Double Korean

Saturday August 18, 4:35 p.m.

The last couple of suppers have been very Korean-heavy. On Thursday, for my brother's birthday, the family went all the way to Richmond Hill in the north to a place called Bulgogi Brothers, part of a chain of Korean BBQ restaurants. Richmond Hill is known to be an area filled with Chinese restaurants and other stores, so a Korean restaurant in the area tends to stick out.

Of course, our dinner consisted of a lot of grilled meat and veggies. The service was very good there. The maitre d' was very smiley and courteous....deserved a good tip. And the other wait staff was very polite, especially when my sister-in-law was a bit put off when her bibimpap was brought to her cold. It turned out that she'd ordered the wrong type of bibimpap; but the waitress was very patient in explaining to her what she should've ordered. The beef was of excellent quality....even my parents, who are gastronomically very conservative diners, remarked that it was tender and delicious. The only thing is that this isn't quite the restaurant for those folks who usually engorge themselves on all-you-can-eat Korean BBQ. Bulgogi Brothers is a bit on the expensive side and the portions are a bit smaller than usual. But for a good meal with fine service, this is a solid place.

Then, yesterday, I joined the Automan's Meet-Up group. Over the past couple of years, I've been hearing of these meet-up groups which get together based on the members' mutual hobbies and interests. Toronto may be the 2nd-biggest hub for such activities, next to New York. Automan was apparently taking care of one of the Japan-based ones, so I met him and his followers up at Finch Station at 7 p.m. last night....last night, being a matter of perspective, since it was still bright and sunny outside. I'd never been part of one of these meet-up groups so I was a bit curious. Luckily, Automan and his members were all mostly repeaters so there was a comfort of familiarity although there were a few first-timers including me.

Yeah, it was good talking to these folks. There were a couple of pharmacists, a man originally from The Emirates operating his own home-based graphic design company, a young structural engineer and a nurse with a huge smile. The nine of us ended up at Seoul City on Steeles Avenue at the north end of the city. I was situated in one corner of the table but I managed to hold up my end of the conversation. What helped was the famous Korean liquor, makgeolli, and yep, that fuzziness in the photo is a fairly good recreation of how I was seeing things near the end of dinner. I had drunk the milky-white rice wine at my brother's birthday dinner and was doing the same here. It's deceptively easy to swallow and therefore probably a killer drink.

Just one of the many dishes we all devoured during dinner. This was some sort of spicy meat-and-kimchi mix with tofu. Very delish! We had all these different types of Korean dishes without any need to barbecue anything.

It was a good first meet-up for me. I don't think I will join every one (I believe it's a weekly thing), but perhaps a monthly night out would be OK for me.

Back to School and Out of Work

Wednesday August 15, 3:57 p.m.

Well, just a few hours after getting that bank form to hand into the hands of the payroll officer of my school, I got the call from the supervisor there to sub for a teacher on Friday morning. When I called him up, I got his machine. Just from his voice, I knew exactly who he was. He's one of the more interesting characters in the school; I've seen him from time to time rumbling around like a mix between Danny DeVito and Christopher Lloyd as Doc Brown. Kinda wonder what his students must be like after a full first week with him. In any case, I've got my 'in' to get that form into Payroll. I was asked about Monday morning as well, but I've got my doctor's appointment on that day.

Back at the BBQ at CG's place on Sunday, CG regaled all of us about what a horrible idiot his boss was at his latest job. It was a venting situation at Force 5. Well, The Entrepreneur and I know a little about his situation so we kinda calmed him down. The Entrepreneur gave him some professional advice. And so, today, CG contacted all of us to say that he told the boss to take that job and shove it. From the way he was telling it, CG's boss was Rob Ford and Oscar Madison smashed together. I gave him my good wishes although I wonder what he's gonna do with a full family and a big mortgage to handle.

Bank Stuff and Linda Ronstadt

Wednesday August 15, 3:13 p.m.

