Saturday, December 31, 2005

Happy New Year! I'm back from the hols.

That was some vacation. First, some observations about Toronto.

(1) You need to queue to get into LCBO on Christmas eve. Someone commented, "This is new to me, I just moved here from Winnipeg." Right, it's new to me too. After all, it is possible to get alcoholic beverages from every grocery store and depanneur across the river in Gatineau.

(2) Best Buy's boxing day sale starts at 7 am, and by 7.30, the queue to get into the building was already snaking round the back. By the time we got in, the Sony wireless speakers were sold out.

Next, some observations about the strike in Mont Tremblant. I had lots of fun despite it.

(1) Rent gear from Yves' Sports in the "old" Mont Tremblant village (opposite the post office) instead of at the "Intrawest" pedestrian village. It's less expensive and there is no queue picking up gear the afternoon before.

(2) Someone commented that Intrawest has been moving people from hotel to hotel as they are short on housekeeping staff. Well, we had our own chalet and did our own housekeeping, so it's irrelevant to us.

(3) The direct-to-lift SkiMax tickets came in really useful. Not only are they cheaper, you don't have to queue.

(4) While the strike is on, the number of people per day is limited to 6000 in order to prevent ski lift overload. That's about a third of the usual number visiting this time of the year. As a result, the queues at the ski lifts were acceptable even though many lifts were not operating.

(5) An impressively large number of runs were still open, but the "Edge" and "Le Soleil" were closed. There was fresh snow over the weekend, so conditions were excellent for the most part. Later in the week, extra care had to be taken on some slopes as snow making was not operating, and some were not machine-groomed the night before. But there were signs warning you of possible ice for those.

Monday, December 19, 2005

I like house parties

OK. No more backdated posts.

House parties are nice. They're much better than going to some public place like a club or a restaurant. I'm wondering though, if the proportion of house vs. non-house parties increases as one gets older. Go figure.

Persian food in Ottawa

Still catching up on backdated posts...

December 4

Looking for Persian food in Ottawa? Try Saffron Restaurant (426 Rideau St at Chapel). Went there for D's birthday. I am no expert at Persian food but I like it better than Persian Cuisine Express (340 Laurier Ave W at Bank). Another Persian hangout is the Boofs at a totally out of the way location (730 Industrial Rd).

The only place in Toronto where you cannot find good food

Still catching up on backdated posts...

December 6

On the way back from London ON after an interview at the Toronto Pearson International Airport. This is probably the only place in Toronto where you cannot find good food. Well, go with the crowd. Casey's On Stage looks like the busiest. Not too bad after all.

Looks like the couple sitting next to me was thinking the same way. Apparently they missed their connection to St. John NB while returning to Canada from Miami. They were quite excited to hear that I was originally from Singapore as their son has married a Thai girl and moved to Thailand, where they have since visited a number of times.

I also learn that it is possible to watch the Toronto Maple Leafs play in Tampa Bay for only US$20 during the regular season. Wow! That's really cheap compared to the tickets for home games at the Air Canada Centre, or games at the Corel Centre in Ottawa.

Sushi Party

Still catching up on backdated posts...

November 19

The best way to get sushi in Ottawa? Make it yourself. A sushi party. What a great idea!

Best Greek Restaurant in Ottawa

Catching up on backdated posts...

November 25

The title says it all. It's Pilos Restaurant on Montreal Road east of Aviation Parkway (876 Montreal Rd).