Week 16: A Hindu Temple & the Humber Arboretum

BAPS Shri Swaminarayan Mandir

This weekend I decided to try something completely different.  I did a little detective work on line to uncover some possible hidden gems in the GTA.  One such gem is BAPS Shri Swaminarayan Mandir.  It's a stunning hand-carved Hindu temple, the second largest of its kind outside of India.  The Mandir is open to the public every day, free of charge, and located at Finch and Hwy 427.  Since it's prohibited to take photos or videos inside the temple, I have only these pics to show outside.

Upon entering the rectangular building in the first photo, you must take your shoes off; there's a specific area for women and another for men.  Then you watch a brief video tour of the construction and history of the temple.  Afterwards you may enter the section of the temple that is in the photo above.  Once inside you are surrounded by over 24,000 hand-carved marble and teak wood pieces.  It is quite breathtaking.  I think it's important to learn about other cultures and the best way to learn is through experience.  This place is special no matter what religion, if any, you consider yourself to be a part of.  The architecture itself is worth seeing. 

Humber Arboretum

For once I can really enjoy fall without the stress of back to school overwhelming my brain.  The best part of fall is the beautiful colours.  I wanted to create a combo that would suit several purposes:  nature's fall colours, exercise, and something new to blog about.  The Humber Arboretum fits all of the above plus it's very close to BAPS.  One of the reasons why I love living in Toronto is because you never run out of things to see and do.  There are countless parks for nature lovers to explore.  The Humber Arboretum is located behind Humber College.  I couldn't even pronounce "arboretum" let alone define it until last week.  Dictionary.com defines arboretum as:  "a plot of land on which many different trees or shrubs are grown for study or display."  I really wasn't there for study or to display anything other than my interest in a good hike and some pretty trees.  It was nice, but I've never seen anything even comparable to the picturesque fall scenes in New Brunswick.  I'm biased of course.  What do you think?

Week 15 Continued: Homemade Cheeseburger

I really love cheeseburgers but I rarely allow myself to have one.  I've been on Weight Watchers for several years now and I swear by it.  It works.  It works.  It works.  What doesn't work is my ability to make one.  I bought the lean ground beef and condiments, but I was too cheap to buy an entire bag of hamburger buns (I only needed one) so that meant I had to use a Weight Watcher bagel as a bun.  Anyway, I knew I was off to a bad start when I realized that the ground beef had a date of best before yesterday.  But I figured that the date is simply their suggestion, right?  I made two snowball sized beef balls and flattened them in the frying pan with my spatula (I saw that cool trick on the Food Network).  I also bought some frozen sliced sweet potatoes to go with my burger so I threw them in a pot (although it said to use a pan; I only have one and that's where the burgers were) to heat up.  I soon discovered that the pot was a bad idea because the sweet potatoes were burning.  So, I dumped them in the pan with the burgers.  Once everything seemed as ready as it'll ever be I plated my food and took this picture:

Kinda sad, isn't it?  The cheeseburger tasted fine but of course all the condiments ran out of the hole in the bagel so that wasn't helpful.  The sweet potatoes were OK at best.  My conclusion to this entire event is that it would be easier to just go to McDonald's.  "I'm lovin' it." 

Week 15: BIXI Bikes & Nuit Blanche

BIXI

A while ago I noticed that Toronto had these cool bike rental stations all over the downtown core called BIXI.  Ever since then I always thought it would be really neat to try it out.  All you need is a credit card for the $250 deposit and $5.65 for the 24 hour subscription.  "BIXI bikes can be picked up or dropped off at any of the 80 downtown bicycle docking terminals 24 hours a day, seven days a week." (http://www.toronto.ca/cycling/bixi/)  They're really designed to supplement the TTC, but that's no fun so we decided to bike to Tommy Thompson Park.  I really enjoyed my BIXI bike and would totally do it again.  They are easy to rent, ride, and fairly comfortable too. 

Tommy Thompson Park

Nuit Blanche

Up until this past weekend I had no clue what nuit blanche was.  Nuit blanche is designed "to transform the city into a giant late-night contemporary art gallery, with daring and largely interactive work displayed throughout the downtown core."  (http://www.blogto.com/arts/2012/09/nuit_blanche_toronto_2012/)  We mainly checked out two locations hosting various installations at Old City Hall and City Hall.  I like art, a bit.  But I enjoy art that I can relate to, nothing abstract for me.  Most of the installations I saw at nuit blanche were quite "out there".  I kept saying things like, "Huh?  I don't get it.  That's kinda disturbing."  You can make your own decision.

located on Yonge Street:  The Fluxmobile

Old City Hall:  9 Beet Stretch, 2004

Leif Inge - Oslo, Norway
New Adventures in Sound Art (NAISA) - Toronto, Canada

located at City Hall: 



Well, as William Shatner would say, "Was that weird or what?"

Week 14: I Baked Muffins!

With the highly successful cookie baking endeavor, I was totally ready to bake something else that's new.  So last night I baked low fat oatmeal muffins.  No, they weren't frozen or ready-made in a package like the cookies so I didn't cheat as much this time.  I'm starting to realize how easy they make it for you to bake things.  This muffin mix I bought had everything already in there.  All you have to do is add water, mix, pour, and bake.  I admit I had to do my research before all this easy stuff went down.  In order to make muffins I had to buy muffin tins and the infamous mixing bowl (which you can get at the Dollarama for $1.25).  The only issue I had this time was the fact that I ran out of muffin mix; it was supposed to make 12 muffins but all I could manage were ten and a half.  Anyway, they turned out just fine and were as tasty as low fat muffins can be.  Another star for me!