It's a pretty quiet day today. But this morning, I went over to my local bank to do some housekeeping, so to speak, concerning my account. Nothing too bad....got everything done within half an hour. I will have to go down to the school....if and when I'm called for duty....to hand them another form so that they can send my pay to the new account.

Listened in bed last night to Linda Ronstadt's "What's New?"CD. I have to say that it's the first disc in a while that I've been able to listen to every track without falling asleep. Such is the magic of Nelson Riddle. I read some stuff on Wiki about the album....I was quite surprised to read so much acclaim for it. Basically, it's been hailed as the saviour for The Great American Songbook after it nearly got snuffed out by The Beatles and rock music. Well, I like my disco, AOR, R&B and New Wave just fine, but it's nice to know that jazz and standards can still claim a place in contemporary music. Harry Connick, Jr. and Michael Buble ought to make that pilgrimage to Ronstadt's house.

I like the title track but I've got a crush on "I've Got A Crush On You". And I have to say that Linda hasn't looked so ravishing than when she appears in the video.

Goodbye, Horshack!

Tuesday August 14, 11:19 p.m.

I heard about the passing of Ron Palillo on the news today. As a kid growing up in the 70s, I used to watch that ABC sitcom, "Welcome Back, Kotter" with Ron, a very svelte John Travolta, Robert Heyges, Lawrence Hilton-Jacobs and of course Gabe Kaplan. Sweathog Vinnie Barbarino may have been the ratings magnet, but I always liked Arnold Horshack since he was such an appealing weirdo....something that I could relate to.

After the series ended, Palillo fell prey to that terror that any actor could face after a successful run on any series: typecasting. Noone could or would hire him after such an iconic character as Horshack. He had a long period of depression and just stayed cooped up in his home for years. He seemed to be able to crawl himself out of it after the 80s, but unfortunately today, he suffered a fatal heart attack....and at 63. He was in his early 20s when he did "Kotter". Time has just warped by.

I didn't even know that Robert "Juan Epstein" Heyges had passed on.

Deeper Into Translation

Tuesday August 14, 11:00 p.m.

Went down to The Beaches this afternoon to meet with The Translator. I hadn't been to that area of Toronto in several years for obvious reasons (look at the blog title). I had been wondering how I would get there since according to the TTC map, there was nothing on Vic Park south that would go that far down. However, there was the 64 bus from Main Street.

The Beaches has been a popular spot for the young and those folks who like gentrified neighbourhoods for several years. Walking east on Queen East, I saw a number of individual shops and cafes with just a few chain stores peppering the street. Plenty of trees....quite a nice place to be although a few months before, there was that neighbourhood-wide lockdown by Metro Police when a gangbanger was on the run. Hopefully, that was just a horrible aberration more than a sign of things to come.

I got there a full hour early and because the rain was starting to pelt down, I decided to take refuge in a coffee shop on the corner of Queen East and Beech. It was pretty empty since it was a Tuesday, but there were a few customers, most of whom were obviously regulars there. The kindly Korean proprietor couldn't speak much English but she was able to mix up a nice Iced Caffe Latte, and I could relax for about 30 minutes reading newspapers by the window. At one point, a couple of ladies came in searching for Wineva Street. They asked me but they garbled the initial pronunciation so I couldn't identify the street so I guided them to the proprietor who led them to the two regulars. Luckily, one of them had a husband who was a taxi dispatcher who just happened to have been having his massage at a small clinic a couple of doors down. All this was done with genuine help....that's a neighbourhood I would love to live in someday.

Met up with The Translator who introduced me to this new translation system. Within about 30 minutes, I ended up looking pretty darn foolish. He gave me this rapid-fire talk on the system, and then told me to give it a shot...just cold. I may look like a geek but the truth is, technology and I don't mix too well. And frankly, I didn't expect him to give me a lesson so I looked like I wasn't paying attention. He was patient enough but I didn't feel too happy afterwards. Still, it looks like I may have some work coming my way within a few days. I may also be trying to get that bigger laptop just because of my emerging status as a translator.

