A Well of Inspiration

Rock Lobster

noreply@blogger.com (Anonymous) — Wed, 18 Feb 2015 01:26:00 +0000

Hello friends!

One of my resolutions for this year was to get to know my city a little better. Toronto has slowly but surely become a foodie paradise, with joints opening up everywhere. Rock Lobster would be one of them. It is the brain child of Chef Matt who started Rock Lobster at a pop up event in March 2012, and has now opened up three restaurants in three of Toronto's trendiest neighbourhoods.

My best friend Melanie (who by the way owns her very own travel blog and has been everywhere) and I decided it was about time we tried some of our own Rock Lobster.

We were in for a treat.

The decor in the restaurant is unlike any I have seen before, which only added to the "cool" feel of the place.

The menu was super easy to read and very well designed.

To add to its authenticity, trays of fresh crab legs, lobster tails and oysters greeted you at the bar, as you strolled on in from the outside.

These lights were super weird, definitely picture worthy.

That's Mel, patiently waiting for her meal.

This is what Rock Lobster is best known for, the Rock Lobster Caesar, consisting of Ketel One vodka, tabasco sauce, worcestshire sauce, steak spice and Clamato, garnished with a lobster tail. To be honest, I am not a huge fan of Ceasars, and only gave this a try (Mel and I shared it) because it was so raved about. Surprisingly though, I did enjoy it, but am glad that Mel and I ended up sharing it, as more than half a glass may have been too much for me. To each his own I say, so try it for yourself and see what you think.

The oysters however, we devoured, as they were fresh, zesty and went down oh sooo easy.

For the main, I had the fried clam roll with added lobster.

It was mouth wateringly delish. Adding the extra lobster was a wise decision, I think with only the fried clam it would have been a little to bland for me, but still delicious.

Even the fries were perfections, crispy on the outside and soft on the inside, just the way they should be.

Mel decided to go for the infamous lobster roll. A classic.

One of the best bits, of our experience anyways, was the super friendly folk dining around us, very eager for a chat. The couple who sat beside us were celebrating the gentleman's 50th birthday. His wife had bought him a red velvet cake. Being as nice as they were, they shared some pieces with eager eyed cake enthusiasts such as Mel and I. This piece of cake was probably the best red velvet cake I have ever tasted. Honestly. If only I knew where it was from.

Could not resist modelling the Rock Lobster Caesar, impressive not only in its taste but also its size. Look at how humongous it is!!

Do yourself a favour and go check out Rock Lobster, you will not regret it. We went to the Queen West location, but I am positive that any of the locations will be just as yummy.

Another gem, in this awesome city of mine.

Have you been to Rock Lobster yet? Whats your fav restaurant in Toronto currently?

Toronto Beer Festival 2014

noreply@blogger.com (Anonymous) — Wed, 30 Jul 2014 03:13:00 +0000

Hello Friends!

The folks behind the Toronto Beer Festival were kind enough to invite Clive and I back for a second year.

We were both so excited that it did not matter what previous plans we had made for that Friday, we cancelled them straight away and graciously accepted our invitations.

This year, marked the festival's 20th anniversary, and both the Friday and Saturday were sold out. Lucky for us, we had our spots reserved, pheww!

As we walked closer to the festival site, we had to trample over people waiting in a huge lineup that circled around the venue. It seemed this year, was the year to attend.

Once we gave our names to the ladies at the gate, they led us into the media area, where we enjoyed a couple of beverages. I enjoyed a yummy Somersby Cider.

By the way, those Neal Brothers chips were super delhi-licious, just like the bag says.

Once we settled down and devised our game plan for the evening, we left the media tent and put on our explorer hats. Or in my case my super pink explorer sunglasses.

We decided, since we already attended the beer fest last year, we would take a quick walk around and spot any differences. So our adventure began...

At one point I got lost in Angry Orchard(s), but don't fret I found my way out and regained my breath, chilling with my new ride.

One of the things I really wanted to focus on, other than the beer at the festival, was the food. I mean beer on its own is great, but a nice traditional pie really brings out the taste in any beer, or maybe the other way around?!

Either way, Clive and I, both being the British food enthusiast, were drawn in by The Pie Commission, and both chose the Braised Beef Rib Pie, made of "delicious chunks of slow braised beef, in homemade veal stock with sweet potato and mushrooms". It was DELICIOUS! I added some banana curry sauce to it, to give it that little bit of sweet kick. Clive opted for the Ghost Chili, which he described as a 'firm kick to the tastebuds', basically it was spicy!

Look at that happy face!

As the sun set, and our tummies filled, we decided to re-focus and quench our thirst with some alcoholic beverages. If you are curious how the sampling of the beer works, check out my previous blog on last year's beer fest here and here.

The major thing I noticed this year, was that there were a bunch more Cider stands than last year, which made me extremely excited, as you can see by my sexy face below.

The Crabbies Raspberry Ginger Beer was most definitely my favourite. So much so that I went back for a second round at the end of the night. If you like a sweet Cider, that pretty much taste like carbonated juice, this is the one for you, if you don't, I would stay faaaarrrrr away.

Clive, stuck to his IPAs, Lagers and sampled a few homemade beers from Waterloo.

This is me enjoying my Crabbies.

