Society6

I read about a cool site couple days ago. The website is called Soceity6. The website sells prints designed mostly by independent artists who need the money for production and design. It is a great way to support up and coming artists and at the same time, purchase something unique at a very reasonable price. The art prints sell from 20 bucks to about 50 for framed ones. They are also iPhone cases and Mac skins available for the same prints. Some prints are absolutely amazing and there are simply a great variety of styles and colors. Check it out! Everyone needs a bit of color and style!

Best Sushi Place in Kingston

Hands down Izumo Sushi. The owners Kevin and Amy are very friendly and have set up their shop west of Princess and University in a superbly cozy and calming way. I used to love going in during lunch hours when the place is quiet and order a sashimi lunch (for about $13) and enjoy the moment of peace to myself until Kevin started having back problems and no longer operates the restaurant during lunch hours. Yet, I still try my best to eat out and visit whenever I felt like quality food and spending quality moments with friends. From my conversation with Kevin, he used to work in a sushi place in Toronto and decided to come here to spread his own wings. I have seen him making sushi behind the bar and the way he does it looks very professional ( at least to me). He is not as fast as the sushi chef in Kaji in Toronto in making sushi but his techniques look similar. Kaji is by far the best sushi place I have been to. It is a place that embraces traditions, creativity and quality all together and every dish looks like the prettiest pictures you can ever dream of. I am excited to go to Japan one day and check out real, traditional, local sushi places so that I can become more familiar with the techniques of making sushi. Sushi is one of my favorite food of all time. It is so simple, yet so delicate and subtle. I believe sushi is an art and eating cheap sushi is simply not the way to go.

January 9, 2012

Finally, finally, found a decent cup of espresso in Kingston. Oddly, it is from Olivea by a really nice waitress (forgot to ask her name). The crema was nice and smooth with a bit of tightness and bitterness. The espresso is light and a bit fruity. It has been a mission of mine to find a cup of decent cappuccino or espresso in Kingston and after having tried most of the coffee shops, we've found that the Sleepless Goat has decent cappuccinos (though they really should improve on their coffee beans used in making the espressos for the cappuccinos); Coffee & Co sometimes churn out decent cappuccinos or lattes depending on who your barista is. Today, Olivea was a surprise find for their decent espresso as we stumbled in for a quick salad for lunch only.

On the note of talking about good coffee places, I want to recommend Phil & Sebestian Coffee in Calgary. The store located in Chinook center is one of the coolest coffee shops I have ever seen, featuring state-of-the-art Italian espresso makers shaped like a spaceship (or a pair of ultra cool sunglasses in my opinion) from the side. The store also puts great efforts into making great coffee with their highly innovative french press machines that controls water that flow in by weight and temperature and their cone-pour-over equipment (which I have yet to try). The baristas are well trained, highly skilled in latte arts, and very friendly when I kept pestering them with questions. I went back to the store almost everyday hereafter during my short stay in Calgary and it will be a place I will dearly miss when I am back in Kingston finishing up school.