O Muses, O high genius, aid me now

While having posts with lots of photos are fun and particularly easy to do, I want to write more again now that summer school will be officially over by Monday. The posts from 312, Helene, Lin, and Susie are so interesting that I want to create meaningful conversations just like they did in their writing. However the creative juices are not coming and I just can't bring myself to wax lyrical about fashion. I find myself no longer really obsessing over fashion the way I used to a few years ago, so I wonder if I had kind of outgrown it in a way and letting other things take precedence. There is a part of me that fears this because fashion has always been such a big defining part of me and I don't want this blog to turn into a online diary (I shudder at the Livejournal years). I do want to expand my scope and not talking strictly about the things I am going to wear for the day or the things I want to buy etc. etc. I know I will continue to struggle with ideas for the direction of the blog but for now, instead beating myself up about it further, I will log off now and go catch up on movies on my ever growing list of films-to-watch, which includes:
  1. Cave of Forgotten Dreams 3D
  2. Sleeping Beauty
  3. Crazy Stupid Love
  4. Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows Part 2
  5. Page One: Inside the New York Times
  6. Life, Above All


Also I just discovered this 30 day challenge to unplug this month at 8pm every work day but I plan to extend it to the weekend because I really do need to curb my internet addiction. Care to join me in this challenge?


The Restorative Powers of Walking



I love the ironic juxtaposition of the title of this post and the first two images. There should be some cardinal rule that dictates for the amount of time spent sitting blogging, there should be an equal amount dedicated to moving out and about outside en plein air.  Last Monday was British Columbia day so I got a day off, which was lovely and well timed. These are some photos I took from fiddling around with the settings on my sister's point and shooter. I usually dislike over-saturated photos, but for the first time I love how insanely supersaturated these photos are. They leave a cloyingly sweet aftertaste like artificially flavoured and coloured Popsicles, which to me was the epitome of summer when I was a kid. This is like the last full week of summer school left so I can't wait finally start finishing my list of things to do this summer, though woefully behind some productive bloggers such as One Sleepless Night here. No matter, as I fully intend to make the most of the summer left until school begins in the fall. In celebration of B.C. day, I would like to list some fellow awesome and creative Vancouverites and I'm sure you'll love them as much as I do:




Food Day Canada




Did I ask a friend who just finished studying abroad at Copanhagen whether she paid a visit to Noma or not? Yes. Am I really a foodie? No. The fact that each of our relationship with food is deeply personal, rife with memories and feelings should make us care all the more about food. Yet somehow, if you give an ounce of care what you put into your mouth, you are marginalized as a "foodie", a word that carries negative connotation as someone out of touch with the average person's eating habits and budget. Nevertheless I am still confused on how hard can it be to follow Mark Bittman's and Michael Pollan's simple advice on eating? Eat food. Not too much. Mostly plants. It really is that simple, if you look at traditionally healthy diets such as the Mediterranean diet to the Okinawan diet who are all essentially the same in perspective and their use of whole ingredients and vegetables. It doesn't have to be necessarily organic or local. But it has been proven against conventional wisdom that the produce at local farmer's market can be a whole lot cheaper than anything you will find at giant retailers.







Trying to heed my own advice, after a wonderful lunch with family at a golf course in Richmond (my uncle being an avid golfer), we headed to a nearby farmer's market. The place looked idyllic with it's wide variety of local produces and beautiful little farm. My little cousin sure enjoyed playing with the chicken and the goats. Are all cows this adorable? I wish I could forgo all meat (especially after watching Food Inc.) but why must beef carpaccios be so delicious and so hard to resist, I don't know but my stomach grumbles in response.





The day ended quite nicely with a dinner at Yew, the restaurant at Four Season downtown, which sounds rather expensive but in reality is not because of the sable fish three-course special for $35. To wrap up the food theme for today, here are some food blogs that I read quite often:
And of course, some fabulous videos of famous chefs and restaurants from Nowness here. Here's a toast for a fabulous week, an awesome last month of summer before school, and happy B.C. day for those who live in beautiful British Columbia (as noted on our license plates).