Hello, Old Friend

The last three years I never visited our cottage, not even once; there was nothing there that appealed to me. The 3 hour car ride, the pesky mosquitoes, the 80+ steps to get down to the lake, the lack of Internet; the cons heavily outweighed the pros of going. Over the summer my friends were unsuccessfully planning a trip to Niagara Falls and since I was too lazy to look up hotels, I offered to spend Labour Day weekend up at the cottage instead.

The second I unlocked the front door and walked in, it was like seeing an old friend again and being reminded of old memories. There was the kitchen table where my family always sat at the same familiar seats. There was the big living room where my cousin Anthony taught me how to throw a football while my aunt yelled at us to play outside. There was the white table we all sat around playing bridge and I always hoped to be the "dummy" so I didn't have to think. There were the bunk beds where I would lie awake looking up at the wood ceiling and see random images in the wood knots.

Maybe it's the fact that I'm older and can now appreciate the tranquility and open air of the cottage or maybe it's just the new cleaner flooring that we put down but the cottage didn't seem so bad anymore. The car ride didn't feel quite so long - I'm sure the 1.5 hour commutes to school that I've gotten used to helped. There was not a single mosquito! And it was nice to take a step back from the computer and relax in the sun. The hike up and down to the lake was still a killer though.

Over the Thanksgiving weekend, I joined my parents and my aunt and uncle as they headed north to close up the cottage for the year. It was only a short visit but I'm looking forward to returning back next summer.

King of the Rock!

 

My parents are currently on vacation in Portugal and then they're off to Spain, the Canary Islands and Morocco. Have fun you two! Miss you already :) ....and bring me back some gifts!

Delicious Food and Adorable Nephews

I've been a terrible blogger. I have all these blog post ideas but when it comes down to it, I've been too lazy to write. To make up for the lack of updates, here's some pictures of food and babies. Everyone loves food and babies!

Braised Beef Cheek Banh Mi

Nicole and I went downtown to check out Banh Mi Boys and I have to say, it's worth all the hype. We lined up for a quite a while (one line up to pay, another one to get food) but the wait was worth it. The two of us shared the Braised Beef Cheek Banh Mi ($5.99), the Pulled Pork Banh Mi ($5.49), and a Fried Chicken Steamed Bao ($3.49). We were stuffed but it tasted too good to stop eating. My favourite was the braised beef cheek, followed closely by the fried chicken. In a surprise shock, the pulled pork was my least favourite! Still pretty tasty though.

Danette and I celebrated our 23rd birthday with dinner at Mercatto. The York girls bought one of my favourite cakes: Dufflet's Lemon Raspberry Cakelet. I don't think I've ever been dissatisfied with a Dufflet cake. The girls also bought me new Toms for my birthday. Yay! My big toe was starting to peek out from my old ones.

Last Tuesday, I celebrated my birthday with my closest high school buddies at Joey Don Mills. Love those girls! Finally got around to trying the lobster grilled cheese and it was just as good as I was hoping. I also thought it was a nice touch that they offer complimentary wine and appetizers while you're waiting for a table.

Now on to what everyone is waiting for: pictures of my adorable nephew, Nathan! I think I may have visited my sister almost every day last week. Nathan's too cute to resist! He's just over 3 months now and getting so big. His smiles are the best :)

Future Mumford & Sons Fan

While my sister took a nap, I had some bonding time with Nathan. We listened to Mumford & Sons - I sang along while Nathan waved his arms to the music. So much for trying to get him to sleep. We did get a few yawns and droopy eyes to "Awake My Soul" and "After The Storm". Mostly though, Nathan just laid there looking adorable (and occasionally farting, haha).

Striking a pose for Yee Yee

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 :)

New York City: Day 5 - April 25

Last day in New York! Our flight wasn't until the early evening so my mom and I spent the morning visiting the last few places on my "NYC List".

While waiting for Macy's to open, we did a bit of shopping at H&M. We didn't have any room left in our luggage for more clothes but we did have space for accessories! In hindsight, I should have bought an umbrella there - first rainfall back in Toronto and my umbrella broke :( Also, I was watching Fashion Star the previous night in the hotel and that show is much more interesting when I actually have a chance to buy the clothes in stores the next day. To waste more time, we browsed Old Navy. There were a few basic striped tees I wanted to get but I figured they would have them back in Toronto and I didn't need them desperately. Turns out we don't have them in Toronto...why?!

