Hong Kong-style Wonton Noodles in Toronto

Giant freshly made wontons with noodles in soup

On our last day in Toronto we made our way to the airport via a stop in Markham for some wonton noodles at Wonton Hut Noodle Bar.

Chef and owner Eddie Yeung is very passionate about making wontons and dumplings from scratch, having learned the craft back in his hometown of Hong Kong. He puts a lot of effort into the food he makes and it shows.

Traditional dumplings in broth

We had the signature wonton noodles, and we were already impressed by the jumbo-sized wontons almost the size of golf balls that were choc full of fresh shrimp and some minced pork. 

Sui gao or traditional dumplings as they are called on his menu, were also very good, stuffed with shrimp, pork, yellow chives, wood ear mushrooms and shiitake. 

Also well made were the beef meatballs, made with Ontario beef and seasoned with black pepper. The texture of the meatballs were bouncy and tender, though they would have tasted better with a hint of mandarin peel.

The same could be said of the dace fishball, which could have benefited from the addition of mandarin peel, instead of just the fish that is minced and made in-house. We didn't get a chance to ask Yeung why the mandarin peel flavour wasn't added, was it because of cost or customers didn't like it?

Nevertheless, we also enjoyed the braised beef brisket and tendon coated in a thick sauce, though it was on the slightly saltier side. 

Braised beef brisket and tendon

We left sated and definitely full as we had a late afternoon flight to catch and wouldn't be eating until later that evening.

Wonton Hut Noodle Bar

3760 Highway 7

Markham, Ontario

905 604 9060

Toronto's Biggest Cheerleader

Chow talks to the media after her speech

On our second last day in Toronto, we walked from Union station to City Hall, and when we approached, we could see several small booths set up in Nathan Phillips Square.

It turns out Mayor Olivia Chow declared that day, May 29 as Newcomer Day, where those in the booths were many non-profits that offer social services like employment counselling, health and mental health programs, arts and education programs, and shelter and housing supports. 

Chow speaks at Nathan Phillips Square

Kicking off the event was Chow herself, who gave a speech about how she was an immigrant too, as the Hong Kong-born politician immigrated to Toronto with her family in 1970 when she was 13 years old. 

She encouraged the crowd to explore the various booths and take advantage of the non-profits' services to help them settle in Toronto.

Later we spotted Chow talking to the media backstage; one of her assistants indicated that she would be available to meet some fans, but after her media interviews, there was no time and she slipped in a back door into City Hall.

I've heard that Chow is a great cheerleader for Toronto and is very supportive of community events. She apparently goes to almost every one of them, even dressing up in an elaborate purple and pink feathered costume to participate in the Caribbean Carnival Grand Parade last August.

Chow seems quite popular, and has indicated she will run for a second term this October. Chow was elected in 2023 after former mayor John Tory resigned. 

Modern Chinese at Toronto's Mimi Chinese

Fantastic Dungeness crab with steamed cheung fun

Toronto has many Chinese restaurants, but how about one where the dishes have a slight twist, making them modern and are served by waiters wearing crisp white shirts and bowties?

That's the concept of Mimi Chinese, where regional dishes are re-interpreted and accessible, making them fun and delicious, and more importantly get the thumbs up from the pickiest of Chinese diners.

Outstanding Iberico char siu here

On the night we went, the clientele was more Chinese, with young people to middle-aged and they had obviously come for the very good dishes that aren't found in most top restaurants in Markham, where many of the Chinese diaspora live.

The hands-down winner of the evening was the Iberico pluma char siu, the pork so tender and flavourful, we all savoured each bite, and the taste was also marinating in the caramelised soybeans.

Another winner was the BC live Dungeness crab steamed with fresh cheung fun. It's definitely the Canadian version of The Chairman's flower crab dish ini Hong Kong. Instead of marinating the crustacean in Shaoxing wine and chicken fat, here the fresh crab's flavour was enhanced by the ginger and scallion sauce.

Beef tenderloin with black pepper sauce

The crab shell was already scraped clean by the kitchen, so all we had to do was focus on the clean flavours complemented by the delicateness of the cheung fun, soaking up the light soy sauce and sweet crab meat.

We also had some outstanding starters, like Chaoshan marinated scallops with a sauce made from ginger and scallion, similar to poached chicken, but with a citrusy soy sauce for brightness. Another was fluffy shrimp toast studded with sesame seeds, and gorgeous chicken wings deboned and stuffed with glutinous rice, mushrooms and bamboo shoots.

