Belly Full of Turkey

Whoopsies, how could I miss a posting about my second (real) Canadian Thanksgiving??! And I mean "real" because it was not planned by international students at university, second year in a row celebrating it with my boyfriend's family.

Unlike last year, where there were only three families at the dinner table, this year was so crowded with people. I would say perhaps around ten families. They had to extend the dinning table and make another one as well.

I love the idea about Canadian Thanksgiving. I don't know how it's different in the United States -well except for the fact that it's celebrated in October instead of November in the States. But the idea of family get togethers, talking to each other, doing fun stuff together, catching up on your extended family members' lives, saying the grace, having dinner, all the smiling and hugging...they are all so heart-warming! There's nothing like this in Costa Rica, maybe only Christmas. And growing up, I never get to do this because my relatives they all live so far away or the ones that live close they have their own plans with other people. We were all kinda like strangers who don't know what's going on with each other's lives or care to get to know about it.

On Thanksgiving, I was thankful for the wonderful weather we got that weekend to celebrate it, and thankful for having a boyfriend with great family.

My favourite part? The food, of course! How many chances you get to stuff your face with food in a year? Only a couple. The smell of turkey fresh out of the oven, the party of flavours in the stuffing, the sweetness of the cranberry sauce, the healthy taste of salads, and the great taste of pumpkin pies. So lucky. I couldn't take any pictures of my plate because I was starving and I just couldn't wait to eat it all. But I could take picture of my dessert plate because I was waiting for the dinner food to go down my belly.

 

white meat or dark meat?

 

Best of both worlds...apple and pumpkin pies

Icewine: A gift from Canada’s Winter Wonderland

If there is something great that comes out from the cold winter seasons in Canada, is Icewine. Icewine has become an icon of Canada due to its rarity in production in the world. The Ontario’s Niagara Peninsula has been known for producing Canada’s finest icewine. However, production is not limited there; icewine is also produced in Okanagan Valley in British Columbia, Nova Scotia and Quebec. The second biggest nation to produce icewine is Germany, but it is also produced in other countries like Australia, France, Italy, New Zealand, Sweden and the Michigan region in the United States. But what is exactly “icewine”?

When making wine, the juices from grapes are extracted, fermented, filtered and then bottled. The process of making icewine is similar, except that it happens during the winter time. The typical types of grapes used for icewine production are Riesling, Vidal, and Cabarnet Franc. Grapes are left in their vines into the winter months and harvested between mid December to mid January, when temperatures drop below -10 to -13°C. The fruit is then frozen and thawed, which dehydrates the fruit; hence the levels of sugars and acids are intensified. The amount of juice that can be extracted from frozen grapes is about one-fifth of the amount of juice that can be extracted from unfrozen grapes. To put it in another perspective, a whole wine can produce enough juice for one bottle of wine. But the same wine, but frozen, can only produce about one glass of icewine. Because of the intense labour put into the making of this type of wine (did I also mention grapes are harvested by hand during the winter time?), they are usually more expensive than red or white wines.

The finished product is described as intensely sweet, flavourful and fresh. The flavour can also be paired up with tropical fruit flavours like mango, peach and lychee. This is why icewine is known as “dessert in a glass”.

It is recommended to serve it between -10 to -12°C in a small liqueur glass, but it also works in a 9 oz. bowl or normal wine glass.

Here are some of the best know producers of Icewine in Canada: Inniskillin (Niagara Peninsula), Reif Estates (Niagara Peninsula), Pillitteri Estates (Niagara-on-the-Lake), Peller Estates (Niagara-on-the-Lake), Pelee Island Winery (Pelee Island, Lake Erie), Tinhorn Creek (British Columbia), Summerhill Pyramid Winery (British Columbia), and Ziraldo Estate Winery (Niagara).

So next time you make a trip to Niagara Falls, makes sure you pick up a bottle or two of icewine!

Sources from: http://www.winesofcanada.com

Rainbow pride

This past weekend was the Pride week in Toronto. Although I did not attend this year's pride parade, I did three years ago. I wanted to go this year, but plans with my mom staying here, has made me change my plans.