Macy's finally opened at 10am and there were so many people rushing to get in! You'd think they were giving away free handbags or something. We walked all nine floors of Macy's and our feet were dying. We went up to the 9th floor specifically because they were selling furniture up there and we figured we could rest on a couch...but there were sales clerks at every corner! It was so hard to find a spot to hide from them, haha.

At 11pm, we headed back to The New Yorker Hotel to lie down on our bed (5 days of constant walking and shopping, exhaustion was finally catching up) and then we checked out by noon. For lunch, we decided to check out one of New York's best pizza joints: Grimaldi's. Their original restaurant is in Brooklyn but we went to the one on 6th Avenue. Funny story: I had the address of Grimaldi's written down and we were standing at the right intersection but I couldn't find the restaurant! We were standing right across from it...I was not expecting it to be inside a church!

A "small" regular pizza - mozzarella, tomato sauce, basil

The pizza was delicious and super thin. I don't know if I would call it the best pizza I've ever eaten but I'm not that picky with my pizzas. As long as there's no mushrooms or olives, I'm good. After lunch, we walked over to Madison Square Park. The plan was to get a shake from Shake Shack but we were too full (and the line was long) so we just rested on a bench, checked out the Flatiron Building and enjoyed the sunny weather instead.

Our view of Empire State Building from the park

One of the places I've always wanted to check out in the States was Pinkberry. I know we've got Menchie's and a bunch of other frozen yogurt places in Toronto now but I still really wanted to go. Thanks to my pre-vacation researching, I knew there was a Pinkberry in Koreatown so off we went!

I was expecting Pinkberry to be self-serve like Menchie's but everything is behind the counter. The guy working there was really nice and asked if it was my first time. He helped explain everything and let me taste test their yogurts. I ended up going with their peach frozen yogurt and lychee (the Asian in me couldn't resist). To top it off, I got mango, strawberry, sliced almonds, and granola. It was a great mix of flavours and textures. I know I've only been to Menchie's once but I really thought Pinkberry's frozen yogurt was way better. It's not cheap but it sure was a delicious indulgence.

By this time, I ran out of places to check out on my NYC list and my mom is never any good with deciding where to go so we went back to the hotel. We still had a few more hours to waste before heading to the airport but I was tired and admittedly, getting annoyed with my mom's indecisiveness. I planned our whole trip and the one time I asked her to decide what to do, she couldn't decide on anything! I also like being super early at airports so we decided to just check out our luggage and head to LaGuardia. I had a pretty good idea of how to get to the airport but we decided to double check with the concierge at the hotel. Um, they don't know anything. They gave my mom some roundabout route and said after getting off the subway we would have to take a taxi when we knew for a fact that there was a bus since we were on one just 5 days earlier. I don't know if they were doing it just to persuade us to take a taxi but I decided to ignore whatever they said and just go my own way. I was worried about rush hour crowds but everything went off without a hitch and we didn't even have to wait for the bus to the airport. Success!

We were 2.5 hours early for our flight and we found out that there was another flight to Toronto in 20 minutes. They put us on the standby list and we powered our way to security (which only took like 5 minutes) and got to the gate with 10 minutes until takeoff. I felt like we were on The Amazing Race! And then we found out it cost $75 per person so...never mind. Maybe it's all those long commutes to school but I'm totally cool with spending an hour listening to my iPod and doing a crossword.

After a delayed flight and finishing up the latter half of The Descendants, we were home! I love travelling and visiting new places but there really is nothing like home.

New York City: Day 4 - April 24

Two more days to go! Let's get cracking.

New York has been known to have some of the best bagels so after doing some research, I decided to check out Murray's Bagels in Greenwich Village. They've got a great selection of bagels to choose from; I ended up going with their garlic bagel and my mom chose the Health Grain. I don't know what it is but their bagels really do taste pretty darn good. I am a carbs girl though so I'm happy snacking on any fresh bread.

We got our bagels buttered but it wasn't really necessary.
I scraped off a lot of my butter.

