Cultured Cuisine

Sunday we had a full day of culture cuisine.

We headed to "Chinatown" in Toronto and dined at an authentic Chinese restaurant.

My stomach took days to recover from this day, but it was oh so worth it...

Chicken Foot (a delicacy) yes please! tasted like bbq with lots of tiny bones

 

And Tempura Sardines

 

 

 

 

The food was served on carts and we told them yes or no as things passed.

We did pass on some stuff but tasted most of it.

My favorite was the tea, Mr Dan served us all weekend long

and never let our tea run dry during this meal.

He told us a customary way to thank was to tap index and middle finger on table two times.  It allows you to carry on conversation and never stop, ha!

We did our best to use chopsticks but we still stuck out like sore thumbs, we

were clearly the only "white folk" in the bunch.

 

 

We shopped around a couple of hours a the Chinese mall

 

 

 

 My BU pharmacy and sorority gals...could not have made it without them~

 

Meat market in the mall, wow

 

 

After a crazy experience at the Chinese (kinda sensory overload) we relaxed over bubble tea.

A whole other experience for us, imagine milky tea with tapioca in the bottom.

 

 We were revived and ready to tackle IKEA, a first for Lori and I.

This IKEA was huge with its own parking garage.

We got a couple of goodies and lots of ideas before heading home



 

The "bootleg" purse, Marie did the dealing so the Lisa got the best deal

 

Ah don't worry that was not all, we were all hungry again from our busy day shopping and were

 ready for an AHMAZING Authentic Japanese steakhouse.

 We relaxed the night away with facial masks

 

Monday morning we woke up and headed south to the Good Ol USA.

I was so refreshed and ready to see my boys (all 3 of them).

Made wonderful memories.

Can't wait till we meet again!

Niagara Falls

The best surprise ever happened on Saturday of our trip to Canada!

We went to Niagara Falls!

Can I tell you how excited I was to see this place and ride the Maid of the Mist?

I can cross it off my bucket list,

but I hope to go back someday too!

I imagined arriving a different way than a trail thru the woods, but it reminded me

of the history and grandeur the surround this place.

Many of the outlying Motels reminded me of those popular in the 50s and 60s

 when this was a must see destination. 

Did you know there are 2 falls?

Niagara Falls (US) and Horseshoe Falls (CAN)



 

As we cleared the trees the sound sight and smell was breathtaking.

 

And when we viewed the packed Maid of the Mist boats on this humid 90 degree day

we had second thoughts but we bought tickets anyway and the line moved fast

as soon we were feeling the breeze, mist, then full on shower from the falls

and we LOVED it!

 

 

 

A lot of us were first timers, some had been but not since childhood.

I think we would all agree that it was fun to experience with friends,

a story to tell for a lifetime

 

And then we grabbed a bite to eat in a mall there (there was much to do a boardwalk area and casinos) but we carried on our original plan of visiting a favorite winery of Dan and Marie's.

Except the GPS lead us astray and made for the best story of the trip.

 

It lead us into the border crossing and to the point to no return, which would

have been fine, except exactly half of us in the two cars did not bring passports

because our plans were not to cross that day.

Oh the adventures that happen with this crew.

Serious. Laughter. Some Panic. Not much. More laughter.

Cause we knew it would be an awesome story.

And we got an amazing guard that even helped us with the right directions.

Ha, a funny little detour.

 

And we finally arrived at our winery, famous for their icewine (in which I was educated...not much of a wine drinker here).  The grapes are grown and picked at a prime time around freezing temps to maximize their sweetness...sweet it was!

 

 

I also did not mention that this group of girls loves a good deal like I do...

so when they scored all of our wine tastings for 28.00, it was all the buzz.

 

 

And then we settled back in at home for a wonderful meal of Koren BBQ ribs and corn on the cob.  The meal was delicious but the company and conversation was even better.

We talked life...love that.