Downtown Toronto

We explored downtown today. I was with my mom and Ninang Rosie. Uncle Pol dropped us off and went to Spadina in Chinatown to buy more fruits. Our first stop was the CN Tower, which is the highest freestanding structure in the world (113 stories high), at least until the one in Dubai is completed a few months from now. The CN Tower is actually built as a broadcasting tower and it has all the broadcasting equipment hidden behind a balloon wall below the two observation decks.


CN Tower. more pics

Unfortunately, it was a windy day, so the Sky Pod, which is a smaller "bubble" higher up the tower, is closed. They close it whenever winds are stronger than 15 knots. And the winds were significantly stronger up there. However, we had the experience of stepping (and lying) on the glass floor, which is a very disconcerting experience in the beginning, until you get used to it.


My feet and Mommy's feet over the glass floor. more pics

After our souvenir-shopping spree at the base of the tower, Uncle Pol came back with Edward, the older of their two sons. Edward took us to a financial building called BCE Place where Rich Tree Restaurant is located.

Rich Tree Restaurant is an intriguing concept. When you walk in, the hostess hands you a "shopping card" which looks like a credit card. Inside, the restaurant looks like an outdoor market -- they have stalls with fresh fish on ice, bags of semolina flour, baskets of oranges. You can order grilled salmon, lasagna, and fresh-squeezed juice cocktails from those stalls respectively. You can order a slew of other things, of course. They also have a stall with loaves of bread, an ice cream stall, a waffles stall, a breakfast stall, a dessert stall, and a few more I don't remember. When I ordered my grilled salmon, I got to pick exactly which salmon steak I wanted, just like in a grocery store, and they cooked it for me the way I wanted it cooked -- medium. When you order a dish, you hand the cook your shopping card to record your purchase. Piles of wooden trays and baskets of flatware are by each stall, so you can pick them up at your convenience. Then you carry your purchases back to your table. If you want something else, like dessert, you get up and go "shopping" again. When you're done, you take your "shopping card" to one of the cashiers and you pay for your "purchases." Cool, huh?


"Marketplace stalls" at the Rich Tree Restaurant. more pics

Well, my mom absolutely had to hurry and watch "American Idol" so we hijacked Edward's condo, which was conveniently nearby. While my mom watched "American Idol" on one TV and Uncle Pol watched a Raptors (basketball) game on another TV, Edward took me and Ninang Rosie on a tour of the building. They had a great view of the city on the rooftop, an expansive gym (also at the rooftop), a nice wave pool, a little fountain in the middle of the lobby, a lounge area with PCs and big-screen TVs, and a minimalist modern decor party room. However, the cool little three-inch disco ball is hanging from the ceiling in Edward's condo. :-)

Ninang Rosie headed back upstairs as we walked out into the cold so I could take a picture of the Wayne Gretsky Restaurant right next door. It was flurrying, but we continued walking around a few blocks where the bars and restaurants are. There was a stage theater showing "Lord of the Rings" a block away. There was a pickup truck whose front end was sticking out the second floor of a building. There was a bar with a beer ad on one wall saying "Reluctantly exported from Nova Scotia." We didn't realize how cold it was until we went back in.


Wayne Gretzky's restaurant. more pics

After the Raptors won and after the last "Idol" sang, we surrendered Edward's condo back to him and headed home.

Ontario, Canada: fruits, falls, and fragrances

My mom and I are visiting my Ninang Rosie ("ninang" means godmother) in Canada. It's my mom's first time in Canada; it's my first time in Ontario.

It's pretty much like any US town. Well, okay, some people might argue that Canada is not really a different country. Lots of malls. Starbucks. McDonalds. And, somehow, life seems less hurried over here. Maybe it's because it's spring break (or "March break" as they call it here), so *I* feel less hurried.


Toronto's skyline. more pics

The city of Toronto and its numerous suburbs spread out over the landscape. Lots of spaces in between. The housing communities, however, are squeezed in, like in the US. You get a little yard. But, boy, the houses are huge! And the prices are low! My godmother's brother owns a 2400 sqft home (not including the basement) which they bought in the low $200's six years ago.

Fruits of home

Ninang Rosie is a wonderful cook. She had lots of fruits in her kitchen. And she had fresh lanzones! Lanzones come in bunches like grapes, about an inch in diameter. It's pale yellow, usually with black spots. Inside, it's divided into sections, and each section has the consistency of Jello with a seed. You can't find this fruit in Minneapolis, nor in Seattle. You can find it in the San Francisco Bay Area, but frozen, not fresh. Here in Canada, they get it so fresh and so sweet.


