So on Sunday afternoon I decided it was about time to head up to Chinatown to grab some groceries. I’ve been wanting to cook a proper Asian dish for some time now and let’s all face it – Chinese grocers are typically much cheaper than the fancy supermarket chains.

Chinatown ain’t too far from where I live. In fact it’s about 15 minute walk away and I pulled my shopper with me. But as I got to Spadina/Dundas, two blocks of Spadina Ave were closed off to traffic (From Dundas to up past College). There were so many stalls set up with various items (mostly food) and hundreds of people. I thought to myself: what the hell is going on?

I quickly realised (from a banner) that it was a Chinatown Festival. I’m not sure how often they have these things but I felt lucky that I was in the right place at the right time. There was so much lovely food! Japanese Squid Balls, Fish Balls, Beef Balls, Kashmiri BBQ, and much more!

I thought I would cruise past it all, but then I saw there was MALAYSIAN FOOD and decided I really needed my camera so I could show my parents back home. Suddenly feeling very hungry for food, I ran all the way home for my camera and ran all the way back.

I ate Murtabak which is like a Roti, but filled with curry. Delicious. Then I had my favourite dim sum dish – Radish Cakes. Then to accompany it all with Bubble Tea, of course.

There was lots of music and plenty of things (very Asian things) to buy. You definitely felt like you were in the middle of China but nope, you’re right in the heart of Toronto.

Some photos are below, but for more photos check out my Toronto Chinatown Festival Set at Flickr.

Yesterday, approximately 55 of Soka Gakkai International (SGI) youth members volunteered their Saturday in planting trees around the conservation area of Caledon. Driving to Caledon was much like driving around country-side Victoria – lots of open space and mountains in the background, except it was much more lush due to the privilege of having so much more rain in any given season than Victoria would receive in an entire year.

We had to walk about 25 minutes to the actual site, but on the way we saw the trees that SGI had previously planted (SGI has been assisting CVC (Credit Valley Conservation) with an annual tree planting event for ten years now!) and we could see that they’ve made a great contribution already to the conservation and preservation of the environment. Tree planting is a great cause for sustainable development. Tree planting reverses the pollution we have put in our environment which has become a huge issue and it is important for us to save the environment.

Unsure as to how many trees we actually planted, given that Eva & I planted around eight (and I sorta gave up to start taking photos, and then consequently talking to a lot of people), I’m guessing we could’ve planted around 20 between the two of us and times that by (55 people divide by pairs of 2) would equal around 550. That’s a hell of a lot of new trees! Yay!

There were so many bugs! I got quite a big mozzie bite on my arm. (Thanks Judi for your after-bite spray). I saw so many worms, snails, some sort of black jumping insects.. But at one point, we all heard Casey screaming from afar, “frog! frog! frog!” Eva scrambled to catch it while it was jumping away and I managed to get quite a good a good shot of it (see below).

While the forecast for the day was thunderstorms, we were lucky as it only drizzled for a couple of minutes. Some sheltered, while some kept on going. As the rain subsided, I ran to grab my camera and then the sun came out! It was lovely.

I got some great shots of everyone. Paula was right when she saw my photos and commented that everyone looks so happy. It was a rather good day! It was good to see everybody!

Oh, and thanks to Tsuneko for driving me to the site! I’ve posted some photos below, but there are a tonne more at my Flickr SGI Tree Planting 2009 Set.

P.S. I don’t know why I have such a manly pose in the group photo. Haha!

My Flickr SGI Tree Planting 2009 Set

So last week I decided it was about time I stepped up and got myself a proper camera. I was heavily debating whether it was worth the big bucks (never spent too much on a camera) but after much encouragement from my friends I decided to bite the bullet. Dell was also having a sale so I thought I might as well take advantage of it.

It was posted the next day and I got it the following business day. I haven’t had much time to play around with it (or had good weather either) but I’m quite happy with it. Was very sad, however when Hann didn’t mention at the time of my purchase that I could’ve paid a bit more to have HD video but then told me afterwards….. *glares at him* But I suppose I should’ve done my own research. HANN – YOU TOLD ME 4K! I HATE YOU… Kidding.

Anyway, I hope to take some shots… soon! I probably won’t get a lens for awhile and hope to make use of the kit lens for now.. I don’t know what I am doing yet! Hah.. I just like to hang it over my neck and look “pro” for now.  Haha!