February 11-23rd: A Roundup of Albertan Stories

As research picks up, I find myself slower with these posts. So maybe it was only a matter of time before I returned to a "roundup".

Let's start with the most Albertan thing: a bird hopping around in the snow.

Feb 11th
The next Albertan thing is the Northern Alberta Jubilee Auditorium! I came here on February 11th, and as you can see....it is quite massive! My perch was on the second balcony, which is unfortunately not accessible, far above everything else. From the outside, the building seems so straightforward, yet appearanes are clearly deceiving!

Everyone excited for my full, unfiltered review of Dear Evan Hansen, the musical I saw, should reach out to me separately! Because honestly, the musical resonated with me in ways that require further examination and thinking...and procrastination. Though certainly a messy narrative, I found myself engrossed by the production, especially with the digital backgrounds. It's certainly not a perfect work, especially with how discomforting it can be, but it stills amounts to a momentous occasion.

Feb 12th
The next day, on Feb 12th, someone gave their first lab presentation and brought cake! It was really kind of them, and the flavor of tiramisu was quite nice.

 They were not the ONLY one giving a presentation on this day. You see, I gave a Toastmasters speech on that day. For once, I decided to give a more personal effort, to try to connect with the audience more. On the flip side, I felt embarrassed, even when I practiced the speech in an empty classroom. But the effort paid off and people thanked me for giving the speech.


Valentine's DayI gave the two PhD students in my lab chocolates and silly cards for the big day! (There was a Feb 13th aka "Galentine's Day" event in my dorm the day before, allowing me to prepare this great surprise.)


I also had  some thoroughly alright poutine at the Room on the Top, which was itself an alright bar.

 The REAL highlight of Valentine's Day was the Lunar New Year/Valentine's Day party arranged by the Conversational Clubs here.

For food they had: 
Dumpling and mango green tea!

Surprisingly, I enjoyed the mango drink. Now you may think, "well isn't your friend recommending the drink a good sign?" But see what you do'nt know is....I used to believe mangos created blood, so I didn't like them. But somehow, I enjoyed the mango green tea -- perhaps it is the balance of flavors yet whatever happened marked the first time I actively enjoyed a mango-flavored item.

One fun part of the evening was filling out a bingo by talking to people. I really enjoyed the shock on people's faces when I said that I have been to Asia 10+ times (since before I turned 1!). Because of the diverse mix of peoples in the clubs, you get to hear a lot of interesting answers to these questions.

And I also won Japanese potato chips in a Kahoot match! (Many thanks to my friend who indirectly helped me correctly answer a question about Romeo and Juliet. That was ultimately the deciding factor, I imagine.) Clearly, quiz games need to play a much greater role in my life than they have.

Feb 15th
Believe it or not, but this was my first and only time doing work on a weekend. We were just harvesting the cells, and collecting their "guts" (proteins), in preparation for analysis. But it was quite difficult to even enter the building! My supervisor had to let me in even. The work itself was straightforward and gave me a concrete sense of "moving forward." With my research, this feeling is really validating!

 Feb 16th

I *meant* to go to a coffeeshop unfamiliar to me, but instead I returned to the Southgate Mall and had Tim Horton's and a crepe.

Feb 17th - Feb 21st was our reading week break! You'll notice it's actually still quite intense this time around. For me, it was DEFINITELY not a break, and in fact I had my most critical labwork thus far!  But the 17th I took off, at the least.

Feb 17th was a holiday (provincial holiday of Family Day), and a day with weather dropping close to -30 degrees celsius with wind chill (a very brief return to our deep freeze).

So with this cold weather, where else would I go but Nando's! Thanks to the help of a friend, I decided to get two sides (both mashed potatoes) and the soda with refills! Normally, I am wary of such expenses, but soda's fizziness goes well with spiciness somehow. It amplifies it! (Maybe I just enjoy the PAIN of the SPICES overpowering my throat.) Also, bottomless drinks really just means "three" to me, it turns out.

