. However, you won't see Eaton's anywhere now. Instead, you can still find various stores for men, ladies, elderly, and babies (e.g. Zara, Sephora, H&M, Aritzia , etc...) at Eaton Centre. Of course, there are also lots of places where you can grab some food when you are tired from shopping. On the 1st and 2nd floors you will find a bunch of fast food chain stores selling snacks and drinks.

(2) Wonderland

Still remember the first time I came back to Toronto in 1995. My cousins brought me to Wonderland. It was a really really cool experience and I got to try almost every game there. Later on, I found out it was because there was another big event going on in the city and as a result, I could play as much as I wanted since there weren't lots of people and line-ups) If you like thrilling games, you'll love Wonderland. There're different kinds of games and roller coasters you can play.

(3) Panorama

A romantic spot where you should bring your boyfriend/girlfriend for a night out. It is located at the top floor of the Manulife Center (near Bay and Bloor). From there you can get a great night view of Toronto downtown. Of course, the most popular choice for Toronto landscape viewing is still the tall CN Tower. But I would highly recommand Panorama, especially in the summer when you can go outside to the sky-high patio. There is a wide range of drinks/ cocktails/ mocktails/ spirits/ appetizers /even entrees you can choose. If you like cigar, you can also get it there.

(4) Yonge Street

Why am I choosing Yonge Street? Not only because it is the longest street in the world, but also because you can find a lot of good restaurants and shops along this street. It is a street that goes from downtown Toronto to... way north to Newmarket (I believe... since I haven't been driving to the end of Yonge steet.) During the summer time, it's really good to drive on Yonge St. and stop on different sections and walk around.

(5) The Path

A place where the white collars in downtown Toronto spend their day time. As some of you may know, downtown Bay Street areas is the financial district of Toronto. It's like Central in HK. Since it is always snowing and cold in the winter, the Path connects the financial buildings and malls together and creates the underground hallways where you can shop, chat and eat, especially in the winter when no one wants to go out on the street.

(6) Bloor Street

Bloor Street is Toronto's Fifth Avenue. You can find lots of brandnames e.g. Louis Vitton, Gucci, Hermes, Tiffany, Cartier, Bulgari, Prada, Chanel, on and on. If you are a shopaholic and you have the budget, this is the place you want to go. For those who likes sports wears, there's also the Nike Town.

(7) Pacific Mall

This is a famous/infamous Chinese mall located at the edges of Scarborough and Markham areas. When it was built in around the mid-90s, there weren't really a lot of patrons. However, these days, whenever you drive near that area, you will encounter a traffic jam for no reason. There isn't any traffic accident or construction. It is just that there are lots of entrances and exits along that road. During the weekends, it's even worse; people get into quarrels because of the limited parking spots. You may ask the WHY? I guess one of the attractions might be the good quality, cheap pirate DVDs (from HK/Asia movies to Hollywood productions), and a wide selection of cellular phone stores.... and one more, the tour buses to casinos.

(8) University of Toronto (St. George Campus)

How can I not talk about University of Toronto? It is one of the most prestigeful universities in Canada. I really like the buildings, which have been standing there for 175 years. Regardless of how old it is inside, it's good looking from outside.

(9) CNE

Canadian National Exhibition is one of the largest annual Fairs in N. America. It is held annually for 18 days prior to and including Labour Day (i.e. in the Summer just before school starts). There're lots of things to see and to play. You can't finish it in one day.

(10) Scarborough Bluff

It's actually not a really special place; maybe it's just because I have too many memories related to this place. Still remember the highschool old days when we had BBQs there from the mid-day to late at night. It's a place near the Lake and a dangerous cliff. (For those of you who don't know... there's no sea in Toronto... the only thing we have is lake. Also, we don't have a lot of mountains either. So, you can say it has a pretty flat landscape) If you go to the bluff by any chance in the evening, remember to bring a jacket because it's gonna be cold.

