Tony's Birthday

It was Tony's birthday last week. We went to his house for a barbecue on Monday, Victoria Day. Tony and Iris invited quite a few people over. Some were from Tony's home church, others were international students and some, like me, were from the church he attends regularly.

In an unusual move for the birthday boy, Tony, prepared all the food (along with his loving wife, Iris) and manned the barbecue for the duration of the afternoon.

They had a variety of yummy eats (as they usually do). Tony even barbecued some home made sausages. He made two varieties. A regular one with pork and whatever other traditional filler you use and another one with Kimichi added for a spicy kick.

You couldn't have asked for a better day. It was sunny and hot without a cloud in the sky. We spent the afternoon in their yard chatting and enjoying each other's company.

BBQ at Tony and Iris' Place

The day following the BBQ at Daryl's house we had another one at Tony and Iris' place. This one was to thank the people involved with helping them with their second wedding and their move to their new place.

I got there quite early having come straight from the boarding home where I visited in the afternoon. We finished at around 4:00 p.m. Rather than going home and coming over right afterwards I came straight here.

I can't remember exactly who else showed up early. But, after looking through my photos Tae Hoon, John and Cora would have been among them.

Being the good brother that he is, Tae Hoon helped Iris preparing food in the kitchen. Tony was outside with Andrew manning the BBQ. John and Cora were engrossed in the Camouflage game that I brought once again to another party. Since it had been such a big hit at Daryl's place the night before I thought I'd bring it again.

The main dish Tony and Iris were preparing was Samgyeopsal. It's a popular Korean dish consisting of thick, fatty slices of pork belly wrapped in lettuce. You can add other seasonings inside as well before eating. The photo above is the table full of items for the Samgyeopsal. Iris made one for John as a demonstration.

Quite a few people came over. We hung out in the yard for most of the evening until it got too dark. Then the people who were still there came inside.

Carny, Mike, Ying and her friend came late. I can't remember what Carny was doing, but Ying and Mike took Ying's friend around Toronto to see the sights. She's a flight attendant and was in town for the day. So they went to the C.N. Tower and Taste of Danforth among other things.

The evening wrapped up shortly before 10:00. Not long after the latecomers filled their bellies and played a bit of the Camouflage game. A nice way to end the weekend.

House Cleaning at Mary's Place

Tony organized a group of us to go over to Mary's basement apartment on Family Day to help clean up. In this picture are Dickie, Tony, Iris' brother (I can't figure out an English name for him still), Iris, me and Tony's friend Brian (sitting).

We each were assigned an area to work in. Dickie and Brian started in the bedroom and I started in the kitchen. Tony, Iris and her brother were in the living room area first, but Tony moved into the bedroom closet later and Iris joined me in the kitchen. We passed things to her brother to either be recycled, given to Goodwill or thrown out.

Mary was like Tony and I in some ways. She liked to "collect" things. If you have a large place it's not that big of a deal. But, if you're confined to a smaller space then it tends to shrink rather rapidly. We all had that problem. I found some rather old food items in her cupboard. Some I'll try to eat. Others weren't worth taking the risk.

Dickie found some neat things. Mementos of her travels through Europe back in the 50's or 60's. That was pretty cool to see. Tony will go through a lot of the things and decide where to send them. Some items will go to her relatives if they wish to have them. Mary wasn't extremely close to many of her surviving relatives. None lived nearby and none were able to make it to her funeral unfortunately.

Tony will try to give other items to different organizations depending on whether or not he thinks they have historical value or some other worth to each particular group. Mary had a lot of different interests from stone carving to painting to sewing and knitting. As well, she was one of the few Asian women in the Canadian military in World War II. So Tony will try to work all that out when he can.

We spent four or five hours there and got through a reasonable amount of stuff. But, I believe there's still quite a bit more to do. Tony thinks we're at least half way through, but I'm not so sure about that. We still have to find a home for her bedroom set as well. Whew.

Dinner at Tony and Iris' Place

We had dinner over at Tony and Iris' place this past Thursday. Normally I would have gym night on Thursdays, but for the past two weeks I believe the high school (where we rent the gym out) has been using it. So I've been free to do whatever I please.

This was the first official gathering at Tony's place since he and Iris got married. And the first time that they've invited people over since last summer. Tony used to have people over on a semi regular basis, but things had been piling up around his apartment. Iris helped him clean up and now they're planning to have more get togethers.

Another reason for the dinner party was that Iris' brother just came into town (this past Monday). He's going to be staying in Toronto for six months studying English. They found him a place at Yonge and Finch for now. I'm not sure how long he plans on staying there. That area is quite heavily populated by Koreans, which could either be good or bad depending on how you look at it. He won't have to go far to get traditional Korean food. But, he'd better be careful not to fall back on speaking Korean too much if his intention is to improve his English.

Tony and Iris arranged to have hot pot for dinner. They had all the normal hot pot fixings like thinly sliced beef and pork and an assortment of vegetables and fish balls etc.

Iris invited her bridesmaids Eunjung and Mariko. Tony invited me and Andrew and Gloria.

After dinner we played an old, traditional British game. I can't remember what it was called. I'll have to find out. It's played with coins on a slate board. The idea is similar to shuffleboard. You have to slide your coins down the slate tablet between white lines. That's basically the premise behind how you score points.

We played guys versus girls. It started off quite evenly with the girls eventually pulling ahead by a couple of points. We came back with a late flurry to win 14-12 in the end. For our victory I suggested the girls should give us back rubs. Unfortunately that didn't happen ;-)

Limehouse Winter Hike

Tony and Max organized another snow hike for the U of T international students this past Saturday. Art and Judy Loveless hosted the event out of their home in Limehouse as they've done many times in the past.

It was a lovely day, not too cold with partially sunny skies. Pretty much ideal for what we were planning on doing.

Everyone met at the International Student Centre on St. George, north of College at about 12:30 p.m. Max rented out a school bus, but I drove one married couple up. The wife was pregnant and thought the school bus ride might be too bumpy.

The drive up to Limehouse was uneventful. We arrived at about 2:00 p.m. Mrs. Loveless and her friend Marion had made cookies and tea for everyone. A small bite to eat before going out.

By 3:00 we were out the door. Mr. Loveless led one group along the "easy" route, while Max led the other group on a more strenuous hike. We would be going through crevices which were tight and may include some climbing. Most of the people went on this one.

We stayed out for, perhaps, an hour and a half. I'm sure everyone had fun. Not everyone was properly dressed though. I can understand why... many of the students have only been in Canada less than a year. This was their first winter here. I saw a lot of people in jeans with running shoes. They probably were a bit cold and wet by the end.

Mrs. Loveless and her friend, Marion, prepared a lovely dinner for everyone upon our return. All told, there were around 50 people in total. Quite a large number to say the least. It took them many days to prepare so much food. They cooked mostly East Indian fare. Dessert was wonderful too, with and assortment of pies and other sweets. It was great.

I have to send a big thank-you out to both Art and Judy Loveless and Marion too. They put in so much work to give a group of newcomers a taste of what rural Canadian life is like. I'm sure they enjoyed it thoroughly as did I. Until next time...

Tony and Iris get Married

My friends, Tony Lai, and, Iris-youngsun Eom, got married this past Saturday, December 18th, 2010. Pastor Tom Eng presided over the ceremony at our church (Toronto Chinese Presbyterian Church). Most of the guests were friends from our church and Tony's associates from Inter-Varsity Christian Fellowship.

I picked up Auntie Mary for Tony and brought her to the wedding. My friend Daphne sat with her while I was taking photos. It was a lot of working running around trying to capture all the important moments.