Lanzones. more pics

So, my mom wanted to shopping for fruits. On Friday, my godfather Uncle Pol took us to Chinatown. The Chinese vendors must have so many Filipino customers that they know some Filipino words. The vendors on one store called out to us, "Suki!" (Suki means a regular customer.) They called out the Filipino names of different fruits and said, "Masarap! (Delicious!)" We went into one store where my godfather usually buys and we bought Can$178 worth of fruits. We got mangosteens, lanzones, atis, and mangoes. They gave us samples of macopa and mansanitas for free. They also gave us a taste of a different type of mango from Taiwan and it was very good! It was smooth, not at all fibrous like the mangoes from Latin America. It was slightly larger than a regular mango and, even if it's not quite yellow yet, it's already very ripe.

So we're stuffing ourselves with fresh fruits from the Orient, since we're not likely going to be able to smuggle these back into the US.


Atis. more pics


Mangoes from Taiwan. more pics


A vendor picking out the best mangosteens for us from his fresh stash in the back room. more pics

Niagara Falls

We went to Niagara Falls on Saturday. The water cascades down in a U-shape; they call it the "horseshoe falls." The Canada-US border cuts across it, and we could see the skyline of Buffalo, New York on the other side. The force of the water creates a perpetual cloud hovering beside the falls and, on sunny days, a rainbow. Where the current is not strong, icicles hang from the ravine.


The "Rainbow Bridge" that crosses the US-Canada border...

... and the reason why it's called the "Rainbow Bridge." more pics

We took an elevator down to a tunnel at the foot of the falls so we could see behind the water curtain. There were two vista points. One is entirely blocked by ice; the other shows the water flowing through a gap in the ice. Another turn-off in the tunnel protrudes off to the side of the falls.


At the foot of the falls. more pics

Then we drove up Clifton Hill, which looked like an arcade gallery but it's an entire street. Every other building had its own theme. A Comfort Inn that looks like the Empire State Building laying on its side, complete with King Kong hanging at the roof. A Travelodge as Dracula's Haunted House. Frankenstein holding a Whopper on top of a Burger King. About a half-mile away is the Skylon Tower, but we didn't get a chance to go up.


Frankenstein with a Whopper. more pics

There's an old casino and a new casino. We went to the new Fallsview Casino. As my companions hit the slots, I went off to the food court with my book for some tea. Then at 8pm, I headed back up to our rendezvous. But I noticed a store with a very familiar name....


Fallsview Casino at dusk. more pics

Thé de Jasmine

The first time I saw the name "Fruits & Passion" was at Butchart Gardens in Vancouver, BC, when I lived in Seattle. I tried the lotion called "Thé de Jasmine" and it was the best jasmine scented lotion I had ever smelled at the time. I found their site online and ordered more body milk and a bottle of perfume. I thought it was a small outfit that would likely go out of business. So I saved my stash. Boy! Was I happy to see that store at Niagara Falls!


The Fruits & Passion store at the casino. more pics

So I went in but didn't see the jasmine line, so I asked for it. The young clerk led me to the counter. It was right behind the counter and she sprayed the perfume on a small tester strip. And, oh!, it smelled SO good! I decided on a jar of lotion, which was thicker in consistency than the body milk. I also got a perfume spray for the home made of bamboo and hibiscus, and three tubes of jasmine scented shower gels (they were on sale, three for the price of two). I was gushing about the jasmine scent, so she must have figured I was an easy sell. I spent about Can$65 within 15 minutes.


<sniff> <sniff> Mmmm.... more pics

It turns out that Fruits & Passion is only in Canada. They're opening a store in the US soon, but it's in Arizona. It is a franchise, but the clerk didn't know much about the franchising cost. She gave me a brochure so I can look it up online.

I later found out that Fruits & Passion is well known in Canada, but Bath & Body Works is more popular because they're cheaper and they keep coming up with new scents, whereas Fruits & Passion has the same products for a long time. And, for me, that's a good thing.

I dunno if I'll decide to franchise, but I'll be keeping an eye on that company. And I'll be using my Thé de Jasmine products more, now that I know it's not a small company that would go out of business anytime soon.