FYI: technorati or del.icio.us

曾經

2005-02-16T02:03:00.000-05:00

今晚“心血來潮”，到一個自己曾經很喜歡的網站（開飯喇）看看。
曾經花了很多時間在那裡去寫食評。
可能也是因為那時候常常在外用膳，
所以有很多機會試試不同的餐廳。
每到一家餐廳，總會覺得好像一個探險家一樣。
不知道會不會找到甚麼好地方。
但今晚再到這網站，已經不能找到幾年前的東西了。
相信他們已把舊的記錄刪除掉，
也是的，太舊的食評不會有用。
放著也只會阻礙地方，不方便找尋。
但這卻讓我想到，在網路上寫東西，可以很不實在。
不是白紙黑字，觸不到；　好像很容易不見。
那麼，我現在花那麼多時間寫這些，又是不是很不實際呢？
但換個角度來想，在寫這些東西的過程中，我也又得著了。
何必太執著要把它緊緊的握在掌心裡呢？

Full House Restaurant 彩鳳臺

2005-02-15T18:49:00.000-05:00

Back to work.
Today, four of us went out for lunch at the Full House Restaurant (彩鳳臺). It is located in the same plaza as the Saigon Star (i.e. 黃金商場). I guess it has been opened quite a while, but I just thought it would be a Chinese restaurant like Congee Wong. But it is actually a pretty decent Chinese Tea House.

Stepped into this Tea House, you would immediately feel a rush of Gold and Red into your eyes. The big golden framed mirrors on the wall, Chinese lanterns on the ceiling, and golden buddha statues near the entrance together created a vivid image, portraying a typical Chinese restaurant in one of those Hollywood movies.

It was just totally out of my expectation.

The waiters and waitresses there were polite and helpful although they were very busy during lunch hours. We ordered some dim sum, such as baked BBQ pork puff, both fried and steamed veggie/shrimp dumplings, fried stuffed tofu & eggplants, Singapore style stir-fried rice-cake, spring rolls, etc... total of 8-9 dishes. Most of the dim sum are for 3 persons (i.e. 3 pieces/dish) except the rice-cake. The total was $40, 10% gratuity included. The overall taste was very good. But if they can offer a wider selection, it would be excellent!

Since we were in a hurry for a after-lunch meeting, we didn't try a lot of stuffs, but I'm sure I'll go back another time.

FYI: Address of Full House: 328 Hwy 7 E., Unit 25, Richmond Hill; 905-882-1388

Tsukiji Sushi Village

2005-02-14T11:59:00.000-05:00

The night of monday, February 14th. Erix and I came to this place called "Tsukiji Sushi Village" in Markam, recommended by KT. At first I thought we'd be dining at the Baton Rouge on Hwy 7. But when I phoned them and tried to reserve two seats for the night, the only time available was 5:00p.m.!!! So, I said forget it then. Luckily, I met KT on msn, and she told me about this new Japanese restaurant, which was in turn recommended by her friends. The place wasn't hard to find. We drove East on Hwy7 until we reached Markham Rd. S. (which is the same as Main St. N.), then made a left turn, heading North. Then you'll see the little old-style community there, the restaurant would be on the left side.

It was a full-house when we arrive at 8:00p.m. Since we didn't have reservation, we waited a bit and got our seats. The deco there was pretty nice. Unlike many Japanese restaurants, it has a cool color tone, a fusion of Eastern and Western style. I especially like the black and white Japanese photos on the wall. The services was pretty good too, compared to many restaurants operated by HK people.

We then ordered several different dishes:
- Crab meat salad
- Tsukiji salad roll (Crab, Avocado, Flying fish egg, Ginger, Shiso wrapped by Cucumber and Mayo)
- Rainbow roll
- 16 pcs sashimi boat (Tuna, Salmon,Snapper, Surf clam)
- Fried Udon with Beef
- Green tea and Red bean ice-cream

The Tsukiji salad roll came first. I ordered it because it is name after the restaurant's name. It was the first time I've tried this kind of roll. With a hint of the preserved ginger, the taste was actually pretty refreshing and appetizing.

Tsukiji Salad Roll

Then fried udon came. It tastes much better than I expected. The udon was thinner and softer and more "Q" than the normal one you get at the grocery stores. Maybe it was also because I usually don't like udon in soup (one of the few things that I don't like). I really like this fried udon. The taste was good and more authentic compared to many other places. Of course, that would also mean that it'd be kinda salty (as I found Japanese food are pretty salty in general. Not oily, but salty). But since we were sharing the dish, it was okay.

