Niagara Falls

Not a long post - this one is more about the photos and the documentation of having been there.

I've been to Niagara Falls a few times, dating back to 1996.  I think I may still have a photo from that first trip in my office, in fact.  They a pretty wondrous sight, I cannot deny it.  Allison grew up in the namesake town, and Chris had seen them at least once before.  Conrad caught a glimpse once several years ago, I think, but not much of one, and he wanted to see them again.  Half our group had never seen them at all.

We were picked up for a day in Niagara at not too early an hour (for most of us, poor Van) and driven south. 

The Falls were the first stop before a day of tastings.  Decently crowded, not bad weather, a lot of spray dampening us physically.  A worthwhile sight to see.

I'll leave you with the photos.  Enjoy!  More of the Niagara day (plus a little more Toronto) to come!

COTU

Ah, Toronto.  So beloved, I sometimes think, by USians, so not loved by many of us in Canada.  And yet, there I was this past weekend, visiting the largest city in my homeland.  The things I do for friends...

I joke, somewhat.  There really is an ambivalence toward Toronto that seems to be cultural in other parts of Canada, including where I come from.  Truly, Toronto is not a bad city at all.  It's remarkably multi-cultural, and really, anything that you want to find in Canada will probably be there aside from things that are deeply French Canadian.  It's a huge city, so there are some lovely neighbourhoods.  Shopping and dining, and entertainment and sports.  Toronto has a lot to offer.

But it's also a city that I don't think has ever recovered from how badly it cut itself off from the lake, this despite a growing number of highrises and other developments in between the freeway and the lakefront.  It's not exactly flat, but for a Midwest city (because it really is, geographically), it needs the lake to define it.  Van also noted that it's a city that seems to be tearing down a lot of its heritage and becoming more and more anonymous.  The tall towers on Yonge and splattering outward from that street could be in many other major world cities, and while that says something good about Toronto's increasing importance on a world stage, it's a little sad to be in among them and think that it's hard to know what city you are in.

The truth is, I find Toronto to be a little boring.  Not bad, no, just kind of dull.  If it wasn't for Allison, really, I'd have no reason to go back (ALA is unlikely ever to return there).  But Allison is there, and she is one of my dearest friends, and she did have a 50th birthday last week, so back we went.

Traveling to the east means a whole day of travel once you add in time zone changes.  Conrad, Van, and I started out midday, heading to LAX at lunch time after I had some work meetings, then on from there to Chicago to connect. 

By the time we made it to the hotel room and unpacked and went to bed, it was past 1:00.  Ugh.

We let Van sleep in the next morning.  Heck, I slept in the next morning.  That was a long day of travel the day before.  Happily, Allison (with Merp in tow

- yes, our whole online happy hour group converged on Toronto for the weekend, and Marie had flown in the day before as well) wasn't going to meet us until lunchtime, so we had the luxury of that sleep.  It was a sunny day to be downtown, and after a brunch together, the five of us wandered toward City Hall

and in the general direction of meeting up with Rachel at Union Station with a detour or two to see other sights.

 

That stroll included a stop at an Unholy Donuts,

which was the right thing to do on a vacation day.

I'll comment on the afternoon cocktails and on Allison's birthday dinner in another post or two since they deserve some special commentary.  Let me instead skip ahead to this past Sunday.

We'd spent the day on Saturday down in the Niagara region, but Sunday was a Toronto-only day.  Conrad and I let Van sleep in again, telling him that we would wake him in time to meet Allison for brunch.  That left the two of us to head out and stroll around a bit of the city, walking five miles in all. 

Nice walk, a fine morning for it.  The walk done, we gathered Van up and headed north to join Allison at Uncle Betty's.  I've been there a few times, and it makes for a decently reliable place.  A croque-madame for me, and it was satisfying.

 

We then wandered farther north on Yonge, past Lawrence, then into some of the residential areas.  Van had only been to Toronto once before, briefly and for business years ago, so I think he greatly appreciated seeing something other than the hubbub of Yonge Street downtown.

