Life: Fucking Toronto Streetcar Tracks! Damn you!!!!

So i've been in Canada for a week now. It went by pretty quick. My flight was a bit of a nightmare, after my long bus ride overnight to Heathrow to find out that my flight was delayed 2 hours. I had an annoying couple sitting beside me, okay, they were actually nice but one of those who really wants a conversation but having no sleep at all the night before, i just wanted to sleep. The husband also had to get up every hour to the loo, once i get into Toronto 2 hours later than expected, i slept the entire day/night. Good thing we've pushed Thanksgiving dinner til the day after.

Our infamous Orphans' Thanksgiving Cycle 6 was pretty good. We made our usual apple/leek stuffing, we had procuitto wrapped caramlised figs for starters, butternut squash soup with coconut and lime, a roasted chestnut wild rice pilaf with promegrante, watercress salad with maple carmalised walnuts, blue cheese and figs. We had a 12 lbs roasted turkey with sage, along with French green beans with caramlised shallots. Of course, last but not least, i made my marriage-proposing infamous apple pie! I try to change it up a bit every year, this year i put a bit of herb de province in it.

The week went by quickly, i pretty much ran out of things to do including my favourite vintage shops (the owners remembered me, and asked why i haven't been to their stores, can still manage to get my usual discount). Also went to book sale at University College, Dance Cave on Friday and got hit on by 12 year olds! Went to visit my old work. Everything is expensive now except for eating out. Did manage to have a list of food stuff checked off my list so far:

• Goldstone - Chinese BBQ - Roasted Duck and Rice
• Sushi on Bloor - Sushi pizza, seaweed salad, crunchy roll, shitake tempura
• Thumbs Up - Korean Pork Bone Soup
• Future's Cafe - Cheesecakes!
• Saving Grace - My favourite brunch place despite we waited 1.5 hours before we got seated, it was worth it.

On Monday, i bought a bike off Craigslist. She is beautiful, hot pink folding shopper/cruiser much like my Bianca in London but bigger. Her tires were a bit flat and the gears need a tune up, she was only $100 CDN. I named her Beyoncè.

The week i first landed the weather was lovely, it was in early 20s, mid 10s. The weekend got a lot colder this week, and blimey, it even snowed today!! This afternoon, I rode about 10 mins my hands were freezing. The wind was so vicious, i might as well cycle backwards. It fell to -2C. Like WTF??

Tonight, as i was going to meet a friend at Horseshoe to see White Lies (they were playing in a tiny tiny venue here for free instead of sold out shows in London), i had a bike accident. My wheel got stuck with the streetcar (cable car) tracks and lost my balance and i wiped out BIG TIME. Good thing there wasn't any traffic at the time. A cyclist couple immediately came to my rescue. I forgot how nice Canadians were! A worker from American Apparel saw what happened and was accommodating enough to let me into the store offered me some water, to use the phone and to keep warm whilst i waited for my friend to pick me up. I'm okay but pretty hurt, scrapped both my knees (one was already injured in the summer from the attack), will be limping for the next couple of days, also i would definitely need to see a dentist ASAP. Wonder if my travel insurance will cover? My right side of the lip is pretty swollen too, totally sexy. People cycle differently here compared to London, i was applying my London cycling knowledge but totally forgot about those damn TTC Streetcar tracks which was the exact fit to my wheel which i was also getting used to my new bike. I guess no ballet tomorrow night.

I hate to be back, it does not feel like home any more.
Miss you all.
x

ps. Pasta Hut is still Pizza Hut here, so far.

Dining: Boulevard Brasserie

Elodie was invited to attend her friend's Gabby's boyfriend's birthday dinner at Boulevard Brasserie ( 40 Wellington Street, Covent Garden WC2E 7BD, +44 20 7240 2992 in Covent Garden. It's a cozy 2-floored restaurant with a deli attached. We had the 3-course set dinner for £18.50. Starters ranged from foie gras terrine, grilled goat cheese, baked scallops or fish soup. Main included grilled entrecote (ribs), sea bass, duck confit or risotto. And desserts from Crème Brûlée, to Lemon tart, chocolate mousse or sticky toffee pudding (must be the English thing). This is what I had:

• Half a dozen queen scallops, garlic & herb crust
  
• Duck confit served with cassoulet beans and caramelised baby onions
  
• Crème Brûlée

Starter was delicious, scallops were covered with a mixture of bread crumbs, garlic and herbs and butter then baked. The duck confit was done to perfection, the meat was easily off the bones, wasn't a big fan of beans in general but the cassoulet beans was tasteful, and the baby caramelised onion worked perfectly well to add a touch of sweetness. Crème Brûlée was excellent, I love it when they use fresh vanilla pod for it, it was amazing.

