Mengrai Thai

Mengrai Thai is a restaurant. Nothing overly special, but definitely not horrible.

Price point: low-mid
Ambiance: 4/5
Food: 3.5/5
Service: 3.5/5
Would return again: yes

Harlem Restaurant

I've been here a couple times. Sometimes for food, or for drinks, or for music. It can be really cramped for space if you don't get a good table.

Price point: low-mid
Ambiance: 3/5
Food: 4/5
Service: 3/5
Would return again: yes

Jump

Jump is part of the Oliver & Bonacini family of restaurants. I've come to realize that this probably means that while the restaurant experience will be fairly decent, the food itself will be pretty mediocre. I should give Canoe another go at some point. I think the last time I was there was when I was a teenager. Maybe late teens or soon thereafter.

Price point: mid
Ambiance: 4/5
Food: 3/5
Service: 4/5
Would return again: yes

Sushi Kaji

I'm not a fan of wasabi. I don't like the taste of it. I'll eat the stuff that's hidden in the sushi and sashimi but I won't glob on anything extra. One of the pieces of sushi came with wasabi pearls, so I brushed them off and left them on the plate as I happily ate the sushi. While everyone else got a wasabi macaron with their dessert, my plate came with a yuzu macaron. And I had never said a thing. Now that's what I call attentive service.
Also, eating at the sushi bar when there's an open kitchen, watching the chefs artfully prepare their dishes and having the chance to chat with them is quite nice too.

Price point: high
Ambiance: 4.5/5
Food: 4/5
Service: 4.5/5
Would return again: yes

Fabbrica

Mark McEwan's Fabbrica is sort of out of the way if you're a downtown dweller without a vehicle but it's not too bad of a restaurant.

Price point: mid
Ambiance: 4.5/5
Food: 4/5
Service: 3/5 (It was pretty atrocious that night. Although the staff were very pleasant, I think we waited an hour for our main. They comp-ed us a dessert to make up for it.)
Would return again: yes

King West Kitchen

I thought that King West Kitchen would be decent because of its location. I was super disappointed.

Price point: low-mid
Ambiance: 4/5
Food: 2/5
Service: 2/5
Would return again: no

Yuzu

I hope my skimpy restaurant reviews don't overshadow the good quality places that I've dined at. I think I'll use this as a repository of my impressions of various restaurants so I know if I want to go back to them or not.

I will mention that each time I've been to Yuzu, it's been with people who are regulars. As in, they have their own personalized chopsticks that are kept at the restaurant for them. I've been on select days when the food will be really good and have never ordered a la carte. I think there's one 'starter' that's a la carte that we've always gotten, but everything else is really whatever the chef feels like making that night. It's definitely stuff that doesn't go out to other tables as well. The chefs that I've chatted with like the fact that they can experiment on us and let their creativity run wild. I haven't been disappointed with the food yet. The ambiance and service is good, but most likely because who I'm with. I'm sure it would be great otherwise, but it's nothing over-the-top special. And I can't comment on the price, because each time I've been, they just ring in random items because we never get anything that's actually billable. I'm sure we're undercharged each time. Point is, the food is amazing. And it's presented well. I would have to say that this restaurant has made me realize just how good sushi and sashimi really can be.

Price point: mid (I think? My experiences there probably aren't the norm and I'm not charged as such)
Ambiance: 4/5
Food: 5/5 (Again, I've gotten special treatment every time I'm there, so this is definitely a skewed review)
Service: 4/5
Would return again: yes

OINY

Does anyone get The Babysitters Club reference?

Anyway, only on 5th Avenue would you have Bottega Veneta and Forever 21 be neighbours.

And only in New York do you have Times Square and just one block over in Bryant Park, a skating rink and Holiday Market which makes me miss Europe oh, so terribly. I'll have to get roasted chestnuts while I'm here and I'm kinda happy that I don't have to content with the gluwein smell.

So I had thought that I might that this trip to splurge on a new winter coat and was hoping that Moncler would be the place to do it. I was surprise at how limited the collection was in the store. And of course, the one coat that I kinda liked was the one that they didn't bother putting a price tag on. It had this crazy (removable) fur collar. Wool on the outside, but parka-ish on the inside. I'm sure it's so cozy to wear.

And I think I need to give up on my hope that I will be able to own the Loewe bag that I've wanted for all of these years. My adventures in Europe this past summer turned up empty and the shop that carries the brand here in NY doesn't have it anymore. I'm actually devastated about this realization. I'm thoroughly hoping that the company will bring back the large logo format of the Amazona in the future. They've got to. Everything comes back at some point. Sigh.

Occupy _________

The Occupy *insert whatever location name here* thing that's been going on doesn't really interest me. Well, the actual issues that it stands for doesn't but witnessing the 'occupation' does. I think I'm running out of time to see people 'occupying Toronto' and I definitely won't have time to make my way out to their location until next week. Maybe I'll be able to see some Occupy Wall Street action while I'm in the city.