August has been interesting meterologically. The weather folk have been reporting that we're in the midst of a cool wave (as opposed to a heat wave). The high temps haven't exceeded 26 degrees for the past few days. Believe me, I'm not complaining. Today, Tokyo had a low of 27!

Taste of the Danforth and BBQ

Monday August 13, 10:41 a.m.

Since my period of time in Japan was from 1994 to 2011, I had missed out on the birth and maturing of The Taste of the Danforth in Greektown. In a way, I think I still missed out since I dropped by a couple of hours before it officially opened for its final day on Sunday. So, basically, I arrived when people were just setting up. Of course, the question is why would I get to a foodie festival before it actually set up?

Well, I had that BBQ at CG's place all the way out in Oakville so I couldn't stay on The Danforth, but I needed to bring something to the party. If there's one thing that's been hammered into me, it's that one doesn't go to a house empty-handed. Ever.

I was walking around Greektown for a number of minutes, looking for something to get when I came across this bakery called Dough Bakeshop. The folks inside were pretty busy but I did venture whether they could whip up a couple of boxes of sausage rolls as they had advertised on the signboard. I caught a couple of the women there off-guard but just as I was about to rescind my request, the head baker inside yelled out that it could be done and to come back in 40 minutes. I didn't really mean to make such a rush order; I'd thought that I could get whatever was on the shelves but what was done was done. I had the time to spare so I just cooled my heels outside and came back. I was definitely grateful to Dough for the rush order considering that they were probably going to be crazy busy on the final day of The Taste, so I left a nice tip for them. The boxes were definitely warm and CG was grateful.

As for the BBQ itself, everything went off without a hitch. Although the GO Train out to Clarkson was a couple of minutes late, it turned out that CG himself was running a bit late so everything worked out. He and his family had moved out to their new house in Oakville a year ago from Markham, so they live in a pretty grand home. Got to see some old faces like The Entrepreneur and his young family and met some new ones in the form of former Japan hands like me. The weather, which had been threatening rain, remarkably held off so the BBQ could get off the ground without any need to flee inside.

Japanese Dance and Hibari Misora

Monday August 13, 10:15 a.m.

It was a pretty miserable day on Saturday when I went up to The Toronto Buddhist Church to catch my friend's dance recital there. It was actually my first time to the church in its new location and configuration. I'd used to go with my family to the old one on Bathurst St. deeper into downtown way back in the 70s, but not to pray but to watch Japanese drama videos on that newfangled contraption called a VCR. The old church had that traditional thatched-roof architecture, but this new one up north looks more Tadao Ando.

This buyokai was dedicated to the music of Hibari Misora, one of the singing legends of modern Japanese music. In terms of comparative status, I'd peg her with Elvis Presley and The Beatles in terms of how much an effect she had on the Japanese population. Her untimely death in 1989 at the age of 52 may have had Japan unofficially declaring a day or two of national mourning. Misora, through her music, led the people through the dark early days of the Postwar period all the way to the end of the Economic Bubble days of the late 80s. Her nom de genre was enka but she was known to have gone into jazz and even pop. I can't say, though, that I'm a huge fan of hers but since she released over 1,200 songs during her 40-year career, there are a number of them that I know just from hearing the opening notes.

These were the dancers...or at least, some of them...unfortunately, we were forbidden to take pictures during the performance itself. I was joined by The Dancer's family and so we all saw about 20 different performances all done to Misora's songs over the decades. The audience mostly consisted of folks older than me, so I was pretty sure that her music had an even more resonant effect on them. As for my friend, she performed a couple of dances....one in which she portrayed an old-fashioned Japanese thief in all-black, Her daughter also had a dance as well with two other young girls.

I would be rather intrigued if there were ever a similar buyokai done to the strains of Seiko Matsuda. Yes, I am being sarcastic here.