For over a year now, the GMD Dev team has been answering a quick question every couple of weeks called “What’s Good?” Each team answered a series of questions about what they like to listen to while they’re working, what they are up to in their spare time, and what sort of yummy eats they have had lately. Here is a recap of our answers from the best of “What’s Good?”
What’s your current soundtrack? Are you listening to any good music, podcasts etc.?
The answers to this question were incredibly diverse. While most of the dev team tends towards music while working, some prefer podcasts or nothing at all. Our tastes in music, in particular, were particularly diverse. Ranging from your typical Rock/Pop/Electronic/Hip-Hop to Funk, Disco, Noise/Experimental, Country, Traditional music, Jazz and Turkish rock.
Check out our Spotify mix to see just how wacky we can get.
What are you doing in your spare time these days? Are you spending time outside? Are you holed up playing video games? Is it party time? Let us know how you like to unwind.
Since we started this questionnaire during COVID-19 when we were working primarily from home, we thought it would be interesting to know what everyone was doing to keep themselves occupied in their spare time.
Inevitably Video games were a big part of the answers to this question. Games mentioned included: Phasmophobia, Myst, Return of the Obra Dinn, Baba is You, PES, PUBG, Massive Warfare and even the ancient Wii classic Star Wars: The Force Unleashed.
While Video games were definitely a huge part of the teams’ after-hours activity, we were also a surprisingly active group with outdoor activities such as hiking, swimming and boating, making up a big chunk of the responses.
We did manage to keep active indoors as well, though. Many responses mentioned Yoga, Dancing and Swimming. In addition, many of us mentioned cooking or baking as a favourite hobby, with many delicious things being made by the team (but we’ll get to that later).
It wasn’t all sweating to the oldies. However, we did manage to find time to chill out and watch a few movies and TV shows, including Ozark, Summer of Soul, Winter on Fire, Changing Lanes and Strawberry Mansion; a few of us even” made” time for Harry Potter and James Bond movie marathons.
Finally, creative pursuits and similar pursuits made up the final element of our responses. Music and Art dominated this category, with Soap making and Chess rounding out the responses.
What’s the best thing you’ve eaten in the last two weeks? Did you go to a great restaurant? Did you make an amazing meal? Did you make a midnight trip to the corner store for a craving?
Some of us have always been food motivated, while others found their inner foodie over the course of the pandemic. Here is a selection of the restaurants, dishes and delights the team enjoyed over the past year.
Much like our tastes in music and video games, our taste in food really runs the gamut. In the restaurant category, some of the best things we ate were:
- Shaami Kebab at Aria
- Tuna Crudo at Caffe La Tana
- Thali at Tatta Chula
- Oxtail stew at Riddim and Spice
- Grace of India
- Gheimeh and Loghmeh at Cazba
- Burrata at Mangia
- Spaghetti and Meatballs at Old Spaghetti Factory
- Delivery from Atlas Steak and Fish
- Cuchillo for Dine Out
- Mr. Tonkatsu
- Dim sum at Dynasty Seafood Restaurant
- Happy Hour at Black & Blue
- Pies from Gabi & Jules
- Pho from Kim Hoang
- The vegan burger and onion rings from the American
- Korean BBQ flavour “fried chicken steak” from Hot Star in Richmond
- Small bites and more buratta at Giovanne Bacare at the Fairmont Pacific Rim.
As far as homemade food, we were a little more restrained in our choices. However, we still managed to cook a wide variety of cuisine at home including salade nicoise, chicken soup (when we were sick), slow-cooked turkey breast roast, turkey chilli with salsa verde and pinto beans, roast-lamb and beans, bbq chicken, chicken pot pie, rice and lamb, kubbeh, kifteh, grilled steaks and mushrooms, roast duck and potatoes, chilli tofu, almond chicken (not the Chinese style but with crispy, broiled on almonds on chicken), pumpkin pie cheesecake, chai spiced creme brulee, ginger cookies. Finally, one cheeky “I always make amazing meals.”
In addition to all this homemade goodness, we also treated ourselves with bubble tea popsicles and a buying spree at Les Amis Des Fromage.
Unfortunately, there were also a few notable missteps, including one respondent who noted,” Yea, I mistakenly tried to eat the whole Wasabi paste served with Sushi, and it made my mind explode for 2 minutes. It was embarrassing.” And finally, one we can all relate to–burnt rice. If we look on the bright side, however, burnt rice just sounds like a good excuse to check out some of the amazing restaurants mentioned above.
Hopefully, this gives you a little glimpse into the lives of the GMD dev team. Now it is up to you to figure out who made what dishes, who likes playing ancient video games, and who burnt that damn rice.