You don’t know what you’ve got till it’s gone. Well, to be fair, that’s not exactly true. I’ve left cities before, and I’ve missed aspects of them a lot. So now, wisened, I get to enjoy things as they happen.

When Helene and I moved to Edmonton, I didn’t expect to like it very much. I figured it would pretty much suck, so I’m surprised it’s growing on me as much as it does. Does it mean I’m gonna settle here? Hell no. But I do get to spend my time here and enjoy a few things that are unique about Edmonton. Things like:

The Old Strathcona Farmer’s Market

I can’t get enough of the Farmer’s Market. Yes, there are markets in Montreal, but they don’t approach this one, I’m sorry to say. The Old Stathcona Farmer’s Market is filled with local producers, and whether you’re buying a homemade pie or choosing your fresh-picked vegetables, you get to chat with the people who prepared your food for you. The quality is insanely high, and the people there are just nice. I’ve been there often enough that they wave at me as I walk by the stands.

The Kindness of Strangers

I’ve been to a few places around the world, and I’ve met many nice people, whether it’s the Chinese, the Macedonians or the Scotish. But there’s something just so damn nice about Edmontonians. They smile at you on the street and say hello. They smile at you when you pass them by. And even in the nicest restaurants, the staff is kind and genuinely interested in your well-being. To be frank, I think Edmontonians are the nicest strangers I know.

The Food

This one’s a big surprise. I expected to find good steak, sure, but that’s pretty much it. Instead, I found restaurants obsessed with freshness and local produce, and whether it’s the steak at Von’s, the delicious breakfast at Highlevel Diner, or the mind-boggling beef carpaccio at Packrat Louie, I’m amazed by the quality of the food here.

BioWare

BioWare is often cited as one of the best employers in Canada, and there’s a reason for that. It feels very much like a Western Canada company, founded on hard work, integrity, and honesty. That would already be awesome if they didn’t also produce the best games in the industry.

Blue Skies

Oh, we get blue skies in Montreal, although I did miss them in Shanghai. The sky there is most often gray, sometimes pearly yellow, and when it’s blue, it makes the news. But the skies in Edmonton… My goodness. They’re impossible blue. I’m often stunned by the perfect blue of the sky in the afternoon, and I’m caught staring at it for long minutes. The sunsets are pretty awesome, too.

One of my purposes in creating this blog has been to write about my work. I have been doing very little of that in the last months, and there’s a simple reason for this: I’m working on an unannounced project, which means every little piece of information could be damaging in the long-term to the marketing of the game I’m working on.

It’s not to say I won’t ever talk in details about my work… I did so back in Shanghai, in the last year of Splinter Cell Double Agent, and the reception both from friends, readers and people at Ubisoft was very positive. This will come much later, though, for in the meantime, this is completely a black operation. I can only tell you what my project is not: it’s not Dragon Age, and it’s not the MMO.

That being said, I do want to tell you a bit about my work at BioWare.

I’ve been at BioWare in Edmonton for 5 months already, and it pretty much feels like home. Since my project is in its early stage, I have a fairly small team, which means I get to build it from the ground up with the team culture I want. People on my team are enthusiastic, hard workers, and extremely talented. Our project is ambitious and exciting and everyone believes in its potential.

BioWare itself is a fantastic organization. The purchase of BioWare by EA has affected some of the administrative practices of the studio, but we remain completely independent from a creative standpoint. So no, you won’t see Madden RPG 2009 come out of BioWare… Hehe. On the contrary, being part of EA’s extended family means we have access to incredible technical resources. There’s a world of technologies and resources out there to leverage. Good stuff.

When I first visited BioWare, I had a feeling that things were different here from other companies I had previously seen. The last five months pretty much confirmed this impression. It’s both a testament to the vision of its CEOs, Ray and Greg, but also probably due in part to Western Canada’s open and honest culture; but BioWare is a company filled with humble yet ambitious people who try and work things out together. My work environment has been pretty much drama-free since I got here.

