Anappetite: Experiences and Food from a Student

There's something peculiar about how we've elevated books to this sacred category where every page should teach us something or contribute to our betterment. Meanwhile, we consume movies, podcasts, and YouTube videos purely for pleasure without a second thought. When did society decide that books had to earn their place through educational merit alone? For many students, this discourages them from reading at all. To be clear, I'm all for educational books and they've definitely impacted my life (technical guides, personal development, popular science...). What I don't think we give enough credit to, though, is how much learning and satisfaction we can get when we start to read fiction for the thrill of it. The Norrington Room in Blackwell's Oxford I've recently noticed how different I feel after reading a book I genuinely enjoyed versus one I felt I "should" read: the characters and themes stick with me, for months or even years afterwards.  Of cou...

Let's be honest - when someone says they LOVE Vancouver food, it's usually followed by a sushi, hot pot, dim sum, or ramen recommendation. Of course they are delicious; but what really sets the city apart are the unique and mouthwatering eats from all sorts of cultures. I've been on a (very difficult, I know...) mission to eat my way through foods that I haven't had before while I'm in Vancouver, so here are three such dishes that made an impression on me! Kywteiw Moo Toon I entered Thai Basil restaurant after seeing that they served $12 Pad Thai, but couldn't resist ordering this unpronounceable soup when I saw it labelled *New dish!* on a little blackboard hanging on the wall. It looked so good when it arrived that I was already smiling before tasting it. "Kwyteiw" refers to the vermicelli noodles in the soup, and "Moo Toon" to the stewed pork skirts. The soup also comes with pork balls, bean sprouts, gailan (Chinese broccoli), and a chili...

First of all, WTF? It feels like not so long ago that I wrote my first post on this blog when I started my degree:  My Move-In Week . Now the looming threat of Real Adult Life is getting harder to ignore and I'm afraid it's time to face the truth... I probably only have 8 months of university classes left. Mathison Hall Matcha After thinking deeply about this disturbing fact, I decided to take this blog post as a chance to share some mindsets for my final year and reflect on the one before. My most obvious priorities  are applying for new graduate jobs, applying for grad schools and scholarships, and studying so that I will actually graduate. These will be taking up the bulk of my time, and although it's summer, I feel like I'm already being bombarded with ads and advice posts for tech jobs, award competitions, and grad school prep. Accurate representation of how I feel about application season Though I am a strong advocate for allocating a lot of time to apply for jobs...

I'm hanging out in Vancouver for a few months, so here are some of my observations from my first stint in the city :). The Skytrain is much more frequent than the C-Train and generally better (cleaner, has station gates, cheaper) No free fare zone downtown like in Calgary though :( Also, no fare capping like in other big transit systems 12% sales tax feels criminal as an Albertan, but at least most of what I'm buying is food (which is exempt from PST) The fact that you need to separate recycling into 3 containers... one of which is a yellow bag silly bag Restaurant prices are much better in Vancouver, which was surprising considering the housing prices. The restaurant variety is also amazing! House of Dosas is my GOAT UBC is pretty separate from the rest of the city, but it does have more things to explore than UCalgary (including a nudist beach) Nudists not pictured Many places have a... variety of interesting smells (some more unpleasant than others) Everyone is hiking all th...

Next to Landmark Cinemas in Calgary's Country Hills, you'll find a casual Chinese eatery housed in a classic suburban building with red accents. Though Ginger Beef was invented in Calgary, it originated at the Silver Inn and not the Ginger Beef Bistro House . But that doesn’t take away from its charm... step inside, and you’re greeted by the warm buzz of Cantonese and Mandarin conversations. The air is filled with the aromas of dim sum and a variety of Chinese dishes, making it clear this place is the real deal. Part of what makes it feel like the real deal? The service isn't like your typical Calgary restaurant. It's efficient, but don't expect anyone to check in on you. In my opinion, that's not a big problem, but maybe something most people aren't expecting. Also, the duck deal only has Chinese writing on it - luckily you have this blog post to inform you about it ;). We ordered the 3-course Peking duck promotion, which at the time of this writing, costs ...

Back again for my penultimate year course ratings! Without further ado, here are some of my thoughts on the courses I'm wrapping up right now (will update if anything significant changes after final exams). I'm only rating my Winter courses, as I was studying abroad in the Fall - check out these posts  if you're interested in those experiences. CPSC 413 - Design and Analysis of Algorithms I (Required) This course is super interesting and definitely important for computer science. You learn to think algorithmically, and it will help a lot with coding interviews in the future. There is actually barely any coding in this course because you focus on different types of algorithms, thinking on paper, and properly expressing your algorithms and why they work. Some of the questions and exams in this course are really difficult, but on the other hand, the grading is very lenient if your thinking is on the right track. I would rate this course an  8/10 , it's definitely worth put...

In my opinion, Bri'ish food gets a bad rap and is actually pretty delicious, but how does the overall restaurant experience compare between Canada and in England? Diversity On the diversity front, both countries are absolutely killing it. I’ve had the pleasure of trying some rare (and incredible) cuisines in both, like Yemeni food in Calgary and Sri Lankan food in Oxford. Delicious (and spicy) Sri Lankan food Each country also has its own take on some cuisines - for example, Calgary gave the world ginger beef, while the UK claims chicken tikka masala. England shines when it comes to doner kebabs, while Canada has amazing banh mi game. Of course, London as a city is on another level when it comes to variety, but in Canada, diverse food is more evenly spread across its cities. Pricing Surprisingly (at least to me), eating out in England is generally more expensive than in Canada after converting the currency. Many Canadian buffets are top-tier value, such as Sizzling Grill in Calgary...

If you've watched Top Chef Canada , Iron Chef Gauntlet , Beat Bobby Flay , or others, you may have seen Calgary's own Chef Nicole Gomes dominate the competitive cooking scene. As an avid Food Network watcher, when I saw her Calgary restaurant Cluck N Cleaver on Big Food Bucket List , I knew I had to find out how her skills translated to its menu. Chef Gomes on Big Food Bucket List So, I ordered three of their fried chicken sandwiches: the Mother Clucker, the Sando, and el Pollo Loco, each priced at around $15. Mother Clucker Their signature fried chicken sandwich, the Mother Clucker, has 1/4 pound of fried chicken breast covered in honey hot sauce with coleslaw and pickles, and most importantly a blue cheese mayonnaise which sounded really delicious when I saw this sandwich on TV. Cat Approved (...I was in fact, a bit scared of the blue cheese mayo because I have a love-hate relationship with blue cheese.) In this case, I found that the blue cheese mayo was perfectly formulat...

While this isn’t quite a tech blog, this post should have some important insights for any UCalgary students interested in a tech career. After seeing that  Jeff Nguyen , a recruiter in the student space, founder of BobaTalks (which provides free mentorship for students), and prolific "LinkedInfluencer" (the good kind) was going to have a booth at  CalgaryHacks 2025 , I knew I had to reach out. As someone deeply involved in both student mentorship and tech recruiting, he seemed like the perfect person to chat with about student recruiting, starting with how UCalgary students can stand out in the job market.  Q: UCalgary has good computer science courses and fantastic clubs. Even so, many students here find it tough to break into big or even mid-sized tech companies because there's not a lot of direct access to recruiters. What's your take on the best way for students in a market like ours to get noticed? Jeff : I believe that computer science is one of those fields wh...