To further celebrate my birthday and also Minji's first day of early maternity leave, we had a glorious dim sum session along with Daniel at Casa Victoria:
Steamed BBQ pork buns with abalone sauce
Super har gow (jumbo shrimp dumplings)
Deep-fried meat and chives dumplings
Spare ribs with garlic and black bean sauce
Beef tendon in chu hou sauce
Pan-fried turnip patties with preserved meat
Baked BBQ pork pineapple buns
Baked milk tarts
Maybe I should celebrate my birthday for another week...
My friends Chelsea and Braden and I have been meaning to try out Woody Wood Burger for months now, so when they asked me where I'd want to go for a birthday dinner, I suggested Woody Wood Burger knowing that I'd have a lot of Asian food this week and would want something Western by the weekend.
Woody Wood Burger with curly fries
I decided on the Woody Wood Burger as I like to order the signature item when trying out a new restaurant. This burger comes with cheddar, caramelized onions, onion rings, sautéed mushrooms, and house sauce on a toasted sesame bun. The beef patty was excellent — juicy and super-flavourful — and both the onion rings (which weren't soggy!) and the toasted bun provided a great crispy texture to provide contrast to the caramelized onions and mushrooms. But I did find that without the addition of fresh vegetables, it was quite rich and heavy. A great burger, but I'd like to try the Classic or Cheese Burger next time as they come with lettuce, tomatoes, and pickles. I would, however, skip the curly fries. They're nothing special — they're just the classic cajun-spiced curly fries that you can find at any supermarket — and they get cold way too fast so it's not worth the extra $2.00 from the regular golden fries.
There are five dine-in tables with a high table for those who want to stand and eat something quick, but the space is quite small and a little shabby as you'd expect from a non-chain burger joint. There's also no table service here — you order at the front and pick-up your food at the front — but the staff are nice and try to be as accommodating as possible. Note that this restaurant is halal, but if you have food allergies, I would definitely call ahead to see if it's worth going. (Chelsea is allergic to gluten, eggs, and soy, so she had to bring her own gluten-free buns and vegan mayo. She also had to eat her Greek salad with no dressing because they only have one dressing option that she was allergic to.)
I had a great birthday. I did have to go to work, but my co-worker bought me lunch (I chose Tamago Jirou because I was in a Japanese egg sandwich kind of mood), I left at 4:00PM to get a glorious massage at Lumi Spa, and then had a delectable Chinese feast with Minji, Daniel, Samuel, and Carmen at Lobster Port:
Soy sauce free range chicken
Stir-fried lobster in Hong Kong style
Stir-fried AAA beef tenderloin with garlic, snow peas, yellow zucchini, and mushrooms
Snow pea leaves in broth with goji berries
Lobster tomalley and seafood fried rice
And after all that deliciousness, we decided to exercise our mental skills at Omventure, where we managed to complete the Dark Altar escape room with 5 minutes to spare and realized just how stellar our teamwork is. (Also, I haven't done an escape room in over a decade, and they have gotten super immersive and high tech. We're already planning our next outing.) A great evening with some of my favourite people!
Okay, this is giving early 2000s pop rock, Coldplay-meets-The-Killers vibes, but with the smoothest, most immaculate vocals, so basically, I am totally nostalgic and completely obsessed with this song. Not to make it about me, but, THIS IS THE BEST BIRTHDAY PRESENT, EVER.
There's a way
There's a way that we can fly again
Remember how we used to love back then
Living like we had no end
Let's stay out all night
Out all night until we see the sun
Remember how we used to long ago
We can miss the last train home
Don't you let our love go cold
When we're standing still
We can light it up once more
I'll take you there
We'll be running wild
Loving 'til the sun is out
Running 'til there's nothing left
'Til our last breath
We'll be running wild
Loving like it's made for us
Running 'til there's nothing left
'Til our last breath
We'll be running wild
Don't forget
Don't forget about the times we shared
All the places that we used to go
Living like we ruled the world
Don't you let our love go cold
When we're standing still
We can light it up once more
I'll take you there
We'll be running wild
Loving 'til the sun is out
Running 'til there's nothing left
'Til our last breath
We'll be running wild
Loving like it's made for us
Running 'til there's nothing left
'Til our last breath
We'll be running wild
We'll be running wild
We'll be running wild
We'll be running wild
We'll be running wild
Anyway, what this video is really telling us is that all you need in life is an adorable, loyal dog.
My dad insisted on taking me out for a birthday dinner, so along with my mom, we went to The Keg to celebrate tonight:
Iceberg wedge salad with blue cheese
Caesar Brussels sprouts with bacon
Prime rib with garlic mashed potatoes, sautéed mushrooms, and crispy fried onions
Billy Miner Pie
Of course, I got all my favourites: An iceberg wedge salad with blue cheese to start, the Caesar Brussels sprouts to share, and the classic prime rib cooked a perfect medium rare with garlic mashed potatoes as my main. And because this dinner was to celebrate my birthday, our lovely server prepared a slice of Billy Miner Pie (mocha ice cream, chocolate crust, fudge, caramel, and almonds) for dessert on the house, which is one of my favourite things about celebrating birthdays at The Keg. (Billy Miner Pie has been one of my favourite desserts since I was a kid, and it is absolutely crucial to save stomach space for it.) Honestly, after going to The Keg for over three decades, it's still my favourite Canadian chain restaurant.
