A Few Pleasant Surprises

Don't you love it when life throws you a pleasant surprise.  Well I had two this past weekend. We just had a three day weekend due to the new Ontario Family Day holiday.  We didn't have any grand plans, just some lovely relaxing time.  I made a couple of suggestions to the kids as to things we could do - go to the Art Gallery of Ontario or have chocolate fondue. The answer was "Yes please" so go to the AGO and have chocolate fondue we did.

Going to the AGO is a wonderful experience, but I always have to brace myself a bit for the sticker shock of the admission price.  For myself and Kate and William the admission price was going to be $49 along with the cost of parking.  However - here's one of the weekend's pleasant surprises - both William and Kate got in for free because they are under 25 years of age and several major sponsors (including Scotia Bank) have donated enough to allow young visitors to get in for free.  When I went to pay for my ticket she took $2.50 off the price because I was paying with a Scotia Bank card and Scotia Bank is one of the AGO's major supporters.  So instead of paying $49, I paid $16.50. Yeah Scotia Bank (that may be a first - me cheering for a bank).

The Maharaja: The Splendour of India's Royal Court exhibit (you can see some of the images here) was magnificent, especially the silver carriage and the traditional outfits.  I so wish you could take photographs in the exhibit to share with you.  I borrowed the following three photos from the AGO blog (here) so you can see the gorgeous landau carriage with the plants and animals decorating it.

There was also a fantastic exhibit of prints by David Blackwood depicting life in the poor outposts of Newfoundland.   Really the two exhibits could not have been more different - one dealing with the excesses and riches of royal families in a warm climate, and the other depicting the struggles of the poor, hard-working fishermen and their families in a cold, damp maritime land.  

Detail of the Black Ice by David Blackwood

S. S. Imogene Leaving for the Icefields, by David Blackwood

The next day we had our chocolate fondue.  I've never made one before because we didn't own one of those special ceramic pots with a place for a tea light to go under it.  I tried to buy a chocolate fondue pot at the grocery store, but didn't feel like forking (get it - forking!) over $30 for a set so I decided we would just put it in a regular bowl and re-microwave it if we needed to.   And my second pleasant surprise of the weekend - it worked!  Maybe that's because it didn't have time to solidify.  I'm just saying.

Bowls of kiwi, half mini donuts, bananas, pineapple, strawberries, and marshmallows

I melted an entire box of Baker's semi-sweet chocolate squares and had read that you should add some table cream.  Well I didn't have any so I added skim milk.  Yes, I know it was diet chocolate fondue.  I have to say it was delicious and tasted as good as any I have previously had.  Have a look at the action shot below.  I think that speaks for itself.

Fun activities and nice surprises to celebrate our long weekend.

Bonjour and Au Revoir

Two years ago Kate, our daughter, was an exchange student in France.  She and her exchange partner have remained friends and have each visited back and forth.  This summer it was the parents' turn to visit.  Olivier is involved in the administration of the exchange program and was going to be accompanying a contingent of exchange students to Toronto.  Patricia was going to come along for the fun.  The plan was for them to tour Niagara Falls and the CN Tower in Toronto with the students  and then stay with us for a week.

I was very excited to meet them, but not sure what to show them or take them to visit.  Any time I thought about what Ontario, and Toronto especially, had to offer it seemed there were bigger, better, more interesting things to do in France. I would think of historic houses, and then think that France has older and prettier ones, and I would think of places to eat, and then think that they have better restaurants in France etc.  Of course we have cottage country with lakes and forests, but not everyone likes the outdoors and the rough and tumble life at a cottage.  I was a little discouraged about what there was to show them.

I emailed them a list of suggestions with some photos so they could choose what they might be interested in doing.  Included in the email was a photo of my son canoeing at the cottage .  Patricia  wrote back to say that she had always "dreamed" of canoeing .  I was thrilled - it was just what I needed to hear to get my entertaining mojo back.   I was able to come up with a plan that involved seeing a little city and a little country.

Let me show you what we saw, with some of the things that especially intrigued and interested our french guests.

Part 1 - Toronto

We went to the Distillery District in Toronto for some coffee and then to browse in the shops (you can see more photos here from a previous visit) .   They liked this area of Toronto very much, and were especially interested to know that the exterior scenes for the movie Chicago were filmed here.

We also visited Chinatown  (which I have written about here).  Patricia was surprised how big the area was and that most of the signs in Chinatown were in Chinese not English.

We also visited Kensington Market (which you can see more photos of here).  If you look closely you can see the bubbles from the bubble machine blowing across the sidewalk - only in Kensington Market do you have a bubble machine! 