The company was very nice, sitting across me was Albert who works in finance. Beside me was a guy named Simon who's an accountant, and likes the Manic Street Preachers. We had a good chat, dinner was nice. It was nice to get out and meet new people.

Discovering London: Borough Market

Borough Market Entrance (London Bridge Station, Borough High Street, Southwark)

Borough Market
Didn't know what to do with my day, Elodie and Andy have gone to Paris for the long weekend, and Annie of course was working. Matt was having a bike around and everyone was either out of town or busy having family affairs. I need more friends. I really miss the girls. I already went shopping the day before, and didn't want to go far, so I thought to go over to the other side of the Thames.

I've been to Borough Market before when I was in London last year. I remember exactly where it was. It was very busy, probably because everyone had the day off.


Richard Haward Oysters

Richard Haward Oysterman
The Haward family started growing oysters since 1792 just a tad off Essex. Talk about local. I started my Borough Market crawl here. I had an rock oyster and a clam. Never had freshly chucked clam before. It was nice. He also has his own shallot vinegarette to go with it.

Scandelicious
Then I moved onto Scandelicious. Was a little bit disappointed by their selection, thought they would have other grocer goods as well as homemade herrings and gravlax. Anyway, I bought a small tub of pickled herring.

Ceylon1
Ceylon1 is an organic and fairtrade tea company. They have a beautiful Green Tea Earl Grey, I love their branding and packaging. I bought a tea strainer there and I went on to other homemade jam, chutney and marmalade stalls.



Furness Fish & Game
Seems to be the most popular, they had a huge octopus on display. All sorts of mackerels, salmon, tuna, sea bass, smokies. They seem really fresh, was tempted to get some tuna but that also meant i couldn't browse longer and would have go home immediately to fridge it. The only thing I didn't like about this stall is that they had some poor dead rabbits hanging on the wall.. and made me sad to look at it. I have a better pix from last year but I'm too lazy to blog that. You can see it on my London Loves DVD though.

West Country Venison
Around the corner of Furness Fish, this stall has the longest queue for their sausage and sandwiches. A mere £3.50 can get you a delicious sandwich with venison burger or sausage served with a bed of rockets, fried onions and your choice of condiments, I had it with black current chuckney last year. I couldn't be bothered lining up this time coz the line up was insane. (Again, you can see the pix in my London Loves DVD)



Brindisa
Brindisa, the Spanish deli at Borough Market, London, serves up hand sliced Pata Negra Serrano Ham. You can buy the entire leg and leg holder to slice it up at your leisure.



The Wild Mushroom Company
Organic! Organic local home grown. Has all sorts of organic fruits, veggies and mushroom varieties.

Real France
One of my favourite stall, they have fresh Beurre d'Echire and also these Ferme des peupliers "oeufs au lait" like yogurt that comes in little glass jar, they're the cutest thing in the world! It's 4 for £3.50, or you can buy them for 1 quid each. They cost £1.70 each at Selfridges. I bought 3 "créme caramel" flavoured and 1 cappuccino flavoured.



Sillfield Farm
This is where I got a bit excited! Sillfield Farm located in South Cumbria. They have own smoked bacon of all variety. Also have variety selection of sausages and boar. I bought these "rare breed pork" sausages. I txted Annie to see if she's up for having Wild Boar Burgers for dinner, she said she was in. It was delicious. Very different taste, it was almost like a beefy pork. I quite enjoy it.



Utobeer
This stall carries all sorts of beer around the world. I got really excited when i saw the range of Unibroue brewery from Québec. Blanche de Chambly is one of my favourite as it forever reminds me of spending hot summer nights at the Embassy in Toronto. Their pear cider selection wasn't too great. They had that Ikea brand which i wasn't too fond of. So the search for Golden Cap Pear Cider in London continues...



The Ginger Pig
Heard loads about this place, they were recently nominated as semi-finalists for "UKTV Food Local Hero 2006". The flagship store is actually in Marylebone. Wide selection of sausages to pies. They looked really good and the stall was busy. Didn't get anything from there since I've already bought stuff at Sillfield Farm stall.



Neals Yard Dairy
Had the most wonderful cheese sampler today. It was called "Winworth" or something, I can be wrong. I wasn't going to try it because it has the mouldy crust which I hate but it was very very creamy and the mouldy crust wasn't too bad. This of course, is also an award winning dairy shop.


Paul Smith (13 Park Street SE1)

Paul Smith
Located just shyly tucked on the edge of Borough Market, this cute tiny Paul Smith store also carries a small range of novelty gifts and a small collection of the current line. I saw some really nice runners there, but I wasn't allowed to spend.


Have to sit down and have some sugary tea...