The four foot belt noodle was a showstopper. The waiter did his routine of using tongs to lift one end up so high -- it really was one noodle, about two inches wide. Then he placed it down, folding it back and forth and then used a pair of scissors to cut it in half. The noodles had a spicy kick, thanks to the chilli crisp.

Sizzling prawns in hot pot with a spicy kick

Another spicy dish were giant prawns sizzling in a hot claypot, while a Cantonese favourite of beef slices stir-fried with onions and thick rice noodles (gon chau ngau ho) was altered to use wheat noodles instead and strings of scrambled egg. So good and comforting.

The only minor fault was the typhoon shelter asparagus, as the seasonal vegetable was lost in this dish, and the seasoning didn't enhance the asparagus. Nevertheless we finished on a high note with an ode to sizzling platters, this one with beef tenderloin and cooked with a black pepper skillet. The beef was so tender, it was brilliantly executed.

To cleanse our palates, we were given a small scoop of sorbet made from almond jelly. It was a taste we all instantly recognised from our childhoods. Personally I didn't particularly like this flavour growing up, but it was nostalgic for sure.

For dessert we had a refreshing seasonal fruit sorbet featuring slices of snow pear with osmanthus jelly and oolong tea. Another using gai daan jai, or egg waffles with caramelised banana, hawthorn jam and sesame ice cream with maple syrup drizzled on top. A creative way to elevate a simple street snack.

Snow pear with osmanthus jelly and oolong tea

Overall the food and experience at Mimi Chinese was outstanding and we can't wait to see what comes next for this restaurant that has modernised Chinese food in a thoughtful way.

Mimi Chinese

265 Davenport Road

Toronto

416 505 0799

Michelin Star-Studded Dinner in Toronto

Boulud giving diners more white wine sauce

I had some outstanding meals in Toronto, which has changed my perception of the city that I lived in from 2001-2002. The diet was mostly hamburgers, steaks, and ham, oh and lots of potatoes. 

A lot has changed in over 25 years for sure, and the Michelin Guide and North America's 50 Best have helped the city develop a more sophisticated palate.

Duck pate en croute served like a cake slice

At the beginning of my trip, I was lucky to attend a four-hands collaboration featuring superstar celebrity chef Daniel Boulud with chef Guillaume Gailliot, who helms the three Michelin-starred Caprice in the Four Seasons Hong Kong.

They presented a stellar six-course dinner that was classic French at Cafe Boulud in the Four Seasons Toronto. Galliot cooked the first three dishes. Veloute de petits pois or green pea soup with a dollop of krystal caviar was a taste of spring, the peas so fresh and seasoned with brininess from the caviar.

The tarte de canard was a riff off of pate en croute. Instead of making the duck terrine in long rectangular molds, Galliot presented it like a giant round cake, studded with pistachio on the exterior. The "cake" was paraded around the dining room before it was sliced up and served with strawberries, and spiced caramel. It was delicious, though quite rich.

Lobster with white asparagus and morels

For the third dish, the chef from the Loire Valley presented one of his signatures, lobster tail with white asparagus, stuffed morel mushroom comte and white wine sauce. Boulud even came by to each diner to pour more of the beautiful white wine sauce on their plates.

Then it was the master chef's turn in the kitchen and Boulud's baked black cod was so light, coated with breadcrumbs for a slight crunch, and accompanied with purple potato and sorrel coulis.

The other main course was a tender lamb saddle with gravy, a dollop of vegetable custard and spring garlic jus. While the lamb was fantastic, the rest of the dish seemed a bit lost in terms of presentation.

Nevertheless, dessert was exquisite, a delicate raspberry rhubarb treat with olive oil whipped ganache on top of a semolina cake, accompanied with refreshing rhubarb ice cream and raspberry jam. 

Black cod with a tart sauce, and purple potato

It was great to see Galliot who I have known for about 15 years and watched him grow and evolve, his dishes more sophisticated and indulgent. 

I had the pleasure of meeting Boulud when he did a four-hands dinner with chef Richard Ekkebus in September 2013 at Amber. Back then Boulud already had ambitions of opening a restaurant in Hong Kong, but the location and timing weren't right.

But a few months ago he finally opened Terrace Boulud in the space formerly occupied by Sevva in Prince's Building. It's a very big space, but Boulud would probably be the only celebrity chef to be able to fill it. The kitchen is helmed by chef Aurelie Altemaire, who I interviewed several years ago when she worked in a French restaurant in Tsim Sha Tsui, and she later moved to Felix in the Peninsula Hong Kong.

