A Day for Cheaters

Hola Bloggies:

Tonight, I’m coming to you straight from Cowtown Canada – Calgary, Alberta. We're back here for some wedding related business but that doesn’t mean we can’t live it up while we’re at it; which is why we’re staying at the Westin hotel and treating ourselves a little.

Heavenly Bed? Yes, please!

I have to give major props to the front desk staff; despite the fact that we booked through Hotwire (and got a screaming deal) they still recognized my Starwood Preferred Guest status and upgraded us to a corner suite!!! There’s a reason I keep coming back to the Starwood hotels.

 

For dinner, we decided to hit up one of our go-to restaurants in this city. Which just so happened to coincide with my cheat day. That’s right, yours truly has been following a somewhat strict diet (trying to limit un-necessary sugars and fats) in the lead up to the wedding but once a week I allow myself a splurge day. Hence tonight’s dinner.

Perfect timing.

We discovered the MBA BBQ Noodle House, years ago on our first visit to Calgary. It was late, it was cold, and we were starved. Everything else seemed to be closed downtown – with the exception of some Chinatown establishments. In the end we chose the busiest restaurant.

Honestly, it was chock full of Chinese families. I always judge a Chinese restaurant by the number of old school families that are eating inside. The higher the number, (usually) the better the food.

We’re still working out the kinks of our over-ordering problem. Don’t judge!

For starters, we went with the hot and sour soup – the Fiancé's favourite. Honestly, we’ve had a ton of hot and sour soup over the years but no one does it better than this restaurant.

We then followed that up with a spicy squid. It ended up being a ton of seafood! And unfortunately, also fried. When we ordered the dish we envisioned something pan fried in a spicy sauce. Not so much.

And then there was the siu mai . . . ahhhhhhh the siu mai (shrimp and pork dumplings).

I’ve had dim sum at what is thought of as the best place in Vancouver (Sun Sui Wah) and some of the best restaurants in Toronto. And. Nothing. Even. Comes. Close.

In fact, before this little Calgary restaurant I didn’t even like this kind of dumpling!!!

All in all a fantastic meal (notwithstanding the fact that we barely touched the squid). And well worth my cheat day!

 

Question: Have you ever randomly discovered a jewel of a restaurant?

Foto Friday

Hola Bloggies:

We’ve reached the end of another week – yaaaayyyy!!!!

And that means the return of another Foto Friday. Today’s post is brought to you by one of life’s simple little pleasures: a hotel breakfast.

That’s right. I’m a girl that loves me some room service!

There’s just something so indulgent about having breakfast brought to you in a gorgeous hotel room. The breakfast featured today was devoured savoured at the Hyatt International in Calgary. BTW, a hotel I would highly recommend.

Question: What are your plans for the weekend? We’re heading to Calgary (again) to run some wedding errands and indulge a little too!

Today Was a Good Day

My afternoon was decidedly laid back and relaxed. And it was all thanks to a 3pm power outage that saw our boss let us leave early,

I have to confess I scurried away, lest the power come back on or my boss change his mind.

Once I was a safe distance from the office I decided to head to the gym for a run. Let’s just say it could have gone better. Clearly, the bananas in my breakfast are not agreeing with me. Noted.

After quickly rushing home for a snack I grabbed Daisy and headed out for one of our doggy hikes. It was kind of a cold and slightly wet day so we all played it safe and wore an extra water-proof layer.

Yes, even Daisy. She’s cool like that!

The emptiness of the trails was quite in contrast to the summer months teeming with other dogs, hikers, and mountain bikers. It was kind of nice to feel surrounded by the solitude of the forest. Of course that may just be the fact that we brought a hunting knife and bear spray for protection talking. Ha!

In all seriousness though, grizzlies and their cubs have been out and about in alarming numbers lately. Combine that with the fact that there are cougars, coyotes, wolves, lynx, and black bears on the trail and you can’t blame us for being prepared.

Like Daisy’s coat? It’s Gore-Tex and even has a reflective strip for greater night time visibility. Yeah, it’s mighty high tech of my puppers.

As an added bonus, it keeps her a tiny bit cleaner when she ends up muddy after our hikes.

Of course, what would one of our hikes be without our usual follow up dinner. Tonight’s menu is brought to you courtesy of the latest record run of wild sockeye salmon in British Columbia’s Fraser River.

