another food adventure

i tried moroccan food last night. it was really fun and really good :)

i LOVE trying new kinds of foods, especially with my favourite foodist friend (though she wasn't there this time). i used to have a long list of different cultural foods to try and moroccan had been on my list for a while. i just recently crossed off malaysian, bengali and ethiopian (all were fantastic).

we had yogurt coated dried chick peas for snacking on, cous cous, moroccan sweet tea, date pastries, coconut macaroons, and the lamb tagine which was slowly cooked in a traditional heavy clay pot with prunes, apricots, honey and cinnamon.

yum. yum. yum.

next things to try: sri lankan and mongolian.

someone recommend me a place.

creativity and culture

I was in a Critical Writing for Artists and Designers class yesterday. There was an interesting video shown at the end from Ken Robinson about how schools kill creativity. 

I wish more people in the world realized how creativity is as important as literacy like he has. It just reminded me how governments can kill creativity too...almost like in that movie Equilibrium.

Art is essential to culture. It makes culture. It should be funded and heavily supported.

I went to a talk on Monday, part of the Craft Talks series (supported by both the Ontario Crafts Council and OCAD). They were reviewing Unity and Diversity, the Canadian pavilion from the Cheongju International Craft Biennale in Korea - "the largest and most outstanding fine craft-based biennale in the world," an event with over 500,000 visitors that I was very fortunate to be part of.

It just stressed to me the importance of the government and media to keep the arts alive. Not a single media outlet from Canada would come to Korea for this show, a show that has been described as "a landmark in Canadian Craft." This is so disheartening when in Korea all art institutions are free to attend. Galleries take a commission of 10% rather than 50%.  There are advertisements for craft on the subways and their artisans are considered national treasures. they even place contemporary work in the same cases as the ancients - they consider them to have equal value! It would be so amazing to be immersed in a culture like that.

and their landscape is breathtaking. they have trees that are woven as they grow, their architecture is beautifully worn, and even their burial mounds looked amazing (above), who knew that a burial mound could be beautiful too?

when me and my friends left the talk, all we wanted to do was go to Korea. it helps that they also have delicious food.

a going away party

my grandmas is going back to the Philippines next week :( *tear tear*. so my extended family had a going away party for her, which, surprise, mainly consists of lots and lots of food. Filipino parties are like that, food and talking. lol.

my mom brought over these fresh lumpia rolls....SO GOOD. i'm still thinking about them.

i miss filipino food...someone make me some.

here are a few of my favourite things

hardcover novels
avocado smoothies
re-reading my favourite books
handmade paper
running in the park with my puppy
cracking my back
long showers
upward dog
cheese
stretching
persimmons
finding a sale on something i need
lululemon pants

...random...i know.

inspired

so i've recently been inspired to finally get back with a plan in the jewellery studio. I'm kind of excited. My first tests went well yesterday so I'm going to forge on ahead :)

oh and on an unrelated note, I tried Ethiopian food at Nazareth's for the first time yesterday with some old friends...one word: yum.