She is a Joel Robuchon apprentice, having worked under him for 10 years, so she has experience leading a brigade. I hope she succeeds.

Galliot meeting diners in Toronto

In the meantime she is helping Boulud fulfil his dream of opening in Hong Kong. He recalled working in Hong Kong in the early 1980s and watching the HSBC headquarters in Central being built, and now from his restaurant he can still gaze at it. A full circle moment? We'll see.

A Visit to the Royal Ontario Museum

The ROM has a crystal-like structure jutting out of it

The Royal Ontario Museum has something for everyone: there are informative exhibitions that invite visitors to touch and smell items, and staff on hand to give more interesting facts and answer questions, and a large room for children to freely play and do activities without disturbing others.

Currently the museum has an exhibition called Bees: A Story of Survival. It informs people about the plight of bees, how they form from egg to insect, and how crucial they are to human survival through their act of pollination.

There were so many interesting facts about bees sprinkled throughout the show:

A most intricate porcelain vase

Bees have been around for over 120 million years

More than 75 percent of the world's food crops depend on pollinators like bees

One hectare of a well-managed meadow can contain about 7.5 million flowers, enough to support over 200,000 bees.

Bees have 170 smell receptors, as scent is essential for bees to survive, reproduce, communicate, find food sources, and keep their nests safe.

Bees produce a resin-like material called propolis, which has anti-microbial properties that we use in medicine, including cough syrups and cosmetics.

There are more than 300 native bee species living in and around Toronto

Most bees are wild and don't live in hives. Other kinds of bees include: 

Mason bees that live in existing south-facing holes, like trees to window frames; 

Leafcutter bees that cut discs in leaves and glue them together with leaf pulp to build cells; 

Mining bees make nests in the ground and dig vertical tunnels into the the soil;

Indian stingless bees create nests in tree trunks, logs and wall cavities.

There were also some interesting exhibits where visitors touch the screen to illuminate some facts, a room where points of light represented a bee and showed what a swarm looked like, mostly to protect their queen. 

Most fascinating was a video from a bee's point of view of what the outside world looked to them, how they are near-sighted so they depend on the bright colours of flowers to guide them to find pollen.

Another interesting fact is that a wild honey bee queen can lay 1,500 to 2,000 eggs each day, and produces a scent called pheromone that encourages the colony to work together.

Over 100 birds in movement

The exhibition was created by the National Museums Liverpool together with artist and sculptor Wolfgang Buttress, making it an inviting, artistic, multi-sensory experience for visitors with interesting facts about bees that are not lecturing, but informative, and encourages people to appreciate these insects. 

We also wandered around other parts of the museum, looking at the rooms showcasing China and Korea, metal armour dating back to the Norman conquest of England in 1066, many dinosaur bones, and a replica of a Ming dynasty tomb with a tomb guard.

Another room showed Japanese textiles and the most intricate porcelain vase we'd ever seen. Up close there were tens of thousands of tiny delicate swirls that looked like flower petals. It's called Cocoon by contemporary artist Makkiko Hattori, and is actually part of the collection at the Gardiner Museum across the street from the ROM!

Kids are sure to have a fun time at the ROM with interactive exhibits, and several volunteers and staff explaining things and answering questions. After looking at the bee display, we went to see the live bees the museum keeps and a woman was there to show us the queen bee (marked with a blue dot), and that there was a drone bee in the hive too. The bees can go in and out of the hive through a plastic pipe that leads to the outside of the museum.

We also enjoyed the section on birds, where over 100 avian species are on display, mostly in flight, so visitors can see how they move and in particular, flying above people as they walk through the exhibit. 

There was also a room full of precious stones, many of which we did not know there were so many names for! Lots of giant sparkling rocks that were made over 4.5 billion years ago.

Mind boggling!

Royal Ontario Museum

100 Queen's Park

Toronto

Peameal Bacon is an Ontario Thing

Slices of fried peameal back bacon for breakfast today

Yesterday when we were wandering around St Lawrence Market, we were surprised to see in the butcher section something called "peameal bacon". 

I had never heard of it before, but it is basically wet-cured back bacon covered in cornmeal, and is usually done in Ontario.

Peameal bacon with fried eggs and potatoes

Historically in England back in the 1700s, boneless pork loin was trimmed and cured before it was rolled in dried and ground yellow peas to extend the meat's shelf life. Since the end of World War I, the pork loin has been rolled in cornmeal.

