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Samgyetang

On October 8, 2025 by admin With 0 Comments - Cooking

What is samgyetang?

Samgyetang is ginseng chicken soup. “Sam” for insam (인삼), the Korean word for ginseng; “gye” refers to chicken; “tang”(탕) is a soup. It is a hearty and delicious soup that tastes great during chilly months. It is also surprisingly popular during the hottest days of the year in Korea where eating steaming hot food is believed to have a cooling effect on the body.

My first time…

The first time I ate this soup was on a chilly afternoon in Seogwipo City on Jeju Island. Hungry and cold, I was wandering around an area known for restaurants. It was the off-season so many restaurants were closed and most others were serving Jeju black pig samgyeopsal, something that is difficult to eat on your own. Feeling defeated, I decided to go to a nearby convenience store to at least buy some kimbap. On my way I spotted a small house with a sign that simply said “삼계탕” (samgyetang) but this little house didn’t look like a restaurant at all.

When I cracked the door open to peek inside, I was surprised to see an older woman sitting on the floor in front of her sofa, watching TV. I quickly apologized and tried to leave, but she got up and gestured for me to come inside. Hardly knowing any Korean, I simply said “samgyetang”? She nodded and gestured for me to sit on the sofa. She unfolded a small square table in front of me and then disappeared. I sat alone in this room, watching TV and silently wondering if I had made some kind of a mistake. But, a few minutes later, she came back smiling and put 2 or 3 dishes of simple banchan on the table in front of me. And, a little after that, she came back with a steaming black earthenware bowl containing a single small chicken in a bubbling broth.

I ate this delicious steaming meal as fast as I could without burning my mouth. The woman seemed pleased when she saw all the empty plates. I gestured to pay, she accepted my money with a nod and a smile and I was on my way.

That meal seems like a mystery to me to this day. Was it really a restaurant? Was it a dream? It seemed like some kind of a magical chapter in a book. Someday I will return to investigate. These are the best kinds of travel experiences. There is something deeply lonely about traveling by yourself, but I think that it also opens many doors that may not have otherwise materialized at all. Like the door to this little house where I first ate samgyetang on a chilly afternoon on Jeju Island, perched on the edge of a sofa watching TV.

Ingredients

I made this recipe in a single large pot with a small whole chicken to eat family style. If you prefer, you can also make 2 separate portions out of this using the same amount of ingredients and 2 Cornish hens instead. It looks prettier when you serve each person their own whole bird and it is a lot less messy. Chickens are quite a bit less expensive and easier to find than Cornish hens so this is what I usually use.

  • 1 small to medium chicken (or 2 cornish hens)
  • 15-20 whole cloves of garlic
  • 2 fresh ginseng roots
  • 4 dried red dates (jujubes/daechu)
  • 1 cup short grain rice (you can substitute with glutinous rice/chapssal)
  • 2 green onions
  • salt and pepper

I am always able to find fresh ginseng at Asian grocers. Same goes for red dates: you may see these called Chinese red dates, jujubes or daechu (대추).

***At the end of the soup recipe there is a recipe for dipping sauce to go with it. Scroll to the bottom for that one. You can make it while your chicken is cooking.

samgyetang ingredients
Raw ingredients.

Process

soaking rice
Wash and then soak rice for an hour or so.
splitting and pitting red dates
Split the red dates and remove the sharp pits.
dividing ginseng roots for samgyetang
Wash and divide ginseng into individual small roots. If they are thick pieces, you can cut them to make them more bite sized. I have seen some people peel ginseng but I never do.
stuffing chicken with rice, ginseng, dates and garlic
I usually prop my chicken up in a bowl so it doesn’t flop over and spill out. Stuff the chicken tightly with rice. Insert garlic cloves, ginseng root and red dates along the way.
Pack the chicken with the rice, roots, dates and garlic until the cavity is completely full.
I like to tie up the legs with butchers twine to keep everything inside but this is optional.
Place the chicken a pot large enough so that it can be covered with water. I am using a stoneware pot but any soup pot will do the job. You will probably have leftover rice and garlic/ginseng/dates. Add these to the pot around the chicken.
ingredients assembled for samgyetang. Chicken goes into pot
Add enough water to cover the chicken. It’s ok if it is peeking out a little.
Bring to a boil and then reduce the heat to a slow simmer. You can add a little salt now if you like. Maybe 2 teaspoons. Afterwards, each person can season to taste with salt and pepper at the table.
Cover the pot and cook for an hour. By this time, the chicken should be cooked through, the rice will be fully cooked and the garlic cloves should be soft.
finished soup
After an hour, this looks perfect.

Serving

Chop your green onions, put some on the soup and serve the rest at the table.
Serving family style samgyetang
Serve with sides of your choice. I am just having the soy vinegar dip and some kimchi. Salt and pepper on the table so everyone can season to taste.
If you are sharing a whole bird, everyone can tear off pieces with tongs and scoop out some rice and broth with spoons as we did here. If you serve a single hen per person, it is a little less savage and messy (and maybe a little less fun).

Soy and vinegar dipping sauce

Ingredients

  • 100ml (around 6 tablespoons) brewed soy sauce
  • 50ml (around 3 tablespoons) white vinegar
  • 12-13gr (1 tablespoon) white sugar
  • 1/2 medium white onion
  • 1 green long chile or jalapeño

I like regular harsh white vinegar for this recipe. You can substitute rice vinegar or apple cider vinegar but I would avoid using wine vinegars. Use regular brewed (Japanese style) soy sauce, not Korean soup soy sauce. Use an equal amount of honey if you prefer it over white sugar. You can leave out the chili altogether but, I would recommend just taking the seeds out if you don’t want any spice. The “greenness” of the chili adds alot of flavour here.

Process

ingredients for soy vinegar dipping sauce for samgyetang chicken
Raw ingredients.
Cut onion into 1cm dice. Slice chili. Remove seeds here if you don’t want any spice.
finished soy vinegar dipping sauce
Mix all ingredients together in a bowl until combined. Let this sit for at least 30 minutes before you use it. Leftover sauce will keep for a long time in the fridge. It is delicious with almost anything including as a topping for plain white rice.

This is one of my favourite soups. Hot and satisfying, it is especially good when you are feeling a little sick or run down. It is one of those meals that seems to instantly fortify the body much like my other favourite seolleongtang.

If you need a homemade kimchi recipe to go with any of your Korean cooking, click here.

If you have any comments or questions, please leave them below. Thanks for reading.

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Vegan Napa Cabbage Kimchi

On September 9, 2025 by admin With 0 Comments - Cooking

This is a tested recipe for anyone who does not eat meat, anyone with shrimp allergies or anyone who does not like the fishy taste of fish sauce. Once this recipe ferments, you will have a tasty vegan kimchi that you can use just like any other kimchi. It is a variation on a cut kimchi recipe that I posted previously. If you are interested in making a kimchi with all the seafood included or if you are interested in more information about kimchi in general, you can find that by clicking here.

Ingredients

  • 1 large (2kg) Napa Cabbage
  • 80 grams/3oz (around 1/2 cup) Diamond Kosher Crystal salt for brining
  • up to 2 Tablespoons kosher salt for seasoning (not for brining…save this for later)
  • 1 tablespoon soy sauce
  • 275ml (1 1/2 cups) water
  • 1/4 cup rice flour
  • 1 tablespoon white sugar or maesil plum syrup
  • 1/2 cup peeled garlic cloves (around 20)
  • 1 tablespoon ginger peeled and sliced
  • 1 white onion peeled and chopped
  • 1 asian pear or apple peeled and chopped
  • 1/4 up to 1 cup (30-120 grams) korean chili flakes (gochugaru)
  • 2 bunches (12 or so) green onions sliced
  • 1 cup carrot matchsticks
  • 1 cup korean radish matchsticks

Try to weigh your salt rather than measuring by cups. Diamond Kosher is a popular salt in my area. If you live in the US, you may be using Morton’s. This salt is much saltier by the cup. Same goes for sea salt if this is what you are using. Whichever salt you use, it is better to weigh it. Avoid using table salt.

