Market Share

June 2017 - Toronto ON

 Arizona

This was a fascinating video.

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The demolition of 880 Bay Street achieved an exceptionally high waste diversion rate of 95%, meaning that only 1/20th of building materials were sent to a landfill. Another notable element of the demolition process is that shipping containers were used for hoarding, with window openings in the pedestrian walkway for natural lighting.


House of the Week for a cool $6 MILLION! Over a 100% increase since 2013.

Saturday
Weekend Green

We drove to Montreal for a couple of days to see family.
John booked an Airbnb, a lot cheaper than hotels these days.
We left around 11 and arrived at 5, with lunch, bathroom and gas stops. The owner met us and showed us about.

We settled in and then headed out to dinner at Guac et Mole (gotta love the name) a Mexican restaurant.

There's little good to say about the service or food but the decor was great.

Guacamole was good, could have been spicier.

My overdone coconut shrimps with cold soggy vegetables.

John's chicken fajitas which he said weren't bad but a little greasy. The server initially dropped the sour cream and salsa on the floor which flew in the air splashing several of us, without an apology.

Sunday
One Word Sunday from last week's visit to the AGO
inSPIREd Sunday

Just weird, this Airbnb does not have a coffee pot, toaster, soap.

We headed out for lunch at an old favourite of mine Mike's.

Mikes, referred to as Toujours Mikes in the current logo, is a chain of restaurants that originated in Montreal, Quebec, Canada, with 70 restaurants in Eastern Canada, mostly in Quebec. Mikes was founded in 1967, in Montreal, as a sandwich shop.

My SUPERSTAR
Sliced steak, mozzarella cheese, capicollo, mushrooms, pepperoni, green peppers, onions, tomatoes, lettuce, spices and herb-flavored olive oil.

We then headed to John's grand-daughter's ballet recital at 2 PM. She was in three numbers, no photography allowed!

Then back for a family dinner.

Monday
Monday Mural
Good Random Fun


We grabbed a quick breakfast at Tim's and then headed down to an area known as Mile End.

Since the 1980s Mile End has been known for its culture as an artistic neighbourhood, home to artists, musicians, writers, and filmmakers such as Arcade Fire, Adam Gollner, Bran Van 3000, Ariane Moffatt, etc. Many art galleries, designers' workshops, boutiques and cafés are found in the neighbourhood, which have played a large role in Mile End being included on numerous lists outlining the world's most cool and unique neighbourhoods.

We only had a few hours to spend but had fun.

Click here for more photos of Montreal.

We then had a delightful lunch with an old friend that we haven't seen in at least 27 years at Fire Grill.

My tuna salad was absolutely delicious! As was John's salad. I want more of that salad dressing.

We headed home at 3 PM for the 6 hour drive to Toronto.
Dinner was a sandwich!

TUESDAY
Tuesday Treasures take a trip back in time to Arizona.

Tuesday was just a day of chores.

John wanted burgers for dinner and I made a potato salad.

WEDNESDAY
Wordless


It's John's weekly golf game.

I went downtown and snapped some photos on the way.

I don't think I've ever noticed this sculpture before.

Created by Canadian sculptor Bernie Miller's The Poet, The Fever Hospital, a 1992 piece made up of galvanized steel, bronze, granite, and marble. The sculpture incorporates a fountain and reflecting pool. The title refers to the poet Isabella Valancy Crawford, who stayed for a brief time in a house that was demolished for the construction of Metro Hall at the southeast corner of King and John Streets. The fever hospital refers to one of Toronto's first hospitals, which stood at the northeast corner of King and John Streets from 1829 to 1856.

I posted the Toronto historic plaque to Isabella Crawford in this post along with some background.

Adorable street/sidewalk art in the park near Roy Thomson Hall.

King St. West

Onto Spadina, a cheery mural by Uber 5000.

This area is known as the Fashion District.

