Oriental Aroma Restaurant (Saskatoon, Sk)

My husband and I decided to try out Oriental Aroma Restaurant located here in Saskatoon on the corner of Clarence and 8th St.  We've driven by there constantly when they were renovating and were curious to see what this restaurant was all about.  So far it's gotten good reviews on UrbanSpoon, my trusty source for restaurant reviews, so we went there for lunch on Easter Sunday.

We were a bit late getting our butts in gear as it was around 1:30 when we arrived but there were still a few customers present. While waiting to be seated we noticed the roof was leaking in a few spots in the center of the room which I felt bad for the new owners but it didn't affect the service nor the food.  Upon reviewing the menu, it was obvious they served traditional Chinese dishes like fish head, pork belly, tripe, pork intestine and many more that I haven't seen in other Chinese restaurants in Saskatoon.  Near the back of the menu was additional appetizers and main meals that catered to more Western style Chinese food.  We ended up ordering: Hot and Sour soup ($6.50), Crab Rangoon ($6.50), Shanghai Noodle ($9.95), and Kong Pao Chicken ($12.95). The Crab Rangoon came out first and they were big in size, probably the biggest I've had and definitely tasty - my new favorite location to get them in Saskatoon.  Next came the Hot and Sour soup which definitely could have served 4-5 people instead of just my husband and I.  Temperature wise it was hot but it could have been a bit better in flavor as I'm used to this type of soup having strong hot (spicy) and sour flavors to it.  Still not bad.  Then came the 2 dishes, Kong Pao Chicken and Shanghai Noodles.  I loved the flavors of the Kong Pao Chicken as it had a bit of kick to it and incorporated peanuts and black beans in it.  It went well with the rice we were served.  The Shanghai Noodles were also good but by now I was getting full. We definitely had a lot of leftovers to take home.

Overall I was pleased with my first visit to this restaurant.  While parking can be a bit of a pain, as they are located in a small strip mall type setup with limited parking (I assume if they were busy, people would have to park around the block on the residential streets), the atmosphere was pleasant and clean - which is what you would expect from a new restaurant.  It was obvious they take pride in their dishes as the shrimp was deveined, which you don't see too often in Chinese restaurants, and even though we had 2 dishes that had chicken in it, they were prepped differently instead of using the same chicken twice and wasn't dry.  Next time we'll probably be more adventurous and try a more traditional Chinese dish as our meal today is a testament of their quality of food.

Weczeria Food & Wine (Saskatoon, Sk)

A couple days ago my husband took me out for supper at Weczeria Food & Wine located on Broadway Ave here in Saskatoon.  My husband had eaten there previously in the week for business and enjoyed the menu so much he wanted me to experience it for myself. It definitely did not disappoint.

We didn't have reservations that night and sat at the bar which we didn't mind doing so. Talking to the bartender, we learned the restaurant recently (a couple months ago?) hired a new chef, Chef Todd Clark, who was raised in Regina but studied overseas in Paris for approx. 6 years. As we had eaten at Weczeria before, we could definitely taste the difference in terms of portion control, flavors and textures.

I started off with a sangria that was presented in a mason jar and John ordered a bottle of wine to share. For an appetizer, we started off with gnocchi in a rich parmesan cream sauce served on top of braised bison - it was so flavorful . We couldn't pass up the opportunity to sop up the leftover sauce with the bread provided for us as it was that good. For the main course, I ordered the beef that was cooked medium rare with potato croquettes and a vegetable puree. It was cooked to perfection, pan fried and finished in the oven. John ordered the curry tortellini stuffed with eggplant and cream cheese tossed with radicchio. Hands down this was the best meal we've had in a long time in a restaurant. I would definitely recommend this restaurant to anyone who appreciates quality food.

Curry tortellini 

Beef with potato croquette and puree

Audi Roadside Assistance & Dealership - Excellent Service

The other day we were on our way out to get groceries when my husband and I discovered our key fob wouldn't work in our 2011 A4 (our only car).  It would go in 3/4 of the way but no further.  We took turns trying just in case it was one of us as we hadn't used the car in a while and tried both fobs to rule out all possible issues we could think of.  No luck.  Concerned I called Audi dealership here in Saskatoon hoping their service department was still open as it was 4:00 on a Saturday and about -29 outside, not including the wind chill.  The receptionist answered and confirmed my fears that their service department was indeed closed.