 Wed 19th
Today was the FIRST day of my western blot -- which we use to measure protein expression-- and it took up much of my time and energy. This western blot would actually be my first real result but first it would have to be successfully done across two days.

There were two hour long breaks today -- both times involved running electricity through the gel we were analyzing -- and you would think that would feel restful. But it really meant being on your toes throughout the preparation time!

I actually decided to purchase a cookie and some sushi during the first break. Unfortunately, this trip helped me realize just how short "70 minutes" really is. It's like you get only half an hour in practical time!

You would think that perhaps this was plenty for one day. But actually, the person I am mentoring for Toastmasters gave her first speech -- the "Icebreaker" -- and I evaluated her. She faced her nerves rather triumphantly and gave a great speech!

Given how long that day had been, I opted to buy some chocolate milk!

Another Albertan bird photo

Thurs 20th
The SECOND day of Western Blot -- but today there were several washing steps, each requiring repetitive motions and then waiting 10 minutes. Again, there was much waiting in anticipation of the final result, which would indicate how the day went.

Thankfully, for me, the result proved to be promising and worthy of further investigation! That meant that these past two days, filled with waiting and nervousness, were worthwhile.

Unfortunately....I cannot post it on my blog as it is a real scientific result...:(

Friday
An ALL-DAY class on R (the programming Language) -- it proved useful, but perhaps beyond my attention span. During the break, I bought what I like to call a "FREEDOM" donut. (The sprinkles were actually too much, but it was a fun break from my normal snack food. )

Sat Feb 22nd
Today I attended the Cinnaholic 1 yr anniversary -- where they had FOUR cinnamon rolls for just $4 which was an excellent deal. As you might imagine, there was a substantial line, but the rolls were incredibly worthwhile (as usual). I ate two cinnamon rolls there, and saved the other two for breakfast (on 23rd and 24th mornings respectively).

I ate a donair with a friend from Toastmasters! It was my first time, and surprisingly the donairs are kind of like gyros. Actually, because I got the impression these were pork items, I skipped out on them, despite their prevalence in Alberta. Glad I finally had the chance!

Sun Feb 23rd
Dungeons and Dragons was cancelled again, but there was a brunch AKA a pancake breakfast! It amazes me how much this simple concept still works so appealingly for me. We also played a spooookyyyy trivia game -- it was not Kahoot, which made it even more fun!

 In a bid to make my mom proud, I scored some free (for me) milk and eggs!

Lastly, I want to share my failed attempt at making grilled cheese...actually, the bread is not as burnt as it looks! And gouda is a good cheese for this kind of sandwich! My process could use...a lot of improvement...but now I have another simple dish under my belt (sort of).

Closing out this post now with -- thanks for reading these things! Hopefully everyone can see how busy my February has been. And we shall see, exactly, how March compares!

Izakaya Tomo and various other food experiences in Canada: 8-9 Feb 2020

Being totally honest here...at the insistence of certain other individuals, I decided to explore another restaurant in this city, letting me report back on more food. In particular, a friend of mine has barely eaten Japanese food and seemed especially curious about what an Izakaya would be like.

Honestly, I also heard about this restaurant on Friday, and another person told me they most liked my blogs about food (they know who they are). So that made me even more interested to come to the restaurant!

Part 1 focuses on the Izakaya whereas Parts 2 and 3 encapsulate some various food experiments of mine today.

Part 1: Izakaya Tomo (8 Feb 2020)

Cool illustration on the wall here!

 Of course I sat near the entrance! The izakaya was fairly dim, while I prefer a more lit-up experience, but it was well arranged.

With a menu like this, it's a small wonder I ate beef tataki! It seemed immediately appetizing and unlike something I had eaten at another Japanese restaurant recently. However, the presence of seafood and pork in the menu did give me pause. As I understand it, pork is not as common in Japan but is very beloved in red-meat-loving Alberta. 

 At first, I was going to get a standard salmon sushi but I went with the special salmon they featured.