That’s not to say the studio doesn’t have some issues… What matters most is the way people decide to address them, with humility and a genuine drive to produce great games. I don’t have a lot of bad things to say about BioWare, to be frank; part of it might be that I’m still in the “honeymoon period”. Maybe. But as far as first impressions go, this work environment makes me feel I made the right decision to move to Edmonton. We’ll see how I feel about it in a year!

Saturday night was the “BioWare Food Club @ Home”: a house party, hosted by Theresa and Alain, for the food enthusiasts of BioWare. (Yes, I had a hand in setting it up.) Dozens of guests and dishes converged on Theresa and Alain’s place, and we got to enjoy an immense variety of meals and desserts before laughing our asses off playing Rock Band. As you can guess, a good time was had by all. I remember fondly the huge dessert prepared by Shauna in a punch bowl, as well as Sebastian’s mac & cheese, Ben’s indecent bread (featuring bacon, garlic and cheese) and Jocelyn’s cherry pie, among other delicacies.

As my “signature dish”, I brought home-made tiramisu. I just enjoy making tiramisu: it doesn’t require any cooking, and it”s one of these “magical” dishes that transubstantiate its ingredients. You put lady fingers and a mascarpone mixture in the fridge, and overnight, it magically transforms into a moist tiramisu cake. Magic!

My tiramisu turned out pretty magnificent, if I may say so myself. I was very pleased with the taste, and apparently so were the people at the party: it literally flew off the counter the second I pulled it out of the fridge!

And so, in the spirit of sharing, here’s my recipe. It’s adapted from a number of sources, most notably Helene’s own recipe (passed on to her by an Italian college friend) and this traditional recipe. (Although I guess the author won’t appreciate the link since I’m not advocating Italian espresso at all costs…) Helene’s recipe was simpler than this, and still very tasty, but I think the changes in this one are a solid step forward.

Notes

• Mascarpone cheese: This is the central ingredient of tiramisu, along with the coffee of course. I recommend going out of your way to get quality mascarpone. There’s an American variety of mascarpone, and although I haven’t tried it myself, I’m told it leads to inferior results. I purchase mine at the Italian Centre Shop Ltd. in Edmonton.

• Coffee: Tiramisu purists will tell you to exclusively use Italian espresso. Truth be told, I’ve tried it with organic coffee and a French press, and the results were good. I still want to get a cheap espresso maker for the sake of making tiramisu, though. I would shy away from making filter coffee, but it’s your call. If you don’t make espresso, make sure you make the coffee stronger than you would otherwise.

• Lady fingers: These are elongated cookies with one side coated with sugar. You want the type of Italian lady finger called Savoiardi. Again, check out your Italian grocery store.

• Eggs: This recipe uses raw eggs. If you’re not comfortable with this, tough luck! I don’t know about American eggs, but I’ve never had any problems with raw eggs in Canada provided they’re fresh and come from a good source. Personally, I try to go for eggs from the Farmer’s Market, or use organic eggs, for instance from the Planet Organic Market.

• You should prepare the tiramisu the day before you plan on eating it. At the minimum, you’ll need to leave the tiramisu 4 hours in the fridge. Overnight is fine too.

Ingredients

500 ml coffee (preferably espresso)
1 pack Savoiardi lady fingers
500g Italian mascarpone cheese
6 fresh eggs
3 tablespoons sugar
2 shots liqueur (cognac, brandy, amaretto, etc.)
Unsweetened cocoa

Tools

2 mixing bowls
flat bowl, large enough to fit a lady finger
sieve
mixer
8X12 pyrex

Steps

1. Make your coffee, and put it in the fridge or freezer to bring it to room temperature. Also bring all ingredients to room temperature. (You’ll need to do this approximately 1 hour before you start the actual recipe.)

2. Separate egg yolks from whites. (Here’s my technique.)

3. In a mixing bowl, beat the egg yolks and the sugar until you get a pale yellow, creamy texture. Add 1 shot of liqueur, and the mascarpone cheese to the mix. Mix until they blend and the texture is smooth and even.

4. In a separate mixing bowl, beat the egg whites until they’re fluffy.

5. Blend the beaten egg whites into the mascarpone mix. Mix only until the mix is uniform, as mixing too long might deflate the egg whites.