I proceeded to call Audi's Roadside Emergency Assistance and spoke with a very helpful Amber who was sympathetic to our situation.  She put me on hold for a bit and came back on stating she spoke with the dealership here in town who were going to call me in five minutes as they were willing to help us out any way they can.  As promised, both Trevor and Scotty contacted me to find out what the situation was.  They were very helpful and great to work with and came up with a plan to get the car towed and looked at first thing on Monday.  I contacted Roadside Assistance again to get the car towed so it wouldn't cost us anything and this time spoke with Erin.  I thought I would have to repeat our situation again but Amber was very diligent about recording our conversation and Erin was quick to set us up with a tow truck.  Overall I have to say I was impressed with the service I received and the quickness Audi was able to respond to our needs.

Simon's Fine Food Cooking Class - Irresistable Italian

gnocchi: (in Italian cooking) Small dumplings made from potato, semolina, or flour, usually served with a sauce (Wikipedia)

 I love cooking. I am always looking for ways to improve my cooking and increase my repertoire. My dream would be to open up a small restaurant using quality ingredients prepared simply so when John bought me a cooking class with Simon Reynolds of Simon Fine Foods here in Saskatoon I couldn't wait.

Leftover gnocchi and chicken

Simon is a trained chef with over 20 years of experience, working in many parts of the world like the United Kingdom, Australia and Canada. He once owned Simon's British Flavors here in town and now teaches cooking classes, as well as caters and provides private chef services. He offers a number of different classes ranging from $50-60 that can be viewed here. The class I signed up for was Irresistable Italian with a menu consisting of: potato and nutmeg Gnocchi, mushroom and shallot cream sauce, tomato salad with balsamic and pesto dressing, parmesan and herb tray focaccia, and orange and rasberry biscotti. Yum!

As this was my first cooking class I wasn't quite sure what to expect.  I've seen shows on television where wannabe chefs stand around a table taking notes while the instructor goes through the process. I packed the required items of a chopping board, knife and small containers for leftovers as well as a second knife, pen and notebook just incase I needed to take notes (which I ended up not needing). The class ran approx. 2 hours with time afterwards to enjoy our creations and take home leftovers.

Cranberry and orange biscotti

Simon's Fine Foods is easy to find - it's located in the Avalon strip mall and his signage is easy to spot. I arrived 10 minutes early as suggested on his site only to find out that I was the last to arrive (hopefully I wasn't late as the site mentioned classes starting at 6:30). The place was exactly how I pictured it would be. It was clean and organized, with cooking shelves against the front and left wall, 2 stainless steel counters in the center, sinks against the right wall and an oven and stove at the back. Our class was smaller in size - we initially sat around a table as Simon introduced himself (or everyone was just sitting there waiting for me to arrive :S). We proceeded to put on the provided cloth aprons and went to the counters to start our class.

Parmesan and herb tray focaccia

The class was very hands on, starting with each of us learning how to make gnocchi from scratch. Along the way, Simon would provide pointers and reasons why certain techniques were used. He was open to answering any questions we had, even questions that may not have related to the theme of the class. As the class progressed we were assigned different tasks such as slicing and peeling different items. At one point I was assigned to make the biscotti which I've never made before and enjoyed doing so. I don't want to go into the specifics of the class as I believe Simon's classes are worth signing up for and experiencing things first hand. We finished the class on time and was able to sit down and enjoy our creations. I wish I had a picture of our finished creations but you'll have to make due with pictures of the leftover focaccia, gnocchi and biscotti I took home. I would definitely recommend signing up for one of Simon's classes as he is knowledgeable and personable.

Los Cabos, Mexico: Dec. 19, 2011 - Dec. 26, 2011

It's been a while since I've blogged and what better way to get back into the swing of things by posting about our recent trip to Los Cabos, Mexico over the Christmas holidays.  We wanted a hot holiday and Los Cabos did not disappoint us.  It was our first trip to Mexico and it was certainly worth it.

We flew with Sunwing for the first time and I have to say I was impressed with their service.  They gave out complimentary champagne and tips on what to avoid in Mexico such as the timeshare sellers you have to walk by on the way out of the airport.  The direct flight lasted approx. 4 hours 10 mins and the heat hit us as soon as we landed.  Since they rarely have any rain and 0 snow, we stepped out of the plane and walked towards the indoor baggage claim area.  My only complaint regarding the airport was that they had 3 carousels for baggage claim and 0 notification which carousel would contain your bags and your flight was not the only one that arrived.  We did end up retrieving our bags without any incident and we were off to find our transportation we booked separately through the all-inclusive hotel package.  Walking out of the airport was interesting as the attendants on the flight were not kidding about the timeshare sellers.  Once you get your bags, you walk through a set of doors to another set.  The last set of doors leads you to an area FULL of people trying to persuade you to sit down and talk to them about timeshare deals.  I originally envisioned the sellers outside the airport once you exited but it is actually an area in the airport that is set up for them.  Crazy!

