Lunar New Year (Spring Festival) is the most important Chinese festivity, so it’s always a special event.

It was an evening of “extreme cuisine” with dishes ranging from stuffed conch Portuguese style to a sorbet dessert with maple syrup, strawberry and smoke flavours.

Alvin exuberantly describes his Hong Kong restaurant as having “No momma and pappa food --- no momma and pappa price!”

All photos © Gary Crallé 2010, made with Olympus EP-2 Pen camera and 14-42mm standard lens.

The Toronto dinner is held in tandem with the Cathay Pacific International Chinese New Year Night Parade in Hong Kong itself.

For tourist information: www.DiscoverHongKong.com/canada

Southern California

A 30-image photo album of a 2-week driving trip through southern California is currently posted on the Olympus Facebook site. Here's the direct link: http://www.facebook.com/album.php?aid=176417&id=63355899492&ref=mf
Click on each picture to enlarge and see the accompanying description. All photos © Gary Crallé 2010. Commercial use prohibited.