During the festival, I meandered over to the map of the venue and saw that Rock Lobster had a stand. After walking around for ages, we finally found the kiosk and I without hesitation, proceeded to have their lobster roll.

To be honest, I was a little underwhelmed. I am going to attribute it to the fact that it was a tiny kiosk that was selling the rolls, and that I should most likely just go and check out the actual restaurant, to change my mind.

After more adventuring, we ended up back at the Angry Orchard, where I gave into the grimacing stares and tried a cider.

It was actually quite nice...and really not angry at all. Still no Crabbies, but I would say this Cider would appeal to the masses more than the Crabbies Raspberry drink, as it was not as sweet and did taste much more of apples.

All in all, we both had an excellent time at the festival this year. There were a lot more vendors this year than last year. Thank you again for the folks at Enterprise Canada for inviting us along once again. We both had a BLAST, and would go back next year.

Until then...

LIVE your life to the fullest, and be inspired everyday!

RIP 2013!

noreply@blogger.com (Anonymous) — Sun, 05 Jan 2014 16:40:00 +0000

Happy New Year Friends!

This year, my hope is to start paying a little more attention to my little blog.
Not to be a Debbie Downer or anything, but it is super hard to keep a blog while having a full time job, planning a wedding and trying to also have a social life. But I am going to try, I promise.
I love this blog and most of all I love connecting with my few but amazing readers.

So cheers to 2014!

Holiday Gift Guide

noreply@blogger.com (Anonymous) — Tue, 17 Dec 2013 00:13:00 +0000

Hello Friends,

I am really horrible at this updateing the blog thing, but I promise I will try my hardest to get back at it.

In the mean time, here's a 'better late than never' holiday gift guide, for you guys and gals, courtesy of Pinterest.

Follow the link here.

Here are some of my favs:

If you are completely out of ideas for Christmas gifts, or any occasion for that matter, check out Gifts.com. Head on over and be inspired.

Happy Halloween!!!

noreply@blogger.com (Anonymous) — Fri, 01 Nov 2013 00:15:00 +0000

Happy Halloween from A Well of Inspiration!

Abbey's Kitchen Stadium

noreply@blogger.com (Anonymous) — Mon, 07 Oct 2013 23:39:00 +0000

When I was in university, to procrastinate from all the assignments I used to have, I would stick on the TV and watch hours upon hours of the Food Network. My favourites were, Top Chef, Chopped, Restaurant Makeover, and Iron Chef America.

Well this weekend, I got to experience something similar in person. Dream come true!!

The lovely Abbey Sharp from Abbey's Kitchen, invited Clive and I to Abbey's Kitchen Stadium:

"Abbey's Kitchen Stadium (AKS) is a celebration of Toronto’s vibrant food culture that brings together the city’s hottest restaurant, food truck and pop-up vendor chefs to raise money for local food initiative, My Food My Way. AKS has been modeled after the popularity of reality Food Network competition programs such as Chopped, Iron Chef, and Top Chef. It combines the already proven successful model of a casual pop-up party, with the diner interaction and entertainment quality of an action-packed cooking competition."

We were invited to the 3rd instalment, where Toronto's top chefs battled it out for a place in the finale on October 27th at the Delicious Food Show (Definitely wanting to make it to that one as well).

Tickets were $10 each online and a portion of the proceeds were given to an awesome charity called My Food My Way.

This is how it works:
-Tickets retail for $10 online at uniiverse.com, where a portion of all ticket and food sales go to My Food My Way
-At each event, there is a secret ingredient chosen that will be revealed when guests show up to the event.
- Four Toronto culinary superstars each prepare two dishes that showcase the chosen ingredient, and guests have the chance to purchase whatever their heart desires for $5 per item. Delicious 40 Creek Whiskey, Sam Adams beer, Rosewood wine, Dillons Distillers cocktails, Limonana and Tea Emporium tea samples are also available throughout the duration of the event for $6.
- Beginning at 2:30 PM, chefs are invited one at a time to present their dish to the five celebrity judges on the stadium stage. The judges provide appropriate commentary and evaluate the dishes on taste, presentation, and originality.
- Meanwhile, all of this action is filmed and projected live onto a large screen for guests to watch, between which our DJ provides entertainment. Most importantly, we also hold a huge raffle draw for wicked food product gift baskets and restaurant gift certificates, from which all of the proceeds will be going to My Food My Way!
- After each of the three consecutive battles, a winning chef is selected to move onto the championship battle that will commence at the Food Network sponsored Delicious Food Show on the big celebrity stage. The final “wild card” competitor for the championship battle will be selected by voters via an online poll after the event.

The secret ingredient was apple sauce. YUM!

See the fun for yourself :)

This interesting looking dish was biscuit with quail.

I had never had quail before so I was a bit intrigued, but let me tell you, was it ever delicious.

The judges were:

Vikram Vij (Celebrity Restauranteur) @Vijs_restaurant

Alex Lifeson (Rush Guitarist & Rock Hall of Famer) @RushTheBand

Liem Vu (Host for Global TV's The Morning Show) @LiemVu

Dee Brun (Cocktail Deeva, Stephen and Chris Show) @CocktailDeeva & @GhettoFoodie

Susan Merry (Owner, All the Best Fine Foods) @AlltheBestFF

The lovely Abbey Sharp, doing her thing.

