Farm Party

The weekend unfortunately started off with USA losing their match against Ghana, and being in a pub with a good amount of Canadians rooting for Ghana seemed a bit fishy to me, but I won't dwell on the odd circumstances. That's not to say Ghana wouldn't have Canadian supporters, but it looked as though people were supporting whoever played against the U.S. That and a girl on the streetcar saying USA didn't deserve to be there...a bit of button pushing but I just smiled at her arrogance.

I was invited to a Solstice Party by a couple friends which was up in the farmland of Guelph which is an hour outside of Toronto. So we carpooled out there into the Canadian farmland which closely resembles the Midwest. I went to a farm party with cousins in Missouri once, and this looked pretty identical to that, except the corn stalks were higher in Missouri. So the gracious hosts of this party, Jodie and her friend Megan, provided food and booze (a keg of PBR and bottomless sangria!). How could this not be great?? They also had the best invention in recent times. Red plastic cups, with a scratch pad for your name!! No more sharpies and writing your name on tons of cups! Although I'll sadly admit that I lost my cup anyway.

The farm was really beautiful, and they had a great outside area with a fire pit and lights strung everywhere. The only downside was the farm is apparently a hot bed for mosquitoes, so even though there were a million cans of bug spray, I still got bit pretty badly. My friend Warren even said that mosquitoes like blondes and redheads the most, of which I am neither.

The end to the weekend consisted then of a crazy thunderstorm last night, Sunday, and I was a tad scared. Everyone who lives here or in the Midwest is used to it so they go hang out on the porch and soak it up, but for those of us not from a big thunderstorm area, it's still bit scary every time.

I'll leave you with a couple photos of the farm party, and avoid saying anything about the G20, because I don't have much to say about it.

The sun was bright red!!

Dund-asssssss

Needless to say it has been an interesting week. It felt like two weeks packed into one week, which I won't elaborate on. The USA's game against Slovenia was pretty crazy, the ref was ridiculous and kept making calls nobody understood. I was yelling in my room. And England's match a couple hours later was just sad. The English announcer called it a poor, poor match at the end.

My roommate has been keeping me entertained for the last couple of days, doing lots of stuff. On Thursday we went to a free concert in Toronto's equivalent to Times Square, which is called Dundas Square..pronounced Dund-ass. It was this old punk group called X and was a pretty good show, outside with lots of people. The next day was filled with World Cup games and then out and about to a new friend's place to hang out. I've met a lot of new people in the last 3 days, I decided get out there and make more friends and do things. I mean I was doing things, but not a lot, and now I really have to explore this city. I also had my first street dog last night! Toronto has so many hot dog carts, and they have regular and veggie, and sometimes chicken ones. The cart is packed with condiments, things you wouldn't think to put on hot dogs. Hot peppers, green olives, hot mustard and honey mustard...and other things I can't remember. For $2.50 it's a cheap dinner that fills you up. And today was the Farmer's Market, but it looked like rain, and with ridiculous humidity! I was unimpressed with the humidity today, not cool Canada, not cool.

Lastly, I was just reminded that I'm going to be moving in with Vanessa come late August, so that made me extremely excited!! It's gonna be the coolest place ever. With great baked goods and awesome hang outs, it's gonna be a great year living with her. I know this post is all over the place, but my mind and my writing are off this week, my apologies.

It's a DRAW!!

As you must already know, the USA vs. England World Cup match ended in a DRAW!!! Much to the dismay of Paul, Peps, and almost everyone in the pub where I watched it. The game drove me to drink, and I was literally on the edge of my seat the whole time. I didn't lose 10 bucks though so that's nice. Putting money on the game made me interested in our team and all of the stats and players. Now, I know a lot more and am following the World Cup closely. I won't bore you with all that I read this morning about Group C (USA's group) and how much USA need to beat Slovenia by to advance. It's gonna be close since the USA/England game was a draw, and Slovenia beat Algeria, something neither of the former teams were hoping for. Anyways, this will be an exciting month of games, especially the Brazil vs. North Korea match, considering Brazil is ranked 1st in the world and N. Korea is 105th!