After that, it was the sashimi plate and rainbow roll. The sashimi plate was so-so, fresh but not spectacularly fresh. The rainbow roll tasted pretty good, just that the toppings and the rice were kinda lossen. If they can improve that, it would be even better. The crab meat salad was late, but they did apologize for that. The salad was little, but the taste was good. Actually, it can be made easily at home, just crab meat + cucumber + mayo + fish eggs.

Finally, we finished off with ice-cream. They were just the usual ice-cream you would get at Japanese restaurants. Red bean one was good, just a bit too sweet. There were also other desserts you can choose from. Maybe next time...
Oh yes, the total was around mid-$5o with ice-tea and a complimentary rose for ladies, not including gratuity.

Also checked out the female washroom. It's actually pretty clean and neat.

Address: 58-60 Main St. N., Markham (905-201-6288); i.e. Northwest of Main St. and Hwy 7

Prelude to Valentine's

2005-02-13T23:59:00.000-05:00

This is an amazing weekend.
Finally got to go out with Erix. We haven't been to the malls these days...
Although we didn't see anything good at Yorkdale,
it was still good to just go and relax.
KT's birthday was on Friday, Feb 11.
Went to Mix2 that night to celebrate with her.
Good to see them back from HK. It's been a while since our last gathering.
Yea, we've been thinking of a MJ night these few weeks, but we never did that.
Also met some high school buddies there at Mix2.
They seemed to be so drunk and hyper... made me thought of the old days...
Then WoW from 5-9. (I know I shouldn't do that.)

Saturday, Kelvin & Luzia's engagement party.
It was held at the party room of a condo near Bayview + Sheppard.
The place was really nice, with a comfy TV room, a dining room, and a kitchen.
You can see the Sheppard Ave. E. right outside.
It was a surprise that I'd see Vince there! Haven't seen him for ages.
The night was fun and entertaining. PS2 for guys, chit-chatting, big veggie plates...
We played some Uno and poker games (七級豬). Thomas (the fitness trainer guy^^) lost and the penalty was to finish a bag of chips! (holy... you can imagine what that means to a fitness trainer! It's just a poison to him! Poor Thomas)... Then Allen lost two times, so he ate almost one whole bag of chips... Swaroski crystals, skin care, set of Japanese cups, etc...
We then played a bit of MJ. Around 12:30 a.m., we called it a nite.

Sunday, family day. Spent some time grocery shopping.
Went to the No Frills near Silver Star Blvd.
OMG. Long line-ups every counters because of the $1 sales.
Bought a lot of stuffs, some snacks, some drinks and some lunch food.

Relax...

Backyard

2005-02-13T14:04:00.000-05:00

Backyard
Originally uploaded by Marzk.

It's a sunny Sunday. A view from my room... Look at that backyard. The snow starts to melt. I can feel Spring here

追

2005-02-13T03:01:00.000-05:00

Late at night, randomly played some songs.
Heard the song "一追再追" by 永邦.
Made me thought of this song "追".
In memory of Leslie Cheung...