The district's name is derived from the area's role in the garment industry. In the early 20th century, numerous textile and fabric factories and warehouses were located here due to the proximity and easy access to shipping and rail lines. Garment enterprise owners commissioned the construction of multi-story buildings to house their manufacturing operations.

Once 80% of the city's Jewish community lived in the immediate area resulting in the establishment of numerous Jewish delis, tailors, bookstores, cinemas, Yiddish theatres and synagogues. Many from this community worked in the garment industry.

After World War II, much of that Jewish community moved further north, and the factories and warehouses began to be converted into other uses.

Benjamin Brown, one of Toronto's first Jewish architects, designed more than 200 buildings throughout his career. Born in Lithuania, he came to Toronto as a child. Brown graduated from the University of Toronto's architecture program in 1913. He was partners with architect Robert McConnell until 1921 when he set up an independent practice.

Commissioned largely by members of Toronto's Jewish community, Brown's projects ranged from parking garages and gas stations to apartment houses and factory lofts. His Tower Building (1927) and Balfour Building (1930) on Spadina Avenue at Adelaide Street formed a gateway to Toronto's garment district. Other well-known buildings by Brown include the Hermant Building (1929) on Dundas Square, the Primrose Club (1920), and the Beth Jacob Synagogue (1922), the first Toronto synagogue designed by a Jewish architect. Brown retired in 1955.
Click here for a detailed post I wrote on this area and an exhibit about Benjamin Brown and his buildings.

My primary destination was Chinatown to get some ingredients for a new recipe Malaysian coconut curry soup with rice noodles. It also has chicken and shrimp.
I needed shrimp paste and dried shrimp.

Then I stopped into Bulk Barn. I have never seen lemongrass powder before, it smells divine.

Once home I had to put all this away and began the soup by making the laksa paste from scratch although I had found it in a jar in Chinatown!

The soup was delicious if somewhat spicy! John took this very unartistic photo after we finished (because we forgot to take a photo of the elegant presentation I served) of the soup in the pot!

Thursday
Thursday Doors

I headed downtown at 9:30 to go shopping with my BFF. We hit the jackpot in Winner's, both of us buying a few items!!
Then we walked to the market and had delicious pizza for lunch.
Some photos of unusual food items.

Here we have sliders: wild boar, venison, goose, camel, crocodile and pheasant.

Kangaroo. Yes, I've eaten it! And it is good.

Don't expect to see this on any of my menus any time soon.

Delicious looking prepared skewers or kebobs.

Tomahawk steak is a cut of beef ribeye that has five or more inches of extra rib bone for presentation purposes. It's called a "tomahawk" cut because the steak with the long bone resembles a single-handed axe.

AND for all those who asked, the fencing was removed around the dog fountain!

And look who showed up this week at the entrance!

Home to make oven fried chicken and the leftover potato salad and raspberries and fresh cream.

FRIDAY
My Town Shootout
Friday Finds
Weekend Reflections

I had planned to go to an art book show but then got involved making a stew for dinner and finding a recipe for the remaining raspberries.

John went to golf and I decided to just go and pick up the groceries I needed for the weekend.

I also got it into my head that the fridge and freezer really needed cleaning and sorting. I am not proud of the stuff I threw out!
For the freezer (fridge kitchen) I removed all the gluten free breads/buns/tortillas and put them in the upright freezer in the pantry.
I really need an app to control the freezer contents!

I made this raspberry cheese coffee cake.

Dinner was hamburger stew.


BOOKS

I finished Ruth Rendell Speaker of Mandarin enjoyable but not memorable.
I also finished The Guest Room which I loved until the ending, not that it was disappointing, but it saddened me as that was not the ending I wanted.
I had not read Chris Bohjalian before but I have bookmarked several of his other books.
I started Conclave by Robert Harris


SHARING WITH:

Friday Photo Journal

Beth hosts Weekend Cooking where you can post anything food related.

Make My Saturday Sweet

 Saturday Snapshots is hosted by West Metro Mommy. 

