[Super Duper Fantastic] ISFP/INFP. 4w5. World Explorer. Super Hero. Rose-colored Glasses.

How is it possible to dedicate three separate posts to the same day? It’s the only way when you like to jam-pack your days the way I do! I’d rather not make my posts more than a few scrolls long.

In the evening, we took a walk through The Annex since the housewarming party was in the area. I made sure to try poutine the first chance that I got, which happened to be at The Acme Burger Company.

It’s French fries topped with fresh cheese curd, covered with brown gravy, the perfect late-night splurge. Definitely not part of an everyday diet, but it can be delicious, especially after a few drinks! After the housewarming party, we wandered around the neighborhood alleys to check out the art. The first thirty shots on my camera in Toronto must have been graffiti art.

At one point in the evening, we were standing in front of Lee’s Palace, a music venue that opened up in the mid-80s, talking to the owner about the mural out front. In 2009, due to the overload of pigeon compost and crap behind the front of the building, the building had to undergo some renovations, and the mural that originally went up in 1986 came down. After getting rid of the pigeon compost and crap, they were able to get the artist of the original mural, Runt aka Alex Currie, to come back and paint the venue’s new face.

Here are some articles I found regarding Lee’s Palace’s new face. Of course, this post would be incomplete without photos of the mural:

Totally random. Totally cool.

After wandering about the markets of Toronto on Saturday morning, Naly and I met up with a group for a food crawl in Little India. The crawl would visit five different spots in the area, but we would only tag along for four.

The first stop, Motimahal, was a very simple-looking eatery. We ordered vegetarian samosas to pad our stomachs for more food to come. I also ordered a mango lassi, which I drank rather quickly since the group was ready to head on to the next place, Udupi Palace. It was good, and I wish I had savored it.

At Udupi Palace, we all ordered dosas on the recommendation of the gal leading the food crawl. Tasty, but not anything I cannot find in the Bay Area. In fact, upon looking at the photo of the menu above, I now see their other locations, mostly in California. Update: There’s one in San Francisco, actually!

After filling up on dosas, we didn’t really have room in our bellies for the sugar cane at India Paan, but we still walked by the stand because it was on our way to the next stop, Bombay Chowpatty.

This was more of a snack joint and video store. I was pretty filled up from the samosa and dosa, so I just observed what was ordered by everyone else. Looked yummy. Here’s the Dahi Bhalla – lentil dumplings soaked in cool whipped yogurt with tamarind chutney topped with roasted cumin and cilantro:

I didn’t catch the name of this one though:

Naly and I left the group before the crawl actually ended to pick up some desserts for the housewarming party in the evening. She considered getting mangoes.

Ultimately, however, the Indian desserts at BJ International won.

I arrived in Toronto on a red-eye thanks to Virgin America’s new routes from SFO and LAX to YZZ. There were plenty of crying children and babies on board too, so if I caught any z’s at all, it was less than a wink of sleep. Needless to say, I was a little delirious upon landing and as a result, not as nervous about meeting Naly and Ben.

I was super lucky because her parents picked me up from the airport AND even lent me a car for the weekend! With Naly as my navigator, seeing the sights of Toronto on Saturday was a breeze.

We started off at the Kensington Market where I tried a butter tart.

There was this shop right across the street from where we were sitting that I had to ask Naly about:

As we walked through the area, what stood out most to me was the abundance of art.

I was absolutely fascinated and snapping away! We headed over to a different kind of market after that – St. Lawrence Market.

I love that most of the street signs in Toronto indicate what neighborhood you are in.

These folks were in line for the free corn. It went along the building and almost around a corner, so no, I was not in that line. Plus, corn on the cob and braces DO NOT get along.

These recap posts are photo-heavy, so I am splitting them into sections! Next up: Little India, Taste of the Danforth, and more graffiti art.

More Toronto photos: here! I’d love to add captions to them all when I have the time.

I visited China with my family one summer. I don’t remember exactly how long ago, but it was quite some time ago.

The quickest way to get around in the city we were visiting was on the back of a motorcycle. At the time, I was not sure whether my fear was of being transported by a stranger [and potentially kidnapped and sold on the Chinese black market] or if it was just being transported on a motorcycle.

