I’ve got a great prize to give away full of stuff I love just in time for Mother’s Day!

It includes a great Cuisinart Power Trio Hand Blender which also comes with a mini food processor attachment, and a Conair curling iron.

The kind people at Coty are throwing in some Philosophy skincare, perfume, and nifty Sally Hansen nail polish. Here are photos (keep in mind some of the beauty products may  not be exactly as shown in the picture).

Tune in to The Pay Chen show tonight for details on how to enter! 8-9pm ET on Newstalk 1010.

This fabulous gift pack is valued at well over $200. Many thanks to Impressions PR for the lovely prize.

*Enter by leaving a comment with your name, phone number and address!

*Comments will NOT be published (no fear of people seeing your personal info). A winner will be chosen randomly.

(That’s the name because I couldn’t come up with a fun and original one.)

I’m excited to tell y’all that I’m going to be hosting my own radio talk show on Newstalk 1010 Sunday nights from 8-9pm.

I’ve been eager to do more radio to compliment the years of work I’ve done in television. There are similarities to hosting a radio show and hosting a TV show, but they also require some different skills that I’m looking forward to working on. I can love and do both, right?

What’s the show about? Well, it’s a talk show and it can be about anything. I’m open to your ideas and suggestions and also, your feedback. Hey, I’ll be taking callers too, so I’d love it if you weighed in on the show.

You can listen online through the radio station’s website – and you can even watch because there are webcams in the studio. But I can’t say there will be much that’s interesting to SEE.

You can also listen in with the Astral radio app on your smartphone (there’s no reason you CAN’T tune in).

I’m planning on having fun guests co-host with me once in a while and as many interesting and entertaining guests as possible.

I hope you’ll tune in Sundays at 8pm!

I could spend hours upon hours wandering up and down the aisles of any great grocery store or market. Any place that lets me find gourmet chocolate, oils, beautifully packaged products and fresh produce.

So when I was asked if I would play around with some ingredients from Mark McEwan’s shop; it was like asking if I wanted another slice of cake. Yes. Let’s do this. I’m a huge fan of chef Mark McEwan and wanted to see what kinds of products he stocks and see what recipes he came up with for his new Italian cookbook, Fabbrica (also the name of his most recent restaurant).

I guess it’s not surprising that I would start with something sweet. I had some great things to experiment with and they included a bottle of La Vecchia Dispensa balsamic oil and some Himalayan pink salt. You’d be surprised how many desserts you can find online that use balsamic vinegar (and I was looking for something beyond drizzling it on fruit – which is great if you haven’t tried it.) I found recipes for vinegar pie, chocolate balsamic cakes, balsamic fudge and lo and behold…several versions of balsamic chocolate truffles.

This is where you use the best quality chocolate you can find. I used 66% Valrhona Caraibe, 70% Valrhona Grand Cru Guanaja and 70% Callebaut. If you like salty and sweet – a bit of good sea salt or in this cake, the pink salt, really brings out the flavour of the chocolates. I fed these to people who looked very unsure when I told them they were about to eat a balsamic vinegar and pink salt truffle, and they were all pleasantly surprised.

The recipe I used was from The Food Network

Ingredients

• 8 1/2 ounces dark chocolate, chopped (recommended: Valrhona)
• 1/4 cup cream
• 2 teaspoons balsamic vinegar
• 1/2 cup cocoa powder

Directions

Many of you know that I’m taking part in a great food truck event called AwesTRUCK taking place this Sunday, September 9th. If you can’t be there, listen in on the radio! I’m very excited to be doing a show with one of my favourite radio people, Jim Richards from the Evergreen Brickworks starting at 6pm on Newstalk 1010 and you can listen LIVE online. The event will have some of the city’s best gourmet street food all in one place. I’ll be co-hosting a brief awards portion and James Cunningham, host of the popular Food Network Show, Eat St., will kick things off during the VIP portion at 2pm. Tickets are still available online so if you like good eats and good times – grab a ticket and come by on Sunday.

If you can’t make it, I hope you’ll tune in at 6pm!

*This photo may or may not be a reflection of how we feel about working with each other.

Also, this photo is what I eat for breakfast most days of the week. 3-4 cups of kale sauteed in coconut oil and an egg. Sriracha to give it some flavour and kick. This is how I try to offset the other things. I also eat a helluva lot of salad. And I bought a Groupon for liposuction.

Kidding!