We were curious enough to try it this morning for breakfast. I had it with three small eggs over easy with potatoes and rye toast.

The slices of peameal bacon had the cornmeal on the edge and was fried to give it a slight crunch. The back bacon itself is salty, but tender, thanks to the wet brine.

Now we know!

Seeing Niagara Falls from All Angles

A boat taking tourists around the Canadian side of the Falls

The last time I visited Niagara Falls was over 25 years ago so it was very interesting to see how this famous tourist landmark has developed in the intervening years.

This time traveling with my relatives from Australia, they wanted to do the full Niagara experience so we did practically everything there is to do there.

Watching water fall over the edge

We joined a tour at 10am which started at Skylon Tower, an observation tower that is 160 metres tall. On the ground floor we took the usual touristy pictures against a green screen (look scared going over the Falls in a barrel!) and then went up the tower to see Niagara Falls from a bird's eye view.

It's quite the sight seeing the scale of the Falls from above, though the Canadian side which is horse-shoe-shaped is much more dramatic than the American side. The Canadian side is 57m high, the American is 21-30m high, while the Canadian side is obviously much wider at 790m, the American side is 320m wide.

Our tour guide later told us interesting tales about daredevils who have gone over the Falls -- some 5,000 -- but only a few have survived. 

The first person to go over was a woman, Annie Edson Taylor in 1901. She was widowed and poor, and thought that if she went over the Falls, she could become famous. Taylor first tested her wooden barrel by putting her cat in it and it went down and survived, so she figured she would too.

She did survive with just a scratch on her forehead! However, fortune did not follow Taylor's fame and she died poor.

The American side of the falls

Other people thought they would do it for attention, and chose the Canadian side because it was much more dramatic.

However in 1951, after the death of one daredevil, going down the Falls became illegal and now anyone caught doing it will be fined US$25,000 and your children will have to foot the bill if you don't survive.

We then walked towards the casino, where below it we took a funicular a very short distance to get behind the Canadian side of the Falls. We were issued yellow plastic ponchos so that we wouldn't get too wet and went down a tunnel, where we could peek at the Falls from the point where the water goes over the edge.

It's quite a dramatic sight to see, the clear, blue-coloured water, thanks to the glacial water mixed with limestone, dolomite and shale. The Falls are also causing erosion, as tens of thousands of years ago it was further up, but it has since moved over 10 kilometres south. Both governments have mitigated fast erosion by diverting the water at night and in the winter months so it doesn't erode the stone and rock too much.

Getting drenched up close to Niagara Falls

Then we took the poncho off and walked back towards Skylon Tower and past it, and we were issued red plastic ponchos before getting on the boat. Our guide advised us to stand on the bottom right side of the boat as it will turn counter-clockwise to head back and we can have a panoramic view.

However, as we got closer to the Canadian falls, we were starting to get wet very fast! My face and sunglasses were so wet, and my windbreaker was absolutely drenched. I had to periodically check to see if my phone was still working (it was). Meanwhile the roar of the Falls also demonstrated how strong the water falling was -- more than 168,000 m3 of water goes over the cliff every minute!

A fun fact is that around 4.9 million kilowatts of hydroelectricity is generated by Niagara Falls, which powers some 3.8 million households.

There's dramatic lighting at night

On the boat we saw the American side of the Falls, which is also called Bridal Veil Falls. Separating the American and Canadian sides is Goat Island, which at one time was owned by a farmer who kept goats there. Now it is a park.

It was quite the experience being on the boat ride! Luckily the weather was relatively warm so while we were drenched, our clothes and shoes dried off (except for slightly wet socks) quite quickly. 

Our tour was over, so we walked up Clifton Hill, an eclectic mix of dinosaur-themed pitch and putt, go-karts, shops selling ice cream with rainbow sprinkles, fast-food restaurants and the Niagara Skywheel where passengers sit in gondola cabins.

We split a sub sandwich as a snack before heading out for outlet shopping, dinner at Peller Estates before returning to Niagara Falls to watch the fireworks!

Fireworks on the American side

After 9pm multicoloured lights are shone on both the Canadian and American Falls, and then an hour later is a five-minute fireworks show near the American Falls. Lots of people are drawn to the nightly event and it was great to watch, even if it was only a few minutes long. We joked it was the best $5 we spent on entertainment (though it was actually for parking).

So we saw Niagara Falls during the day and night, from above and below, and right on the water. 

It may be a while before I go back there again!