The tamale concoction was really weird and had an interesting texture. The brown side was sweet and had an amazing cheese in it, while the other side was made of cornmeal and a whole bunch of stuff I could not even distinguish. All in all, deliciousness. Worth the wait, for sure.

The chef were:

Carl Heinrich (Richmond Station, Food Network's Top Chef Winner!) - @richmondstn & @ChefHeinrich

Dave Sidhu (Playa Cabana) - @PlayaCabana

Thomas Davis (The Stockyards) @TheStockyardsBBQ

Dustin Gallagher (Acadia, Food Network's Top Chef Competitor) @AcadiaToronto & @DustinGallagher

My favourite of the night was this delicious apple tart. Word actually cannot describe how amazing it tasted. The texture of the tart, was perfect, not to soft but not too crunchy, and the apple filling was just to die for.

The winner of the night.

I'm excited to go to the finale on October 27th at 4 PM at the Delicious Food Show!

Will you be there?

Canada's Wonderland

noreply@blogger.com (Anonymous) — Sun, 25 Aug 2013 19:55:00 +0000

Hello Friends!

As a kid, my family and I went to Canada's Wonderland in the summers, almost everyday. We had season passes that to this day, still cost about the equivalent of two regular admission tickets. So my parents would pack our picnic baskets and beach bags and hauled us to Vaughan to spend the day amongst roller coasters, funnel cakes and water slides.

At 18, I decided to work at Canada's Wonderland's water park, Splashworks, as a lifeguard. Saving people from drowning in the wave pool, was my everyday job. I spent two summers at Splashworks and once the water park closed, the lifeguards always obnoxiously got the ride the roller coasters and rides for free and eat all the delicious foods for super discounted prices.

As you can see, Canada's Wonderland during the summer was like my second home.

A few weeks ago, I decided to return after abandoning my beloved summer hideaway for almost 6 years.

So why is Canada's Wonderland so great. Because Clive thinks so!

We woke up in the morning and were super excited to go, until we looked outside and saw the storm clouds and rain approaching. But we did not think twice, because going to a theme park during a rainy day is almost better, because there will be less people, which means shorter lines and more roller coaster time for us.

We arrived quite early and had no time for photos as we ran as fast as we could to the biggest roller coaster in the park. The Leviathan. It "exceeds a height of 300 feet (91 m). At 5,486 feet (1,672 m) long, 306 feet (93 m) tall, and with a top speed of 92 miles per hour (148 km/h), Leviathan is the tallest and fastest roller coaster in Canada."

We went on it twice in a row.

This is Clive's happy face after the craziness that is The Leviathan.

Canada's Wonderland like most theme parks also offers fun themed restaurants, like this diner, as well as shows throughout the day. Like the British Invasion, that was a tribute to British music through the years.

At some point in our theme park adventure it started pouring. The park looked abandoned and I felt like I was in a horror movie.

This is us soaked to the core.

But when the rain stopped, the people came back to play. Just look at the line ups. Thankfully at this point we got the rides out of our system and had some time for picys.

This roller coaster goes forwards and then goes around one more time backwards. EEEKK.

If you have little kiddies, there is a children's park tucked away for both young and old to enjoy.

Lastly, your Wonderland experience is not complete without funnel cake. It is embarrassing how many of these suckers I have consumed in my time. They are delicious.

So if you have a Saturday free, gather your friends/family/significant other and head on down to Canada's Wonderland. I guarantee you will have a super duper time. I know we did!

Do you have any theme parks near where you live? What is your favourite ride?

Toronto Beer Festival Pt.2

noreply@blogger.com (Anonymous) — Sun, 18 Aug 2013 00:23:00 +0000

Hello Friends!!

Yes, I know. I have been MIA for a little bit. Since I love you guys so much, I decided the only way for me to say 'I'm Sorry' is to give you two blog posts this week.

In my last post here, I let you follow me to the Toronto Beer festival. I showed you the vast variety of beer being consumed during beer fest.

Today its all about the festival itself and all the fun things you can do, while sipping away on your beer.

Along side yummy bubbly beverages, the festival was filled with unique food joints. Some of which I had never heard of, and some like Smoke's Poutinery which are staple Toronto fast food places.

To keep folks entertained, games like a bean bag toss, a beer bottle ring toss and random cut outs of people were placed randomly around the site for some good picture moments.

Of course, as my due diligence, I had to tweet about the fun I was having and pose with gentlemen in fancy dress.

Dress is from New Look from a year ago: similar here. Hat is from Romania ages ago: similar here. Sandals I got as a gift: similar here. Bag is from India: similar here.

One of my favourite parts of the festival, besides the booze (obviously) was the club like outdoor space sponsored by BudLight. Complete with a DJ, pounding songs, and drunken ppl dancing, it was like being on holiday on a tropical beach dancing away in the sun.

SteamWhistle had a huge school bus covered in their logo and colours in front of their beer tent and invited people to get crafty by making themselves ridiculous hats out of the beer boxes.

We took pictures of some true gems.

Throughout the festival, lots of giveaways were also happening, naturally involving social media.

Lastly, Clive's favourite part of the festival, was the apple smashing cage. Yup you read right! They had crates upon crates filled with apples, that you smashed against a blow up cage.

