Week 22: Black Friday and Breakfast Television

I absolutely love to shop.  It's kinda an addiction of mine.  However, I'm also pretty tight with my money so when I shop I do it with purpose and a sense of frugality.  Every year I hear about the Black Friday shopping madness down in the U.S., and this year we had our very own Black Friday here in Toronto.  Many local malls were opening extra early at 7am and the Eaton Centre was opening at 6.  I chose the Eaton Centre because it's easily accessible via subway, closest to my home, and the largest mall in downtown Toronto.  So, I woke up at 5am and was on the subway by 6 when it begins running for the morning rush hour.  I've never been on the subway so early and I was surprised how many people travel at such an ungodly hour.  Anyway, I reached the Eaton Centre at 6:30 and had no idea what to expect.  We've all probably seen the TV news footage showing brawls, stampedes, and even babies left in cars unattended.  I admit I really didn't expect any of the aforementioned, but I was quite intrigued.  I walked around the mall to get a feel for things taking various pics to show you.  I was quite surprised at pretty much everything I saw there.  First, many stores weren't even open like Apple, Coach, Lulu Lemon, and Birks to name a few.  Second, I only saw two line ups to get into stores and that was Michael Kors and Forever 21.  Third, the varied sales from one store to the next was strange.  Some stores had great deals like Aeropostale and the Gap with 60% of everything.  American Eagle and Eddie Bauer offered 40% off everything.  I tried on a great white leather jacket at Danier that was on sale from $499 to $199.  That's a great deal.  And then there were stores with, in my opinion, crappy deals like Abercrombie & Fitch and Roots both offering 25% off, and my favourite crappy deal of the day goes to Bench who offered an additional 40% off already reduced items (which means the old ugly stuff nobody wants).  My highlight of this entire experience was running into Breakfast Television's Live Eye in the centre of the mall.  They, like other TV newscasters I saw, were there to capture the whole hoopla of Canada's first Black Friday, advertise, and give away prizes.  I'm a big fan of BT and would watch it every morning as I got ready for work.  I've never had the opportunity to actually be a part of it.  About every 20min. they would draw names and give away prizes.  You know what I realized about some of the people who get up early to attend these BT Live Eye locations?  They smell funky.  I get it.  It's early and your goal is to get there as quickly as possible, worry about showering later.  Anyway, I didn't win anything and I didn't buy anything either.  But, what I did get was my picture taken with 2 local celebrities, Frank Ferragine and Melanie Ng.  They were the Citytv BT Live Eye personalities at the raffle.  Overall, I think the Black Friday sales at the Eaton Centre were OK, but nothing out of this world.  I would never drive all the way to the U.S. to shop there for one day either.  I'm glad I experienced the entire thing but next time I'll just sleep in.

Check out the pics and videos below.  They help give a better feel for my newest adventure.

Week 21: More Food Exploration & Toronto's Cavalcade of Lights

Food:  A Grilled Cheese Sandwich and a Chinese Rice Dessert

This weekend I set out to try some new food and check out an annual downtown event.  For lunch on Saturday, I decided to try something that caught my eye on the Food Network's TV show "You Gotta Eat Here" called The Grilled Cheese.  The Grilled Cheese is located in Toronto's Kensington Market.  Just so you get a fair picture of what Kensington Market is like, it's kinda like the place where all the flower children of the 60's hang out.  I don't mean people in their 60's, but people who like to live the way it was in the 60's.  Anyway, the restaurant is pretty small with a few tables outside to sit at and a few more inside.  At first we had to share a picnic style table with a family of 4, but we were fortunate enough to get our own table shortly thereafter.  Because it was so busy and only 3 people were working, we had to clean our own table.  The pictures below will show the outside facade of the restaurant, their menu, and the sandwich I ordered (The Beast).  I'll admit that it was a busy Saturday afternoon and they did warn you before ordering that it was a 25 minute wait.  However, that 25 minutes turned into what felt like 45 minutes, and in my opinion no sandwich is worth waiting that long.  My coffee was cold by the time the food arrived and I was very annoyed.  Also, at one point a worker left to get supplies which left the woman on cash (who handles the money) to sometimes plate and serve the food.  Do you want the person handling money touching your food???  How was the sandwich?  It was fine; I'd rather have Quiznos.  Needless to say, I definitely will not be eating there again.  I should create a show called "You Gotta Avoid Eating Here". 

