"Be A Kid For A Day" Scavenger Hunt

Part of the requirements for the Sport & Event Marketing program I'm in is to plan and execute a charity event. My friends in the program organized a scavenger hunt all across downtown Toronto and it was a great success. I made a group with Vivian and Becky and called ourselves The Thunder Thighs! It was 3 hours of walking and sweating. There were 25 clues scattered from Yorkville to Harbourfront and Spadina to Jarvis. Vivian did a great job at keeping us motivated. I don't know how she had so much pep. Becky was mute, trying to "conserve energy", haha.

Relaxing at Oasis Patio afterwards

We managed to get to all 25 places with 5 minutes to spare. I was so happy to see the Oasis Rooftop Patio! When we got to the finish line, there were a bunch of teams right ahead of us so we figured we were somewhere in the middle of the pack. The runner up and the grand prize winners got some pretty sweet gifts - tickets for a Leafs, Raptors, Toronto FC game, Sirius XM radios, and other gift certificates. And then we found out we were actually in third place...and we lost by mere minutes! I knew we should have taken the subway! It seemed silly at the time to spend a token going from Bloor to Dundas but I totally would have done it if I knew how close we were. Oh well. I'm still really proud of us for being one of only 4 teams who completed the entire race. And I won the Davids Tea prize pack in the raffle! It was a fun day, completely exhausting, but a lot of fun.

Now I need to get working on my event: An Olympics Opening Ceremony Celebration in support of KidSport on July 27 - save the date!

Dinner at Fraticelli's

Last Friday, my parents decided to go out for a joint 30th Anniversary and Father's Day dinner and asked me to pick a restaurant. I did a little research on Urbanspoon for nice restaurants in the Richmond Hill area and settled on Fraticelli's near Leslie/16th Ave. I had never been and was worried since the more reviews I read, the worse the service was sounding but it was ranked in the Top 10 for the area so I decided to just take the risk.

I wish I took more pictures but the lighting in there was too dark.

I made a reservation the day of and we got our table really quickly. Our waitress was really nice and suggested we order appetizers since the kitchen was busy. Even with the warning, I didn't think the service was slow at all. We got our food at a nice pace and all my worrying was for nothing. I really wish I remembered to take more pictures because the food was delicious and the portions were pretty big.
For our appetizers, we got:

• Fritto Misto ($13) - lightly dusted crispy fried calamari, shrimp, fennel and zucchini. Served with grilled lemon and garlic basil aioli.
• There were so many calamari and the shrimp was juicy and delicious. The lemon and aioli went with them perfectly. 
• Small Antipasti Board ($11) - a selection of Italian cheeses, cured meats, marinated vegetables and olives. Served on a wood board with grilled crostini.
• There's nothing fancy (like the meats and cheese you would find at Buca) but for $11, it was a good mix of foods. I also learned that I really like figs.

They also had complimentary bread that's warm and crusty on the outside and comes with a spicy oil for dipping.  By this point, we were already full but we still had our mains to eat!

• Mom ordered Veal Parmigiana ($24) - Romano crusted and topped with tomoato pomodoro sauce, melted provolone, mozzarella and friulano cheeses. Served with pappardelle noodles in sundried tomato pesto cream sauce. 
• Dad ordered  Spaghetti del Pescatore ($22) - fresh spaghetti, mussels, calamari, clams and tiger shrimps all tossed in a spicy tomato white wine sauce. Garnished with a lemon wedge and oregano. 
• I ordered the Contadina Pizza ($16) - Italian plum tomato sauce, provolone and friulano cheese, fiore di latte mozzarella, basil, crumbled Italian sausage, sauteed onions and rapini. 

My pizza was way bigger than expected. We saw some pizzas coming out of the kitchen and they were all circular and mine was this huge oblong shape, not that I'm complaining. The sausage was spicier than I expected but still delicious and  obviously the sauteed onions were a big reason I ordered the dish. Mom and I couldn't finish and ended up bringing half our dinners home for lunch the next day. Overall, I really liked Fraticelli's. The portion sizes were big, the prices were decent, the food tasted good, and the service was better than I expected. Hopefully it wasn't just a fluke.

Oh yeah, I also finished a glass of wine for the first time! Jules and the Cul de Sac Crew would be so proud! Well, it was really half a glass...I'm trying to like wine but my palette is clearly not refined enough. My parents pretty much drank a whole bottle of wine together and got drunk, haha. Happy Anniversary!

A New Member of the Family!

I'm a little late on the announcement but this little guy came into our world on Monday!

1 day old!

Say hello to my nephew, Nathan Alexander Loftus. Born on June 11, 2012 at 10:33pm. He's a tiny little bundle at 6 lbs 5 oz, 19 inches. Congratulations Michelle and Jay! I know it might be exhausting right now but you guys are doing great and you'll be awesome parents :)

Making Lunch at Home

My favourite kind of meal to make is one where I don't have to follow a recipe. It's really more of a "what can I find in the fridge and throw together?"

My mom had some leftover romaine lettuce in the fridge one day so I scrounged up everything I could find in the fridge and threw it in the bowl to make a hodgepodge salad. In went some tomatoes, cucumbers, strawberries, flaked chicken, feta cheese, and red onion. I added some walnuts for crunch and drizzled a mango chipotle dressing. Oh my gosh, it was SO good! It took me by surprise. It was a mix of sweet and salty and different textures. Yum! Who knew I would start craving salads?

Salad #2 was pretty tasty but it didn't live up to my first magical salad. This time around I threw in some blackberries and grapes along with tomatoes, cucumbers, feta cheese, and walnuts. It's a strange combination but it works. I like having different colours on my salad; it makes it look so pretty! Also, I recommend Kraft's Mango Chipotle dressing - it's perfect for bringing together a sweet summer salad.

My homemade pizza! I always go overboard with the toppings but it sure does taste good. I sauteed some onions until they turned a golden brown (you don't know how much I love caramelized onions, ugh so good!) and tossed in some leftover knackwurst from our barbecue the night before. Then I grabbed a naan, spread some pesto over it and placed my onions and sausage on top. Then I chopped some cherry tomatoes and fresh basil and threw those on top and baked the whole thing for 5 minutes. Not bad for an "emptying the fridge" meal.

Music Monday: Paul McDonald

Paul McDonald - Now That I've Found You (Ft. Nikki Reed)
Paul McDonald was one of my favourites from Season 10 of American Idol but once he was eliminated, I never really followed up with his music. He ended up getting married to Nikki Reed (from the Twilight series) and they made this really cute song together. Makes me wish I had a boy to sing this to.

Need My TV Fix

A screenshot of my followmy.tv dashboard. I can't believe I have no shows to watch, it's such a sad sight! What am I supposed to do while I eat lunch?

Joking aside, I love followmy.tv. Before I found it, I used to make a calendar on Excel that listed all my shows and then I would go on tv.com to find out the titles of the upcoming episodes to put on my spreadsheet. For each and every show. Man, I had a lot of time on my hands back in high school. Now I've got a website to do it all for me!

If you haven't realized it now, yes, I'm a TV addict. Check out my other blog, Ramblings of TV Addicts, if you're bored.