Vancouver meets Toronto

I am so so so excited to announce that I’ve been invited to participate in #UNDER27, a part-time internship opportunity with AutoShare.

Mission: “Our team of urban explorers will show the city how young people are weaving together transit options to navigate their way into all kinds of situations.”

Over the next three months, I will go on six AutoShare trips and post about my adventures on social media. I’ll be posting on my Instagram, Twitter, and Facebook accounts, as well as AutoShare’s tumblr, so I invite you to follow along!

Why I’m stoked:

• To partner with a social enterprise with a cause that I truly believe in
• To promote car sharing as a sustainable and viable option to car ownership
• To connect with 15 other young, vibrant, passionate Torontonians
• To have four wheels to explore areas of Toronto not easily accessible via TTC

If you live in Toronto, please get in touch if:

• You want to join me on my adventures
• You have Toronto travel ideas that are off the beaten path

I’m so thankful to have friends like Elisa who organizes fun things for us to do in Toronto, like a Girls Chill Day. We spent the day at Bathurst and Bloor - for brunch at Insomnia, followed by gaming at Snakes and Lattes.

Insomnia’s brunch is indeed quite renowned, so we waited about 30 minutes for the four of us to get seated. We found out later that we could have eater at the bar without the wait, so I’ll definitely keep that in mind for next time!

That being said, it’s actually a fairly smart strategy on Insomnia’s part to have a line since it creates a captive audience with a growing appetite as they survey the seated patrons and their delicious meals. I was particularly intrigued by the hashbrowns, which appeared to be covered in BBQ sauce. From what I could see, everyone had ordered either Eggs Benedict or French Toast. We were luckily seated in the back where it was much quieter; however the cushy chairs, weren’t ideal for eating. 

I was originally set on ordering the Avocado Benny, but was convinced at the last minute to get the special: Bacon Cheeseburger Benny. Oh yes! I also ordered a coffee and was quite delighted by it - a head above most other restaurant coffees.

Our food came pretty quickly, about 10-15 minutes after ordering. My Benny came plated with the aforementioned BBQ-sauced hashbrowns, salad, and an orange slice.

The verdict:

Overall, I was happy with the experience. The portions were very generous, and the service was friendly and prompt. This place is definitely worth a repeat visit.

FYI: for those social media addicts, you unlock a 10% discount after your third check-in at Insomnia on Foursquare, but get $10 off $50 (20% discount) when you check in on Yelp!

After over a year of working at two startups with no benefits, I am so excited to have passed my 3-month probation and access to health and dental benefits! 

Finding a great optometrist in a new city can be difficult. First, I tried my network and didn’t get any recommendations. Next, I tried RateMyMD, and I found that the “Top 10” list didn’t have any recent reviews, so I wasn’t sure if I could trust the results.

I did a bit more googling and found this forum on RedFlagDeals.com, where a poster recommended Dr. Sarah Stevens. I viewed her profile on RateMyMD, and while she only had 2 reviews, they were both in 2012 and very positive.

Naturally, I visited the website for Finch Avenue Optometry, where she practices. I was impressed by the professionalism of their website, which speaks volumes because I visited many optometrist websites during my research and found most of them to be horrendous. I liked her bio and their office is located close to my house, so I figured it was worth a try.

I filled out their online Appointment Request Form on Thursday night, and at 11:00 a.m. on Friday, they phoned me to schedule my eye exam. They had a cancellation for Saturday morning (the next day) and booked my appointment. Talk about great service!

Read more

Today, I went a truly epic bike ride. I had to pick up a package from Frank, and it was such a beautiful day that I couldn’t justify taking the TTC. It was quite a GPS adventure - I cycled past beautiful tree-lined neighbourhoods with spectacular homes. Then I got on a bike path that went through Edward Gardens (Toronto Botanical Gardens), Wilket Creek Path, and Ernest Thompson Seton Park. The sights were phenomenal - big blue sky, freshly mowed green grass, billowing willow trees, abundant yellow and purple wildflowers, a train bridge, bubbling creeks, and countless black squirrels. Unfortunately, the connecting Lower Don Valley Trail was closed for construction. Fortunately, I encountered an elderly couple and later, a huge group of cyclists, who were also confounded by the detour directions. We eventually found our way, and I made to it Frank’s house (at Broadview + Danforth) in just over an hour!

From there, Frank and I cycled along the Lower Don Valley Trail, where we had to traverse a giant hole in the path - with a steep grassy embankment on one side and the Don River on the other. It was tricky, but we managed! We also passed by a house on Broadview with a frontyard that was crawling with sunflowers (my favourite!). It was gorgeous.

