Category: Uncategorized

On Friday evening, I wanted to have some fried chicken for dinner. In my part of town, Korean fried chicken places are very popular. I decided to try one of the places close to me but that I had not ordered from before.

I looked at their menu and along with fried chicken, they had a “delicacies” section. One of the items listed in that section was “pupa soup“. “Pupa” as in insects? I did some quick Googling and yeah, that’s what it is. As strange as consuming a soup made with insects sounded, I didn’t see any pictures beforehand and life is about trying new things, so I ordered it, along with my fried chicken.

When I got my food order home, I admit I ate a lot of fried chicken first before opening the container of pupa soup. It was in a Styrofoam container which was sealed with a plastic bag. I opened all that stuff up and when I took the top off the Styrofoam container, I was met with the pungent odour that Google had warned me about. It smelled like a woodsy decaying smell, as strong and as distinctive as the Internet had warned me. While the smell was unique and strong, it looked like a normal broth that any Asian soup could look like. That’s when I got a spoon and to dig up the contents at the bottom of the container.

As you can see above, that’s what greeted me. The restaurant did not skimp on giving me the silkworm pupae. There were lots of them. There was also some onion and slices of jalapeno peppers. While this particular soup was odd, I wasn’t put off from it. I really wanted to try it. I cautiously spooned up one pupa, along with some of the soup. It all went into my mouth.

The soup itself was bitter. The decaying woodsy smell was now in my mouth, strong, bitter and spicy because of the peppers. I then bit into the pupa. It wasn’t crunchy. It sorta had a thin and chewy outer skin and I could tell there was a soft fleshy part inside of it, I guess that was the pupa insides. It did not taste great. It was bitter in a different way that the soup was. The spiciness of the soup made everything a bit more palatable for some reason.

I took sometime to process all the flavours and textures. I decided I needed to try more of this, that one spoonful of soup and one pupa was not enough to fully experience it all. So, I spooned up three large pupae with some soup and took it all in. It was more of the same, just with a larger concentration of the chewy pupa skin and more of the pupa guts.

I went back to the well about two more times before I decided it was enough of this soup for this time. I had a lot leftover but I didn’t need try any more of this.

Would I order it again? Maybe. Do I regret ordering it? No, not all. It expanded my horizons and that’s never a bad thing.

I just want to say that at the moment, I have no idea when I’ll be getting my first vaccine shot. AZ is now available to people in my age group but the supply of it in this province has essentially dried up. The province won’t be getting more of it anytime soon is my understanding. The next available chance now is for my age group to be made eligible for Moderna or Pfizer. Unfortunately, British Columbia is still stuck at vaccinating 60+ with those vaccines. I’ll have to wait for the 50s to be cleared before it gets to me. I’ll be lucky to get my shot in May.

I received a cheque in the mail this week. It was a rebate from the provincial auto insurance company, ICBC. The reason for the rebate is explained here, but essentially less driving because of the pandemic led to less crashes and thus less claims for the insurer. Less claims means more money was saved by ICBC.

Though they say the average rebate would total around $200, my rebate wound up being $11. There’s probably a few reasons behind that small amount. One, compared to most drivers, especially younger ones, my insurance is much cheaper, by the thousands annually. Also, I only insure my car for leisure because I don’t use it to drive to work (even before the pandemic), so that leads to a smaller amount. So, it makes sense my rebate isn’t that big.

I am not complaining about getting $11 back. Indeed, someone got a $1 rebate and wasn’t that happy about it. $11 can buy me a few groceries, so that’s not so bad.

I weighed myself for the first time in months yesterday and the results were not good. I’m about ten pounds heavier than my desired weight. I’m also the heaviest I’ve been since the pandemic started.

I’m this fat because of my diet mostly. I’ve consumed too many carbs. As we approach the warmer weather, I need to eat healthier.

I woke up very early to take my Dad to the ophthalmologist for a check-up. I am very tired now. I will go to bed “early” tonight. I hope all of you are well.

We’re in the middle of April and here in the greater Vancouver area, it’s feeling like summer already. The highs this weekend hovered near 20 degrees Celsius. People were wearing shorts and t-shirts like it was July. I was caught off guard by the good weather, didn’t have any summer clothes cleaned or pressed, so I was forced to wear pants all weekend.

It felt particularly hot and muggy on Saturday. That was the day that I was outside the most. It did not feel like a day in April. Traditionally, and perhaps in a cliched manner, April in Vancouver means rain. I don’t think it’s rained here in almost two weeks.

I did laundry Sunday night and washed some of my warmer weather clothes so I’ll be ready for more sun. The good weather will be around until at least through Wednesday. I am not complaining about the nice weather. With everything going so badly lately in our province, at least this is one thing we can enjoy (but not in large groups without physical distancing!).

A few weeks ago, Kenji Lopez-Alt showed how he makes his own tuna melts. The recipe is simple enough that even an idiot like me could follow it. The most exotic ingredient is scallions, so nothing fancy here. It turned out really good.

This evening I drove my Mom to the same vaccination site that my Dad went to a few weeks earlier. Instead of waiting an hour for the shot, we were waived in immediately to a vaccination tent. There were hardly any cars in the vaccination area. I saw one other car where someone was already getting their shot. Other than that, it was just us.

My Mom filled out her forms and she got her shot within ten minutes of arriving. It was a much more pleasant experience because of the lack of waiting. We also waited for fifteen minutes for any side effects but my Mom didn’t have any.

I feel a sense of relief now that both my parents have their first shots. Of course, my Mom still needs to be vigilant for the next two weeks as she builds up immunity, but at least the process has started.

My Mom gets her first vaccine shot tomorrow and I am very excited for her. I am also still very nervous. Even with her shot, it still takes two weeks or so for the immunity to build up, so things are still risky for her. I guess it’s risky for everyone in the greater Vancouver area right now.

Record breaking positive cases continue to be logged every week. There’s a lot of anecdotal evidence that people are aware of more and more sick people in their spheres of influence. For example, in this Reddit post, many people mention knowing more friends, family, coworkers, and roommates who have all tested positive in the last few weeks. What’s especially troubling are the people in that thread who say they caught it even though they are adhering to all the rules: wear a mask everywhere, wash hands, and limit trips to grocery store. That scares me greatly. Is it just a matter of time until everyone who is unvaccinated gets it? Are these variants so contagious that all the preventative measures we do now are ineffective? If so, I feel like I’m just rolling the dice whenever I venture outside my apartment. It’s not a great feeling.

Steven Yeun has been on Conan’s show numerous times but he returns this time around to discuss his latest film Minari, for which he has been nominated for an Oscar for best actor.