(no subject)
Usually I only post a journal update when something interesting happens. And since things are generally pretty monotonous, I don't post too often.
My little girl and I are in Toronto this weekend, in part to celebrate our 13th anniversary (heh, guess we should be careful about this year, then)...
Thursday and some of Friday were spent picking up the house and organizing a bit, for my birthday get together on Friday -- thanks again for stopping by, FA and Q. Anyway, I don't like coming home from a trip to a messy house, so that was taken care of before we had to leave.
Packed up the kids, and my little girl took them over to my parents' house in the early afternoon, while I finished packing stuff up. We got out the door, and made decent time to Toronto, arriving around 5 or so. When we arrived at the hotel, I started checking the wireless access points, but was only able to find some relatively distant ones that didn't really work very well, except for IMs. FA, thanks for letting us know you were online, otherwise it would have been a little challenging to find the night club.
We walked around on Queen St for a bit, and hit up Yonge. Heh, walked so far north on Yonge that my little girl decided she didn't want to walk back, and wanted to take the subway back. But that actually worked out pretty well; she's been wanting a bottle of Absinth -- the real thing, complete with wormwood -- for a while now, so we stopped at an LCBO asking about it.
Hill's Absinth ("Hill's" being the specific brand, made in the Czech Republic) can now be purchased relatively easily in Canada. It's controlled as much for the wormwood as it is the fact that it's 140 proof. The first girl I spoke with didn't really know we were looking for Hill's Absinth for a reason, but fortunately there was a guy there that _did_ know. They didn't have any at that location, but would have some on Monday. Hmm... We're supposed to be heading back to Buffalo on Monday, so I asked if there was another LCBO that would have it. He said there was, at Yonge and Summer Hill, and they're open until 10PM. Cool.
So, we're getting a bit peckish at this point, and stop in at an Indian restaurant before going any further. I ordered lamb vindaloo, and ordered chicken tika masala for my little girl. I asked for mine "very hot", and the server looked at me like I might have been kidding. She then asked where I learned to eat it like that. Kind of an odd question to be asked, eh? But anyway, it was pretty tasty, and I even asked for a side of rice to put the rest of the sauce on, so it wouldn't be wasted. Oh, and "sweet lassi" is really tasty, too. It's like a sweet yogurt drink. The sugar and dairy helped to cool the vindaloo down a bit. ;-)
After we're all set with dinner, we head out, and find the nearest TTC station. We head north to find Summer Hill, and found the LCBO. This particular LCBO is a big one, with lots of fun scotches to choose from. But, that's not why we're there... We eventually find what we're looking for... Hill's Absinth! At ~$90CDN for a bottle, that's my little girl's anniversary present. She forgot to bring her absinth spoons, though, and we don't have any sugar, either... We stopped at the Dominion at College Park, and picked up water and sugar cubes. A fork on a room service tray in the hall served as the absinth spoon, and I prepared a drink for my little girl, in the "bohemian style", with the burning of the sugar cube. It makes this neat blue flame, and caramelizes the sugar while the 140 proof alcohol burns.
We pre-gamed for a bit, before heading out to the "Fun Haus"; her with her absinth and me with the "Red Label" I picked up at the border. That worked out really well, given how expensive the drinks are in TO, and the fact that we didn't have to drive. We sure did get our use out of the $8 day pass for the two of us...
We went to the Fun Haus, and arrived at like 11:30 or so. It was a good mix of old music (i.e. not sure if this was the intent or not, but it seemed like everything they played was released between 1985 and 1990), mostly alternative, including The Cure, Depeche Mode, Nine Inch Nails, and others. Rachael and I took turns recognizing the tracks; usually we both had it figured out within a measure of each other. A couple of silly tracks thrown in for good measure, from Cindi Lauper, Madonna, and Prince... It's starting to sink in that we're getting older; I'd guess that less than a quarter of those in attendance were under the age of 30. Anyway, had a good time, but pulled the eject lever the instant they started playing sons of moses... Sorry, can't take that whiny cheese metal voice. I think they did it on purpose, though; it was well past last call, so it was time for them to start clearing the dance floor anyway.
So, we stopped by one of the many take-out places that were open at this hour -- a middle eastern place, and we split a falafel plate. I felt sorry for the people working there, though; seemed like they had to put up with a lot of abuse from the drunks.
Came back to the hotel, and got a dog with fries. I gave the guy a couple extra dimes that I had in my pocket, and so he offered some gravy to go with the fries. Hey, can't say no to gravy! :-)
Woke up around noon or so, and headed out to chinatown. Wandered around for a bit, and picked up a couple things. Went into an oriental supermarket, and bought more Pocky than you can shake a stick at, none of which we had found locally before! Including green tea!
Stopped by a Chinese place for lunch. I ordered schezuan pork, and she wanted hunan beef. Quite tasty, but the hunan was better.
Came back to the hotel, and my little girl took a nap.
Kids are apparently doing ok, but haven't really spoken much with my father through IM, so not really sure of the details. No indications of any problems, so with any luck, we might be able to do this more often for just an evening, so my little girl and I can go dancing! :-)
We're now going to be heading out to find a Japanese place... Mmm... Sushi...
