Maple Leafs?

On our last day in Toronto, I woke up again and worked out at the Equinox in downtown. It was definitely fun to check out these two locations after having worked with the local club team over the years.

After my workout, I returned to the hotel and met up with Andrea and Shirley who diligently researched a local diner called Sunset Grill, where we could enjoy peameal bacon egg sandwiches. They came with white, wheat, or dark rye and are pictured below:



We walked off breakfast by walking down to the Harbor Front park. We stopped in at a grocery store and admired the architecture along the way. Here’s a picture of the lake - you can see America!



Here’s also another clear picture of the CN Tower - we saw it at various points of our trip from afar:



We then returned to our hotel, picked up our luggage, and called a car to the airport. Andrea again was at a different terminal, so we parted ways on arrival. Shirley and I went through immigration and purchased some Canadian maple syrup before enjoying drinks and sharing a hotdog at the airport restaurant.

The sun finally started to peek through at the airport. It was nice to see before our delay as there was a "ground stop" at Laguardia due to low visibility. Despite the delay, we were able to make up the time and arrived safely back in New York.

What a wonderful weekend of eating, drinking, and exploring Toronto! We debated several times why the Toronto Maple Leafs were not called Maple Leaves, and pointed it out as we saw signs like "Maple Leaf Square". Nonetheless, my risk manager - travel - foodie partners in crime were a joy to spend the weekend with and I look forward to more trips with Andrea and Shirley! As Shirley would say, "I am very satisfied with our choices". 😄

Toronto

I woke up early on our first full day in Toronto and visited Equinox Yorkville for a class - this is my 50th club and the first international one I’ve visited!



While I was working out, Andrea and Shirley went to Hudson Bay department store and we rendez-vous’ed back at the hotel. The plan was to visit the world famous St. Lawrence market which was about a 15 minute walk.



We specifically wanted to try a peameal bacon sandwich which was delicious and super tasty. We went to Carousel Bakery which was famous for them - Shirley really enjoyed her sandwich!



Also famous in Toronto are butter tarts and we enjoyed delicious Portuguese tarts two times!



In the market, we meandered and tried cheese, sausages, pasta sauce, and spread samples. We decided to have a few oysters - they were called Summer Love and Pink Moon - a photo of them below:



Then we went downstairs where there were more stalls and we were serenaded by a violinist and accordion player - a photo below:



Downstairs, we enjoyed cheese pierogies, coffee, and rested for a bit. A photo of the pierogies:



After the market, we took the subway, transferred to a shuttle bus, and climbed some stairs to visit Casa Loma. Casa Loma is a famous mansion and gardens and they were celebrating Christmas with a nutcracker theme, an aerialist, and various activities. A few photos of our visit:











Here’s a view from Norman Tower, after we climbed some spiraling stairs and navigated the top floors and long hallways:





Outside in the garden, they had these igloo bubbles where we listened to music and enjoyed Bailey’s hot chocolate:









Before leaving, we navigated the underground tunnels that were decorated with lights and music which led to Santa’s workshop.



We had a very thorough visit of Casa Loma and finally decided we were ready to head out. We decided to visit Mother’s Dumplings which is in the Kensington Market area. We had pork buns, pork and dill dumplings, Chinese broccoli, a pancake, tomato soup, and fried dumplings. A collage below:



The plan was to walk around Kensington Market, but it had started to rain. So we took cover at a dive bar where we enjoyed a round of drinks. Shirley decided she really wanted Vietnamese, so we walked to Pho Hung and had banh xeo and a bowl of pho. We weren’t that hungry, but wanted to take advantage of the accessibility as there is no good Vietnamese food in New York. A photo of the banh xeo below:



We then called a car and headed back to the hotel where we relaxed with Korean face masks and strategized about our half day tomorrow as it’s supposed to rain again. Despite the rain, we had a fun day of eating and exploring!

Oh Canada!

After arriving too early for my flight to Toronto, I met Shirley at LaGuardia airport and I was upgraded to first class. I fell asleep immediately and we landed early while our friend Andrea was meeting us from Newark. Weeks ago, three risk managers decided that we wanted to explore Toronto and have a foodie girls’ weekend! Shirley comes to Canada for work often, but hasn’t had a chance to explore that much, so we thought this would be fun.

In Toronto, I told the customs agent I was here to eat and see restaurants, all amidst the commotion of a Korean Air flight arriving at the same time and a lady asking me for help with her automated passport control kiosk. I wanted to tell her I wasn’t on her flight, but I helped her anyway.

We decided for brunch to have Hakka Chinese food which is Indian Chinese and famously available near the airport in Mississauga - the neighborhood near the airport and west of Toronto. We went to Hakka Asian Legend and ordered Manchurian soup, cauliflower, sizzling Bollywood beef, popcorn chicken, and Hakka noodles. A collage below:



We then ordered a car to go into downtown Toronto. Our driver, Omar was amazing with food suggestions for the one hour ride to the Hilton. We checked in early and rested for a bit before we got some Starbucks’ drinks downstairs in our hotel. Our driver, Mohammed this time was super funny with lots of gripes, jokes, and a healthy dose of sarcasm. He was charged with driving us to see the storefront for the popular Canadian television show, Kim’s Convenience. The show is hilariously funny about a Korean Canadian family and I enjoyed taking photos:





Although this was not a great neighborhood, we opted to walk to the famous distillery district where there was a Toronto Christmas market. We enjoyed a chimney stack and meandered throughout the stalls. We also shared an artisanal grilled cheese and took some fun photos with sculptures and holiday decor:











Shirley had arranged a happy hour with her work colleagues and we all met at C’est What? which was famous for beers and music. Shirley’s colleagues, Victor and Michael were kind and we chatted away. Some photos below:





After drinks and a round of Canadian Whiskey shots, we decided to walk up to the famous Hudson Bay Department store and checked out their holidays windows:



All of us then walked past the old city hall and to the new city hall where there were more shops and an ice skating rink:



We walked through Eaton Centre mall and mini-Times Square at Yonge and Dundas Square. Hungry, we decided to find a poutine shop and a popular chain is Smoke’s. Here’s a photo of our traditional with bacon, butter chicken, and double pork poutines:





As the guys needed to eventually go home, we strategized and decided to take a car to the Fairmont hotel which is near the Hilton, but also near the transit for Victor to get home and close to Michael’s apartment. At the Fairmont, an originally Canadian company, we had a round of drinks at the Library Bar where we also ran into the famous comedic actor, Seth Rogen who is Canadian. I didn’t believe it was him, so Victor went up to him and said, “my friend doesn’t believe you’re Seth Rogen” and Seth just responded “believe it.” We opted not to bother him for a photo, but you should believe this story.

After drinks, we all headed our separate ways and agreed that we had a successful first day in Oh Canada!

CaymanKind

Today is my last day “on island” and we had a lazy wake up. Here’s a final view from Mikey’s beautiful condo - you will be missed!



As Mikey is working for Luxury Cayman Villas, we were able to visit a few today. They were all beautiful and on beachfront property with glamorous pools. Here’s a photo of one from the entryway - what a view!



And then a better picture of the pool, with an ocean view, and jacuzzi in the middle:



Upstairs, the master bedroom has ocean views, but has a tub and clear shower in the middle!



As we were on East End of the island, we stopped by Pedro St. James, a former monastery and prison, but has a beautiful view of the ocean. I tried to take a panoramic photo, but due to the sun glare, I couldn’t really see the photo, so that’s why there is a lovely view of some chairs:



The drive was fun as we stopped and picked up some fresh fruit juice - a blend of star fruit and pineapple! As Mikey knows all the tricks, we checked in my luggage at the airport and then drove down to George Town Yacht Club where many people were planning to fly out after their meal from the sight of piles of luggage.

The food was fantastic as we enjoyed mango ginger mojitos:



Mikey enjoyed fish and chips while I had a fabulous curry shrimp with some naan bread:



Afterwards, I returned to the airport where I ran into the couple from DC from my first dive and then the solo New Orleans diver from my second day of diving. We all chatted and shared more dive stories. I even gave my email to the New Orleans woman as she took some amazing photos of the nurse shark. One photo even had the shark swimming straight into her and looked like it was smiling. With the flash, the shark looked like something out of Finding Nemo! I hope she sends the photos!

What an amazing vacation these past few days! Truly the people of the Cayman Islands are so kind as they like to officially promote as their tourism slogan - whether volunteering directions when taking a public bus or chatting about dives! And as always, spending time with Mikey is always special! A friend with such a similar moral compass and work ethic, while a passion for living and exploring! From our very first trip to Israel in 2006, I am so grateful for your hospitality and generosity! I look forward to many more adventures and trips!

So on my uneventful layover in Miami, I’m bearing myself for the cold and much work waiting for me back in NYC!

Fireworks Friday

As I leave tomorrow, I decided today would be a nondiving day - you need at least 24 hours of surface time before flying and I return to NYC tomorrow.

So today I decided to check out the turtle farm on the northern part of the island. The Cayman Islands is famous for turtles (we saw several on our dives), but also when Columbus discovered the region, it was named Las Tortugas because of the many turtles!

After getting ready, I waved down a public bus which are basically vans that can pick you up or drop you off at any part of the route and costs 2 Cayman dollars - it kind of felt like Via which is a shared taxi service in NYC. Here’s a photo of my first ride up West Bay Road and a selfie - I’m wearing a hat from Papa Kim:





At the turtle farm, there are two price points - the more expensive ticket includes swimming with turtles and seeing the nurse sharks. Since I already did that in the ocean, I opted for the basic ticket.

I perused the education center, the turtle tanks, and got to hold different turtles at the touch tanks:





Then it was feeding time in the breeding ground. Apparently, they are fed 9 buckets of this feed a day:







Here’s a link to a video of them eating. Mikey described them like the children’s game “Hungry Hungry Hippos”: https://youtu.be/GMisDdbMwAA

After my visit, I flagged down another public bus and asked to be dropped off at a northern part of Seven Mile Beach. Here’s another bus selfie:



I stopped in at The Ritz Carlton poolside restaurant called Bar Jacks and had their famous piña colada  and West of Cayman salad (I was craving vegetables) pictured below:



After digesting my lunch, I meandered down the beach and napped in a few places. Here’s one beach view from the day:



As with every other day, I returned to the condo and relaxed by the pool for a bit and washed off the sand from the beach. I met a nice family from Michigan and we chatted about the Pirate Week festivities.

I showered and headed out again to catch the public bus as Mikey asked me to meet him at his office downtown. The roads were already congested and the fireworks for the festival were downtown.

So I headed south in a very full van and Mike and his colleagues met me at the bus stop. We got drinks at Bread and Chocolate and hit up the street food fair. We shared roti and chicken curry, Cayman style beef, coconut curry shrimp, jerk chicken and pork, and various sides of Mac ‘n Cheese, potato salad, plantains, fritters, and rice and beans. Caribbean culinary heaven!





We ate in Mikey’s office benefitting from the air conditioning, but then having a balcony view of the fireworks!



All of Mikey’s colleagues were so nice and one colleague brought her 1 year old daughter and 4 year old son, Kaizer. As he couldn’t see over the railing, I had fun holding him during the fireworks display. Then we all ran around in the office, drew outlines of their bodies on the erase board, and spun them on the office chairs. We even squeezed in a quick video call to William!

What a fun time as my Friday night went off with a boom in Grand Cayman!