After getting our bagels, we walked over to Union Square to eat our breakfast. Then we took a walk around Whole Foods (they've got special escalators for shopping carts!) and we did a bit of shopping at Forever 21 (where Michelle got separated from Nicole and me two years prior, hehe).

As I mentioned in a previous post, we went back to Rockefeller Center for the third and final time. My mom bought her customary magnet souvenir and we returned to Uniqlo (yet again) to do a return. The stores are so big in New York; when we walked into Uniqlo I knew we had been there before but we went up the escalator and it was like we were there for the first time, nothing looked familiar! Turns out the first time we were there, we took the stairs and missed a whole chunk of the store. 

30 Rock!
5 points to Mom for spotting the Canadian flag first (not pictured)

I was watching Gossip Girl one day and the moment I saw Blair lining up outside a Laduree store in NYC, I knew I had to go there. It's funny that I've had their macarons twice (thanks Michelle!) but have never actually stepped foot in a Laduree store. Their macarons are a little pricy but they really are the best. We bought a box of 6 for my sister to return the favour and bought two for ourselves to enjoy in Central Park.

Such a cute display of macarons!

We kept going back and forth on the subway going downtown and then uptown and then back downtown (yay for Metrocards!). I forgot all about Strand Books when we were at Union Square so we went back down to check it out. It's like book heaven! We browsed through the books and I ended up getting a Hooty the Owl Pouch as a souvenir.

By this time, we were looking for something to snack on since we weren't hungry enough for an early dinner but we also couldn't wait until Death of a Salesman was over to eat - so Pommes Frites was the perfect place to go! It's a tiny little place near NYU I read about online. They only serve fries but they have an extensive list of sauces to choose from ($1 each). The guy working there was so nice! He gave us a sampling of different sauces and some fries to test out. My mom liked the Mexican ketchup (a mix of jalapeno, cilantro, and a bunch of other stuff) since she liked the spicy kick. The guy also gave us the Parmesan Peppercorn sauce on the house since it was his favourite. After finding out we were Canadian, he also offered some gravy (since they serve poutine) but we were too full.

The bottom of the cone had little crispy bits, yum!
Green sauce = mexican ketchup; white sauce = parmesan peppercorn
Red sauce = Especial (frite sauce, ketchup, and raw onion)

After a nap and some freshening up at the hotel, my mom and I headed up to the Barrymore Theatre to watch Death of a Salesman featuring Philip Seymour Hoffman and Andrew Garfield (and Fran Kranz, woot woot! haha). We were there early so we walked over to Duffy Square at Times Square to sit on the red steps and do some people watching.

I spy Nick Jonas!

I was in the same room as Andrew Garfield! :)

The play was super intense. I read the play before we went to New York but it was way more dramatic in person. Kudos to Philip Seymour Hoffman and Andrew Garfield; the two of them were amazing. There's so much emotion behind every word they say. I can't even imagine having to be in that fragile state for 6 shows a week. Also...Fran Kranz! Even when he's playing the super geeky Bernard, I can't help but love him (Reminder: I need to re-watch Dollhouse).

All I could think while watching was: ARMS!

Aww, I just wanted to give Andrew Garfield a big hug at the end :(

Seeing Death of a Salesman on Broadway was half the reason why I wanted to go to New York City. It was as good as I expected and it's obvious how talented Andrew Garfield and Philip Seymour Hoffman are. Tthere may have been a tear or two of mine...

New York City: Day 3 - April 23

Before any of the stores opened, my mom and I took a walk in Central Park. The paths were still a little wet from the rain the previous night but at least it wasn't raining anymore. It was a nice stroll but I'd still like to go back to Central Park one day when it's warm out and the lawns aren't blocked off.

Walking down Literary Walk. It's so pretty in person!

Pretending to be a model in Central Park

After walking a big U at the park, we checked out the Apple Store on 5th Avenue. I have no idea why but I always wanted to walk into that glass cube. Next door was FAO Schwartz. We browsed through all the toys and checked out the "Big Piano". I got super dorky when we were in the book section and I saw a bunch of old children's books I used to read. They've also got a big candy section called FAO Schweetz. They have the best gummy bear selection I've ever seen. I bought some mango, pineapple, peach, and green apple gummy bears. Yum!