6. Pour the coffee in the flat container. Add the second shot of liqueur, and a teaspoon of cocoa. Stir.

7. Quickly dip a lady finger. I do mean quickly: you want to immerse the lady finger and quickly pull it out. Resist temptation to dip it too long, as it will turn your lady finger soggy. What you want is a uniform brown color, and moist.

8. Dip lady fingers one by one, and layer them at the bottom of the pyrex to create a layer of lady fingers. (I break off some of them to fit the pyrex.)

9. Spoon approximately half of your mascarpone mix on top of the lady finger layer. Spread it around with a spoon, to make sure the lady fingers are properly covered.

10. Dip lady fingers in coffee, and create a second layer of lady fingers on top of the mascarpone.

11. Spoon the rest of the mascarpone mix on top of the lady fingers, again making sure it is evenly distributed.

12. Put the remaining cocoa in a sieve, and tap the side of the sieve over the tiramisu. This’ll allow you to create a thin layer of cocoa on top of your cake.

13. Cover the pyrex with foil, and place in the fridge for at least 4 hours.

The tiramisu can remain in the fridge for a few days. You’ll notice the next day that the lady fingers and mascarpone mix have now blended… Observe also that the bottom layer is darker, from coffee having gone down through the mix to accumulate at the bottom. See what I mean? Magic!

You know how it goes… You see a friend every day, and you have tons of stories to tell them. But don’t see them for a year, and the next time you meet, you’ll be hard-pressed to find one interesting story to tell them. Know the feeling?

That’s a bit how I feel about this blog right now. Sorry for the neglect!

So… It’s been three months already since I last blogged. Last time I did, we were right smack in winter, enjoying West Edmonton Mall. So what happened in the last three months?

• Helene and I found a place to live, and promptly moved there beginning of May. To say I like the place would be a gross understatement. I adore it. It’s huge, and the balcony overlooks the River Valley, which is the huge park sinewing along the North Saskatchewan River. We have the best damn view in the entire city of Edmonton, I tell you.

• I love BioWare, and BioWare loves me back. Sure, work is stressful and filled with uncertainty, but that’s why they pay me the big bucks. We’re making great games here, and we’re pushing the bar up so much we have only ourselves as a reference of what to beat. The people here are awesome and hard-working.

• Most surprising of all, I’m growing fond of Edmonton. It’s not a dazzling city by any means, but there’s a kindness here that’s growing on me. Our new neighborhood goes a long way to make me feel better about the city, being that it’s far away from the mall-infested, pickup-littered parts of town. It helps me focus on the positive values of Edmonton: the kindness of its people, and their proximity to simpler, more wholesome values such as family and tradition.

• Speaking of which, my favorite new place in town is definitely the Old Strathcona Farmer’s Market. The market is open Saturday mornings only, and Helene and I have made a habit of visiting it every week. I’m just in love with the freshness of the products on sale there, and it’s inspiring me to eat better. Not only that, but I’ve started cooking on a regular basis; nothing too fancy, but fresh, simple and wholesome meals.

So that’s three months of catching up, in the least expeditive manner I can make it! It’s definitely a surprise to find ourselves liking Edmonton, although the sunshine and the warmer temperatures definitely help. I plan on enjoying as much of the summer as I can, so that when winter comes back around, the fond memories of summertime get me going.

I’ll write again soon, promise!

It’s a question I haven’t had the chance to fully figure out yet. Edmonton is definitely not a city that makes a strong first impression, compared to say, Shanghai or even San Francisco. And work-wise, I’m still new and figuring things out, and most definitely in my “honeymoon period”.

But with that in mind, how is it? It’s pretty good. Prettyyy, pretty good.

Work-wise, I have to admit: BioWare is a good studio. I’m impressed by the stories I hear of working there, and by the people I work with. It’s not all rosy and some projects are difficult, but people here, from HR to programmers, all care deeply about making good games. They want to work together, and they’re absolutely open to working out problems. There’s a laid-back yet hard-working energy at play in the studio. I like it, and I feel I get to contribute to a great studio.

