290. Halloween at the ROM + Pravda

Crystal Head Vodka contacted me last week saying they loved the photos I've posted before of their bottle, and wanted to send me a little gift. They sent me these cute little skull shot glasses! Not quite as photogenic as the actual bottle though. I took more photos of them..will post them all next time.

Halloween this year falls on Wednesday next week, so this weekend was when all the parties were. I went to the "All Hallows' Eve" party at the ROM (museum) & also back to back Pravda nights!! Had so much fun..going to split up all my photos into 2 posts as there's wayyyy too many. Here's part 1!


Here's my "costume" - though I use that term loosely because this is what I normally wear lol (minus the Russian naval officer hat). I got a lot of compliments on it, including one guy who was sent by his girlfriend to ask where I got my entire outfit...



I went with my sister to this party at the ROM/museum..it was so cool!! There was a lot of food, drinks and music. They pretty much turned it into a club-like atmosphere. Great venue for a Halloween party! & almost everyone was in costume.

Now for some food pics..these tasted amazing. They're from Fidel Gastro's. We ordered the "Sgt. Slather": BBQ pulled pork, guacamole & crushed tortilla chips - sooooo good.

Fries & a baked potato stuffed with a myriad of toppings. Loved it as well. Every time I do a blog post with food posts I get so hungry...craving this right now lol.


Then we went to the second level for some cupcakes from Curbside Bliss Cupcakes. I had the cotton candy flavoured one. After that..back down to where all the action was:


A horse!


The sumo wrestler's costume deflated at the end of the night hahah. Probably got a hole in it.



After the ROM party, I went with a couple people to Pravda..where else would I go wearing a Russian hat? I used to bring that hat all the time back when I first started Pravda-ing..will have to start again.



PS: Part II here

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289. Paris | my encounter with a Russian Mr. Bean

I wish I could rewind time to this night, sitting in front of the Eiffel Tower listening to Hotel Costes..
My Eurotrip was like 5 months ago. Will I ever finish posting these vacation photos? It's like deja vu of my attempt to post all my Asia photos of 2009 hahah. I figured was due for another Paris post.

After years and years of listening to Hotel Costes compilations on repeat, I finally got the chance to visit the real Hotel Costes! This place was near the top of my list of "to-do"s (both on my Paris and life lists) and luckily, I found a friend willing to come with me. He works at the Chanel store, so after he got off work that day I went to meet him at Rue Cambon and we walked over. It's located right near Place Vendome and the Tuileries which is one of my favourite areas (ah totally reminiscing about Paris right now....!!!!)




These are actually the only photos I took there (I hate being all tourist-y when I'm with someone). We just had drinks on their patio. The only place I've seen where servers wore Hermes belts and CDCs. After Costes, we parted ways and I headed over to the Mothership (aka Champs Elysees LV). I visited this store everyday when I was in Paris, somehow managing to bypass the line-up each time:




Picked up my hot-stamped luggage tag! Great service here - was able to drop it off and pick it back up within the day. In most other cities I'd have to wait a week.

Jardin des Tuileries - spent the most time here. I love how you can see all the way down Champs Elysees..




I met more random acquaintances everyday in Paris than I could count..most of them were actually quite memorable including this one. As usual, I was sitting by the Eiffel Tower minding my own business...when this guy comes up to sit next to me. We sat there side by side, without saying a word to each other for about half an hour.
He was slightly intoxicated, drinking a bottle of Diabräu 1516. Suddenly he pulls another out from his bag and silently offers me one..sticking it right in front of my face. He did not speak A WORD OF ENGLISH. I think he spoke some French but he was Russian. As I didn't know any Russian and my French is horrible, we had the hardest time communicating.
Somehow we ended up "talking" for over an hour. I've never experienced this before, where neither of us knew each other's language and all we were able to do were use hand gestures and keep speaking in our own language with the hope that the other person would somehow understand. It was such a funny conversation though..I just remember we laughed a lot..or maybe that was thanks to the beer. He rambled on in Russian while I told him all about myself & my trip in English. From our hour long conversation, all I learned was his name (which I totally forgot now) and that he's from Russia. How did I manage to stay there for so long? He was so amusing. If you want to visualize...he looked like a Russian Mr. Bean.
After each bottle of beer, I increasingly grew more and more frustrated with our attempts to communicate. I stood up and just said "I need to go!" and walked away as he kept yelling at me to come back.

More stories of random encounters to come soon....

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288. Autumn

I'm missing the summer terribly, and not happy with the increasingly colder weather..but one thing I love about Autumn is taking a small roadtrip to see the colourful leaves. Last weekend, I went with my dad & sister (pic above taken by her) for a nice drive to take some nature shots. The photo above is the Cheltenham Badlands.
Unfortunately it kept raining on & off throughout the day, and it was cloudy so my photos didn't turn out as well as I hoped. I love going on nature roadtrips; it's great to get away from the city once in awhile as I live right in the middle of it..


First we stopped for brunch/my favourite meal of the day at a cute little restaurant called Flips. It wasn't quite as in-the-middle-of-nowhere as we wanted (we love remote family restaurants), but the food here was delicious and portions were huge. Easily one of the best brunches I've ever had.








I need to go on more country drives! I would do it a lot more often if I had a car..or a drivers license. As much as I love the city I also LOVE rural areas. The more remote and small-town the better.

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287. Courvoisier Collective: Culinary Masterpieces

I was kindly invited to Courvoisier Collective's Culinary Masterpieces event last night, held at Maison Mercer. It was a fun evening with delicious Courvoisier cocktails and gourmet food! Six finalist chefs were selected to have their recipes featured for tastings at the event along with three chef judges (Jean-Pierre Challet from Ici Bistro, Ben Heaton of The Grove and Michael Kirkwood of Turf Lounge). One of the best dinners I've had in awhile lol. Usually I'm not so adventurous with food but I was excited to try everything there last night. In the span of two hours I had: beef, lobster, pork, duck, rabbit..all paired with a nice glass of Courvoisier. Each dish was beautifully presented, though unfortunately most of my photos came out too dark. Club lighting = not ideal for detailed food photos.



One of the winning dishes: Duck Breast with Duxelle Ravioli by Steve Cylka


Red Miso Beef Ribs with Mushroom Cognac Sauce by Don Chow


Liver Pâté by Ben Heaton


Roast Saddle of Rabbit with Golden Beets by Michael Kirkwood


Glazed Chop with Forest Mushroom Quinoa by Erica Guidi


The other winning dish (possibly my favourite): Lobster Corn Chowder by Doug Burke


preparing the "drunken lobster with pickled rhubarb and potatoes"



Kary Osmond announcing the winners





I picked up a few of my favourite recipes..does anyone want to attempt to cook one for me?!

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