這一生　也在進取這分鐘　卻掛念誰
我會說　是唯獨你不可失去

好風光　似幻似虛　說明人生樂趣
我會說　為情為愛　仍然是對

誰比你重要　成功了敗了也完全無重要
誰比你重要　狂風與暴雨都因你燃燒

一追再追　只想追趕生命裡一分一秒　原來多麼可笑　你是真正目標
一追再追　追蹤一些生活最基本需要　原來早不缺少　ha...
有了你　即使平凡卻最重要

好光陰　縱沒太多一分鐘　那又如何
會與你　共同渡過　都不枉過

瘋戀多　錯誤更多　如能從新做過
我會說　願能為你　提前做錯

誰比你重要　成功了敗了也完全無重要
誰比你重要　狂風與暴雨都因你燃燒

一追再追　只想追趕生命裡一分一秒　原來多麼可笑　你是真正目標
一追再追　追蹤一些生活最基本需要　原來早不缺少　Oh...
有了你　即使平凡卻最重要

只得你會叫我彷彿人群裡最重要

有了你　即使沈睡了　也在笑

Snapshots

2005-02-11T12:12:00.000-05:00

Posted some pictures as you can see.
Haven't written a lot lately though.
Sometimes pictures are more effective and attractive compared to words.
Seeing a whole page of words, who would like to read that?
Not even a glimpse.
Colorful & black and white photos grasp our attentions.
At most you can say I'm a snap-shot-er, not a photographer.
As I know nothing about photography.
I adore all those great pictures taken by some of my friends and relatives.
But I also love those silly pictures taken by myself.

The food experiences that I share with friends and family;
the sudden feelings/thoughts that I have on certain things.

新年快樂!

2005-02-10T02:12:00.000-05:00

剛剛收到 Katrina 的電子賀卡, 很開心呢!! 謝謝 Katrina!

Margaret 在加拿大沒得放假, 只好在這裡跟大家拜拜年.

希望大家新一年開開心心, 健健康康, 笑口常開...

.........HAPPY LUNAR NEW YEAR EVERYONE.........

MHK 2005 Application

2005-02-10T01:20:00.000-05:00

MHK 2005 Application
Originally uploaded by Marzk.

Overseas recruitment period from February 8 to 28, 2005

Sparkling Grapefruit (10%) Drink

2005-02-10T01:18:00.000-05:00

Sparkling Grapefruit (10%) juice
Originally uploaded by Marzk.

Given by Ray. Just felt like taking a picture of it. =)

New Year Eve Dinner

2005-02-09T11:59:00.001-05:00

New Year Eve
Originally uploaded by Marzk.

Chinese New Year Eve dinner... With me, mom and dad.

Pan Fried Oysters

2005-02-09T11:59:00.000-05:00

Pan Fried Oysters
Originally uploaded by Marzk.

Home-made Pan-fried Oysters. Love it! Haven't had this for a long time!!!

Raw Veggies

2005-02-06T22:14:00.000-05:00

Raw Veggies
Originally uploaded by Marzk.

These are the chopped veggies prepared for the veggie dish for the night. Red & Green Bell Peppers, Carrots, Onions, plus a bit of garlic, ginger, and some chicken breast meat.

Family Dinner

2005-02-06T22:12:00.000-05:00

Family Dinner
Originally uploaded by Marzk.

Just an ordinary, casual family dinner. Felt like taking a picture of it. As you may know, I love veggies. This is one of the most colorful dishes that we usually have. The other two dishes - one is the dried oyster we just bought from the mall, the other one is BBQ pork ribs.

What a wonderful weekend.

2005-02-06T20:21:00.000-05:00

This weekend was a short one. Just a blink, it's Sunday again. And I gotta return to work tomorrow again. I know God has been very lenient on me. I shouldn't demand too much.

Finally, everything seems to have come to an end just before the Lunar New Year. Decisions have been made by either me or the others. Lessons have been learnt. Direction becomes clearer.

I have tons of words to pour out. Just that I was interrupted from time to time, and my brain is a lot faster than the movement of my fingertips.

Didn't really go out during this weekend. What have I done? Went grocery shopping with mother, bought a lot of food for the New Year, although there won't be a lot of people in the house. 3 at most. The traffic was worse than usual. Obviously that was driven by the Chinese crowds. Didn't notice that Lunar New Year was that close til I see all the people in the Chinese Malls. This would be the last weekend before New Year.

Walking in the Canadian shopping centres, I can feel the V-day is coming. Oh yes, all the chocolates and heart-shape stuffs. Erix and I were attracted by the chocolate fondue at Shopper's, so we decided to get that plus some fruits for the late-nite dessert. We bought two prepared/diced fruit bowls (around $6.00 each. A bit expensive, but it was worth it... fresh and easy) from Dominion. The fruits were unexpectedly fresh and tasty!!! Oh my god, the strawberries and pineapple were sweet, blueberries were the freshest that I've ever tried. I'm loving it (stolen slogan from McDonald's =P). The chocolate fondue was actually pretty easy to prepare. We bought the swiss (50% cocao) one instead of the Hershey's one. Just put the little chocolate fondue bowl in microwave, heat it at medium for 1 minute, then stir; repeat until you get a smooth chocolate fondue. After 10 minutes, I've already finished almost 1 bowl of fruits. But... after that I know I've had too much... because I feel the citric acid in my stomach. >< So, I got a TUM tablet. Everything was alright.