LEGO Statue of Liberty in FAO Schwartz

Scooping up some mango gummy bears

We continued our walk down 5th Avenue stopping at Uniqlo (yes, we bought more clothes), Joe Fresh (it looked so upscale in comparison to being in a Loblaws!), Saks 5th Avenue (where I fell in love with clothes I could never afford), and Urban Outfitters (almost bought a pair of Toms for $48, no tax!). Lunch time rolled around and we were in the Rockefeller area so we stopped there for lunch at Cucina & Co. where my mom and I shared pasta and some veggies from the salad bar (stay tuned for another visit to Rockefeller...). Once our bellies were filled, we continued our walk to the New York Public Library and Grand Central Terminal.

Outside the New York Public Library.
The lions are nicknamed Patience and Fortitude. How cute! :)

Grand Central Terminal with the Chrysler Building in the back

Inside the Main Concourse at Grand Central

Because our feet weren't tired enough yet, we headed down to the Soho and Chinatown area to check out other neighbourhoods in New York. I found the Topshop in Soho but sadly couldn't find anything to buy. The Chinatown in New York was surprisingly cleaner than I expected. I read that the Chinatown Ice Cream Factory had some of the best ice cream in the city so I made it a mission to find it.

So many choices! They even have a Linsanity flavour!

They had a big selection of flavours including common Asian flavours like Red Bean, Taro, Ginger, and Black Sesame but I decided to go with their Lychee Sorbet. Pat on the back for picking a good flavour, haha. The lychee flavour was delicious and there were bits of lychee in it too. Yum! I was going to find the Georgetown Cupcakes store (made famous on TLC) but by this point, we were too full to eat more.

After a break at the hotel to rest our feet and get hungry again, we headed down to West Village for dinner. We couldn't decide on one place so we decided to get take out from two places: A Salt & Battery and Benny's Burritos! In hindsight, we should've ate the fish fresh instead of bringing it back to the hotel but it was still pretty tasty.

Fried haddock fish.
They've got great homemade tartar sauce!

Chicken burrito from Benny's Burrito. Jealous, Nicole? :)
P.S. I think their tacos are better, haha.

Sidenote: I know it looks like I'm on this trip alone but my mom didn't want to be in the pictures!

New York City: Day 2 - April 22

It poured on Sunday. In the morning it was just a light drizzle but it got worse and worse as the day went on. Nevertheless, we still tried to do as much as possible without letting the rain put a damper on things.

Quick breakfast at Dunkin' Donuts

We started the morning off at the Dunkin' Donuts across from the hotel. Their iced tea was $0.99 any size. I got a sweetened lemon iced tea but I can never get used to the flavour of the iced tea in the States. I tried a peach iced tea also from Dunkin' Donuts later in the day and it was disgusting. The cheese bagel twist my mom and I shared for breakfast was good though. I saw Nicole's favourite Bavarian Creme Donut but it was too much sugar for me to eat in the morning.

In the morning, we shopped at Herald Square - Forever 21, Victoria's Secret, H&M, and Uniqlo. I love how enormous the stores are in NYC. Everything is so neatly displayed and it's easy to find your size. Also, no tax for clothes and shoes under $100! I bought a bunch of tops from Forever 21 and Uniqlo. Can we please get a Uniqlo in Toronto? I love that store!

We headed to Rockefeller Centre after and hunger struck so we grabbed 2 slices at Harry's Italian Pizza Bar. The pizza was pretty good but it could just be because we were incredibly hungry. It's funny that I wasn't hungry at all while we were shopping and the minute my mom noted it was past 12pm, I couldn't think of anything else but getting some food into my stomach.

Pepperoni and Sausage slice

Rockefeller built all in LEGO

We took a walk around 30 Rock, checking out the NBC Experience Store (so tempted to buy a "Troy & Abed in the Morning" cup!), Anthropologie, the Lego Store, and Radio City Music Hall. In comparison to the last time I was in New York, there was considerably less people and only one crazy fool skating in the rain.