We also saw the fabulous Inuit art in the lobby of the TD building.  It's one of the lesser known free attractions in Toronto and well worth a visit. I had never been there before so was glad to see something new.

Then we went to the historic roundhouse that has been turned into a Leon's Furniture Store and the Steam Whistle brewery.  I loved the contrast of the furniture displayed against the rustic wood and metal in the roundhouse - very incongruous but charming.  Our french guests really enjoyed this area as well - the mix of old and new, the free pint of beer in the brewery, the views, the old engines...

Part 2 - the cottage

The weather cooperated at the cottage and we were able to go swimming and canoeing

and hiking.

I did my best to find them views of huge tracts of forest (what could be more Canadian after all) and to hopefully see some wildlife.

Unfortunately, or maybe fortunately, they have an electric fence around the dump so there is no bear watching at the dump which used to be the place to take visitors (quaint, I know).   Although I saw two bears on separate occasions this summer as I was driving home from the cottage, there were none to be found for our french guests. We did canoe over to the marsh to see a Great Blue Heron, and we listened to the loon sing while we were paddling on the lake, and

we fed the chipmunk.  All very popular activities with our guests.

Most of all, however, everyone enjoyed the peace and quiet of cottage country.

Who knew that a school bus pulling a trailer loaded with canoes would be interesting - but it was declared 'classic' and many photos were taken of it (including mine, while I was driving).

We stopped at our favourite fossil cliff on the way home and not only were we rewarded with some good fossils,

but our french guests were very impressed with the long straight road - apparently unlike anything they had seen in France.

Our final stop on the way home was at a butter tart shop - classic Canadian fine food! 

They had an absolutely overwhelming selection so we had to try several different versions of butter tarts (and one strawberry-rhubarb tart).

 
Part 3 - Crawford Lake

On our final day, we went to Crawford Lake Conservation area to see a 15th century Iroquoian Village that has been reconstructed on its original site.

The long houses were very impressive.  Can you imagine living here with many other families - they slept on the bottom bunks, stored food on the upper bunks, and had fires on the floor down the middle of the building.  I'm thinking it would have been a tad cold in the winter.

We walked around the lake on the boardwalk.  The forest if very dense so there is little undergrowth.

It can even look a little creepy with trees growing out of the holes in the limestone rocks.

On our last evening together I made Nigerian curry, a family favouite that I had cooked for their daughter on her last evening with us as well, and Patricia taught me how to fold napkins into flowers like this.

Au revoir our lovely french guests!  Until next time.

Susan and the Distillery District

This past Friday I met my first real live bloggy person.   When I heard that Susan (from the blog Moving Designz) and her associate Anita, were visiting from Prince Edward Island, I emailed her to see if she wanted to get together.  We arranged to meet in Toronto and have lunch in the Distillery District. 

See there's proof that we met, along with a glimpse of the lovely old cobblestone streets and brick buildings in the Distillery District.
 

 The Distillery District is an entertainment district in Toronto, with cafes, art galleries, and restaurants in the buildings of the former Gooderham and Worts Distillery.  There's nothing fake about the old bricks you see everywhere, as the distillery was founded in 1832.  By the 1860s it was the largest distillery in the world.  Given that Canada was still a small country at the time, I'm assuming they exported most of the whisky they produced.  By the late 20th century the distillery ceased production and the area became re-vitalized as an entertainment district.

Susan, Anita, and I had lunch at Balzac's Coffee Roastery.

Did you get a good look at the latte - cause it was a work of art, that tasted as good as it looked.

Balzac's is in a lovely old brick building.

with an enormous chandelier hanging from the old wooden ceiling,

and old coffee signs on the wall.

After lunch we walked around and browsed through shops and art galleries.  The one shown below was a particular favouite.  Try and guess what these pictures are made from.

You have to look closely at the edge and then you can see -they are made using many, many, many rubiks cubes.  How cool is that!

This one was especially impressive - it was called, approriately enough, Falling Apart.

Two bloggers walking around such an interesting area, just can't help taking tons of photos.

Photo of the ginormous pots of flowers and grass?  Check!

Photo of the wire statues?  Check!

Don't you love the reclaimed wood wall that they built along one section.

I really think this looks like something someone in bloggy land should make - very doable and very creative.

When I was leaving I saw this wedding being photographed.  What a fantastic backdrop!

Susan was just as sweet and stylish as she comes across on her blog.   Thanks for the great time on Friday - it was such fun to meet you both and to spend a few hours together.