 Beef tataki is below

For once, I will include a proper after image for the tataki, so that you can see I...do not eat everything. I try very hard to, but it can be quite difficult for me! Especially with my pickiness towards textures.

Today's special: Aburi salmon

Another shot of salmon, with soy-wasabi dipping sauce I love (it's essential, okay)

Unlike the standard salmon dish I am used to, this one was partially cooked, which caught me by surprise. The rice used also fell apart more readily than expected. It was an interesting experiment for me to try out! As per usual, soy-wasabi was a delightful pairing for this dish, even if it felt like there was not enough fish for the wasabi.


As you can see below, my sushi sin is not eating the ginger that comes with the dish. I like ginger in cooking a lot but not eating on its own!

Normally, I would have simply stopped after two dishes, but I realized that this would not be enough food for me. Also, the budget of $30 CAD had not yet been met, so I figured why not! An experience with kara-age a while ago left me feeling quite wary of the dish in general. (In the wrong hands, this dish is simply boring fried chicken.)

But the restaurant  featured an exciting array of tastes-- negi shio, including salt and green onion, caught my eye the most.

Chicken kara-age (negi shio), as seen below, is clearly partially breaded unlike the Fried Chicken I had last time. This gave a refreshing texture with elements of softness and crunchiness lovingly paired. The green onion deepened the flavor simultaneously. Clearly, kara-age can be handled quite well!

Far away shot of Izakaya Tomo entrance (keeping life mysterious and interesting)

(No, it was just forgetting until I was at the bus stop, so I zoomed in)

Because Izakayas are a rather unique type of restaurant, dominated by smaller dishes and Japanese food served in a more informal setting, I found myself invigorated after this experience. Actually, after coming home, I went grocery shopping~ All of this in service of being a homebody today (9 Feb 2020). 

Part 2: Nutella and Bread (9 Feb)
Nothing to comment here, except that *two* Nutella packets is quite the splurge for me!

Part 3: Trying to be clever with instant ramen (9 Feb)
So I tried these steps:

-Cook instant ramen in water already containing garlic-ginger paste, chicken tikka masala, another chicken masala, instant ramen broth powder
-Add in spaghetti noodles too
-Add an egg

Before:

As you can see, the egg got lopsided.

True to form, I gave up on the egg and stirred the dish.  In the future, perhaps I will try cooking the egg on the noodles, or something mature like that. But this time, I drained most of the water out and largely took the noodles. The 'broth' itself, thrown together with the instant ramen base, was likely nothing too special, and filled with salt. (For this reason, I usually eat instant ramen as just noodles, especially if I cook in the pot.)

So I was left with the below item.

While it's rather simple, its only textural complexity being two noodles of different length and taste, the spiciness comes out quite strongly, leaving my mouth feeling burning. If anything, maybe this dish teaches me nothing new -- as I already know that more spices will lead to greater heat -- but it was nice to mix noodles of different lengths. This dish required more thinking on my part, cooking some of the noodles before the rest. However, I also learned that this was absolutely not the way to add egg to ramen -- as it ended up in weirdly broken pieces.

Well, I am a busy researcher, so maybe tomorrow's dinner will probably be pizza or something haha.

Research at Fulbright's Midpoint

As *some* of you may sort of know, l came to Fulbright for many reasons, but the research was the clearest reason. In my mind, coming to Canada gave me the greatest opportunity yet to understand myself as a researcher. 

That can be hard to appreciate... when you're still working hard at getting your cells to grow. According to my plan, I was meant to be past this point. Of course, science is never that straightforward, which keeps it exciting.

"When are you throwing the cells" the PhD student I work under asked me this morning. He perhaps thought I had forgotten. Even though I wrote it in on my Google Calendar to be done tomorrow!

Surely it was a sentimental connection....how could I throw these cells, my *SECOND* attempt at growing cells to treat experimentally, seeded towards the end of January. (My *FIRST* attempt involved 4 hours in the cell culture room, leading to cells that I could not experiment on....truly science is the harshest existence in this universe.)