My little girl and I are in Toronto this weekend, in part to celebrate our 13th anniversary (heh, guess we should be careful about this year, then)...
Thursday and some of Friday were spent picking up the house and organizing a bit, for my birthday get together on Friday -- thanks again for stopping by, FA and Q. Anyway, I don't like coming home from a trip to a messy house, so that was taken care of before we had to leave.
Packed up the kids, and my little girl took them over to my parents' house in the early afternoon, while I finished packing stuff up. We got out the door, and made decent time to Toronto, arriving around 5 or so. When we arrived at the hotel, I started checking the wireless access points, but was only able to find some relatively distant ones that didn't really work very well, except for IMs. FA, thanks for letting us know you were online, otherwise it would have been a little challenging to find the night club.
We walked around on Queen St for a bit, and hit up Yonge. Heh, walked so far north on Yonge that my little girl decided she didn't want to walk back, and wanted to take the subway back. But that actually worked out pretty well; she's been wanting a bottle of Absinth -- the real thing, complete with wormwood -- for a while now, so we stopped at an LCBO asking about it.
Hill's Absinth ("Hill's" being the specific brand, made in the Czech Republic) can now be purchased relatively easily in Canada. It's controlled as much for the wormwood as it is the fact that it's 140 proof. The first girl I spoke with didn't really know we were looking for Hill's Absinth for a reason, but fortunately there was a guy there that _did_ know. They didn't have any at that location, but would have some on Monday. Hmm... We're supposed to be heading back to Buffalo on Monday, so I asked if there was another LCBO that would have it. He said there was, at Yonge and Summer Hill, and they're open until 10PM. Cool.
So, we're getting a bit peckish at this point, and stop in at an Indian restaurant before going any further. I ordered lamb vindaloo, and ordered chicken tika masala for my little girl. I asked for mine "very hot", and the server looked at me like I might have been kidding. She then asked where I learned to eat it like that. Kind of an odd question to be asked, eh? But anyway, it was pretty tasty, and I even asked for a side of rice to put the rest of the sauce on, so it wouldn't be wasted. Oh, and "sweet lassi" is really tasty, too. It's like a sweet yogurt drink. The sugar and dairy helped to cool the vindaloo down a bit. ;-)
After we're all set with dinner, we head out, and find the nearest TTC station. We head north to find Summer Hill, and found the LCBO. This particular LCBO is a big one, with lots of fun scotches to choose from. But, that's not why we're there... We eventually find what we're looking for... Hill's Absinth! At ~$90CDN for a bottle, that's my little girl's anniversary present. She forgot to bring her absinth spoons, though, and we don't have any sugar, either... We stopped at the Dominion at College Park, and picked up water and sugar cubes. A fork on a room service tray in the hall served as the absinth spoon, and I prepared a drink for my little girl, in the "bohemian style", with the burning of the sugar cube. It makes this neat blue flame, and caramelizes the sugar while the 140 proof alcohol burns.
We pre-gamed for a bit, before heading out to the "Fun Haus"; her with her absinth and me with the "Red Label" I picked up at the border. That worked out really well, given how expensive the drinks are in TO, and the fact that we didn't have to drive. We sure did get our use out of the $8 day pass for the two of us...
We went to the Fun Haus, and arrived at like 11:30 or so. It was a good mix of old music (i.e. not sure if this was the intent or not, but it seemed like everything they played was released between 1985 and 1990), mostly alternative, including The Cure, Depeche Mode, Nine Inch Nails, and others. Rachael and I took turns recognizing the tracks; usually we both had it figured out within a measure of each other. A couple of silly tracks thrown in for good measure, from Cindi Lauper, Madonna, and Prince... It's starting to sink in that we're getting older; I'd guess that less than a quarter of those in attendance were under the age of 30. Anyway, had a good time, but pulled the eject lever the instant they started playing sons of moses... Sorry, can't take that whiny cheese metal voice. I think they did it on purpose, though; it was well past last call, so it was time for them to start clearing the dance floor anyway.
So, we stopped by one of the many take-out places that were open at this hour -- a middle eastern place, and we split a falafel plate. I felt sorry for the people working there, though; seemed like they had to put up with a lot of abuse from the drunks.
Came back to the hotel, and got a dog with fries. I gave the guy a couple extra dimes that I had in my pocket, and so he offered some gravy to go with the fries. Hey, can't say no to gravy! :-)
Woke up around noon or so, and headed out to chinatown. Wandered around for a bit, and picked up a couple things. Went into an oriental supermarket, and bought more Pocky than you can shake a stick at, none of which we had found locally before! Including green tea!
Stopped by a Chinese place for lunch. I ordered schezuan pork, and she wanted hunan beef. Quite tasty, but the hunan was better.
Came back to the hotel, and my little girl took a nap.
Kids are apparently doing ok, but haven't really spoken much with my father through IM, so not really sure of the details. No indications of any problems, so with any luck, we might be able to do this more often for just an evening, so my little girl and I can go dancing! :-)
We're now going to be heading out to find a Japanese place... Mmm... Sushi...