It was such a nice day, Borough Market was packed with people. All the neighbouring pubs had people overflowing onto the curb having pints. Keeping my "I don't drink alone" mandate, it had to hold out on my craving for a cold pint of Magners cider. I walked further down Southwark to the Braham Museum of Tea and Coffee instead for an afternoon tea. I had a scone served with cream and jam, and also a proper brewed pot of ceylon tea.

So i bought from the market today:

• 1 small tub of Pickled Herrings from Scandelicious
• 100 g Basil Pesto from Borough Olive
• 1 Oyster & 1 Clam from Richard Hayward (he's also a very nice man)
• 100 g Fresh French butter, 4 French Oeuf Yogurt in glass jars (3 in Créme Caramel, 1 in cappuccino) from Real France
• 2 x Wild Boar Burgers from Stillfield Farm
• 200 g of Rare breed pork sausages from Stillfield Farm
• 1 tea strainer
• Had to most wonderful sampled cheese from Neals Yard Dairy

You can see my complete photos of the day here.

I headed back to Hackney after my afternoon tea. Went to the local Primark and bought the cutest baby yellow summer dress for £8! Then, I went to Tesco and picked up some buns and chips for dinner and I headed back. Tried on the new dress and wanted to take a photo with my Anya Hindmarch bag. As i was playing around with my camera, flipping back and forth from viewing to photo mode. The screen went black!!!! I'm so upset. I bring this camera with me everywhere, everyday! I cannot imagine to live without it. Though my beloved Canon SD10 has been good to me for the past 3 years. It was getting a little wonky at times. I was going to hold out buying a new one, but we'll have to see if this is fixable. After some research on the interweb, it might be a "ccd" sensor malfunction, Canon USA apparently will replace and repair for free (including shipping and handling), alas, I live in the UK. Not sure if they'll repair it here. Will be on a mission later today trying to get it fixed, if not, will have to buy another. *sigh*

Discovering London: Food Finds & Markets (Clerkenwell)

Yesterday I had an interview with Channelfly at noon with Kat and Tom. I'll be interning couple days a week to help out with graphics and other random things for The Great Escape Festival.


Golden Fish Bar (102-104 Farringdon Road EC1)

Golden Fish Bar
I've been wanting to try out their fish and chips for ages. Since I was in the area, thought to try it out. This family-run fish n' chips shop has been around for 150 years. I love how their décor was very 70s but yet cozy and quite clean. There is a daily special on the wall which changes as the day goes on.



I had Rock and Chips with a diet coke. The fish was moist, fresh and the batter was very crispy. The fish was better than The Laughing Halibut (38 Strutton Ground, St. James Park SW1P 2HR) and Fryer's Delight (19 Theobald's Road, Hoborn WC1X 8SL). Having said that, the chips were a little disappointing as they were not very crispy. The best chips I've had in London so far was actually at the ICA.



Notice that it wasn't a Diet Coke but it's a Coca-Cola "light". When I flipped to read the label, it's all in German!


Exmouth Market (Farringdon Rd + Roseberry Ave)

Exmouth Market
Post lunch I went for a walk in the area. I dropped by the Exmouth Market. I've been there once before with Nina, Amy and Elodie, when Golden Fish Bar was closed and searched for alternatives. There were food vendors on the street, everyone was on the patio having lunch and a pint. Along the street there are lots of cute little independent shops from unique clothing to handcrafted gifts and organic cafés. It was lovely.


Leather Lane Market (Leather Lane - Wed-Fri, 10:30-14:30)

Leather Lane Market
Continuing my journey to Oxford Street, I walked along Clerkenwell Road on-route to Holborn, I discovered Leather Lane Market. Almost like the Strutton Ground Market, the market is catered to local office workers going to graze during lunch hour, whether they're picking up sandwiches for lunch, or buying quick fruits for home later or looking for cheap clothes, shoes, jewelleries or designer knock-off handbags. Everything is here, prices are quite keen. A few stalls have overstock from TopShop and Miss Selfridges.

The market essentially lead me to Holborn High Street. Then I went to Oxford Circus and bought some cute summer shoes from H&M: red patent peep toes with ankle tie, seersucker sandals. Then I got a call back from Kat, I'll be starting my internship on Tuesday. I'm quite excited though it's too bad that the position is non-paid. At the very least, this internship will keep my mind occupied, people seems kewl working there and I love meeting new people, hopefully I can get a good reference from it, and I can put this as my "UK work experience" on my "CV".

Bought this amazing strapless laced dress at River Island for a bargain of just £10! I was going to check out the new Primark at Oxford Street but since it was opening day, there was an insane queue both ways around the entire block. I couldn't be bothered, there's a Primark 5 minutes away from where I live.