Maybe it was a little bit of both…
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Eating: I started the day off with breakfast: some berries, Thomas’ Bagel Thins topped with a cream cheese mixed any way you liked. I opted for something savory and packed with goodness: salmon, cucumber, capers, onions, and green onions.

I took a photo:

And a photo was taken of me taking that photo:

More Eating: After packing up my belongings and all the Healthy Living Summit swag and checking out of the hotel, I went down to breakfast for round two. No photos this time! I found out about a group heading to get some deep dish, so I jumped on board for that. We walked up to Gino’s East:

Some of us ordered the vegetarian and spinach ones to share.

I’m not big on pizzas, but being in Chicago, I HAD to try the deep dish. There was little more crust than I liked, but in terms of flavor, yum. I like that it’s a milder sauce that doesn’t make your face scrunch up from how sour it is!

Drinking: After the tasty deep dish experience, I parted ways with everyone else and made my way up to Goose Island Brewing Co.. When I asked the hotel for directions on how best to get there, the concierge mentioned how far it would be… It was NOT that far! I bought a day-pass for the public transit, so it was a quick ride and walk.

For $8, you can sample four of the beers on tap. From left to right: 312 Urban Wheat Ale, Nut Brown Ale, Oatmeal Stout, Matilda.

Per Melanie’s suggestion, I also tried just a sip of their Bourbon County Stout. Yum, but strong! After the four-beer sampler, I wasn’t about to order a full glass of this one.

While sipping on the beer, I struck up conversation with two guys [Aldo and Juan] sitting next to me. Juan was from the area, so in addition to giving me his souvenir glass from the brewery tour, he also kindly offered ideas on where to walk around before my evening flight. I didn’t take a photo with them, but they do have my blog info, so if you happen to be reading this, HI ALDO! HI JUAN!

Walking: He had suggested Wrigleyville, so after finishing the various beers, I headed up to Wrigley Field.

I loved how easy it was to get around. If it wasn’t so hot and humid the rest of the weekend in Chicago, I probably would’ve gotten out there and explored more. With a little bit of time leftover, I hopped back onto the train towards the Loop.

More Drinking: I stopped in at Intelligentsia as I’d heard others raving about it. Now that I’ve checked out their website and found their multiple locations [including CA], I’ll have to ask my LA friends about it.

I ordered an Iced Mocha, which was quite tasty.

With the walking, the heat, and later the carrying of all the luggage to the airport, I’m sure I burned off whatever I consumed during the day. I highly suggest those 1-day, 3-day transit passes for anyone visiting Chicago. It makes the trip a lot easier on the pocket [less than $6/day when a trip is usually $2+].

Despite the various festivities on Saturday evening [core fusion yoga class, boxing class, Zumba class, Chicago food tour, which I was late on signing up for], I decided to join a small group for dinner at Brasserie Jo. It was a nice walk, only about half an hour long with comfortable temperatures. If Chicago was that way all day long, I wouldn’t have wanted to leave!

French cuisine and delightful company – it was great to break off from the larger group setting and into a much more intimate one!
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Before the day officially began, I joined a group of gals for a morning stroll across the street through Millenium Park. My camera battery was still dead, so I had to make do with the phone’s camera.

It was early, and the fountain wasn’t quite up and running yet.

Not sure why the water seems to be spraying the statue in the face… Hehehe. We also walked by Saturday morning tai chi in the amphitheater.

Here’s the Bean again. Since it was early in the morning, it was not so busy, and I managed a shot with no bystanders.

And a group photo taken by Jennifer [pictured above, taking the photo]!

And this one is from Jessie – photo of me taking one of the photos above:

I arrived in Chicago on Friday morning with Stacy, the friend from Milwaukee with whom I had been staying. The train only took 1.5 hours, so it saved on the stress of driving in and potential traffic. From the train station, it was a walk through downtown with my luggage. I stopped along the river to pose for a photograph. I look happy here because I’d not yet trekked through the heat!

After dropping off my luggage at the hotel, we grabbed lunch at India House Restaurant. I am usually not a fan of Indian buffets, but this one was better than decent! There were plenty of dishes to choose from, and for the most part, what I tried was delicious.