Rice flour/rice powder is just finely ground sweet rice. Mochiko is a popular brand but any brand will work.

Korean chili flakes are all very different from batch to batch. Some are mild and fruity and some are sharp and very spicy. It is better to start with less, taste, and then add more if you want it spicier.

Process

Cabbage preparation

Quarter the cabbage and chop off the stalks.
Slice into big-bite-sized pieces.
In a large container, rinse the cut cabbage in fresh cold water.
Drain it for a few minutes before salting.

Brining

In a container large enough to hold all the cabbage, salt the cabbage in layers and mix it up well by hand. Use all 80 grams of kosher salt for brining but hold back the extra 2 tablespoons for seasoning until later. This is the brining stage. This will take about two hours. Mix the cabbage by hand every 30 minutes or so. Try to move the leaves from the bottom to the top. The cabbage will wilt and produce a good amount of water.

Making the kimchi paste

While the cabbage is brining, make the kimchi paste:

Combine the water and rice flour in a pot over medium high heat. Stir constantly until the slurry get very thick and starts bubbling a little. Afterwards, set it aside until it cools to room temperature.
Peel and chop ginger, asian pear (or apple), onion and garlic. Place them in a food processor and mix into a uniform sauce.
While it is running, add the soy sauce.
It should look something like this when it is done. If you don’t want to use a food processor or blender, you can also chop these ingredients by hand. It does not have to be this smooth.
Add maesil plum syrup or white sugar to your cooled rice flour slurry. I am using maesil plum syrup because I have it on hand but white sugar works just as well.
Mix in the sauce from the food processor.
Add in the chili flakes. Start with a small amount, taste it and then add more if you want more spice. You can taste and add more now or later in the process. Chili flakes can be mild or very spicy so it’s hard to give a fixed amount to use. Depends on your preferences and the chilis you have. As long as you like the flavour, you have done it right.
Mix well and give it a taste to judge the heat levels.
Cut the carrot and the Korean radish into matchsticks. I used this Japanese Benriner brand veggie slicer but you can use a knife instead. They don’t need to be perfectly uniform. Slice the green parts of the green onions into 1-2cm pieces.
Combine the veggies and paste.
Mix well, let it sit for a few minutes, and taste it again. This is a good time to adjust the spice level AND the salt level. If you think that the paste is a little bland, season with small amounts of salt until you like the flavour. In a regular kimchi recipe, brined baby shrimp and fish sauce add a large amount of salt. Because we have left them out, we have to bring up the salt level a little in other ways. The soy sauce will do some of the work, but you will probably need to add a little salt here as well. I ended up using around 2 tablespoons but you do not have to use this much. It better to put less now and add some later on, even days later. Once it is too salty, it is nearly impossible to fix.
The kimchi paste is done. Once the cabbage has finished it’s 2 hour brine, these will get combined.

Put it all together

Once the 2 hour salting time is up, wash the cabbage 2 or 3 times in fresh cold water.
Put it into a strainer and allow it to drain completely. This can take 10-15 minutes. Wait until no more water is running out of the bottom of the strainer.
Cabbage and paste can meet.
Mix them together and taste it again. Adjust salt and chili if you think it is necessary. If it tastes ok, you are done!
I am using a stoneware onggi jar to ferment this batch of kimchi. I have them around the house so this is what I usually use. Mason jars or a glass storage container can work just as well. You can also use plastic containers but keep in mind that they will probably always smell like kimchi after you have used them. Whichever container you choose, make sure to leave the lids loose so that fermentation gasses can escape.
Leave your container at room temperature until the kimchi is fermented to your liking. This could be as little as overnight or as long as several days depending on the temperature of the room. Taste it a couple of times per day. When the kimchi is nearly as sour as you like, store it in the fridge to slow down the fermentation. If you prefer fresh crisp kimchi, you can refrigerate it right away.

Now what?

For ideas on what to do with your kimchi take a look at this post.

If you have any questions or comments, please leave them below. I am always happy to hear from you.

Thanks for reading!

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Seolleongtang

On August 28, 2025 by admin With 0 Comments - Cooking

Seolleongtang is the first meal I ever ate in Korea. After a 15 hour flight and a long train ride, I finally arrived at my Insa-dong hotel sore, exhausted and hungry. The closest restaurant was directly behind the hotel, attached to the parking lot. This unassuming restaurant turned out to be one of the oldest in Seoul: Imun Seolleongtang. I had a big hot bowl of this plain milky beef soup and within an hour I felt completely refreshed. This simple soup seemed to erase my body’s memory of being crushed in an economy seat for the last 15 hours. It was like magic.

Since then, I have been back to Korea many times and I always start and finish my travels with this simple meal. Imun Seolleongtang has since received Michelin recognition and so it is busier (and more expensive) than ever with lots of tourists coming in to snap photos for instagram and tiktok. The staff seem to take it in stride, brisk and efficient, though maybe somewhat less friendly than I remember nearly 10 years ago. Also gone is the sloppy bucket of juicy and chunky kkadugi in the middle of the table and the big basket of chopped green onion. These now arrive in less bottomless portions after you order. But, even though some things have changed, the food is still as delicious as I remember and I still go to Imun as well as another smaller family run Seollongtang restaurant nearby.

Homemade seolleongtang

Seolleongtang always seemed kind of mysterious to me. Where did that milky colour come from? How was this simple soup so nutty and delicious? It arrives at the table completely bland and unseasoned but the addition of a little salt and pepper, kimchi juice and green onion turns it into something deep and complex and unforgettable.

Like a good food detective, I decided to launch a full investigation. After much reading and video watching, I discovered that the secret is really in the style of beef stock, in the process rather than the ingredients. The recipe below is a two-part process. First you will need to make the milky bone broth. Once you have this broth on hand, turning it into finished seolleongtang is a very simple and quick process. You can find the complete recipe for the beef bone broth by clicking here.

Ingredients

*this is for one big portion or 2 smaller portions

  • 1 litre Korean milky beef bone broth
  • 250gr beef brisket point
  • cooked white rice
  • cooked somyeon/somen noodles
  • 2-3 green onions (scallions)
  • salt and pepper

I used brisket point. You can use any beef you like. Tougher cuts will take longer to soften up and more tender cuts will take less time. I like brisket because it is somewhere in between. It has the deep beef flavour of a tougher muscle but is slightly more tender so takes a little less time to cook. If you like, you can soak the meat in water for a few hours to remove some of the blood but, this is optional.

