Home Sweet Home

To complete my 3-week vacation in the homeland, here are some more details:

After my brother's wedding, spent time with my aunt and uncle from Vancouver, and got to be a tourist again. Love that. It's funny how we never go to the hometown sightseeing spots unless we have visitors. But it was a beautiful and balmy week after the freak snowstorm before the wedding, so took advantage of the weather. Spent an afternoon in Niagara-on-the-Lake, an old British town settled over 200 years ago, famous for historic homes, the Shaw Festival, the Prince of Wales Hotel and many local wineries. It also has one of the prettiest liquor stores ever, just second to the LCBO in Elora, Ontario. Here's me happy to be near vodka. That's one of the many things I love about Ontario- we don't do cheap liquor stores. No crass red sale "only $5" signs. Just lots and lots of gleaming bottles of the good stuff on dusted shelves. From all over the world, too. After capturing some pics of the changing of the leaves, we took the long way home and drove through the countryside, stopping at a quaint apple farm. Yes, they still exist and this one's run by a friendly family who grows about 7 different kinds of apples. Macintosh is my fave.

After the celebrations, I was lucky enough to have almost 2 full weeks to see family and friends in and around Toronto. I squeezed in a trip to good ol white Niagara-on-the-lake, my stomping ground in-between uni years, when I needed to make tuition payments. Followed this with a trip to a very charming old mill town called Elora, to visit my good friend Chris, a former Film Festival colleague, and his partner Dave (their beautiful B&B, Tynavon). I even got my hair straightened (God is good and so are flat-irons) by Michael, the local fab stylist, and visited the Desert Rose for a delish egg salad lunch (with alfalfa sprouts).

After that, enjoyed the comforts of suburban Oakville, with their big houses, 2-block grocery stores and decorative Jack-o-lanterns. Ate steak (!) and blueberry pancakes with Anje, Chris and Alexandra, while talking about the upcoming arrival of Ciaran, (who arrived Feb. 23). Hung out with my cousin Michele, Arun and their two little girls, drinking beer and eating real thick-crust pizza. The next day Michele took me to the University of Guelph to visit our cousin Kate, who's continuing the lineage of family alumni. Also checked Dairy Queen off my list of places to visit. When will Japan get Blizzards?!

Then it was off to the "Big Smoke', as my father loves to call it, to test my liver. I started at my former coworker's place for homemade garlic soup and paella. Ana, Ines and Chummy hosted us- Jess, Mo, Kate and Brian. They joked they would never make it out for drinks as it would be after bedtime- i.e. after 8pm!

I headed to the burgeoning West Queen West area. Loved my time at Jess' and seeing more Film Fest colleagues and friends, drinking vodka and Red Bulls at the Beaconsfield and trying out the Beaver (good G&T's- thanksPSmith). I worked off my hangover the next day enjoying real pizza with Kate and catching up with old friends from Japan (Johnny A!). I enjoyed the artsy boutiques along Queen West before meeting Du-Yi and indulging in good Italian food. One thing about Asia- the portions are NOT that big. I spent the next few days catching up with old friends. Adam and Vladia showed me designs of their hot King St condo and I met Ashley for Thai in the Annex (her beautiful jewellery line- MsPeacock).

I ended the trip with a detour to Washington, D.C. to see dear friends from Osaka- the Princess, Arjewtino, Shiftless Badger and the Congressional Page.

It was a jam-packed 48 hours of delish tapas, pupusas (corn tortillas filled with chicken, cheese and beans), tamales, a Bruce Lee-chi martini, Smithsonian museums, a proper Halloween party in Adams Morgan (best costumes: Superman on Vaykay, KFed, a congressional page after the Rep. Foley-email "incident", and the Pope).

They luckily helped me overcome my horrific flight there on Air Canada Jazz (never again). After following the PRINTED directions on my ticket to Gate Z, I ended up on a tarmac the size of my driveway, next to the Olive Garden or some other frightening airport restaurant. Of course the friendly staff member whom I offended by asking her a question, raged at me that I was at the wrong gate and I had to put up with a shuttle bus driver who only communicated with one finger. Then I was seated next to a recent divorce who wanted to try out his smooth moves after 15 years of not using any. Good times. He even offered me a bite of his banana. Gross.

The Princess and Arjewtino generously drove me to the airport on Sunday, while navigating 70 roadblocks out of the city for the big marathon, to get me to the church on time. I was rewarded for my torture and got to fly ANA. Three seats to myself, plus decent food and a fantastic in-flight entertainment consul. Had planned to sleep but... so many movies, so little time.

Arriving back after a long vacation is always difficult, but after 3 long and fulfilling weeks of Canadia and catching up with family and friends, I was happy to return to my shoebox and ramen. Who knew the sights and smells of 10 million people could be so welcoming?!