Two Completely Different Breakfasts

The Cairo Classic breakfast features fava beans, egg and falafel

In the past few days I've had two different brunches in Greater Toronto Area (GTA) that reflect the region's diversity.

The other day I visited a family friend in Pickering, about a 40-minute GO Train ride east from Union Station. There we went to Perkins Restaurant and Bakery, which serves all-day breakfasts, sandwiches and for dessert a variety of pies.

The "Magnificent Seven" breakfast at Perkins

I tried the "Magnificent Seven", consisting of two eggs over easy, two sausages, and three pancakes (C$10.95), seven items of food! 

One of the eggs was sadly broken when it arrived at the table, the grilled sausages nothing special, though the large round pancakes were fluffy. I could manage to eat two and ate two bites of the third before I felt a food coma coming on.

The breakfast was straightforward and somewhat comforting, though predictable.

Then yesterday I had probably my most exotic brunch yet -- Egyptian -- at Maha's Cafe in Toronto. It was about a 20-minute walk from my friend's place. She told me on the weekends there is a queue that goes down the length of the block and so she assumed there wouldn't be a line on a Monday.

A side of hummus at Maha's Cafe

However, when we got there, there were five groups of people already waiting in the queue around 11.30am. Luckily the line went quickly, and after about a 15-minute wait we were seated inside an eclectic-looking cozy place with simple couches lined with cushions, a wall covered with various currencies from the Middle East, Hong Kong, China, and India, the Egyptian flag on the window, and plants around the dining room.

I ordered the Cairo Classic (C$22), which is a breakfast found on every street corner of the Egyptian capital, according to the menu description. The staple is fava beans that are cooked with different ingredients. The fava beans at Maha's Cafe are stewed with tomatoes and onions, and comes with a boiled egg that is sliced, a sesame covered falafel that was surprisingly soft, and some pillowy warm balady bread, a kind of brown pita, and a small dollop of creamy tomato feta with a squirt of olive oil.

Limonata made with limes

Even though the fava beans aren't something I usually eat, they felt comforting and flavourful, and I mopped every last bit with the balady bread. This breakfast also came with a small cup of pickled onions, cucumbers and tomatoes. 

At the spur of the moment we also ordered some hummus (C$8) that wasn't blended ultra smooth like some places -- here there was a chunky texture and lots of garlic and some small whole chickpeas too. It came with more pita bread.

My friend ordered a honey cardamon latte (C$6.95), while I had a glass of limonata (C$11), a thick concoction limes, water and mint. It could have been diluted a bit, but still very refreshing and not too tart.

How's that for two completely different brunches! 

Not sure Vancouver can top the exoticness of an Egyptian breakfast...

Perkins Restaurant and Bakery

1097 Kingston Road

Pickering, ON

905 492 1745

Maha's Cafe

226 Greenwood Avenue

Toronto, ON

416 462 2703

Shoes Reveal the Human Condition

Colourful pairs of car-themed shoes in the museum

Who knew people would be so fascinated by shoes? Sonja Bata did. She married into the Bata shoe family business that has been around for 131 years. Her husband, Thomas J Bata was sent to Toronto after World War II to expand the company in Canada, and wherever they travelled, Sonja would collect shoes.

By the late 1970s she had collected over 1,500 pairs of shoes by the late 1970s, and a friend and anthropologist suggested she house them in a museum.

Silk shoes for Chinese women with bound feet

The Bata family set up the Bata Shoe Foundation in 1979, and then in 1995 opened the Bata Shoe Museum on Bloor Street West, near the Royal Ontario Museum in Toronto. Today the collection has over 15,000 pairs of shoes!

I had visited over two decades ago and so it was fun to go check it out again. And here's a pro tip: if you have a Toronto Public Library card, you can visit the Bata Shoe Museum free by registering online!

After we went in, we were advised to start from the bottom and work our way up the building. In the basement is the permanent exhibition, showing an array of very old shoes, from depictions of sandals on Egyptian mummy cases, to tiny silk embroidered slippers worn by Chinese women with bound feet, to a French chestnut crushing clog with craggy spikes, and Nike sneakers designed by Pharrell Williams.

Perugia's patented shankless shoe

The next floor up had an exhibition about the Italian-French shoemaker Andre Perugia (1897-1977). He was the son and grandson of shoemakers, and Perugia went on to innovate when it came to fashion-forward designs that showed off women's feet in creative ways.

He made shoes that had a basket-like weave, or detailed button closures with a scalloped edge, and designed mules that had no heel so it looked like the woman was on tip toe.