What a cruel fate awaits them, and what a cruel destiny I must achieve. To do this task would be the anoint myself as the greatest villain the world has ever seen. 

What POSSIBLE reason could I have to do this? Well, you shall find out soon enough.

See these cells! They are differentiated, meaning that, in theory, they are growing longer. Muscle cells, after all, are supposed to do this!

Are these promising results or not? Well, you'll find out soon enough.

 

....Well, as you can see, only two wells were viable out of 12, and they are visible as the top two images.  Though it was not me who drew the "X"s, I was given the responsibility of assigning them. It felt almost rhythmic assigning most of these wells as "bad." But with only two wells, we could not even run the control treatments, let alone the experimental ones.

This revealed to me just how dramatically the second run of cells had betrayed my expectations. To be honest, these cells were still around today for one simple fact: so that I could learn and keep re-examining my mistakes. Maybe self-development is a sentimental reason! But as a scientist I should take every learning opportunity I can. (Plus it lets me share COOL SCIENCE on my blog.)

I felt crushed, in truth, but waiting 4 years to do Fulbright was still much more difficult. Two years in my Masters, feeling this weight throughout, was worse than this situation. Taking one year to find an advisor, and then having to crunch a complex multidisciplinary thesis into the next year.

But now, in Canada, the situation is completely unlike my Master's. The difference? Here I can continue to improve and grow under encouragement.

As you shall soon see, this strength of will is necessary for this work.

The process of cell seeding, wherein cells are added to 12-well plates in order to grow for experimental work, is demanding and complex, even if it is also intuitive and rhythmic. 

Basic steps include:
1) draining the flask originally containing the cells
2) detaching the cells from the flask using the protease trypsin in order to transfer the cells to a vial
3) spinning the cell-containing vial to obtain the cells as a pellet at the bottom
4) resuspending the pellet and adding growth medium
5) counting cells
6) diluting cells so that the appropriate concentrations can be achieved in the 12-well plate
7) seeding the cells into each well

As you can see, these many steps require both precision on my part and trial-and-error to ensure best outcomes for the cells.

Through diligent observation on my part, and working with my supervisor, I isolated two potentials for error: 1) improper mixing of cells, leading to inappropriate distributions of cells and 2) introduction of bubbles that may kill the cells. Of course, my errors all boil down to "activities that reduce the likelihood of cell survival" but to have a starting place makes me feel much better!

With these lessons, I am raising the caliber of my own work moving forward. There is good news still here -- for today, I prepared the third set of cells by loading them into a new 12-well plate.

To my happy surprise, the PhD student praised me both for my professional cleanliness in the cell culture workspace and for my more efficient cell seeding. This gave me the feeling that hard-fought improvement was truly a beautiful thing.

I look forward to growing even more tomorrow, so watch out (especially if you're a cell wanting to thwart my experiment)!

Last words...many thanks to the lab post-doc who gave me permission to share images of forsaken cells!

Dissecting Disability Rights in Canada: A Field Investigation

Those of you looking to hear more about my research will have to wait! (It's a long story, even longer than the rest of this post.)

As some of you may know, because of my mobility limitation, I focus a lot on physical access. However, I still can walk rather well, compared to the most severe disabilities, so I want to improve resources especially for the most vulnerable. By coming to Canada, I always wished to learn more about disability rights here, and bring insights back to the US. Through my time here, I want to ease disability-related barriers in both countries.

Now that it is 2020, I can work much harder with accessibility, now that I actually know people here. While here in Alberta, I have established many contacts actually, especially including the Alberta's Office of Advocacy for People with Disabilities. (My contact with the Accessibility Advisory Committee and the Edmonton Mayor Office is still pending!) While I have little to say about the office right now, I must commend them for connecting me with the leader of Voices of Albertans with Disabilities (VAD) and a federal senator from Quebec.