Outside we searched for our transportation and ran into a rep asking us where we were going.  We mentioned Riu Palace and he directed us where to stand to wait.  As it turned out, we took the wrong transportation as we booked our flight and hotel separately while the bus we were on were for those who booked the flight and hotel together.  Either way, we received our bracelet notifying that we were part of the all-inclusive hotel package and received our welcome drink upon arrival.  We checked into our room that contained a liquor dispenser in addition to a stocked bar :)  The rest of the day was spent exploring our hotel.

The resort offered a number of restaurants, with huge buffets offered for breakfast and lunch and sit down meals for supper in one of four specialty restaurants.  The downside to the specialty restaurants was that you had to make reservations where our favorite restaurant only accepted reservations the day of so John was nice enough to get up at 7am to make them.  During our stay, we took in an ATV tour and zipline tour courtesy of Cabos Adventures, both new experiences for us and well worth it.

Other highlights included: walking to the Marina 3 times (approx. an hour's walk each way), having beers and tequila at Cabo Wabo (founded by Sammy Hagar), beers at La Mole Mia, partaking in the biggest buffet ever on Christmas Eve where the staff lined up and clapped as you entered the restaurant and taking a glass bottom taxi to tour the famous rock formations.

To summarize, here are a few things that I was surprised about:

1. I didn't realize how empathetic I would feel for the natives regarding how hard they have to work for a living.
2. If you're going during the winter season, bring plenty of warm clothes, once the sun goes down it is cold out (sun rises around 7 and sets at 6)
3. During our transportation to our ATV and zipline tours, we saw a number of dead animals by the side of the road.
4. Tipping is rare (though I realize all-inclusive prices usually incorporates this in their price; we tipped though)
5. The beach is separated by a rope designating the resort's portion of the beach and the public side.  Beach vendors occupied the public side but they weren't overwhelming or pushy as people warned you about.
6. They play American music, not traditional Mexican music I was expecting.
7. Prices are usually displayed in US dollars.
8. There are 0 traffic lights in downtown Cabos.
9. In town you can spot the tourists by the bracelets we wore.
10. Rich, spoiled people are annoying, rich and spoiled.
11. If your return flight does not land in your designated city, be sure to pack any duty free alcohol in your baggage as you will need to depart the plane and go through customs before re-boarding.

What's in a nightmare..

I have vivid dreams and I usually recall them upon wakening. A reoccurring theme involves water (due to the fact I can't swim?), my favorite pastime fishing that I don't do enough of and fish in general.

Last night I had a disturbing dream which left me wide awake and bothered. It started with me standing in a public washroom facing the mirror. A man comes walking in and approaches me. I turn to face him and he caresses my cheek as if we have a secret affair going on. We hold each other's gaze but is interrupted by the sound of a toilet flushing in the background and he pulls his hand away and walks out. I turn back to the mirror as a women comes out of a stall and washes and dries her hands. She exits the washroom and the next thing I know, I'm sitting on a couch in a sitting area of the washroom. My legs are resting across the lap of a man sitting next to me. He has a twin brother but how I know that I have no idea. A toilet stall door opens and closes and in the next moment his twin brother is sitting on the couch next to his brother, with my feet on his lap. He has a crazed look in his eyes, his blond hair disheveled and his grey sweater covered in blood. Blood drips from his mouth as if he's just devoured a live being.

The next scene has me standing outside the washroom near the restaurant of the CO-OP mall in North Battleford. It's a Thursday and the mall is swarming with shoppers. I'm standing next to a group of girls as one tries to tell her friends about the madman in the washroom. Her friends laugh in disbelief but then time stops still as the madman comes out of the washroom. Everyone stops paralyzed and all eyes turn to stare at him in shock. The crazed look in his eyes is still there and he raises his arms above his head, his fingers curled ready in anticipation of his next victim. All hell breaks lose as shoppers start screaming and running in all directions away from him.

A man grabs my hand and we start running towards the hardware store. We're running so fast it feels like my feet aren't even touching the ground but on a cloud being pulled frantically by the man holding my hand. We're running faster than I imagine I could run and amidst all the chaos behind us, we can hear the madman gaining on us. We reach the hardware store and the man holding my hand runs towards the back of the store where men go to pick up their lumber. He bursts through a door and we're outside, behind the mall. It's nighttime.