Another intriguing design is a shankless shoe, where the middle part of the shoe that connects the sole and heel is missing. Perugia's design was first mentioned in 1934 and he patented it in 1940. One wonders if it is even comfortable to wear, but reports of the time claimed it was... if so, why aren't there more shankless shoes?

Perugia worked with fashion houses like Dior and Schiaparelli, and his place in fashion was immortalised in a painting that featured such giants as Christian Dior, Hermes, and Guerlain. 

Cactus-themed boots by Charlie Dunn

Another fun exhibition is called Rough & Ready: A History of the Cowboy Boot. It takes visitors on the history of the cowboy boot since the late 19th century to the present. Some are purely for practical use, others are decorative, like boots decorated with cactus plants complete with flowers designed by Charlie Dunn, who has been called the Michelangelo of cowboy boots, and there's also a beautiful pair featuring turquoise peacocks by Rocketbuster Boots.

And yes, there's even a pair of boots featuring Woody from the Toy Story animated franchise. 

The final exhibition room is about Vindolanda, a Roman auxiliary fort and settlement just south of Hadrian's Wall in Northumberland, England. The excavation site there has unearthed many pairs of Roman footwear.

Originally it was believed these military sites only housed men, but there were also women and children there, and they have also found socks, bowls, and cups. They have also unearthed messages like, "Please send me socks and underwear" to the price of beer, to "I'm getting kicked out of the social club house", which gives archeologists an even better picture of the lives of the people in Vindolanda. 

French boots worn to crush chestnuts

Really interesting, and as I said before, who isn't interested in footwear? It's a fantastic way to understand how people lived thousands of years ago.

For that we have Sonja Bata to thank!

Bata Shoe Museum

327 Bloor Street West

Toronto, ON

416 979 7799

A Visit to the Toronto Star

The Star showed off some memorable front page news

This weekend was Doors Open Toronto, where over 160 buildings and sites in the city are open for the public to check out. Unfortunately for us this year, the weather was atrocious, especially yesterday with rain pelting down all day and it was windy too.

Places like City Hall, Osgoode Hall, Legislative Assembly of Ontario, Toronto Archives, Bata Shoe Museum, as well as many churches, fire stations, and even Billy Bishop Toronto City Airport opened their doors for people to have a tour and learn a bit more about these places.

Rainy but nice views of downtown Toronto

Unfortunately the website doesn't organise the places alphabetically or geographically, so having to go through 17 web pages is tedious.

However, I was very interested in checking out the Toronto Star newspaper, which recently moved to its new location in an office/retail complex called The Wells near the harbour front.

When we arrived we saw two long lines, one to visit the Netflix corporate office, the other for the Toronto Star, and we began lining up for the latter literally braving the elements.

About 15 minutes later we were under a covered area, but in a wind tunnel, which made waiting in line feel even colder. About 40 minutes into our wait, a man asked us how long we were waiting and told us he'd just been to the Netflix office. We asked him how it was and he showed us pictures. It looked like any other corporate office.

Shared work desks with curved screens

Finally about the 60-minute mark we were finally inside the lobby area and started defrosting from the cold. We were each given a blue star stamp on the back of our hand and waited just a bit longer to get into the elevator.

Inside we saw important front page news, the open space shared desks with curved screens, as well as fantastic views of the city from 10 floors up (and rain). 

The newspaper was known as the Evening Star when was first published in 1892, and then changed to the Toronto Daily Star in 1900 under Joseph E. Atkinson, who was the publisher from 1899 to 1948.

He believed a progressive news organisation should contribute to the advancement of society through the pursuit of social, economic, and political reforms. The core principles, which the paper follows today are:

* A strong, united and independent Canada

* Social justice

* Individual and civil liberties

* Community and civic engagement

*The rights of working people

* The necessary role of government

A fun fact is that Ernest Hemingway had his first-ever byline in the Star in 1920 for a story about getting a free shave at a barber college. He later became a foreign correspondent for the Star.

Russell talking about news photography

Another interesting tidbit is that Joe Shuster, co-creator of the Superman comics, credited his time delivering papers for the Star as inspiration for Clark Kent and his day job as a journalist!

Back in the tour of the office, one of the photojournalists, Steve Russell showed several of his photographs and explained how he shot them or why he photographed them in a specific way, how having people in pictures is important to show emotion to draw people into the story. He said if there is are good photos to go with the story, there are studies that show people are more likely to read the story.