What else? WoW obviously. With the help of Schu and Erix, I've finished several Elite quests. Played that til 5:30 a.m. (again?!) sigh... okee... then we went to the nearby McDonald's to buy breakfast. Yes. We were the first customer to come in for breakfast because we were there at 6a.m. sharp. It was also my first time to try the McGriddles!!! (Was kinda excited actually... althougt I was tired as you can tell) I tried the Becon, Egg & Cheese McGriddles... just checked on the Mcdonald's website. Now I know...

1 McGriddles = 550 Clories; 21g Fat, 225mg Cholesterol... and 20% DV of Calcium (not bad)

Oh well, the McGriddles was better than I thought. Just that I think half of it is enough for me. It's basically a bacon and egg pancake. A bit too filling. I would prefer a muffin next time. By the way, for each breakfast, you get a free newspaper too. So I took the Sunday Star and read it through. Today's topics were pretty interesting. (I'll write something on that later)

It was a really good weekend although you may find it a bit deteriorating. But you know, you gotta follow your heart. Do what you feel like to. Enjoy life when you can.

Turtles

2005-02-05T13:40:00.000-05:00

Turtles
Originally uploaded by Marzk.

The little tresure chest @ the office. Everyone loves Turtles.
Turtles... remind me of Fwowa, who loves turtles in general.

Workplace

2005-02-03T01:41:00.000-05:00

Office
Originally uploaded by Marzk.

Took this picture this morning @ my new workplace. It's good to see the sunshine coming through the window.

~Smalltalk~

2005-02-03T01:33:00.000-05:00

Date: Feb 1, 2005 (Tuesday)
Time: 7:00 p.m.
Place: Smalltalk Restaurant (1580 Bayview Avenue; 416-483-8400)
Occasion: Winterlicious Gathering.
People: Me, Simon, Elita, Arthur

Located near the Sherwood Park Leaside neighbourhood, where you can find a lot of good restaurants nearby... chicken wings, satay, gelato, etc... Smalltalk is a restaurant with a bakery within. The overall rice-color tone gives you a warm welcoming atmosphere.

While waiting for other people, I ordered a cup of ice-tea, which is not bad. Once everyone arrived, the first thing to come was obviously the bread. It was pretty fresh althrough it's cold (unlike the ones in the KEG) because Smalltalk has its own bakery (which also means that its dessert is a must-try). Then we ordered the white wine, which went really well with our seafood plates. I believe it is made by Mission Hill.

Then, I started with the Scallops. Look at those huge scallops! They tasted really good! According to Elita, if you order scallops at Canoe, you'll probably get 1 scallops that's chopped into 4 pieces. (Then both of us talked about many restaurants here and there... blah blah blah. It was nice to meet Eli because both of us love trying different restaurants.)

After that, here comes the entree. As you can see, the seafood plate wasn't too big. It's basically a bowl of mixed seafood with Chinese cabbages and some other veggies. It was OK. Not very impressive. But I did have a fork of the duck, which taste better than the seafood. After these 2 courses, I had an impression that Smalltalk's dishes all have a hint of Asian style.

Finally, it's the dessert time! Actually all of us ordered the Chocolate Souffle. It was AMAZING! I just love that melting chocolate in the heart of the souffle. It makes me think of the TV commercial of the yogurt mousses! I'm (or the souffle is) as light as an angel! COOL! And plus the sweet strawberries and caramelized banana pieces (which gives a different texture/feeling when you bite on them).

I can say this Smalltalk is one of the best Winterlicious/Summerlicious that I've ever tried during the past years. The waiters there were friendly and helpful too. Yup! I'll give it 4 out of 5 rating. The experience was good. Gotta thank Simon for inviting me and treating me that nite!