At Lakeshore, we split up, and I headed to Queen’s Quay. There, I formally accepted a job offer to be the Marketing Communications Coordinator at CUSOURCE and celebrated with a chicken burger and piña colada smoothie at Pier 4. I had been there once before with Dan, and it’s a fun experience because they have a huge patio that overlooks the Inner Harbour and Toronto Island. The service was phenomenal - I accidentally spilled my piña colada all over my table after only having two sips, and the server made me a new one for free and helped me clean up. A+ for customer service!

Then, it was a long cycle ride back home! I took the same route back, and I’m pleased to say that I only got lost once ;-) There were a couple of hills on the way back that had my legs screaming, but I managed to make it home in one piece! The first thing I did when I got home was Google how far I had cycled. The grand total? 62.2 kilometeres. BOOM!

As previously mentioned, my friend Frank is a huge foodie. And as such, he co-organized this amazing event called AwesTRUCK 2012. It is an award show that recognizes the best food trucks in Toronto, based on votes from you, the people! They needed some volunteers, so I jumped at the opportunity.

The event was held at Evergreen Brick Works, a unique venue with an interesting history. Formerly one of Canada’s top brickyards, it is now a community cultural centre with a focus on the environment. It encompasses the Weston Family Quarry Garden, which includes ponds, a meadow (with access to the Don River), and a small forest. They hold a number of programs designed to educate the public on nature and the environment, such as urban gardening workshops. They also have a Saturday farmers’ market and a gardening centre, where you can buy plants and gardening equipment. Last, but not least, they host a number of special events, such as the Toronto Underground Market. It is a really beautiful venue. I would like to come back and explore more!

AwesTRUCK was a huge hit, and I had so much fun volunteering. In exchange for 3.5 hours of stuffing drink/food tickets into cups, managing VIP entries, and informing passers-by about the event, I received a sweet t-shirt and 3 delicious food truck items. I’m definitely looking forward to being a part of future events! I hear rumours of an event in late October in the Distillery District, for anyone who’s interested!

The aforementioned sweet t-shirt

Risotto Rice Balls from Dobro Jesti

Fish Taco from El Gastronomo Vagabundo

Calamari Pita from Blue Donkey

After buying Avenue Q tickets a couple of months ago, I started to receive promotional emails about other theatrical acts in the city. I had wanted to visit Casa Loma for some time now, so when I saw the email for The Complete Works of William Shakespeare (Abridged), I was intrigued. I was sold as soon as Elisa, who is the Queen of Deals, found a Teambuy deal that allowed the four of us (with Dan and Abhi) to attend for a mere $69.00! The play is performed by Matt Drappel, Jeff Hanson, and Kevin Ritchie from The Classical Theatre Project, and they attempt to perform all 37 of Shakespeare’s plays in a mind-boggling 75 minutes. I wasn’t really sure what to expect, but as an avid Bard on the Beach attendee, I was hankering for some Willy in my life (hee!).

Casa Loma

In my head, I had envisioned this urban castle to be much further away than it actually was. It’s conveniently located near Dupont subway station, though I have to warn you that a fairly steep set of stairs must be mounted to get there. Unfortunately the castle was closed, but it was still neat to see the overall structure and the interior that we could access.

The Complete Works of William Shakespeare (Abridged)

Obviously, these three fine gentlemen had quite the task to accomplish. 37 plays in 75 minutes? Preposterous! I was mostly entertained and the jokes were funny, although I felt most of the humour was quite juvenile given the fairly senior demographic of the audience. Think multiple puke jokes. I thought the Romeo & Juliet scene went on for far too long, but seeing Hamlet three times (original, sped up, backwards sped up) was totally worth it. I felt slightly robbed to see the 16 comedies rolled into one confusing bit including 3 sets of identical twins, Venetian merchants, donkeys, and fairies. My favourite piece was the Othello rap. It was pretty darn clever. It was a bit difficult to hear because we were seated in the back and their voices were drowned out by street traffic below and airplane traffic above. Overall, it didn’t quite live up to my expectations, but still proved to be a very enjoyable evening!