Rocking my rainbow socks at Pride Parade in 2008


I am glad and proud that a country like Canada can celebrate the Pride Parade, celebrate equality, celebrate the love between two people of the same sex. Same-sex marriage, or gay marriage, is something that I totally support, from a straight point of view. From here to the end of this blog post, the opinions are completely formed from my own personal knowledge and from researches I have done. The opinions expressed here do not reflect the opinion of any other person. It is a very extensive and sensitive topic to talk about, so bare with me.

Same-sex marriage is legal in Argentina, Belgium, Iceland, Netherlands, Norway, Portugal, South Africa, Spain, Sweden, and Canada, the 4th nation to legalize same-sex marriage and the first nation in America to do so. Go Canada!! Unfortunately, there are still some counties, even some states in the United States where same-sex marriage is illegal and not recognized, and even worse, in some countries like in Saudi Arabia, Iran, Mauritania and Yemen, homosexuality can lead to death penalty.



There are two kinds of people: those who are against same-sex marriage and those who support same-sex marriage. From what I know, the people who are against same-sex marriage are usually more conservative people who argue from a religious point of view. These are some of the common arguments against same-sex marriage:
1. Marriage is a sacred act performed between a man and a woman; legalizing same-sex marriage will ruin the meaning of marriage and it goes against nature (who says that marriage can't be between two men or two women? who defines marriage?)
2. Marriage is for procreation, ensuring that the population growth continues. (having more gay couples doesn't mean less procreation, plus gay people can go for adoptions and give children the home they deserve)
3. Same-sex couples don't provide the adequate environment to raise a children. (what about violent environments in heterosexual relationships? cheating? drug and alcohol abuse?)
4. Same-sex marriage will lead to polygamy, incest, marrying objects, etc. (in extreme cases)
5. Gay marriage will encourage the spread of sexual transmitted diseases like AIDS (there are monogamous gay people, and heterosexual people can spread diseases too)

But I believe that most people who believe in these arguments are close-minded people who are afraid of change in society, afraid of things that are unnatural, or are just uncomfortable with the idea about a man making love to another man, or a woman making love to another woman. But the biggest fear is that same-sex marriage goes against everything that the religion stands for.

I don't understand why would people oppose to same-sex marriage. They probably don't understand why people like me support it anyway.

In my opinion, gay people are just like any of us, common people who pay taxes like we do, eat the same way as we do, go to the same places as we do; they just happen to have a physical and emotional attraction to people of their same sex. People are people, and we all deserve the same rights. The right to fall in love, the right to be with the person we want, the right to celebrate that love. So why deny that right to gay people if we don't want them to deny us any other kind of right???

I used to know this girl. She had a relationship with this man for a few years. Then she decided to get married to him, almost forcing him into marriage, being the controlling person that she is. Although she had confessed that she no longer had feelings for this man, she is still marrying him because he has a very stable and good job that will provide her all the money she needs.

I also happen to know this man. He's very sweet and very kind. Just like most people, he looked to fall in love and marry someone. One day he met this guy and fell madly in love with him. They have been together since and they have been going out for a couple years. They have a great relationship together; always helping each other, being there for each other, and it's almost like they are meant for each other! Greatest couple ever. They want to get married some day, to celebrate this love, however, the laws of the state where they lived prohibited them to do so.

Tell me, from those two stories, who has more the right to get married?

People against gay marriage talk about how gay marriage leads to disaster, broken homes, spread of diseases and polygamy. But what about the rates of divorce, broken homes, cheating, spread of diseases in Straight relationships??

This reminds me about the time,when, somewhere, monogamous gay people were not allowed to donate blood, but polygamous straight people were allowed. How irrational is that?

On June 24th, 2011 the New York senate passed the Marriage Equality Act, legalizing same-sex marriage in one of the most popular states in the United States. Go New York! This meant a great progress for people who support it and they are one step closer to totally legalizing same-sex marriage in the country. That would be a great goal to achieve.