Otoro (fatty tuna), uni and ikura (sea urchin and salmon roe), kampachi (amberjack), and anago nigiri
Toro temaki (tuna hand roll)
Soy milk ice cream with mochi, anko, amd kuromitsu
Birthday dessert: Japanese citrus and strawberry sorbets
Maybe it's because it's been a while since I've had sushi, but my god, this dinner was phenomenal. Gorgeous, fresh, succulent pieces of fish, beautifully assembled and presented. Crispy, golden, perfectly battered tempura. A light, sweet, and balanced dessert to finish. They even presented me with an extra dessert for my birthday, two deliciously fruity, refreshing sorbets that I wish I could buy in pints to eat at home. What a spectacular experience. And, dare I say, the sushi here was better than any I had in Japan...
My mom took me out for an early birthday dinner at NextDoor, and I gotta say, it's become our go-to special occasion restaurant for a reason. We've never had a dish here that was short of incredible. Our choices this evening:
Pork Sisig Bombs: Garlic rice, crispy pork filling, salmon caviar, and fried garlic in marinated bean curd pockets
Chopped Salad: Grilled chicken satay, lettuce, purple cabbage, arrots, red onions, fried shallots, crushed cashews, and fried wonton chips with soy peanut dressing
To start, the pork sisig bombs and the chopped salad. The pork sisig bombs were truly excellent — I've never had sisig before, and I don't know who's genius idea it was to stuff it inside delightfully marinated bean curd pockets, but these are INSPIRED. (I really need to try more Filipino food.) The chopped salad, which is definitely hefty enough to be a main course, was perfectly balanced in flavours and has so many amazing crunchy textures from the cabbage, cashews, and fried wonton chips that make it incredibly addictive.
Singaporean Chili Crab: Tempura soft shell crab, P.E.I. mussels, tiger shrimp, pickled chilis, and crushed cashews with fried baos
Steak Diane: 8 oz. USDA prime top sirloin, roasted fingerling potatoes, and roasted portobello mushrooms topped with miso mushroom sauce and beer-battered onion rings
For our mains, we got the Singaporean chili crab and the Steak Diane. The chili crab — which comes with a plethora of delicious seafood — is flavour-packed and has just the right amount of savoury spice. It's the kind of spicy that makes your mouth tingle but doesn't take away from any of the other flavours. (Though, fair warning, this one might be too much if you can't handle spice in general.) I think my only critique would have been to replace the fried baos with rice — the buns were great, but I think rice would've soaked up the sauce really nicely. Now, maybe it's because I'm just a huge fan of steak with mushrooms, but I thought the Steak Diane was utter perfection. The miso mushroom sauce was impeccable and not a drop could be wasted so we soaked up every last bit of it with the potatoes and onion rings.
Piña Colada Tres Leches: Triple layer vanilla sponge cake, whipped cream, and cinnamon crumble served with cinnamon and rum infused pineapple and coconut ice cream
Finally, I picked the piña colada tres leches for dessert, which sounded the most unique (the other choices were strawberry shortcake, Mexican chocolate cake, and mango gelato). What I loved was that the combination of flavours — vanilla, cinnamon, pineapple, and coconut — was simultaneously tropical and comforting at the same time. And the texture of the cake was light and airy so it didn't feel heavy after such a huge meal (we did have to take half of the chili crab home — we can eat a lot but even this was too much for us). A lovely ending to an epic feast.
I gotta say, birthday week is off to a great start!
I haven't been to Moxies in a long time (no, seriously, it's been at least five years), but Minji really wanted dessert this evening after dinner so we headed to the closest restaurant that served desserts, which just happened to be Moxies.
Key Lime Pie
Churro Ice Cream Sandwich
Salted Caramel Cheesecake
We shared three of their four desserts (they've had the White Chocolate Brownie for ages, so we didn't feel the need to get it), and while I still haven't forgiven them for discontinuing their Sticky Toffee Pudding a few years ago, these were, admittedly, pretty damn delightful. I also don't know a lot of places that serve key lime pie (one of my favourite desserts), either, so they get extra brownie points (no pun intended) for that. Anyway, it never occurred to us that we could go into any restaurant just for dessert. We may have to reconsider how to dine out...
While I ate some amazing things in Orlando, the one thing I really started to miss was Asian food. Minji and I were hardcore craving Korean BBQ, so along with Daniel, we headed over to my favourite K-BBQ restaurant, Daldongnae, where we feasted on pork belly, beef short ribs, beef rib finger meat, and seafood pajeon, and MY GOD, IT HIT THE SPOT.
K-BBQ grill and banchan
Pork belly, beef short ribs, and beef rib finger meat
Pork belly
Pork belly
Beef short ribs and beef rib finger meat
Seafood pajeon
For some reason, the first meal I eat out when I come back home from traveling anywhere is Korean food, and it is always particularly satisfying.