After a quick break at the hotel to drop off our purchases, we headed down to West Village. I love that each neighbourhood in New York City has a different feel. We browsed a few Marc Jacobs stores and my mom bought me the Classic Q Natasha purse as a graduation gift. I still feel really guilty for spending so much on a purse but I loooove it! It's the perfect size for me and I love that I can wear it as a shoulder bag or cross-body. And it will always stay in style. Every girl needs a classic black purse.

By this time, it was pouring and it was getting annoying juggling an umbrella, my purse, a map, and trying not to get the Marc Jacobs bag wet. Before we headed back to the hotel, I gave my mom a little tour of where I lived the last time I was in the city and we made a stop at Magnolia Bakery (made famous on Sex and the City). The bakery smelled good but I was disappointed to find that the cupcakes were self-serve and the service wasn't very friendly. I guess that's the downfall of too much success?

Outside Magnolia Bakery

Pistachio Cupcake - almost forgot to take a picture.
It was super moist but had too much icing

Red Velvet Cupcake - it was alright, nothing special

By night time, my mom and I were exhausted from walking all day and the rain didn't make going out look appealing so we headed down to Tick Tock Diner once again. I promise, it was the last time we went (but it was tempting to go back one more time for waffles). We shared a big bowl of Tomato Basil Spaghetti with meatballs and side salad as well as a plate of onion rings.

Dinner at Tick Tock Diner

To end the night, we watched The Amazing Race and Game of Thrones in our hotel room. Free HBO! Joffrey and his weird sexual fetish made the night a little awkward....haha.

New York City: Day 1 - April 21

After a quick flight to LaGuardia (I only managed to watch half of The Descendants), my mom and I found the bus stop at the airport and took a ride to the subway. We didn't realize that the E line was closed and were confused for a bit since the subway car said "E" but I figured out an alternative route and we made it to The New Yorker Hotel!

Our home for the next 5 days. It was a nice size but the
walls were thin and the water pipes were so loud!

Our view from the 36th floor. We could see
the Empire State Building and the Chrysler Building!

Once we got settled in, we headed to Times Square to grab some lunch at Shake Shack. There was a lineup outside but it wasn't too bad and the weather was nice. As per my sister's recommendation, we shared the Shake Stack, a cheeseburger topped with a crisp-fried portobello filled with melted muenster and cheddar cheese. I'm not a fan of mushrooms but even I have to admit, it was delicious.

Shack Stack, French Fries, and a Strawberry Shake

After lunch, we headed to the TKTS booth under the red steps in Times Square to buy Broadway tickets. We lined up for about an hour and 15 minutes (waiting for the ticket booth to open); I panicked about not getting How To Succeed in Business tickets while my mom took in all the bright lights, signs, and masses of people at Times Square. In the end, we got great center mezzanine seats for $85 each (40% off original price).

Taking a walk in Times Square

In Times Square, people were taking pictures with Muppets and Disney mascots that were walking around. The characters looked so fake though. I kept calling them creepy pedophilia mascots - who knows who's under those costumes?! On a more positive note, we stopped at the M&Ms store and bought some coconut M&Ms and mint M&Ms. They're so good! How come we don't have them in Canada?

The coolest T-Rex at Toys R' Us. It moved and made sounds!

We couldn't decide where to go for dinner and we didn't have much time before we had to get to the theater so my mom and I ended up having dinner at Tick Tock Diner below our hotel.

My Chicken Pesto sandwich with sweet potato fries

Mom's Cobb Salad. Gotta make sure we eat some veggies!

After dinner, it was Broadway time! The first thing I did when I got in was check to see the cast for the night and hallelujah! No understudies today! (I'm still bitter about Hunter Parrish not being in Spring Awakening last time I was in NYC and he's not on Godspell anymore. I totally would've watched that too.)

How To Succeed in Business Without Really Trying was so good! It's everything I imagined a Broadway show to be: great catchy songs, fun dance numbers, bright costumes, and some comedy thrown in. I'm so used to seeing Nick Jonas being quiet and reserved so it was a nice surprise to see him so enthusiastic and he's got great comedic timing. Speaking of which, I loved Michael Urie as Bud Frump. It was like watching him as Marc St. James from Ugly Betty again. The show was so much fun! I would totally watch it again.

All in all, it was a great first day in New York City. If I only had one day in NYC, I wouldn't mind going to Shake Shack + a Broadway show again.