Random fact about me

When I get a migraine, my senses get hyper-sensitive. For example, I can't wear my gorgeous leather jackets because the smell of the leather is unbearable.

What the?!?

Apparently I used up $80 of my pay-as-you-go money last week. And those who know me knows that there's no way that I could have actually done it intentionally. I mean, I barely use my phone at all. The fact that I even have $80 on my account has got to say something about my phone usage. And I still have money left on my account! Darn cell phone doesn't stay locked in my bag.
So. Annoyed.

Random musings from high in the sky

On descent to San Fransisco, I recognize four things:
1. Alcatraz
2. Golden Gate Bridge
3. Stanford University
4. IKEA
I'm trying to read into these sightings more than I probably should.

I love flying at night and seeing cities lit up below. How it's a sheet of darkness interspersed with little clumps of lit up areas. A sign that there's life. And sometimes you can see thin lines of light connecting them. It's pretty magical.

Reno, Nevada (October 20-24, 2011)

Although I have traveled quite a fair bit, I really haven't had much of a chance to discover North America. This past weekend, I had the chance to visit Reno, Nevada. It was a long flight down. I had a stopover in San Fransico. A long one (thanks, "low hanging fog"). Anyway, I was pretty
exhausted on the flight out of Toronto and ended up sleeping most of the way. I did wake up at one point to see this lovely view out the window. I wish I knew exactly where we were. Can you see those faint lines on the ground? Are those really roads? Crazy.
The other thing that I couldn't figure out was what these round circles were. Alien landing pads, I'm sure!
I stayed in a pretty nice place while in Reno. A mini resort-type place of sorts. I haven't stayed at a place with a pool area like this in quite some
time. And of course seeing the Sierra mountain ranges in the distance was nice. But seriously, did it need to be so over-the-top in its Italian inspired decor? The stucco ceilings, gold gilded everything...it was a bit excessive. And a shocking contrast to the black walls and neon lights of the lobby interior. I guess there is no easy way to transition from Italian Renaissance to Gaudy Casino.
As I said, I haven't traveled much around North America. Especially in the States.
I didn't have too much time to do touristy things during this trip, but I'm pretty sure that there wasn't much to do. I'm really hoping that Lake Tahoe is very similar to Lake Louise because I can't see myself coming
back here anytime soon. Reno is, ummm, pretty sad.
I saw everything that there was to see in a 30 minute walkabout. Pretty depressing. Some 'highlights':
- University of Nevada and the big football stadium. The 'big-ness' of it was just so American. At least, my impression of American university life.
- Overheard while on the public transit bus: "My mom bailed on me. She took off. Last time, she took all of my stuff with her and sold it to buy dope. Hey, is that jewellery store still open? You can get $___ per 10g...if I'm going to get arrested today, it'll just happen. Oh, that sucks [pointing to a guy on the sidewalk getting arrested]. Hey, that's _____! Crap, ____'s getting arrested."
- A bride in the hotel wedding chapel wearing a bright purple poufy dress.
- I sorta get how to play craps now. And I've figured out how to play Pai Gow poker. I have no interest in playing them myself, but I like watching.
- Why had I never heard of the Cha-Cha Slide before this weekend?

I'm not entirely sure what's in the cards for me in the next couple of years, but this trip, seeing some sights and interacting with some people...it opened my eyes and gave me some new perspective on things. Everything happens for a reason, so in the meantime, I've just got wait it out and have faith.

Another thing

Pedagogy: pe-da-gah-gy or pe-da-go-gy?

Is this the to-may-to/to-mah-to of Canadian vs. American education researchers?

Tee hee

I get a little kick out of hear people say Toronto. I guess I always knew that 'we' call it Torono, but these past couple of days have really hit it home. Also, people love our city. That's no surprise though, it's amazing.

Find the baby bison

I knew that this was going to be happening awhile back but couldn't give more details at the time. This is so great on so many levels!

Bah ha ha ha ha!

I made $7.73 on the 1 cent slot machines here in Reno, so I cashed out.

A little kid at heart

Some of the movators in SFO are really bouncy. If there weren't so many people around, I totally would have hopped my way across them. Why is it a societal norm that adults need to act restrained and stuff?

What a rip off

$25 to check in a piece of luggage? Ridiculous. I'll have to rethink my strategies. My luggage is carry-on-able, but I like checking it in so that I don't have to worry about it while I'm waiting around in the airport and embarking and disembarking the plane. I know that most people like the convenience of grabbing and going, but I don't mind waiting for my luggage too much. Domestic AC flights are really slow to get the luggage out to the carousels at YYZ, but everywhere else I've been hasn't been too bad.
Anyway, $25 is super silly. I might have to downsize my ready-to-go toiletry kit. Or maybe just not take United Airlines again.

Probably not normal

Is it weird that after acquiring a package of math manipulatives I thought that it would be super cool if I put them in a nice little basket on my coffee table for guests to enjoy?
Among many other benefits, I think it would be a good conversation starter, something to keep folks busy and why not spread the mathy love?