Process

raw seolleongtang ingredients
Raw ingredients. This is leftover rice from yesterday. I am cooking a whole portion of noodles but probably will not use them all in here.
sliced brisket point
Slice beef into thin bite-sized pieces. Note: if you are making seolleongtang and the bone broth on the same day, you can cook the uncut chunk of meat directly in the broth and slice it after it is cooked. Either way will work. I think that slicing the meat first and then cooking might give it a slightly drier texture but I don’t think it makes that much difference in the end.
cooking somen noodles
In a seperate pot, precook your somyeon according to the directions on the package. The ones I am using take around 3 minutes.
Drain the noodles and rinse them with cool water.
Warm up the beef broth.
Add in slices of meat. Cover the pot and simmer the meat in the broth until it is as tender as you like. I let this brisket go for about 30 minutes.
Add noodles. You can put as many noodles as you like.
assembling finished seolleongtang
Scoop in some rice. You can also serve a bowl of fresh rice on the side. I usually end up putting most of it in the soup anyways so I will add it now.
While the above ingredients are warming through, slice up some green onions.
Once everything is warmed through, it is ready to go. Serve it with kimchi, salt, pepper and green onion on the side. As you add salt, you will notice that the bland broth suddenly comes alive with rich nutty sweet and beefy flavour. Add some pepper if you like. You can also add in some kimchi juice if you want to give it a little spice or acid. This is usually served with a juicy kkakdugi and this radish kimchi is a perfect accompaniment to this dish. Some time ago, I made a batch of watery kkakduki to eat with seolleongtang but I ate it all before I got around to cooking this. Cabbage kimchi is also good. You can find the kkakdugi recipe by clicking here. This doesn’t look too impressive at the table does it?
All the good stuff is hiding in the milky broth.
a look at the finished and seasoned soup

The verdict?

This turned out to be very very good. Maybe 4 out of 5 stars. One star off because, as good as it is, it doesn’t quite measure up to the flavour of Imun Seolleongtang in Seoul. But, honestly, I can say the same thing about all Korean food made outside of Korea. There is always a little something missing when you make these dishes yourself or, eat them in restaurants back home. I think a big part of this is the high quality of ingredients in Korea but, there is also generational knowledge and experience that adds flavour to these dishes and makes the magic hard to replicate. Imun Seolleongtang has been making this same dish for over 100 years and legend has it that the same stock pot has been continuously boiling fresh bones every day for the whole time!

Having said that, I am really happy with the way this turned out and I feel just as refreshed after eating a big hot bowl of this flavourful soup. 시원하다!

If you have any questions or comments please leave them in the space below. Thanks for reading!

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Beef Bone Broth Version 2: Hard and Fast

On August 26, 2025 by admin With 0 Comments - Cooking

Korean Beef Bone Broth vs Western Versions (hard and fast vs low and slow)

Some time ago, I posted a recipe for beef bone broth (stock) that involves a very long cooking time at a very gentle simmer (click here for this low and slow version). The result is a mostly clear, brownish, meaty and gelatinous stock. This is most often what chefs make in a western kitchen…it will typically be used as a soup or sauce base.

This recipe is almost identical in ingredients and process. The main difference is that this recipe cooks at a harder rolling boil for a shorter time. Even though the steps are almost identical, this small change results in a completely different stock. This one is just as gelatinous but, it is a silky opaque white colour with a nutty and delicate flavour. This stock is a base for dishes like mandu-guk (dumpling soup) or seolleongtang in a Korean kitchen. And, I think this is the version that most people think of when looking for “beef bone broth”.

Ingredients

  • 4kg (almost 9lb) beef marrow and knuckle bones cut into pieces.
  • 1.2kg (around 2.5lb) cow foot cut into pieces
  • water

The Korean grocer in my neighbourhood usually has beef bones already cut up and frozen in bags ready to go. If you don’t have access to something like this, any butcher should be able to sell you beef bones for stock. A separate Halal butcher in the neighbourhood stocks frozen cow feet which he chops up for me on his meat saw. Cow foot adds gelatine to your stock which will give it a rich mouthfeel. If you can’t get cow feet, you can leave it out and substitute more bones.

The weights above are a guideline. You can make this as big as the biggest pot you have to hold the bones. I have a 12 litre stockpot and this is a good amount for me. The ratio of bone to cow foot does not have to be exact but I wouldn’t use more than 20-25% foot to bone.

There is no salt in this recipe. Season the stocks as you use it, depending on the dish you are preparing.

Process

This recipe is a slightly abbreviated version of the slow-and-low stock recipe. The process and ingredients are almost exactly the same so I have left out a few of the more obvious photos. If you want more detail on any step, just reference the recipe at this link.

Wash and soak bones

beef bones soaking in water
Rinse the bones and cover them with cold water. You can see the hip bones on the left and cow foot on the right. You don’t have to separate them. I kept them separate so that you can see what each looks like. Soak them for a minimum of 6 hours or so. Better still, cover them and leave them in the fridge overnight. If you have time, change the water every few hours (this is optional).
After soaking, blood and other impurities will leach out into the water and it will be noticeably red. Pour all the water off and rinse the bones a few times.
beef bones after soaking
After soaking, the bones will look more pale pink than red.

Blanching the bones

Place all the bones in a stockpot that has enough room for the bones plus a few centimetres of water plus some extra room for boiling. I am using a 12L pot here.
raft of blood from blanching of bones
Bring the water up to a full rolling boil and let it go for around 5 minutes. During this time, any remaining blood will leach out of the bones and coagulate into a brownish floating mass on top.
rinsing bones in sink
After 5 minutes of boiling, dump the bones and the dirty water and give all the bones a good rinse with fresh cold water. Wash your stockpot too.

Making the stock

Add bones back to the clean pot, cover with fresh cold water. Bring the heat up until the water comes to a steady roll. This shouldn’t be boiling at full speed but the water should be actively rolling all over the surface.
This is what a good medium rolling boil looks like. This is critical to the success of this stock. With the stock rapidly moving, some fats, collagen and proteins will emulsify with the water. This is what gives this stock it’s characteristic white colour and nutty flavour. Make sure the stock is moving well without boiling over.
boiling the beef bone broth
Boil the stock uncovered for around 8 hours (more is ok if you have the time). It will evaporate pretty quickly so every hour or so, add back enough boiling water to keep the water level up. I boil a full kettle of water to top it up. If you use cold water, the stock will most likely stop boiling and it will take time and attention to bring back up.
An hour or so in and you will notice that the stock is becoming milky. This is a great sign.
It is so opaque that even in a shallow spoon, you can’t see through it.

After 8 hours or so…

Remove the bones from the stock and strain the liquid.

bones strained out of broth
If you look at these bones compared to the bones from the other recipe, you can see that these bones still have some life in them. At this point, you have the option to put the bones back in the pot, cover them with fresh water and repeat this whole process. After another few hours you will get a second stock that is a little thinner and milder in flavour. In pro kitchens, we call this “remi”, short for “remoulade” in French (basically means reboil). Once this is done, you have the option of having 2 separate stocks, one richer, one more mild OR you can choose to blend them together for something in between.
These bits of connective tissue and marrow were strained out of the finished stock. Everything here is edible. If I were making seolleongtang today, I would use them in the soup. If you don’t like eating this kind of thing, just discard with the bones.
Here is the finished stock in a small glass beaker. It is thick and milky.
Cool your stock in a sink or ice bath until it is room temp or below. Refrigerate overnight.
removing fat layer from finished bone broth
Once the stock is cool, remove the hard layer of fat from the top. This is pure clean beef fat. You can use it for frying and it stores for a long time in the fridge or freezer. Optional, of course.
You can see here that the stock itself is nearly as white as the fat layer.
Good solid jiggle…cow foot adds a lot of bounce to a stock.
At fridge temperature, I can easily stand a spoon up in the stock. It is that firm. The colour is just beautiful.
broth prepared for freezing
I usually portion my stock into yogurt containers, cover with plastic wrap and lids and freeze it. The yield from this recipe was around 6 litres of rich delicious milky beef bone broth. If you reboiled the bones, you would have twice as much. Unfortunately I didn’t have time or freezer space today. Next time for sure!

What to do with your bone broth (stock)

This is the essential milky base for Korean soups like seolleongtang (click here for recipe), doganitang or mandu guk. However, you can also use it as a base for almost any soup where you want good body and deep beef flavour. You can even drink it as is or add just a bit of cooked rice and chopped green onion for the simplest, easiest to digest, healthy and protein rich meal.