All in all, both Clive and I had a grand ol' time and were extremely hoppy (see what I did there) to be a part it.

Being invited to the Toronto Beer Festival really made me so proud of my little blog and how its has grown in the past year. It is no doubt thanks to you who read it and follow along my silly adventures in this amazing city, I can call home.

It really means a lot to me when I get your sweet comments, it truly makes my day.

Hope you've been inspired.

Beer Festival 2013 - Toronto Pt.1

noreply@blogger.com (Anonymous) — Mon, 05 Aug 2013 15:46:00 +0000

Hello Friends!!!

Toronto during the summer is transformed into a sunny metropolis filled with festivals that are the perfect way to celebrate all sorts of occasions, be it Pride Week, Carabana, or in our case BEER!

A Well of Inspiration was extremely kindly invited to the Beer Festival 2013 in Toronto last weekend.
So Clive and I mentally and physically prepared ourselves for some beer sampling and generally having a good time.

To be honest, I had never attended a beer festival, in Toronto or anywhere in the world for that matter, so I had no idea what to expect. Well, I was in for a surprise.

Because, we had so much fun and there was so much to see and do, I decided to write about it in two parts and give you guys a good low down of the event.

So lets talk about the main subject here and that is of course the BEER! (I'm a poet and I didn't even know it)

After you walk through the gates and they check your ID, you are given a cute half pint glass and a few sample tokens. Be aware that if you misplace your glass or break it, there is a charge to replace it, so make sure to keep and eye on it, or do what the Beer Festival veterans do and tie it around your neck with a shoe lace or lanyard. Wish I thought of that prior to attending.

Our Social Media tent was sponsored by Goose Island Vintage Ales and we had the chance to try both of their beer creations. I had Sofie, a light and fruity beer, while Clive tastes Matilda a darker hoppier beer. I preferred Sofie and later went back for seconds.

You can tell by the map just how many vendors and delicious beer brewers from around the world were in attendance.

We were extra excited to find the Brit tent as well and naturally had to pose with the Queen.

Unfortunately, New Castle Brown was not my favourite, as per my extremely pleased expression.

Alexander Keith's little space was my fav, they had a mini tour on how the beer is made and gave out almost full glasses of sampling even though we only asked for half. Good on ya Keith's.

The Moosehead tent was a close second of my fav tents, as not only did they give away free sunglasses, but they had good tunes playing with a dance floor surrounded by beer, including Twisted Tea, Hard Iced Tea, which I had like three times.

Cheers!

Stay tuned for tomorrow's part two!

Stay inspired!

Stone's Place

noreply@blogger.com (Anonymous) — Tue, 23 Jul 2013 16:23:00 +0000

Hello Friends!!

Living in London for two years gave me the chance to really get to know the city and all the fabulous places in it. I was always excited to go try new restaurants and party in new clubs. Case in point: Bodo's Schloss.

But when I returned to Toronto, I came back to a clean slate. I have absolutely no idea what place is trendy to go to anymore and what new restos and clubs have opened since I left.

So, I decided I would gather Clive, my besty and her man and go back to my favourite bar in Toronto, one that so far has stood the test of time and is as popular as it was two years ago. Stone's Place.

Stone's Place is a Rolling Stones themed bar. It is located on Queen West inside a dark bar that looks like someones basement from the 70s.

It has a very chill and relaxed vibe, even the dress code is casual, allowing for a very homey and welcoming feel. It is advisable to go early as after around 11pm it gets very crowded and sometimes impossible to get in. We arrived at 10:30pm and it was empty, the perfect opportunity for me to snap some pictures.

The music in Stone's Place has been described to me as music you would hear at someone's wedding, in the best way possible. They play rock and roll from the 50s onwards. It is perfect for those who love to dance like no one is watching and really let their guard down. It is also perfect for people like Clive who hate clubs with dance music and who prefer to grab a beer at the bar, find a pool table and relax with his buddies. Or perfect for someone like me, who loves cocktails and dancing the night away with her besties.

Stone's Place is owned by a guy who loved the Stones and during their hay day collected an incredible amount of memorabilia, that now hang on every corner of the bar.

I have come here many times before and will do so on a regular basis. The drinks aren't too pricey either, which may lead to some fuzzy memories:

All in all a perfect night!

Have you been to Stone's Place? What is your fav bar in Toronto, I need suggestions?!

Lakeshore, Toronto

noreply@blogger.com (Anonymous) — Wed, 17 Jul 2013 19:45:00 +0000

Hello Friends!!

Since moving back to Toronto with Clive, I have become a major tourist in my own city.

I get to relive all the fun touristy attractions that TO has to offer because I want to show Toronto off to Clive.

Lakeshore Boulevard/Road (depending on where you are) is a long stretch of road that runs across Lake Ontario. Here and there you can find marina's, restaurants, stretches of sand and beach and all sorts of fun things to do on the water.

Clive and I live very close to the Lakeshore in Toronto and we decided what better way to explore than by going rollerblading.

Now if you must know, neither of us are very good rollerbladers so the pictures of me below are me pretending I know what I am doing, when in fact, I was wobbling, tripping and trying very hard to keep my balance the whole way.

