I’m not a foodie, but I know trying new restaurants with friends is a love language.
The three core pillars of a restaurant experience are: ambiance, service, food (aesthetics high up on priority).
I’m also someone who will go to a new restaurant, not for the food – as a priority, but for the vibes. I love seeing and surrounding myself with beautiful things. So of course, gorgeous restaurants and how the chef’s make art on a plate are no exception.
My friend and I recently checked out And / Oreand it was spectacular. We specifically went to the Below Ground dining room.
And / Ore did not disappoint. From the moment we entered we were treated with a friendly smile, courteous service and beautiful things to look at everywhere.
The Below Ground dinning room offered an 8 course tasting menu. I had seen pictures of the plates online and thought I’d have to grab a pizza afterwards (lol). But little did I know that 8 little plates would really add up!
The presentation of the food (and the taste of most dishes) were amazing. And just check out the view of the inside, it’s like you are in an actual cave!
If you haven’t been then I highly recommend it. The menu is seasonal and uses local ingredients so I plan on going again with the Hubz.
Would love to hear of any new restaurant experiences in Toronto – do share in the comments!
Check out my other restaurant reviews here, here and here!
I recently read Think Again by Adam Grant, and I annotated a lot. Here are the annotations. Hopefully they spark some interest in you to think again (or at least read the book!)
When people reflect on what it takes to be mentally fit, the first idea that comes to mind is usually intelligence. The smarter you are, the more complex problems you can solve – the faster you can solve them….yet in a turbulent world, there’s another set of cognitive skills that might matter more: the ability to rethink & unlearn
When it comes to our own knowledge and opinions, we often favour feeling right over being rights
When we think and talk, we often slip into the mindsets of three different professions: preachers, prosecutors and politicians…We go into preacher mode when our sacred beliefs are in jeopardy: we deliver sermons to protect and promote our ideas. We enter prosecutor when we recognized flaws in other peoples’s reasoning: we marshal arguments to prove them wrong and win our case. We shift into politician mode when we’re seeking to win over an audience: we campaign and lobby for approval of our constituents.
In psychology there are at least 2 biases that drive [our thinking]: Confirmation bias – see what we expect to see [and] the other is desirability bias: seeing what we want to see.
What set apart great presidents was their intellectual curiosity and openness.
Research shows that when people are resistant to change, it helps to reinforce what will stay the same. Visions for change are more compelling when they include visions of continuity. Although our strategy might evolve, our identity will endure.
In theory, confidence and competence go hand in hand. In practice, they often diverge.
The Dunning-Kruger effect – when we lack competence that we are most likely brimming with over-confidence
Advancing from notice to amateur can break the rethinking cycle. As we gain experience, we lose some of our humility.
Confidence Sweet Spot = Confident Humility
Attachment. That’s what keeps us from recognizing when our opinions are off the mark and rethinking them. To unlock the joy of being wrong, we need to detach.
If you want to be a better forecaster today, you need to let go of your commitments of the opinions you held yesterday.
Productive disagreement is a lifeskill none of us fully develop. Research shows that how often parents argue has no bearing on their children’s academic, social or emotional development.
In good fights are the tension is intellectual not emotional
Skilled negotiators: find common ground > ask questions > provide a # of reasons > defend attacks
After establishing the drawbacks of her case, she emphasized a few reasons to hire her anyway: But what I do have are skills that can't be taught. I take ownership of projects far beyond my pay grade and what is defined in my scope of responsibilities. I don't wait for people to tell me what do and seek for myself what needs to be done. I invest myself deeply in my projects and it shows in everything I do, from my projects at work to the projects I do in my own time. I'm entrepreneurial. I get things done. I love breaking new ground and starting with a blank slate.
As a general rule: its those with greater power that need to do more of the rethinking.
When we try to convince people to think again, our first instinct is usually to start talking. Yet the most effective way to help others open their minds is often to listen.
Inverse Charisma (the magnetic qualities of a great listener): a sense of being listened to with such intensity that you had to be your most honest, sharpest and best self.
As consumers of information, we have a role to play. When reading, listening or watching, we can learn to recognize complexity as a signal of credibility. We can favour content and sources that present many sides of an issue, rather than just one or two. When we come across simplifying headlines, we can fight out tendency to accept binaries by asking what additional perspectives are missing between these extremes.
In productive conversations, people treat feelings as a rough draft. Like art, emotions are works in progress. As we gain perspective, we revise what we feel.
We need to encourage students to question themselves and one another.
