611. Blogmas Day 1 & 2 | KOST

I got inspired from some of the Youtubers I watch doing "vlogmas", so I decided to try it for my blog. Basically it is posting every day until Christmas during the month of December. I don't know how successful I would be at uploading a new post every day (since I'm already a couple days behind lol) and my posts have always been quite sporadic..but I will try my best! It would be a good challenge for myself.

Here is a quick post of what I did yesterday and today (Dec 1 and 2).

My boyfriend & I went for dinner at KOST, the restaurant atop the new Bisha condo-hotel here in Toronto. It was my first time there. I remember many many years ago (around the time when I first moved downtown) when the building was still pre-construction, I went to get a brochure. I think I even posted it in my early posts. The theme was all black and gold with diamond skulls and I thought it was really cool. The design inside the lobby and lobby bar was exactly like that. With black velvet walls and even a Jeff Koons sculpture. I really loved it. The restaurant was the opposite style though - kind of like a beach house atmosphere with light and airy decor. It was really beautiful as well and great views of the city (being on the 44th floor).


Appetizers: Tuna Ceviche & Fried Calamari


As a main I got the Whole Branzino

After dinner we went to watch Thor..I really loved it!! I think I've only seen the previous one before which I remember liking as well, but this one was better and funnier. Now I want to re-watch the previous ones again.


Today, I went uptown to my family house for a hot pot dinner. I looked through some of our old photo albums for old vacation pics. I came across the ones from our roadtrip around British Columbia and Alberta back in 2000. We saw so many animals back then compared to my recent trip! I can't believe how different it was...definitely had more luck with mountain goats back then hahah:


(Yes this is me, when I was 10 years old lol..I loved those platform shoes back then!!)






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548. Recent Life

My trip to Asia made me realize how little I do here in Toronto. Sometimes I feel like I'm not doing enough in my life (only work, watch Youtube, read magazines, go out for food, etc and the whole day is gone). Whereas on vacation, I do so much in a day. I'm pretty sure I did more during my few weeks away than I did here all year lol. Since I also work from home and live alone, it also makes it more difficult to have structure in my day to day life. While I really love it I also wanted to have something regular to do and go to so it keeps me active and stick to some sort of schedule. At first I wanted to join a gym but then decided to do yoga instead. So a couple of weeks ago my sister and I joined a studio. I've been trying to go a few times a week..I really love it so far. If it was a bit closer to me I'd probably go everyday. Maybe I will when it's warmer though as I hate walking outdoors when it's freezing. As most of you know, I pretty much stay inside the PATH all winter hahah (& unfortunately there are no studios inside the path!). But a good thing is that this is forcing me to venture outdoors more often...for example, last night when I was walking back from yoga I walked around city hall and took these photos!



& a couple of nights ago (also coming back from yoga), I walked through the mall just as it closed so all the hoards of shoppers were gone. Otherwise I hate going to the mall around the holiday season.




I'm obsessed with this sorbetto!! Since the food hall at Saks opened, I've been going almost every day to get my dinner/groceries (not exaggerating - I really do go at least every other day lol). I buy this sorbetto every time I'm out of it. It's so good. I kept all the containers and I already collected up to 5 now..I always get pretty addicted when I find something I love.

After yoga last week, my sister and I went for dinner at Saks Fifth Avenue's new restaurant - Lena. We ordered all tapas to share. It was pretty good. We ordered these quail eggs in the photo above..when it came I immediately noticed the presentation of them was a bit off. It was like they were just thrown in there, and the toothpicks were laying down touching the sauce. I guessed they all fell over somehow when he was carrying it over..but our table was literally the closest to the kitchen/a few steps away, and the eggs have flat bottoms so I don't know how that happened lol. For a high-end restaurant, I feel they should've fixed it before serving it to us. I know they should all be standing up in a straight line as I then saw them bring out another one for another table which was presented that way.


I loved the empanadas!

