Roadtrip to Montreal

Essential to a roadtrip is to have fun on the way. I start by annoying Deeple.

Second, it's not crucial but nice to have a mascot. We picked this little fella up from a vending machine. See how he breakdances.

It's important to have sustanence on a long journey (it took 6hrs to drive from Toronto to Montreal) so we stocked up. Look it's even in French. This kind of preparation shows your willingness to acclimatise to the new destination.

In Montreal we had fun climbing Mont Royal (hiking shouldn't stop anyone from doing a catwalk walk),

even if it was a little windy and we were a little lost.

Our efforts were rewarded with a view of the city at the top (bleak but still nice).

Over the weekend we explored and learnt about the city,

and admired its beauty as evident here in the interior of Notre Dame.

One thing you should never skimp on is food. You're on holidays - eat and enjoy!

The thing is, you can always dance it off when you sample the nightlife in your holiday city!

A roadtrip is a great way of bonding with your friends whilst revelling in the excitement of a strange new land, so even if it gets a little tense, you'll always end up having fun and even better friends.

Thanks Deeps for a great Rememberance Day long weekend!

Dancing with the Dead

My buddy and I went cruising for kids last night. Seriously, it was ok. I wanted to see the kids out and take pics of them. It was Halloween so in North America it's allowed to stalk them on this night. As we lived downtown there was a little less action than there would've been had we'd been in the 'burbs, where neighbours get together and build joint haunted houses in their backyards. There were a couple of great houses that I did see in the Annex (a residential area in north Toronto) all decked out. Sadly the pics didn't turn out so good cause it was dark.


L: Front yard of a house converted to a lit up cemetary; R: Scary zombie.

After a lovely meal at the Beaches (a residential area in east Toronto) we headed back into downtown to Church Street, the Toronto equivalent to Oxford Street in Sydney. Boy the party was happening there! The street was blocked off and taken over by aliens, geisha girls, zombies, naked dancing boys and plenty of other unknown creatures. Here are some pics (not many as my camera ran out of juice - Murphy's Law):


L: Transformer; M: Duff beer for me...; R: The Mountie costume says Canadian Pride to me.


L: Air hostesses complete with trolley; R: Me and my new (headless) man.

Walk this Way

How cute are these little creatures? These were taken on my way to work yesterday. It's only a 20 min stroll door to door and I get to walk through Queen's Park each day and see these squirrels. But the first thing I saw yesterday was this giant motha just striding through the park with all the ease in the world. It was a freakin' raccoon! Look at it it's huge!


L: Master of his domain; R: Squirrel crossed my path.

Look at these little darlings!

Just look how cute they are with their little furry tails. Awww...

Conference Food

Some pics of food - suprise suprise. I'll explain what they are next time. I'm going home now it's after 5pm.


L: Roast beef with Yorkshire Pudding; R: Chocolate Mousse

L: My buffe lunch; R: Nanaimo Bars - a Canadian favourite.

Canadian Bacon

Wednesday 11th October, 2006

Dear Diary,

I want to share with you what I had for breakfast this morning, purchased from the cafe at work. French toast with bacon, drizzled with syrup.

It was a good breakfast.

I Give Thanks to the Music (Thanksgiving Part 2)

L: The euphoria; M: The smoking room; R: The club.

Finally I get to see the inside of The Guvernment, that massive club at the shore of the Lake, to pay homage to those we happily place on alters, the DJs. After that mammoth dinner I don't know how I managed to pick my distended self off the floor and place my dancing-shoed feet on the floor. But I did because the call to pray was too great. Paul Oakenfold and Deep Dish were top billing. The last time I went clubbing like this was probably a year ago so the adrenaline was flowing; even the trek to the smoking room outside the club didn't dampen the night (I looked at it as being a help to my long term health), so if there was anything to moan about it was probably the 2am licensing law. It was around 5.30am when we stepped out of the club to make our way home.


Pretty lights.

I Give Thanks to the Turkey that Filled My Belly

13 people had the task of devouring 16 dishes on Thanksgiving this year, on Sunday 8th October. Turkey, ham, homemade gravy, roast carrots, roast squash, stuffed tomatoes, stuffing, corn bread, roast onions, wild bean dip on french bread, sweet potatoes, wild rice, couscous salad, mash, beans, roast potatoes. Then we had dessert of baked cinnamon apples and sweet potato pie. Loved the pie.