The Stockyards, Smokehouse & Larder

After the play, we were famished. Elisa’s Yelp search indicated a delicious BBQ joint nearby, The Stockyards. The staff graciously took our order, even though we arrived at 8:55pm and they close at 9:00pm. The three of us ordered the Classic Burger, while Elisa went with the Fried Chicken. While we waited for our food, I did a quick search and saw that their burger was recently ranked #3 on the Top 25 All-Beef Burgers in Toronto, so my expectations were pretty high. I found the burger to be slightly dry, and I inadvertently reduced the flavour index by removing the red onions. Overall, the burger was very tasty - but was no match for The Burger at The Auld Spot Pub. That being said, my review may be negatively affected by the fact that we ate our food on a bench outside an old folks’ home near the restaurant… Definitely worth another visit for a proper review.

Whenever Dan and I are hungry and are too lazy to cook, we head over to the Bombay Bhel. The food is always tasty, and they offer spice customization (mild, medium, spicy). The service is really good too. Whenever we order takeout, they say it will be ready in 20 minutes, and the takeout bag is always on the counter when we arrive. Plus, they offer a 10% discount on cash takeout. My only complaint is that it seems slightly expensive given the somewhat small portion sizes. Also, the ambiance is left to be desired, but I find that’s normal for many Indian restaurants. Noms! 4 out of 5 stars.

ORDER
Chicken Tikka Misala
Baingan Patiala
Channa Masala
Large Basmati Rice
TOTAL: $41.60 (with 10% cash discount on takeout)

Dan and I stumbled upon Toronto Botanical Garden during one of our biking adventures, but we didn’t get to explore that much, so it was nice to go back for a proper visit with Elisa. Unfortunately, we arrived a bit late, so the indoor exhibits (including an urban bee hive!) were closed. Nonetheless, we had a really nice visit.

There were a couple of weddings taking place and it was fun to watch them. The location is absolutely stunning. Beautiful greenery and flowers everywhere. We even saw a couple of critters - two groundhogs and a chipmunk!

As a newbie urban gardener with a barely surviving container patio garden, I was fascinated by the vegetable gardens. There were so many tomatoes! Bitter melons! Pole beans! I was very jealous.

My colleagues and I got together for a great time at Joe Mamas. It was Andrea’s recommendation because they play live jazz and it’s a fun environment. The decor is quite neat, although it was a little too much red for my liking. It was a bit loud once the jazz was playing, so I wouldn’t come here if you’re looking to have long, in-depth conversations.The service was very good and the food was top-notch. I had the Goat Cheese Stuffed Ravioli and it was heavenly. That vodka cream sauce was mouthwatering. I also tried the Gladys Knight (which I didn’t much care for) and the Aretha Franklin (which was delicious). I’d definitely come back again! 4 stars out of 5.

ORDER
Goat Cheese Stuffed Ravioli
Aretha Franklin x 2
Gladys Knight
TOTAL: $55.00 (includes tip)

For Dan’s milestone 25th birthday, I knew I wanted to go somewhere nice for a special treat. I knew that Grazie was renowned in Toronto for being a top Italian restaurant and I had previously eaten lunch there, so I knew it would be a safe bet. Grazie has the ambiance that one expects for an Italian restaurant - loud and lively. Unfortunately, they only accept reservations for lunch, so we waited about 30 minutes before being seated by the window. It was a great spot because it was quieter, and it was nice to people-watch and have a view of pretty flower boxes. We had an amazing time. 5 out of 5 stars.

Our server was efficient and friendly, yet curt. My most notable complaint was the complimentary bread - the slices were not cut all the way through and was served with generic butter containers. To start, we ordered the Cesari ‘Mara’ - which came recommended by our server and was a steal at $36 per bottle. I’m not typically a huge fan of red wine, but this was really quite delicious and paired with our meal nicely.

To start, we ordered the Caesar salad, which was so delicious in its simplicity and perfect execution. We shared the Romana pizza and the Brunello pasta. My main complaint about Italian cuisine is that it’s easy to find Italian food that’s passable (e.g. it’s hard to screw up), but very difficult to find mind-blowing Italian food. Well, the Brunello pasta blew my mind. It knocked my socks off. The combination of fresh pasta, garlic & olive oil, and grilled sausage was so divine. Mmm, I can honestly say it is in the top 3 of the best pastas I’ve ever eaten. The Romano pizza was also very delicious, though I have to admit that it paled in comparison to the pasta. The rosemary was deliciously fragrant and mixed nicely with the potatoes. My only complaint was that the pancetta wasn’t very well distributed across the pie. For the quality and portion of the food, the prices were a wonderful value.

ORDER
Caesar Salad
Cesari ‘Mara’ wine
Brunello pasta
Romana pizza
TOTAL: $93.56 (includes tip)