Semana de Seis San Miguel de Allende

January 2016 - San Miguel de Allende Mexico

I thought I'd write some thoughts about spending time here in San Miguel de Allende.

Taxis cost $40 pesos to anywhere around town, This is really cheap and they are readily available.

I learned that the very average (good) salary here is around $1,000 pesos a week, in Cdn that would be $77 and in US dollars would be $59. Not a lot of money.

There are a lot of expats here, American and Canadian, they quickly "discovered" the town after the write-ups in fancy travel magazines like Conde Nast Traveler which chose SMA as the world's best city in 2013.

San Miguel has a temperate, semi-arid climate. There is little rainfall for most of the year, although summer is the wettest season. Winters can be cold at night, and summers are moderately hot. Spring is actually the hottest part of the year, but can be dusty. With over 320 days of sunshine each year, San Miguel de Allende is known for dramatic diurnal temperature swings - sometimes night time temperatures can fall by as much as 25°C.This sounds nice but the temperatures in January can drop to freezing overnight. It will be hot and sunny during the day but you need to have the clothes for the evenings.

Grocery shopping and the markets I will cover another time.

Now if you are renting a house here the cold can be a problem as these houses never heat up, so be prepared to have warm snuggly clothes for night time.

It is a very pretty town full of well-preserved buildings that have become home to various art institutions and galleries over the past 60 years and beautiful cathedrals and restaurants serve as the perfect backdrop for the many live music and arts events that visitors are likely to encounter.

Thursday

We had a lazy day lounging in the garden while the gardener and maid did their work, it's a tough life and certainly not like at home.

The view from my chair.

Friday
Click here for Weekend Reflections
And here for Friday Finds

We headed out around 11AM and caught the bus downtown. It is worth it just to avoid trying to cross at the Mega roundabout!!! Will have to get a photo of it.

Taken on the bus as we are shaken to our bones between the topes (speed bumps) and the cobblestones on the ride. At 5 pesos, not complain'.

We had planned to head to the library where we told we could pick up a free local English newspaper about what's on. Then to the market.

However when we got off the bus we I didn't want to walk back up the steep hill on Canal so we thought we would go over to Insurgentes another way.

LOOK a church, San Juan de Dios!! The door is open in this photo but as we approach the cleaning lady is washing the floor and we don't dare step in, she locks the door a few minutes later.

John sighed and as we turned down the street we were outnumbered by school children finishing school for the day at noon. I'm assuming they were finished for the week as everyone had their huge backpacks with them. A row of carts greeted them selling everything from comic books to candies and sweet drinks.

We took a peek inside the school.

We continued down the street and came upon the second local market Mercado San Juan de Dios, the same name as the church. Guadalajara has a church and market with the same name.

Being serenaded while eating lunch and shopping.

Next time I am buying one of these chickens.

Fancy!

Fast food.

John ended up buying a bag so he can now cart all his own stuff instead of putting everything in my bag.

The library - I made a comment about the ex-pats in last week's post and I'm afraid the same stands. They (the Lululemon crowd) were all gathered there, in the courtyard, the library and the restaurant.
They love to dress as "artistes" with their berets.

I will feature the library murals separately.


Church of Santa Ana was open today as was San Felipe, but Mass was being said so we thought we'd come back, another day evidently. The churches get their own posts, on Sundays, of course.

 San Miguel refers to the founder of the city, Father Juan de San Miguel. The name of the town was changed in 1826 to San Miguel de Allende in order to honor Ignacio Allende, who was born here.
January 21 was the birthday of General Allende: Hero of National Independence so all weekend there are celebrations in Centro.

His statue in the square has flowers today.

We are told later today, by a tour guide, that because one of the horse's legs is lifted it means that the rider died in battle. Naturally I had to check this out and it is a myth.

We were hungry so wandered and finally found a menu that appealed to both of me us.
But first John had to stop and buy some Mexican cigars. Good price, so he tells me.

Reuben for John.

Cream cheese and smoked salmon on a bagel, the bagel was stale and too chewy but the salmon was delicious.

