Lucky Husband & Son

Categories: FoodLeave a comment

The original intent of this blog was to focus on all things toys, particularly my figure creation, “Boutiqueoeuff”.  As I started updating, I found that I was writing about all sorts of shit and anything that I found interesting or significant in my personal life made it in the blog. Anyways, food is and has always been a big source of enjoyment for me.  I love to eat and given the right meal, I can devour obscene amounts and it can make or break a day. As a result, I’ve been blogging a lot about food lately; from recent restaurant…

Christmas Classic

Categories: Starcom · ToysLeave a comment

Merry Christmas everyone!  For the past week, we’ve been going to many Christmas parties, feasting out non stop: turkey with all the trimmings, lobster quiche, roast duck, seafood platters and non stop desserts.  Didn’t lug my camera around to take pictures, but we are now recovering from a food coma. In the midst of the holiday season, I recalled a childhood memory (related to toys) that I wanted to share.  Since I was a child, my family had a tradition where we would leave out a plate of cookies and a glass of milk by the fireplace on Christmas eve.  In the morning, I would rush down and…

Treats!

Categories: Food · TorontoLeave a comment

In Toronto, we’re fortunate to have a very diverse, multicultural, melting pot of a community.  With that comes many great , authentic ethnic foods.  Recently, my wife’s been sampling macarons at the many French patisserie’s in our area.  This weekend, she took me to La Bamboche.  This place is known for their macarons and is the top on her list.  They cost the most at $2.60 per macaron, but they are about 1/3 bigger than the competition.  Their flavours are very natural with no artificial coloring, concentrated and intense and you can taste the high quality ingredients.   La Bamboche’s…

Sweet Meat!

Categories: Brooster · Food · PlushLeave a comment

My wife’s been going through some interesting food phases over the past few months.  First there was an obsession with Chinese food, then the cravings moved to curries and then Korean.  Most recently its been red meat.  This has been a great opportunity for me since she’s not typically a big fan of the stuff.  In the last week alone, we’ve had two dinners out at some local steak houses.  Yesterday, she was up for it again so despite the sub zero weather, I fired up the grill and this is what we cooked up! On a somewhat related note,…

Army of Generals

Categories: Fashion · ToysLeave a comment

In one of my previous entries, I wrote about the fall of Japanese fashion brand “A Bathing Ape” (Bape) and how they were one of the coolest brands out there.  One way they separated themselves from the competition was through their incredibly designed stores by the Wonderwall design firm.  It’s sad that a lot of their shops are now closed down, but you can see most of them on Wonderwall’s site (many of the below pictures were found there).  Anyways, when I was in Japan several years ago, I was able to check out the Baby Milo store.  Its a…

NERdF

Categories: ToysLeave a comment

When I was a kid, I always had a fascination with the military.  I think it started from hanging around my dad who would watch the “Tour of Duty” TV series and movies like Platoon, Apocalypse Now and Hamburger Hill. Like all my interests, my folks were always very supportive and thought it’d be fun to take me to an Army Surplus store.  They bought me some fatigues, a water bottle, a helmet, a flashlight and I was ready to go.  My friends and I would take our toy M16s to the local conservation park and play war games. As…

The Wu

Categories: Hip HopLeave a comment

I’ve always been a fan of hip hop.  When I was a kid, I would follow my Dad to the record shops (this was a time when only LPs and cassette tapes were sold) and as he shopped the classical and jazz aisles, I would wander over to the hip hop section.  I think I was drawn to Hip Hop (back then it was actually labeled as “Rap”) because of the eye catching cover art and the music itself.  For me, it started when my friend Wil and his older sister gave me a copy of DJ Jazzy Jeff and…

The In-Crowd

Categories: James Jarvis · Oeuff · ToysLeave a comment

For the past year or so, I’ve been trying to track down some of Amos Toys‘ “In-Crowd” series of vinyl figures created by James Jarvis.  The “In-Crowd” was a series of 10 sets of 8-10cm figures.  Each set had 6-7 figures of a common theme such as Zombies, Wrestling, Heavy Metal, etc. With anything I collect, the challenge isn’t simply locating the item,  its finding it at a decent price.  That’s all part of the hunt and where the fun is.  A few weeks ago, I was able to locate the coveted Zombie set and it arrived today! Here’s a shot…

Cactus?

Categories: UncategorizedLeave a comment

During this past summer, my parents underwent a much needed, massive cleanup of their house. As part of the process, they temporarily moved some stuff to the backyard to make room.  Gradually as they progressed, they moved things back in the house.  Inadvertently, things were left out longer than they should and some were forgotten over the summer.  I was in the backyard a few weekends ago and this cactus was something that never made it back in.  Either it was tipped over or it was in a shaded area and had morphed to catch some light.  Regardless, this is…

Jawbone

Categories: http://schemas.google.com/blogger/2008/kind#postLeave a comment

I’m really late on this, but I’m generally really slow on new technologies.  It took me until 2011 to sign up for my first smart phone (and cell phone).  I’ve been looking for a mini speaker/radio system for one of the rooms in our house and had my eye on one of the Tivoli  mini radios.  I’m a sucker for sleek looking gadgets so their lineup of radios fit the bill.  However, being the new proud owner of an iPhone, while I was scouring the net looking for cool apps and accessories, I was tempted by the Jawbone Jambox portable speaker system. These…

Night Time Treat!