Lectures are entertaining and informative, the question is whether they are the ideal method of teaching. […] they actually gained more knowledge and skill from active learning sessions (sending students off to find answers instead of the teacher showing the students how to arrive at the answer). It required deeper mental effort, which made it less fun but led to deeper understanding.
Perfectionists are more likely than their peers to ace school, they don’t perform any better than their colleagues at work.
Respond to confusion with curiosity and interest aka “give time to your confusion”
Encourage children to do multiple drafts of the same drawing.
Psychological safety is the foundation of a learning culture
Best practices in corporate imply that we’ve stopped learning, […] instead we should looking for “better practices”
When psychological safety exists without accountability, people operate within their comfort zone.
Change the ownership of psychological safety. (ex: if she says that it’s not safe to launch, the team should prove that it is safe to launch)
Sometimes the best type of grit, is gritting your teeth and turning around.
It’s easy to be a scientist: it’s simply the act of experimenting
I’ve been a reading slump for a few months now mainly because I felt like I’ve been reading too many non fiction books.
I usually set a reading goal for myself every year. I definitely aim high. But this year I’m not confident in getting to that goal. I’m about 40% there with only about 20% of the year left. That means I’d have to finish a book every 1.5 weeks. Seems daunting.
I know I could reach that goal reading a whole bunch of fluff that are easy to get through, but for me – reading is a way to knowledge. So even my fiction books have to teach and inspire me in some way.
So, atlas …I persist.
I do want to share this amazing fiction book I recently read. (I borrowed my book from Vaughan Public Library system because I love libraries (and sustainability). *needs a totebag with that phrase on it*)
Upgrade by Blake Crouch is about a near dystopian future where science has taken on a twisted yet believable turn “DNA editing”. The story weaves between a son (who works for a FBI like agency looking to prevent corrupted gene editing), his sister and his mother (a science genius pushing the boundaries with hopes of saving the earth). There is a lot of scientific jargon (naming of genes etc) with enough depth to help me understand the characters knowledge but also confusing at times (I glossed over that). Blake Crouch is an author that can create drama, intrigue and action to capture the reader’s attention and also help the reader read faster (lol if that makes sense). Since I don’t want to give away any spoilers, I’ll end off here with saying I give this a 5/5 ⭐️
And if you need any further inclination, here are some of the quotes I annotated! Enjoy!
We were on the outskirts of the city doing 120mph. The dual electric motors were almost silent.
Parts of New York City and most of Miami were underwater, and an island of plastic the size of Iceland was floating in the Indian Ocean.
But it wasn’t just humans who’d been affected. There were no more northern white rhinos or South China tigers. The red wolves were gone, along with countless other species. There were no more glaciers in Glacier National Park.
We had gotten so much right. And too much wrong. The future was here, and it was a fucking mess.
I had extraordinary dreams and an ordinary mind.
I wanted to actually do something, you know? It’s the difference between designing a house and building the thing.
Memories were coming back to me, and not just of every book I’d ever read. Random moments of insignificance. Pivotal events that had shaped my life. From a month ago. From a decade ago. From my childhood. It was an eerie sensation. As if someone were brooming out the dark corners of my mind. Wiping off the cobwebs. Repairing frayed connections.
“So you’re saying people are too stupid?” “Not just that,” Miriam said. “It’s denial. Selfishness. Magical thinking. We are not rational beings. We seek comfort rather than a clear-eyed stare into reality. We consume and preen and convince ourselves that if we keep our heads in the sand, the monsters will just go away. Simply put, we refuse to help ourselves as a species. We refuse to do what must be done. Every danger we face links ultimately back to this failing.”
I’d felt it that night and I felt it on this one-being with Kara quenched some evolutionary thirst. A primal, genetic need to belong to a tribe.
We were a bunch of primates who had gotten together and, against all odds, built a wondrous civilization. But paradoxically-tragically-our creation’s complexity had now far outstripped our brains’ ability to manage it.
While I waited for my food, I pulled out a small, leather-bound journal I always carried with me, flipped to the next blank page, and started a new letter.
You’re working off a flawed assumption. Higher intelligence doesn’t make you less greedy or self-centered or evil. It doesn’t necessarily make you a good person.
Right and wrong are constructs born of human sentiment.
Nothing but stories we’ve made up and assigned meaning to. They don’t correspond to any objective reality. The only thing real is survival.
Maybe compassion and empathy are just squishy emotions. Illusions created by our mirror neuons. But does it really matter where they come from? They make us human. They might even be what make us worth saving.