He showed pictures of his breaking news stories, spot news, where there are planned events, sports where you can see the emotion on people's faces if they won or lost, and features. Russell showed a portrait up close of an Asian man holding up his finger wrapped with red thread and three needles. It was to illustrate a story on influencers and this man in particular upcycled clothes.

Then Russell showed us his cameras, too technical for me, but he also admitted using his smartphone if he was not working but saw something interesting. One time he was in his car parked near the CN Tower and it was raining. He looked up and saw the raindrops on his window reflected the tower and it made for a fantastic image.

Many visitors took a copy of the paper home

He said he could have talked for hours about photography, but the next group of people were waiting.

I also met Jim Rankin, another photojournalist who also does investigative pieces into race, policing and crime. I asked a staffer what the print circulation was these days and he said about 90,000 copies. Rankin piped in to say at one point it was over 1 million, and how the paper was much thicker then as it was full of advertisements.

Meanwhile another staffer sat at a computer and asked people what specific day they wanted to pull up for the front page, and most people picked their birthdays to see what was the news that day.

Before we left we got a copy of the weekend paper, and the Toronto Star encouraged visitors to subscribe to the newspaper. It was a great way to use Open Doors Toronto to promote the paper and hopefully reel in some more subscribers. Hope they succeeded!

A Taste of the Southern Caucasus Region

We thoroughly enjoyed this beef stew with basmati rice

My friend and her husband who live on the outskirts of Toronto say they aren't very adventurous in trying new restaurants that are not near them, but used my visit as an excuse to try something new.

Originally we wanted to try The Lunch Lady, which had opened almost a year ago, but she couldn't get a reservation until 9pm. She suggested Old Avenue Restaurant and on the menu there were Middle Eastern/Eastern European dishes which sounded intriguing so we decided to give it a shot.

There are two locations, and we chose the one in Toronto; I met them at the York Mills subway station and we drove a short distance to the restaurant just off a nice residential neighbourhood.

Borscht soup with cubes of beef

Inside the restaurant has an old school atmosphere, and we were surprised to see mainland Chinese diners, and later Koreans eating there too.

It turns out Old Avenue features cuisine from the southern Caucasus which borders Eastern Europe and Western Asia, and includes countries like Armenia, Georgia and Azerbaijian. 

There are appetisers like hummus and babaganoush, but also items like kutab pumpkin or kutab meat, where the ingredients are wrapped in a thin dough and baked.

We ordered a borscht soup (C$10), a portion for one person but three of us shared, that had cubes of beef with grated beet. I added some sour cream to my small bowl and it was delicious and hearty.

Another starter we had was marinated herring with potatoes. The soft slices of herring were salted and topped with thin slices of red onion and served cold, while the boiled potatoes were still hot. The saltiness of the herring was toned down when eaten with the potatoes. Enjoyed this dish.

Lovely seasoned herring with boiled potatoes

For mains we had the beef stew in clay pot (C$26) that came with a plate of basmati rice. In the pot were beef, onion, chestnuts, chickpeas, red peppers, carrots, cherry tomatoes, and seasoned with saffron and tumeric. It was such a comforting dish to eat, homestyle, and hearty.

The shah plov ($27) was a popular dish that practically every table ordered (and the waiter had recommended). He brought it to the table like a small pain-looking circular cake and then cut it like one too. The slices into the pastry exterior revealed rice along with bits of lamb, chestnuts, dried apricots, dried plums, raisins, onion and saffron.

It was kind of like the Eastern European version of Cantonese claypot rice, because the bottom of the shah plov was a thick pastry base with rice stuck on it, much like the crispy golden brown rice at the bottom of the claypot (though the latter is tastier).

The presentation and combination of the ingredients were interesting, but the flavours didn't meld together like the beef stew. We still finished it, and were too full for dessert that had items like kunefe (pastry layered with cheese and a sweet syrup drizzled on top), Azerbaijiani baklava, honey cake and Napoleon.

Shah plov, rice encased in pastry with meat

For drinks we tried compote -- stewed berries (strained) and mixed with water, so it wasn't too tart or sweet.

What an interesting experience eating this kind of cuisine! Will have to see if Vancouver has anything similar, but this was quite the treat!

Old Avenue Restaurant

1923c Avenue Road

Toronto

416 781 1117

An Artful Visit at the AGO

Jungen's Couch Monster outside the AGO

This morning I went to the Art Gallery of Ontario (AGO) just as it opened at 10.30am and there was a line-up just to get in! Lots of eager art lovers keen to check it out. Admission for the day is C$30, but an annual pass is $40...