Week 13 Continued: Butterflies & Edible Insects

BUTTERFLIES

This weekend I went to the Cambridge Butterfly Conservatory.  I thought it would be interesting to compare it to the Niagara Butterfly Conservatory that I've been to several times.  I actually preferred the Cambridge Conservatory because it wasn't very busy and had other pretty living things such as birds, fish, turtles, and a waterfall, pond, and stream.  I think the price was a bit cheaper too; parking is free.  It's so neat to walk around and have butterflies land on you.  I have to admit the first time it happened to me I kinda freaked out with a scream and almost fell over.  Now I'm a pro.  It's also noteworthy to mention that if you want to attract the butterflies you should wear bright colours.  Here are some pics:

EDIBLE INSECTS

I always check out the gift shop at every place I go to because I love to shop.  I was very surprised and intrigued to find various edible insects for sale in the Conservatory's gift shop.  They had chocolate covered insects, sour cream & onion crickets, salt & vinegar crickets, hard candied bugs, and cheddar cheese flavoured larvae.  I thought it would be a neat blogging idea to try some of these bugs.  It's definitely new and adventurous.  I have a picture of the 3 different kinds of bugs I bought and videos of me eating each.  Bon appetit!

Hungry, anyone?

Week 13: I Can Bake Cookies... Sort Of

I actually have baked something before.  Several years ago I baked a cake for a colleague for her birthday.  I remember it quite vividly because I didn't have a mixing bowl so I was forced to use a juice pitcher instead.  It worked fine.  The cake was a bit lopsided and sunken in but it was completely edible and even tasted quite good.  It wasn't from scratch because I used one of those Betty Crocker cake mixes.  But it counts, right?  Since I had already made a cake this time I wanted to bake something completely new to me, and something that didn't require special tools like mixing bowls (I still don't have any).  So, I chose to bake some cookies.  To set myself up for success, I thought it would be a good idea to get the easiest option out there:  President's Choice Baked By You Oatmeal Chocolate Chip cookie dough.  I figured I couldn't go wrong with that.  All you have to do is cut the dough and put it on the cookie sheet (I actually have one).  The hardest part of this entire process was getting the damn dough out of the packaging.  I tried cutting with one knife and cutting with another knife, slicing in one direction, slicing in another direction, rolling the packaging, you name it.  What a fiasco that was.  However, after I finally put all my 6 years of post secondary education to work I got the dough out! 

You are probably wondering how they turned out.  Well, let's just say they were DELICIOUS.  They were so good I ate 3 of them... and then I felt sick:(

It's like my mother said, "Watch out Martha Stewart."

Week 12: A Rockstar, A Fetish Club & Some Baby Food

Don't be frightened by the title.  Remember what your elders always say, "Don't judge a book by its cover." 

Let's begin with the Rockstar.

Most people have probably tried an energy drink at one point or another.  However, have you ever tried the alcoholic version of one?  That's what I had Friday night.  I'm not a big fan of wine much anymore so my beverage of choice lately has been lite beer and fruity coolers.  I guess that's what I thought this ROCKSTAR VODKA drink would be like, a cooler.  Let me tell you that this drink most certainly does not taste anything like a cooler.  In fact, to best describe its taste I would compare it to cold & flu medicine, and not the warm lemony soothing type.  After every sip of this drink you could hear me say, "Yuck!  Disgusting!" followed by an expletive or two.  It has to go down as one of the most horrible alcoholic drinks I've ever had.  Never again.








Now on to the fetish club.  I had heard of this unique club or lounge called "Oasis" and happened to be walking by its location on Saturday afternoon.  I stopped for kicks to check out their posted advertisements not thinking of course that it might be open at 3 o'clock in the afternoon.  That's when a gentleman walked up to the door and asked if I'd like a free tour.  I was like, "Are you serious???  Um, OK."  I had no idea what to expect and was immediately startled with the nudists sitting at the bar directly inside the doors and then more nudists in the pool on the patio.  I was trying to act all cool and nonchalant when meanwhile I was freaking out and had no idea where to look.  I wanted to capture the place in its entirety because I knew I would never come back.  The first floor was nothing compared to the second and third which included X-rated videos, wall to wall leather sofas, two-way mirror windows, and an S&M room with swings, chains, and something that resembled a Bowflex machine.  I'm still in a state of shock to be perfectly honest.  I'm not going to judge anyone but this place is not for me.  Here's the pics of what I saw outside the club.

Last but not least, the baby food.  I was invited to a baby shower on Sunday.  When the host asked for volunteers with the games I jumped at the new opportunity.  I don't have kids and I know nothing about babies.  So, of course I went to the Internet for game ideas.  I really wanted something interactive so I chose a baby food identification game.  Players had to smell and taste samples of baby food (the best Walmart has be offer) and guess the main ingredients.  I don't think the ladies were much on board with the idea but some gave it their best.  At least it gave them something to talk about.  Here's a sample of one baby food jar and all the labels used.  Hey, if it's good enough for a baby...