I looked and they don’t offer it.

It’s worth about two fancy coffees, a fast food combo, a cocktail at casual pub. I paid $7 for a loaf of bread at a Farmers’ Market once. I felt a bit silly about it afterwards but I think you should pay more for something home made. I’ve paid about this much for a basket of locally-grown peaches. This week I paid $9 for a bag of cherries and realized those babies are heavier than I thought.

I would guess that half of you reading this blog know me, and the other half might kind of know me through some of the TV work I’ve done. If I asked you for $7.40, I actually believe many of you would give it to me because I think I know and attract nice people. So, I AM asking you for it, but I never want you to give it to me.

We’ve been having a helluva heat wave in Toronto. Feeling like 40-degrees on many days, it’s that hot, sticky, sauna-like feeling of being hit with a steamy, wet facecloth. It’s really nice when combined with garbage day. I was walking down busy Spadina Ave. when someone behind me shouted, “Pay Chen!” I turned and noticed a weathered-looking man with a yellowed beard in dirty clothes. I thought he was going to ask me for money but he didn’t. He said he knew me from OMNI-TV. I asked if he was keeping cool and told him to stay in the shade. He smiled a lot, we wished each other a good day and went in opposite directions. Something about this encounter made me smile and let my guard down. Truthfully, you can’t pass a street corner without being asked for change or to donate money to a worthy cause. The only way to get to where I’m going some days is to avoid eye contact and say “I’m sorry, not today.”

Not even two minutes later, I passed an elderly Asian man sitting in front of a restaurant holding out a worn ballcap for change. I have seen him in the Chinatown area a few times over the years. When I have it, I give him a few dollars. Many days I walk past him like so many others. I walked past him a few steps, stopped and turned back. It was a really hot day, I fished for change but wondered if he ate. As I was walking towards him he got up using his cane, folded the sheet of newspaper he was sitting on and put it into the small plastic bag he was carrying. I realized he wasn’t sitting on the paper for any sort of cushioning from the cement. It was just to keep him from sitting directly on the ground. He stepped into the sidewalk a bit more and just shook his ballcap with one hand while balancing himself on his cane with his other. I felt strangely sheepish and a bit shy. I watched him from a few feet away for a moment and then approached him. “Do you want something to eat?” I asked while miming and pointing to the restaurant he was in front of. He nodded very slowly.

We went into the Chinese restaurant. A typical take-out place with a long counter with trays of food kept hot for hours and signs advertising lunch combos. I felt like Vanna White and swept my arm down the counter trying to indicate that he could choose what he liked. He didn’t understand English and I thought perhaps he could communicate with the women behind the counter, but he did not speak. He looked at all the options (there were many) and gave small nods as though acknowledging each dish. I told the woman behind the counter that I wanted a large combo, she asked if it was for him and I said, “yes, it’s for him.” And my voice completely caught in my throat. I had such a huge lump I couldn’t swallow, my eyes started to water and like a hipster, I put my sunglasses on indoors.

I don’t think this gentleman was too fussy about what to eat, if I pointed in a general direction he would nod, then I’d point, “this one? Or this one?” He chose a soup and the rest was a piece of chicken and pork over some rice packed into a styrofoam container and tied in a plastic bag. I asked if he wanted something to drink by pointing to the fridge behind us. Again he nodded slightly. He couldn’t open the fridge so I opened it and he pointed to the first thing in front of him. A can of something I can’t remember. I grabbed a bottle of water for him too then pointed to the few tables in the back and gestured for him to sit down while I paid up. His lunch, soup and two drinks came to $7.40. I don’t think I’ve ever bought MYSELF a lunch that was that cheap.

At first I put the bag down on the table in front of him but thought he might have trouble opening the knotted bag so I opened it and took out the styrofoam containers. I placed the plastic spoon, disposable chopsticks and napkins next to them. On a 40-degree day and he wearing a thin long-sleeved cotton jacket in the heat; he opened the soup immediately and sipped from the container as I impulsively cautioned, “that’s hot!” I was about to open his canned drink for him but he slightly waved his hand “no”.