The views of the lake and the surrounding cities are gorgeous and offer a real solace and escape from the busy city life in TO.

Just look at how relaxed I look. Now that I am firmly planted on the ground ;)

Have you ever been to the Lakeshore? Or are any good at rollerblading for that matter??

A sea of Red and White - Canada Day Pt. 3

noreply@blogger.com (Anonymous) — Mon, 08 Jul 2013 22:29:00 +0000

Hello Friends!

Everyone is familiar with the expression "time flies" right?

When I was younger I heard this expression way too many times from my parents and my immediate reaction would be to roll me eyes, proclaim that they are just old and that this would never be any of my concern.

Boy was I wrong!!

The last time I was in Ottawa celebrating Canada day was in 2011, when I drove up with my best friend. Documented here.

Being back this time around, it felt like no time had passed at all, but really two years had flown by and my life was completely different, in a good way.

Here's what I got up to this year:

Canada D'EH....get it ;)

Surfing fitness. Best idea ever. The guy who invented this is a genius. I only wish I had his details. I would have totally passed it on.

This little fellow is my new celebrity crush. His name is Crusoe and he is a celebrity Dachshund. Check him out here. He's such a cutie.

This is me doing my best I love Canada jig.

The past three years I have celebrated Canada Day in a pretty epic way! I wonder what next year will bring.

Chris Hadfield, Carly Rea Jepsen, Metric...oh my

noreply@blogger.com (Anonymous) — Fri, 05 Jul 2013 20:25:00 +0000

Hi Friends!

To continue on from where we left of here. The end of the day before Canada Day, we got to watch the rehearsals for the big show the next day.
Unfortunately, we knew we could not stay into the night for actual Canada Day, so we decided to hang around and pretend.

As soon as we got there we heard Chris Hadfield perform and my brother became extremely excited.

He got to meet his idol and I paped him doing so.

As the night went on, we were graced by performances from Carly Rea Jepsen, Terri Clark and Metric.

This is Carly.

During the rehearsal downtime, we got a bit crazy infront of the Canada flag backdrop.

And basically made fools of ourselves.

Terri Clark

Metric

I am really glad we stuck around as the performances were really good and we got a sneak peek into how the production of the show is done before the big day.

Stay tuned for tomorrow, when we were surrounded by a sea of patriotic Candians in red and white.

Canada Day in Ottawa Pt. 1

noreply@blogger.com (Anonymous) — Thu, 04 Jul 2013 14:31:00 +0000

Hello Friends!

Nothing makes me more proud to be Canadian than to be around other proud Canadians.
One of the things I love most about this country is how patriotic our nation is, without being too in your face about it.

Last weekend was Canada Day. We celebrated by joining my brother and his gf and going to the nations capital, Ottawa, and having a good ol' beaver tail, maple syrup, Canuck time.

We arrived on Sunday June 30th and took it upon ourselves to check out the local sites, as my man toy had never been to Ottawa. He's British and in love with Canada, so naturally he was excited.

We even tried some beavertails. Clive had apple cinnamon and I had maple syrup butter and chocolate. YUMMM

Ottawa is known for its large market, called ByWard Market. It is very similar to a Spitalfields or Borough market in London. It has loads of stalls with many hand crafted trinkets.

You know you are in Canada when!

This lock is probably the most intricate I have ever seen. It starts off so low and comes all the way up as you see here. It takes a super long time as well. While we were there, there was a few boats waiting to cross onto the other side and it took at least about an hour, as they were still there after we came back.

This is the view of Parliament hill from the back. Such a lovely building.

We even came across Woddy Wood Pecker and his friend. They were so cute.

Then I decided I wanted to make myself a flower crown, but much to my dismay, I had forgotten how.

Thankfully Clive came to the rescue and made it for me. Go figure :)

Later we were joined by my bro and his lovely gf for some dinner and more sight seeing.

To think that just a year ago, I was celebrating Canada Day in Trafalgar square, smack dab in the middle of London with Clive. Oh, how far we have come.

Stay tuned for the rest of the evening, where we spent time with Chris Hadfield, Carly Rea Jepsen and Metric.

What is your favourite part about Canada Day? Are you Canadian? If not, where are you from and when is your national day celebration?

Let me know, as I would love to learn more about where you guys are from and what your traditions are.

My Favourite Makeup Brand: Red Earth

noreply@blogger.com (Anonymous) — Fri, 28 Jun 2013 17:13:00 +0000

Hello Friends!

Let me introduce you to my favourite makeup brand of all time.

It is Red Earth.

They are a Melbourne Australia born brand, who take their inspiration from the Earth, hence their name. Very hippy and nature inspired, just the way I like it.

I also absolutely love their description of the Red Earth Girl:

SHE'S NOT DEFINED BY HER AGE
OR THE COLOUR OF HER HAIR. SHE’S A WAY OF LIVING,
A WAY OF THINKING.

She’s the girl next-door, she’s the girl about town. She’s down to earth and intoxicating.
She’s certainly something. She’s definitely you.

I stumbled upon Red Earth ages ago, when I went to a huge warehouse sale for ESPRIT near the airport. They had the total Red Earth collection displayed and massively on sale. My mother and I went nuts and basically bought everything.