If you have any questions or comments or if I spelled Seolleongtang wrong, please let me know in the space below.

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Chicago 48hrs

On August 24, 2025 by admin With 0 Comments - Photography, Travel

Chicago

Chicago seems like a city that is doing a lot of things right. The more time I spend here, the more I like it. There are endless low rise/high density neighbourhoods with sprawling canopies of old trees giving shade from the summer sun. A healthy independent retail scene fills countless blocks with small stores catering to every niche in fashion, decor, music, etc. Restaurants seem to be thriving as well. In 48hrs, we had great meals at places from classic sandwich shop Mr Beef up to Michelin star restaurant Sepia. Special mention to Jersey Mike’s for one of the best fast-food submarine sandwiches I have ever eaten. The CTA L-trains, stations and entrances are clean and efficient with colourful tiles and architecture that fits in perfectly with their surroundings. The lake is bordered by easily accessible parks, public spaces and beaches, theatres, sculpture and botanical gardens. There is so much more. It is the first place that comes to mind when I think of great American cities.

About the photographs

This was a short and busy road trip so I didn’t take as many photos as I would have on a slower adventure. But the tradeoff was that I got to see and do many fun things in short time with great company. As a die-hard solo traveler, I am starting to warm up to the idea of traveling with others (depends on the people though!). This time around, following the lead of my friend’s two sons as they scoped out cool spots in the city was an absolute pleasure. Hope we can do it again someday.

Just before this trip, I installed a mild diffusion filter on my camera lens (Tiffen Glimmerglass 1). It has tiny specks of reflective material sandwiched between two glass plates that serve to scatter and diffuse light. Mounted on the front of my Fujifilm X100 lens, in daytime photos it tends to smooth out transitions between between bright and dark areas. Points of light (especially at night) show some halation (they glow softly like halos). It is a mild effect but I think I like it…

Travelling companions: Matias, Milosz and Luke. I like the weird greenish LED light halos under the bridge.

A couple of Chicago landmarks

Chicago Theatre, a landmark in the city since 1921. You can see the halation from the lens filter around the lamp post lights.
Wrigley Field, another famous landmark and home to the Chicago Cubs. Opened in 1914 and named after the Wrigley Company, makers of the famous chewing gum some years after they acquired the stadium in 1921. I just noticed that this says “Hornitos: A shot worth taking”. Haha…that is a good line.

Millenium Park

The “Bean” (actual name is Cloud Gate) in Millennium Park. It is a 66 foot long and 33 foot high polished stainless steel sculpture. Artist Anish Kapoor took inspiration from liquid mercury. It is always crawling with tourists but absolutely worth visiting to see the surrounding architecture get bent out of shape (also to take fun-house selfies). I tried to catch some interesting reflections and angles.
Probably one of the best places in the world for mirror selfies. I am in here too..
I like seeing the actual buildings next to their distorted reflections.
Art Institute of Chicago’s Modern Wing nestled behind the dreamy wildflower meadow in Lurie Garden.
Frank Gehry’s Jay Pritzker Pavilion, an outdoor concert venue in Millennium Park. There are a few hundred people sitting in the grass watching the film Sense and Sensibility.
Free public tennis courts in Millennium park. You can really see the halation in the lights here.

Chicago Transit Authority (CTA)

This time around, we only used the L-train although I have used buses in the past. The CTA seems like a clean and functional system. The L-train stations have beautiful tile-work but I didn’t have enough time for pictures. Next time I come back, I will focus a little more on the L-train and stations including sound recordings.

The compact L-trains mostly travel on elevated (L) tracks around the downtown area. Underneath the narrow rail corridors are cafes, restaurants and shops. These trains are bright and clean, weaving seamlessly throughout the fabric of the urban centre. I like being able to travel with sunlight in the windows and views of the Chicago architecture. It is well worth the price of admission.

Chicago Architecture

I think I could spend a week just looking at buildings in this city. Below are a few of the better known ones. But, at least for me, all the beautifully built and maintained low rise apartment buildings are just as impressive. The number and variety of perfectly preserved low-rises in residential neighbourhoods is astonishing. This city is a real knock-out.

The Marina Towers (aka the corncob buildings) taken from under the Wabash Avenue bridge. I never get tired of seeing these beauties. The corncobs were designed by Bertrand Goldberg, a student of Mies van der Rohe. And, I could be wrong, but I think the black building leaning into the photo on the right is the IBM building designed by Mies van der Rohe himself.
Another shot of the same spot. I like the glow of the street lamps and the lit-up couple underneath.
Sometimes large scale textures show better in black-and-white images. I was tempted to shoot this whole Chicago trip in black-and-white. I think this city would look especially handsome. Just think of how New York City looked in Woody Allen’s “Manhattan”.
This is one of my favourite shots from this trip. It is a serviceman climbing a steel ladder above the loading area behind Sepia Restaurant. This is a great example of how the glitter glass filter softens the transition between the hard daylight from above and the dark alleyway below.

The way home

I was amazed at how beautiful US gas stations and rest stops are. Not enough time this trip to really document them but I did get in a couple of shots on a midnight break on the way home, just back over the Canadian border. Next trip I will focus on these colourful oases in the pitch black countryside.

Gas stations and trucks stops are so photogenic at night, especially in the deep dark of rural areas.
Mati and the Maybach
Luke shooting film…green because I messed up my white balance setting…I like it though.

This was a short but fun mini-vacation. Hope we can do it again soon with more pictures and sounds. As always, if you have any comments or questions or if you don’t like the plural of oasis, please leave your thoughts below.

,

Haku ハク。

On August 18, 2025 by admin With 2 Comments - Music

Who is Haku?

In 2019 Osaka Japan, four young women met at a vocational school club that teaches instruments to high school students. One of their advisors suggested that they join up to form a band and Haku was born. The circle punctuation mark at the end of Haku’s name in Japanese reflects these roots, symbolizing the “circle” where they first met. (these types of clubs are referred to as “circles” in Japan)

Haku released their first single in 2020 and by 2021 they had won the grand prize at a Kansai prefecture talent contest. Attention in Japan started to grow as the band released more music and played live shows. Haku hosts an annual “Haku Day” on August 9th, inviting their favourite musicians to play with them in Japan, drawing inspiration from their fellow artists. In their seven year career, Haku has released a steady stream of singles, EPs and two full albums. The latest EP is 2025s Catch followed by singles Minami Shinmachi and Soreshika Ienai. Soreshika Ienai marks their debut on major label Toy’s Factory.

Recently, at the request of fans outside of Japan, Haku has begun playing international shows. They played their very first overseas show in Korea. Singapore was next and, in September 2025, Haku made their North American debut in Toronto, Canada as part of the Next Music From Tokyo showcase.

Haku lineup:

A promo photo of Haku, a band from Osaka Japan
promo photo from official Haku Instagram
  • Ai (あい) – Lead Vocals and Rhythm Guitar
  • Mayu (まゆ) – Drums
  • Nazuna (なずな) – Lead Guitar
  • Kano (カノ) – Bass and Backing Vocals

Haku everywhere!

Largely unknown outside of Japan, Haku became famous globally with their cover of Mono No Aware’s かむかもしかもにどもかも! The catchy nonsense-lyric tongue twister was released on YouTube in Haku’s trademark vertical frame practice-session format. The popularity of the video sparked a massive social media following and requests from fans around the world for overseas live shows. Local Haku shows also began to attract foreign fans who were travelling in Japan. Fans started sending them videos of themselves mimicking Ai’s groovy dance. Below is the original video of Haku covering the Mono No Aware song. As of this writing, it has over 16 million views.

