Pickering Food Truck Festival

Food, Food, Food.

That seems to be the theme in Toronto this year, every weekend there is a different food related festival happening.

This past weekend, Aug 5-7 Pickering, ON was the place to be as the City of Pickering celebrated their 2nd Annual Pickering Food Truck Festival, a collaboration with the Canadian Food Truck Festivals. Food Trucks from all over Toronto and the Greater Toronto Area came to the city to showcase their delicious cuisine for everyone to taste. There was an array of different food choices from all over the world, ranging from Latin American to European to Hot and Spicy to Sweet and Savoury flavours.

Some of the Food Trucks that were at the festival are: Beavertails, Berlin 95, Chimney Stax Baking Co, Fidel Gastro's, I Love Churros, Untamed Chef and Curbalicious.

After walking around and checking out all the Food Trucks, I saw this humongous iron skillet under a tent and I knew I wanted whatever was under that tent. The huge skillet belonged to this bright yellow truck that is La Fiesta Catering, and in the skillet they were making Ecuadorian style Paella. The last time I had Paella was when I was in Barcelona, so I was so excited to eat it again, La Fiesta reminded me why I love Paella; the Spanish seasoned rice mixed with seafood was the perfect evening meal for a festival.

If you missed the Toronto and Pickering Food Truck Festival this year, the Canadain Food Truck Festivals is having one more festival before the summer is over in Richmond Hill, September 3 & 4 at Richmond Hill Greens.

What Food Festivals did you go to this year?

Afrofest Toronto 2016

Hey Guys!! yes, I know, it's been months since I've posted anything on this blog, which is sad. But I promise you that there will be more content coming out as the year goes on.

This past Sunday, on July 10, my friends and I decided to attend Afrofest in Toronto, which is the largest African Festival in North America. It has been years since I've gone to the festival, the last time I  remember going was when the venue us to be Queen's Park. 

There has been some controversy with the City of Toronto and the organizers of Afrofest this year. The city wanted to cut the 2-day festival to 1-day, which would be horrible, as the festival draws thousands of people from Toronto and abroad to the City of Toronto. Thankfully the people of Toronto came together and voiced their love of Afrofest and the city granted them their regular 2-day permit.

If You want to submerge yourself in African culture, Afrofest is the best place to be. You get to walk around to all of the different type of vendors from different countries in the wonderful continent. People were selling textiles, clothing, jewellery, beauty products and live paintings, along with some amazing food. If you want organic products, it is the perfect place to be.

It was nice to visit some of the vendors and talk to them about their products, I even purchased a hair product from London Ivy a Toronto based hair care line, that is 100% Vegan and Cruelty-free. Artist like Toronto's own YouTuber Femi Lawson was there selling his Tantalization merchandise and meeting his supporters, Kofi Frempong was at Afrofest doing live paintings, that were for sale.

Now that I am reflecting about what has happened in the last couple of weeks in the world, I've realizing that I don't support a lot of local or black local artist, or businesses. Afrofest and other festivals alike are the best place to discover local businesses.

There are so many festivals happening in Toronto this year, which one's are you going too?

Toronto A.K.A Panamania: Tessanne Chin

The year of 2015 will go down in history for the City of Toronto.

Courtesy of Instagram @leighazon

Most North Americans and Caribbean's know that the 2015 Pan American Games are being held in the Canadian city Toronto, and if you didn’t know, now you know.

The city has been buzzing with tourist from all over the world who have come to watch the games, some knowing and some who just came to Toronto on vacation at the right time. because of all the tourists, the city of Toronto has gone out of it’s way to make the city appear exciting and energetic, with cool new statues, like the big ‘Toronto ‘ in front of city hall and free events held all over the city.

Courtesy of Instagram @astroroy

At least once a week a free concert is held in front of Toronto’s City Hall, with headlining artists from different countries within the Pan American region, as well as cultures acts from the Americas. I recently saw Tessanne Chin, an up and coming singer from the island of Jamaica, perform in the heart of the city.

If you don’t know who Tessanna Chin is, she is the Jamaican artist who got her big break after winning season 5 of the hit show The Voice, as a contestant on Adam Levine’s team. If there is one thing Jamaicans are famous for, it is supporting one another. To say that Toronto’s Jamaican/ West Indian community came out to support Tessanne would be an understatement. The support of Toronto was real; people from all nationalities and cultures came out to hear her beautiful voice see her perform live.

Courtesy of Instagram @janaydw

Tessanne performed a medley of songs from her album Count on My Love. During her performance she did a Bob Marley tribute, singing 'Redemption Song', along with a dedication to Whitney Houston, by singing 'I Will Always Love You'. You should also check out her new song ‘Fire' from her album.

Tessanne's performance, along with the exciting acts that are to come within the next two weeks, al aid in creating an amazing atmosphere within the city. Toronto has always been a hub of exhilarating festivals  and events, and the Panamania concerts are a well-welcomed addition to the city for the summer. 

