Poutine! At the Triple Rock!

Well, it's Canada month (week? month?) at the Triple Rock, so The Hubs and our friend Molly decided to eat there after seeing Be Kind, Rewind (which was hysterical, by the way). The only thing I wanted to eat was a big plate of Poutine. So Molly and I both got some poutine and The Hubs got some plain 'ol hot wings. Boooring! Haha! Anyway, we got the poutine and a few Big Ass cans of Molson Canadian and proceeded to eat and drink ourselves into a carbohydrate and cholesterol coma.

It was heaven. Just look at that pile of delicious, artery clogging goodness!



So, yeah. Those of you who have been craving the poutine, or, more importantly, those of you who haven't ever tried it (for shame!), get your ass to the Triple Rock and get some. Now!

It isn't as good as the real deal I had in Ottawa, but it came close. And that's all I was hoping for. Totally delicious. And only $6.99!

ps) Wednesday is Free Bacon night. I don't know what that means, but it cracks my shit up.

Vacation Time Is Over

We're back in Mpls after being in Ottawa for about a week. Our flight out there was smooth and we were able to check into our room right away. The hotel wasn't all that great, but it didn't suck. But I did avoid the kitchen chairs as much as I could since they were stained with god-knows-what:



I should mention that the hotel we stayed in is actually more of a place to LIVE. I think we were one of the only people who were just visiting, instead of living. It wasn't a bad place, per se, but it had it's issues. Like the fact that the windows only opened about 4 inches. And that they never cleaned our room for the whole time we were there*. But it was cheap and mostly clean so we were OK. Oh, and it had a whirlpool in the basement that soothed my feet, which was right on.

During our stay we tried to save money by eating out only one meal a day. Since our room had a kitchen, we bought stuff at the grocery store to make for lunch/dinner. I love how everything is printed in French, but the actual product was made in the USA:



When we did eat out, here are some of the things I ate:

2 Grilled cheese sandwiches made with Canadian cheddar (not something I'd like to have again as the cheese was super oily and kind of flavorless)

French Fries

Chicken Ceasar salad

Crispy beef and rice with an egg roll

Poutine (which was delicious and had me wishing I could get some here in Mpls):

Gelato

Various British candy bars

Dairy Queen (which I was totally surprised to see!)

Eggs Benedict, which was icky at one place, and so-so at another place

Beaver Tail

Lots of iced tea, water, and diet coke

In my opinion, vacations are all about the food first, tourist attractions second. We went to Byward market on our second day there. That's a place I could live in until I died. We went into one stinky cheese shop and I was in heaven. I think I need to be more well versed in cheese, since it's something I love to eat. They also had great meat and seafood shops, too. If I lived in Ottawa I'd do most of my shopping there, for sure.

Tomorrow I go back to work. I'm actually looking forward to it as I'm now completely broke. I was going to go in today (even though I took it off), but our flight was delayed almost 3 hours out of O'Hare, and I had a crap load of stuff to get done while I had the chance. My next day off won't be until the end of October, so I had to take advantage of the day.









* they came in and took away the trash and left towels, but that was it.

Ottawa Day 4

The Hubs and I split up today and did our own thing. I went back to the Rideau Mall and the Byward Market to look around. I didn't spend any money as my stupid ATM card suddenly won't work in ATM machines here in Canada (even though it worked last year in Vancouver). I wanted to get a caramel apple from the Rocky Mountain Chocolate Factory, but the line was too long. While I was in the market I saw this guy with two dogs that "pose" for pictures. They were cute dogs, but something about this is just so sad:




They sat like that while people took photos of them. The owner put bits of hot dog in their mouths so they could pose with it and when they wanted to eat it, they got yelled at. The dog on the left is named Zoe, but I don't remember the name of the other dog. They just seemed so sad. Here's a video I made:



I guess I'm too sensitive when it comes to animals. I also saw a woman with a wiener dog that she dressed in a fur coat. That's just too much!

We also saw Superbad this afternoon. Yeah, it was funny, but not as awesome as everyone has been saying.

Tonight we're going to an 80s night to do some dancing. Tomorrow is our last full day here. I hate how short vacations are.

Ottawa

Ottawa is nice. The weather is great. 75 degrees during the day, about 50 at night. Perfect for The Griffins, as we hate the heat.

Today we went to Byward Market and I didn't want to leave! That place is my heaven. Fresh fruits and vegetables are sold under tents, and you can get any kind of meat or cheese you'd ever dream of right there. I had to try a Beaver Tail and I was not disappointed. I want to go back and buy some more stuff before we leave.

Also, I had to go to the LUSH store in Byward Market, too. They were having this awesome sale where you buy two items and get one free, so I ended up getting a crapload of bath bombs, bubble baths, and face scrubs. Since the nearest LUSH is in Chicago, I figure I better stock up while I can.



We also walked along Parliament Hill and looked at all the government buildings. The architecture is really cool, in my opinion. Tomorrow we plan on taking a boat tour down the canal and then we're going to the Civilization museum.







I'm just glad the weather has been nice. The weather reports I read before we left said rain for every day we're here. I'm glad it was wrong.

T Minus 30 Hours

In a little over 30 hours, The Hubs and I will be on our way to Canada where we plan on doing nothing but looking at art, shopping at LUSH, eating great food, and sleeping.

I cannot wait.

But of course, I'm procrastinating. I should be packing, but I'm not. I really should do it tonight as tomorrow I work all day and then we're going to the Fine Line to see the Editors show. We're not even going to sleep when we get home from the show as we have to be up at 4am to get to the airport by 5am to catch our flight. I really hope I'll be able to sleep on the plane and my excitement won't kick my adrenaline into overdrive.

I'm so happy to be getting away for a while. Not that things are all that bad, but a chance of scenery is what I need. For sure.

5 Weeks To Ottawa

The Hubs and I are leaving for our annual Canada Vacation in 5 weeks! We're going to Ottawa this year. I'm really looking forward to it. I'm saving up as much money as I can to spend in the LUSH store. It really should be criminal that there's no LUSH stores in Minnesota. Seriously, those people should be punished.

The only thing I'm stressed about is my passport. I applied for one in the beginning of May. It's now roughly mid August and I still don't have the thing (even though they assured me it would arrive by Aug 3). This administration is retarded. It's absolutely ridiculous to have to show a passport to go to Canada or Mexico. And the other fucked up thing is that the government is saying that you can just show your receipt at the border that shows you actually applied for a passport and everything will be A-OK. Yeah, right! Like I'm going to trust the Homeland Security morons who get paid $7/hour at the checkpoints to let me back into the country after showing a flimsy receipt for $95. That's a good one!

Last year I was able to show my birth certificate to get in and out of Canada. I obviously can't do that this year because the government has my birth certificate with my passport application. Why don't I get another copy, you ask? I suggest you harken back to last year's fiasco where I had to shell out $57 and send it to NY State to get an "official copy" of my BC.

On the bright side, Canada is a place I wouldn't mind being stranded, you know? I love me some Canadians.