City-wise, well… As my colleague and (new) friend Dorian puts it: “I expected to hate it, but to my surprise, I’m rather neutral towards it.” Neutral is a good description; it really ain’t that bad. I expected a big Western Canada Laval, but Edmonton is (thankfully) more complex than that. People are very, very nice here, and seem open-minded and curious. The city does have an overabundance of shopping centers, and there isn’t all that much to do in the evening, but we’re finding our own comforts and settling in surprisingly quickly.

Sure, there’s the -40 C weather and the unbearably long roads without sidewalks; but there’s also the little shops on Whyte Ave., and the people such as my next-door neighbor who set up his telescope on the night of the lunar eclipse so everyone entering the building could get a peak at it. In all my years of living in Montreal, I never knew my neighbors. That has to count for something, right?

I can’t say I prefer Edmonton to Montreal, because I don’t. But it seems to me that the combination of work and the city might actually be worthwhile. Combined together, they’re giving me a purpose and a sense of belonging that I find quite appealing right now.

Let’s see how it turns out once the honeymoon period is over!

Yesterday (February 11th) was my first day at BioWare. Yep, that means I’m officially employed again! Whew, it was about time.

Obviously, my first day went by in a blur. It’s amazing to see how busy I am already, and it took all of 4 hours for me to get sucked into meetings and critical questions for the project. That’s alright, though… After one month of inactivity, it’s good to be back in the thick of things.

I don’t have much of an impression yet, given that I’m still learning the inner workings of BioWare, and the dynamics of my new team. All I can say is that, as far as first impressions go, BioWare made a good one. The atmosphere in the studio is friendly and relaxed, but when people focus on work, they do so with intensity and dedication. It feels good to be part of this.

More on work later! As it stands, it’s time for me to go to work for my second day. No rest for the wicked, as they say.

I’m back with a new blog! Given that I promised I’d create one more than a year ago, I’d say I’m pretty late; so I won’t hold it against all of you who moved on to greater and better blogs in my absence.

Most likely, the majority of you know me in real life, and are very much aware of what’s transpired over the last year. For those who do not know me, here’s a quick rundown, and a lead up to the reason for this blog’s surprising resurrection.

I left Shanghai in November of 2006, to join Ubisoft’s Montreal studio, more specifically to work as an Associate Producer on Splinter Cell: Conviction. It’s been a very interesting year, and Helene and I have keenly felt what is called “re-entry shock”. To put it simply, Montreal has not been on par with our memories and expectations, and we’ve found ourselves keenly missing Shanghai more than once.

That’s not to say Montreal is a bad city by any means… It holds many advantages, not the least of which that it is the home of many of our great, dear friends, as well as my family. But for Helene and I, Montreal has turned into a convenient, familiar place, and adjusting to it coming from the whirlwind of China has been difficult.

As it turned out, I was not due to stay in Montreal for very long. Over the months of November and December, I’ve been approached by BioWare Corp., one of the top 5 studios worldwide. They flew Helene and I over, and I was positively swayed off my feet by the kindness and integrity of the people I met there. The job they offered me – Producer on an original IP – is totally up my alley, and represents a step forward from my current position at Ubisoft.

So we’re making the jump. And to commemorate the event, I’m bringing back the blog.

When I started my China Moments blog, I was a newcomer to the game industry, and I didn’t feel like I had so much to contribute to the Internet on the topic. Now that I’ve been through 4 years at Ubisoft, and given that I’ll soon get to produce a project with the insanely talented people at BioWare – I feel perhaps people might find it interesting to hear about the ins and outs of the industry.

Hence, Gaming Moments. No, no “Canada Moments”, although I’ll assuredly talk about my new life in Edmonton from time to time. But I’ll try and spare you the Canadiana, and give you some juicy details about what it’s like to work at BioWare and in the game industry.

I’ve been amazed by some of the responses my previous blog generated, from people interested in gaming, and who were inspired by my tales of working in videogames in Shanghai. So here’s hoping these new tales will inspire others, or will, at the very least, provide some entertaining insight into this industry I’ve come to call home.

Thanks for reading!