Dessert was soooo filling. When we were choosing we asked the server how many churros came in an order and he said 2 or 3. I was thinking a couple regular sized sticks of churros. Then this comes out...for scale, you can see my sister's flan beside it lol.


My favourite place for Christmas/home stuff is Pottery Barn (besides Williams-Sonoma!)

I'm not sure what this restaurant is called in english. I went with my mom and sister for dinner last week where almost everything in there was served on skewers. It was pretty good. I liked the style there. A bit like an izakaya.


Brookfield Place is my favourite for Christmas lights in Toronto! I went there tonight with my camera to take some shots.






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542. Recent Life | Saks Food Hall

Taking a quick break from all my vacation posts..I still have a lot of those to go through (obviously), but I'll also post occasionally about life back in Toronto. Yesterday I went with my mom and sister to the Eaton Centre which is already all decked out in Christmas decorations. We first went to Saks Fifth Avenue and saw that their new food hall is finally open!! I had been imagining a food hall like Harrods in London (my absolute favourite) but ours is a lot smaller and less ornate, but I still really like it. I'm so happy they finally opened and there's a nice selection of quality food. I live quite close so I'll be going there a lot! I actually went back there again today to get my dinner.






There are sooo many Christmas things that I want to get..but I'll wait until December.


A couple nights ago was the annual Christmas lighting ceremony/Starlight fundraiser at Brookfield Place! I've gone every year for the past several years (I live a few minutes walk away so I just drop by mostly for the food & drink lol..but I donate as well!). It's an event to raise money for the Starlight Children's Foundation with auctions, acrobatic performances, free food & drink, etc. It's also the night when they turn on the Christmas lights for the first time inside Allen Lambert Galleria.


Opening my mailbox for the first time after a long vacation is always a stressful moment. It was stuffed to the brim this time!! ALL these magazines were in there, plus a stack of mail. I'm sure the postman will be happy when he sees its finally been emptied. I subscribe to a lot of different magazines..& I actually read all of them cover to cover. Now I have a lot to catch up on. There was: Bloomberg Businessweek (3 total - it's a weekly publication), & 1 each of Fortune, Forbes, Travel + Leisure, National Geographic Traveler, Lonely Planet, Conde Nast Traveler, & Insight: The Art of Living by Sothebys. So I need to catch up on them all now before the next issues arrive...


Love frozen bellinis!


Here are my new shoes from Japan!! I talked about buying them on a previous post if you remember. I really love them! Had been wearing them almost non-stop since I got back. They're actually the only flat shoes I own and wear on a regular basis..I usually only wear flat shoes when I travel. & even then, only to certain locations. I think my style is slowly changing..?

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514. World Press Photo Contest 2016

Last night I went to check out the World Press Photo exhibit at Brookfield Place. I briefly mentioned this in my previous post..it was really one of my top priorities before I left for Asia this week! If you don't know about it, it is an annual photo contest for press/journalism photography. The winners are chosen based on their accurate, fair and visually compelling insights about the world. The contest began in 1955 (!). Prize-winning photographs are featured in the exhibition, then travels to 45 different countries around the world every year.

Here are some of my favourite photos from the exhibit. Please note my photos are very bad quality because of the lighting there but if you want to see them in good quality I will link to each photo and I also suggest checking out the exhibit if you get a chance!


"Whale Whisperers" by Anuar Patjane FloriukI really love this photo because for the past few months, I've been really into wildlife documentaries. & for the past few days I've been watching a LOT of whale documentaries so it was quite a coincidence to see this. I actually don't know how to swim and I never had a desire to learn, but recently I had been wanting to because of the amazing experiences you can do..as shown in this photo. It must be such a cool feeling to see an animal of that size beside you. I randomly started watching whale documentaries when I came across Blackfish. I highly recommend it if you've never seen it yet. Orca whales are so beautiful and it's really sad how they are treated in the documentary. I can't believe I've never watched it until now. After I watched that I watched some other orca/killer whale documentaries (quite interesting how they hunt their prey)..blue whale documentaries & just before making this post I watched Racing Extinction which I also recommend. It talks about the different species that are rapidly becoming extinct.

