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Metric, Chinatown, and a Cooking Adventure

Friday Wei was nice enough to have me over for a tasty steak BBQ dinner. It was fun to chill with him as I haven’t seen him much this summer at all. Dinner was followed by a few rounds of Street Fighter on his Super Nintendo. Talk about bringing back childhood nostalgia.

Afterwards my girlfriend and I went over to Bluesfest to check out Metric! She really wanted to see the Riannha show. I have no idea who Riannha is other than she’s some young pop princess that came out with some top 40 pop songs. Not for me, no thanks… I find it really strange that she’s performing at a blues festival of all places.

Seeing Metric live this time around was a lot different than at Coachella. The venue was packed like it was at Coachella (probably the most packed that I had seen all week at Bluesfest), but at the same time the crowd wasn’t as energetic as the crowd in California. The stage kept on having sound difficulties and without the energy of the crowd it wasn’t as engaging. The show didn’t seem as smooth as it could have for the first half, but the second half the sound problems seemed to have been fixed and the band seemed to pick up more energy.

They played a wicked encore that lasted pretty long with some really good guitar and keyboard solos. The main singer mentioned something about supporting bands that weren’t commercially prepackaged and marketed, and I thought that was an appropriate statement considering Riannha was performing a few stages over.

I’m glad I came out for the show. It was a bit different for my girlfriend though, as she’s not so used to what she calls “alternative” music.

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Saturday we decided to avoid mountain biking in a 30+ degree weather. It was brutally hot, and to tackle the hills that day would’ve been suicide. Even the golfers couldn’t handle being outside (her house overlooks a golf course).

So instead I took her to Chinatown to do some grocery shopping. She’s never been, and watching her expression as she walked into the store (and the wall of Chinatown-grocery-store-seafood-nastiness-smell) was priceless. Eventually she got used to the smell, but the sight of a whole chicken was still unsettling for her as that was foreign for her too. No, this isn’t a whole chicken that you’d normally see in the supermarket; these are chickens that are plucked and left to be sold whole… feet, head, et al. The sight of the super-phallic ox-tails was pretty gross too even for me. I’m glad she didn’t see the pigs feet and ears sold a few buckets over.

It was an adventure for her though, and I’m glad she found all the different foods fascinating. She bought a few cakes at the bakery there, and that was definitely something she didn’t shy away from. While she was exploring I managed to pick up the ingredients needed for dinner. She’s been wondering what Vietnamese food is like, and so I phoned mom for recipes of my favorite meals growing up. There’re things like Pho that you can have in restaurants, but that’s not all that there is to Vietnamese food. There’s a lot that isn’t readily available in restaurants and so it was nice to share something from my own culture with her.

After the grocery store I showed her the wonder that is bubble tea. She too had never had it before, but she loved it. It’s fun to share new things with her, and I can’t wait to show her the Rockies at the end of August. Yes, she’s flying back with me to Alberta when I’m done here. She’s never seen the Rockies before, and she loves the outdoors and is really active so it works out wonderfully. It should be a pretty awesome trip. There’s no feeling like standing on the peak of a huge-ass mountain, and it’s something I want to share with her.

For dinner I made some “Banh Xeo”. I can only describe it as a stuffed curry pancakes. I stuffed it with shrimp, green onions, sprouts, and tofu.  It’s eaten wrapped in mint and lettuce leaf and dipped in fish sauce.  It’s delicious and very fresh tasting.  She loved it, and I was surprised at how it turned out considering it was my first time making it.

I’ve been cooking a few meals lately for us, and it turns out that I have a knack for cooking. I’m still a super beginner at it, but I’ve done fairly well. To be honest, I actually enjoy cooking quite a bit. It also helps that her kitchen has massive marble counter-space and space age appliances and tools. But even cooking in Frank’s kitchen here too is pretty fun.

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I just found out a few days agao that Syd Barrett, one of the founding members of Pink Floyd, just passed away.  I guess this news is noteworthy to me, because their music meant so much to me while growing up and it still means a lot.  Shine on you crazy diamond!

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