On the 23rd of January, I met with the leader of VAD, who has a very distinguished history of living in Alberta and supporting people with disabilities! She also holds multiple degrees, including a nursing degree, and is involved with many activities. Most excitingly is her connection to disability outreach from lower grades through middle school and university. Though on my application I list disability outreach *with medical professionals* as my main goal, I would most like to continue my work on disability outreach with students specifically. Her keen understanding of disability outreach and rights in Alberta extended far to also encompass the Alberta Medical Association, which is looking at public health, and accessibility audits. From meeting her, I finally saw how many opportunities remained to be probed, if I would take the opportunity.

Unfortunately, my efforts to reach out to the University of Alberta on accessibility are still ongoing; at the same time, I still wish to speak with the Edmonton Mayor Office's disability person and the Accessibility Advisory Committee. However, given my progress, I feel comfortable allowing these contacts to remain in the back for now.

The leader of VAD surely is a difficult person to surpass in terms of distinction. However, the Quebec Senator managed to usurp this position. Not only was she a student at my university, from a small town, but she also is a paraplegic who did paralympics for 20 years. This is all before she became a senator 4 years ago, which is truly incredible from every angle. I did not expect a senator to come from such a background, simply because of how different the US is in this regard. There, senators are typically from some kind of lawyer background, which can be rather frustrating. So meeting someone from a different set of experiences was truly refreshing!

She gave me an incredibly fair perspective on Canadian disability rights, alongside a perceived comparison to American disability rights. In particular, Canada is always striving to be there for citizens, even though it fails sometimes. One major challenge: Canada lacks a proper federal basis for disability rights, often giving most control to the provinces. (For instance, the Alberta Office of Advocacy for People with Disabilities is rather unique among the provincial governments.) The recently released Canada Accessibility Act promises to shift responsibility for access onto governments. However, there remains a great need for standards that are consistent across Canada. Right now, the federal government is developing new standards to provide toolboxes for each province and municipality.

Talking to the senator opened my eyes to the scope of work that remains to be done. To me, this is good, but it also means Canada is not nearly as accessible as it could be right now! For my case, I much better understand how accessibility is divided across different levels. Municipality, province, and region all have divergent approaches to ensuring access to people with disabilities. Beyond physical access, there are also aspects of living such as housing and employment -- and these are also handled very differently depending on the level! Many private organizations appear to focus as the local level, without touching the federal level. As a result, there's many groups, public and private, that stand to be connected. The senator emphasized that these groups each have specific needs to be satisfied in the process of bringing them together. Another quietly brilliant idea was reaching out to paralympic groups, of which there are apparently several in Canada.

In a way, these two meetings were overwhelming -- it is definitely impossible for me to finish accessibility work here, but that means there are infinite approaches I can attempt. Through them, however, I can establish so many contacts simultaneously, and kickstart many efforts. In fact, discussing my findings with the lab post-doc led me straight to a faculty member in kinesiology who focuses on adaptive physical equipment and disability rights. Come June, how many more insights into Canadian disability rights will I have?

A Food Adventure Through Alberta's Mid-January Deep Freeze: Khan Kebabs and Tokiwa Ramen

Khan Kebabs
It was the 12th, a Sunday, and the Deep Freeze of Alberta was upon us. To be clear, I thought the weather would be so frigid we could not leave at all. I had not yet seen this level of cold -- how can -30 degrees exist? But my mom, who was still visiting through the 13th of January, gave an indication that maybe we should go out and eat.

In particular, she had Khan Kebabs in mind -- back in August, when I was getting settled into Alberta, my mom had gotten this flyer. So we took a chance and decided to head out to this restaurant, taking an Uber. Lo and behold, the weather, despite being frigid, was manageable! We realized that we had made a great choice in coming here; we ended up getting very authentic food that more than made up for coming out in the cold!
Lamb:

This was mainly my mom's idea to order, but I ate some too! My mom, mentioning how it was a rare treat to eat a 'proper' lamb dish, was overjoyed by it. On the other hand, I am still unused to the meat's texture, but I enjoyed myself as well! (Still not nearly as weird as brain curry, involving literal goat brain.)

