Saturday morning, I was set to take the train in to downtown Toronto. I wasn't impressed that I was put on a bus instead of a train, and I definitely took advantage of writing politely nasty emails this morning on this incident. Nonetheless, I made it in to downtown around 11am and walked about 10 blocks to the MEC. I spent over an hour there looking at backpacks for my trip to Europe. I wasn't planning on buying, but I wanted a more expert opinion on how I should go about planning my packing. My cousin Sharon was bringing me her bag to use anyways, but I wanted to see sizes of other bags too. I am under consideration for getting a hiking/camping daypack, but made better use of my money (aka. food).
Vernon came by to get me, where we dropped off all my stuff in his car, went to lunch on Spadina (mmm Swatow..) just off Dundas. A tiny hole in the wall chinese restaurant, Vernon tells me the place is really good. He was right, and I thoroughly enjoyed my (excessively large) lunch. After lunch we walked along chinatown and in the little malls randomly. I got fruits and et cetera things for my aunt for chinese new year, and we headed a bit north of the craziness to find a coffee shop to sit and talk. After all that, I was dropped off at my aunt's place where Sharon and I (hungrily) awaited for Kean to come home so we could have dinner.
After dinner, we went to Market Village to peruse some of the chinese festivities going on before heading to the temple on Bayview. Unfortunately, right in front of temple while we were getting in the carpark line, we were side-swiped and the driver side fender of Sharon's car is now dented and scratched up. The police that were policing the intersections didn't see it happen, but it was very loud inside the car, and clearly forceful enough that it left a good amount of damage and fast enough that we didn't catch any plate numbers. I guess we can be lucky that it happened just prior to midnight and we didn't start off the Lunar new year with an accident on our hands.
The carpark line took around 30 minutes and there was a standing line of over 30 minutes to get into the temple itself. We made it TO the temple for midnight, but with the waiting line, we unfortunately didn't make it in until after 1230am. We did the regular temple-y things and hung around for a while before making it home. What a late night...
Sunday mornings are meant for sleeping in, but not at my aunt's house. My uncle wakes early and speaks loudly, leaving little ability to sleep in. Not to mention it was new year's day and the plans are to go to temple on Bathurst for the vegetarian lunch. We took the bus there, since it's not really that far away, and were met with lines (again) to get in temple.
I really have to say, that when asians amalgamate into large groups like this, they really are the rudest people I have seen. Events like this are clearly drawing the older asian crowd, and needless to say then, the irritatingly stubborn crowd. When I was in the basement with my family eating lunch, one of the monks had to announce on the microphone for people to stop pushing and shoving, because an elderly lady was pushed and fell down the flight of stairs. Sharon and Linda came separately and so they were a bit behind us, and saw the lady afterward sitting on the floor with blood coming down the side of her face. And yet, despite all this, these close minded irrational asians continued to push and shove, like they wouldn't be getting lunch if they didn't clamour over everyone else and force their way to the front of the line. Words can't even begin to describe the disgust I feel when I see masses of asian people and how rudely and idiotically they behave.
After visiting the 3rd temple of the weekend, my aunt asked me if I wanted to go to chinatown with her to spend the afternoon shopping and watching chinese festivities. Sharon probably knew what I was thinking, and (thankfully) stole me away to go with her to meet friends for coffee a little ways away.
6 girls in a coffee s hop on Valentine's Day means for a very very rowdy bunch for a couple hours. We went to La Merceria on Portland and Adelaide, a very cute cozy little coffee shop tucked away in a high-rise area of downtown. We all got some specialty coffees and sat there for what seemed like hours gossiping about everything about each other like all girls do.
My soy milk mocha, with a chocolate heart for Valentine's Day.After coffee, we went to see Annetta's new apartment which is just a few blocks away. In a barely completed complex, her junior 1 bedroom pad was fantastic. So clean and modern with the unfinished ceiling look, my favourite thing was probably her cupboards! Designed to be ultra quiet and sleek, they are spring loaded to close quietly and with minimal effort on the user's part.
After spending a while there, we decided it was dinner time, and walked to Sushi Time on Queen West. I had told Kendra I would hold my sushi-belly for Wednesday at Hockey, but I didn't really want to go back to my aunt's to have more vegetarian dishes, so I opted to get non-sushi items at dinner instead. The restaurant started to fill up with couples, so we group of 6 girls stuck out just a tad. Dinner was fantastic, and I was satisfied with the portion size and taste. We headed back to Annetta's to watch Modern Family.
On Monday, I had planned with my other aunt for dim sum lunch in Scarborough. My cousin Winnie picked me up in the morning and we met up with her family there. The restaurant had a Lion Dance while we were there. A staple for every chinese function, the dance was very long and the drums started giving me a headache. We left after a rather unsatisfying lunch (it was very busy, but I was disappointed in the lack of dishes), and Winnie and Ray took me to Destiny for bubble tea. Ray took me here last time for dim sum and bubble tea, and I was rather fond of their chic modern decor. Winnie and I tried to order a crepe, but we were informed it would take 20 minutes for the crepe machine to warm up (whaaaat?!) so we opted out. Finally having satisfied my Toronto bubble tea fix, we headed off to the 401 to go back to Guelph.
In Guelph, I showed Winnie and Ray my home, and we chatted before heading to Squirrely's for dinner. Thankfully they were open (albiet quiet), and gorged on nachoes and beer battered fish and chips. The nachoes left much to be desired, with a lack of cheese and seemingly any spice but the fish and chips were fantastic. Having ordered way too much food, I packed it up for Ray to take home to eat the next day (or that night), was dropped off at home, before my cousins made their way back to Toronto again.
Kendra came over shortly after and we talked about our crazy busy weekends and watched some Olympics before finally calling it a night. What a weekend!
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