Winterlicious Menu ($30 Dinner)

Amuse Bouche

Petite Crostini
Garlic Rubbed Crouton with Black Olive Tapenade, Sweet Herb Spiked Goats Cheese, Roasted Marinated Peppers, Basil Strings

@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@
Choice of:
Organic Watercress Salad With Mango, Italian Tomatoes, Walnuts and Sherry Vinaigretteor
or
Seared Scallops
Creamed Savoy Cabbage, Double Smoked Bacon and a Red Wine Fish Sauce

@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@
Choice of:
Mixed Seafood Bouillabaisse
Salmon, Rockfish, Sole, Shrimps, Mussels, Clams, Calamari in a Spicy Saffron and Vanilla Broth with Vegetable Noodles and Fingerling Potatoesor
or
Nine Spice and Port Marinated Hudson Valley Magret of Duck with a Bean Cassoulet and an Espresso Essence and Brandied Cherry Reduction

@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@
Choice of:
Pre-Dessert
Cucumber, Mint and Yoghurt Sorbet

@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@

Choice of:
Sticky Toffee Cake with a Pecan Caramel Sauce
And Home-made Cardamom ice cream
or
Molten Valrhona Chocolate Souffle
With Plump Sliced Strawberries and Caramelized Bananas
(beverages, taxes and gratuity not included)

FYI: Smalltalk at Toronto Life ; Recipe for Chocolate Souffle

Smalltalk - Scallop

2005-02-03T01:30:00.000-05:00

Smalltalk - Scallop
Originally uploaded by Marzk.

Seared Scallops
Creamed Savoy Cabbage, Double Smoked Bacon and a Red Wine Fish Sauce

Smalltalk - Seafood

2005-02-03T01:28:00.000-05:00

Smalltalk - Seafood
Originally uploaded by Marzk.

Mixed Seafood Bouillabaisse
Salmon, Rockfish, Sole, Shrimps, Mussels, Clams, Calamari in a Spicy Saffron and Vanilla Broth with Vegetable Noodles and Fingerling Potatoesor

Smalltalk - Duck

2005-02-03T01:27:00.000-05:00

Smalltalk - Duck
Originally uploaded by Marzk.

Nine Spice and Port Marinated Hudson Valley Magret of Duck with a Bean Cassoulet and an Espresso Essence and Brandied Cherry Reduction

Smalltalk - Chocolate Souffle

2005-02-03T01:25:00.000-05:00

Smalltalk - Chocolate Souffle
Originally uploaded by Marzk.

Molten Valrhona Chocolate Souffle
With Plump Sliced Strawberries and Caramelized Bananas

Smalltalk - Cream & Sugar

2005-02-03T01:20:00.000-05:00

Smalltalk - Cream & Sugar
Originally uploaded by Marzk.

Which comes with the coffee

Smalltalk - Bill

2005-02-03T01:19:00.000-05:00

Smalltalk - Bill
Originally uploaded by Marzk.

Here comes the bill... Total around $180 + gratuity

Rex Saigon

2005-01-31T23:45:00.000-05:00

It's been almost 2 weeks since I've started working at this new place. Overall, everything has been going pretty well. Heading out everyday morning around 9:30 and arrived at workplace in 20 minutes. I guess most of the people would like that. But of course, start late usually means finish late. I don't really mind staying a bit late actually (6:30 as compared to 5:30).

Today, we went to a Thai restaurant nearby, called Rex Saigon. It is located near the Leslie St. and Hwy 7 (North-east side of the intersection). According to my boss, this restaurant has been there for at least several years, just that it's kinda hidden at the back of the square. This was the first time that I've ever been to this place. Still remember when we (especially w/ Angela) hanged out, we often went to the dessert place, Demetre's. Sometimes, I would drive by and saw the big sign of Rex Saigon... But I always thought that was a clothing store or something. It just couldn't really hit my food-nerves. When I first stepped into this restaurant, I was surprised that it's actually a pretty neat restaurant. The waitresses were very polite and efficient. The deco really matched today's sunshine. It seemed like I was in a typical (old-style) South-Asian restaurant in HK.