You could taste the freshness of the fish in every bite.

All in all a wonderful night that left me feeling relaxed and ready for what tomorrow will bring.

 

Question: Have you ever had any crazy wildlife encounters? Do share!

Sleepless in Victoria

Hola Bloggies:

Happy Monday!!! In the words of one of my good elementary school friends: “Be Great” this week!

Today, I’m excited to share with you one of my favourite places in Victoria (Vancouver Island, Canada). When I moved to Victoria, to start Law School, it was one of the very first places I discovered: Fisherman’s Wharf.

Unlike, the wharfs one finds in other tourist cities, this one is still a working wharf.

People live here.

In ridiculously cute arrangements.

People work here (fisherman still bring in the catch of the day).

People sail out of here.

And of course tourists congregate here.

The main draw for tourists (aside from all the ridiculous cuteness) is Barb’s Fish and Chips. A wonderful take-out restaurant floating in the wharf. And that my dears, is the reason I was at Fisherman’s Wharf.

The line-up was very long. In fact I think I waited twenty minutes in line and almost fifty minutes for my food. But the food at Barb’s is worth every minute.

Let me put it to you this way – my parents, who have visited Victoria twice, still wax poetic about the fish and chips at Barb’s. It’s all in the freshness of the catch.

Once I got to the front of the line, I didn’t hesitate. I ordered myself a one piece halibut dinner with salad instead of chips. It’s the kind of meal that dreams are made of.

While I waited for my meal I headed off to browse around the Wharf. It’s really grown since I started going there, years ago.

Eventually I was called to the window to pick-up my meal.

I took my precious loot and found a nearby bench. It had been much too long since I had some Barb’s.

The coleslaw at Barb’s is my favourite – bar none. And the salads are fantastic (I love me some beets).

And then there is the fish – halibut just doesn’t flake like this, away from the Coast.

I loved every moment of my Fisherman’s Wharf experience; and I can’t wait to go back.

Question: What is your favourite fish? I love salmon, red snapper, halibut, cod, and tuna – equally!

Down on the Boardwalk (Penny’s Palapa)

Hola Bloggies:

It’s Monday and I’m finally back in the Rocky Mountain casa. It feels so good to be home. Aside from the ridiculously joyful reunion with Daisy, it’s just nice to be in my own space. In fact I slept like a baby.

It was the sleep of the happy.

Although, I’m completely enjoying my return to the Rocky Mountains I can’t help but reminisce about my last couple of weeks spent by the Ocean shore.

 

There’s just something about living so close to the water that is soothing to the soul.

Walks on the boardwalk, views across the great blue escape, and drinks at the yacht club. I relished in every Island moment.

Of course, I did my best to enjoy as many meals by the waterfront as possible. One of my favourite came at a wonderful Nanaimo spot, Penny’s Palapa.

Located on a floating barge in the middle of the harbour, Penny’s Palapa is a super cute and colourful restaurant. A perfect place to spend a leisurely summer lunch.

The menu was as unpretentious as the locale.

It only took one glance at the menu and I knew what I was going to choose. You see, once upon a time I visited Ensenada (Baja California, Mexico) and had fish taco perfection. Ever since I have been looking for a taco that could stand up to the Ensenada tacos of my dreams.

Since I knew this would likely be my only chance to visit this particular restaurant, I indulged in a bit of over ordering and started with a Mexican tortilla sauce.

I’m far from a Mexican tortilla soup connoisseur but one thing is for sure – this soup had flavours that reminded me of home. Given, that my mom is a fantastic cook, that is indeed a good thing.

I ate about half the soup and didn’t regret one bit of my over ordering.

I have to confess I was a bit disappointed to see the use of what looked like rather huge flour tortillas. I like to keep it genuine (i.e.: corn).

Still, the big pieces of red snapper filling more than made me forget about the tortilla. In El Salvador (where I’m from) we’re quite partial to red snapper so I was thrilled with this fish taco.

Close.

Closer.

I filled my tacos with all the greens and salsa that I could find on the plate. While this may not have been the most genuine fish taco it was nonetheless a quality dish. I was one very happy camper.

Question: Have you ever had a fish taco? Thoughts?