Filed under: Road trip | Tags: California, China Town, Food, Holiday, Mama's, North Beach, Northern, R&G Lounge, San Francisco, Tadich Grill, Tourism, Travel, Vacation, Wine
If you’re reading through Facebook, click here.
Elena and I spent last weekend in San Francisco. My grandmother has been in Toronto since the end of August–she’s just hanging out around here for about 6 months, and she wanted to visit her family in Sacramento. We took her to SFO so she could get picked up by her sisters. She’s spending the rest of the month in Sacramento, and Elena and I had the rest of the weekend to explore San Francisco together.
Some places you should definitely check out:
- Mama’s: An awesome breakfast place in North Beach. They’re really good and really popular. Get there early if you want to try their food. We waited about 45 minutes but it was worth it. The place closes at 3pm everyday.
- Tadich Grill: The oldest restaurant in California serves awesome seafood. Again, really popular. The staff there is awesome–they’ve probably been working at the restaurant for decades.
- R&G Lounge: A popular Chinese place in China Town. Try their live deep-fried crab with garlic, ginger and hot peppers.
Filed under: Interesting | Tags: 2009, Anna Lenzer, Bottled, Business, Fiji, Fiji Water, Finance, Magazine, Mother Jones, news, Report, Scandal, Tourism
I don’t really get Fiji Water. They have a pretty robust marketing plan in place, but for the most part it’s a total lie. If you’ve been to Fiji—and I mean the real Fiji—you know that how the bottled water company markets itself and the country is totally not speaking truths about the island nation.
Anna Lenzer’s article for Mother Jones magazine is interesting. An investigative look into the relationship between the corrupt and scandal plagued military government of Fiji and the glamorous water company shows a lot of cracks. I don’t think Lenzer gives the people of Fiji or its history much justice, but at least it will finally dispell the exotic myths about a country that barley has any clean water. I also think she embellishes a little too much in an attempt to paint a gruesome picture of the place.
My family is from Fiji. I am Fijian by origin and its high time someone spoke out about the shitshow happening in the country. Unfortunately it just wasn’t the greatest with this article. I guess it’s a start?
Filed under: the ussh. | Tags: Budget, Buffalo International Airport, Cheap, Coach Canada, Expedia.ca, Florida, Fort Myers, Megabus, Naples, Planning, Tips, Tourism, Travel, Vacation
Haha, what a lame picture.
We all know how much this summer has been a rip off. The weather has been spotty as hell, and up until yesterday, things started to clear up—you know, when it wasn’t pouring buckets outside.
Summer school is clearing up and I wanted to plan a last resort getaway out of the city before things picked up again in September. The month ahead is shaping up to be pretty busy with all these new and exciting projects coming through and I’m transferring schools.
I’m a cheapass and I managed to book a trip to Florida that is probably going to cost me somewhere around $500. Granted there were some advantages, but here’s how I did it:
1. Free Accomodation.
Luckily, Elena’s grandparents have a condo in Florida that is pretty much empty right now. Right off the bat that is a huge chunk of our travel costs gone. Kitchen + free living for the win!
2. Fly out of Buffalo.
This isn’t something new, but I will admit that it needs to be stressed. Direct flights out of Toronto to certain parts of Florida are hella expensive, but a hop across the border to Buffalo will seriously save you somewhere between $200 and $400.
This time I booked with Expedia.ca and the list of cheap flights is just awesome. Granted there are some retarded connecting flights to get to Florida, it is still way cheaper—and in CDN dollars!
I suggest taking either Coach Canada or Megabus. They have direct bus routes to Buffalo International Airport and man are they cheap. If you time it right, you can grab a seat for $1; if not, it’s only about $16-20 one way.
3. If you can, use the kitchen.
If your accomodations allow it, I highly suggest buying groceries and using the kitchen. We all know how cheap food is in the US, so why not take advantage of it?
Filed under: the ussh. | Tags: Caribana 2009, Centreville, Life, Long, Nightlife, Ontario Place, Sneaky Dee's, Toronto Islands, Tourism, Weekend
Waking up to a horrendous hangover from the debauchery that was Sneaky Dee’s the night before, I somehow managed to get my act together to see Joanna before she heads off to Aruba and make it to the Toronto Islands for an interesting excursion. We were looking for the annual Caribana festival—there was suppose to be a day of events to be held on the islands, but unknown to us, the festivities had been moved to Ontario Place. We found this part out toward the end of the day.
It didn’t really matter by that point because we had finished our water bottles and just annihilated three jumbo island hot dogs and fries. I won a Patrick toy and we managed to sneak in some rides at Centreville. I think by that point our hangovers had been cured.