Next Music from Tokyo

Late this summer, Haku made their North American debut in Toronto, Canada at Next Music From Tokyo Volume 17.

A photo of the poster for Next Music From Tokyo Vol 17

Next Music from Tokyo is an annual showcase of young Japanese indie bands put together by Toronto anesthesiologist Steven Tanaka. Each year, Tanaka handpicks a group of bands to tour three cities in Canada over 10 days and it is always a fantastic scene. The bands give everything they have and the crowds happily take it all in, dancing and crowd surfing (Steve too)!

This year when the NMFT line-up was announced, I was surprised to see that it featured Haku. The website even issued a warning that since the massively popular band is coming, tickets will sell out faster than usual. This got my attention and I started listening to their back catalog as well as newer releases. I was happy to find that, although the viral video clip is cute and obviously popular, Haku’s original music is even better.

Haku live at the Horseshoe Tavern in Toronto, Canada

Around a year ago, Haku performed on NHK Japan and talked about influences and future goals. Ai expressed that although they were a band of 4 young girls, they did not want to be bound by the expectations of being a “girl band”. They hoped to show a more aggressive sound in live shows and to write songs that would have a broad appeal to fans of all genders and ages. With that statement in mind, it was fun to witness their first North American show in person.

From the very first song, the band delivered an energetic and gritty sound. The crowd, made up of men and women of all ages in equal number, responded with enthusiastic dancing and clapping. Surprisingly, many of their fans were singing along in Japanese to Haku’s originals. If their goal was to win over a broad spectrum of fans with high-intensity live versions of their original songs I think it was accomplished with great success. I loved the show and I was immediately sorry I didn’t buy tickets for both nights in Toronto.

Taking the stage at the packed Horseshoe Tavern in Toronto.
Kaitenshitekarakangaeru at a sold out show in Toronto, Canada.

Haku original music

For a band whose members are probably somewhere in their early 20s, Haku has released a good volume of music. The early singles and first mini album (Wakamono Nikki) sound like a young band still developing their identity and musical style but the playing is solid and the songwriting is good. The second full length album, Bokurajanakyadameninatte, is where the band really starts to shine and the most recent EP titled Catch showcases the fully developed Haku at their best.

The songs are bright and energetic with memorable vocal melodies and guitar hooks. They manage to sound fresh and original but somehow familiar at the same time. In the NHK interview, Ai talked about how many older fans have said that Haku’s music takes them back to their youth. She attributes this to the influence of 90s US and UK indie on Haku songwriting. These 90s flavours blended with modern J-pop and J-rock influences give Haku their defining sound and broad appeal.

Recipe for Success

Ai’s vocals are dynamic with an impressive range. Her lyrics (all in Japanese) touch on the universal topics of love and relationships with others, as well as her relationship with the world at large. Ai takes centre stage as the main vocalist and delivers crunchy rhythm playing on her 70s Telecaster Custom. She hopes to write songs that “stand the test of time” and from the enthusiasm of the live audience and the fact that they knew most these songs by heart, I think she is on the right track.

Nazuna’s guitar playing is mostly clean with an unmistakable Stratocaster chime. She sometimes doubles the rhythm guitar but more often wanders away on her own with mathematical and sweetly musical single-note lines. At NHK, she said that she wanted to invent guitar phrases that “linger in your ear”. I think that Nazuna’s guitar lines are just as catchy as Ai’s vocals and the two together create melodies that are hard to forget.

Kano is a creative bass player never lingering very long on a single note. Bass lines bounce along with the drums, counter guitar lines, experiment with harmonies and always add to the overall big energy of the song. Kano is also the second voice for doubling or vocal harmony and, in interviews, stands out as the most outgoing spokesperson for the band.

Mayu keeps it all together with breezy style. Sometimes I can hear the tight clockwork precision of The Strokes and other times her side stick syncopated rim clicks remind me of Stewart Copeland. She is a great drummer now but I think her ambition to learn and improve will sharpen her skills even more in the future.

Each player in the band brings their own unique style but it is definitely the combination of these four talents that gives Haku it’s appeal. The musicianship is undeniable and their obvious close friendship just adds to their charm.

Where to find Haku:

You can stream Haku in all the usual places.

Haku is also active on Instagram and YouTube. Click here for the Haku official website.

Haku is rumoured to be returning to Canada for Next Music From Tokyo Volume 18! Keep an eye on the NMFT website for details.

For a list of all upcoming live shows look here.

Here is the song Ai! from the Catch EP….it is a great record. Look it up on your favourite streaming platform.

A great song and video from Bokurajanakyadameninatte….

If you have any questions or comments or if I spelled anesthesiologist or anything else wrong… please share in the space below.

,

Jeow Bong

On August 10, 2025 by admin With 2 Comments - Cooking

What is it?

Jeow bong (or jaew bong) is a Lao chili paste used as a dip or seasoning. It is powerful and complex: full of strong aromatics and potent citrus and fruit flavours, all tied together with fermented fish sauce.

One summer at the restaurant we had a food runner who’s mom was from Laos. We became pretty good friends and her family ended up visiting for a meal a few times. I had fun preparing interesting veggie dishes (off menu) for her vegetarian dad and sister.

Afterwards, on more than one occasion, her mom sent me homemade Lao beef jerky and other little snacks. One time I even got a full dinner-set of larp, sticky rice, sides and, of course, jeow bong! This was my first experience with Lao food and I was hooked.

Sometime before our food runner left to go to university, she brought me my own bamboo sticky rice steamer and pot set with a couple of little rice baskets. This was such a thoughtful gift and I use them often. Thanks Tounie, Émilie and famille Desrosiers!

Jeow bong recipe:

First let me say that although I am a professional chef, I am no expert at Lao cooking. I have learned to make a few dishes because I like them so much but I am still learning. When I looked around the internet for recipes, I found many different recipes for jeow bong. I pulled from a few of them, combining ingredients that I can easily get in my neighbourhood. Many recipes include pig skin as an ingredient but I left it out of this recipe only because I didn’t have time to pick it up. This recipe turned out very well without it but next time I may try with pork included.

Ingredients

  • 10 cloves garlic
  • 4 medium shallots
  • around 25 grams fresh galangal (one thumb-size chunk)
  • 20 grams dried chilis
  • 60ml (1/4 cup) of water
  • olive oil for frying (1-2 tablespoons)
  • 30ml (2 tablespoons) fish sauce
  • 6 kaffir lime leaves
  • 25 grams tamarind paste (a little less than 2 tablespoons)
  • 1 teaspoon MSG or Aji-no-moto (same thing, different name)
  • 1 tablespoon palm sugar (or use regular white sugar)

