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As some of you already know, we rent furnished apartments in Vancouver & Paris (we always get the same ones). And since they are both rentals, shall we say, they don’t necessarily have the best cooking environment. Also to be fair, we are pretty picky with the kind of things we cook with. Pans have to be stainless steel or cast iron, knives (oh the knives) have to be good and sharp, containers have to be non-plastic, etc., etc. For the most part, these two apartments have what we need, but there are small challenges.

In this post I want to talk about the knife situation a little bit. If you’ve done any kind of cooking, you know the value of a good knife. For me, a bad knife can really turn a nice afternoon of cooking into a nightmare. When we lived in LA, we had found a Japanese hardware store in downtown (of course in Little Tokyo) that had some amazing knives, and we quickly got addicted to Japanese knives. Especially the ones that are stainless steel but have a carbon tip-they are VERY sharp and they stay sharp for a long time. Pretty soon I couldn’t do any chopping with any other kind of knife, but a 210mm Gyuto (this one doesn’t have a carbon tip and we have the non-hammered version).

One thing with the carbon tip, as you might know, is that you have to use, then wash and dry right away, otherwise they will get rusty at the tip. Which is a little pain, but definitely worth it.

About a month ago, we finally decided to buy a good knife to carry around with us after I read a blog entry. He was talking about taking good knives with him when he travels, and I thought “why not?” After looking around for a while, we picked this one:

Wusthof Classic

It’s been a pleasure to cook since. =)

Paris train

Q: Where is your “base” base?
A: We don’t have a “base” base right now, but Istanbul is the closest thing to it. I basically have my extra shoes there.

Q: Where have you been since we saw you last?
A: Probably Istanbul, Paris, Vancouver and/or Zurich. Or maybe Hong Kong, Ankara or Bali.

Q: Where are you going next?
A: Probably Istanbul, Paris, Vancouver and/or Zurich. Or maybe Hong Kong, Ankara or Bali.

Q: It must be a really cool life?
A: Yeah, it is pretty cool.

Q: Do you miss LA?
A: Sometimes, some things about it. We miss our friends, the food, markets, etc. We are happy we did what we did though.

Q: How long have you been doing this for?
A: For about a year now.

Q: How long are you going to do this for?
A: We don’t have an end date yet.

Q: Where are you going to settle when you are done traveling?
A: No idea. We’ll see where this takes us to.

After spending many years in Istanbul, it occurred to me the other day that I have, in addition to learning a fair bit of Turkish, learned to speak “horn,” and here’s where this blog entry has potential to digress in a totally different direction!

What I mean when I say that people are horny, is that if you have ever lived in a city of 15 million people (give or take 5 million), you will agree that people use horns to communicate in all sorts of ways…based on my experience and observations while in an overcrowded city, I have put together a brief “Horn to English” dictionary… Enjoy!

Each category of vehicle has it’s own language so I shall separate them by class of transport. I will describe the action being emitted from the vehicle and follow it with what it is trying to communicate.

Taxis looking for customers:
Half a honk – hey! I’m a taxi!
One short honk – I see you walking and I could drive you where you want to go
Two short honks – really, I see you and I’m available
Two short followed by a double flash of the headlights – seriously, I know there are a thousand other taxis out here and you are still walking, so I can only assume that you haven’t found the right one… I’m your guy!
Three short but rapid honks – I’m fast, jump in and I will get you there in record time!

Taxis with customers:
Half a honk – watch out, I’m on a run, I can’t stop once I’ve started
One full honk – I’m a taxi and you’re a human crossing the road, you’re like a pigeon to me, either you get out of the way or I will run your a*s over… I’m not stopping!
One full honk at an intersection – I’m moving faster than you and if you can see the lack of concern in my eyes you will know…. I’m not going to stop, yield, or slow down!
One long honk – I was here first!
Two long honks, holding on the second – are you fuc**n’ kidding me!? Who parallel parks on a busy street at 6pm on a weeknight?!!!
One long honk AND HOLD – I don’t know what you 150 cars in front of me are stopped for… But if you can hear this, you will obviously take note of my urgent request and MOVE IT!!!!!
Two long honks AND HOLD – obviously you didn’t hear the first one…. Here’s another!!!!!!!

Regular cars (just average people driving around)
One short honk – hey!
One short honk followed by responding short honk – hey! hey back!
Two quick honks – hey you look good! Any chance that you would be attracted to a man that speeds past and acknowledges your beauty with the toot of a horn?

Well, these are just few of my horny experiences in a city of 18 million… I hope this entry has been informative and has satisfied you in some way:))

By the way, while writing this blog I have counted close to 40, wait… 41 honks!!!

Love!

With no idea of where to go, I thought a good way to start would be to google “Organic Restaurants.” (When in doubt, let your stomach lead the way!)