Looking at the menu, I didn't know what to order. Well, my boss was gonna have a phud tai combo, and the other person was having a lemon grass chicken w/ rice. Me... I kinda felt like having some curry stuffs. So I ordered a Red curry chicken with rice combo (which comes with a spring roll, a thai salad, and a hot-sour soup for $7.95). It sounded like a lot and I hesitated, but they told me that the portion wasn't that big there. So why not give it a try.

The starter, hot-sour soup, was unexpectedly good! It's powerfully HOT and with enough SOUR in it. I loved this soup... although my throat was kinda burning after having that. Then the salad was able to enhance my appetite. Spring roll was a bit different from what you usually get in the Chinese places. The outer crust was dfferent and the fillings were made with chicken and some other stuffs. Finally, the red curry chicken rice was just another red curry chicken rice. It wasn't too impressive. The portion may not be enough for the big guys. But for me, I think it was pretty filling. (of course, for many other girls, this may be more than enough). I can say overall this restaurant is a pretty good one, and I may go back another time to try some other stuffs.

FYI: Rex Saigon @ Toronto Life

轉載: 男子親述第一次做鴨的經驗

2005-01-30T20:21:00.000-05:00

有人說，像我這樣的男人是不應該做鴨的。
因為我長的不是很帥氣，
身高也沒有太大的優勢，
臉上沒有彈坑一樣的滄桑感，
沒有成熟男人的氣質，
更不是那種讓女人一見到就有安全感的男人，
但是我想，既然女人可以做雞，
男人為什麼不可以做鴨呢？！
並不是生活的窘迫使我去做鴨的，
而是我想體驗一下別樣的生活，
為自己的生命增加一點新的體會，
於是在今天下班後，到了我熟悉又陌生的地方......

經過老闆的熱情介紹，
我終於找到了合適的對象。
她一個人靜靜地呆在角落裡，
皮膚很白皙，應該是南方來的吧，；
細長的脖子，大腿很漂亮,
看上去很豐滿，很有彈性；
我覺得很滿意，畢竟第一次做鴨
要找個好一點，不能隨便就把自己奉獻出
她剛好是我心裡合適的一種類型；
我很快就和老闆談好價錢，直接就把她帶回了家。
她赤條條地側躺在那裡
絲毫沒有半點羞愧，我想她應該不是第一次了，
她被扒光了的身體比我想像中更健美，
雪白的胸脯，彈性的大腿，
我本能的反應出天性的食欲，
情不自禁的咽下了口水，
我是第一次面對這種事情，真的不知道如何做。
輕輕把她的兩腿分開，
一手輕輕的按著她的大腿，
一手撫摩她的小腹，
她似乎不是很快感，顯得很冷淡
我機械的重複著動作，心裡很焦急
審視良久，依然不得要領；
於是把她輕輕的翻過來，平躺著身體；
用手指伸入她下面的洞裡
裡面空空的，有點乾澀；
卻沒有想像中的那麼濕潤，
手指進入都這麼困難，
可我並沒摸到想像的東西
因為別人肯定掏過她下面很多次
肚子裡面掏得很乾淨，
內臟、腸子之類的東西都掏掉了，
因為我是第一次做鴨，沒有經驗；
實在沒有辦法，我拿出了食譜
按照上面的方法，
把它整個放進鍋裡，放入少許調料，一些熱水。
30分鐘以後，熟了，真香！！
沒想到我第一次做鴨就這麼好吃，
吃了後，我高高興興就來上網了~!

《靜思語》

2005-01-29T21:58:00.000-05:00

剛剛看到《一步一腳印》裡的其中一篇文章,覺得蠻有意思的.
就讓我在這跟大家分享一下吧!

《靜思語》話...
久不久, 便會在這裡跟大家分享師父證嚴法師的《靜思語》. 最近又輯了一些沒有在這裡發表過的, 望你們喜歡, 並細意咀嚼, 願終生受用.

(一) 人常困於己見, 知音就是真理, 不是知音就變成是非.

(二) 人都是在原諒自己的那一分鐘開始懈怠.

(三) 大錯誤容易反省,小習氣不易戒除.

(四) 不是在是非對錯裡起煩惱, 就是來將人事當教育;
若因此而起煩惱, 就是將人事當是非.

