Cookies and Tomatoes

Howdy!

2011-11-04T14:48:00.000-04:00

Missed Texan flight #2 - Solution: baileys and coffee with your 9am bagel

I had a great Hallowe'en weekend in Texas! Updates to come...one day :-)

Seattle :: Kabul Afghan Cuisine

2011-10-15T08:00:00.000-04:00

After our “hike”, we took advantage of the zip car to get a good look at the city. Not a bad skyline, Seattle! This view followed a decent dinner at Kabul Afghan Cuisine. A fast talkin’ owner and homey food made for a good stop in Seattle…

I was curious about the Ash Soup, which was flavourful and warm. I didn't care much for the noodles, but this soup would be lovely on a cold day!

We weren’t sure what to order, so we let the owner help us choose a random smattering from the menu. Mmmm. We had eggplant, lamb, some veggies, and kabobs. It came with thin, starchy bread and I reluctantly agreed to the bolani due to a boring experience in Mississauga.

I was pleasantly surprised! It even looked super different than the one I had previously tried. It was filled with green onions and potatoes, and you could dip it into the sauce for some garlicy goodness. Upon comparing the two, I am not sure if one is more "authentic" than the other - but is it wrong that I like the deep-fried version better?

We also tried the mushroom quorma, salata, Badenjan Borani (eggplant).

Good, old school homestyle food (or what I would call homey food - not sure what an Afghan might say...:-))

Seattle :: Vietnamese Crepes!

2011-10-13T08:00:00.000-04:00

I love flying around the west coast! Regardless of how many times I pass by them, I never get tired of the beautiful mountains…this time, I stopped by Seattle for a brief visit.

After watching the sun set at Olympic Sculpture Park, we made our way downtown for some Vietnamese. Not the typical Toronto pho haunt – the menu had all sorts of curious items. Too bad there were only two of us! We ended up ordering a Vietnamese Crepe (banh xieo), Vietnamese coffee and fresh spring rolls.

Yep, we ordered a crepe!

The thick eggy wrap surrounded shrimp, pork, and mung bean sprouts…

…I thought it was good but not the OMG crepe that people made it out to be. It could have been because we didn’t know you were supposed to wrap it in basil and dip it in the fish sauce…so maybe we missed out on the intended flavour combination? I didn’t think too much of the shrimp and bits of pork inside. Regardless, it was still enjoyed and their fresh spring rolls were plump. I think I need to try another banh xieo for comparison...my list of Vietnamese-must-try-agains keeps growing!

We patiently waited for our coffees to filter and enjoyed our last dish…

I’m a sucker for ordering things if I have no idea what they’ll taste like. This one was Vietnamese soursoup with shrimp. The green bits are bac ha (aka elephant ears…taro stems!). The food was good, but the waiter completely ignored us all night :-( I was thirsty and couldn’t wave him down, much to my friend’s amusement.

Overall, it didn't leave a bad impression on me and I'd return to try some other things :-)

Day 1 in Seattle!

Yellowknife :: Happy Thanksgiving!

2011-10-11T02:59:00.003-04:00

Well I did it! I have a perpetually growing list of things to do/see in my lifetime, and I knocked one off my list…

~~Travel somewhere new on my own~~ Follow my Oceania story here
Live somewhere new on my own (for at least 6 months)
~~Find a job I love~~ For which I think FSM every day
~~Climb Mt. Fuji~~ Check-ish - I reached the last station but the top was closed due to a typhoon
Explore every continent
Complete the Inca Trail to Machu Pichu
Complete a trek over a week long, if not two (El Camino de Santiago, maybe?)
~~See the Aurora Borealis~~ check!

So…this weekend, I felt like going to Yellowknife! I have to admit that the average reaction from my friends was a less PG version of “What is there to do in Yellowknife?”

A few answers:

Take a walk around Niven Lake

Fall in the lovely cold waters of Cassidy Point

Watch the beautiful Aurora Borealis dance along the sky

Enjoy a steamed almond milk while working away at Javaroma

Nosh on a bison burger at The Black Knight – a local fav

Pretend to be a local by stuffing yourself with turkey

Tumble down the Cultural Crossroads monument
Giggle like a child at Ragged Ass Road

Take a walk around Old Town

I'm in a list-y mood today.

I was surprised to unboard right onto the tarmac – passed through YZF and promptly passed out at my host’s place. Luggage was quite quick as there was only one plane to unload at the entire airport :P
Had a fantastic weekend – despite falling into a river – met great people, had delicious delicious coma-inducing turkey, and saw the Northern Lights!

I must say - Yellowknife is a great place, especially if you love the outdoors. Yes, it’s relatively small (18,000 inhabitants 1/4th of which is transient, I’m told!) but the work-life balance is fantastic, career opportunities for young professionals are great, and you can be out of work and canoeing down the river by 5:30pm. How tempting is that?

My cellphone had no coverage in this area (only Bell services Yellowknife; Rogers offers a lovely roaming rate of 0.90c/min (Canada-wide plan, my foot!) so I spent the weekend disconnected. It was nice. I reverted back to my trusty scribbled map on a post it and trip trapped my way to town.
On Friday, I was ecstatic to meet a friend from Guelph – what a nice surprise! I’ve unexpectedly run into friends in Seattle, Denver, San Diego, and Phoenix – but Yellowknife? Hellz ya.

We had lunch at the Black Knight and chatted about life in the Northwest Territories. I had the bison burger (not always available) which was a pretty good pub burger and my friend enjoyed her chicken burger. Eating out in Yellowknife was quite pricey (it’s remote and the competition is lacking), but no complaints at all about the service.

