I didn’t plan on going but I just happened to stumble into the street festival . They closed off Yonge Street and it was packed with people. I’m glad I was not a driver in the area, with those pedestrians who have no idea how to watch the lights and cross the streets, so dangerous. Aside from many street performers, there were also many food stalls – from ribs, fried onions, corn, funnel cake, grilled peaches, fresh fruits from farmer’s market etc.
Enjoying my velvet latte out in the patio. Nice sunny weather with a great downtown view of the CN Tower. I love to street watch, counting the different Blue Jays and Tigers fan walking around the street. Also many Tigers fan looking at the street map to find directions. Baseball does bring good tourism into the city. It’s funny, people wearing Jays caps will say hi to the Tiger fans, no rivalry at all, oh Canadians.
They have now expanded to a second location downtown but my 2nd visit is still at the original store in Etobicoke. It was much easier to find the second time around. I wanted to try the braised beef rib pie but they were out so I tried the special smoked steak & cheese pie instead. Also, I got the fries as a side to try. The pie was very flaky, big chucks of steak and stretchy cheese. It was a little bit on the dry side, and not enough cheese. Other then that, it was a yummy pie.
The Pie Commission
935 The Queensway
Etobicoke, ON M8Z 1P4
It’s unusual to have a movie première on a Wednesday, and I went to watch it on the next day. It was an unplanned spontaneous moment. More like why not catch a movie after work instead of being stuck in traffic going home. The theatre wasn’t that packed, was able to get a good seat 20 minutes before the movie.
Now, many reviews of this movie has been negative, lots of splat green tomatoes but I thought otherwise. I thought it was a very exciting, action thriller movie. It’s not like MI-5 with the gadgets and stunts, but more realistic survival tactics just trying to stay alive. I find there was a good storyline and the action was so real, it was like I was with the family trying to escape. It was very touching and make you think about your own family and how they are the most important thing in the world. Owen Wilson was good, really took him out of this regular comedy actor and into a serious role to demonstrate his acting skills. The movie left me in a very emotional place …. sad … and how humans can treat others like this. I need to watch something more upbeat before I can fall asleep tonight.
I haven’t played with Lego since I was a kid. I forgot how much fun it is. This Big Bang Theory Lego set actually made me buy a set of Lego. I guess I’m a bigger fan than I though. The set was the famous sitting room of Sheldon & Leonard. They gave pretty good details on even the little things like the all the decoration on their walls and bookshelf. It wasn’t hard to build, took me about 2 hours to build, the instructions were very cleared and precise.
And of course, I was watching The Big Theory while I was building the set. New centre piece for my new place!
I can’t believe that August is fast coming to an end. Where did the summer go??? We got to take advantage of the summer weather while it is still here with us. Day trip today to Hamilton to check out some waterfalls. If you didn’t know, there are actually over 100 waterfalls in Hamilton. Out of them all, the most scenic waterfall is the Webster’s Falls, at 98 feet, it is the largest one of all. The Falls was pretty hidden, not many signs on the road to lead into good so make sure you google the directions. I was able to find it easily but at some points, I feel like I was driving into some hidden roads that are leading to nothing.
We got there pretty early, it was a quick drive to Hamilton, there were only a few cars in the parking lot. But as we came back from our walk around the trail, the parking lot was full and cars were evening parking on the grass. Good thing we came early. The trail was not really parked, it took as awhile before we figure out where the trail started. Along the way, some trees had the blue marking which shows that you were on the right path. There were a few side trails which we don’t know if we should walk, we stayed on the main trail.
Because it was summer time, lack of precipitation so the waterfalls was not as strong, not much water at the falls. Webster Falls, you can still see water gushing down but not at the max level that I have seen in pictures. They have closed off the stairs that leads to the bottom of the falls but of course, people don’t follow signs and still climbed over the fence to head down the stairs. We tried to go down the stairs but then half way through, they close the gate that connect to the other set of stairs. And in order to get to the other section to head down further, you have to climb up and down big uneven level rocks so we decided it was too risky and headed back up. It is also a large park where many families were getting ready for big gathering and picnics. The Falls is connected to the Bruce Trail which also leads to Tew’s Fall and Dundas Peak.
We then head over the Tew’s Falls. The walk on the trail was nice, there were lots of trees so it was shaded and not steaming hot under the sun. Plus we were walking in the morning so it was a lot cooler compared to the afternoon. Tew’s Falls was a bit of a disappointment. It was the tallest waterfall at 135 ft. but the water was dry up so you can’t see much waterfalls dropping down, the amount of water coming down was like in a shower.
We kept heading along the trail to Dundas Peak. It was about a 30 minute walk from Tew’s Falls. The peak was beautiful, get to look down to Dundas and Hamilton. There were lots of greens surrounding the peak. This will be a nice spot for the autumn with the changing colour of leaves. Perhaps we will be back later!
I was at a Farmer’s Market this weekend and brought some fresh organic kale (no pesticide). So I decided to make some homemade kale chips as a snack. So simple and save lots of $$ from buying the expensive pre-made ones which only have like 10 chips in a bag.
So easy, like 5 minutes prep time. Result is healthy tasty snacks! 🙂
This place is still a popular line up spot after 5 months of opening, and the new matcha green tea store opening next door just add more to the crowd. I refuse to line up and wait to buy their cheesecake and try so I haven’t tried it still. But today, I stumbled upon another Food market where they had a booth and was still not sold out of the cheesecake. As well, there was no line so I went for it. I brought both the original Japanese cheesecake and their new Matcha green tea cheesecake (which is till not sold in their store yet). It was for $10 each, reasonable price.
I tried them cold as I read from the reviews that it was best that way. Verdict: I like the original one over the matcha. The original one was soft, cream, you can taste the cheese. Some people have commented that it taste like the ones you buy in the Chinese bakeries but I don’t think so. These one taste a lot better than the ones I have eaten from the Chinese bakery. The matcha one had some red bean on the bottom, not every bite, there was matcha taste but I think that over powers the cheese so I feel like I’m just eating a matcha cake instead of a cheesecake. The matcha cake is also smaller compare to the original one.
Finally, I have tried them! I would go back for the original, but again, will not wait in line for them.
Been so lazy because I’m always glue to the TV to watch the Jays game most nights. Funny how I’m not exercising because I’m watching sports. Tonight the Jays had an off day so I had no excuse. It was a heat wave today but by dawn and because I was riding by the lake, it was not that bad. Once I started riding, I realized how much I love riding a bike. I rode for an hour and I found a new connection bike route that went all the way to Cherry Street to the T&T. So basically, I rode from Bathurst all the way there and back by the lake. I was able to capture this beautiful sunset wiht the TO skyline. Love living downtown!
Who can resist sweets?? For me, it is hard, I have another stomach from just sweets, even if I’m full, I will always find room. I was debating to go down and check it out or not but since the festival is just across the street from me, why not?? A 2 day weekend festival of all sweets. Apparently, the MasterChef Canada Christopher Siu was scheduled to show up for the 2 days but he sold out all his sweets yesterday and wasn’t returning. BOOOO!!
It’s located the at the parking lot, there was about 15 vendors or so with some food trucks, not too big. I didn’t eat lunch so I came to find some food. After roaming around to see what is there before deciding what I want to get. So many choices … but only limited room.
At the end, I decided these few selections:
If they are able to get even more sweet vendors, that would be cool. Also, if they can have some more seating to enjoy the food and not having people sit on the ground to eat.
My Beauty, Food, Life & Travels 