I decided to take the subway in since the volunteer at the information booth convinced me that all modes of transportation would take equal time… and he seemed to be a subway man himself, since he grimaced each time I questioned if a taxi or the express bus would be easier… When you only have a few hours, you don’t want to spend them underground looking at all the different subway stops, of which I counted 20! (yes, I took a taxi on the way back:)

Arriving downtown, I exited the subway station and consulted my trusty iPhone and since it does not discriminate between north and south, I confidently walked in the wrong direction multiple times.

Ok… Right here I need to insert massive frustration!!!!! I had finished this entry and then lost it ALL from this point on…. It’s so frustrating when all of your wit and intelligent phrases for the past two hours goes to waste!!!

Perhaps I was not meant to share my 8 hours of wild and crazy Toronto experiences with you?!

So, let’s change it up a bit… Here is a list of words that, like spices in a dish, are the after-taste of my Toronto experience (in no particular order and for no particular reason):
UNICEF volunteers, burgers, Whole Foods, hand made chocolate, very short skirts, more Whole Foods, Save the Children volunteers (across the street from the Unicef volunteers), Italian coffee, outdoor patios, manicure & pedicure (nice hands and feet are part of the job description), high heels – really short skirts (yes, I know I already mentioned it) – and small dogs, a cigar cafe?!, Stella x 2, taxis, a slight breeze, public squares (as apposed to a square public:), more Italian coffee, Lululemon (of course), french fries with a tomato and avocado salad (very eclectic I know, but I didn’t think I was hungry:)

Well, that is my verbal-Toronto-aftertaste:)) I had a great eight hours in Toronto, looking forward to our next visit – soon!

Chris

We have just finished Immersion II in Vancouver and have decidedly taken a week off to just take classes and be students ourselves – it’s great to have the chance to be our student’s students – that is of course if they don’t collapse of anxiety before the class even starts ( it’s been known to happen:)

It’s interesting… As I look back over the past couple of months there has been a common thread of experiences in places that you would least expect them to occur… That experience? People being extraordinarily nice!

As you know (if you know me well), I am not one to stereo type, unless of course the stereo type is true or if it helps me make a valid point… That being said, you will agree that the following random acts of kindness, given their location, would seem out of sync with the inherent rhythm of the universe – as we perceive it be, of course.

Random act #1. A stranger held the door open for me as we exited a Paris metro station. I shared my surprise with a Parisian friend who assured me that it wouldn’t last and said that the the nice weather was to blame:)))

Random act #2. Having two packages of amazing buratta cheese and a bottle of wine added to our take away bag at an Italian restaurant in Paris (in their defense, we do go there a lot)

Random act #3: Having an entire row of seats blocked out for Ozlem and I on our flight from Europe to NY (those of you that fly loads will appreciate having two personal screens to yourself to be able watch the same movie on two screens, two seconds apart – it’s what we call in the business, “Lo-Fi 3D”)

Random act #4: After a failed attempt by the concierge at our NY hotel to get us a table at the wildly popular “Peasant,” Ozlem and I walked over anyway to have a look and as we walked in the manager greeted us with a smile and asked the expected, “do you have a reservation.” After I answered “no,” he said… “Let me see if I can make room for you…hmm..yes..hmm..table ….hmm.. Ok.. Come right this way, table for two… Enjoy Peasant!” And that, we did!!!!

Random act #5: Also at a NY restaurant. Ozlem and I popped in to Delicatessen, which was just around the corner from our hotel. It was a busy and beautiful afternoon. We were greeted by the manager who quickly found us a table… We chatted for awhile, he came back every few minutes to talk “yoga” and as we left, we were informed by the staff that the drinks were taken care of, nice! We went back several more times and met the owner, whose family had occupied that space since 1935 or something like that, in fact, his mother, in her 90′s, still lives upstairs! Awesome people!!!

Every once in awhile, it’s experiences like these that remind me of the common goodness that is inherent in the world and that people everywhere just love to connect and be connected with. We had a blast in NY and Paris.

There are many more great experiences and random acts of kindness that I would LOVE to share, however, Ozlem is hungry and she wants her breakfast now!!!!

Chris has been working on streamlining some of his lecture notes and the homework. He keeps telling me “I think I should reduce the amount of homework.” My only response to that is: I think your students will love you more.

He’s been in this position for hours now:

We’re staying in SoHo at a hotel called Cooper Square Hotel. Our dear friend Deborah connected us with the manager here and they gave us a great room on the 16th floor. Views are priceless here.

We came in on Wednesday evening and our first order of business was to go to a yoga class at Virayoga. It’s the best way to get over the jet lag quickly. We took a wonderful class with Zhenja. She worked on the neck and it was the best thing for the pain I’ve had in my neck for a while now. And no, the pain in my neck is an actual physical pain.

The next day we took Elena’s class at noon and what a treat!

We spent the rest of the day getting used to our iPads. Can you see the grin on my face?!?

Right now Chris is getting ready for the workshop tomorrow, and I’m testing out the new blogging desktop app that I just downloaded. It’s called Ecto, and it seems to work pretty good so far…