LEFTBANKED.

12.30.2019

732. Christmas Part 2 | Archlight & George

My last post of 2019! Tomorrow is already NYE. We are staying in Toronto for it this year and don't have any plans yet. It's pretty crazy to think that it's the start of a new decade. & it will have been roughly 12 years since I started this blog (sometime in 2008).

I am not sure how many original readers I still have now but back then, I mainly started blogging when I moved out of my parents' house into my own place downtown. I started university (studying Fashion at Ryerson) and had a lot of experiences (and people) to blog about. I can't believe I'm still blogging now..although not as frequently. I will likely continue for an indefinite amount of time since I always enjoy reading back in old posts for the memories.

For 2020 I hope I can become better organized, better at prioritizing and accomplish some things that I keep putting off doing.

Anyways! Here is Christmas Part 2. There will also be a part 3 but I'll save it for the following post.

My Christmas gift from my boyfriend..the Louis Vuitton Archlight sneakers! I really love them! I'm not a huge fan of the super chunky sneakers trend (like the Balenciaga or Gucci ones) but these ones are my favourite. I feel they could still be in style after the trend dies. Let's see how long I am able to keep them nice and white.

As for my Christmas gift to my boyfriend this year, I decided to do a 10 Days of Christmas gift-giving (which I mentioned in my previous post). There were ten gifts over ten days including some smaller bonus items. For one of them I took him for dinner at George Restaurant. We did the tasting menu. I love coming here for the tasting menu because it's all a surprise. You each get different dishes (which is good for switching/tasting a bit of everything!):

Christmas decor at my lobby!

Dinner at Restoration Hardware..so beautiful in there!!

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731. Christmas Part 1

Merry Christmas!! It is now Dec 23 as I make this post. I'm quite behind on my blog (as usual) so this is just part 1 of everything since we returned on vacation about a month ago. Christmas came so fast this year. I can't believe it's already two days away. I usually like Christmas Eve more though. Last year we spent the holidays in Iceland, Spain and the Netherlands. It feels like just a few months ago still. Also it's crazy to think that 2020 is just around the corner. The years are flying by way too fast..!!

In the photo above is an all-chocolate frame that I got from Nadege. It's one of the stores I visit every single Christmas without fail. The other one is Williams Sonoma. I love their holiday products!

This is hot chocolate from Williams Sonoma. Our annual tradition.

Visiting the Christmas Market at the Distillery a few weeks ago..when Christmas was still 19 days away hahah.

Holiday sequins + Moon Boots

I got a Kitchenaid Mixer from my mom and sister for Christmas. I've been wanting one for soooo long. They gave it to me early so since then I've been baking a lot of bread. I mainly wanted one for bread-making since it comes with a dough hook, and making bread is too difficult for me by hand. We've been experimenting with different breads and making more than we can eat. It's a lot of fun to use.

I attempted pretzels..as you can see, I got lazy with shaping them lol. They tasted pretty good though but just wasn't as soft as I would like. I will try again soon!

Hokkaido milk buns. We've made these a lot.

Delicious matcha cookies. We've made these a lot in the past already though.

Also matcha milk buns. They look nice but you can barely taste the matcha.

Family dinner a couple weeks ago at The Keg Mansion.

I've been reading and buying a LOT of books these days (I lost count but I got at least 15 new books within the last month and a half). I'm in a reading phase suddenly and I don't even remember how it started. Here is one of the books I'm currently reading (Stiff by Mary Roach). It's super interesting so far and probably one of my favourite books I've ever read. It's quite an unusual topic though. It talks about cadavers and their uses when people donate their body to science after death. The author is really funny so it's not dark or anything like that.

For Christmas this year, I decided to do a "10 Days of Christmas" gift-giving for my boyfriend. Kind of inspired by the song 12 Days of Christmas (but I was too late on doing 12 days). A random mix of small items, bonus items and some not so small. For the Star Wars movie premiere last week, I decided to give a themed one:

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730. Alo Restaurant | Dinner at the Top Restaurant in Canada

Last month for my boyfriend's birthday, I took him to dinner at Alo. Alo is a contemporary French restaurant, currently rated as Canada's #1 Restaurant. Naturally, getting a reservation here took a bit of effort. I had to book months in advance (at the exact hour/minute when reservations for November opened up) and was lucky to secure a spot on our desired night..as when I refreshed the reservations page a few minutes after, it was already fully booked again. A non-refundable deposit secured our spot.

The tasting menu consisted of 10 courses, not including the amuse-bouche, intermezzo, etc. Each course was so beautifully plated I kept looking forward to the next one to see how it was presented. Everything was delicious (as expected) with exciting flavours and textures.
The service of all the wait staff was impeccable. They were very professional and knew the perfect moments to come and change our dishes and cutlery without being intrusive. The dining experience was unlike any I've had before, and definitely one of the best meals I've had the pleasure of eating. The ambiance was perfect. I highly recommend it for a special occasion.