Now this is the part I wish I was capable of handling differently, I couldn’t even smile at him because I was pressing my lips together so hard to not cry. My eyes behind my sunglasses were filling with tears that I was trying to keep from slipping out. He bowed his head deeply towards me. I (with my expressionless bitch face) nodded back, said something like “ok, bye.” And walked out. Fast. I passed two stores before I stood to the side of a wall and started to cry. Why the f**k was I crying?? You might say, “that was nice, you bought him a meal!” I was angry that such an old, frail man had to beg on the street for change. I wondered when he last ate. I wondered if he was saving that drink for someone else. I wondered if he was someone’s father or someone’s grandfather. I wondered if he might save some of the food for later and feared the meat would go bad and he would get sick. I thought I should have left him with some cash. I thought of the many times I’d walk past him and not noticed.

You  might think crying on the street is a bit of an overreaction to a homeless man. I was really upset by it and even though I cry when I watch the news (and read the newspaper) I was surprised that I continued to cry through the day. I think it has a lot to do with the stories of my father’s family when I was growing up. My grandfather died as a soldier when my father was young so he never knew him but growing up, my brother and I would be told to be grateful because my dad grew up quite poor.  You know how people tell their kids “there are starving children in (insert poverty-stricken country) that would love to eat that”? My brother and I got, “you have to finish that, your father’s family never had enough food to eat. Look how lucky you are.” We were told that there were so many mouths to feed he would sneak onto farms and steal fruit from trees. That he once spent days as a small boy hiding in the woods and eating plants. That when it was your birthday you got some boiled eggs – a real treat. So when I see an elderly person begging I think of my grandfather and his struggle even though he never actually lived to be very old. Also, my brother and I thought it was really cool that my dad could climb trees and steal fruit. Sometimes we missed the point.

Remember when I said I’d ask you for money? I posted an abbreviated version of this on FB and of course as my lovely friends, you were full of “likes” and “good for you!” comments. But here’s the thing that I am very guilty of. I read things, I retweet heart-warming stories, I write cheques a few times a year to various charities but I don’t often connect with an individual who is asking for some help. Can you spare $7.40 this week? Perhaps this month? I know (as my supportive friends), you will post nice comments. I’m not asking you to post nice comments – I’m asking you take the “more people need to do this” comment you may have written and just actually f*cking DO IT. Please don’t make this sound like a big deal. It was less than $10. It’s not a big deal. I don’t often use the phrase ‘pay it forward’ because I feel like I’m talking about myself in the third person, but if you liked this story even just a little, I just want you to DO something; buy a bottle of water or a sandwich for someone who is panhandling. A coffee. A Timmy’s gift card for the guy asking for change. Then post a comment telling me about it so I can read it and smile, and hide my happy tears behind my sunglasses.

I was inspired to modify a Thai coleslaw recipe made by The Sweet Escape Patisserie using everyone’s favourite spicy condiment, Sriracha. You will need these things:

1 bunch kale washed and dried. Tear the leaves away from the tough stems

1/2 small purple cabbage shredded

2 carrots grated or cut into matchsticks

1 pepper, raw beet, zucchini or whatever else you have kicking around, thinly sliced

1/2 cup – 1 cup chopped cilantro (depends how much you like it)

Chopped, toasted nuts of your choice

2-3 limes

1 tbsp brown sugar (or a bit more if you find the vinaigrette makes your mouth pucker)

2 tbsp sesame oil

1.5 tbsp rice wine vinegar

1 tsp sea salt

1/2 tbsp Sriracha

2-3 Thai red chilies, seeds removed, finely chopped (only if you like extra heat)

*fish sauce works great but leave it out for the vegetarians

In a LARGE bowl, tear the kale into small pieces and throw in the cilantro and other veg you’re using. I am currently loving raw beets (grate them or use a mandolin to get nice thin slices)

In a bowl: zest and juice the limes. Mix in all the other ingredients, stirring well to dissolve the brown sugar and salt.

Pour half the dressing over the kale mixture. Use your hands to mix and massage the dressing into the kale.

Pour more dressing as needed and mix in.

Let the salad sit at least 15 minutes for the kale to soften. You’ll notice the volume of the salad shrink down. Sprinkle nuts just before serving.

This salad keeps well for 2 days in the fridge. Don’t leave the nuts on the salad as they’ll get soggy.

Enjoy!

*if anyone knows how to get photos to appear side by side in Word Press, please let me know. The chiles photo wasn’t really meant to be the way it is.

Here are some other recent sweets. An Oreo chocolate cupcake from Desmond & Beatrice and crisp and chewy meringues from OMG Baked Goodness. Go get yerself somethin’.