Process

jeow bong ingredients
Raw ingredients.
chopped shallots and garlic
Slice shallots and garlic into uniform smaller pieces…this will help them to brown and cook evenly and will make them easier to crush with a mortar and pestle.
chopped galangal and kaffir lime leaves
Slice galangal into smaller pieces, rough chop lime leaves (you don’t have to do this but it keeps them from bouncing out of the mortar).
grating palm sugar
Shave palm sugar…you can probably just cut off a tablespoon-sized chunk if you don’t have a rasp.
In a hot dry pan, toast the shallots and garlic. Keep them moving.
heating shallots and garlic in dry pan
When they start to get brown and soften up a little, they are done.
heating galangal and lime leaves in dry pan
Dry roast galangal and lime leaves. These don’t need to brown. Just heat them until they are very aromatic. Use your nose. It is ok if the leaves char just a little. Galangal looks like ginger and I guess it shares a little of the flavour but…it has a much sweeter fruity aroma. I think it smells kind of like pink bubblegum when you warm it up.
roasting chilis in dry pan
Roast chilis until they become dark and smokey. A few charred patches are ok.
all aromatics pictured with stone mortar and pestle for making jeow bong
Now these will get processed by hand with this stone mortar and pestle. I think most people probably use a food processor instead but I wanted to try it this traditional way. It was more work that I thought!
scissors cutting chilis to smaller size
Start with the chilies. I snip mine into smaller pieces with scissors first. This way they don’t bounce out of the mortar so easily when you are grinding them.
chilis after grinding in mortar
Grind and pound them into a rough powder.
galangal and lime leaf grinding in mortar
Add galangal and kaffir lime leaves.
Pound and grind these into a rough paste. This takes a considerable amount of time and muscle. I was surprised.
Repeat this process with the shallots and garlic…pound..grind..pound…grind.
adding garlic and shallots to mortar and grinding into paste
This looks good to me. This is much rougher than would come out of a food processor (or a jar) but, I like the rustic look and once you cook it out everything relaxes into a nice soft paste.
Heat oil in a heavy pan.
cooking paste from mortar in pan
Add all of the paste from the mortar and warm it through.
Add the fish sauce, palm sugar, MSG, tamarind and water.
cooking paste while reducing liquid
Cook over medium heat stirring often.
finished jeow bong in pan
Once it cooks down to a sticky paste, it is done. Remove from heat and cool it down.
cooling jeow bong
Finished product! This is definitely chunkier than you would get if you bought it in a jar. But, it is delicious and easy to eat. Addictive! Personally, I like this rustic homemade look out of the mortar and pestle. If you want something perfectly smooth, use a food processor instead.

Now what?

Store the paste in an air-tight container in the refrigerator.

You can use your jeow bong as a dip for meats or veggies or mix it into stir fried dishes. Or, try swiping a little onto a ball of warm sticky rice and popping it into your mouth. This is my favourite way to eat it.

Go easy with this stuff. It is surprisingly powerful!

If you have any comments or questions, please feel free to leave them below.

Thanks for reading : )

Diagram

On August 2, 2025 by admin With 2 Comments - Photography

***this post will not work in tiny form on your phone. Have a look on a bigger screen if you can***

What’s a diagram?

In broad terms, a diagram is a visual representation of an idea or a system of related parts. It might explain how the parts function together or, it might just depict how the parts relate to each other in physical space. A diagram is usually a drawing or a flow of symbols representing and simplifying the workings of something.

Can a photograph be a diagram?

I think so. A photo can be labeled with words or over-laid with symbols that clarify what you are looking at or, how the different things in the photo relate to each other. I can remember school textbooks full of diagrams, from drawings showing the organs of a plant cell to photos labeling the parts of an airplane wing. I would pour over them for hours and I still love looking at them today.

It seems like a lot of old technical instructions came with roughly labeled black and white photos too. I had a motorcycle repair manual that was full of terrible black and white photos with what looked like taped-on labels. Things like lawn mowers, power tools, instruction manuals from small factories…these often used to come with labeled photos.

When I was a boy, some of these diagrams inspired me to take apart appliances when my parents weren’t home and draw pictures as I went so that I could put them back together again. These were my own diagrams and they worked! Usually…

IKEA

IKEA is notorious for it’s cryptic diagrams aimed at having a single instruction manual that works across all languages and cultures. This is a pretty ambitious goal and I don’t think it always works. The IKEA diagrams have become kind of a universal joke with anyone who has had to sweat over assembling a flat-packed bookcase or file cabinet. Over the years, I have gotten a little better at understanding them but….I also think I could improve them quite a bit. That would be a fun job : )

The Calypso

The Calypso was Jacques Cousteau’s ship. When I was small, all I could think about was the ocean. I read everything I could in the school library and then begged my parents for my own Jacques Cousteau Encyclopedia. Eventually they got me the books. My absolute favourite book was the last volume. In it was a 4 page foldout of all the rooms and systems on the ship. Both sides! The rest of the books are long gone now but the Calypso book is still on my bookshelf. This is a classic diagram with numbered lines that correspond to a key on the opposite page. It is one of my favourite diagrams of all time.

Here is one side of the Calypso diagram:

diagram of Calypso, Cousteau's ship
Jacques Cousteau Encyclopedia Volume 21 Calypso Quarters and Equipment Starboard Side, 1978

How we arrange all of our “things”

Something I like to do on Instagram: when someone posts a selfie or other photo taken inside their house, I like to zoom in on the backgrounds and have a look at what is on the walls, what is on a bookshelf or a table. I like to see how people arrange their “stuff”. The background is sometimes more interesting than the main subject.

With that thought in mind, I had a look at some of my old photos and also around my apartment to see how my things were arranged and how they might relate to each other. Sometimes arrangements seem random but other times there are patterns…the stuff we use more often is easier to access. Or things that get used together are grouped together. Sometimes there is a logical flow to the physical arrangement of our things. And sometimes, there is a kind of beauty to the random placement of things, how they just happen to end up in space. I often think how difficult it must be for art directors on a set to get all these kinds of details just right to make a fictional environment feel believable.

My photo-diagrams

Below are some diagrams that I made of stuff around my house or things in past pictures. I like the look of these kinds of labeled photos. They remind me of old parts manuals or science fair projects when paper and glue was the only way…

diagram labeling contents of living room shelf
Built-in shelf and contents south wall (fire hazards in yellow highlight).
photo copyright TigerSalad 2025
diagram of small student kitchen
Student kitchen Toronto Canada (potential fire hazards in yellow highlight).
photo copyright TigerSalad 2025
diagram of guitar effects pedal board
Guitar effect pedals mounted on board (yellow arrows indicate flow of current through circuits).
photo copyright TigerSalad 2025
kitchen shelves and contents
Gas pipe and raw lumber shelving with contents, kitchen, north wall.
photo copyright TigerSalad 2025
coffee workflow
Coffee workflow from bean broker to mug (orange indicates potential danger from scalding).
photo copyright TigerSalad 2025

Diagrams as art

I think there is something meaningful and personal about the way we arrange our “stuff”, our tools and our less functional objects. And I also think there is both art and science in good diagrams. I tried to combine both ideas here into something fun and engaging. What do you think? If you have any comments or questions, please feel free to leave them below. And subscribe if you would like a note about new posts. Thanks for reading!

Queen Street East

On July 31, 2025 by admin With 4 Comments - Photography, Toronto

***your phone will magically turn good pictures into bad. Try looking at this post on a bigger screen if you can***

To Book City in the Beaches

This morning, I finished up the last chapter of a fat book that I have been reading for a few weeks. I had a new title in mind so I decided to take a walk from my place to the Book City in the Beaches neighbourhood. Book City is one of the last independent bookstores so, in an effort to support small business, I try to buy most of my books there. And, lucky for me, they had a single copy of the book I wanted. This long walk would take me along most of Queen Street East through Corktown, Leslieville and to the Beaches (named for the white sand beaches nearby along the shore of Lake Ontario).

Return flight

Since I had my camera with me and since I don’t get to the Beaches very often, I decided to take a few photos on the 7km walk home. Compared to the rest of Queen Street, this area has some truly old and interesting low rise architecture and businesses. Some blocks of Queen Street East are so quaint, they almost have the old-time feel of a cottage-town main street. The commercial areas are mostly undeveloped (so far). There is even a gas station right out of the 1950’s with pumps that look like refrigerators, full service attendants in uniform and a round glass reception area. I am excited to take some pictures of it at night! Coming soon!