(五) 日常保持平靜的心, 待人接物用平常心, 時時感到歡喜, 自在, 這就是修行.

(六) 世間沒有一樣有形的物質, 可以專門且恆久的屬於我們,
執著於小愛, 不免愛得很痛苦.

(七) 右手要感激左手捧碗; 左手要感激右手拿筷 ,才能吃飯滋養.

(八) 只要緣深, 不怕來的遲, 只要找的路, 就不怕路遙遠.

(九) 如果影響不了別人, 就做你自己的該做的事吧!

(十) 如果膨脹自己, 障礙會很多, 去到哪裡都會撞到東西.

(十一) 有"求"於先, 必有"不得"於後. "捨"於前, 必有"得"於後.

每隔一段日子, 我必會拿《靜思語》出來重溫, 看看自己退步了多少. 道理即使掌握手裡, 如無實踐, 便不是屬於自己的"法".

The 25 Top Jobs for 2005

2005-01-27T19:19:00.000-05:00

The Jobs

Digital Joy

2005-01-27T11:26:00.000-05:00

I guess it is because of Erix that I would kinda get into the TV, home theatre and all those entertainment systems. Sometimes we talked about how the .com comes and goes. Both of us expect that it's gonna little by little make a comeback. This time, it'll be for real and it's gonna be lucrative. We can't deny we are now in the digital age. Everything is digitalized. Yesterday night we were just talking about the Economics of e-commerce (something he got out of the Information Rules) and the pricing of digitalizable goods (i.e. information). It seems to be an interesting area to examine.

Before working on this Digital Joy or Digital Home project, which is being launched by Microsoft and Intel, I didn't really care what that was all about. First, I don't have to $$ to install a digital home YET; second, it gets kinda complicated when it comes to choosing which ones to buy. I guess now is the chance for me to learn more about this, while earning enough $$ to (maybe) get a whole so-called Digial Joy system at home. So... I can access to all my songs, movies, TV shows easily at my finger tips + all the other features.

Muffin Film?!?!?!?!?!?!?!?

2005-01-25T20:49:00.000-05:00

WHAT DA....H?
If you're bored enough to go here.

MARZ 格子

Marz's moved...格子已搬家

testing

Being a straight...

繼續覓食 Food searching cont'd...

MSN space...

肚臍眼展覽

風采依然

還是覺得你最好

Miyabi Japanese Restaurant

Canadian NBA MVP

Collections - Cards...

tOPIC - bLOG

Pot Luck Saturday

May Snow (五月飛霜)

陳百強 - 我是一個城市人

漣漪

個性屬性

最近忙乜？ (Whatz up?)

吃、喝、玩、樂

Nightmare

Marz in World of Warcraft

1st time @ East Side Mario's

Stars of Thai Cuisine (泰萊軒)

古都魯味 茶坊(Koto Tea House)

Looks like me?!

方家小館 (Fang's Restaurant)

下午五點

416 B-day PT

Friday

Work?!

BUTTON

PSP!!!

Something about Blog.

活該

黑色幽默？！

脾氣

快受不了啦﹗

Hectic rainy day...

玫瑰 (Rose)

Another Aries...

The Distillery - History District (Toronto 1832)

What is MARZ?

Radio again!

What English Speaking Country Do You Belong In?

Mango in Toronto!

324 B-day PT

Visited countries...

Still sick...

東北餃子王

Sick...

中午忙裡偷閒

大上海飯店

10種食物靚皮膚

Cancer?!

Repost: Priceless Hangover

紅絲帶

Really?!

Movies

Gift from Tommy

my brain?!

Restoran Malaysia

English/中文

豆漿油條

Birthday...

一切還好。

10 Places of My City (Encore) - Yuen Long, Hong Kong

Happy B-day to Marz

Bakeries in Toronto

Snapshots

10 Places of My City - Toronto

曾經

Full House Restaurant 彩鳳臺

Tsukiji Sushi Village

Prelude to Valentine's

Backyard

追

Snapshots

新年快樂!

MHK 2005 Application

古都魯味茶坊(Koto Tea House)