The sights and experiences that many of the young professionals have there are phenomenal! To see the Baffin islands, fiords, polar bears, and communities of 20 people…my travel bug’s feelers were definitely tickled. I especially liked how the licence plates were shaped like polar bears. Spectacular indeed :-)

I smiled when I saw the Yellowknife Heritage sign – for 1994. Oh Canada.

After working the day away at Javaroma (free wifi and friendly service!), I met J again after a few drinks we headed to Le Frolic. The fish was fresh and I enjoyed my first evening in Yellowknife with J & M’s good company :-).

The next day, I went for a walk to Old Town – due to some miscommunication, I ended up walking the Niven River Trail instead, which reminded me of my backyard back in Toronto as it’s on a wetland. I checked out a giant diamond at the nearby visitor’s centre – I am embarrassed to admit that I had no idea that we had diamond minds in Canada! I clearly need a lesson about my own nation.

Niven Lake & a giant diamond

Later on, we hopped into the car and drove along Ingraham Trail to Cassidy Point, where poor R had to paddle us across and his cute pup across Prosperous Lake since we only had 1 paddle. Good sport didn’t complain that I didn’t have boots and let me climb in from the shore. He wasn’t too impressed when I fell into the cold water…but then again, neither was I.

Big fish nets in hand, people were scooping up little ciscos to use as bait to catch whitefish along the Tartan Rapids. I got a little too excited and slipped in…sigh. Typical. Yellowknife 1, Erin 0.

“There are two must-dos in Yellowknife – see the Northern Lights and have Bruno’s Pizza” – C

And Bruno's Pizza was had. A also decided to make corn and pineapple pizza too – not bad :-) She made it from scratch! The last time I had homemade pizza like that was exactly one year ago. Thanksgiving weekends are not complete without pizza, it seems!

We drove outside of the city along Mackenzie Highway and – this is going to sound so cheesy – my soul positively smiled when I saw the rush of lights across the sky. We pulled over and I was positively amazed that my new camera (yes folks, I got a new one! Glacier-dropping, whisky-spilling, puppy-slobber be-damned. Amsterdam ended up claiming my trusty old cam).

Apparently they can get even stronger, which I’ll see on my next visit!

I was extremely grateful that R took A and I around to see the lights, as the rest of the weekend was quite cloudy – we didn’t make it out to the river again (maybe for the best, all things considered) but I did enjoy a walk around Old Town. It’s really interesting how the houses are built here, due to the land-related challenges. Permafrost, bedrock, and silt lead to some interesting buildings – such as wooden houses on bedrock or houseboats on the water.

On the way to Old Town, I stopped by a few studios and clambered up some bedrock to get a view of the city. I saw a random teepee structure on top, and my climbing addiction led me up there – work flats and all (my shoes were still wet from falling in the river!). I was distracted when I spotted several painted handprints on the edge of the rock, and promptly tripped, tore my left flat, and squealed as I rolled to avoid planting my face against the bedrock. Sigh.

Yellowknife 2, Erin 0.

It turns out that it was a monument – Yellowknife Cultural Crossroads, carved in dedication to “all peoples of the North”.

I couldn’t help but laugh at myself when I reached Pilots’ Monument, as it offered a city view – probably to stop silly tourists from climbing random bedrock and falling on their face. As a recently immigrated local said, after hearing about my river trip, Way to go Toronto! I swear, I've been outdoors before!

A good wander around Old Town led me to Bayside Cafe (lovely service, not-so-great cappuccino, can’t comment on the food) and I spotted a few interesting things in the area – a log cabin in the works, a rusty propeller, and some interesting houses:

Last, but certainly not least, I made a point to walk down Ragged Ass Road

…complete with a definition of ragged ass and history of the road.

This was my first Thanksgiving away from my family. Instead of the usual sushi-turkey-japchae combination, I suppose it was a little more Canadian with marshmellow candied yams-turkey-homemadepie. J kindly invited me to not one, but two Thanksgiving dinners – I’m stuffed for a week!

Only true artists can make homemade cranberry sauce in the shape of a can!

New Zealand :: Road Tripping to Rivendell

2011-10-07T08:00:00.000-04:00

Better late than never! It seems like the only time that I get a chance to write these days is when I’m 35,000 feet in the air and too zoned out to work!

I've become very attracted to posterous' integrated slideshow function - I'm tempted to make the jump and migrate over there. I'm currently using blogger and Windows Live Writer, but I'm sure there are better applications out there...suggestions?

In an attempt to hang onto blogger, I'll try Google's slideshow out...but it doesn't have the nice little thumbnail view that I found so appealing in my friend's blog.

North Island Road Trip - Day 1!

Harcourt Park

After gearing up for our North Island journey with a visit to the market and the grocery store we took off for our first destination – Harcourt Park. Sound familiar? Nah, didn’t think so – but if you remember the scene from Lord of the Rings where Liv Tyler called for a wave of aqua horses, then maybe you’ll recognize this. The park also had a rainforest area (this was only the beginning of the amazing mish-mash of New Zealand’s nature) and really random looking numbered…things.

Does anyone know what they are for? I’m guessing some sort of game.

After we wandered around the forest, noticed funny trees (the pinecones were growing all along the branch!), and winding vines we hopped back in the car.

Along the road, we stopped to take photos of interesting things…firstly, these mysterious rainbow coloured shells:

And second…the breathtaking landscape. I never grew tired of gazing at the rolling hills and mountains in the distance

:

I am a lucky lucky girl :-)