I went out for a late dinner with some friends at Asian Legend (the Chinatown location on Dundas at Beverley) one night. We got there around 10:30 pm, a half an hour before they closed at 11 pm. We were seated and I believe they told us the kitchen would be closing soon, so we should order quickly. I don’t remember the waitress telling us that we would need to leave by 11 or anything though. So we ordered, our food came, and we got to it. At some point, we received our cheque without asking for it. Not so subtle hint that they wanted us out. We weren’t even finished eating yet. We finish our food but one of my friends is still finishing her meal, she’s a little slower at eating than the rest of us. This isn’t a bad thing, we all just happen to be faster than her. Well, the few waiting staff still there did not look happy. They clearly wanted us to leave so that they themselves could go home. They gave us some more not so subtle hints such as cleaning all the tables around us and giving us “the look.” This is when things got a little tense. Some of us thought we should pack up the remaining food, pay, and leave as soon as possible since it was past closing. Others thought we should stay until our friend finished her meal. So a little tension between us friends and also with the staff.

Personally, I thought we should stay. We were paying customers and came to enjoy a meal, not scarf down some food quickly and leave. The waiting staff at no point indicated that we would be required to leave by a certain time. I’ve always believed that a restaurant’s closing time was when the restaurant would stop taking customers, NOT when customers would be required to leave. If they told us upfront, before seating us, that they expected us to leave by 11 pm, that would have been different. We would have planned on finishing quickly or we could have chosen not to eat there. But between the staff handing us our bill unasked, cleaning around us, and giving us death stares, I must admit I was pretty angry with the way we were being treated. I thought we were well within our privileges to stay and finish our meal and it was rather rude they way they served us.

I know in the grand scheme of things, this isn’t really that big of a deal (there are more important things in life for us to concern ourselves with) but what do you think? Were they rude? Should we have ate and left quickly? Should we have stayed until we had all finished?

That last one particularly sticks with me. A couple of weeks ago, while my family was driving on the 401 to Kingston for my sister’s graduation, we witnessed something I had only seen in the news. We witnessed the motorcade for Private Alexandre Peloquin, a Canadian soldier who was recently killed in Afghanistan. If you don’t know what happens with Canadian soldiers who are killed in battle, then this may sound odd that seeing black cars speeding pass me in the opposite direction for brief moment sticks with me. Its much more than that. Let me explain.

The portion of highway 401 between Trenton & Toronto has been renamed the “Highway of Heroes.” It is this stretch of highway that all Canadians killed in action is driven down, from the air force base in Trenton, to the morgue in Toronto. Every-time this horrible trek happens, something amazing happens as well. Canadians from all backgrounds, veterans & civilians, men & women, young and old, gather on the bridges above the Highway of Heroes to pay their final respects for the fallen soldiers. Some sit, most stand, some salute, some wave flags; they all remember. And that’s why that trip to Kingston sticks in my mind so much. Not just the fact that I saw the motorcade pass by, but also witness the reverence and respect my fellow countrymen had for our fallen soldiers. It was really quite something.

So never forget. Don’t only remember those who past away who made the headlines. Remember the lesser knowns and the unknowns as well. Somebody loses a son or daughter, brother or sister, friend or family, every-time someone dies.

Always remember.

I’ve got so much to share: the food, the sights, the food, the friends, the food, the outings, did I mention the food? Instead of trying to cram everything into one humongous post, I’ll share bits and pieces over multiple posts over the next week or so. Today, I’ll just share some highlights and give you a preview of posts to come.

I’ll start off with exactly why I decided to take my trip in the first place. I got offered a job at Toronto Hydro about a month ago (more on that in a future post) and the “plan” in the back my mind ever since graduating was to find a job, hope that there would be enough time between getting the job and starting the job to travel, and travel, ideally to the motherland: Hong Kong. And praise God, that’s exactly what I was able to do! So I booked a ticket and a week later, off I went!

The actual flights there and back were quite good. Long flights have the potential to be a pretty bad experience, but I was lucky enough to immensely enjoy both trips. On the way to HK, I sat beside the cutest five year old from Chicago. Her older cousin was taking her and  her sister to HK for the first time. She was absolutely crazy! Just completely off the wall, driving her cousin a little mad I think. She just wouldn’t sit still and kept squirming and doing crazy things like ripping of the head rest or throwing her sweater over the seat behind her. So much fun to share the journey with her and play with her a little. Children are great! The flight back was also great cause I decided to treat myself a little and upgrade to business class. Wow, so cool for such a long flight over. A seat that reclines completely into bed, really really good food (filet mignon, wines, hot roasted peanuts, the list goes on), great service, and a first class lounge to wait in. Totally worth it.

