Snowy December Visit to the Distillery District

Hey Guys! It's been a while since I've updated and since I have a bit of time on my hands this week, I figured I'd do an update on recent events. :)

So this week, I got to hang out with my coworker from Yellowknife after work at the Distillery District. I couldn't think of where to go in Toronto but I figured the Distillery District would be a fun place to go and something that's unique to Toronto.  I first came to the Distillery District for my Urban Geography assignment in 4th year. The Gooderham & Worts Distillery started in the 1800's and at one point produced much of Toronto and North America's liquors. You can still see a lot of the equipment used for distilling on display. By the 1990's however, the area was used for movie production and by the early 2000's, it was re-opened as an arts and entertainment destination in Toronto. 

It was a cold winter night after our first snowfall for the year so it was kind of nice to just walk around and check out the lights and snow. It's not a big area but there's permanent art installations throughout the district.

There's actually a Christmas market here every year before Christmas where you can get your artisanal goods and lots of people come to visit. Unfortunately, I came when the market was over but it was nice because it wasn't too crowded.

Nice view of the giant Christmas Tree

We wandered around checking out some of the stores in the area. Unfortunately, most of them don't seem to be open past 6.

 We finally found a little Italian restaurant near the front entrance called Archeo Trattoria. I decided to try their flat bread pizza and added hot Italian sausages to compensate for the lack of protein.

I couldn't resist taking one more shot of the area before we left since the lights were so pretty!

Extras

I've been going to a lot of parties this month with the holiday season and of course that means eating a lot of food. My favourite so far has been the quail dish I got at Habits Gastropub . The meat was tender, flavourful but not overcooked, just...amazing!This was my first time at a Gastropub and I will be sure to try more in the future!

I used to eat a lot of quail when I ate dimsum with my parents back in the day. These days, it's really hard to find them anymore so if you know a good quail place, please please please let me know.

Finally, I'll be starting a new travel series at the end of the this month when I'll be visiting China! This is my first time back in more then a decade and I'm really excited to discover my heritage! Look out for more entries in 2014 as I blog my way through my China trip.

 It's been an amazing year going on all my adventures, from going to Italy to Seattle and trying Stand-up Paddleboarding. I hope there's more adventures in store for 2014! Have a very merry Christmas everyone and a super happy new year!

Rendezvous avec Montreal

Hey guys! I guess it's been a while since I last updated but I just wanted to share some photos from my recent trip to Montreal. I was actually there for quite a few days but since I was really sick for most of the trip, I only took a few photos and what not. 

This is my second trip to Montreal this year and I can say I never get tired of this city. My hotel was right downtown so I got a chance to walk around the financial area while on my way to the drug store. Montreal pretty much closes down on Sundays so it was a nice treat to explore on my own. :)

Nice area to relax

On one of the days when I felt good enough to venture out, I grabbed some poutine nearby at Le Gros Jambon ( the big ham). It was a great retro place with fantastic poutine!

They even had Sprite in a glass bottle! I don't think I've seen this anywhere in North America. In fact these days, its tough enough to find coke in the glass bottles so to have Sprite was great!

I got duck added to my poutine too!

 Afterwards, we wandered down the street to Notre Dame and went inside to the cathedral.

Everything is intricately carved and gorgeous. 

Extras 

 Since I was so sick for my trip, I only took a few picture for the rest of my time in Montreal. 

Hmm more duck....

 Montreal is known for its love of arts and music. It was great having a live band perform over dinner :)

On another note, I just watched Aladdin the Musical tonight at the Ed Mirvish Theatre and it was AMAZING!! It's currently doing its pre-Broadway engagement in Toronto so I would advise all of you to catch the show before it leaves! I can't believe a musical as big as this would premiere in TORONTO of all places. But I'm glad I got to see it and I hope you will too!

Have a good one everyone!

Pike Place Market and the Original Starbucks

For my last day in Seattle, we decided to go to the Pike Place Market, the oldest continuous Farmer's Market in America. This also happens to be the place where the original Starbucks is located. As a Starbucks gold card holder...it's kind of a pilgrimage for me to visit the first Starbucks (I know, awful but it's a must!).

We started off the day with a nice breakfast at Lola's in Belltown where I had a Mediterranean octopus and sweet corn. Yum :)

Eggs sunny side up...my favourite <3

Pike Place Market is located right by Seattle's waterfront and it was pretty busy for a Tuesday morning. 

The first thing you see as you enter the market is stalls of fresh fish on ice. 

So fresh that one of them moved!!

On the other side of the fish is a whole wall of fresh, beautiful flowers.

Just outside the market is access to the Seattle waterfront area. Great place to sit down and enjoy your cup of coffee. :)

Beautiful day :)

There was even a totem pole here!