The collection of "disturbing photos" is always in an enclosed area. I won't post any of them in case some of you may be uncomfortable with seeing them. They consist of photos from war-torn countries, violent areas, natural disasters and other sad events..& usually there are a lot of blood in the shots. I always enjoy these photos the most (not in a happy way) but I think it's important to be able to see what goes on in other parts of the world.


"Bliss Dharma Assembly" by Kevin FrayerMy photo isn't really clear for this, so I suggest clicking the link above to view it properly! I was really amazed by the scale of the Academy in the middle, in comparison to the thousands of small huts surrounding it. It's also in a really remote area. It is the Larung Gar Buddhist Academy in Sichuan, China. 40,000 monks and nuns live here.



"North Korea: Life in the Cult of Kim" by David GuttenfelderI recognized the name of this photographer since I followed him on Instagram before! I started to follow him when I first saw his North Korea photos awhile ago. They were unlike any I've seen before from that country. I went through a phase a few years ago when I was really fascinated by learning about North Korea (still am I guess). I've seen a lot of documentaries and even read several books on it.


"Tianjin Explosion" by Chen JieThis is an aerial shot of an enormous pit, created by explosions in a storage container logistics company of Tianjin, China. The warehouse stored hazardous chemicals which set off the explosions. They resulted in damage to 17,000 residences and 8000 vehicles, killing over 170 people and injuring hundreds more.


"Amazon's Munduruku Tribe" by Mauricio Lima
Silhouettes of children playing in the Tapajos River in the Brazilian Amazon.


"March Against Terrorism in Paris" by Corentin FohlenA demonstration of solidarity with victims of terrorist attacks in Paris. It was estimated that between 1.2-1.6 million people attended this march, which was the largest public rally Paris had seen since liberation from the Nazis at the end of WWII.


"Reporting Europe's Refugee Crisis" by Sergey PonomarevRefugees arriving by boat to Lesbos, Greece. Over a million refugees entered Europe last year, with the vast majority arriving by sea through Greece and Italy. It is the largest movement of people on the continent since WWII. Sometimes it's hard to believe photos like this are even real. As in, I can't believe this actually happens in the world. I hear about it in the news but never thought of what it's actually like.

This photo is from the same series as the one above, showing a Slovenian police officer escorting refugees who crossed over from Croatia. Many refugees wanted to enter the Schengen Area of Europe (where movement between member states didn't require a passport).


"A Life in Death" by Nancy BorowickThis is from a series of photographs featuring Laurel and her husband Howie Borowick, photographed by their daughter Nancy. During the final year of their marriage, they were fighting cancer together. They spent their last months creating new memories, and living life together to the fullest...rather than being preoccupied with the cancer. Howie passed away on Dec 7 2013 and Laurel on Dec 6 2014. Nancy photographed her parents' final chapters to hold on to their memory and to focus on their love for each other and individually. The photo above shows Laurel wearing a playful wig.


"The Gris-gris Wrestlers of Senegal" by Christian BobstWhen I saw this photo I thought of how much it seemed like a scene from a movie (kind of reminded me of gladiators fighting in the Colosseum). This is Senegalese wrestling; the most popular sport in Senegal. Wrestlers can become national stars and win top prizes of hundreds of thousands of euros.


"Chameleon Under Pressure" by Christian ZieglerThere are more than 170 different types of chameleons, living in a vast range of habitants from rainforests to deserts, and sub-tropical coastlines to 4000 metre high mountains. Over a third of the world's chameleon species are threatened with extinction.

There are two of them camouflaged in this photo below:



"Tough Times for Orangutans" by Tim LamanOrangutans are found in the wild only in the rainforests of Sumatra and Borneo, and considered a "critically endangered" species. They are facing a crisis in their habitats as logging, conversion to agriculture and fires destroy their forests. They are also being poached for the illegal pet trade.




To see the entire collection of photos from this year, click here: World Press Photo 2016

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