This is the sandwich I shared:  The Beast.

Later in the day, I walked over to Spadina (Chinatown) and decided to try a Chinese dessert called peanut sticky rice.  I just love the name of the bakery, "Ding Dong Pastries".  The dessert looks like a small snowball made of white rice with tiny coconut sprinkles on top.  Inside the rice ball is chopped up peanuts, sugar, and more coconut.  It was quite yummy.  The rice part has a very subtle taste, but the sugary peanuts and coconut flavour inside the centre is the best part. 

Cavalcade of Lights:  Live Entertainment & Christmas Lights

After killing some time at the Eaton Centre it was finally time for the Cavalcade of Lights at Nathan Phillips Square. 

"The 46th annual Cavalcade of Lights presented by Great Gulf kicks off the holiday season at Nathan Phillips Square on Saturday, November 17 at 7 pm. The public are invite to enjoy the first lighting of the Cavalcade of Lights display, live musical performances, spectacular fireworks, an outdoor DJ dance party presented by Timothy's World Coffee and a chance to get a photo taken with the Grey Cup."  www.toronto.ca/special_events/pdf/col12_backgrounder_oct23.pdf

The artists lined up to entertain the public included:  Dragonette, Suzie McNeil, Alyssa Reid, Sean Jones, Justin Abedin, and Circus Orange.  I admit I only stayed for about a half an hour, but that was more than enough for me because I was bored out of my mind.  In that 30 minutes I saw Justin Abedin, Sean Jones, Alyssa Reid, and the lighting of the cavalcade of lights display which was a disappointing lighting of a Christmas tree.  You can see what I saw by watching my videos and picture.  This was a free event so I guess I got my money's worth.

Don't get me wrong, I'm not a Scrooge.  I just have high expectations, I guess.  Anyway, I believe that that was my first and last Cavalcade of Lights.  Bah, humbug!

Week 20: "Just For Laughs - The Relationship Edition"

It felt so good to finally finish that enormous post on what I now refer to as "The Big Trip".  It pretty much took me 2 weeks to complete and I still haven't even started an album for Facebook.  Anyway, now that I'm back in Toronto and life is back to normal, I have to keep up my bargain of trying new things here at home.  That's what I did Friday night.

Who doesn't love to laugh?  It's the best way to relieve stress and feel good about life.  I like to think that I have a good sense of humour but not just anyone can make me laugh.  I've been to comedy clubs before and I've watched Just For Laughs on the Comedy Network several times.  It's usually a hit or miss for funny so I didn't have overly high expectations for Friday night's show at Massey Hall, "Just For Laughs- The Relationship Edition".  Here's the line up:  "Last Comic Standing winner John Heffron hosts a line-up featuring Canada's sweetheart Debra DiGiovanni and returning tour favourite Godfrey, along with special guest, SNL alum Jim Breuer."
(http://comedytour.hahaha.com/comics.html)  Go to this site if you'd like more information on each comedian and you can watch video clips of their shows.

The only comedian I actually recognized was Debra DiGiovanni because I've seen her on TV and at a local pub in town called "Spirits" where the up and coming comedians get started or try new material.  However, my favourite of the night was Godfrey.  He was hilarious and stole the show, in my opinion. 

Overall, I really enjoyed myself and I would totally go again.  They exceeded my expectations and that's not an easy thing to do.  If you enjoy a fairly inexpensive night of laughter and fun, go to Just For Laughs.

  John Heffron

  Jim Breuer

  Debra DiGiovanni

  Godfrey