The Photos

I had not planned on posting about this so I was just taking random pictures for fun. The photos are not really meant to be representative of anything. I just liked enough of them that I wanted to share them. They are generally in chronological order from the Beaches travelling west back towards Corktown.

Time for a pint….
Colourful old-school aquarium shop. You don’t really see too many of these around anymore. When I was a kid, fish were very popular pets and every shopping mall had a huge aquarium shop. I did see many just like this one in Japan and Korea with tanks of pet fish and plants on the sidewalk.
Melba Studios: I just like the look of this place. The old windows and the green paint. I think it is a ceramic studio.
Maru Japanese Bistro. These rainbow benches are all over the sidewalks here.
There is something about hand painted signage that i just love. The graphics here are so cool. The colours too. And the globe lights…so retro.
Dave’s Hot Chicken and electric bike delivery guy. These guys are such a part of the cityscape now. When I go walking and I don’t see one of these guys for awhile, I feel like maybe I have gone too far and it’s time to turn back towards home.
Old pawnshop.
Boston Discount Store at Queen and Boston Street
Jack Black, Pet M.D.
Queen Books.
This is a corner garden centre and cafe. I like the mural but I wonder why it is 11 o’clock? There is a lot of colour everywhere in this neighbourhood. It is the first thing I noticed. A lot of Toronto, especially newly redeveloped Toronto is…well…”neutral”.
Wonderful bulky old building with original windows and paint. Those apartments up top must be incredible. Ali Baba’s…good quality fast food.
Riverside Bridge/Queen Street Viaduct crossing over the Don River. “This river I step in is not the river I stand in”. That’s a Heraclitus quote…feel free to discuss amongst yourselves in the comments. I don’t recommend stepping or standing in the Don River these days. I am pretty sure that clock is broken.
4644 and 4441 meet face to face on the Riverside Bridge. These colours make me happy: the vibrant TTC red framed by the dull green bridge. It’s a good picture.
“Who is Jesus?” billboard beside faded Bay Cat Hospital sign. I had a cat neutered here once but I have not read the Bible in some time.
Concrete bridge-support art.
Speaking of colourful, Thruway Muffler is the sickest colour of pink. This crazy bubblegum colour covers the entire giant auto repair garage. Beside it is Spaccio: commissary kitchen, grocery store and restaurant that is part of the Terroni group. They have the absolute best frozen take home pizzas, a bargain at 2 for 20$.
Poke bowl billboard with float plane.
I like the lines, light and colours here. These old brick factory buildings are real beauties.
“Scenic Route” art posted on a row of boarded up and abandoned houses on River Street.
A rare selfie…Hello Neighbour

The End

Hope you enjoyed some of these photos. Queen Street at the Beaches is lined with fun and unique shops and restaurants and is definitely worth a visit. I will be back soon for some night photos. As always, if you have anything to say, even if it’s just “Hi” feel free to comment below.

,

St James Town at Night

On July 24, 2025 by admin With 2 Comments - Photography, Toronto

***your phone will crush and distort these pictures. If you can, try to see this on a bigger screen like a laptop***

A Very Short History of St James Town

St James Town was once a working-class Victorian neighbourhood, housing the poorest of Toronto residents in ratty decaying homes. In the 50s and 60s, city planners and developers decided to rezone and bulldoze most of the neighbourhood. Over the next decade or so, they built nineteen highrise buildings including 4 city owned public housing towers. At the time, developers assumed that fresh young middle-class office workers would quickly move in. Instead, that demographic chose to move to the suburbs of North York and Scarborough and the neighbourhood filled up again with Toronto’s lowest income families. Over the last couple of decades, the demographics have shifted more towards new immigrants to Canada and St James Town remains one of the last affordable neighbourhoods in the downtown area.

For a more detailed account of St James Town history and development have a look at this excellent article at Blog TO.

Bad Reputation?

In the late 90’s, when I first moved to Toronto, St James Town had been in steady decline for 30 years. The buildings were crumbling, the public spaces were trampled and neglected and the residents were some of the poorest in the downtown area.

One day, shortly after moving to this city, I went to visit a friend downtown and missed my subway stop. As a result, I accidentally came above ground at the tiny run-down Glen Road exit of the Sherbourne subway station. Glen Road consists of a single block of some of the last surviving Victorian homes in the area but, at the time, the houses were all boarded up and abandoned. It was like coming up into a ghost town of haunted houses. I was so surprised that I took a bunch of film photos but, unfortunately, I can’t seem to find them now. If you want to see some images from this time, this site has some good ones.

A little later I met my friend and told him about getting lost in St James Town. His advice was to stay away from the neighbourhood, even during the daytime. Apparently the area had a bad reputation for drugs, gangs, violence, prostitution. I had no idea if this was true or not but I took his advice and never came back. Not until over 20 years later when I ended up renting an apartment on this very street.

St James Town Today

With 19 highrise towers in a relatively small area, St James Town is the most densely populated neighbourhood in Canada . The “official” population of St James Town today is around 17 000 although it is probably much higher. It is still home to many low income families and is a popular landing place for new immigrants.

Sometime around 2000, the city decided to put some resources towards improving the crumbling neighbourhood. This included plans to clean up and repair the old highrises and renew the parks, playgrounds and public spaces. This is ongoing today.

Eventually, developers started to sniff around one of the last downtown neighbourhoods that had so far escaped gentrification. Condo speculators bought up and fenced off many of the old neglected houses and plots of land. They also gutted and renovated the row of abandoned houses on Glen Road in return for the city’s approval of their development plans. They squeezed in a few new glass and steel towers and tucked little townhouses into the shadows of the old highrises. Since I moved in, no less than 5 new condo buildings have gone up within a 1 minute walk. And many more are on the way.

Living in St James Town

I think that St James Town still has something of a bad reputation today. Reading online, I often see postings where people are nervously asking about safety and crime rates before moving in to the area. And still others (who probably don’t even live here) advise them to be very careful, especially at night.

I have lived here for years and have not had a single incident that would make me feel unsafe. Police, ambulances and fire trucks are a pretty regular sight. But, when you have over 17 000 people living on a few city blocks, this doesn’t seem unusual.

I like that this neighbourhood always has people moving around in it. You are rarely by yourself outside. To me, this feels safe. I used to work at a restaurant directly south of St James Town in Old Toronto. The walk home from there at night felt so unsafe to me during the covid closures that I would carry a police baton with me at all times. Walking on high alert, I wouldn’t feel relaxed until I found myself among the busy highrises of St James Town again.

Maybe the Best Neighbourhood Downtown…

I love living in this neighbourhood . Everything is in walking distance: dentist, doctor, supermarket, subway, Koreatown, Chinatown, Little India, beautiful natural spaces, museums, universities, galleries, live music venues, great restaurants, a fully operating farm, some of the country’s best hospitals…the list goes on. I think this must be one of the most connected neighbourhoods in the city. I haven’t had a car in many years and I never miss it.

The interior of St James Town itself reminds me of the highrise neighbourhood I grew up in when my parents first immigrated to Canada. People are always outside. The parks and public spaces are full even at night. Extended families get together and pass time in the shade of old trees. People who have immigrated from the same place and share language and culture find each other here, in the building hallways and the outdoor playgrounds. They naturally build communities around their shared experiences. If you walk around St James Town, English might be one of the last languages you hear. Tagalog, Hindi, Cantonese, Mandarin, Korean, Tamil, Russian, Bengali….these are much more common.

St James Town is one of the last places where low income Canadians as well as newly landed immigrants can afford to live connected to the downtown core. And because so many of the residents share a common experience, St James Town has a the feeling of a vibrant community. People know their neighbours and I believe that people look out for each other. The neighbourhood has a strong feeling of family. All kinds of family.