I am thankful for all my friends and family back home, I am thankful to all the great people I've met on my travels and for this meal I thank Deeple, my friend from work who introduced me to Ernest, who invited me to his and Amar's place so I wouldn't be alone. Ah, group hug.

L and R: FOOD...

L: Christa, Me and Pete; R: Deeple, Krystal and Ernest.

L: Amar and Me; R: Dig in Ernest!

Nuit Blanche How Suave

L: Ready to rock - Mihoko, Dave, Miki, Dan; R: Pharmacopia, 1992, General Idea - is a statement on the Aids epidemic.

For one night only the city of Toronto was taken over by a "free all-night contemporary art thing". From 7:01pm till sunrise on September 30th, Nuit Blanche (or White Night in English) gave the people in downtown Toronto a reason to stay up past 11pm.

http://nuitblanche.livewithculture.ca/nuit_blanche/about_scotiabank_nuit_blanche

We prepared for the evening by having a hardy meal at Neil's place then trotted down to the free indoor and outdoor exhibits and late opening galleries till about 5:30am. The boys unamiously found one exhibit to be the best: Ballroom Dancing - a gym was sectioned off, filled with lots of big and small plastic balls, music was playing, disco lights going. Why did they like it so much? Because they were pelting it at each other and other unsuspecting participants. Urgh.


L: Me gossiping with some ladies outside a gallery; R: Oh my god...

L: Freak out!; R: Fog in Toronto, No71624, 2006, Fujiko Nagaya

Eat Around the World

Hey y'all. Check this out. Last Saturday went over to Sachi, Mihoko and Dave's house for dinner and we all made a dish each. Sachi made Malaysian vegetable curry (her boyfriend Dom is vego), Mihoko made ma-puo tofu, Dave made Japanese salad dressing for the salad, Yuki made kim chi with pork and I made my Morroccan style beef with couscous. Oh my god the meal that night was unbelievable. Dave's sister and her boyfriend came, Unes the last member of the house was there as well and later two more stragglers came. This is becoming a bit of a regular thing now as two weeks prior I had dinner with them (plus and minus a few guests) and met some really nice people.

And to think this all started with working at Second Cup, a chain coffee shop (known in Australia as Gloria Jean's, which I used to work at during uni!), where I met Sachi and Yuki. And through Sachi I've met Mihoko, who took me salsa dancing last Thursday night. Mihoko is a top shelf salsa-er, we had so much fun. My body ached for two days after. And through Mihoko I've met Neil, who gave me a lift to Ikea - sweet.

I realise this blog sounds rather elementary. It's the end of a long day and I just want to get this out instead offering any thing insightful. But things are looking better in Toronto these days anyway. Least I'm never short of a good meal! Bon appetite!


L: Unes, Mihoko, Dom, Yuki, Sachi; R: Yuki marvelling at my Morrocan beef.


L: Dinner is served in the backyard; R: Mihoko's tofu is tre authentic.


L: Almost scraping the bottom of the pot; R: They loved it!

TIFF Me!

For the first time in Toronto, I actually felt like I was IN Toronto. I've said before in the past that this city lacks a certain personality, or character, but from September 7 - 16 when the Toronto International Film Festival was on, the city was alive. There was nothing but good things said about this city and how the people of Toronto year after year welcome the diversity of films and give great reception to all the A-List celebrities that come to the red carpet.

Scoring free tickets from work, my colleague and I went to see the closing film of the festival, Amazing Grace, a British film directed by Michael Apted (of documentary series 7-Up etc fame). The director himself spoke about the film before the screening. It is the story of William Wilberforce who lead the bill to abolish the slave trade in Britain. Whilst it may not have been the usual choice of a Saturday night movie, the film is very well done with plenty of witty dialogue, fused with great drama giving the subject matter the importance it rightly deserves, bringing to life one of history's unsung heros. Wilberforce is in fact buried at Westminster Abbey. All in all an uplifting and inspirational film with a faultless cast. 5 stars.

Not to take away from the importance of a film like Amazing Grace, but I was actually more impressed with the fact that my friend saw the new Jude Law film a few days earlier, and actually sat in the same row as Jude Law himself. Yes, she saw the man in flesh and blood. In the theatre. Just a few seats away. The luck of some.