I wanted to showcase my favourite products on here that I still use to this day. I love them so much that when I run out, it will be a tragedy.

To make sure I am able to re-purchase these products, I did some research on the brand. During the time of purchase the brand was struggling and the products were discontinued, at least here in Canada.

It seems now the brand has re-launched a whole new collection while still keeping its old favourites (thankfully those include some of my favs too). They changed the look of the product and the packaging but I am sure that the quality is still the same.

Speaking of quality. The pigmentation is great, it lasts a long time and the application is super easy.

The first product I want to highlight is this illuminator (hehe see what I did there). The equivalent of this can be found on the Red Earth website here.

Its a beautiful pearl colour that goes on as a liquid and gives you a multi dimensional glow. I only use it when I don't have too much powder on my face, as I feel blending becomes a bit difficult.

My all time fav of all the products is this powder highlighter that I use pretty much everyday. It has a very neutral look and is quite shimmery. The equivalent of this product on the Red Earth website is here.

It comes with just the right size applicator sponge that helps it go on smooth and blends it out perfectly.

The last product I wanted to show you is this eye highlighter kit. It is unlike anything I have ever seen before as it has three different colours for different parts of the eye to really make your natural eye colour pop.

Unfortunately, I could not find the equivalent to this on their website but it is called: Winter Fire, Cream Eye Liner Palette. The colours in it are Metallic Olive, Metallic Wine and Metallic Silver. The best part is there is a little illustration on the back that shows you exactly how to apply it and where.

This is what all the products look like swatched.

These are all of my fav products from their line a while back, I do have an insane amount of eye shadows, a few bronzers and a couple more illuminators but they are all with my mother. She enjoys them immensely too.

If you are interested go check out their website here. The best part is they ship world wide and their prices are fairly affordable. Score!!

Let me know what your ultimate fav makeup brand is.

Prostate Cancer Canada - Father's Day 5K Run

noreply@blogger.com (Anonymous) — Thu, 27 Jun 2013 16:14:00 +0000

Hello Friends!

Running and I do not get along. I think the longest I have ever run is for 30min on the treadmill. To be frank, I hate running.

But when my dad asked me to participate in a 5k run for Prostate Cancer Canada on Father's Day, I could not say no. Of course I said yes.

So we gathered our famjam and raised some funds for the cause.

The run took place in a park really close to where my parents live in Brampton. So naturally we all gathered at my folks place and rose bright and early for some fun.

Now you would think in preparation, I may have trained super hard to make sure I did not die on the day. Well, this was not the case, granted I did go out a few times but not merely enough. On the day, I had to not only physically prepare myself, but mentally as well because I was not at all ready.

Either way, I told myself, I could do it and hoped for at least a nice sunshine filled day out with the fam.

The sun decided to be stubborn and did not come out until after our race was over, in fact, it was raining pretty hardcore when we got there, which also probably scared off many people into attending, as there were not too many people present.

As an event planner, I must say I was a tiny bit disappointed by the way it was planned and organised but honestly, at the end of the day, this is not what mattered. What mattered that we raised over $10,000 as a group in Brampton and really that should be the only thing worth noting.

See our fun below:

A little too excited..

Waiting for instructions.

The famjam team.

We had the Superdads come and entertain us. It was hilarious watching them dance and slip and fall on the rainy grass.

Then we had a good Zumba warm up, shaking our hips and genrally embarrassing ourselves.

Ready to go? Uhm..kinda.

There goes my Superdad!

That's me pretending to have a good time. I was dying inside.

But in the end we all finished and I ran my first 5k with only a few seconds stop here and there. I must say I am quite proud of myself. Naturally, Clive came in first, as he is insane, but overall we all had fun and I could see how much it meant to my dad.

It was a successful father's day indeed.

If you want to donate to the Prostate Cancer Canada foundation you can do so here. It is an amazing cause and will bring us that much closer to a cancer free life.

What were you up to for Father's Day?

Exploring Narnia...Ribfest and all

noreply@blogger.com (Anonymous) — Thu, 20 Jun 2013 23:06:00 +0000

Oooops I mean Sarnia!

Hello Friends!

The above has become on ongoing joke between Clive and I as we think so highly of our sense of humour. Its not that funny, I know.

Clive, the sweetheart that he is, asked me to tag along to one of his business meetings in Sarnia a couple weekends back. So I obviously said yes, as one of my goals is to explore more of Canada while I am back.

I'll be honest with you, before, if someone would ask me what I thought about Sarnia, my initial reaction would be: 'Why on earth would you want to go there, what do you even do in Sarnia?'

Well let the pictures speak for themselves:

After exploring Narnia...I mean Sarnia. We happened to hear on the radio that their annual Ribfest was going on and as we are both huge meat lovers, we jumped at the opportunity.

Unfortunately, I was a bit disappointed at the number of stalls they had, as there were only six, but apparently they were not even going to host it this year due to their original venue being closed down because of dangerous chemicals being present. I guess we can call ourselves lucky for being able to attend in the first place.

I also expected to be able to taste test each booth and properly vote for my favourite, but this was not an option as you had to buy at least a half rack portion in order to try the ribs. It was $13 for a half rack of ribs and if you ask me, that was a bit pricey.

Sarnia, I think for the future, you should do a $5 mini taste test option to allow for proper voting and then you choose to buy your favourite. Just a thought.