It was now 2:30 and thought it would be a good idea to take the tourist trolley around to see what we had missed not much  but it did take us up the steep, steep hill to the lookout.

It took us to the Jardin Juarez which we had been looking for the other day, we hadn't gone far enough.

The trolley car takes us to the lookout, not a walk for the faint-hearted.

Monument carved from a tree to honour Pedro Vargas, a Mexican singer and actor, from the golden age of Mexican cinema. He was known as the "Nightingale of the Americas".

We decided to ditch the tour, it was only heading back to where we started, and take advantage of being where we were and walk back to town. The sidewalks are narrow, buses are belching their way up the steep incline. You would think it would be an easy walk downhill.

A narrow side street.

Stopped into this hotel as mentioned by the tour guide.

Mural inside the hotel of local celebrities over the years.

Heading down.

Even though you're going downhill you still have to climb up and down.

Back at le Jardin where neatly manicured laurel trees provide shade. There are paths running through green areas and plenty of benches so you can have a seat and pass the time. Today it is very busy as it is Allende's birthday. The bandstand is decorated in celebration.

The mariachis are milling around. Thanks to John for this great shot! These aren't your usual mustachioed middle-age musicians!

Families are gathering.

Allende's house (now a museum) is all decked out for his festivities.

10,463 steps

Saturday
Click here for more art at Saturday Snapshot in Mazatlan.
Headed out for the bus around 1 PM.

Too bad it was the wrong bus!! Crossed the street at Mega and got the right one. We got off at Instituto Allende, an art school. We had glimpsed the mural as we passed by on the bus.
I will save the close ups for a Monday Mural post.

John got these murals which were behind a gate.

Art for sale in a gallery.

Next door is this garden.

John, braving the traffic, to get some photos.

Store fronts are often identified by colour ribbons, as the town does not allow any blatant signage.

Some water fountains.

Lots of Mexican tourists in town, mainly from Mexico City and Loredo.

Mucho mariachis around to entertain you.

We stop for our requisite Michelada, this time in a place NOT frequented with gringos. And probably the best we've had so far in San Miguel.

Then onto our main goal of the day, the market. I'll do a detailed post about everyday grocery shopping soon.
First to the butcher for meat.

Then the market for fruit and vegetables.

Getting a cab wasn't easy, town was packed.
Picture from the cab.

Dinner was steak, frites and broccoli.

Sunday

Click here for Sunday's church - Tequila

The two last football games until Super Bowl. Picked up ingredients to make our own Micheladas.

Click here for the recipe.

Just enjoyed the day and the garden.

Monday

Click here for Monday's Mural in Guadalajara
Monday's Walk in Guadalajara is here.
Check out the cool trees in Tlaquepaque.

It was a very cool and cloudy day so we changed our plans and spent it reading.

But we were busy watching the very industrious ants carrying leaves. There was a colony of worker ants transporting the leaves to an unknown destination.

Fajitas for dinner.

Tuesday

Still quite cool this morning as we walk over to Mega to get a cab to the Tuesday Market, El Tianguis.
It is windy so we have sweaters.jackets on.

$45 pesos later and we are dropped at this huge market, three football fields big.

There is so much for sale here, you name it. There are tables of clothing sold by the piece from $10 pesos to $20. Shoes, new and used.

Wednesday
Still quite cool out so changed our plans and spent the day relaxing and reading in the garden.
We also booked our flights home, March 16 PV to LA (used Amex points and travel credit so only cost around $200), overnight at the Hilton and then March 17 LA to Toronto on Air Canada using Cheapo Air, half price compared to booking with AC.

Did some laundry. The laundry room is outside the house.

The view as I hang the laundry.

Sitting on the upper deck, that nice glass door leads to our bedroom.

Week 5
Where We Are - San Miguel de Allende
Week 4
Where We Are - Guadalajara
Week 3
Week 2
Where We Are - Mazatlan Mexico
Week 1
Where We Are - LA