We continue running as our life depends on it only to run into a man washing his car with a hose and bucket. For some reason we are unable to run around the obstacle and the man's eyes widen in panic as he realizes we're headed straight for him. He drops his sponge and dashes out of the way. We jump on top of his car and once on the hood, we take a flying leap off of it. Our leap takes us 10 feet in the air and we prepare for our landing. We manage to land on our feet as we hear the madman behind us.

We round the corner to see another man washing his car. We run past this man and the next thing I know, the madman has reached us. He tackles me and I'm lying face down in snow that suddenly appeared. I claw at the ground trying to get away and manage to kick him in the face with my free foot. I escape his grip and turn on my back, prepared to kick him again when I see 2 men come to my rescue and start to kick the shit out of him. One stomps on his back repeatedly and the other delivers devastating blows to the head.

It is at this point I wake up and and have troubles falling back to sleep.

Part 2: Backpacking Across Europe (Paris, France)

It's been a while since I've posted on my blog - the trip to Europe feels aeons ago. However the trip was eye opening and significant enough to put down in writing so I shall continue.

I left off with Barcelona with our next stop in Paris, France. Having purchased an Eurorail pass prior to leaving Canada we were a bit restricted on when trains departed as certain destinations were not as frequent. Paris from Barcelona was one of them, turning it into an over night trip. The train itself was an interesting experience. We were given a sleeper compartment where the beds folded out from the seats for us and turned into bunk beds. We spent some time having a beer and sandwich from their restaurant before handing over our passports. This was a bit unnerving but it was explained that since we were crossing the border in the middle of the night while we were sleeping, they would just hand over our passports at the crossing without disturbing us. Sleeping on a train was a bit tough due to the slight rocking and noise but we managed to catch a few winks. We crossed the border and made it into Paris without a hitch.

Once in Paris we turned to our trusty EyeWitness Travel recommendations for a hotel and called a cab. Our cab driver was awesome as the hotel was a ways away and he would point out famous landmarks - who needs a tour guide when you have our cab driver! Upon arrival to our hotel, we settled in and then went to explore. The first thing that left me awestruck was the Arc de Triomphe as it was 2 blocks away from our hotel - you always hear about it and see it in movies. We tried to get up close to it but with everything historical, you have to pay to see it and I really didn't want to see it that badly. The other thing that amazed me almost as much as the traffic circle that surrounded the Arc de Triomphe. I probably stood and watched the crazy drivers merge and exit for a couple of minutes - let me tell you, there are no lines on the street and about 6 lanes of traffic where drivers seem to know when to yield and let in incoming cars. This makes the 2 lane traffic in Saskatoon look pitiful. If you don't believe me how crazy it was you can see a video I found here http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Zy8GMN-Ji4E.

John ended up feeling under the weather so I went out exploring to see if I could find us some warmer clothes. Unfortunately the first mall I walked to had nothing but high end brands where a men's sweater I found was around $300 and super thin. I made it to another mall but then my motivation dwindled and I walked back empty handed. We did however make it to the Eiffel Tower at night which was cool to see. It was a lot larger than we expected and lit up during the night.

The next day we took the metro to reserve our next train ride to Italy and then walked to Museo D'Orsay after walking past Notre Dame. Museo D'Orsay contained many artists from the Impressionists/Post Impressionists era such as Van Gogh, Toulouse-Lautrec and Claude Monet to name just a few. I could have easily spent more than a day there.

The food in Paris was good, with John trying out a huge ass MOUND of tartare and me trying froi gras (and I hate to admit, was buttery goodness and loved every bite of it) at L'Ecluse.

The next day we went to see the catacombs. It was interesting finding it as our hotel had never heard of it and it was far from the main center. It was approx. 130 step decent and a 185 mile walk containing the remains of over 6 million Parisians - it was a spooky and unnerving experience as there were plaques set up along the way explaining the deaths of some.

Back to the land of the living, we went to go see Centre Georges Pompidou that housed modern art. The building itself was neat as it had all its plumbing pipes on the outside of the building as well as an escalator that snaked its way up to the top floor, also on the outside of the building. It definitely housed modern art that isn't suitable for all kids to see. We weren't able to spend a lot of time here as we needed to make it to our train. Overall Paris was an experience I was glad to undertake but I'm not sure if I would make a repeat visit. It has a lot of history but to enjoy Paris you definitely need a lot of money.

Next stop Italy!