And I was struck, again, as an outside observer, by how much the members of our species needed one another. All these people out in the cold rain. To laugh and drink. To talk about nothing. It was almost as if that need for connection and touch was our … their … lifeblood.
“Consider this. For a time, Kara and I were the only upgraded humans on this planet. And what did we do? Immediately tried to kill each other over differences in belief. You got the upgrade and decided to help Kara release a virus that will lead to mass suffering and death. Doesn’t feel like intelligence itself is the answer. It terrifies me to think of a world where we have all the same problems, a billion less friends, and everyone thinks they’re smart enough to be infallible.”
“So you’d rather have no world at all?” “That’s a false binary. We are in trouble, but that doesn’t mean this is the only solution. Rejecting something that involves killing a billion people isn’t the same thing as sticking my head in the sand while the world burns.”
“You can’t kill humanity to save humanity. Human beings are not a means to an end.”
The temptation to swim over was strong. Barter for break-fast. See about getting a boat. But the commotion at 140 Broadway last night must’ve sounded like Armageddon. Anyone in the vicinity would have heard it, and me stumbling into their midst would only raise an alarm. So I settled for watching them from a distance-this forgotten fragment of humanity making a life together in the most inhospitable of places.
They seemed truly happy, and it made me happy to watch them—a thousand small kindnesses among people who had nothing to give.
We were a monstrous, thoughtful, selfish, sensitive, fearful, ambitious, loving, hateful, hopeful species. We contained within us the potential for great evil, but also for great good. And we were capable of so much more than this.
A few weeks ago, I had the opportunity to check out the Banksy Exhibit. The exhibit was well organized and laid out. There was a bar (although no drinks were allowed inside the exhibit) and both a general and VIP admission ticket.
Some interesting things I learned about Banksy and his art:
His art represents geo and socio economic issues with a side of dark humour and satire
He is known for using street and concrete as his canvases
His stencils are potential evidence for vandalism crime
One of his art pieces was a theme park called DismaLand
Since our big family trip to Hong Kong-India-Dubai, I’ve been a slump.
Don’t get me wrong, I’ve been getting things done, been ambitious, goal oriented but not with all areas of my life. I’ve really felt like consistency has been out of focus.
Which is interesting to read back as I write it, because on paper (and instagram highlights) I’ve done some pretty cool stuff: ran a half marathon, did some community environment events, re-did my vision board, meditated and journaled daily, making time to learn (GenAI, microcerts, exams PASSED) made lots of little art and launched my youtube channel. But I feel like I’ve been lacking organization, regularity and stability. Which then has turned around and effected other areas of my life.
For example
I’ve only read 1 book, yes just ONE book this year and we are already 7 months in
My eating habits have been so out of it lately (including late night snacking, lack of portion control/meal planning, not enough protein and over indulgence ugh)
My schedule for sharing my art or blogging… literally out the window
Getting pictures printed (this is a digital age problem, like how much storage is there in the world and why do I take soo many pictures and do nothing with them)
Someone tell me why I don’t do ab/core exercises daily anymore
An atrocious sleep schedule
Procrastination on some important personal goals
Anyways I’m sharing this because I know I’ll get back on track. I’m setting up systems (including a new planner and digital productivity method), starting therapy and strengthening my visualization practice because I want to reap the benefits of good habits and mental fitness in my life. I truly believe being mentally strong is the foundation of life productivity. I think once I have my mindset correct, I’ll be able to re-create habits and routines to support my goals.
All this to say, is it’s okay to fumble, it’s okay to fall down and it’s okay to take rest. The important thing is to have the awareness to realize what’s going on and the desire to course correct.
As always I like to share some tips on getting back on track
Do a brain dump: If you feel like your daily routine, goals, thoughts and mind are feeling a little frazzled, do yourself a favour and WRITE.IT.ALL.DOWN. Whatever IT is. This means it could be a brain dump, but it could also being a let out of all your feelings. Let your pen/keys on keyboard go freely so you release what ever is holding you back emotionally or spiritual.
Listen to your intuition: which means you’ll have to be quite. You’ll have to turn inwards. You’ll have to pay attention to the small and mighty messages both your body and universe are giving you. Remember not everything deserves your attention, but its important to work on the things that your intuitively know will get you where you need to be.
Take intentional action: meaning if you are ready (mentally and inuititively) to incorporate activities to get you back on track, don’t try to boil the ocean. Stick to 1-2 main activities daily. Small wins everyday lead to accomplishing big dreams.
Give yourself Grace: Rest and relaxation is key here. Not letting negative self talk overrun your mind and dictate your mood is of the upmost important.