Categories: FoodLeave a comment

A few nights ago, we were invited to our good friend’s house for a late night snack.  We were privileged to sample (actually to witness) the results of their dedicated efforts of creating the perfect souffle.  Inspired by their recent souffle experiences (ie. Ici Bistro), they set out on a quest to master this dessert: determining the perfect custard mix (when we arrived, the custard was sitting outside to cool to the perfect temperature); the ideal baking time (and temperature); consistency; texture and taste.  After sampling this masterpiece, I think they succeeded. The Citrus Grand Marnier Souffle slowly rising in…

The End

Categories: Bape · Fashion · NigoLeave a comment

It was announced last week that the Japanese clothing brand, “A Bathing Ape” (Bape) was sold to Hong Kong based group I.T. for approximately $2.8MM.  This might sound like a lot, but for those who have followed the rise (and fall) of Bape, this was one of the most influential and pioneering streetwear brands that at its peak, was easily worth over 10X and even 100X the current selling price. Here’s an article from the Wall Street Journal documenting the sale. Nigo (in the middle), is the known as the “General” of Bape.  This is some of my Bape figure collection….

Pinocchio!

Categories: Art · Kaws · NaraLeave a comment

I picked up my second Kaws toy a month or so ago.  This is KAWS’ rework of Disney’s Pinocchio and Jiminy Cricket characters.  My friend Ryan built the stand for it using some plywood and an acrylic garbage container.  The picture above was done by my niece when she was five. Speaking of Kaws, I also received a copy of his recent book.  I’ve found that buying books online at Indigo or Amazon is pretty great!  There are usually decent discounts on new releases and there’s free shipping if you spend up to a certain amount ($39 for now).  To get me over the…

Whodunit?

Categories: Art · TorontoLeave a comment

Having relatively bare walls in our house since moving in several years ago, we’ve always been on the lookout for affordable art.  This weekend, we participated in the Ontario College of Art and Design’s (OCAD) fundraising event “Whodunit?”. Although its been going on for many years, this was our first time attending.  “Whodunit?” is basically a mystery art sale of over a thousand pieces of original art donated by artists who are famous and not-yet-famous, including well-known and celebrity artists, OCAD faculty, alumni and students.  Past mystery artists have included Margaret Atwood, Tom Cochraine, Gary Taxali and Atom Egoyan.  All…

Northern Touch

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Until recently (with the success of Drake), Canada and specifically Toronto, hasn’t really been known for its hip hop.  However, over the years, there’s been a strong contingent of Canadian talent that may not have been recognized south of the border.  My very good, long time friend, DJ Filthy Rich recently released an awesome mixtape of some classic Canadian Hip Hop tracks.  You can download the mix here. Here is the cover art that we worked on together. Here’s the tracklist: 01. Rascalz, Choclair, Thrust, Kardinal – Northern Touch (Filthy Rich Cross-border ReFix) 02. Infinite – 360 03. Choclair – What…

Beast Versus Machine

Categories: Brooster · ToysLeave a comment

On our recent road trip to Niagara, we took a quick pit stop in Buffalo to check out the nearby Outlet Mall. Although we didn’t pick up anything at the mall, on our way back we stopped by a Kmart.  I’ve been looking for the new Star Wars At At Walker in Canada for the past few weeks but couldn’t find it anywhere. Anyways, trusty Kmart had two on the shelves and I grabbed one.  I was the envy of the aisles and every kid with his moms was staring at me holding this monster! This thing is AWESOME and…

Time Away

Categories: FoodLeave a comment

This past weekend, we decided to take a local getaway for a few days.  We drove for about an hour south west of Toronto to Niagara.  Niagara is probably best known for the Falls, but its also well known its farms and wineries.  With all this fresh produce, there’s also an abundance of great restaurants in the area.  On our way, we stopped by this great spot for lunch in the town of Jordan called “In on the Twenty”.  The atmosphere of the restaurant and town was very relaxing, comfortable and charming. The tomato, fennel and parsnip puree soup.  I…

Support the Robots!

Categories: Giant Robot · OeuffLeave a comment

Giant Robot magazine has been a fixture in my bathroom since 2001.  That’s a compliment since only the finest reading material makes it there regularly (its pretty much the only place I read).  Giant Robot is basically a magazine that covers “cool aspects of Asian and Asian-American pop culture”.  I was first introduced to the magazine by my good friend “Perry” in the late 90’s.  What caught my attention wasn’t the magazine itself, but rather a Giant Robot tee he was wearing.  The shirt had an image of a sun-glass laced Bruce Lee, hovering over a Technics 1200.  Being a…