We parted ways with Allison for the weekend and caught the subway back downtown.  I left Conrad and Van at the station near the hotel and went to browse books (and Roots) before coming back to the hotel to rest before dinner.

I can't remember how I found our dinner restaurant, but it was a nice find.  I'm not usually optimistic about dining in a downtown business district, but Richmond Station proved to be an exception to that.  Good cocktails (the Apricot Jam for me)

and some very tasty food (suckling pig for me for my main). 

We shared a bottle of a wine from a winery that Allison and I had visited several years ago as well, which was a cool find. 

A terrific meal to end off our time in the Centre of the Universe.

    

this old man

This old man went to the pool today for the first time in a few weeks.  Ugh.  Ah well.  Better a short, terrible, slow swim than no swim at all!

We got back from our most recent trip last night.  Expect a couple of posts in the days ahead!

a very fine dinner, indeed!

When I was in Vancouver the first time this month, I caught up with Sherri after too many years over coffee one morning.  She suggested that when Conrad and I came back later in the month, we should go for dinner, and yes, Marie should join us.  And she suggested Published on Main.

I said yes.  And then I looked at the menu, and I thought, oh yes.  Yes, indeed.

So we went.  And ah, what a lovely dinner.  Good cocktails, good food, catching up. 

I enjoyed it a lot.

Highlights:

Chips and dip.  A smoked fish dip that wasn't too smoky or fishy and yet was very flavourful.  Also, the prawns were lovely.

Abelskiever.  One of my favourite items.  Savoury, filled doughnouts.  So very good!

Burrata with tomatoes.  I gave away my portion of this because I took a little more abelskiever.

Spring salmon.  Lovely, fine, not as memorable, but good.

Chicken fried maitake mushrooms.  Marie was shocked I ate them, but I don't hate ALL mushrooms, and these were deep fried, so....

Pork belly with scallops.  Get a little of everything on a fork, and mmmmmm...

Carrots.   Definitely one of the best items we had.  So so good.

Dessert, highlighting coffee flavours.  Fine, not my choice.

Dessert, featuring aerated hay mousse and green apples.  This surprised everyone, truly.  It was remarkable.  One of those things that seem so esoteric, but wow, this was good.

We drank well, too.  I rather liked the Into the Mist. 

I liked the Still In Touch less, and wish I had had it first, but it was nicely done.

It really was a great dinner.  The food and drink and company - so fine.  I'm glad Sherri suggested it.  I'm not an awards chaser, but I was startled to learn at the end of dinner that the restaurant was a one Michelin star place.  Cool!  And deserved.

We had an excellent weekend in Vancouver, to be sure, but this dinner was a very fine time and a real highlight indeed.

a milestone birthday

Although we've been doing work on the condo to prepare it for putting on the market next month, this most recent trip to Vancouver coincided with a friend's milestone birthday.  60 years for Steven - hooray!

Steven is someone Conrad first met some 15 or more years ago through work in DC on a grants or other similar panel.  Over time, we've gotten together with him and Jenny and their children in Vancouver as well as here in California and in Chicago when we lived there.  It's been terrific knowing them, and so we were delighted to be in town to celebrate the event.

Steven was born in Mumbai, and that connection to India led him to choose an Indian buffet restaurant for the birthday party.  About 40 of us were sectioned off in the back of the restaurant.  That afforded us the space for speeches, a trivia quiz, the cake cutting, and a little karaoke.  That's Steven's dad rocking the microphone. 

His singing was pretty awesome, I have to say.  Steven joined him briefly,

and it's clear that Steven should do more karaoke himself.  No, Conrad and I didn't brave the microphone, sorry.

It was a great party, and it was a real honour to join his family and take part in it all.

I think Jenny is up next, 60 in a few years, which will coincide with Conrad turning 70.  There should be some good parties to come!