One of the highlights of the trip is definitely the food. So much food and such good food at that! It was one of the things I was most looking forward to before the trip and HK did not disappoint! One side note though. With so many people telling me how great the food there is, I was under the impression that HK’s food would be far superior than Toronto’s. And while the food there is quite amazing, I’ve come to realize how amazing Toronto’s food is as well. With the dishes I tried in HK that I could also get in Toronto, Toronto’s quality was mostly just as good. Toronto is definitely a dining mecca. Anyway, back to HK’s food.

So many different styles of food to try: from cheap to pricey, from Chinese to Thai to western to Japanese to countless others, from fancy dine-in places to dirty little local places, it was food heaven! One highlight I need to mention is my first encounter with foie gras. Oh my goodness, that stuff is so heavenly. If you’ve never tried it and get a chance to try it, make sure you savour that first bite as much as you can, you’ll never get a feeling like that in your mouth ever again! Other highlights include the best “po-tarts” ever, fresh seafood, amazing fruit desserts, Portuguese-Macanese food, and the best hot-pot I’ve ever had. Stay tuned on posts specifically for food.

The other major highlight of the trip was visiting friends and family and HK. This was my first vacation that I’ve taken on my own, but it didn’t really feel that way at all. With so many people to meet up and catch up with, it felt like I was taking a vacation with all of them. I am so blessed to know so many people there. It made the trip so much more enjoyable. Thanks to everyone who came out and hung with me, showed me around, and let me crash at the places, you’re the reason my trip was so epic. Seeing all these people would have been great in itself, but getting to experience HK with them was even better. Outings like the “junk” (boat) trip for May’s birthday, the trip to Ocean Park with new friends Benita & Felix, hiking up to Lion’s Rock with Dan, many meals shared with friends & family, all made 100 times better because of the great company I shared them with. Again, stay tuned for more details on these outings in future posts.

I’ll leave you with my thought of the day, mastercard style: Having time off, good. Taking a vacation in your time off: great. Sharing your vacation with friends and family, priceless.

PS For a less detailed event by event hits of my trip, check out my twitter page.

I kind of just stumbled upon it this evening as I was looking for someplace at Yonge & Dundas to eat after window-shopping a bit at the Eaton Centre. I happened to notice this new place I never saw before called Chipotle. Probably wouldn’t have gone in if the name hadn’t sounded so familiar for some reason. Took a second, but figured out that I heard about them from one of Wong Fu Production‘s video blogs. Noticed that inside wasn’t anything too special, just that it looked fairly new by the look of the furniture and decor, some tables and chairs and the counter where the food magic happens. Looks like it’s a decent chain in the States and this new Toronto location is the first one in Canada.

Menu is simple enough: pick your meat (chicken, steak, barbacoa, carnitas), pick your style (burrito, taco, fajita burrito, burrito bowl, salad), and finally pick your toppings (pinto or black beans, varying spicy levels of salsa, sour cream, chili-corn salsa, cheese, guacamole, & lettuce). Add a drink if you’d like, and that’s it! What you end up is an absolutely GINORMOUS serving of tasty Mexican food. Just take a look at the burrito I ordered! Ingredients were fresh and the servings were plentiful. I think this is the first burrito I’ve had where I couldn’t fit my mouth around the whole thing.

Small detail that I found nice is their pricing. It seems like they’ve priced everything so it comes out to an even dollar amount after taxes. My carnitas (pork cooked in some special way, I forget how) burrito & bottle of Corona came out to an even sixteen dollars. Another fun little detail was the instructions on how to eat the burritos on the back of the napkins.

So if you’re ever close by the Yonge & Dundas area and are looking for a fast & delicious meal, I highly recommend Chipotle!

For example, just tonight at worship practice, one of the vocalists, Beth, mentioned how she heard that I have an interview next week and that she’d pray for me. Sweet! But I was once again surprised, because I had only gotten the call about the interview earlier that day and only 3 other people knew about, or so I thought. Apparently my mom had talked to her between me telling my mom and me seeing her at practice.

And just last week, same thing. This time, when I was volunteering at school, the secretary inquired about an upcoming opportunity for me. She was of course referring to an interview I had later on that week, but again, I had only found out the day before and had only mentioned it to 3 other people at that point. Still haven’t figured out how she found out so fast.

So news does travel at the speed of light I guess, even when you don’t expect it.

“Hey, I’m not even sure there’s such a thing as the Internet. It might just be Jeannie telling everyone stuff.”
~ Matt from the TV Show, Studio 60 ~