Thankfully, the six stalls were not the only attraction at the Sarnia Ribfest, as they had an abundance of kiddy rides and games, as well as little shops and booths for picking up some souvenirs All in all a good family outing.

But we were there for the ribs.

We ended up choosing between two stalls, based on what their ribs looked like on the grill and the fact that we had never heard of them before.

As they all had mouth watering looking ribs on the barbie, the first criteria was a bit of a difficult one.

As disappointed as we were with the selection of stalls and the price of the food, we were not disappointed with taste.
Boy, was it gooooood.
I can easily say that these ribs were amazing. It was hard to decide on my favourite.
We ended up choosing: Boss Hogs and Smokin' Joe's

Check out Boss Hogs here to get your teeth into their recipes. Unfortunately I could not find a website for Smokin' Joe's but you can check out the Sarnia Ribfest website here for more info on the vendors and the festval itself. They were both delicious and I am sad we could not stay and eat more.

Sarnia, you have impressed me, not only is your town clean, beautiful and scenic but it also helps that you are literarily right by the bridge to the USA. So if anyone ever asks me what I think of Sarnia, I say, go and find out for yourself, you wont be disappointed.

Moving to another country?!

noreply@blogger.com (Anonymous) — Tue, 18 Jun 2013 23:02:00 +0000

Hey friends!!

I decided to do another video! I've become a bit obsessed with filming myself...that sounds super vain...not in that way. I may like the sound of my own voice better lol

Either way, I was so inspired to tell you my story of why and how I moved to London and hoped to inspire you who are thinking about moving somewhere to take the risk and go for it.

Thanks for watching. Let me know if you are thinking of moving, or have moved. Would love for you to share your experiences. Hope you've been inspired today!

Wanderlust Tag!

noreply@blogger.com (Anonymous) — Mon, 17 Jun 2013 15:54:00 +0000

Hello Friends!!

I decided to film my first Youtube video.
Its called the Wanderlust Tag, all about one of my passions....Travel.

Would love to see some of your responses, video or written.

These are the questions:

The Questions:
1. Your most treasured passport stamp?
2. Can you recite your passport # from memory if asked? (Y/N, don't give out your info online please!)
3. Preferred method of travel; planes, trains or automobiles?
4. Top 3 travel items?
5. Hostel or hotel?
6. Are you a repeat visitor or do you explore new places?
7. Do you read up on your destination (culture,history,safety) or do you wing it?
8. Favorite travel website?
9. Where would you recommend a friend to visit? Name city & why.
10, You're leaving tomorrow, money is no option, where are you going?

"Seashells" - Ruche Summer 2013 Lookbook

noreply@blogger.com (Anonymous) — Tue, 11 Jun 2013 00:03:00 +0000

I love Ruche.

That is all :)

A meal above the clouds

noreply@blogger.com (Anonymous) — Thu, 06 Jun 2013 15:08:00 +0000

Hello friends!

A week ago my fiance and I celebrated my birthday and lets just say it was celebrated in style.
As he is new to this amazing city, he wanted to see it from the top, so he booked us into the 360 Restaurant in the CN Tower.

The restaurant is located just above the first observation deck and glass floor of the tower.
It sits at 351 meters (1151 ft.) high and rotates at a super slow pace so that you are able to get a 360 view of magical Toronto while you wine and dine.

Apparently it is most well known for its wine cellar "cellar in the sky" as it is the highest wine cellar in the world. According to the website it is "Created to resemble a typical underground wine cellar, ours features precision climate and humidity controls, redwood racks, double cherry doors, a 9,000 bottle storage capacity and a tasting table. 360features an award-winning wine selection of over 550 international and Canadian wines. "

Once you arrive to the entrance of the Tower you are ushered through a maze of hallways and made to go through the weirdest security entrance ever (you stand in the middle and air is blown at you from top to bottom). Than just before you get to the elevator that brings you up, they take a souvenir picture. We decided to forgo purchasing this as we believed it was a bit pricey. Also they print it out before you purchase and bring it up to your table while you eat and we both thought that was a huge waste of paper and not too friendly for the environment.

After your picture is taken you go up an extremely fast elevator that makes your ears pop and you get a glimpse of the view from its glass interior.
When at the restaurant you are asked to wait to be seated. We were lucky as we had quite a large booth all to ourselves.

Now the feast begins.

The menu is extensive, especially the wine menu. Because we did not know what we really wanted, we opted for their second option set dinner menu.

PEPPER SEARED ALBACORE TUNA

Chili, lime and jicama

TRUFFLE, POTATO AND OYSTER CHOWDER

Shaved fennel salad, smoked bacon, chive oil

BAY OF FUNDY MAPLE WOOD SMOKED ATLANTIC SALMON

Leamington Cucumber salad, capers and dill pollen

APPLE WOOD SMOKED PORK TENDERLOIN

Grilled sweet corn orzo, Swiss chard, Beamsville sour cherry chutney

SLOW ROASTED, AGED, CANADIAN AAA PRIME RIB OF BEEF

Rosemary bread pudding, summer vegetables, natural jus

DARK CHOCOLATE TOWER WITH SUMMER BERRIES

Raspberry coulis, vanilla crème Anglaise

APPLE CRUMBLE
with Vanilla Ice Cream

It must be said that as beautiful as the presentation of the dishes is, it really does not do the taste justice. The food was amazing. They really know what they are doing, especially for the price, as it is not cheap. I enjoyed every dish but my favourite has to be the smoked salmon. It was to die. I'm drooling just now looking at the pics and thinking back. Yumm.

