Dining Out: Belated Birthday Dim Sum at Casa Victoria

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...

Casa Victoria

8601 Warden Ave., Unit 4 - 6

Markham, ON L3R 0B5

(905) 948-1618

Dining Out: Mango Strawberry Mixed Rolled Ice Cream at Roll Me Up

It has been a long time since I've had Thai-style rolled ice cream (probably two decades, honestly), so I was particularly excited to go to Roll Me Up with Chelsea for a late night dessert:

   Mango Strawberry Mixed Rolled Ice Cream

When the server asked me what toppings I wanted, I told him to decide for me, so he chose the matching mango and strawberry popping bobas and this combination was PURE DELIGHT. So, now I must come back ASAP to make up for all the years I didn't have rolled ice cream.

Roll Me Up

9325 Yonge St., Unit 18

Richmond Hill, ON L4C 0A8

(905) 508-0600

Dining Out: A Belated Birthday Burger at Woody Wood Burger

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.)

Woody Wood Burger

8950 Yonge St.

Richmond Hill, ON L4C 6Z7

(289) 597-8878

Dining Out: A Gourmet Cantonese Birthday Dinner at Lobster Port

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! 

Lobster Port

7501 Woodbine Ave.

Markham, ON L3R 2W1

(905) 597-8508

Jin — "Running Wild" Official MV

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.

Dining Out: An Early Birthday Dinner at The Keg

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. 

The Keg

162 York Blvd.

Richmond Hill, ON L4B 3J6

(905) 882-0500

Dining Out: Early Birthday Dinner Sushi Gozen at Zen Japanese Restaurant

My friend Ronsee took me out for an early birthday dinner at Zen, where we indulged in their seasonal multi-course menu, the Dinner Sushi Gozen:

Taro rice puff with chicken, snap pea, carrot, and maitake mushroom

Chawanmushi with shrimp, chicken, mushroom, and ikura

Maguro (bluefin tuna), madai (sea bream), ocean trout, and hotate (scallop) nigiri

Shrimp and vegetable tempura

Anago (conger eel) tempura

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...

Zen Japanese Restaurant

7634 Woodbine Ave.

Markham, ON L3R 2N2

(905) 604-7211

Dining Out: An Early Birthday Dinner at NextDoor Restaurant

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!

NextDoor Restaurant

Unionville Planing Mill

139 Main St. Unionville

Markham, ON L3R 2G6

(905) 604-6983

Dining Out: Key Lime Pie, Churro Ice Cream Sandwich, and Salted Caramel Cheesecake from Moxies

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...

Moxies

159 York Blvd.

Richmond Hill, ON L4B 3B4

(905) 764-9500

Dining Out: Pork Belly, Beef Short Ribs, Beef Rib Finger Meat, and Seafood Pajeon at Daldongnae

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.

Daldongnae

135 York Blvd.

Richmond Hill, ON L4B 3B4

(905) 707-0683

Jin — "Running Wild" Official Teaser

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!

Jin — "Ill Be There" MV Shoot Sketch

My dream is also to eat tacos while watching Jin play air guitar.

Jin — "Running Wild" Poster

(Image source: BTS Weverse)

I AM READY TO REPLAY THIS ALBUM FOR THE NEXT HALF A YEAR. 6 MORE DAYS!

Jin — Happy Highlight Medley

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.

Jin — Happy Jacket Shoot Sketch

"It's got my face in it so I'm sure it looks great."

I mean, he's not wrong. I just wish I had, like, 1/10 of his confidence.