WOW! what a week, eh? William and Kate got married at the Royal Wedding, Pope John Paul getting beatified, Osama Bin Laden was announced dead, and today is the Canadian Elections Day. And on a personal side, I have moved to a new apartment in Scarborough. So much going on this week and May has *just* started. Seems like it's gonna be an interesting month (especially because my birthday is the end of this month, of course).

Royal Wedding
Good for William and Kate. What a lucky girl she is. It amazes me that someone, a common person who has lived on a house on sme street in Englad, went to University like a normal person can get so lucky to catch Prince William's eyes. Not only that, but but made him feel like she's the one for him to spend the rest of his life with. What a lucky girl. But of course, everything comes with a price, and for her, her new role as the Duchess of Cambridge, brings a lot of responsibilities. Good luck to the couple! Hope they last a long time together. As a little girl, I always dreamed about marrying Prince William, like every other girl I know. But now that he's all fully grown, and seems like he's becoming bald and looking more like his father, I'm not upset I didn't marry him.



Osama Bin Laden
And Osama Bin Laden has been claimed to be dead. The funniest comments I have seen on Twitter and Facebook were:

- Hussein - √....Bin Laden - √.....Waldo- you are next!!! (which made me think about changing the last bit to 'Carmen Sandiego - pending' instead of Waldo and posted it on FB and Twitter)

-Who would've thought that Osama Bin Laden would turn out to be the world's Hide & Seek Player. Game over biiiicaaaatch!!

- Osama Bin Laden is now dead until Donal Trump sees his death certificate.

Glad he was finally found and killed. Like Obama said "justice has been done", for all the people who died in the 9/11 incident ten years ago. (wholy! ten years already!) I'm sure there is a big party in the US today. At this height, seems like Obama could be re-elected as president.



Canada Elections
Now on to Canadian elections. In one hand, I could care less about it because I can't vote and whoever wins the elections won't do much for immigrants like me. In the other hand, it's an event that shakes the whole country and I wanna be informed about it. Wish I knew about Canadian politics more, so I know what's going on and what kind of leader will make a better Canada. Jacob is a smart man and he's with Liberals, so I'm supporting Liberals too. Apparently Harper doesn't do much for Canada. The fact that he wanted to call Canada a 'Harper Government' kinds shows me that he's a very self-centered person and he could care less about Canadians in general. It's interesting that I did a test online to see which political leader thinks like me, and most of my beliefs (which leans more towards Liberals). Fair enough. If only there was a political party leader that makes it easier for immigrants to find jobs and stay in the country that'd be awesome. Who are YOU going to be voting for today?



Apartment
The new apartment I have moved to isn't the best. There are several reasons why I don't like it:

1) I don't like the location at all. First, it's so far away from downtown. I have to take buses to go to subway station. I definetly live in like the new Chinatown because there are lots of chinese people around, which makes me feel uncomfortable because I never liked living with so many asians because I'm not used to it (no offense to Chinese people, I am Chinese too, and so are my family). But I find lots of Chinese adults very sloppy, dirty, and don't care about anything. I don't know. They live simple lives and don't bother to make places smell nice, look nice or anything like that. Like they don't decorate houses, maintain a clean living space, and for some reason houses always smell like fish. That's my personal opinion through some observation, and it's very general. Don't mean to offend anybody. That is also kinda stereotypical. Might not be true on some Chinese people.

2) The basement is SUPER COLD too! The floor, when you step on it, it's like freezing! I have to wear socks or slippers at all times. I have my heater set to the highest and I rarely turn it off during the day. I have also turned my oven on and leave the oven door opened so the heat will go to the living room/kitchen.

3) Upstairs is so loud! Because the house is so old, and the floor is made of wood upstairs, I can hear everytime people walk over. The other day, when I first moved in, the people upstairs invited people over and all I could hear was people dragging furniture all over, heavy things falling all the time, and long and loud conversations as if some mafia people were arguing and fighting. Horrible! And happened late evening. I should buy some loud speakers and blast it on at night to some electronica music. Make a discohouse in my room. At 1am.