 Seekh kebab:

Seekh kebab was the main dish I ordered, something of a comfort treat for me. Kebab, rice, and mint chutney is a very classic combination that can be hard to beat! I especially appreciated how the kebab was not drying.

Chapli Kebab

The chapli kebab, prepared in the North Pakistani style, also surprisingly avoided drying my mouth, despite easily being the meatiest dish. Once again, mint chutney, the savior of dry mouths, came in handy in preserving the flavor!

Below is my food review that I shared on the restaurant's Facebook page:

"An excellent experience in Pakistani cuisine, in Edmonton and in general, housed in an unassuming diner space yet also very professional in service. The chef being from Peshawar (in northern Pakistan) added a strong sense of regional flavor to the food. Our server, who doubled as the cashier, also thoughtfully asked for our full impressions. Very flavorful seekh and Chapli kebab that does not feel drying in feel. When paired with mint chutney, the flavor comes out even more powerfully. The food coming with naan and biryani rice also kept the meal very engaging. Furthermore the spice levels left a moderate yet very refined fiery aftertaste. It inspired me to buy a bottle of coke, which I rarely do, so I could savor that lingering flavor. Truly a wonderful experience! Khan Kebabs has only been around for 5 months but already demonstrated itself as a key member of the city's food scene.

Highly recommended!"


Tokiwa RamenThe *next* Sunday, on the 19th of Jan, I was actually planning to head to Nando's again. The Deep Freeze was still ongoing because of course. But I realized that Tokiwa Ramen, a popular place recommended to me by friends, was both nearby and somehow not completely stuffed with people! Beyond that, there was a greater fear: that the restaurant was closed (as it often does in the afternoon due to its popularity).

 I must say, though, that the (minuscule) hallway leading into the place was narrow, making the few people present seem like a large crowd. And it was cold, so any time the front door opened felt so chilly! Speaking honestly, being a party of one felt especially lonely in such a bustling place.

That said, the staff was kind enough to pass around menus to those waiting!

 Being of South Asian descent, I of course was quite intrigued by the Spicy Miso and the Aka Kara. (Admittedly the yuzu shio caught my attention as I had eaten that ramen just a few weeks prior!) Seeing "3 kinds of chili peppers" absolutely drew me in.

But first, given that I felt charitable towards myself, I ordered the chicken rice bowl, which is smaller than it appears below. A rather simple dish, but it was an excellent serving for only $4 CAD! It propped up my energy, even as I still felt a bit anxious about being alone at a place like this, so that I could dig into my main course.

 This main course, of course, was the Aka Kara. True to its name -- with Aka meaning red in japanese -- the ramen appeared volcanic, threatening an attack on my tongue. The spicy level was comfortingly warm -- intense, but not enough to overwhelm me. Given the powerful flavor, I found myself picking off items, such as the boiled egg, between making an approach for the ramen itself. Water helped soothe my throat as well. This wait helped me savor the taste of the ramen more -- before I knew it, the ramen was largely gone, leaving behind immense amounts of broth. This broth I decided to take home, so that I could use it in further cooking.

Tokiwa is well worth the acclaim it has received, though the setup may be rather small, and it was a worthy substitution for Nando's. Unfortunately, now I have to do more searching to find exquisite food places in Edmonton! 

An aside from yesterday, Jan 20th: I learned that "Aka" refers to the color red, whereas "akai" refers to a red object. As I understand, "kara" simply means spice....which disappoints me a lot. There were so many potentially better names! Even more shocking, ramen broth is not meant to be completely consumed. From my mom, I learned the art of taking home leftovers to repurpose for dinner, so I had of course gotten the broth to go home.


And then I just rode the (heated) bus to the northernmost train station....and getting to see these views of the river absolutely made it worthwhile. Without even walking outside, I got to see much of the northern part of the city!

Last but not least, I repurposed the ramen broth into a chicken curry! As mentioned, the usual Japanese approach is leaving the ramen broth in the bowl at the restaurant. So, by reusing the broth, itself perhaps a Pakistani idea, and adding some Pakistani spices, I inadvertently created a multicultural dish.

It was good!