After escaping the heat by going to lunch, we wandered around Chicago on foot – mostly checking out the Magnificent Mile and then Millenium Park.

I took a bunch of pictures, which is probably why my camera battery died in the afternoon. I’d forgotten to juice up in between trips! Stacy’s friend, Jim, and Astrid, one of my #HLS roommates, joined us for a quick jaunt to Chinatown for some drinks.

At about 5pm, we parted ways and got ready for the OpenSky cocktail party at LaSalle Power Co. The roommies and I shared a cab up to the party, which was fun. It was a casual spot to meet people – both bloggers I followed and ones I’d not heard of until that day. The party ended at 9, and since we had an early day ahead, we just headed back for the hotel. No extended after party for this old lady. :P

Rather than stay at the Congress Plaza, I decided to use hotel points accumulated. Three girls stayed with me inside a decently-sized room with two bathrooms.

Thanks for sharing the room with me!

Pictured from left to right: Me, Kristie, Astrid, and Mindy [photo credit]

It seems I have a lot of catching up to do! Even with laptop in tow, I didn’t update very much while on the road. The week-long vacation was a whirlwind of places and activities. I have my mind set on writing proper recaps of each place/day [with photos], so for now, an outline [mostly so I remember what I want to write about later]:

Toronto
- Saturday : arriving on a red-eye, touring Toronto by car, Indian food crawl, Taste of the Danforth, graffiti art
- Sunday : driving to Niagara Falls, Chinese food
- Monday : touring Toronto by public transportation, getting caught in the rain, hot yoga for the first time

Milwaukee
- Wednesday : reconnecting with Stacy, taking a stroll along the Riverwalk, Lakefront Brewery, music by the lake
- Thursday : Wisconsin State Fair, music at Alterra, Sugar Maple

Chicago
- Friday : arriving in Chicago, Magnificent Mile, an Indian buffet, Chinatown, meeting other attendees of the Healthy Living Summit ["HLS"] for the first time.
- Saturday : morning stroll with other HLS attendees, the actual summit, finally getting the camera charged [Thank goodness!], dinner at Brasserie Jo
- Sunday : deep dish pizza, Goose Island brewery

In terms of meeting new people in a large group setting, I tend to be intimidated / shy. There were times when I really felt out of place and disconnected, and it’s really not the fault of anyone. It’s just how I am in that type of situation, and it takes me a little longer to warm up when I’m alone.

Since I didn’t have my “safety net” of friends to hang out / explore the city with, I joined a few smaller groups for walking/eating during the summit. It’s hard to travel and try all the new foods when eating with just one stomach. The smaller groups and shared meals were great, and I definitely felt more comfortable in that setting. Socially awkward from time to time – that’s normal, right?

Anyway, I can’t wait to go through my photos this evening and start posting away! Overall, it’s been a fantastic week. I love traveling and exploring new places, so it was nice to take a week off and combine several trips into one.

On Tuesday morning, I said my goodbyes, hopped onto a bus and flew out of Toronto. Keane [new blog link, btw] was kind enough to pick me up and drop me off at home, where I putted around for several hours. Putted around = unpacking, figuring out what to wear for the hot, humid, and potentially wet cities of Milwaukee and Chicago, getting RV’s clothes ready for our date night, etc. When it was time for dinner, I picked him up and we headed over to Jardiniere.

Course 1 – Smoked Alaskan Salmon

Course 2 – Pork Belly

Course 3 – Sable Fish

I forgot to take a photo of the fourth course – Quail. By the time I realized this, I had already ruined the presentation of the course. :(

Course 5 – Duck

Course 6 – Cheese Plate

Course 7 – Dessert

It was a lovely 7-course meal, and then after a quick stop at home to pack [yes, last minute again!], I headed for the airport again.

I’ve been in Milwaukee for just two days, but I already want to come back. Aside from the countless breweries in the area, sustainable urban farming is growing here, specifically aquaponics, which RV is convinced we can simulate in our own backyard. By the time I found out about this, they were not having any tours before my departure. *sad face* Hopefully I will get a chance to return to the area!

I’m moving onward to Chicago shortly for the Healthy Living Summit. I’m excited and nervous about meeting the rest of the attendees.