Food Finds: Paul Boulangerie & Pattiserie

Paul Boulangerie & Pattiserie (29/30 Bedford Street, Covent Garden, WC2 - 020 7836 3304)


Window display at Paul's


Delicious and decadent looking cakes and macaroons

Been hearing about Paul Boulangerie & Pattiserie for ages. I finally went to one to search for my favourite croissants in London. I ordered a pain au chocolat. It was slightly disappointing. It was a bit stale and dry, perhaps it was the end of the day. But the display of various flans, cakes, tarts, claufouti and sweets sure look delicious!

Gig: 60 & 61. Take the Long Road & Trip It!

Ottawa (15/23/04 - Captial Music Hall):
We left the city around 3pm, major traffic in Oshawa, got into Ottawa by 8:30pm. We were surprised how cheap Ottawa's parking was! Ottawa was freezing! My toes were frozen from waiting for Meghan outside the venue. After we met up with Meghan, we went to the riverside for Beavertails but unfortunately it was closed!! So we messed around at Sugar Mountain, that's when i realised i've lost my black lightning bolt earring but funny that i totally remembered where i dropped it, it was near 9:50pm, we said our byes and went back to the venue. Found my earring, checked off guestlist and went into the venue..

Projet Orange was already on stage playing the last song. They were good performers (saw them the day before in Toronto, but just the music wasn't my cup of tea.) Venue was quite small and it has a balcony.

At 10:10pm, The Music came on. Ren was on Adam's side, Ei & I went over to Stu's side (coz it was empty), poor stu had to deal the entire nite with half dead monitor, dead mic for the drums during Bleeding from Within, he slammed his bass as he left the stage. Rob sounded better tonite than last nite but the band looked exhausted. We got a chance to catch Phil as we were leaving, we asked if Chris was around because we had gift for him to say thanks for guestlisting us for all the shows. He said he was inside could give the stuff to him and give to Chris but we insisted we'd wait til tomorrow to thank him personally.


Casse-Croûte La Banquise has more poutine options you can ever imagine!

Montréal (16-17/12/04) :
So at 12:15am we left Ottawa to Montréal we go. We arrived at Montéal at 2am. We unloaded our luggage and went to Casse-Croûte La Banquise (994 rue Rachel Est - 514.525.2415) for take-out poutine. Ren and I had the Poutine Dan Dan (Pepperoni, Bacon and Sautéed Onions) and Ei & Amy shared the Poutine Classique. It was a total heart attack but it was soooooo good!

The next day, we slept in and went to Frites Alors! for brunch. After we ordered, Amy and I sneaked out to get a birthday present for my client at the cutest shoppe ever on St-Denis & Duluth, Au Festin de Badette (4085 rue St-Denis - 514.849.0214), handmade chocolates & gifts, great selection of gourmet specialty teas, salt de mer, olive oils and pastas... etc. Amy raves about their Hot Chocolate there, we *HAD* to go back! After we ate, i departed from my mates and head onto Sears Canada (3075 Thimens Boulevard) to meet my client. She gave me a grand tour of the building and we went for a coffee. After that i went back to meet up with the girls, as i got off at Mont-Royal, i went for a bit of shopping on my own and bought 2 tees for $10 at Kokawaii (827 rue Mont-Royal Est - 514.522.6252).


Night street of Mont-Royal with Christmas lights.

Met up with the girls back at the flat and we were still full from brunch so we decided to go back to Au Festin de Badette for Hot Chocolate & Croissant instead. When people say chocolate is better than sex, at this shoppe, it's ture!!!! Their café had variaties of teas and coffee, slushes (there's even a dark chocolate slush!), sorbet and hot chocolate. Highly recommended the chocolat chaud de Badette (with cinnamon, cardomen), there's also one with 70% cocao. Their croissant is out of this world, it's buttery, it's flaky, better than our very own Clafouti!


Our Sweet Indulgence at Au Festin de Badette.

After the sweet indulgence, we headed to the venue Club Soda (1225 St-Laurent - 514.286.1010). As we got off the cab, a sculper approached us, we told him we're going to a different gig, he informed us it was cancelled, we thought he was joking. As we walked to the door, there was a sign posted saying the show has been cancelled and rescheduled for a later date! Gah! Disappointment, we walked on St-Laurent and headed back to the flat, rent a film (The Stepford Wives), bought a PC The Decadent Molten Chocolate Cakes, the best thing EVER! At around Midnite, we ventured out to Schwartz's we each bought a smoke meat sandwich, and we walked around St-Laurent, peaked into Bifteck to see if we see any indie rockstars chilling out, didn't see any. They sent me into Le Pistol to check, didn't see anyone neither but there were many hott guys there! Perfect opportunity to wing each other! But we didn't stay, we headed home and finish our movie & sandwiches and called it a night.