4) It's so far away from supermarkets and restaurants. Have to take a bus to everywhere. Unlike my other house where I could just walk to campus to use the bank or buy something to eat on campus. Maybe meet some friends on the way. Or if it's nice I could just sit by the fountain while I enjoy my lunch.

Other than that I enjoy a lot having a clean kitchen where I don't have to deal with dirty dishes in the sink that have been sitting there for two weeks, and my own fridge where people won't steal my food.

------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
I know it's kinda odd to fit very different topics in one blog entry, but oh well.

Make life sweeter

If you don't know already, I have a big sweet tooth. I love sweets and I always have. If I die one day is because of diabetes. But I have had a fascination for sweets since I was a child (of course, waht kind of kid doesn't like sweets). It's so serious that I have actually considered pastry chef as a career. The other day talking to my sister about food and stuff made me think of something. You know how people travel around the world tasting food from different countries? Well, I wanna travel around the world, tasting different countries' DESSERTS. Ah? How do you like that, eh, eh?! :D But since I don't plan to travel for a while, at least I can make a blog entry about desserts I already know from different countries.
________________________________________________________
**WARNING**
The following content might make you extremely hungry or crave for sweets.
________________________________________________________
COSTA RICA
Let's start with my home country, Costa Rica. I love desserts from Costa Rica because they are so sweet. One of my favourites are the "cajetas" which are like treats made with powdered milk, condensed milk, butter, and sometimes coconut flakes. They are rolled into little balls.

Another of my favourites is the "arroz con leche" or rice pudding. Made with cooked rice, condensed milk, cinnamon, and sometimes with clove and raisin.


Another classic, bread pudding. I tried making it once, didn't turn as good as the ones I have tried.



Hong Kong
Tracing back to my roots, I have to talk about chinese desserts - at least in Hong Kong. I like their desserts because they are sweet but not overly sweet...makes me feel "healthier". A lot of their desserts are made warm. One of the desserts I loved when I was younger were the egg custard tarts. I loved especially between the custard and the dough part because it wasn't too moist or too dry, still tasty.


Another of my favourites is the sponge cake because it's so soft, cushiony, just sweet enough, so light...makes me wanna shrink and jump on it. It's delicious too


This coming delicacy comes in a very sticky form, yet delicious! I used to order glutinous rice balls everytime me and my parents went to "yum cha" (drink tea). Sometimes they have sweet black sesame paste inside or even red beans, but I like it when they have sugar, coconut, and peanuts inside.


But for me, nothing tops off my all time favourite, tapioca in coconut milk. If I could eat something for the rest of my life, I'd be happy with this. I can jsut gobble them so quicly.


Aw man, those chinese have so many desserts. I still have a lot more to say, but I wanna move on to another countries.

CHILE
There is this particular cake that I like, however, I can't eat much of it because it is soo sweet and soo filling. The torta chilena is like a cake with various layers and have "dulce de leche" between every layer.


BRAZIL
I don't know much about brazilean desserts, but there this particular one that makes me drool so much. They call it brigadeiro which is kinda like the costa rican "cajeta" but they also put cocoa powder in it and roll it on chocolate sprinkles.

FRANCE
France is what I consider the capital of desserts. Their desserts are so delicious and so prefectly carved and so well designed. But one of their typical ones is the crème brûlée. One of my simple pleasures is to crack the creme brulee with my spoon - like Amelie.


How can we forget the famous Crêpes. Hmmm...especially with Nutella and strawberries inside. Topped off with powdered sugar and chocolate syrup. Oh la la!


ITALY
Can't talk about Italy if you don;t mention the tiramisu. The delicious cake made with coffee. And I love coffee.


CANADA
Oh, Canada, our home and maple land.... I can't remember when I first saw this tradition, either at Black Creek Pioneer Village or during my trip to Blue Mountain. I of course had to include the maple taffy.



Wow, writing this blog makes me drool for sugar. I better stop writing.
Are you from any of the countries I mentioned and forgot about your fav dessert?
Are you from another country with delicious desserts?
Do you love the desserts I des
Let me know through comments!