Finished the night off with some ciders and ice before* inhaling some shawarma.
*I hate the way beer tends to bloat me and take forever to start a party with. A friend showed me that a pint of ice with cider does the same trick. Only problem is the hangover.
Filed under: the ussh. | Tags: Festival, Food, Harbourfront Centre, Lakeshore, Life, Mexico, Summer, Sunday, toronto, Tourism, Weekend
Dad look in check, the three of us headed down to the lakefront for some prime Sunday hangouts. Coincidentally it was also the Harbourfront Centre’s Mexico Beyond Your Expectations festival. This meant cultural music that middle class yuppies would go ga-ga over, but also super cheap amazing food stalls (3 tacos for $9). You can never go wrong with tacos and beer.
Great prices, good weather and the lake—pretty sick. Unfortunately we missed all the free Mexican wrestling matches. They have a different “world route” each week, and I think next week is Canada. Don’t really know what they’re going to do there.
Filed under: the ussh. | Tags: Comedy, Festival, Jimmy Carr, John Cleese, Just For Laughs, Nightlife, The Second City, Theatre, toronto, Tourism, Yonge & Dundas Square
Summer brings about a lot of great things to Toronto, and the Just for Laughs comedy festival is one of them. There are a lot of great acts performing this year and it’s a shame that you can’t get to them all. In that case, I’ve highlighted some performers that I think are worth seeing and might also be easy on the wallet!
John Cleese
There are a few big names showing face at the festival this year, but the John Cleese is definitely the main draw. The guy is a legend and if you’re one of those people that love to quote Monty Python films, then this show will probably be great.
Being pretty popular, I’m sure this one will sell out fast. He’s hosting one of the main events, so I’d suggest getting on that.
Jimmy Carr
I’ve found Carr to be a great funny man. A Brit with some crazy one liner jokes that really make you think – point is, he’s good. I’d put him on my list for sure.
Dundas Square
The great thing about the festival is that they have free performances at Yonge & Dundas square. Easy on the wallet and a great venue in the heart of “Times Square Lite” to enjoy a summer evening. From past experiences, the place gets packed but there is plenty of room to find a good spot. A lot of people opt to stand across the street near the Sears for the best view – I guess you could get a good view of everything from there.
Second City Toronto
The popular improv troupe that has churned out stars like Michael Keaton and John Candy has a theatre in Toronto. The Toronto stage is playing host to a bunch of various acts, but the real gem here is the in house improv group. I’m not sure if it’s part of the Just for Laughs festival, but their current show, 0% Down, 100% Screwed is a great little sketch show poking fun at all sorts of current events. The prices here are favourable, and if you’re a student you can grab some sweet deals.
*Added bonus: I have two free passes to a Second City Toronto show up for grabs. If you’re interested, respond with your best joke and the winner gets the passes! The joke about the girl with no arms and no legs doesn’t count.
Filed under: Food | Tags: Cuisine, Food, Gerrard Street, India Bazaar, Lahore Tikka House, Life, Little, Nightlife, Pakistani, toronto, Tourism
My parents love getting take out from Lahore Tikka House. It’s a restaurant that sits just on the edge of Gerrard Street and the Little India Bazaar. For years the owners have been renovating the property to create this massive, luxurious looking building that will hold the restaurant, but I don’t think they care too much where people will sit and eat. It’s a pretty dingy place but the food is excellent and spicy. The prices are reasonable too. Service is quick. If you plan on going out later, I suggest bringing a change of clothes—you’ll reek of curry all night.
Last night we all piled into the car and ate there. It’s a great atmosphere, and I’ve never seen that place empty. We ate on paper plates with plastic utensils. The servings are huge so you’ll probably end up taking a lot of it home. If you’re looking for authentic Pakistani cuisine, this is the place to go.
Filed under: Travel | Tags: 2009, Cuba, Culture, Don McKellar, Guantanamera, Music, Song, Tourism, Travel, Video, Vimeo
I was showing my parents the pictures from Cuba and forgot about this video. It’s a band playing Guantanamera at a road-side stop on the way to Havana. The lead singer was loving the spotlight I gave him, and his attention was solely on my camera lens. I guess it was his 15 minutes.
This song was everywhere in Cuba—it’s the country’s most popular song, and it associates with Cuban culture. I can’t get enough of it. I remember first hearing it in Don McKellar’s movie Last Night.
*I’ve linked the video because I know when Facebook imports this post, it’ll screw up the formatting and embedable media.