I didn’t see them in the wild (where they are said to be easy to find…don’t hit one with your car.) I saw them in a little petting zoo. Cute, yes? Well…imagine how you would laugh at people in Canada for wanting to visit a squirrel and raccoon petting zoo. That’s kind of the equivalent.

Don't bother me. I'm sleeping.

These koalas didn’t care how close I got because it was 35-degrees out and she just wanted to snooze. They sleep about 22 hours a day. Lazy asses.

I look a bit too excited to feed the kangaroos.

On my third day in Melbourne, I went to the grocery store to pick up few things. Standing at the back of line only three people deep, an employee opened up a new checkout and waved me over to him. I put my three items down on the counter and no more than 5 seconds after putting them down, a middle-aged couple rush up behind me and the woman pushes my things forward and huffs, “move it up! Move it up!”

I think her instructions were directed at me and also at the cashier who didn’t make any motion to move up the conveyer belt and make room for her items. Then her equally leathery-skinned partner takes his basket and DUMPS them on the (still unmoving) belt on top of my items. He’s also shouting, “move it up!”

Irritated by their extreme rudeness I say, “excuse me, I JUST put my things down and you weren’t behind me. If you give me a moment I could have moved them.” There was no rationalizing with this barbaric couple, the man shouts, “get it out of my way! Move it up! I don’t know how you do it in YOUR country but that’s how we do it here.”

At first I assumed the dig at “YOUR country” was because they assumed I was American due to my accent. Later I realized it probably meant whatever Asian country they believed I was from. Those words lit a fire inside me. I said to the cashier (quite loudly and with surprise) “My goodness! I thought Australians were polite! What a shocker!”

The poor cashier hid a smile and looked at me almost apologetically.  The woman saw the smile and that we were looking at each other and shouts, what’s this? What’s this thing you two have?” Waving her crooked finger between myself and the young gentleman checking my groceries. “Do you think we’re funny?”

Me: “Oh, I DEFINITELY don’t think you’re funny.”

Leathery woman: “Well I think you’re funny! Ha! (beat) Ha!”

Leathery man: “It’s because we’re not the same colour as them they think they can do those things.”

Whoa! Leather Man…you hit a nerve. I should mention that the young kid working there was perhaps 19 or 20 and dark skinned though I am not sure of his ethnicity.

I was so shocked and angry my skin was actually tingling. I smiled at them, I smiled at the poor guy at the checkout and thanked him when he handed me my change. It was then that he spoke shyly, “I really hope you enjoy the rest of your day.”

My reply, “I hope your day gets a LOT better.” I walked away as Leather Man and Leather Woman kept grumbling and taunting but by this time I had tuned them out. I felt badly that I could walk away and that poor kid had to stay there and listen to them ranting.

Fast forward a week and a half later, I am back at the grocery store today and an employee comes by to collect the empty baskets and smiles at me. I didn’t recognize him at first and then he said, “that was crazy last week.”

I felt like I was seeing a long lost friend and told him how ridiculous it was and how I felt bad that I could walk away but he was stuck with them. He said that when I left he REFUSED to serve them. I wanted to hug this kid. They kept nattering on about people in “their country” when I left and he said he wouldn’t serve them.

“Did you send them to another line?” I asked. I was really excited at this point.

Said the young employee (his name is Gill – he was wearing a nametag) “it’s racial assault. We can refuse to serve them.” Yes, verbal assault…I was so proud of him when he was so quiet and shy at the time.

“They were told to leave the store and they’re banned from shopping here again.”

Sweeeeeeeeet karma, friends. Sweet karma.

If I didn’t fear it being perceived as physical assault, I would have hugged dear, young Gill. I told him I believed they assumed I was American when in fact, I’m from Canada.  Gill says his aunt lives in Canada and keeps telling him to move there because they are very accepting people.

“Is it a nice country?” Gill asked me.

“Yes, it is a very nice country. Where does your aunt live?”

“Winnipeg.”

I laughed what probably sounded like a crazy-lady laugh. Small world.

Just then I notice that my groceries are rung in and bagged and I see that I am $3.15 short. I only had $2o on me and asked the cashier to take out an item when Gill hands her a bill to cover my $3.15 despite my refusal and protest.

Tomorrow, I am going back to the grocery store with an envelope containing $5 and a thank-you note along with my email address should Gill want some help if he ever makes the move half way around the world to a new country.

What goes around, comes around, my friends.