Love my west coast totem poles!

Across the street from this little area is where you can find the original Starbucks, and their original (brown) logo.

Of course there were a bajillion people at the location, trying to snap a picture and get a souvenir.

Unfortunately, you can't actually sit down for a cup of coffee here but they do sell special cups and mugs that are not available at their other locations.

Hope you've enjoyed my adventures in the Pacific Northwest so far, I know I have :). Have a good one :D !

Exploring Beautiful Victoria BC

On the agenda today was a short trip to Victoria, BC on Vancouver Island. However, the thing I was most excited about was taking the Seaplane from Seattle to Victoria. 

I first saw these small airplanes when I was in Vancouver earlier this year and I had thought to myself at the time wow! That looks so cool! I really wanna try that :D.  I saw an ad for Seaplane rides to Victoria and jumped on the opportunity. This particular model  we went on took about 10 people (including the pilot). 

Once you're in the air, you fly over the Strait of Juan De Fuca and take in the surrounding islands, the mountains and the beautiful waters.

Once we got to Victoria, the sun started shinning and the weather took a turn for the better.

Victoria, is the capitol of British Columbia and there are many remnants of its colonial days in the inner harbour. It's also one of the spots with the nicest weather in Canada.

Lots of horse-drawn carriage rides available through the downtown core.

 It's just such a picturesque little town with all the pretty flowers hanging.

The BC legislative building overlooks the harbour and is probably the prettiest provincial legislative building I've ever seen ( I've been to all 10 provinces and have seen most of the legislative buildings in Canada)

Really green grass too :D

 Since I've been whale watching three times in my life and have never seen a whale before, I'm much happier to take a photo of the landscaped orca instead of go on another whale watching trip to be disappointed :)

I like this much better then whale watching

We ended up renting bikes to go around Victoria. After some wandering, we ended up at Ogden's Point where the view was amazing!

Too bad it was so cloudy, it would've been nice to see the mountains

I was pretty happy about getting to bike though :D

After we returned our bikes, we tried the fish and chips shop next door and was very pleasantly surprised.

We got the two -piece salmon fish and chips and it was amazing!! The batter was just right and it was so fresh!

The salmon was sooo good!

 I must say the Pacific salmon in Victoria is definitely very different from whatever-kind-of-salmon I have in Toronto. The colours are a deeper red and the taste is also a bit different too.

We took the ferry back from Victoria and was treated to this lovely view of the sunset :)

 It's been a long but very fun day. I hope yours was as great as mine too. :) Good night everyone.

Good Morning Seattle!

I'm in the Seattle area for a short trip over the next few days, so I thought I'd start blogging about what's happened so far.

The weather this morning was pretty amazing, warm, sunny and just a slight breeze in the air. We started our day off with brunch at Toulouse Petit,  a restaurant near our hotel in the Queen Anne area of Seattle. 

According to the restaurant menu, they were the 5th best restaurant in America in 2012 and 10th in the world. Currently, they're ranked #7 in all of the restaurants in Seattle area on TripAdvisors.

Nice and packed for Sunday Brunch

Since coffee is the drink of choice in this town, I decided to get a cup of joe to start my day too. When in Rome, do as the Romans do right?

My first time trying real French press! I loved it!

I got the Pork Cheek Hash with apples, eggs and bits of asparagus. Having never tried pork cheek before, I chose this because I wanted to try something new and also because it was featured on the Food Network Show "Best thing I ever ate".

 

I have to say, the pork cheek was quite tender and flavourful and overall, I really liked the dish and I would eat pork cheek again :). Hey, don't knock it till you tried it right?

I also got a bowl of fruit with granola on the bottom. Yum :)

I love Pineapples!!!

Kerry Park

After brunch, we headed over to Kerry Park, just north along the Queen Anne Street, where you can get one of the best views of the Seattle skyline.

Note: this walk was extremely steep and according to Wikipedia, the maximum elevation was 139 m ( ~46.5 stories). Be prepared to feel out of breathe by the time you reach the top and bring your walking shoes!

Of course, the view from the top was quite worth it.

Ta-da!

We then headed over to the Space Needle and the surrounding Seattle Center area. Seattle, being the host for the 1962 World's Fair constructed the Space Needle and the Monorail for the event.

As you go up the elevator to the observation deck, you get a very nice view of the Seattle downtown area.

I also liked how the McDonald's downstairs was smart enough to paint their logo on the roof.

Once you get up to the top, you get a breath taking view of the Seattle area, Puget Sound and Lake Union.

Loved the view of the small sea planes taking off / landing

Can you find the giant cruise ship?

The small sea planes comes very close to the Space Needle

Its been a fun and exciting day today. Look forward to more updates on my adventures in the Pacific Northwest!

Have a good one everyone :D