I know we only got 48 seconds, but doesn't this sound like the perfect song for commercials or dramas? You know, when you need that freeing, uplifting vibe? I just know I'm gonna play the shit out of this. 4 MORE DAYS!
Okay, I thought I was going to be able to pick out which songs will be my favourites as I do with every album, but the retro pop-rock sound of every single one of these songs (yes, even the ballad) is up my alley so it is impossible for me to choose. As I said, Happy is going to be the best birthday present, ever.
Jang Doyeon: "Before we sit down, is there something you'd like to drink?"
Jin: "Is everything free?"
Jang Doyeon: *nods* "Of course!"
Jin: "Thank you! I love free food."
Jang Doyeon: "I heard it's your first time releasing a solo album?"
Jin: "Yes, it's my first!"
Jang Doyeon: "It's the first album of your name on it."
Jin: "That's right."
Jang Doyeon: "It must feel different since you don't have your members with you."
Jin: "Ah, I performed the day after I was discharged, on June 13th, and not being with my members made it more scary and nerve-wracking. I had a hard time because I didn't know how to fill the gap. I was so worried about what I should do. But once I got used to it, I loved it!"
Jang Doyeon, laughing: "What did you like about it?"
Jin: "When performing with my members, we have a lot of varying opinions, right? Like, the music should be like this and the choreography should be like this and stuff, right? But since I'm doing it by myself, I was like, 'Choreography? None!'"
Jang Doyeon, laughing: "So you could boldly omit certain things."
Jin: "'These schedules? Delete it!' 'But the fans want it…' 'Oh, really? Then include it!' I can decide on everything myself!"
Jin: "From the lyrics, there's a part that goes, 'Giving something greater than just the little things, that's what I live for.'"
Jang Doyeon: "That's the message you wanted everyone to hear?"
Jin: "I want to my fans to receive great happiness rather than small happiness when they see me and the others. So that part…"
Jang Doyeon: "It's all about your fans!"
Jin: "It can't be helped. My fans gave me everything I have. As long as I have this job, I have to live for my fans. That cannot be compromised."
I've watched Salon Drip once before, the episode featuring Byeon Wooseok and Kim Hyeyoon during their Lovely Runner promotions, and remember thinking what a great job this host did, and it's the same here. She makes the guest comfortable but has a great sense of humour; she'll tease the guest without making it feel awkward, but she'll also ask questions that make the guest more introspective and bring out personal stories. Now this was a great interview.
Denise, '86 liner. Chinese-Canadian, born, raised, and still based in the Greater Toronto Area. Professional make-up artist turned office manager. Introvert with brilliant extrovert skills. BTS ARMY since 2016, OT7, Jungkook and Jimin biased. BTS and BT21 merch collector, amateur foodie, skincare fiend, mascara connoisseur, shopaholic, teetotaler, Scorpio, avid The Sims 4 player, K-drama addict, and Potterhead since 1997. Penchant for live concerts, collecting figures, dining out, building LEGO, and food photography.
About the Site
Circuits of Fever is a personal blog and a hobby only. It mainly features my interests in BTS, food, beauty, music, photography, travel, lifestyle, and culture. The name "Circuits of Fever" is a song by Thursday from their 2009 album, Common Existence. The title of this blog has no relevance to the actual purpose of or topics discussed within the blog.
All photos since November 2023 have been taken with an Apple iPhone 15 Pro Max. All photos are taken by me, unless otherwise noted. Please do not use my photos or blog content without permission. Photos are edited by me using Adobe Photoshop CC 2019. This blog is written and edited by me using Blogger through Google Chrome, on an Apple MacBook Pro.
Note: None of these posts are sponsored. All products reviewed or shown on this blog are purchased by me for personal use only.
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Playlist (November 2024)
Halsey - Dog Years
Halsey - Ego
Halsey - Lonely is the Muse
Halsey - Panic Attack
Illit - Cherish (My Love)
Illit - I'll Like You
Illit - IYKYK (If You Know You Know)
Japanese Breakfast - Be Sweet
Jimin - Be Mine
Jimin (feat. Sofia Carson) - Slow Dance
Jimin - Who
Jimin - Who (Rock Remix)
Jin - Another Level
Jin - Falling
Jin - Heart on the Window
Jin - I'll Be There
Jin - I Will Come to You
Jin - Running Wild
Julien Baker - Faith Healer
Le Sserafim - 1-800-hot-n-fun
Le Sserafim - Crazy
Lexi Jayde - Newbury Park
May-a - Apricots
NewJeans - Bubblegum
NewJeans - How Sweet
NewJeans - Right Now
NewJeans - Supernatural
Osei the Seventh - Cafe Deluxe
Red Velvet - Cosmic
Red Velvet - Love Arcade
Red Velvet - Night Drive
Sara Kays - Remember That Night?
Sara Kays (feat. Cavetown) - Struck by Lightning
Vagabon - In a Bind