Being back in Ottawa is strange because the last time I was here we were trudging through snow and slush and the canal was ice. Now, the canal is gorgeous, the trees are green and it's very warm! Walking around I remember how much I like this country's capital, for it's proximity and generally smaller feel. Granted Toronto is accessible with its transit system, but you travel around and could easily never see anyone you know. But with Ottawa, you walk around and could easily run into your own roommate. Helena leaves for England in early September, so this was a chance to spend a couple days with her, and I must say it's nice to be around a great friend again. Her and Peps visited Toronto for a couple days like 3 weeks ago, but for the most part, my BFFs are all spread out right now. Being in San Diego, Bosnia, Ottawa, San Francisco, and my bro in San Mateo. And as I told Vanessa, just count your blessings for Skype, as I would probably be lost without it.

I leave tonight on the train and get back in TO at 11pm, but I figured I'd spend as much time with Helena as I could. Ok, enough with this chatter, I'm gonna quit writing and go hang with her!!

Nanaimo

This is pronounced Nan-I-mo, for those of you none Canadians reading this. Among other things like having Thanksgiving in October (why??), Canadians also have their own desserts unheard of in the rest of North America. One such dessert is the Nanaimo Bar:



I FINALLY went to my neighborhood's weekly Farmer's Market at this great place called the Wychwood Barns:



I've heard about this Market from many a people, and my roomie Alia and I thought today would be the day to go! Even though the sky looked a bit cloudy, as soon as we got there we were regretting not bringing our sunglasses as we took off our sweaters. The Market is year-round, so in the winter, they take over the inside of the Barns. Today, all of the stands were set up outside, with a band playing and kids running around. As most of you know, I get extremely excited about food, so walking up to this Market I was hiding my intense happiness at walking around the booths.

Now, Canada is not that different from 'The States,' as I've learned to call it. BUT, there are small differences that jump out at me that I find really interesting. One is the difference in Farmer's Markets. Actually, since my Farmer's Market experience is mainly within California, I will specify that there are differences between Canadian and Californian Farmer's Markets. Later on in the summer, there will be less differences, but right now, these Farmer's Market's have a big emphasis on baked goods and bread products. Usually in California, the Farmer's Markets mostly have produce. All kinds and endless amounts. There wasn't much produce just yet, but there were many booths with breads, muffins, and cinnamon rolls! This leads me to the Nanaimo Bars.

We passed by a booth and were looking at the delish goods and my roomie Alia said something about these chocolate things with a strange name. I had her repeat it a couple of times, and then she asked if I'd ever had one. Obviously not because I'm not from here. So she said she'd buy one, and the lady asked if we wanted to try some. Alia said "oh I was just going to buy one because she's never had one." The lady looked at me as if this couldn't be possible, and Alia answered her stare by saying, "yeah, she's American." All of the surrounding people turned and looked as if they'd never seen an American before, and watched me while I tried the bar. One woman standing next to Alia asked her if I'd tried a Butter Tart before, another Canadian staple. I don't know why she didn't just ask me, but maybe she felt more comfortable talking to a Canadian. The bar is delicious, as you could probably tell from the picture above, very rich and chocolate-y.

I only brought 10 bucks with me, which was just as well because I would have bought many things, none of which would have been fruits or veggies. I did buy a small basket of apples, so I'm proud of that. The only strawberries were going for 6 bucks for a small basket!! I was like, these better be half dipped in gold because that's a rip. But it should also be noted that most, if not all, of the strawberries in stores here are from good ol' California, so obviously I'm not used to paying a lot for strawbs. It will get better in the weeks to come, and I will probably write more about it, since my love of food overtakes most things.

My next post will be about the World Cup, and the much anticipated first game between England and the US which I will watch in Ottawa with my great friends Helena and Peps. I have 10 bucks riding on this game with the same Brit who said I may not be hearing from him for a while if England loses. We shall see Paul, we shall see.