To find out when someone Panamania events are happening, check out Toronto 2015’s website.

To see more pictures,

 make sure to check out the Instagram @youngblackventure

Andy Warhol Invades Toronto

A couple days ago, a good friend and myself decided to go visit the Andy Warhol exhibit in Toronto.

Andy Warhol: Revisited is a Warhol exhibition in Toronto that provides an engaging and educational walk through of the development of Warhol 's artistic language and it's greater effect on culture.  The exhibition brought Warhol 's most recognized pieces to he city.

This was my first time ever going to an art exhibit, so this was a new experience for me. The price to get into the exhibit is $10 but if your a student, like myself all you have to do is show your student ID and you pay $5.

To be totally honest with you, I recently discovered who Andy Warhol is. I knew he was a famous artist, but through my school course that I'm doing I learned he had/ still has a very big impact in the art world and also pop culture.

Out of all the amazing painting a and prints that were on display at the museum, I would have to say that the Energy Power painting was my favourite. Something about the painting caught my attention compared to all the others, especially when I read the little article that went wit it. 

" The painting portrays a hand cradling a symbol of a nuclear war which was a looming anxiety shared by the Americans at the time. The quick gestural lines along with the stark black and white contrasting colors serve to convoy a sense of visual and further highlight the anxiety at the time."

You have until December 31st to come and see the exhibit. If you live in the Toronto area or will be visiting soon, I recommend you go and check it out. 

To see more pictures,

 make sure to check out the Instagram @youngblackventure

#RogersFamilyDay Day at the Rogers Centre

Two week ago I had the opportunity of being in the Rogers Centre and walking on the Toronto Blue Jays baseball diamond.

Thanks to my amazing cousin who works for Rogers Marketing department, I was allowed to attend Rogers Family Day with the Toronto Blue Jays.

All of Rogers Communications Network employees from all sectors, were allowed to invite their family and friends to spend a day at the Toronto Rogers Centre.

Even though the Toronto Blur Jays were not playing a home game, the staff at the centre put the game up on the jumbotron for everyone to watch. the Rogers Centre was full of family fun activities for everyone to do. Along with a free meal with admission, you had the opportunity to walk on the baseball diamond and even go and sit in the Blue Jays dugout.

There was a bouncy castle for the kids to climb on, and there was also an autograph booth, were a Blue Jay veteran was signing pictures, baseballs and baseball gloves. People even got a chance to win baseball jerseys. It was a fun filled day, and it was great that Rogers allowed people onto the baseball diamond, it was smaller then I actually thought it would be.

To see more pictures,

 make sure to check out the Instagram @youngblackventure

There's a First Time for Everything

So I've finally made it!

14 Hours later and I've finally made it to Frankfurt, Germany.

As you can start to tell, a lot of my post are about first time experiences, and there will be a lot more post like those coming, especially now that I'll be spending 2 months in Europe for a Study Abroad program with my school.

So let me give you a run-down of my last 14 Hours, where at least 6 of those hours I spent going through Toronto Pearson International Airport twice, even though I never left the country. 

My original flight itinerary was to fly from Toronto to Detroit, and then Detroit to Frankfurt, Germany.

Well because of the typical Canadian weather, my flight to Detroit got cancelled and I had to find a new way to get to Frankfurt. Thank God for Air Canada's wonderful customer service because, they were able to find me a direct flight but, I was on standby so that meant I didn't have a seat.

Since my bags were being directed to Detroit, I had to go find them and then check them back in to go to Frankfurt. Because I went through U.S Customs I was technically in the U.S while in Toronto Pearson International Airport, so I had to go through Canadian customs like I was leaving the airport and go to baggage claim to see if they could find my bag.

Once they found my bag and gave it to me I had an hour to go through the whole check-in my baggage and security process again. Since my flight was booked last minute I didn't have an assigned seat, I had to stand at the gate and wait patiently to see I got a seat. But Thank God I was able to get one.

And I should probably tell you that this is the first time I've EVER flown alone, especially so far away from my family, so I was super proud of myself of dealing with this all by myself without calling my parents crying.

One thing that made the 8 Hour plane ride comfortable was listening to Prince's new album Art Official Age, If you every get a chance to listen to it, do it, it's an amazing album, and it puts you in a good mood.

He's a link to the album on Spoify.

https://play.spotify.com/user/12169742864/playlist/0JLOl3eg71D8jXeGMNPmX0

#TBT Throwback Thursday// The Internet, SZA, Jhene Aiko

It's Thursday and you know what that means, it's Throwback Thursday.

This Thursday i'm throwing it back to Jhene Aiko's Enter the Void Tour at Sound Acadmy with The Internet and SZA as her opening acts.

It was my first time going to a all general admission venue in the winter and to be honest it might be my last, cause it was freezing outside waiting for the doors to open, but besides that the concert was amazing.

The concert started with The Internet opening the show. If you don't know who The Internet are they are their own group part of the  Odd Future clan. Their lead singer Syd the kyd, is the sister of Taco, Tyler the Creators right hand man and she is also one of Odd Futures producers.

