Morty's

Morty’s is located in Waterloo and is frequented by many Laurier and Waterloo university students. It is a two story wings/drinking establishment brimming with good looking waitresses. Apparently, lots of raging hormone guys come here for the friendly and good looking waitresses (and for the wings of course) who serve them in short shorts/skirts in the summer.

Every Mondays and Thursdays, they have a special where if you buy a drink you can get wings for $0.50. Let me tell you, these aren’t your typical puny All-Star wings. Morty’s wings are relatively large and the meat on them is fairly juicy. You can’t go wrong with $0.50 cent wings!

The service was good and we only waited 10 minutes for a table. I ordered 10 wings and got two flavors, Wet Cajun and BBQ. Morty’s doesn’t have a lot of flavors in comparison to All-Stars Wings, but it compensates by having tastier wings that’s crispy and juicy. I’ve tried wings at All-Stars, Duff’s Wings, Honest Lawyers and other miscellaneous bars/restaurants, but none of them are as good as Morty’s. It’s the best wings place I’ve been to, so try it if you’re ever in that area!

Bymark

Bymark is hidden in a corner inside the TD Dominion Centre. When I use to work in that building, I passed by this restaurant every day without even realizing it. The dining area of the restaurant has a contemporary decor and a good ambiance. Bymark has exceptional service and is a nice place for a romantic dinner.


I ordered the "Tagliatelle with butter braised lobster, woodland mushrooms and torn basil" ($36.95). This dish has three different kinds of mushrooms, lots of herbs, and the pasta and lobster were cooked just right. It was good, but after tasting the yellow fin tuna I felt that I could have gotten something better.


My friend ordered the "Grilled Yellow Fin tuna with citrus herb crust, oven cured tomatoes, kalamata olives and roasted pepper puree" ($37.95). The portion was incredibly small but every bite was filled with flavor. The yellow fin tuna was pan seared, which gave the fish two different textures. The center was raw but very tender. The sauce and herbs on the fish complemented each other perfectly.

Overall, it was a good dining experience. Since Bymark is on the pricey side, I'll only go back for special occasions or if I'm ever swimming in money in the future (haha i wish).

Full House Dessert

Full House Dessert is located in Richland Plaza (rumors have it that place is haunted) at Bayview and 16th Avenue. It’s easily in my top two favorite Chinese desserts, though I only know a handful of places. They have a large selection and if you can’t read Chinese (like me), it’ll be bit a overwhelming.

Are there any Durian lovers out there? If you are one of the few who DO like this fruit, you understand that the divine taste of if outweighs the foul smell. In Thailand, it’s been banned in certain public places (i.e. offices and hospitals) since the smell it emits is so offensive. People have told me it smell like crap and have used a string of other foul smelling word to describe it, but I beg to differ.

Full House Desserts sells “Durian Pancake”, which is basically two slithers of Durian in a crepe with whipped cream inside. The durian is refrigerated so the consistency is less mushy and the smell is not as pungent. They also have this in a mango variety.


Doesn’t Durian look like some kind of medieval torture device? I’m sure this fruit can do some serious damage.


I ended up not ordering it because my friends weren’t too thrilled with the idea of sweet delicious smells of Durian attacking their olfactory senses for the rest of the night. I decided to get their other specialty, “Full House Dessert” (in Chinese it’s Yeung Gi Gum Lo). This dessert consists of mango, sago, and pieces of pomelo sprinkled in this milky mango puree. It’s one of my favorite desserts from here, and I think they make the best "Yeung Gi Gum Lo" in Toronto.

Durian smells like crap and is a bit mushy, but do yourselves a favor and try the Durian Pancake. Please don't eat this right before a first date. It results in extremely bad breathe that is guaranteed to scare any girls/guys away. If you just can't resist, you should make them eat it too so their breathe is just as bad.

On Repeat

I’m probably in no position to give music recommendations because sometimes I have the most obscure taste or just really bad taste in music. I occasionally give into my guilty pleasures and find myself singing along and bobbing my head to Beyonce’s Single Ladies. Here are some albums I’ve been listening to on repeat:

1) St. Vincent – Actor Out of Work

On her album cover, St. Vincent appears to have this void in her eyes with an alien-esque face, but I assure you that’s not a reflection of her music. Here are some of the songs I like on the album: The Party, Actor Out of Work, The Strangers, and The Bed.

2) Muse – The Resistance

There a number of people out there who claim Muse is a copycat of Radiohead. The only thing they have in common is their lead singer’s frequent use of their falsetto voice. Their music instrumentation and style are completely different from each other. My favorite album from Muse is still Origin of Symmetry. Space Dementia is an epic song, end of story. I like almost every song on the album but one of my personal favorites is Undisclosed Desires.

3)Bat For Lashes – Two Suns

I’m a Radiohead fan and I realized I mentioned them a few times already, but by no means am I on the same level as Scott Tenorman (South Park). I started listening to Natasha Khan because I read that Thom Yorke is a fan of Bat For Lashes. Natasha’s languid vocals mingle seamlessly with the keyboard, bass, drums and synths. My favorites on the album are Siren Song, Daniel, and Moon And Moon.

Nuit Blanche

"Toronto's free all-night contemporary art thing"

This year marks the 4^th annual Scotiabank’s Nuit Blanche and I knew the streets were going to be as chaotic as the years before. I saw at least three fights brewing with a bit of shoving and lots and lots of trash talking. This is not a comprehensive review of Nuit Blanche because I didn't get a chance to go to many exhibits yesterday and I'm not a contemporary art critic. Here are a few pictures I took:


Space Becomes The Instrument. I got there at 12:30am and Massey Hall was my first stop. The audience gets to view 3 performers playing piano wires extended across the interior of Massey Hall. I was instantly intrigue by the idea of hearing sonically pleasing sounds while sitting on the stage of Massey Hall. We waited and waited. The sign posted on the wall said it would take approximately 75 minutes.


When we finally got in around 1hour and 30 minutes later, we saw three men on the center balconies with one conductor at the foundation of it all. They spent the next five minutes twirling a lighted microphone around their head at varying speeds and levels. These actions caused oscillating pitches, sounds and vibrations that echoed throughout Massey Hall. It was good but I’m beginning to question whether it was worth the 1.5hour wait in the cold.




Beautiful Light: 4 Letter Word Machine. For this exhibit, the City Hall had changing lights accompanied by ominous sounding beats. There was also a reading aloud of the nonsensical words from a voice you’d imagine belonged to a demon (I recently got hooked to Supernatural). The 4 letter words randomly changes to undecipherable phrases such as SONE, JIKE, GELE, etc. Call me weird but the combination of the ominous music with highly bright cryptic phrases being splashed onto the City Hall gave the whole experience a surreal dreamlike feeling.


Ghost Chorus - Dirge for Dead Slang. KKK meeting or Halloween ghosts (jk)?


Light Up The Night. A man in a human sized prophylactic? That condom like suit hugged way too many curves below the belt that I did NOT want to see.


Ice Queen: Glacial Retreat Tent. Located in the Eaton Centre. The dress is 10 foot tall and is animated with a dance that explores global warming and its devastating environmental effects.




Light Up The Night.

There were a few good ones, but some were total crap (i.e. Hey Dave). I know that the art projects try to convey a message, but some weren’t aesthetically pleasing nor were they particularly profound. My opinion may be a bit skewed since I didn't visit all of the exhibits. I think the overall experience of exploring the streets of Toronto with your friends at late hours to see art makes it worthwhile. I had some fun even though I was ready to pass out any second.