Night Walks Through St James Town

Some would say that the clump of old highrises is ugly but I see real beauty in them…in their multicoloured brick exteriors, angular balconies, weird glowing stairwells, old mature trees and especially in the people who call this neighbourhood home. Hopefully some of that will come through in these photos but, if not, take a walk through here on a nice summer night and you may be surprised by how much you enjoy it.

St James Town at night
Three-winged 60’s highrises were typical of the time. St James Town has quite a few toward the south. Hand painted murals reflecting the cultural diversity of the area decorate some of the dozens of concrete stairwells.
Stairwell going down
These concrete stairwells are everywhere in St James Town. Some are in parking lots, others in the middle of parks and fields, others under trees. I assume they are exits from underground parking. I almost never see people use them…who knows what’s really down there? How deep do they go? Makes me think of a Haruki Murakami novel.
Mature trees in St James Town
Typical St James Town skyline…the place has kind of a retro space-age vibe at night. There is something beautiful and mysterious about it. All those huge angled balconies and lit windows in neat rows. You can see two people on the concrete path under the trees…this gives you an idea of how big the trees are.
Glowing stairwell
I call this the snow globe. It is one of only a few covered and lit concrete stairwells.
60s twin towers St James Town
Handsome twin towers in white brick. Big old trees and wide green spaces in front.
A small commercial area on the ground floor of a central highrise. This is close to a discount supermarket and community centre. During the day there is a full time open air flea market here. From VHS tapes to protein powder to (found?) bike seats…it’s all here.
The area is dense with unique buildings. This one is bright and clean with red brick and white metal siding with blue trim. There are no balconies on this one which is unusual. I like the lit windows at night, the warm glow.
Working-class neighbourhood with working-class rides.
One of the weird glowing stairwells to….? These are everywhere.
Korean Spicy Tteok-Bokki Truck
Food truck at rest.
240 Wellesley delivery man
Ubiquitous Toronto food delivery guy on electric motorbike.
Dirty payphone near 240 Wellesley
I wonder how serious the emergency would have to be for me to touch this payphone?
Underground parking ramp with cool green porthole building.
Moms chatting in the park. Trash waiting for morning pickup.
urban art on concrete
Stairwell art, beautiful in its detail. These little panels appear in the most unexpected places. The art itself is respected by the community…these pieces never get tagged or damaged intentionally.
Another mural on the back of a concrete stairwell entrance.
Beck taxicab on street at night
Beck Taxi parked outside new building construction site.
closed laundromat. Rows of machines
A hold-out from the 50’s. This was originally an Italian tailor’s house and business. When they were planning the original St James Town in the 50’s, he refused to sell so they built all the towers around him. Today, his building still stands, home to the New World Laundry on Parliament Street.
Glen Road at Howard Street, last remnant of original Victorian neighborhood.
Top view of Glen Road..this was the street in St James Town that I first saw when I moved to the city. At that time, all of the houses were abandoned and boarded up. This cobblestone plaza is a new renovation that just opened this summer. When the city first posted plans for this, there was a lot of resistance in the neighbourhood (mostly around losing parking spaces) but I am really happy with the way it turned out.
New pedestrian tunnel Glen Road Toronto
Newly renovated tunnel under Bloor Street which connects to the Morley Callaghan foot bridge.
That’s the pedestrian bridge at the far end of the tunnel. Interestingly, it connects St James Town (one of Toronto’s poorest neighbourhoods) and Rosedale (one of the city’s richest neighbourhoods).
A 54 story condo tower, recent construction, built directly behind the row of victorian houses on Glen Road.
This is an interesting photo of a vacant lot in the springtime fog. All of the old houses you see in the foreground are boarded up and slated for demolition to make way for a new condo. This is what is happening all over this neighbourhood. The city claims there is not enough affordable housing but they keep knocking it down and replacing it with condos that nobody can afford to live in. Those steel and glass buildings in the background are like a line of storm clouds warning of the coming destruction. The little brick houses are cowering in from of them. It’s a good picture.

Convenience Stores

There is a small commercial strip on Howard street with a couple of Filipino restaurants, a fried chicken place, a small pharmacy, an Ethiopian grocery and a Halal butcher. These convenience stores are part of this strip:

Howard Convenience Store
Howard Convenience…cheapest Haagen-Dazs ice cream. You can even buy beer now. A really nice old man runs it. I have been coming here for a long time and we know each other as neighbours. This picture was originally from my green series.
The no-name “store on the corner”.
Same “store on the corner”. I have met 3 generations of the family that run this place (and 2 generations of calico cats, both named Nyu-Nyu). A young Chinese couple own it. Shortly after I moved here, the wife became pregnant and later gave birth to a little girl. I asked yesterday and apparently her daughter is 7 years old now!

I used to buy cigarettes here. The wife’s mom (the 7 year old’s grandma) worked there at the time and I would visit her everyday on my way to work and buy a pack of smokes. She would cheerfully sell them to me while telling me that they were bad for my health and that I should stop. One day, I quit smoking and so, I didn’t go in for a few weeks. When I finally stopped in to buy an ice cream, she asked where I had been. I told her that I quit smoking and so I didn’t need to stop by so often. I couldn’t believe how happy she was to hear that. It was as if I was her own son!

Jamestown Convenience
Jamestown convenience store is just south of the highrises on Wellesley Street. An old Korean man and his son run this one. It is FULL of plants and flowers. It’s really like a flower shop pretending to be a convenience store. I think the old man prefers selling ferns over lottery tickets. This one is not directly in St James Town but it is still part of it in my mind.

Winter in St James Town

These are a few pictures of a snowy night walk through St James Town last winter. It really is a pretty place.

Snow in St James Town
Indian couple showing their baby what is probably his first snowfall. Imagine that…your first snow. The address of the white brick building is 666 Ontario Street: the highrise of the Beast!
Ventilation units pushing out clouds of steam from under 240 Wellesley St tower
Snow in St James Town park. Empty benches at night
Central Park, St James Town during a big snowfall. This park was completely redone over the last 2 years with new benches, lighting, playground and basketball courts. It’s normally full of people but I took this picture very late on a cold winter night so everyone was probably bundled up inside.

The Future of St James Town

There is a tremendous amount of demolition and building going on around here. I think the original towers are safe in their big bulky numbers. Hopefully they will continue to see improvements and provide a home for people who can’t afford to move anywhere else.

As for the surviving victorian houses…I am not so sure. Just last year I found out that Concert Realty bought up the whole west side of Glen Road. This is the same developer that is building the 54 story building outside my bedroom window. This means that right now they own a continuous parcel of land that is more than enough to build a second condo tower. They have not submitted plans to the city yet but I think it is only a matter of time. Lately there has been some pull back on new condos so hopefully Glen Road will survive for a few more years…let’s see what happens.

There is so much more…

These pictures just show a little of this neighbourhood. In recent years, the city has put up a brand new community centre complete with sunlit indoor pool, library, indoor basketball courts and community services.

The Rose Avenue Public School right at the centre of St James Town is one of the last original buildings in the area. This brick building with massive old windows was built in 1924 and still operates as a busy public school and day care, surrounded by old trees and brick walkways.

This is the walkway along the side of Rose Avenue Public School at night. It’s a pretty and peaceful spot.

St James Town represents a massive and miscalculated experiment in early city redevelopment. Originally seen as a failure and struggling for decades, I think it has grown into a unique and vital part of the Toronto downtown.

If you have any questions or comments, please leave them below. I am always happy to hear from you.

Thanks for reading! : )

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