For drinks, I chose their sweet Rose house wine, which was the best Rose wine I have ever tried. I dont remember the name but I know if was from California. Hopefully that helps.

Along side entry to the restaurant you are also allowed to go down to the observation deck and glass floor once you have finished your meal to frolic and play and admire the view.

And that is exactly what we did!

So put on your best dress and highest shoes and strut your stuff over to the CN Tower and go admire the view while spoiling your tummy with some delicious food.

Living the high life

noreply@blogger.com (Anonymous) — Tue, 04 Jun 2013 00:56:00 +0000

I'm back!

As most of you who read my little blog know, I moved back to Toronto with my fiance last month.
We arrived at the end of April and have been super busy figuring out life here.

We found an apartment right away and moved in 2.5 weeks after landing.

We bought ourselves a huge red couch, an super comfy bed and some other essentials. Although we still have an extreme amount of stuff to buy, it is coming together, slowly but surely.

On Victoria Day weekend, we spent the evening watching the fireworks go off all over the city, from our balcony, with the most amazing view.

Below are some other views from our balcony.

We really are living the high life ;)

Under construction

noreply@blogger.com (Anonymous) — Fri, 24 May 2013 04:43:00 +0000

My little blog is sick and in need of repair.

It being looked after and will be to its healthy lovely self soon.

Thanks for your patience :)

Wahaca's

noreply@blogger.com (Anonymous) — Tue, 23 Apr 2013 20:42:00 +0000

Hello Friends!

A few weeks ago my work friends took me to Wahaca's.

Now, I heard of this place prior to going, but all I knew was that it was a mexican resto made out of large storage containers on the Southbank in London.

That was it!

Boy would I be in for a surprise.

There was three of us that went and we ordered everything on the menu (ok so skipped on two dishes) but seriously, we ordered almost everything else.

The menus is made of wood!

The food was super. The restaurant is owned by Thomasina "Tommi" Miers apperentaly is a presenter on the Food Network. Yup this was news to me as well.

Wahaca is a resto inspired by Mexican street food and the major portion of the menu are tapas inspired dishes.

I would recommend getting at least two or three dishes per person as they are smaller in size. This however makes ordering oh so fun, as you get to try as much as you want.

I would also highly recommend the Churos with Chocolate sauce...holy moly!

Check out their incredibly confusing and crammed website here, trust me, dont judge them on their website, get yourself and your empty tummy over to the south bank and try their food. Not only will you enjoy some yummies but you will get a super view of the Thames while you are stuffing your face.

You're welcome!

Bodo's Schloss

noreply@blogger.com (Anonymous) — Mon, 22 Apr 2013 17:57:00 +0000

Hello Friends!

So I FINALLY made it to Bodo's Schloss.

It is an Austrian inspired, ski chalet restaurant/bar in the heart of Kensington.

After wanting to go there for ages and reading about it on Rose's amazing blog The Londoner here, I have been trying to make plans to go.

Trust me when I say, it is very hard to get a reservation here, unless you book at least a week in advance and for good reason.

I called a week in advance and could only get a slot of two hours at 6pm. I had originally booked for 10 people as it was for my leaving do (I am moving back to Toronto). I received an email asking for my card details and letting me know that with a party of over 8 we would be on a set menu and would have to reserve with my CC in advance and for every person that did not turn up I would be charged. NO THANKS.

Thankfully only four of us could make it. This left a bit more breathing room to choose our menu and I did not have to give them CC details.

When one of my friends arrived at 6pm, the place was empty. We sat and waited for our other two friends who were running late. At 6:30pm, the waitress came up to us and said that we better order without our other guests as we only had the table until 8pm and that she did not want to rush us. This happend twice more before the others arrived. They were so on the ball and timely that it made for a bit of a pressured eating experience.

However, the food was amazing and the atmosphere a very Austrian, I'm in a ski chalet and not in the middle of Kensington vibe. The staff were all super nice and might I add, extra good looking. The crowd is a mixture of posh kids with money to spend and young professionals looking to escape. Everyone was especially good looking here.

The schnitzel was the favourite of our group. It looked really good.

I had the stuffed dumpblings with sausages on a bed of sauer kraut and the cucumber and sour cream salad. Amazing.

After 8pm, we finished our food and stayed at the bar, with cow hide covered bar stools, where we drank some of the most delish cocktails I have had, while listening to oldies such as Whitney Houston and Mariah Carey.

This cocktail was called the King of Swingers and it was amazing, a better version of the Sex on the Beach.

At 9:30pm, we headed into the Discotheque and danced the night away, while taking several pictures with boys and their silly ski goggles and austrian feathered hats.

All in all, a worth while experience. As a warning, it is a bit pricey, especially the cocktails but this is something you would expect from a super popular bar in Kensington. I think if you put that out of your mind, its a great place to go to forget that you live in London and go party with some of London's elite.

Prost!