I would say that The Internet's music is more of a jazzy blues sound, if you listen you most of the Odd Future artist music beside Frank Ocean, they are the total opposite.
Besides that they set a good vibe to the opening of the concert.

here's a little video I took of them performing.


After The Internet's performence, the beautiful first lady of Top Dawg SZA came out.
If you haven't heard of SZA, I would say start listening, she's blowing up BIG.

If you've been to a SZA concert then you know she is full of life and is constantly moving on stage, i've seen Instagram videos and Youtube videos of her performing, and the Turn up is real with her.

I even caught a video of her singing and dancing to COCO


She sang some songs off her S EP and also her See.SZA.Run EP, with hits like Advil, Babylon, Castles and Teen Spirit, the crowd didn't want her to leave.

And then the lady of the night came out, looking oh so beautiful.
Jhene Aiko looks as pretty in person as she does in all her photos, and you could tell she is so down to earth.

She performed everything, from her Souled Out album to her Sailing Souls EP.
She even took a female audience members phone while performing Lying King and sang to their ex-boyfriend on the phone.

Jhene Aiko is a real artist and she sound the same live as she does on her records, I would soo pay to watch her perform again, especially if she has this line up again.

To see more pictures,

 make sure to check out the Instagram @youngblackventure

OVO Fest 2014// OutKast Day 1

As many of you might know the first weekend in August in Toronto is the busiest and I would say BEST weekend in the city because so much is happening.

Some of the major festivals that were happening are:

• VELD Music Festival
• OVO Fest
• Scotiabank Toronto Caribbean Carnival aka Caibana
• Taste of the Danforth 

Unfortunately I was only able to to go one of these events and that was Day 1 of OVO Fest.

For those of you that do not know what OVO Fest is, it is an annual 2-Day music festival that is held in Toronto at the Molson Amphitheater hosted by the oh so talented, Toronto born and raised artist Drake.

OVO  Fest (OVO means Octobers Very Own) has been happening 4 years in a row now, and has brought tremendous amount of tourist and visitors to the city of Toronto.

Beautiful scenery of Toronto

In previous years artist like Jay Z, Kanye West, Frank Ocean, Rick Ross and more artists have preformed at OVO Fest for the people of Toronto.

The tickets for OVO Fest, I would say are reasonably priced if you buy them they day they get released or around that time. I got ticket to the lawn section, which aren't as bad as they sound, you could see everything perfectly from there. plus everyone either brought blankets to sit on or just sat on the grass chillin' until the performances started.

YG Opened up for OutKast rapping his hottest hits like Bickin Back Being Bool, My N***a, and my guilty pleasure Toot it and Boot it. he sent a positive vibe through the crowd and got everyone excited and pumped up about OutKast.

OutKast performance was one of the best performances I've seen. From the start it was crazy energy until the end. Andre 3000 aka 3 Stacks came out with his legendary blond wig and a black jumpsuit, while Big Boi was decked out in his usual. They preformed all their greatest songs like: B.O.B, Roses, Prototype, and Int'l Players Anthem.

All in all, next year I will surly make sure I buy the 2-Day tickets for OVO and If your just going to be in Toronto just for the weekend, it surly is worth the while to go.

Of course I couldn't leave without getting an OVO Fest T-shirt and an OutKast one

To see more pictures,

 make sure to check out the Instagram @youngblackventure

NXNE Festival // Volunteer

As some of you may know, there is a festival held annually every June in Toronto, Canada called NXNE, which  is a Music, Film, Interactive, Art and Comedy Festival.

You may have heard of the festival held every year in Houston, Texas called SXSW which is the same thing as NXNE, but held in Canada.

NXNE has been happening in Toronto since 1995, and has been getting bigger and bigger every year while bringing many artist to the city of Toronto. Some artist that have performed at NXNE are: Ludacris, A$AP Ferg, Danny Brown, Run The Jewel, and Spoon, just to name a few. The festival brings about 13,000 people from outside of the GTA (Greater Toronto Area) to Downtown Toronto to come and see performances or conferences.

Krazy Drayz

This year I was able to sign up as a Volunteer at the Festival and was placed at one of their bigger venues. Younge-Dundas Square is the heart of Toronto and is where NXNE keeps their free performances for the city to watch, which usually holds well-known performers from around the world.

As a volunteer I was selling merchandise and interacting with the guest who attended. I would recommend everyone to volunteer at music festivals, you get to meet the coolest people who you wouldn't meet on an everyday basis and you also get to discover bands and artists who you never knew about before.

You also get to see some cool Toronto native merchandise and clothing.

Merchandise from Aloha and other artists

 PLUS, a bonus for volunteering and going to music festivals is you never know who you'll run into. You guys remember ASTRO from America's Got talent..? well he preformed at NXNE at YDS and guess who got a picture with him?... ME!

Me and Astro

To see more pictures,

 make sure to check out the Instagram @youngblackventure