The museum is 480,000 sq ft, making it one of the largest art museums in North America, and the second-largest after the Royal Ontario Museum.

Oil sketches by the Group of Seven artists

It seems the AGO has no problems filling the space, as donors like Ken Thomson, who was one of Canada's richest men, donated many pieces of art, and in one room we got a small sampler of his taste in art (eclectic, fun, unique).

The museum also has quite the extensive collection of Group of Seven paintings. Not only finished paintings were presented, but alongside were many oil sketches, probably done in situ. These small works give viewers an idea of how the artist made the composition slightly or drastically differently, and that their impressionist style was already in these oil sketches. The colours seem to be quite similar.

There are a few paintings by Emily Carr that are scattered throughout the AGO too, but obviously not as big a collection as the Vancouver Art Gallery.

Riopelle's colourful, textural work

It was annoying though that captions were not placed with each work -- there was a large brochure in each gallery for visitors to use as a reference. Perhaps individually captioning them was seen as too busy, but the VAG does place it on the side so people can easily find the captions.

There was also a fantastic large square canvas by Jean-Paul Riopelle called Chevreuse II, where oil paint was scraped around the canvas to create new shades as well as textures. It looked extremely complicated but also chaotic and dynamism. Quite amazing that forgers think it's not hard to copy his style.

For something very different, there was a small contemporary exhibition of South Asian artist Ranbir Sidhu's three sculptures in a show called No Limits. He uses polished stainless steel as his medium to create his vision, hence "no limits". One called Fortress of Memory are 21 intricate cutout sculptures of an image of the Dastar Bunga, a style of turban whose name translates as "towering fortress" in Persian and Punjabi. 

Sidhu's Fortress of Memory

Another one looks like a futuristic, spiky-looking asteroid with blinking LED lights inside of it called Asteroid 3033 XI. 

Something in the AGO's permanent exhibition is Japanese artist Yayoi Kusama's Infinity Mirrored Room -- Let's Survive Forever. We had to wait for an attendant to let us in (maximum of four people), and before we went into the room we had to leave our bags outside. We were told we only had one minute to look around.

Inside the mirrored room were many silver balls, and after taking a video of the small room, time was almost up. The attendant asked, "Did you look in the column in the middle?" She had told us to be careful of the column when we went inside.

No we hadn't! We took a quick look to see ourselves mirrored inside more silver balls inside the mirrored column! It did indeed go on, forever.

Immersed in Kusama's mirrors

As we waited to go in, there was a video interview of Kusama and she talked about how she fought with her parents about her desire to become an artist. Her older sister had married well, into a family that was successful in business and why couldn't Kusama do the same?

She rebelled and refused to do any such thing and became even more obsessed with painting...

Outside the AGO is a curious sculpture by Aboriginal artist Brian Jungen. I love his work because he takes everyday objects and turns them into frighteningly beautiful things, like dinosaur-like creatures out of white plastic lawn chairs, or Nike basketball shoes into Aboriginal-like masks.

The AGO bronze piece is called Couch Monster, where he was inspired by Jumbo, a captive circus elephant who was killed by a train in St. Thomas, Ontario in 1885. Jungen called the work "couch monster" because capturing and training an elephant for the circus involves breaking the animal's will and spirit. 

As a result it is no longer an elephant, but a monster created by humans for their own entertainment. So Jungen's prototype involved reconfiguring couches to create the animal, balancing on a ball.

It's an arresting image, but also so thought-provoking.

Air Canada App Makes Flight Smoother

A fantastic view of the emerging sunrise

Just flew into Toronto on a redeye Air Canada flight. When I checked in 24 hours before the flight, the middle seat on the 737 was empty, but when I arrived at the gate, there were constant announcements that the flight was full and would anyone volunteer to check-in their carry-on?

The flight was cramped, a kid kicked my seat from behind (until the cabin lights were dimmed), and hardly any refreshments. I only got a few hours of light sleep, as the guy in the middle was watching movies, the woman in the window seat was staring out the window.

But I must say I was impressed with the Air Canada app.

When I checked in my luggage, my phone buzzed to say my suitcase was loaded onto the plane by Michael.

After I landed, the app told me which carousel to find my baggage, though it hadn't even started up.

Nevertheless, when it did, my phone buzzed again to say it was coming to Carousel 3 and less than a minute later I could seeing arriving.

Amazing. 

Here is the picture the woman on the window seat took for me (and the guy in the middle). Everyone else missed it!